For many of us, these last months have tested our loyalties, our commitment to the common good, and our senses of who we are.
We have been stressed by the effects of a pandemic that marches across the landscape and, perhaps, into our lungs. We are accustomed to having some control. When we are this vulnerable, survival can become a singular goal. Have we observed ourselves clutching our own needs and neglecting the needs of others?
I have found it hard to even think about those whose homes are not a refuge, or who have no home. I have avoided imagining places where health care systems struggle to respond to everyday maladies, much less a novel virus that infects exponentially.
How many of us have felt ashamed of what emerged within us in these months, of how we turned away from your two great requests of us: to love you with our whole heart and to love our neighbors as ourselves?
Give us courage, gracious God, to love our neighbors as ourselves.
This message is an excerpt from “Amen: God of grace” by Catherine Malotky in the July/August 2020 issue of Gather magazine. Today is the 20th Sunday after Pentecost.
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