I'm still feeling like it's summer.
Short sleeves is all I need.
Very few leaves had fallen.
Granted, most of the birds seem missing, but by no means all.
The air conditioner behind me as I write is still on.
But I love Autumn--it may be my favorite season.
Warm days and cool mornings make for days of joy and nights of good, sound sleep.
Come on Autumn--show us what you've got in store.
I have gimpy knees. One is a replacement and other probably needs to be.
I have had balance problems because of my knees for months.
But recently, my limp has caused my right hip to hurt.
I don't want a hip replacement--save me God!
So, at Bern's urging, I am using a cane and will until (and 'if') I don't need to.
What works best is to have it in my left hand and support myself when my right leg moves forward.
My hip doesn't hurt when I do that.
Is this 'what is' for me?
I don't like it--but I like it more than pain in my hip.
Alas and alack!
A man with a cane....
AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM
Isaiah said, “A little child shall lead them.”
In today’s gospel, after Jesus told the disciples he must die, they argued with themselves on the road about who among them was the greatest.
When Jesus found out what they had been arguing about, he said to them, “whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”
Then he held a little child in his arms and said, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
But that’s hardly the only time Jesus uses a child to make his message.
In the very next chapter of Mark, this happens.
“People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ Then he took the children up in his arms, laid his hands on them and blessed them.”
Six other times, in Matthew and Luke, Jesus says much the same thing about children.
So, what is it about children that Jesus so admires?
I don’t know for sure, but I have some ideas.
Children are ‘guileless’, innocent, without deceit.
Children are trusting and depend upon those around them to protect them.
Children are open to possibility, longing to learn and know, excited about being alive.
Children are gentle, curious, loving and wanted to be loved.
Jesus loves them and tells us to welcome them in his name and to ‘be like them’ to enter God’s Kingdom.
So why do children suffer so much in this country and around the world?
There are 3 million cases of child abuse reported each year in the US. That’s 9000 a day. And that’s JUST the cases that GET REPORTED!
6 of 10 girls and 4 of 10 boys will be sexually abused in some way before they are 18.
And ‘neglect of children’ is rampant—‘neglect’ includes lack of food and shelter. Lack of affection. Lack of supervision, education and medical or dental care.
This is what the world does to those Jesus loves.
I spent two years as a Child Protection worker in Fairmont, WV, before I went back to finish seminary and be ordained.
Much of abuse and neglect stems from income inequality in this country. Some families just don’t have the means to provide adequately for children. The current administration is working to correct that and bring millions of children out of poverty. God bless them.
I could remove a child from a poor family with no trouble. But I had a case when I knew a young boy was being abused by his mother. I went to court 4 times to seek his custody, but his father was a doctor and their lawyers stopped me every time. Finally, his mother killed him.
She spent one year in the county jail and then was freed.
A song from my Sunday School days went like this: “Jesus loves the little children/all the children of the world/red, yellow, black brown and white/they are precious in his sight/Jesus loves the little children of the world”.
And so must we, beloved, and do all in our power to keep them safe.
Shalom and amen.
I don't like to keep harping on something, but covid is becoming more and more an issue we can't avoid, especially in Red states.
Everyday there are reports of people dying--not from Covid--but because hospitals have no beds for people with treatable conditions. One guy in the south was taken to 28 hospitals in 3 states before one had a bed for him to die in. A child with an appendix attack was kept waiting in an ER for 12 hours because ER was full of Covid cases--finally, after his appendix ruptured, he was saved, but with more problems than if he'd been seen earlier.
And Republicans against vaccine mandates and mask mandates, exposing people to a deadly virus, continue to work on laws to restrict a woman's choices about her body and to restrict who can vote!
I'm still stunned by what's going on in the country where I was born and raised and love dearly.
COMMON SENSE, FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!
My rights stop when they endanger someone else.
We're all in this thing together.
Quit talking about your 'rights' and get vaccinated or cause others to die or die yourself.
This should all be over--like Polio is over and Whooping Cough is over and Smallpox is over.
Get the shot, you all!
Just get the shot and we'll get on with it and back to normal.
I've been watching butterflies all summer, asking myself, 'why do they fly in such jerky, irregular patterns?'
Today, I thought of a reason.
It may be stupid and crazy, but I'll stand by it until someone proves me wrong.
If the butterflies few straight, birds would be able to catch them.
So, in evolution, only the jerky flying butterflies avoided capture, most of them.
And most who flew straight died for being straight (no political statement intended).
So irregular pattern butterflies, reproduced and made more of their kind.
And butterflies fly in jerky patterns because it worked for their ancient ancestors.
Works for me.
And for butterflies.
Didn't mean to be so harsh yesterday, just worried about how few are reading my blog these days.
I'm pondering what is going on in our country.
President Biden ended a 20 year war and didn't know how fast the army in Afghanistan would collapse. He was just living into a deal the former president made with the Taliban.
People who won't be vaccinated are putting others and children at risk from the Covid virus.
There's no reasoning with the MAGA folks who think Biden stole the election.
Wild fires, hurricanes, rain and heat are effecting everyone except, it seems, New England.
Climate change is real, but there are many deniers.
Another possible attack on the capitol have caused D.C. to put up a fence around the building.
I can't get my head around it all.
I need to breathe deeply, meditate and wonder and ponder.
I think we all do.
And then we need to DO SOMETHING to bring our country back to it's senses.
I've complained about this before, but I will again.
My blog watchers are terribly low.
I was averaging over 6000 views a month. Last month was just under 3000 and this month seems on track for that or less.
Am I not being interesting?
Am I too left-wing?
Am I simply loosing your interest?
I don't know.
But I don't do this for fun--I do it to share stuff with you out there.
But where are you?
Am I a whiny brat?
Maybe so.
