We Are In This Together

Syria.

Chemical Warfare.

Innocent children and adults killed.

Political instability.

Denial.

Blame.

Egypt.

Churches burnt.

Religious oppression.

Political instability.

Worshippers killed.

Anguish.

Russia.

Economic disaster.

Growing coldness to the US.

Persecuting gays and lesbians.

Exodus.

Sadness.

North Korea.

Gaining nuclear weaponry.

Inexperienced leader.

Needs to keep nation in crisis to hold power.

Systematic, brutal suppression of disagreement.

Powder-keg near an open flame.

Fear.

United States

Barely “united” any more.

Dems and Reps can’t/won’t sit at a table together.

Public discourse informed by nastiness without civility.

Growing divide between desperately poor and obscenely rich.

Sounds like first century or third world countries.

Or France before the French Revolution.

Instability grows.

Children suffer most of all.

Religious Institutions

Concerned with own survival.

Poaching off each other.

Celebrity “pastors” getting rich on backs of the hopeless.

Past scandals now exposed and exposing decay deep within.

Minimal life transformation.

Our planet grows increasingly ill.

Water shortages threaten millions.

Deserts swallow forests.

Plastic bits choke fish.

Poisoned water, fake food, poor health.

But on the other hand . . .

Parents and other adults

Love their children.

Sacrifice to get them school supplies.

Send them off to dedicated, poorly paid educators.

New worlds open up.

Individuals

See injustice.

Work quietly to right it.

Feed the hungry, clothe the naked.

Fight for the innocent.

Put themselves in harm’s way to protect others.

Some Ethical Businesses

Care for their employees.

Pay fair wages and benefits.

Offer good products at reasonable prices.

Operate out of an ethical core.

People called of God

Choose intentional holiness and self-sacrifice.

Give generously.

Pray faithfully.

Serve with humility.

Confess their own sins, not the sins of others.

Receive their own forgiveness and then spread it out around them.

Invite those they touch into a place of grace.

The earth heals itself.

Recycling catches on.

Healthy foods grow in availability.

Toxins being banned.

Xeriscaping brings beauty.

Rains do come.

Life fights to win over death.

We are in this together.

The complex, interconnected world could take us all down.

Or could lift us all up.

We are not hopeless or helpless.

We must not be passive, or think that our own survival is all the matters.

Yes, we are in this together.