For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.
(Deuteronomy 10:17-21 NIV)
We brought our youngest son home on the evening of December 13, 2012. I woke up the next morning in a house with another set of lungs drawing small breaths in the bassinet next to me and set to getting our Kindergartener, now one younger sibling richer, off to school. I’d left the TV on a news channel as I sometimes did. When I got home I saw images of other kindergarteners walking in a single file line, crying, from their elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
I stopped what I was doing and watched. I prayed. I worried. I bore witness to this thing that was happening that was a desecration of what we together hold sacred. Children are vulnerable, innocent, and worthy of protection; that had been violated. When my wife came downstairs with our perfect newborn, she cried and told me to turn it off. She didn’t want to have to watch it anymore.
Yesterday was another day where I watched for too long as something was desecrated. I watched in disbelief. I watched remembering what the streets of DC looked like when there were protests for racial justice last Summer as opposed to what we saw yesterday. And again, I was told to turn it off, I’d seen enough, and what was I going to do about it anyway?
What I am going to do today is send a message to the church I pastor and say, good morning, God’s grace be with you, and let’s prepare ourselves for another day of discipleship. Let’s do so as those with eyes to see and ears to hear, however. Let’s do so as those who have borne witness to what is. It is only in understanding what is wrong that we are able to honestly pray and work toward what is right. It is a day to remember the call of God to love as we look for justice, too.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Ben
Announcements
Winter Small Groups to Sustain Faith Formation
What questions do you have about just how to live, work, pray, and love in the world today? Send your thoughts to Pastor Ben as he, Bruce, Lynn, and others choose curriculum for upcoming seasonal and ongoing studies.
Staying Connected
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Coffee Hour is a time of sharing after Sunday morning worship hosted by Laura Newton at approximately 11:30am. All are welcome!
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One Last Thing