Sunday's Readings (sorry I didn't get online yesterday or find another person to provoke your responses).
Psalm 24, 29; Psalm 8, 84
Jeremiah 1:1-10; 1 Corinthians 3:11-23; Mark 3:31-4:9
Today's readings
Psalm 56, 57, 58; Psalm 64, 65
Jeremiah 1:11-19; Romans 1:1-15; John 4:27-42
From Henri Nouwen Luke 6:37
I'm pondering how we respond to people who are in need around us and am today thinking about how so much of life in Fairfax anesthetizes us from such neighborly needs. The suburbs keep us comfortably separated from all but a few people in need on the side of the road and even then we're still protected in our cars. Commuting reduces interaction with neighbors as do long hours and finding our identity in our work. The 'American Dream' of a house with a fence and some land no longer means that we'll be dependant on our neighbors as we were when people first moved here from Europe but now means we'll be increasingly independent of and unknown to neighbors. Sure, there are many exceptions, but by and large we've insulated ourselves from suffering.
Nouwen notes "The suffering person calls us to become aware of our own suffering. How can I respond to someone's loneliness unless I am in touch with my own experience of loneliness? How can I be close to handicapped people when I refuse to acknowledge my own handicaps? How can I be with the poor when I am unwilling to confess my own poverty"
It is hard to look at our own stuff that keeps us from others. We hurt each other, we pull away at inopportune moments, we feel like we're asking too much or having too much asked of us. Our fences and well reasoned homeowner association rules begin to fall. We struggle to figure out how much we can do. Yet, in the parable of the sheep and the goats Jesus makes it clear that people who serve others without looking to the reward (or possibly without even recognizing Jesus) in the one they are serving will receive reward.
Questions for response:
What if any barriers are there to knowing your neighbors?
What fences or barriers do you see between you and others who are in need?
What ways do you see that helping ministries at Apostles (or your church) could grow to better be present with people in need?
Monday, March 21, 2011
Poverty of Suffering
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1 comment:
One of my chief barriers to getting to know my neighbors is language. The majority of residents in my townhouse community are native Spanish speakers, and while of course they know some English, having a conversation sometimes feels so arduous. I have even considered taking Spanish classes at NoVA...
...but I think that just may be my way of setting up an impossible interim step that then relieves me of the ultimate obligation. I'm really good at that particular evasive move. Probably I should just talk to people.
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