It’s the first full day of summer, and it feels like it. The morning is not as cool as it was even when we had heat last weekend. We need to do any gardening early, early in the morning before the real heat sinks in. The Parkway heading south was moving at a snail’s pace only a few miles outside of Newark.
We need time to think, time to reflect, especially now. Last week we saw four ICE agents grab and push a mayoral candidate into an elevator when he just said he wanted to see a warrant and ICE break-in to Congressman Jerome Nadler’s office and violently handcuff a staffer screaming at her that she was harboring “rioters.”
Then, there’s the escalating bombing between Israel and Iran. Tehran evidently said that diplomacy can resume if the US tells Israel to stop bombing. That would be “very hard” was the reply. Really? We supply Netanyahu with the weapons he uses. What’s wrong with turning off the water? This is a time to think and reflect, not jump the gun.
Prayer for the Day
Events whirling about us, O God, we feel out of control,
For those in power act only in their own interests;
Gasping for breath, O Lord, we feel overwhelmed,
For we fear there are no checks on how leaders act.
Calling to you, O Holy One, we ask for reflection,
For the stakes are too high for rash action.
In the name of the One who hears our cry,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
War is an absolute failure of imagination, scientific and political. That a war can be represented as helping a people to ‘feel good’ about themselves, or their country, is a measure of that failure.
Adrienne Rich, poet (1929-2012)
War does not determine who is right – only who is left
Bertrand Russell, British philosopher (1872-1970)
You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.
Jeanette Rankin, US. Congresswoman (1880-1973)
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;
For you I wait all day long.
Psalm 25: 4-5