Author: Nicole Speer
But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ~Luke 23:28
The weight of our collective cross feels particularly heavy this Lenten season.
In the past year, over 500,000 people in our country have died from the novel coronavirus due to our failure to stop the corrupt and cruel behavior of our leaders.
Since January 1st, 124 people have been killed by police due to our failure to reform our biased systems of policing.
In the past two weeks, dozens of people have died during extreme weather events due to our failure to prepare our communities for the climate crisis we created.
On January 6, five people died during an attempted coup, with two additional deaths from suicide, due to our failure to understand the threat we are facing from far-right, domestic terrorists.
In the face of so much death, I weep for those of us who still live. More than two thousand years have passed since Jesus died because of our sins, yet we continue to uphold the same power structures that enabled his death:
Greed over compassion.
Persecution over justice.
Fear over faith.
Hatred over love.
We and our children will continue to walk this path of suffering and death until we each commit to transforming ourselves and our communities with compassion, justice, faith, and love.
God who loves us and walks with us even as we fail, open us to a new way of being. Give us the courage and will to right the wrongs we have enabled. Amen.
