Thursday Three For All
It’s been a heavy week with heartbreaking news coming from all over the globe. As I hear of earthquakes and riots and death and despair, I’m reminded that these aren’t just headlines. These are the homes of friends who are living and serving in Baltimore, in Nepal, and all places in between. These are their neighbors. These are their cities. These are the stories God has been writing through them and around them for years.
So as I pray and hurt with them, these posts have been helpful to process how we rightly respond. I hope they’ll encourage you as well. (Remember: click on the bold print to read the original article.)
When it Feels Impossible. (via Heather Fitzgerald) My friend Heather knows these people and these places. She and another friend Ginny run a ministry in inner city Detroit. She articulates the struggle beautifully.
Y’all. It’s overwhelming. Friday night, Ginny and I prayed, and I cried, and I confessed to the Lord that the task is so, so daunting. These headlines are heartbreaking. And we cry out, “How, Lord? How will you bring beauty from these ashes? And when, Lord? When will you save? When will you restore?”
Why Ferguson? Why Baltimore? (via @BarnabasPiper) The road to answers won’t be easy. It’ll involve hard questions along the way. Are we willing to ask them?
Too often we (the majority culture) want no part of pained expressions by the underserved and underprivileged because it upsets our equilibrium. Too often we condemn outburst of rage without recognizing what birthed that rage. We have no empathy.
We must hold truths in both hands, in tension with one another, the truths with which we are comfortable and the ones we need to learn.
And on a (much) lighter note,
Church Scraps People vs. Pigs Event. (via @FoxNews) This is so sad. It seems like it would’ve paired perfectly with the following day’s Pancake Breakfast. (By the way, if your church staff has “many hours of discussion” about rassling pigs, you might need a new church staff.)
“After much prayer and many hours of discussion, we realize that what we had for 44 years in the Original Pig Rassle was memorable, legal and great family fun. We also realize that our parish and diocesan talents could be better spent in areas that are less controversial. It is with great regret that we have discontinued the Original Pig Rassle. We are, however, very excited to begin this new tradition at St. Patrick Parish.”
