So why are we doing this again?
It’s early Sunday morning, and I’m sitting in the church office knowing that the first persons who will arrive for the morning service will not be here for at least ninety minutes. It’s going to be a long day because later on, I plan to walk in the Crop Walk to help raise awareness to fight hunger. Abby is going to walk with me to make sure her out-of-shape old two legged caretaker will complete his commitment. And border collies have a way to herding you to spaces and places you might not wish to go.
Each year we have the same conversation. Although she loves to walk and run, she keeps telling me that she doesn’t understand why we need to be doing this. Nor can she comprehend why I must in conscience contribute to Bread for the World, Food for the Poor, or any of the local food pantries. Don’t we have the technology to end food shortages? Is this not most blessed, productive, and generous nation filled with not just the cruel and cantankerous (as portrayed in so often media) but also with open hearted and generous people? We humans should be capable of anything, right? Heck in an era when computers were glitz and trash (by contemporary standards), didn’t we rebuild both Lee Majors and Lindsey Wagner into bionic crime fighting spy thwarting superheroes for a mere $6,000,000 apiece – hardly more than the salary of the 24th bench warming player on the roster of a major league baseball team these days.
Here’s what I tell her each year. It’s not about technology or finances. It is about heart and soul. It is about inspired- from-beyond-ourselves desire to say ENOUGH to the injustices in which the have-nots of this and every society are drenched. It’s the recognition that spirituality without religion while allegedly fashionable is a bumper sticker slogan that has continued to produce narcissistic entitled folks who simply do not see the pain of others, or if they do, they hardly care. Like it or not, it is only when one recognizes the ONE who is greater than me and who commands me to love my brothers and sisters and do good for them not so that I feel good but rather because God’s world is to be marked by justice for all – no matter what culture one lives in, what nation one is a citizen of, how you vote, how you dress, or what religion (or lack thereof) you might profess. If you don’t care enough about more than yourself, then nothing ever changes. Status quo rules. Power will continue to corrupt. Children will continue to go hungry.
But later today we will continue to walk and give witness and hopefully raise money to try to make a small difference. And Abby can continue to inform her canine compatriots – And maybe she will finally understand. And maybe they will listen! And maybe some day we also will.
Fr. Joe