No One and Nothing Left Behind

How was your summer?  I hear linger by the sea was a great success.

We had a great August.  Good family time.

Well now summer is over.  Many of our friends who summer here have gone away.  The kids are back in school.  The rain and the wind have come.  Everyone is starting to settle into their fall routines.  Life is getting back to normal.

Our readings today would be easy to interpret in the summer.  During the summer we would be talking about paying attention to each other and forgetting about the strangers among us.  These readings are not nearly as comfortable once the tourists have gone.

All of our readings warn us not to neglect anyone for any reason.  Poverty, disease, age, because we just don’t like them.  Even Jesus had to be reminded … Syrophoenician woman.

Who deserves our care?

Meetings to develop a community safety plan for N of Smokey.

Support each other.  No one left out.  No community left out.

Good start, but I think we need to go much further.  Has anyone heard of Silent Spring?  (by Rachel Carson about the dangers of over use of pesticides such as DDT, published 50 years ago, led to the modern environmentalist movement and the EPA, she was sued by Monsanto and others for publishing it)

Our actions and our inactions, things done and left undone, have consequences. ….

And so we pray – Gracious God, we give you thanks for this wonderful community that you have put in our care.  Help us always to be mindful of the needs of your people and show us how to care for your creation.  This we ask in Jesus name.  Amen.