Dear Harbor Friends,
Grace and peace to you. As I am writing this, it is the July 4th holiday weekend. I am grateful for the storms in my area that have given us a bit of reprieve from both traffic and feeling like we must go, go, go! As new pastors get a few more boxes unpacked, many of us are meeting new folks and exploring the new areas in which we live. Some of us have some days off that we are spending in vacation or transition time.
One way I have spent some time this week is to consider the “freedom” we are “celebrating.” More and more people tell me they feel captive: to expectations and norms of family, work and culture. I feel that too in that I am constantly doing what I know I shouldn’t: comparing myself, my life, my actions to that of others. When I think about it, I can be quite self-absorbed in the name of accomplishment or bettering myself.
In our lectionary passages over the next two weeks, we come to Amos whom we know as one of the earliest writing prophets. Amos gives us a picture of God as a just Creator who upholds justice in creation. As ones who were created by God, our role is to put this love into action, to imitate God’s love by acting with righteousness and justice. In Psalms 82 and 52 the psalmist reminds how our God rules in favor of the weak.
Even as I read the bible, I am thinking of just how hard it is to focus on injustice. I pass by it everyday in the news, perhaps even something local. Injustices are happening all around me. God is groaning with the oppressed and I am groaning about how hard my day was or how difficult carpool was, making dinner or standing in line, and then seeing all my friends post the same on social media. We are focused. Praying for the poor and oppressed is a start, but our calling does not stop there. We are called to not only “feel for” the poor but to act like God. First, however, we have to really see and engage in order to care for God’s people. We have to recognize injustices in our neighborhoods, in our backyards even.
I’m grateful that our work together as the UMC calls us to the needs of many, to use our connection to share resources and offer relief, justice, care. I often wonder if I can replicate that in my life by partnering with my neighbors. What could we change by talking about an injustice? How could our little group make a difference? What are you working on or thinking about? How might your neighbors, your congregation, help to bring justice and care to those who are hurting most? Our Anti-Racism team has helped to open my eyes and steered me toward resources that assist me in “seeing” more clearly. Just as C4C has helped us realize the food insecurity of our children, we are in need of leaders to help us see the injustices going on all around us – and how to engage, give our time to learn how to help, and be part of healing the hurt and changing the status quo.
Lord, I pray that you would open our eyes to the hurt, fear and hardship all around us, even as we set off fireworks celebrating freedom. So many people are hurting and are not free. There are too many people who are feeling alone, unloved, who are persecuted for being who they are and yet, surely we are all your children. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to focus beyond ourselves. Give us that nudge to look beyond our needs to that of others that can be life changing. And not least, show us the way to love courageously so that all your children will know how very loved we all are. We pray this with expectation and hope in the name of Jesus.
Amen.