Over the past forty years or so, we Americans have lost our sense of community trust. The signs were, at first, imperceptible, but like a rolling stream have surged into an overwhelming flow. The causes, the reasons re complex, as they are for any major social change, and the question becomes for us how to begin to restore it.
Political life has become incredibly polarized and has contributed to the polarization of a good deal of our religious life as well. Many choose their churches because of their politics, further isolating people from each other. There does not even seem to be any communication between certain religious communities.
This Season of Lent can become a time to help heal these divisions and to restore some sense of community. It is easy to demonize those who have carved out small isolated worlds for themselves, but realizing those worlds are fearful responses to changes their adherents do not understand is one way to begin. It behooves us to break into the cycle of how fear becomes anger and hate as difficult as it is.
Prayer for the Day
As Jesus was tempted to use power and reign supreme,
So, we, too, are tempted to use power for our own ends;
But you, O God, hold us to account when we take on the world,
Wanting to remake it in our image, not yours.
In this Season, teach us the humility of being human,
As much as we act as if we have the power of gods.
In the name of the One who is our example,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The greatest friend of truth is Time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant companion is Humility.
- Charles Caleb Colton, English cleric, known for his eccentricities (1780-1832)
The splinter in your eye is the best magnifying-glass available.
- Theodor W. Adorno, German philosopher, sociologist (1903-1969)
Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? How can you say to your neighbor, “Let me take the speck out of your eye” while the log is in your own eye?
Jesus, in Matthew 7: 1-4