Amos 5: 18-24 (links validated 10/1/23)

As the cry for justice is made and blanket accountability is set out perhaps it is also a time to cry for mercy. Composer Max Richter recently released an album entitled “Voices” in part as a response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The project features readings of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and centers Article One which states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” The final song of the project, “Mercy,” evokes a sense of mourning, reflection and tentative hope with a reminder of the dignity of human persons and the exposure of deprivation and disregard of persons. A cry for mercy is an act of recognition. Paired with a cry for justice, a cry for mercy proclaims that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” while simultaneously acknowledging the failure of upholding that declaration...

On January 25, 1978, the temperature in Columbus, Ohio, was in the 40s and it was sprinkling rain. The possibility of snow the next day was mentioned on the late news, but not with any real concern. Not until about 4 a.m. on the 26th did the barometric pressure drop to below 29 inches and the National Weather Service realize that something big and bad was about to happen. The air pressure drops that low only for hurricanes, and there was no time to warn anyone. We were all caught off-guard. The ensuing storm would be called by some the “White Hurricane” -- but its official name became the “Great Blizzard of 1978,” the worst in the history of the state of Ohio. Fifty-one people died in Ohio alone, thousands were without power, and the entire state became frozen in place for more than three days...

Once Mother Teresa was invited to a hunger conference in Bombay. She lost her way, and arrived late at the appointed place. On the steps outside, she noticed a man, dying of hunger. Instead of going in, she took him, and fed him. Inside, they were talking about so much food supply in so many years, statistics here, statistics there -- while a real person was dying on the steps outside. There is another great moment in her life when a wealthy woman from America found Mother Teresa, whipped out her checkbook, and said, "I want to write you a check to support your work." Mother Teresa looked up, shook her head and said, "No money." "What?" the lady replied, "No money. You won't take my money? I have a lot of money, this money can help you." And again she heard, "No money." "No money! Well then, what can I do?" Mother Teresa smiled that inimitable smile, took her by the hand, and said, "Come and see." She led this woman deep into the barrios of Calcutta, searching, until finally she came upon a small, grimy child. Mother Teresa said, "Take care of her," and the woman took a cloth, and bathed the little girl, took a spoon and fed her. And she reported later that her life was changed. When Mother Teresa first came to the United States, she made a great speech in New York, in which she said, "You don't have to go to Calcutta to share in my work. Calcutta is wherever you are. Wherever you are, there are people who hurt, who need love. Find them. Love them. For in loving them, you love Jesus."...

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Have you ever wondered why films like Captain Spaulding, Duck Soup, and A Night at the Opera seem to revolve around Groucho Marx unleashing a string of insults at a stuffy society matron? It was not merely because such a character was the perfect foil for the Marx Brothers' anarchic brand of humour; or, indeed, because they were getting a cheap laugh at the expense of someone else...

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("Ken Chafin told us about a church in Houston, a Methodist church, that was growing by leaps and bounds. He asked the church's pastor about that. Ken said, 'You don't seem "evangelistic" – you don't preach evangelistic sermons or have altar calls or use the latest church growth programs. But you seem to be the fastest growing church in town. What are you doing?' And the pastor told him, 'When you speak to the pain people are feeling and when you address the hurts and problems people see around then, it is the most evangelistic thing you can do'...")