History of human compassion | Song about heaven |

Friends,

Well I came home from Los Angeles with a cold. Struggled through laryngitis to preach, twice, to an amazing congregation that is making a difference in their town.

Now to try to get enough rest to be ready for the last two book events this lent--one in Vermont and one in Massachusetts.

-Liz

Can This Nation Survive?

Can this nation survive? Come back to life? We believe in resurrection, does that include the nation?

When Ezekiel sees the valley of dry bones he has already been taken into exile by the Babylonians. He already imagines his nation as destroyed, and gone. He says honestly that it is only God who knows if they can be restored (Ezekiel 37:3).

The question may be premature for our nation, for perhaps we are not yet destroyed? It is hard to tell when we are in the midst of the breakdown. Like ancient Judah, where Ezekiel grew up, most of us didn't notice the ways we've been falling apart for decades. He only became a prophet after he, as part of the governmental and priestly authorities, are carried off to Babylon.

Our understanding of the Bablyonian Exile is that most people were not exiled. The land of Judah is still full of ordinary people who are farming, baking bread, and caring for one another. It is only the top of society that was removed, and feel that their nation has died. For those back home, all that has changed is a different (unjust) government is in charge.

Ezekiel was a priest, and he identifies that before the exile, the nation failed to honor the "glory of God". He probably meant that God's presence had gone, or was not felt, due to the people's worship of other gods and the injustice of the leaders.

Likewise, in our times, the large majority of people are simply going on with their lives as our nation moves closer and closer to the image of dried bones. This should not be understood as a critique of the majority--most lives are full of work and family and daily challenges and victories that leave little room for considering the future of the nation.

Nor should we assume that those who are not acting are either in favor, or against, or ignorant of what is happening. There is only so much time in the day. When the world is not treating you justly sometimes the response is simply to keep finding a way to keep eating. Some of those who are simply going on are worshiping the God of justice, asking god for help, staying focused on the glory of God. Some of those who are simply going on are turning to other god's--in todays world turning to the god of nationalism, of hatred, of fear.

Those who have power more often are turning to gods of power and greed.

God's response to the bones is to breathe into them, to put their spirit into them, to place the nation back in its original soil. The children of the exile do return to the land, bringing with them the rich heritage of scriptures they have written--a record of the story of God saving the nation again and again.

It is interesting that the leaders of that nation, sent away to be people without power and without wealth, remember the stories of their creation, their growth as a nation, and of God's judgment that lead to the exile as all being dependent on justice. The arc of the story they write is that it is prioritizing God, and prioritizing love of neighbor that leads to strength, and that it is turning away from God and rejecting care for our neighbors that leads to destruction.

There is ample research that suggests that care for one another is what advanced civilization. That as we formed community, we began to care for those who could not care for themselves. In biblical history, and certainly in the world we see around us, we at the same time are not always able to prioritize our care of others. Perhaps our communities are too large, perhaps we are naturally inclined to hoard poverty and wealth.

But we know for sure that the Christian call is to release our wealth and to care for the least of our siblings. Can this nation live? I believe the answer is partially dependent on whether we are willing to change our ways.

Can this nation survive? What do you think? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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An old article from National Geographic on the history of compassion in human kind.

Song: Susan Werner, (Why is Your) Heaven So Small?

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