Thursday, August 13

Today’s Readings: Psalm 109; 2 Samuel 18:9-18; Mark 10:23-31; Acts 26:24-32; Psalm 49

It has been fascinating for me to watch clips from town hall meetings around the United States that have dealt with the issue of health care. I have been surprised by some of the venom that has been produced under the guise of “talking” about the issue. The depth of the feelings involved clued me in early on that there was more at stake in these conversations than just the state of our health care system. So what else is at stake in these conversations? I certainly can’t speak for everyone, but from where I’m sitting it would seem that what is at stake is people’s ability to believe they can control their own fate. The very thought that some pieces of the reform might limit their ability to access some aspects of the health care system is more than they can bear – so they resort to shouts and insults to drown out the voices of those who would advocate for those already locked out of the existing health care system. As I watch the clips each night, I can’t help but think how ironic it is they some are fighting for the ability to “control” things – for I believe that much of the control they believe they have is really an illusion. As the psalmist pointed out in today’s second Psalm: “There’s no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn’t guarantee life forever…” (Psalm 49:7-9 from The Message). Those are critically important words to remember. As people who live in a society that constantly extols the virtues of self-reliance at every turn, those words are a brutal reminder that we cannot control everything. So where are you with all of this? Do you shake your fist and scream at those aspects of life that reveal your limitations, or have you made peace with the notion that you can’t buy/control/manipulate everything? Til next time…