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Rossford UMC
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    Saturday, April 27, 2024

    Psalm 55: 10-12

    10 Swallow them up, O Lord; confound their speech;
    for I have seen violence and strife in the city.

    11 Day and night the watchmen make their rounds upon her walls,
    but trouble and misery are in the midst of her.
    12 There is corruption at her heart; her streets are never free of oppression and deceit.

     

    O Lord, help me to see how I wish to be seen. To see my pride, which always wishes others will see me as somehow whole and strong. Help me to know completely my own inner heart, the secret heart I hide away, keeping it always locked from sight lest someone see. My deepest desires. My most turbulent emotions. My fears. Help me examine myself completely. Honestly. The good and the bad. Help me see clearly that which I try every day to hide, even from You. Help me know that most of all.

    Help me in this so I might then be able to understand my neighbors. Only when I understand myself can I begin to understand them, and only in understanding them can I love them as I love myself.

    You wish me to do the work of cleansing Your city, yet I am helpless in the task until I cleanse myself.

    “I have the essential need, and I think I can say the vocation, to move among men of every class and complexion, mixing with them and sharing their life and outlook,” Simone Weil said.

    She wanted to mix with the crowd, to “disappear” into it so the people there would show themselves undisguised.

    “I long to know them so as to love them just as they are. For if I do not love them as they are, it will not be they whom I love, and my love will be unreal. I do not speak of helping them, because as far as that goes, I am unfortunately quite incapable of doing anything as yet.” [Waiting for God, quoted in A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants, 163.]

    God calls us to these two opposing tasks, to a work of holiness which opposes evil and a work of love capable of embracing evil and comforting it in its brokenness. Opposing tasks, made into one. How can we oppose evil? Only through acts of love. When I know my own heart, its brokenness and its strength, I can begin to talk with another person honestly, to find ways to be in their presence, letting them know how much I need them, for I too am broken.

    We can help each other.

     This is love.

     

    Hymn of the day: Pilgrim’s Progress. Online at Rossford UMC - Media.

     

    Rev. Lawrence Keeler