Scripture
Psalm 147: 3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Matthew 5: 3 - 4
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
John 14: 27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Reflection
I have been thinking a lot lately about how difficult it can be in our world these days. I watch the news (yes, I know it always seems to be bad news), I drive through the city and we are faced with so many problems and very few answers it seems. I have been wondering how we are even able to think about moving forward. So then I received a text from a good friend of mine that simply said “DUDE!” The next text I received stated, (“Dude” is an un-gendered cry for help in attempting to understand humanity in my language). There have been so many times when I have just been driven to saying “DUDE!” When I have been so confused, amazed, speechless, and just overwhelmed by what is happening in the world and what some people are doing. My friend then sent an un-credited quote from a random movie, “We stay alive for each other, that’s what we do.” So I have come to realize that I am not the only one who is struggling with the world today. There are many who struggle with the world and what is happening.
But then I add into this my own reactions and I realize, as I like to point out in my meditations at church, that I am broken myself. I see how my own reactions to things can, and do, add to the brokenness of this world. The scriptures speak to the fact that even in our brokenness, in our imperfection, we are loved by God. When we are brokenhearted, when we fall short, when we don’t have a clue what we might be doing, God is with us, loving us, caring for us, and trying to lift us. It is interesting to me that we, as humans, are complex and, in some ways, contradictory individuals. My friend who sent me the texts also sings an amazing version of the song “What A Wonderful World.” Listening to her sing you know that she believes every word that she is singing, and yet she still struggles deeply with the world and all of the challenges. It is part of being human I suppose, that we can laugh and cry, that we can be angry and joyful, be ill-tempered and patient, be short and kind, all at the same time, and sometimes I wonder how we move forward.
So, as I was writing this in my office someone came in with, as they put it, a humbling and life-altering experience, which I have been given permission to share with you all. This individual usually goes to their neighbours and collects the paper and, on garbage day, brings out their bins for their neighbour. Being that the days have gotten warmer, we know that there has been lots of water around and that turns into ice over nice, and it has been hazardous to walk. Well my friend has ice at the bottom of their driveway, so they grabbed a cane with a spike on the end, and were slowly penguin walking across the ice at the end of their driveway. A taxi came down the street, stopped, and the driver got out and asked if my friend needed help. My friend said that they were just going across the street to get a paper and to move the garbage bins out. The taxi driver said not to worry that they would do that for my friend. So, the taxi driver did exactly that. Now my friend did not know the taxi driver, but random act of kindness impacted them greatly.
So I wonder if as humans we have to remember that in midst of all the struggles of this world, God is still with us. This brings me to a final quote that I found, once again uncredited, “Whenever I start thinking that somebody is too far gone for God to save, I look in the mirror and remember where I came from.” In the midst of my brokenness, God has used me. God sometimes uses the most unlikely of persons to remind us that we are not alone, that there is more than what we see. When this happens it can have a profound affect on us, as it had on my friend. When one random act of kindness occurs in our lives and in the world it can redeem us all. So yes, the world is difficult right now, but God is with us in our suffering, in our fear, in our struggles, in our joy, in our lament, in our laughter, God is alway there. So I wonder if maybe things might just get better if only we find God in the midst of it all.
Prayer
God of infinite mystery, we ask that you be with us now, in the midst of this world that if full of so many struggles. We ask that you give us the courage to continue to move forward. We ask that you give us wisdom to see those little acts that show that you are still at work in the world, even when we can’t feel it. We pray that we might be your compassionate, loving, caring, presence in the midst of so much darkness. We ask all this in the name of Love Incarnate, your son Jesus. Amen.