Monday Morning Musing: New Jersey & points East

So many states along the eastern seaboard are devastated by the impact of Hurricane Helene. Because we have such a short attention span, and we are staring down wars and rumors of wars and an election in which inexplicably, a convicted felon is a viable candidate for the highest office in the land, our ability to really take in the magnitude of these disasters - all of them - is shortened by our own overwhelm and inattention.

It's heartbreaking to watch on social media as people post photos of their loved ones who are still unaccounted for. I cannot imagine their agony. I also cannot imagine the pain of losing all that one has in this way.

I'm so grateful for all of the relief efforts that are making their way to these impacted areas. Please support them as you are able and please pray for all those whose lives have been forever changed.

Last week I started a sort of reflection on the states in which I've resided, intending to take them in the order I lived in them. Which would bring me to New Jersey, where we were stationed when I was just two years old, after returning from Germany. I remember very little about New Jersey, but my earliest concrete memories are from this state. I remember the floor plan of the tiny one bedroom duplex where we lived, including my first lucid memory which is something about getting new black patent leather shoes and trying them on in my crib. I also remember that our neighbors' house was on stilts, so we must have lived within reach of potential storm surges. I wouldn't have known what that meant, of course, but it puts me in mind of the many children whose lives were affected by Helene.

Scientists and meteorologists know that with the increased temperatures of our oceans, especially the Atlantic, hurricanes pack a more brutal punch. Our relentless unwillingness to take seriously God's call to steward creation as partners and not as consumers is partly to blame for the increase in severity and frequency of these storms.

I'm reminded of this prayer/poem by Walter Brueggemann:

We are takers

You are the giver of all good things.

All good things are sent from heaven above,

rain and sun,

day and night,

justice and righteousness,

bread to the eater and

seed to the sower,

peace to the old,

energy to the young,

joy to the babes.

We are takers, who take from you,

day by day, daily bread,

taking all we need as you supply,

taking in gratitude and wonder and joy.

And then taking more,

taking more than we need,

taking more than you give us,

taking from our sisters and brothers,

taking from the poor and the weak,

taking because we are frightened, and so greedy,

taking because we are anxious, and so fearful,

taking because we are driven, and so uncaring.

Give us peace beyond our fear, and so end our greed.

Give us well being beyond our anxiety, and so end our fear.

Give us abundance beyond our drivenness,

and so end our uncaring.

Turn our taking into giving...since we are in your giving image:

Make us like you,

giving gladly and not taking,

giving in abundance, not taking,

giving in joy, not taking,

giving as he gave himself up for us all,

giving, never taking. Amen.