I must admit that, until watching the 10 o'clock news last night, I almost forgot the significance of today. I guess this is what happens as time goes on--wounds heal and life continues. But any one of us can think back to six years ago and we can remember exactly what we were doing when we found out.
I was a CPE student at Parkland Hospital in Dallas and had just arrived at the hospital when the first plane hit. I remember everything about that day in great detail. But six years later, life goes on and the world seems much different now than it did then. I think this is not just because of that tragedy, but because of other world crises like Iraq and Darfur (just to name a few).
I am thinking about September 11 in light of one of the Lectionary texts for this week: Luke 15: 1-10 (the Parables about the Lost Sheep and the Woman and the Lost coin). I have been meditating on this idea of "one"--what does it mean to be the one who is lost and/or the one who is found. It seems foolish to leave the 99 sheep unattended or the abandon everything to go off in search of one lost coin.
When we are among the 99, it is tempting to think that the one does not matter. But consider these words from Leonard Sweet in his book The Gospel According to Starbucks: "For now, though, think of the power of one even without God. Think of Hitler, or Stalin, or Mao. It didn't take them hundreds of years to produce their own holocausts. It took only one lifetime for Mao to end the lives of well over seventy million in China. Not to mention Pinochet, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and other twentieth-century tyrants. It only takes one. Small is the new large." (10)
The one does matter. Six years later, I am more aware of the power of one person to reap death and destruction on innocent lives. We should heed Jesus' words this week, not only because they remind us to be hospitable to those we view as "outsiders," but also because we are (like it or not) interconnect to all of God's creatures.
We should heed Jesus' words this week because when the one is lost, we are all lost.
Journey on...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Rochelle,
I remember sitting in Chapel and Ron leading morning prayer and then he mentioned it in a prayer request. I had no idea what he was talking about... Then we all went in that backroom and watched it all unfold on TV. We all sat in that room stunned. I remember saying something stupid like, "How could they put out a fire like that?"
One person can cause great destruction and evil, but I still believe that even one person can bring about peace and love.
Post a Comment