Just a word...Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time...July 5. 2025

Cleo Wade writes, in her poem entitled, “tired:”           

I was tired of worrying, so I gave myself my peace back

I was tired of feeling intimidated by what I should do

So I pulled up my sleeves and got to work on what I could do

I was tired of not knowing, so I found out—about myself, my family, my ancestors, my government, and the struggles of others

I was tired of seeing evil everywhere

So I found the heavenly spots and showed my neighbors where they were

I was tired of looking at the world as one big mess

So I decided to start cleaning it up

And when people ask me if I am exhausted

I tell them no because more than anything

What I got the most tired of was being tired

The situations in our nation, even as we celebrate our independence, and in our church, even as we celebrate the Eucharist together, are less than ideal.  Whatever your stand on any of the issues that plague country and church, it is easy to become tired, exhausted with the rancor and intransigence of ideologies on every side.  How are we to embody our mission, in country or in church, when feelings are running so high wherever you look?

Looking for answers, I began thinking about what country and church might hold in common.  In the country we have our founding documents, written as they were by people with a vision, but formed by their own education and life experiences. In the church, preeminently we have the life and example of Jesus, but we also have founding documents, inspired by God, written from the perspective of people with a vision but again, formed by their education and life experiences. These founding documents entrust us with sacred messages; one of a dream of freedom and justice for all people; the other of God’s love for humanity, God’s dream of a just and peaceful society.  Since the promulgation of these documents, they have been subject to interpretation, being shaped by the vision and experiences of those people who followed the originators. Eventually it falls to us to be the carriers of both these sacred messages. These days, I am not at all certain we are giving either message its due.