Food for the Journey
January 7, 2021
Pastor Dianne O. Loufman
Being ripped apart
Yesterday we watched as the very fabric of our country was being ripped apart before our eyes. People with guns and Confederate flags stormed the Capitol. Our president had used his words to egg them on. A woman was killed; several others died. The elected leaders of our country were barricaded in rooms while we prayed for their safety.
I wondered why this well-advertised descent upon the Capitol had not been prepared for. Capitol police seemed not as concerned about this mob threatening our democracy as they were with peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters last summer in Lafayette Square who were exemplifying democracy’s freedom to protest.
Mostly, I felt my heart heavy with sadness that we, a country admired around the world for our peaceful transitions of power, have come to this. A country of, by and for the people — an ideal to be sure but one worth standing up for – one many have given their lives for.
The young people at confirmation last night shared that they were: “worried; embarrassed; appalled; didn’t understand; had cried two or three times.” I thought – “Hasn’t enough been ripped away from these kids this last year and now this?”
Yesterday was Epiphany which we will celebrate this coming Sunday. There is much in the story of Herod and the three kings that speaks to the times in which we live; I will speak about that on Sunday.
But many churches will hear the story of Jesus’ baptism — in that story, the heavens are torn apart and the Spirit of God descends.
It made me think that maybe we should have celebrated Jesus’ baptism, too – to hear this story of a different kind of rending. Rather than the rending of our hearts and our country and neighbor from neighbor – the rending of the heavens – God and God’s power being unleashed among us.
Days like yesterday make me realize how much this needs to be our prayer.
O Savior rend your heavens wide
Come down, come down with mighty stride
Unlock the gates, the doors break down;
Unbar the way to heaven’s crown.
Amen.