08-12-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
August 12, 2023
I know we all say stuff that, if we were to think through the words a bit more carefully, we would have to admit that we really didn’t mean what we said. Like all of you, I have been overwhelmed by the images from Maui. The part I want to lift up comes from a couple of casual conversations over the last few days. In three separate situations, I had people speak of how devastated they were to see the fires on Maui, how beautiful the island once was, and how it means they probably won’t be visiting the island again for years to come. That all might be true, but it sort of felt like they were missing the point. Yes, the magnificent beauty of the island (my mother took the entire family there shortly after Donna and I were married) has been impacted significantly, but there are many people who have died and many more whose lives have forever changed. I don’t want to knock the folks who said these things too much as I have probably done the same at some point in life, but there are times when something horrible has occurred to others, and we need to make sure we don’t make it about us. Or somehow bring it around as if to suggest that our indirect loss is equal to that of those who were directly impacted. The word compassion literally means to suffer with, but that’s not to suggest that we need to find our own reason for suffering. As the Apostle Paul wrote about the importance of community, he specifically referenced weeping with those who weep. Even when we cannot fully understand the pain or grief of another, we can ache and hurt with them… simply because love connects us to them and allows us to at least glimpse the depth of their suffering. And we feel it.

Today, Gracious God, we bring before you the suffering and hurt of so many in Hawaii. We know it is only one place of pain and destruction in our world, but the sheer magnitude is sort of consuming us. Let us focus our attention on the genuine needs of others, allowing those needs to guide our response. We ask this in the name of the compassionate one, Jesus Christ. Amen.