Sarah D. Shearer

I live a beautiful, full life. The pure joy of my daily encounters are often so good, I am hesitant to harp on them too much, for fear of shining too brightly in a world suffering so much. As if going on and on about my happiness makes light of others’ pain.

I’m not sure that’s how it works. I like to stay connected, but I have a love hate relationship with being informed. Seeing all of this about the the caravan from my beloved Honduras has filled my mind and heart with so many thoughts. Me, who holds no real place of power, me, whose perspective is surely stilted.

I’m not going to take much of your time today. I merely want to implore the church of Jesus Christ, all who claim his name, and most assuredly, myself, chief hypocrite, to consider our responsibility as Christians.

We place a high level of responsibility on the government to take care of the poor, but what if we stopped expecting it of our government and started expecting it of ourselves. What if before we asked what trump was doing to help the poor, we first looked inward and asked, what am I doing to help the poor?

I am so quick to judge, when I am dormant and inactive. I am so quick to look with scorn on how a church is responding to something rather than rolling up my own sleeves and getting my hands dirty.

Similarly, we are so apt to blame violence on the government, rather than examining our own violent hearts. We shift the blame on everything but the core viciousness of humanity left unchecked. What if we looked into our homes and families and began there, rather than expecting a broken system to fix a broken people?

We need Jesus in our homes and schools and hearts and hospitals and businesses and our government too. But why must we expect him to don a suit and start with changing the laws when what he wants is our hearts? We will never find the reformation we desire there.

I challenge all of us to do one thing for the poor this week. One thing for someone outside of our circle. Our comfort zone. I want the reformation that begins in the coffee shop and the wal Mart parking lot more than anything. If we are looking for ways to live significant lives, we need look no further. There are opportunities all around us. Let’s shut up and get to work.