I snuck over to the office this morning—a holiday, but I thought I’d get a few things done.
Everything OK? Check.
E-mail answered? Check.
Apparently I didn’t need to sneak.
On the way home the organ was playing Music for a Merry Christmas. Ding-dong, Hark, Oh Come, Joy...you know. As I drove down the Boulevard I Heard the Bells...and then I looked up...and there she was. I don’t need to describe her for you. These days we all know her.
As I drove on I wondered if the conversation could for once move beyond, “there but for the grace...” and “the poor you will always have...”. But then I realized that in order for that to happen, I’m going to need to change. Not just everyone else. Me.
I’m going to need to change, and many of the things I hold dear—the trappings (yes, trappings) of a capitalist culture rooted in the nostalgia of Euro-perfection (“nostalgia ain’t what it used to be”)—are going to need to go away, to be replaced by that new/old idea: that love of neighbor is the only guiding energy that will ever bring about that long hoped-for change and save us from ourselves.
If the hungry are going to be fed, I need to feed them.
If the naked are going to be clothed, I need to clothe them.
If the people without homes are going to find their way home, I need to help them.
If the planet is going to be saved from destruction, I need to stop the cycle of buying and dumping.
And if the walls are going to come down, I need to take them down.
If all that sounds radical, consider the tradition that makes the outrageous claim that the Divine can somehow be embodied in our own love of neighbor.
Sounds pretty radical to me...and kind of rings a bell.
Happy Holidays
Merry Christmas
Healthy New Year
