Ramblings on a Journey The Reverend Kathy Peters June 14, 2013 A word of caution about this reflection: as always (!) it is only “ramblings” about my journey of faith, not a “to do” list for your journey! It is my hope that I might spark a thought or a reflection or an insight that will be helpful to you on your own journey of faith. Feel free to pass it on if you think it might be helpful to anyone else! If you would like to respond directly please do so at [email protected]. Psalm 5 Trust in God for Deliverance from Enemies Give ear to my words, O LORD; give heed to my sighing. Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray. O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil will not sojourn with you. The boastful will not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house, I will bow down towards your holy temple in awe of you. Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. It is always a jarring experience to come back home from a mission trip or in my case a peace delegation to a place that is so different from my daily “real” life. I have seen and learned about things that I did not know were happening or if I did know, they did not have the personal quality that I now have direct experience with. These are not just people I read about in the news but they are real human beings that I have touched and hugged and even cried with. As my friend MJ used to say… “once you know about the pain of another life, you can’t ever go back to not knowing”. Once your heart has been broken, there will always be a piece of your heart with the people you have met. About two days into the trip, it hit me why I had resisted so long going on this trip to Colombia…I knew my heart would be opened wide, I knew my heart would be broken…and I did not know if I wanted that pain again. And yes, it has been a couple of years since I have been to the Dominican Republic and being human, the memory fades a bit and I can pretend (sometimes) that there are not desperately poor and suffering people in the world. I can pretend that there is not much that I can do about it. I can pretend that my own troubles are enough for me to handle without worrying about the rest of the world. But trips like this remind me that Paul was correct. “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” (1 Corinthians 12.26) As long as there is injustice for even one person in the world, I cannot stop knowing or trying to make a difference. Some days all one can say is God “give heed to my sighing” (v. 1) and “make your way straight before me.”(v. 8) “Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray” (v.2). Yes I cry for the people of Colombia whose enemies are real and for the many whose lives are literally threatened every day. I also cry: show me how I might make even a small difference. Show me God where you are calling me to work for peace and justice for all God’s children. I cannot do it all but I can do something. If I cannot work for peace in Colombia, can I work for peace right in my own back yard? Can I tell the story of those I have met so that others might know in some small way? Can I preach the gospel of peace and tell of a Jesus who worked always for justice and peace, who fought the status quo even at the cost of his own life, who calls us to do the same? Can I in some small measure fight the “enemy” of indifference and self centeredness that permeates our culture? Stanley told me of a piece on NPR this morning about someone paying $500,000 for two parking places in a rundown alley in Boston. Are you kidding me, can be my only response!!! Once you have met a teenager whose home is built on a rocky hillside that often gets washed away when the rains come, who must be inside her home by 6pm for fear of the gangs that roam, who has lost a family member to violence, who has been displaced from her land in the country to now live in the city ghetto, yet who still has dreams of being a doctor…and you know in your heart that that dream will never come true…you cannot go back. Going forward is the challenge. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me is my prayer. “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ “(Isaiah 30:21)
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:41:21 +0000
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