Saturday, October 17, 2020
A few weeks ago an American professor teaching in Helsinki citing wildfires in California, sunny day floods in Miami, hurricanes in the Gulf, as well as the lack of decent medical care for the poor wrote an article “Why would I want to go home?”
Having been teaching outside the United States for five years, he also asked why people were so angry and noncompliant with good public health recommendations. As the King of Siam says: “is a puzzlement.” But is it? Aren’t we so self-centered that even the slightest demand on what we think we are entitled to results in anger?
Some bemoan the loss of community created by the pandemic, but I have to wonder if we really had a sense of community beyond a narrow vision to start with. It seems we need to broaden the parameters of what constitutes community because our previously considered definitions have resulted in an inability to see that we’re all in this together.
Prayer for the Day
Enter the secret places of our hearts, All-seeing God,
The ones that we hide from even ourselves;
Comfort us with your promise of forgiveness of our sin,
But only when we live according to your righteousness.
Restore in us, O God, an understanding of care for the other
And to act in accordance with your call for justice and mercy.
In the name of him who shows us how to live,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President (1858–1919)
Nurturing is not complex. It’s simply being attuned to the thing or person before you and offering small gestures toward what is needed at that time.
Mary Anne Radmacher, American artist and writer
Hear the voice of my supplication, as I cry to you for help,
As I lift my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.
Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who are workers of evil,
Who speak peace with their neighbors, while mischief is in their hearts.
Psalm 28:2–3