Groundhog Day

If someone says, “It’s like Groundhog Day”, you know what they mean, don’t you? They’re referring to the 1993 comedy film starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. But more accurately, they’re talking about the time loop that drives its narrative – the way in which the main character is trapped living the same day over and over. It was a popular movie, and affection for it endures, but even more enduring is the way in which it has become shorthand for a particular feeling – the feeling of relentlessly having to go through the same thing again and again. Just saying those two words together – “Groundhog” and “Day” – is enough to have someone raise an eyebrow, roll an eye or give a knowing nod. The time-loop genre has remained popular in Hollywood, with other titles such as Looper and Edge of Tomorrow, and more recently, Palm Springs, evidencing the public’s fascination with, or horror at, the idea of inescapable repetition. At the end of May, when we were put back into lockdown for the fourth time, I heard someone describe their experience of it as Groundhog Day. They meant both the looping nature of returning to another lockdown, but also the way in which lockdown-life is itself repetitive. That famous film, now a cliché, was sadly invoked with some resignation, perhaps even a measure of exhaustion and depression. It was a sentiment that I could relate to myself, as I was feeling much the same way upon the announcement. Time-loop movies, though, must be captivating and have entered the zeitgeist for reasons other than just their horror. They must engender, in some way, a sense of hope. I think that is the case. The idea of perpetually repeating the same day presents the possibility of learning from past mistakes, of making the most of the time that is given, and even – in a Sisyphean way – finding meaning in the inescapable loop itself. Has this recent lockdown sprouted any shoots of meaning for you? Has the repetition helped you to see the previously unseen things in your life? The Christian church, for close to 2000 years, has embraced a Groundhog Day mentality in its use of “liturgy”, precisely because of the way its repetition – daily or weekly during one’s entire life – can result in peace, hope and even joy for the looper. The liturgy of the church repeats phrases of scripture, physical gestures, and even musical refrains, in such a way that by repetition they become a part of who the worshipper is in a very real sense. While this may sound like a mechanical form of brainwashing, it is anything but. It is a thing of beauty – a beauty that can be participated in even when dementia has taken everything else. I’ve seen, with my own eyes, people come to life in ways that never would have been possible without decades of living that spiritual Groundhog Day we call the liturgy. Being in a time loop – be it due to a lockdown or for other reasons – doesn’t need to be all bad. How might you turn the repetitive aspects of your life into a liturgy? •