Wonderings--May 24

Although we live in a 24-hour news cycle there are some issues that continually surface in our minds long after we have stopped witnessing the news coverage. These things, or these issues, live on. We read about them, and listen to them, and as such we cannot ignore or push them away totally. Distractions are only that--distractions--the pain lives on. The greater pain and suffering still resides with us and since we are called by God, we must respond. 

The seriousness of them linger for long periods of time with and in us. 

But today as I thought about some of those lingering challenges and struggles in our culture, and as I clicked out of my news app on my iPhone, I was drawn to an article written by Rabbi Yeheil E. Poupko. His work addresses the Jewish community's interfaith relations with the larger world. As a theologian he frequently witnesses what is taking place outside of his window and community and finds a way to wonder about God's placement in those events? 

Recently he wrote an article that appeared in Christian Century. 

Tracing a thought-line through Jewish history and into the present, where violence and shootings occur more and more frequently, Rabbi Poupko invites us to reflect back through our combined history with God as a way to affirm God's presence with us. 

Although the temptation is present to state that God is far off and we cannot find a way back to Union with God, perhaps a different choice could be made by the church? Perhaps we could use the pain that we feel, and the tragedies that we witness, and the suffering of the community at-large, as a way to examine our response? 

Rabbi Poupko writes: 

". . . The Jewish tradition no longer attempts to address the question “Why?” when horrific and evil events overtake us. Rather, it seeks to answer a different set of questions: Now that we have been subjected to such events, what must we do? How should we do it? With whom should we do it? When and where should we do it?"

These are also questions that we might be challenged by God to answer in our day and situation. What should we do next? . . . How must we do it? . . . When and where is our response called for? None of this reflection can be done lightly or causally. These questions invite us to a practice of discernment. They are an invitation by God for deeper reflection when evil surrounds us.

For while we read and reflect back on the evil that we witness, that does not mean we are powerless. We have a role and a mission. I wonder today how you might answer these questions? What might God be asking of you? 

Blessings

Rev. Derek