 Reuters reports that that is the number of hungry people who will be pushed more deeply into food insecurity and hunger this weekend because of the government shutdown. Forty-Two million people. That’s the number of pawns in play as our divided and irresponsible government plays political games with people’s lives.
0 Comments
 I have been doing stewardship work in the church for thirty-seven years. That seems like a lifetime. It has been rewarding as congregations came together to fund mission, build buildings, and grow spiritually as they tended gifts of generosity. It has also been a challenge because we live in an age in which coming together and growing in generosity are far from people’s minds and hearts.
 We live in a world that's explained everything away.
Google gives us answers in 0.3 seconds. We've reduced sunsets to wavelengths of light. Love becomes oxytocin and dopamine. Beauty gets analyzed until there's nothing left to marvel at. We've turned mystery into data points and wonder into Wikipedia entries. Somewhere along the way, we forgot how to be amazed.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the great American Poet of the 19th century wrote a poem called The Rainy Day which contains the familiar line: “Into each life some rain must fall. Some days must be dark and dreary.” I suspect however, that this fragment of the poem becomes less familiar as time goes by. These days, the reality of sadness, suffering, and pain is not to be acknowledged, but avoided. Suffering is what happens to losers. Sadness is a kind of sickness to be treated and eliminated. If I pretend it won’t rain, I won’t get wet.
 We live in a culture that's lost the ability to name a thing a thing. We soften the edges of evil with euphemisms. We call corruption "political differences." We label systemic injustice "complicated issues." We're told to "pray for our leaders" but never allowed to be angry about the leadership that fails the vulnerable.
|
Categories
All
Archives
November 2025
|
RSS Feed
