Doesn’t look like a good beach day – or a parade day either, for that matter. Stepping out to feed birds – they are up early now, I could feel a mist which will, at some point, will turn into rain. Rather than brightening, the sky is actually darkening. Not a good day for usual Memorial Day activities.
The rest of the world is going on as usual. In Israel, mounted police used water cannons to disperse demonstrators in Tel Aviv while an Israeli air strike hit a so-called “humanitarian” area, killing 35 persons, two of which were said to be Hamas senior leaders while Hamas fired rockets from Gaza into Israel. And Gazans are starving.
And senseless violence just doesn’t happen on the other side of the world. In Haiti, Dave and Natalie Lloyd, a young missionary couple, were brutally murdered with Jude Montis, the local director of the Mission by one of the criminal gangs terrorizing the small island nation. The Lloyds ran a small children’s shelter and school. How to work for peace when gangs and political leaders only want war is an enduring question.
Prayer for the Day
In anguish we cry out to you, O Lord, but hearing no answer,
As violence and murder by those who have power rule the day;
Like Jeremiah, we lament the destruction of a city and people,
Whether it is by political leaders or criminal gangs.
Why are you silent, O Lord, when your children cry out,
Fearful not just of the very next day but of the next moment?
In the name of the One who is our strength to endure,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
With the humanitarian operation near collapse, the secretary-general emphasizes that the Israeli authorities must facilitate the safe pickup and delivery of humanitarian supplies from Egypt entering Kerem Shalom.
United Nations statement, May 26, 2024.
I ask myself, what happened to this generation. Are they even human?
Blondine Tanis, Haitian radio broadcaster, kidnapped
Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor –Let them be caught in their schemes.
For the wicked boast of the desire of their hearts,
The greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.
In the pride of their countenance the wicked say: “God will not seek it out”;
All their thoughts are, “There is no God”
Psalm 10: 1-4