Blathering on about God, food, and more….
When I studied the scripture this week, three truths emerged for me: First, we live in a world filled with danger. Second, the only way to stay safe is to care for each other. And third, when danger is present, we are the heroes we’ve been waiting for.
A prophet is not a fortune teller. They don’t gaze into crystal balls or read palms. They are also not market analysts or political forecasters. Nor are they influencers or kingmakers. In fact, a prophet is anything but. Because a prophet doesn’t tell you what you want to hear.
I lost seven friends. And my aunt. And my father. Not lost. They aren’t missing. They’re dead. Every one.
“David and Goliath” is not about a helpless shepherd boy winning against all odds when confronted with a fairy-tale giant. Like Seizing Freedom, “David and Goliath” is a story of desperation, ingenuity, and not playing by a set of bogus rules. It’s a story about creative resistance.
Jesus is praying for us. And we surely need it. Jesus prays for unity, over and over, that we may be one – and it’s not specific to the church. It’s for these other sheep. It’s for the one’s believing.
Things fall apart. They do. It’s the second law of thermodynamics: all closed systems move toward entropy, meaning they move toward disorder. Trees grow and then they die, falling apart in decay, feeding other organisms. Stars form, they super nova, then explode into billions of particles shooting out into the void. Even our bedrooms tend toward disarray – leave them alone for a month, a year, and see what kind of mold grows on your walls. The universe expands and unravels without any help at all and what are we to do?
There is a universal truth etched into the sticky eyelids of every adult who’s cared for a child: Parenting is exhausting. Whether you parent full-time or work outside of the home as you take care of your little ones – and I’ve done both – the sheer magnitude of taking responsibility for another human being…
“The wilderness is a dangerous place. You only go there if you have to.”
“Stay woke” means to stay awake; stay watchful; notice what’s going on around you; become aware of the policies and politics and people who maintain inequity and injustice in our community. Then do something about it. Today, our scripture is screaming at us to “stay woke.”
What would it be to really rest? What does that even look like? In my heart of hearts, I don’t know. I have a vague memory of rest as a child. But then again, the rose-colored, sparkling recollections of our youth tend toward the unreliable. They are shadows without edges. They fade back and forth between truth and what we wish were truth. For some of us, childhood was a wondrous time filled with ease, freedom, unstructured afternoons, imagination without limits, softly oversized beds with cool sheets, and unmolested dreams. Some of us have those memories. Not all of us.