These graces remain more than regional fashion; they intend respect and appreciation, expressing our mutual recognition of one another, even in disagreement …

Image credit: Jonathan Beckley

For those of us who grew up somewhere other than LA, New York, or Boston, bands provided a taxonomic shorthand for identity that could counter the happenstance of our geography, the cut of our cheek bones, and the financial circumstances of our homes…

Punishment and possession … rage and suffering … orthodontia …

Hebrew tradition asks for the tithe, ten percent of one’s income. The Portrieux fishermen contributed one-seventh of their life and labors. And the poor widow? She gave everything she had. How generously does God call you to give?

Our time together remains as near as a song, or a scent, or a place, and I believe in the love conjured by those memories, there is God – and where God is, they are … different, of course, but meaningful, real …

In the story world of our contemporary lives, violence and political madness wrack us with grief and anxiety.  In response, we have too often contributed to the unholy momentums of the extant narratives, hating our opponents, rather than loving our enemies. 

All of us spend time as a rolling coin, a dawdling lamb, a distracted preschooler … lost, whether we know it or not – and be sure that Jesus also tells these parables for us. Jesus reassures us God’s capacity for Grace has not diminished because we ended up between the world’s sofa cushions. Jesus tells us that God never calls off the search, promises that God’s patience, persistence, and grace will always overcome our wandering.