There are no words for a challenging week of desperate headlines. These last few weeks seem like the end in so many ways. War in Ukraine, earthquakes in Armenia, war in Israel, suffering in the Sudan, unforeseen hurricanes and tornados in literal and figurative ways.
My fundamentalist friends say, “This is what the Bible says is going to happen. It’s all gonna end in the Middle East until Israel is liberated. Jesus will come to redeem all; he will descend from heaven preceded by a trumpet call blast and redeem the dead in Christ… A thousand shall fall at my left and ten thousand at my right.” They sit and look out their windows at the ominous skies and wait for the Rapture.
I have a vision of an old man who believes this sitting in a nursing home nervously shaking, looking out a picture window as the fall colors change, closing his eyes and holding them tight like he’s waiting for a doctor to give him a painful shot, when all he’s waiting for is the wretched end of tragedy to strike so he can be at peace.
My Muslim friend in Jordan tells me how sad she is to see this tragedy in Israel. She wants one land, one world of peace and hope. In so many words, she says, a group of lunatics are making it harder for Palestinians to survive on a patch of land that belonged to them long ago because they are angry at Israel for relegating them to an area that doesn’t serve their needs.
Now they are waiting for the assault that has been declared by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We have only started striking Hamas,” he said. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.” It’s coming. They’re going to wipe them all away while the terrorists hide among them and she can feel it in her bones.
My Jewish friends tell me how sad they are. Relatives are fearing for their lives. It’s the worst time of their lives. They’ve never seen so much destruction since 1948. Everyone knows someone who has been killed or taken hostage and are reeling from the fear of what is to come. Those who sought a Two-State solution are bitter and angry. Some of them who have relatives who have died are still fighting to remain above the situation and are begging for peace in the midst of chaos.
In the madness of it all there are people who are still trying to be righteous and do right by others. Jews, Christians and Muslims. There are still people holding out hope for a better world and grasping for straws in finding solutions to problems that have existed for thousands of years – our inability to reconcile differences and seeing the sacred goodness in others. They are looking at the root causes and screaming them out like a voice crying in the wilderness.
The images of destruction can be seen everywhere. Comedy shows have opening monologues addressing why we need to laugh in these tricky times. Sporting events have moments of silence to remind us of the heinous acts of violence that are taking place while we move on in our lives like nothing is happening.
On our homefront we can’t get it together. There’s so much division. For the first time in our history, a speaker of the House has been voted out and a speaker pro temp is in charge of the House. For the first time in our history a former president has been indicted on 91 felony accounts ranging from treason to RICO charges and he still has a chance at being a leader of the free world again.
All I can think of in this situation is the poor. How will they be impacted by all of the above? Last week I stopped by to see a friend who runs a hunger shelter for Catholic Charities. Eric’s my hero. He’s expecting a new baby with his wife who is a teacher at my old school. They baby is arriving any day now. “Our numbers have risen drastically since the pandemic. We’ve gone from serving seven and eight thousand a day to upwards of twelve thousand. The budgets are tight and they just keep coming.”
I felt compelled to write this after seeing a picture on Facebook of someone standing wearing black in front of a blustery lakeview picture. The person was wearing a white hat, facing the waves with strength as if she were laughing at its beauty and chaos.
“Thoughts cast upon the frantic dark emerald lake,
a horizon drifting with storm clouds
and whipped snow drifts in the sky.
There is no sun, but the gray solace of smoke
warms the heart to know Nature wants to wrap
its insecurity and uncertainty around you and in your gaze.
Her smokey eyes reflect the day’s mood.
A bit wiser, a bit sadder, a bit older from the topsy
turvy goals of a world’s brisk callousness.
It all calls forth a time for quiet,
though the wind butters the ears with whispers of chaos,
our feet are rooted on the rocky beach.
Waiting for a semblance of harmony,
watching and knowing it will all find its way back
to rhythms of tranquility where Destiny has a voice.
Irony has a way with the world.
Beneath the lake there is calm,
beneath the skin there is strength and an undaunted
slumber of wonder
waiting to awaken to a time of fresh possibility
and clear-eyed skies of hope.”
What can we do? Something deep is calling me. “Get out and serve. We need to do something for each other. We need to be reminded that ‘while there’s life there is hope.’” We need to see goodness in this world. We need to call forth that which is best in all of us and bless to be a blessing. Something sacred deep down needs to come out now more than ever.
Sail on.
spirit beat 