WEST PARISH CHURCH
WEST PARISH CHURCH
Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber has a stunningly helpful essay called: "If you can't take it anymore, there's a reason." I may have shared this same essay three years ago. But I am sharing it again because I need her words -- so maybe you do, too.
If, like me, you are feeling overwhelmed by the impending election, the devastation and suffering from the hurricane, the violence imploding in Gaza-Lebanon-Israel-Iran, the ongoing war in Ukraine, not to mention climate change, reproductive rights, gun violence... Rev. Bolz-Weber reminds us that our hearts and minds do not have the capacity to hold so much up-close, constant, detailed news of suffering and threat.
She writes: "I just do not think our psyches were developed to hold, feel and respond to everything coming at them right now; every tragedy, injustice, sorrow and natural disaster happening to every human across the entire planet, in real time every minute of every day. The human heart and spirit were developed to be able to hold, feel and respond to any tragedy, injustice, sorrow or natural disaster that was happening IN OUR VILLAGE."
There's a reason we can't take it anymore: it's too much. So we give ourselves permission to NOT take it all in. We give ourselves permission to tend our small corner of the planet. We love those near to us. We send money to those far away, when we can. We pray that peace and goodness will prevail.
The leaves are really turning now, some trees vibrant swaths of reds and yellows, while others hold fast to their greens. The trees and sky are so bright. So beautiful. The world is heartbreakingly gorgeous, and also devastatingly cruel.
Have mercy on us, O God.