This week’s adventures include coaching my son’s soccer team, shuttling my other kids around to their activities, and preparing for our annual family getaway weekend at the beach with our good friends and their families. Our daughter started volleyball season last night with her first practice, and it feels as if we are settling into as normal a return to school as we have had in years. And it feels right.
Meanwhile climate disasters in China, Pakistan and Mississippi are wreaking devastation upon our fellow humankind. Yet I still need to search for these headlines while reading the news; I find it a tragedy that these situations are not more at our common forefront of focus. Of course, I am all the more sensitive given this excellent book I am reading, The Ministry for the Future; Bill Gates describes it as “A scary but hopeful novel about climate change.” I highly recommend this read, along with another article I read this morning from TIME magazine, Where We’ll End Up Living as the Planet Burns. Wow, lots to consider, beginning with reflecting upon my own carbon footprint and sustainability practices that our family strives to employ.
In this past Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus shared a parable that he told in the home of a powerbroker of his time, described as “one of the leading Pharisees” (a religious leader of his day). I imagine Jesus shocked his audience by clearly describing his vision of hospitality and community:
| “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. |
| Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; |
| blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” |
Talk about the Kingdom of God! This describes my ideal meal, and my hope for the eternal banquet, a place where all are welcome, especially those on the margins. I hope and pray that together as a global human family that we may continue to strive toward this ideal, specifically as it pertains to food and water access across our world. Enjoy this version of U2’s “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” from Playing for Change as an inspiration for us to keep on keepin’ on.
Keeping the Faith 