The rifts and chasms between good people today sometimes seem impossible to bridge. Let’s just name a few obvious ones: male versus female, rich versus poor, liberal versus conservative, Christian versus non-Christian, “Pro-Choice” versus “Pro-Life,” the overdeveloped world versus the underdeveloped world, renew-from-within versus change-from-without, straights versus gays, hierarchy versus laity, whites versus people of color—and every shade of every issue in between.

We are all crowded on one limited planet and must somehow learn to live together while also maintaining the common earth beneath our six billion pairs of feet. Sometimes I wonder if it is going to be this very common earth that we all stand on and eat from that will be the only thing that will be able to bring us together.

Adapted from Near Occasions of Grace, p. xii

Prayer:
Come, Lord Jesus!