Pentecost +2 Sunday – C4

Pentecost +2 Sunday – C4

Years C
Luke 7:11-17

The gate of complaint and resolution is an appropriate meeting place for this tale. A procession of daily death exits every city. A parade of compassion meets it.

Here in the place of judges and prophets we are called to decide whether or not we will be part of a procession or a parade. In coming to this decision we will make political as well as religious choices.

Practically, will we lay our hand on the casket of HIV/AIDS/TB and allocate resources to send people back to their families? Will we put our hand out to the bier carrying a child and going back for another who could be returned to their family if health care were universal rather than a privilege? Will we touch the flag-draped coffins of the war-injured and war-dead with spoken and acted resistance to government-sponsored violence?

Will it finally be said of our participation in a parade of life that "G*D in us has looked favorably on people and creation"?

= = = = = = =

compassion flows
like a gentle river
with the power of a flood
through a marching band in step
in random clown's feet

compassion flows
to counteract pain's presence
loss's agony
with a song for the heart
and a hope reborn

compassion flows
with an invitation
to risk joining
leaving expectations
behind

compassion flows
toward emptiness
touching what is not there
revealing
restoring