The world is so difficult sometimes. Being a person with faith in a Triune God,
watching the world, living to live, trying to embrace the difficulties held in
God's hands and still SURVIVE...how do we do this? How do we struggle with the battles of race,
mental illness, hate, hunger, emptiness, loneliness, homelessness and injustice
when we are so often just trying to figure out how to live each day, to find who
we are in this world, for the world and for God? How do we figure out what it is that we are
to do to live in community, in faith, in times of war and oppression? How can we be everything for everyone or at
least learn compassion towards others, especially when we don’t fully
understand their story?
Our world is so difficult right now. It is different than at other times. We watch and read and listen about racial
issues near St. Louis, of warring in Gaza, Iran, Iraq—wars between tribes and
nations, of industries attempting to change the locations of their
headquarters, of celebrities and common folk completing suicide, of job
insecurity, food insecurity, housing insecurity. How can we find solace, how can we feel
secure?
The world is so big.
We are each so small. How can we
make a difference beyond our sphere of people, our limited, yet specific,
knowledge, or our homes? Is our purpose
on this earth at this time easy to decipher?
How can we know?
I’m thinking of a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCezEbaMHdA
These words, these harmonies, have haunted me for
years. They speak of living. They speak of living a life with God. They speak of how these things sometime
collide. Just like the world right
now. We are colliding: with one another,
with other countries, with other tribes, and yes, with ourselves.
And how do we deal with the effects of these
collisions? How do we reconcile the
world with our faith? How do we DEFINE
our faith? Do we consider Micah 6:8 our
call? And if we do, are we open to the
prayer in Psalm 139:23? And then, do we
act accordingly?
I don’t know the answers.
These are difficult times. Our
world is coming apart in many ways, but if we spend time on our knees, praying
for our world, perhaps God will help us put the world back together again, if
only within ourselves, so that we can become whole and holy people, and live
more fully our titles of Children of God.
Please God, be with us.