Hello dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This week has been hard; the very air feels heavy to me. When the pandemic started my sister (who now lives in California) said it was like experiencing the worst blizzard ever without actually having the bad weather. It did feel like we were under siege from something we could feel but not really see. How difficult it has been to retain something that could be considered equilibrium when it doesn't always look like something is amiss.
But friends there has been so much amiss that we have been blind to. The pandemic has pulled our attention from whatever we have been mindful of before March. Now we seem to focus almost entirely on the impact of a long-duration health crisis. And just this past week America erupted in violence against black people, snapping our attention back to the sin of systemic racism and white supremacy that we too often ignore. There are so many questions. Perhaps it feels overwhelming. Perhaps it feels like we are powerless to change the system.
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief.
Do justly NOW
Love mercy NOW
Walk humbly NOW
You are not obligated to complete the work, but
neither are you free to abandon it.
It is OK to feel overwhelmed, and sad, and helpless, and maybe even a little bit hopeless. I encourage you, when those feelings come up, to go and spend time in solitude assessing those feelings. Lay them at the feet of Jesus. When I feel particularly troubled I find myself in the pasture with the sheep. Their stillness calms me. And when I feel a bit better, I come back and pick up the work where I left off. Searching. Seeking. Building relationships. Understanding that I may never understand. Refusing to abandon the call of justice.
Photo by Maggie Breen
