Saturday, April 10, 2021

It has not been a quiet week anywhere, not Washington, not in Lake Wobegon, and certainly not here in New Jersey. Statistics on ethnicity and race belie the diversity in our state, the most diverse in the Nation, with more than 177 languages and people of many national backgrounds.  New Jersey is also home to at least 16 hate groups, most but not all being white nationalist.

It’s never a quiet week when people are verbally or even physically attacked because of the color of their skin, their dress, or their accent.  It’s never a quiet week when a person who participated in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is seeking a seat in the New Jersey Assembly.

It’s still not a quiet week when there is so much dissension as to where we should be going as a state or as a Nation. We are in danger of losing our moorings as a society, as a Nation that was established to be open to all who seek and want freedom. We need to remember where we all came from.

Prayer for the Day

Needing rivers in the deserts of our hearts,

    We come thirsty for you, God life;    

Searching for your grace to well up in us as fresh water,

    We ask for tenderness of heart and strength of soul.

Choose us this day, gentle God, and we shall be chosen.

    Fill our hearts with your love so we may serve you.       

In the name of the One we follow,

    Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen

Thoughts for the Day

Never make fun of someone who speaks broken English.  It means they know another language.

                        H. Jackson Brown, Jr., American writer

What has happened to us in this country? If we study our own history, we find that we have always been ready to receive the unfortunate from other countries, and though this may seem a generous gesture on our part, we have profited a thousand fold by what they have brought us.

                        Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as a citizen; you shall have the alien as yourself, for you were once aliens in the land of Egypt.  I am the Lord your God.

                        Leviticus 19: 33-34

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