The Second Gaze - Hot Drinks
This photo is a part of my morning ritual - making coffee for my awesome wife. She says I make it out of self-defense but I do it because it is a tangible way of saying, "I love you", every morning when she gets up. It is an act of serving her.
After the attacks yesterday in Washington DC, I personally woke up still unsettled. Yes, I prayed last night and lit candles for peace, but there was and still is a feeling of "what else can I do?" As I meditated on this, the story of Jesus at the Last supper stirred in me. In the most anxiety riddled time of his life to that point, Jesus acted beyond his fears and anxieties and knelt before each of those with him and washed their feet. He did this for all of them even knowing that one had already betrayed him and that at least one other would deny him in the hours and days to come.
After Jesus had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.
John 13:12-15
So, what can we do? We can be intentional about serving and loving one another. We can do something today that blesses someone else. We can serve one another, honor one another, see the common humanity in one another, love one another as Jesus showed us. Today, find a way to do that, not just for those you like and see eye-to-eye with, but even more so today for someone you don't.
One of our page-a-day calendars is a daily quote from Mister Rogers. Here was yesterday's quote...
As different as we are from one another, as unique as each one of us is, we are much more the same than we are different. That may be the most essential message of all, as we help our children grow towards being caring, compassionate, and charitable adults.
Mister Rogers
This doesn't mean that we ignore injustice or those things that are not of the Gospel. We speak, we act, we pray. But we do so in the ways of love, humility, grace, of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit.