Love and mercy
One day not too long ago, as I drove my daughter to her dance lessons, we pulled up next to a car at a stop light. I noticed as we approached that their gas tank door was open (who hasn’t been there at least once?). Trying to be kind, I tried to get their attention. Nothing. I honked the horn. Mid-startle, they looked over to me.
I had no way of signing “your gas door is open” so I gestured for them to roll down their window. Now…how would you make this gesture?
Being a person of a certain age, I motioned like I was rolling down an old crank window, a feature that was slowly being phased out of new cars in the 1980s when I was in early elementary school. Then I realized that the person driving the car was likely in their early 20s. They had no idea what I was doing. After an awkward exchange, I got the point across, and they were grateful.
Evolution can be a challenging thing for many of us. Realizing that old ways of communicating, thinking, and being aren’t the norms anymore can be jarring.
The other day, I played a little game with my kids. How do you make the following gestures:
– Hang up a phone. For me, I motion with my pinky and thumb that I am setting down the receiver of a phone. For my kids, they take their pointer finger and motion like they are pushing a button on their hand.
-Take a picture. For me, I use my pointer and click the top of a film camera. For my kids, they mimic pushing a button on a cell phone.
Examples are all over.
Over the years, I’ve reflected on some of the words and phrases that I used in the past. Words that, at the time, seemed fine and were ubiquitous. But now, they are insensitive; not because people are more fragile, but because the words I previously used were offensive and didn’t honor the humanity in others. Our language evolves.
In one way, it can feel as if the world around us changes, and we don’t know how to respond.
Even if technology changes our hand gestures, there are many things in our daily lives that will never change and that is the simple fact that people…all of them (even you)… are beloved. But seeing that is getting harder.
I’ve been reflecting a lot over the past few weeks on the parable of the good Samaritan. Many of you know this story from Luke 10. A man is injured, two pious individuals see him and his plight, but walk on by. The last, the one nobody expected to stop, did, and got him help. When Jesus asked which was a neighbor to the injured man, the answer was, “the one who showed mercy.”
Not solely in this story, Jesus whole ministry was marked by showing love, grace, and mercy. He showed love to the woman at the well, mercy to criminals on crosses, grace to those the community wanted to scorn.
It feels like one of those moments when we ourselves need to be reminded of the Christian call to love, grace, and mercy. Love to those whose well-being is being threatened; grace to those identified as not-good-enough; mercy to and for people who may have forgotten the divine, God-breathed life in all.
As much as the world around us changes over the years, and it does in both good and challenging ways, the need for love and mercy in our society stays the same. Where people are scared, the call of the Chrisitan is to comfort; where people are misguided and selfish, the Christian call is to redirect to divine goodness and inclusion; where people live in uncertainty, the Christian call is to accompany and support.
People in our world need love and hope, they always have and always will. Our invitation through the work of Jesus, in light of the good Samaritan, is to see where the mercy is needed today. And then to do something; not overwhelmed by the magnitude of society’s challenges, but to do something today that will show love and mercy.
Love and mercy are always needed, and they are needed today. Find a way to show it to a neighbor. Love needs no translation because love doesn’t change.
Janette Schmidt
Thanks so much for this reminder of showing love and mercy to our neighbor.
Janette Schmidt
Thanks so much for this reminder of showing love and mercy to our neighbor.
Janette Schmidt
Thanks so much for this reminder of showing love and mercy to our neighbor.
Tom Dryg
Thanks Mark! Needed the message today.
Deborah Lamp
Great message and a good reminder to everyone. Thanks Pastor Mark!
Amy Anderson
I wonder if “a penny for your thoughts” will become like the “roll down your window” with the penny being phased out. Makes me recall the phones on the walls with a really long cord 🥸 I hope that compassion & caring continues to stick around.