Our theme today is “Take Care of Each Other”. In our First Reading we are encouraged to
make the most out of every moment of every day and not to take for granted all
of our many blessings and our beautiful world.
It’s also about not taking each other for granted, but to be a light and
support for one another. It encourages
us to listen to our neighbor, hear their story and the story of their
ancestors. This is how we truly learn
and demonstrate “love thy neighbor”.
And I’ve learned over the years, we just need to simply listen to their
story. We don’t need to have answers for
them or feel pity for them, just listen with an open heart.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus warns us to not be sucked into the world of
the religious scholars who make pretense of their holiness and flaunt their
wealth. He then draws attention to the
poor widow who gives two small coins, “all she had to live on.” And while we often interpret Jesus’ message
to be about praising this woman for giving what she could, I wonder if the
message from Jesus is really about, why are we expecting her to give at all? Why isn’t the gift of her presence at Temple
sufficient? Why aren’t the rich
religious scholars embracing her and helping to support her? Why are they not caring for her?
Having money does not make the rich bad; rather, money reveals what is
inside of us and magnifies our character for good or ill. Historically, the rich and powerful have
taken advantage of their power to increase privileges at the expense of the
poor and weak. We see far too much of
this in our country today.
But, as a result of Tuesday’s election, I have hope. It is the beginning of turning the tide in
our country from one of power, greed, and elitism, to caring for all people
whoever or wherever they might be. We
have “miles to go before we sleep” but
let us bask in this victory and pledge with even more vigor to reach out to
those in need, hear their stories, advocate for them, and let gratefulness
overflow into blessing around us.
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