Keep calm and lock the doors

Flipping through my normal news sources, I came across an 'in other news' story about the Occupy London (dubbed by the BBC as 'anti-capitalist protest').  Seems that said protests are large enough that they have accidentally done what the Nazis needed the Blitz to do, they have shuttered St. Paul's Cathedral.

Citing health and safety concerns, the Right Reverend Graeme Knowles, dean of the cathedral, announced that they will be closing St. Paul's until further notice. As can be seen by the image above, the protest camp is sandwiched between the historic cathedral and the Exchange, filling Paternoster Square.

What struck me about this story most is that I see it as a sad tale of missed opportunity.  Here is a large group of people who are following their conscience and speaking out against economic/social injustice and the Church, rather than providing assistance and showing that they are sensitive to the needs of their neighbour, decide to turn out the lights and lock the doors.

Is that the message that they wish to send?
Is that the message we wish to be sent?
Is that the message that Christ has charged them to preach?
Where is God in this?

Thoughts about the reading - the 99% and the 1%

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me.  Therefore I did away with them as you have seen." (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

The top 1% in the US control more wealth than the bottom 95% combined.  The average worker in the US makes 20 times as much as the average worker in the global economy, which is $2/day.  1 billion people in the world work for under $1/day.

The US, as a nation, throws away half of the food it buys and over 1/3rd of the population is clinically obese, yet almost 15% of people in the US don't know where their next meal is coming from.  An estimated 3.5 million people in the US are homeless, 1.35 million of whom are children.

I pray that there are 50 good men/women in America tonight.  Shoot, I'll settle for 5.

Ignoring the hand

This all starts about a week ago when someone very close to me said that her cousin was in hospital and in grave condition.  The guess was that he OD'd, but honestly, nobody on this plane will ever know for sure. The cousin is my age and has been openly gay for years.  As he decided whether or not to shuffle off his mortal coil, half of the family was making fumbling attempts about being supportive while the other half was warming up the band to dance on his grave.  All of them good Christians, you know.

Dad and I talked and I did what I do.  On Wednesday, the matter was settled and he passed on.  In the end, I know that said cousin rests in the arms of the Divine, despite what any prelate or preacher would tell you. 

Today, I read of yet another boy who, at least partially due to bullying, decided that it won't 'get better' and chose to take up arms against his sea of troubles.  Jayme Hubley was 15, had started the rainbow alliance in his school and was active in trying to make this world a better place.  

What grieves my soul is what put both of them there.  It's what put Jamie and Seth and Jayme and Billy and Chris and all the rest there.  This felt need to escape.  There are a raft of things which fill the bill, from TV to 'the homosexual lifestyle' to drugs and even suicide, but all of them are escaping. 

Escaping a world which is seems uncaring at best and actively hostile at worst.  Escaping a world filled with inhumanity and solitude and hopelessness.  Escaping a world filled with grave-dancers and haters, of narcissists and navel-gazers.  These things are also a cry.  A cry for help.  A cry in the darkness.  A cry asking if there is anyone out there and does anybody care.

If we are the eyes and hands of Christ, then we NEED to see these people.  We need to hear their cries and we need to answer them.  We need to grasp the hands of the men and women who are drowning and let them know that our God, through us, hears their cries, feels their pain and DOES give a damn...does love them...does care.

If we do not, then all of the theology is for naught, all of the preaching is but words and all of the Scripture is dust.