Goodness Still Abounds

 

I began 2024 with the idea that goodness abounds.

As the year has marched forward,

I have subconsciously allowed that thought to be overshadowed by

Division, bitterness, reactivity, us-against-them thinking, and feelings of being stuck.

I haven’t meant to do it.

I have simply absorbed the energy of the culture.

 

For months now,

My quiet angst has come out in deep sighs and a furrowed brow.

I haven’t necessarily been able to pinpoint one thing that’s been wrong.

It’s just been a negative energy that

Has left me feeling heavy and burdened.

 

I mentioned this on Monday,

But there is just so much hurt.

And it’s not simple hurt.

It’s layer upon layer upon layer of brokenness.

It’s complicated grief,

Complex trauma,

Systemic poverty,

Religious abuse,

Socio-economic inequality, and

Corrupt politics.

 

When I think about the complexity of these things,

I get overwhelmed.

 

Thank God for the sigh.

Thank God that the Spirit intercedes for us when we cannot find the words to say.

Thank God for hearing prayers that fall from our eyes.

And thank God for friends who send words of encouragement or challenge at just the right time.

 

I posted this last week,

But I think it is worth repeating today.

It’s a prayer that I adapted from the words of my dear friend Elizabeth Jones Edwards.

Her words reminded me that goodness really does abound,

And that it starts with me.

 

May you remember that, too.

And may we have eyes to see that, even in the heaviness,

Goodness abounds.

 

Oh God:

 

We are allowing religious and economic politics to divide us.

We are allowing the outside voices of politicians and pundits to control us.

Forgive us.

And help us to remember that we are the ones with the power to reshape our culture and rediscover connection.

 

Help us to remember that

Each of us, by our daily choices and attitudes, has the power to shape our culture for good.

To show kindness to the people we meet.

To turn down the divisive rhetoric and speak words of healing and peace.

To stop calling one another names, assuming the worst about situations, and making enemies about people we don't know or understand.

To be generous and forgiving and humble and loving as our faith calls us to do.

Each of us has the choice to include instead of divide,

To refuse to participate in the meanness and vitriol. 

 

Help us, God.

Help us to remember.

Help us to get to know one another,

Not as adversaries or enemies to defeat,

But as neighbors and friends and fellow travelers

whose well-being in this nation and on this planet is inextricably tied to our own.

 

Amen.

 

And amen.