A little journey through this topsy-turvy journey of joys and sorrows and hopes and dreams with plenty of grace from God along the way.
Last week (January 18-25) was the designated Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It probably didn’t receive quite as much attention (not that it usually does in the grand scheme of things), since we seem to be a bit more infatuated with the rampant disunity ensuing in so many parts of our human operation. Nevertheless, our Northeastern Ohio Synod (ELCA) staff insisted on making a concentrated effort on recognizing the near-miraculous unity that lives in Christ’s church on earth.
Many may not realize that Divinity is a member of the Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC), which “is a nonpartisan, multi-racial, multi-faith group of people working together to build power for social justice. [They] unite people from across Cuyahoga County to tackle issues and take actions that strengthen our communities.” This past Monday, they held a special conversation event in commemoration of the beloved Martin Luther King, Jr., at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, where the American prophet preached in 1964, shortly after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. They called our time together, “Where Do We Go from Here? Chaos or Community.”
Many fans of the scarlet and gray squad from Columbus, Ohio, are counting down the days until their beloved Buckeyes will attempt to pull off a national championship in the highest level of collegiate football. However, their last game, that they needed to pull off first, had its interesting moments. While Ohio State’s offense seemed to be humming along just fine to open the game, one of their star running backs in TreVeyon Henderson, who also happens to be a rather verbally-proclaiming Christian, seemingly punched an opposing player after the Buckeye was tackled. The ensuing penalty appeared to completely halt the potential onslaught of scoring for THE team.
Today is when all the Christmas decorations will come down at Divinity, as we follow the church-y protocol of honoring the full 12 days of the celebration and all. For some on the actual home front, it oftentimes takes a while to remove all the stockings that were hung by the chimney (or wherever else) with care, as well as the elves on the shelves or full-scale trees and random figurines, let alone however many hundreds of lights. For some, it’s not just about the time commitment to re-organize all the living room displays, but some are rather emotionally attached to all those heart-warming pieces that are meant to inspire our own little joy in the world.
Mentioning specific politicians’ names in the church realm usually makes people uneasy, to say the least, as we often cling to a hope that church and state should be forever separated and all. And yet, God seems to insist that the impact of the Divine on our lives should carry across the board, the…entire…human…board. We seemed to have a precious bit of that in former President Jimmy Carter. Granted, I had not quite come around during his time at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. I did not experience a hostage crisis that must have been absolutely debilitating to family and friends of those taken against their will. I was not a consumer during an inflation nightmare for many, when waiting for a few cars at a gas station now is nothing in comparison to the lines that emerged then. With all that being said, the former peanut farmer from Georgia did his fair share of positively impacting the world during his latter decades of a century’s worth of living.
