I often think about this when I am dealing with people,.. I like to remember that what I am seeing is not the whole person. There are histories and stories behind the person in front of me, things I can’t understand. And hopefully, I can find some compassion in that.
Someone must be ready to jump in and take over almost seamlessly to make the production successful. If a member of a team on a project must drop out, someone must move in to take their place. Other people have to double up so that they have time to find replacement without slowing down the completion of the assignment.
I wonder if the parable of the bridesmaids is almost wishful thinking on the part of Jesus. None of his own followers were exactly waiting for him to show up. None were buying extra lamp oil because he was late. He wasn’t expected at all.
God has given me this double vision, stirring my heart, so that my sorrow and my mindfulness of the needs of others go hand in hand with my wonder and my sense of awe.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus asks the crowd, “Who among you, if your child asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead, or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”
Come and fill my heart, O Lord. Help me to rest. Help me to sit in the stillness. Come and fill my heart, O Lord.
Many years ago, in a small Episcopal mission church, we celebrated Shrove Tuesday with pancakes, fresh deep fried donuts, games, and general silliness, until about
Whether you are facing life or death, there is something here for you. Either way, it is the path of surrender. Give up your life inside of time, give up your life when you step outside of time.
It is hard to know how any of us would react to facing evil and maintaining our faith as we face any instrument of death. Jesus showed us, and Luwum followed that example.
How do we learn to sit, with God’s help, among unpleasant truths of the past, alongside people in history who we can no longer simply laud their good works without commentary of larger, more corporate sins in which they participated?