From the massage parlor evil in Florida to terrorism in New Zealand, wickedness abounds again, this week. This morning’s Scriptures in Ezekial 18 come at a time when we don’t see how to forgive some people. Is it true that God would forgive the likes of human traffickers and terrorists? These perpetrators, along with pedophiles, are at the top of our “how the heck do they get forgiven” list. We bet you have a “list” too.
The feelings associated with this wickedness are not fit for print. So, we hold all of it in God’s holy presence. God be with the survivors and their loved ones…uphold them with your healing grace. Teach us how to be justice and mercy in a world that is, sometimes, Lord, just too much.
What are your feelings in the midst of all that is broken in the world? Who is on your list? What feels like too much for you? We offer Ted Loders, prayer/poem as a way for us to journey.
Sometimes It Just Seems to be Too Much
Sometimes, Lord,
it just seems to be too much:
too much violence, too much fear;
too much of demands and problems
too much of broken dreams and broken lives;
too much of war and slums and dying
too much of greed and squishy fatness
and the sounds of people
devouring each other
and the earth;
too much of stale routines and quarrels,
unpaid bills and dead ends;
too much of words lobbed in to explode
and leaving shredded hearts and lacerated souls;
too much of turned-away backs and yellow silence,
red rage and the bitter taste of ashes in my mouth.
Sometimes the very air seems scorched
by threats and rejection and decay
until there is nothing
but to inhale pain
and exhale confusion
Too much of darkness, Lord,
too much of cruelty
and selfishness
and indifference…
Too much, Lord,
too much,
too bloody,
bruising,
brain-washing much.
Or is it too little,
too little of compassion
too little of courage,
of daring
of persistence,
of sacrifice;
too little of music
and laughter
and celebration?
O God,
make of me some nourishment
for these starved times,
some food
for my brothers and sisters
who are hungry for gladness and hope,
that, being bread for them,
I may also be fed
and be full.
Amen.
Ted Loder’s, Guerilla’s of Grace