A Two Goal Lead is the Most Dangerous Lead...

I came across these two quotes in a magazine from my Alma Mater on Service Learning. I found them interestingly and potentially in conflict with one another. First: "There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist fighting for peace by non-violent methods most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of it innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of activists neutralizes their work for peace. It destroys their own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fullness of their own work, because...

What is it that we know, and what is it that we don’t know? These readings make me wonder deeply about the things I claim to know and the things I claim not to know. We think we know what it would take to feed five thousand people then, six months wages. What would it take to feed five thousand people today? When we think of feeding five thousand people, do we look at it as if it is the state fair, do we consider feeding people in that way? Or do we look at our weddings, our blessing ceremonies, or other celebratory moments in our lives where we fed, 10, 50, 100 or 250 people? So what is it that we know, and what is it that we do not know? I think it is an interesting question to ask ourselves, what is it we do not know? What are the moments where we have been surprised by our lack of knowledge, or where our knowledge was expanded by something new we had learned? What sorts of moments make us think to ourselves, or exclaim out loud, “I didn’t know that!” I love it when Eliot ...

No rest for the weary, these are the kind of sentiments that come with today’s Gospel, these ideas that ministry is never done, and we have to always be on our toes, constantly running around, looking for that homeless person, or that other person in need, or that one widow, or orphan that needs our help. It’s right there in the Gospel, “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.” We are constantly bombarded by this message that we have to always be doing good, we have to always be aware and always be ready to give our last dollar to someone who is in need. Our brains seem to be wired to think this way, to put the successful completion of ministry well beyond our grasp, beyond our hope for fulfillment. I hear it all the time from people here at Gethsemane. Particularly from folks who work the Shelf of Hope. How can we possibly accept one more person? How will we ever get enough food? I hear it from the Bishop’s Committee, how do we start the next great p...