December 21

In September I lived through Hurricane Helene. The town I call home – Green Mountain, North Carolina – was decimated. Neighbors died. The land and rivers were altered for generations by flooding and landslides. What residents imagined their lives would look like changed overnight as people lost jobs, housing, transportation, and access to basic amenities. As recovery from the disaster began, we were filled with the knowledge that we must lay down old divisions in order to reclaim not just well-worn routines but some sense of joy and hope. We sat down in the destruction together and are rising up transformed by our proximity to loss and precarity.

For so long we have applauded the predator. We have turned towards the power offered by the strong even when we have needed the medicine that is carried by creatures in touch with humility and vulnerability. Today’s passage calls us to remember that we are working towards a world where all forms of destruction and control are abolished in favor of solidarity between all living things. May we let those who are intimately acquainted with the dangers of our fascination with violence and ill-gotten authority lead us into a new, more holy reality.

Prayer

Almighty God,
who comes to dwell among us,
full of precarious life,
awaken us to the teachers in our midst
who will show us the way
to vulnerable solidarity
with all living beings;
the way to peace.
Amen.

Freedom Song

Music: All One Heart by Melanie DeMore
Offered by: Lynice Pinkard