Life is as complex as we are. Sometimes our vulnerability is our strength, our fear develops our courage, and our woundedness is the road to our integrity. It is not an either/or world. Rachel Naomi Remen
Meditation: We have a president whose worldview is built on an “either-or” perspective. He often misses the complexity of reality. He sets on strength, popularity and show of force as he understands it. He sees people and countries either being for him or against him. Everything begins and ends with his own self-interests. As Christians we follow Jesus who fully entered the ambiguity of our world. He refused to follow the cultural norms of his time that divided people into good and bad, rich and poor, worthy and unworthy and clean and unclean. Jesus believed that Israel was chosen, but also that all other nations were called by God. He modeled vulnerability as being his greatest strength. As Christians we confess that “through his wounds we are healed”. This complex and paradox nature of faith is our guiding light, even in times like these. We find our strength and integrity in remaining focused on Jesus and his embodiment of what God’s presence and God’s will are about. Life is as complex as we are. Let us always remember who we are following, in a time when other leaders demand obedience, a loss of our complex reality and loyalty.
Prayer: God, we are afraid of what this simplified “either-or” leadership will do to our nation and to our world. Give us courage to speak up. Keep our vulnerability alive and transform our compassion into strength. Take those areas where we and others are hurting and allow for a deepened integrity to fill our nation. Let the world unite against all splitting efforts to divide people and nations. God have mercy in these times where nationalism, popularism and other “isms” try to dominate. We rely on Your Spirit and on Your guidance in deeply troubling times. Amen
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. 1. Corinthians 1:27
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