At meeting for worship on Sunday morning, there was an atmosphere of gloom. There was great concern over news reports from overseas—terrorists throwing acid into the faces of young women on their way to school, the attacks on hotels in Mumbai, and other recent acts of violence. It went beyond gloom. There was a despair at the acts of violence, justified by religious and, or political convictions. Acts of terrorism in the name of righteousness. In the name of necessity.

I am not convinced that we are living in the most violent time in this world’s long, bloody history, but I do acknowledge that things are bad and possibly getting worse. Or, at least, we are more aware of what is happening, thanks to almost instantaneous communication throughout most of the world.

This from Philippians (NET Bible): 

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near! Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things. And what you learned and received and heard and saw in me, do these things. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4-10).

It is unrealistic to expect to keep going if we dwell only on what is going wrong. There must be a balance between our awareness of this world and our awareness of the Kingdom of God in our midst. I am called to pray about everything, but I am not called to be responsible for or to fix everything. I am responsible to do what God has called me to do, in addition to prayer, and rejoice at having been called, being part of God’s active and healing presence. 

I was led to share, this morning, about the Sampson family in Aberdeen, Maryland, whose plea for $1 donations to pay the $10,000 mortgage payment to the bank was blessed by God, not just with the $10,000 to prevent foreclosure in December, but also possibly enough to get their car running, again. The meeting needed to hear Good News in this world, here and now—news of people helping other people, not out of their riches, but out of what little they themselves had. (I recognized among the names of those who donated, people who themselves had asked on the Internet for help and also received it. They are paying it forward as they are able.)

So easy to take our eyes off of Jesus and start sinking into the storm-swept waters! But we are not called to drown.