Last night I listened to a presentation by James Talarico, the former high school teacher and seminarian taking on Ken Paxton, the Texas Attorney General who has been caught up in both personal and public scandal. He is one of the faces of a new generation of people active in politics, raising questions of what it means to be a person of faith running for public office.
Speaking to what he calls our “core values,” he asks how it is that people who profess to be Christian can advocate for policies that are fundamentally opposed to what we know Jesus preached. In the story of the Syrophoenician woman who begs Jesus to heal her child, Jesus first responds that he was sent only to help “the house of Israel.”
However, she persists and Jesus at that point realizes that God means for him to heal all. That is our calling as Christians, to heal all, no matter their origin. Doesn’t sound practical in the realm of politics, but Jesus didn’t tell us to be practical, only faithful.
Prayer for the Day
God of all surprises, you manifest in so many way,
Bringing us closer to you and to each other;
Deepen our awareness of your Eternal Spirit,
Made known to us through the totality of your creation;
May we always be open to the beauty of your world
By sharing its manifestations with others.
In the name of the One who shows us how to love,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts for the Day
A doctor once told me I feel too much. I said, so does God. that’s why you can see the Grand Canyon from the moon.
Andrea Gibson, American poet, activist in LGBTI issues
It is only when you retreat from discomfort that the learning stops.
Minette Norman, writer, facilitator
Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
Who gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those who walk in it:
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by te hand and kept you, as a covenant to the people,
A light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind
To bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
From the prison those who sit in darkness.
Isaiah 42: 5-7