It’s the last day of the month and the end of the week, a good day to think about where we are headed after four months of mind bending and heart breaking rhetoric from the White House and Congress. In addition to cutting major government funded programs for the public good, official vitriol against the poor and vulnerable in our Nation continues to rise.
This vitriol is contrary to what we claim are our values, shared by all faiths. We are commanded to care for others, and the budget bill before the Senate is an example how we do not care for others. Major cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and tax cuts for the rich will hurt working families in the short run, and the destructive cuts to environmental programs will hurt all of us in the long run.
What are our moral bearings? Our Christian faith calls us to care for others, not just ourselves. The irony is. Of course, that the communities that voted for the new regime will be those who suffer the most while tax breaks and pardons go to those who fork over “contributions.”
Prayer for the Day
Like the Psalmist, we cry, where are you, O God,
Where are you as we spiral into destruction of our society?
Like the Psalmist, we beg that you respond, O Lord,
Respond to the desperation we are feeling.
Open us to new possibilities grounded in faith,
So we act as you have called us to act.
In the name of the One who gives us hope,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
We need moral clarity about the lie because it is not going away. Musk’s illegal actions have been halted by courts and protested in the streets. … But the lie about “waste, fraud, and abuse” continues in the big, ugly budget bill that is now before the Senate.
Rev. William Barber, Yale Divinity School, leader of “Moral Mondays”
All of this upheaval “is going to affect the functioning of the government in ways we can’t even anticipate.” She is right. We have been warned.
Susan Glasser quoting Mary Boyle, Consumer Product Safety Commission
Why, O Lord d you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor –
Let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
For the wicked boast of the desire of their heart,
Those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.
In the pride of their countenance, the wicked say, “God will not seek it out”;
All their thoughts are, “There is no god.”
Psalm 10: 1-4