Cleaning out – a good use for a Saturday afternoon when it began to rain. It’s amazing what you find going through old magazine that were saved over a period of ten or even twenty years. The first almost frightening realization is that as a society and a Nation we face many of the same issues we did so long ago.
Finding an old article by Bill McKibben from 1995 (yes, it’s true), I realized that I still had his old book The End of Nature, published as a warning on global warming, something that is still with us today. Articles on the wealth gap, the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the destruction of Palestinian homes by settlers, the undocumented who toil in our fields to feed us, Afghanistan and terrorism could make someone depressed because it seems little, if anything, has changed.
Rather than sinking into despair, however, the fact that we must do more than read about problems and tragedies, should strengthen our resolve to make this decade one of real change so that in ten years we aren’t reading about the same problems we have in the past.
Prayer for the Day
We are humbled, O Lord, by your call to live faithfully,
Easily do we cry for your mercy and goodness;
Fearful of being held accountable for the stewardship of our lives,
We tremble with difficulty when facing your judgment.
Chasten and correct us so that we may be healed,
Strengthening our resolve to create a better world.
In the name of him who expanded our vision of you,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts for the Day
Don’t waste any time mourning. Organize!
Joe Hill, in his letter to Bill Haywood before his execution (1879-1915)
A commitment to love and justice demands the transformation of social structures as well as of hearts.
Mary E. Hunt, American Catholic theologian
Your ways, O Lord; inform me, your paths, instruct me.
Lead me in your truth and instruct me, for you are the God of my rescue;
In you do I hope every day.
Recall your mercies, O Lord, and your kindnesses -- they are forever.
My youth’s offenses and my crimes, recall not for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
Psalm 25: 4-7 (Tr. Robert Alter)