Thanks for taking a moment to push pause with me as we seek beauty and rest in our everyday lives. If you’re not already, you can subscribe below to have this weekly email delivered straight to you inbox.
Weariness and fatigue hang in the air thick like a fog hindering our vision as we seek to walk in the way of hope. This week has been full of unsettling news and heartache in the death of George Floyd and the protests and riots that have followed. The reality is that this has only brought to the surface what has been simmering and what has been the lived reality for so many people of color for too long.
My hope for this space each week is that we make room to pause and find rest and beauty in our lives. That feels hard in the present moment. It’s still my hope but perhaps we also need to push pause to lean into grief, listen to black voices, and lament the pulse of racism that still runs through the veins of our nation. If you profess a faith in Christ, we have a responsibility to the way of Jesus which seeks love and justice for all. We can do so with a posture of humility and empathy. It means listening to the oppressed and then acting on behalf of what is right which may include confronting our own prejudices and repenting. Let us have the courage to show up to the brokenness within us and the brokenness of the world.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
Resources
Be the Bridge book and discussion tools by Latasha Morrison.
The book, Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson and the movie adaptation
Read or watch Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry’s, Sunday sermon.
A Prayer and Practice
God of Peace,
Our world is constantly bent towards brokenness. Take our fractured pieces and mend us together with love and empathy for one another. Give us the capacity to look within and see our own brokenness. Healing begins with naming our wounds. We confess, we lament, we seek wholeness through your love. Help us to hold space for listening, learning, and acting on behalf of justice. Turn over the tables of systemic racism that all would know the fullness of their worth as your created children. Amen
Take a posture of lamenting and learning this week. Listen with empathy instead of defensiveness and pray for understanding and peace that will move you to action.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know. - William Wilberforce, English abolitionist