In the midst of economic turmoil, it may be easy to overlook the continuing turmoil in Gaza. This past week, the bodies of 15 paramedics and health care workers were exhumed from a shallow grave, their paramedic ambulances and trucks smashed.
Some of the paramedics had been deliberately executed, their hands tied and were shot in the head. The vehicles were clearly marked and were on their way to rescue people who had been wounded. The Israeli government refuses to allow foreign journalists in Gaza, clearly because it does not want the world to see what it is doing.
Local journalists have been targeted by the military. Persons with clear “PRESS” markings have been deliberately murdered. Of the 124 deaths reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists for 2024, 85 were in Gaza. Here at home, the new regime simply attacks journalists by name, giving their personal information, such as addresses and names of family members, so someone else can do the dirty work, and urging that they be fired or go to prison.
Prayer for the Day
Abiding God, troubled by the news of the world,
We seek your presence and guidance;
Searching for your strength as we find ours lacking,
Move us beyond our gray tinted spectacles of despair.
Open our eyes beyond what we see with our eyes
And our minds beyond thoughts to a deeper knowledge
In the name of the One who opens the world to us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
You can best serve civilization by being against what usually passes for it.
Wendell Berry, American writer and poet
It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.
Aung San Suu Kyi, imprisoned by the Burmese government
In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise,
In God I trust; I am not afraid. What can a mere mortal do to me?
Psalm 56:10-11