Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
“God created them, male and female, God created them.”
Genesis 1:27
She is 37 years old; she is doing her best to keep living, living with a cancer that is most certain to kill her. Is a cure possible? “There is no cure,” she says. “There is no cure for being human.” She loves her husband and her young son, her career is satisfying, by all outward appearances she has it all. The only problem is that she is dying, a result of being human. There is no cure for being human. On good days she is buoyed by faith; she is mostly OK with this mysterious God, whose work is beyond her understanding. On not so good days, she is plagued by doubt. Don’t you see, “There is no cure for being human.” Hearing her speak those words was a not-so-subtle reminder that I too am human, and indeed, there is no cure for me either, though I might currently be living in some form of denial.
There is no cure for being human. We are all pretty much the same. We are dust and to dust we shall return. Broken, fragile, insecure, afraid, and vulnerable, we are at our core and by nature, human. Our shared humanity is undeniable. The diversity that we experience, beautiful in its own right, cannot trump our shared humanity. There is no cure for being human. Rich or poor, gay or straight, black or brown, young or old, married or single, democrat or republican, when it has all been said and done, we are just human beings, living for a while on this blue planet, sure to return to God when this journey ends.
There is no cure for being human. So, can we, might we, just be a little kinder to those that we live with, our co-workers and customers? Might we be more patient with the slow driver on Highway 525, and more compassionate to the single mother who struggles to feed her children?
We can do this in 2021. We can do this together. We can make our island home a more gentle, loving, and hospitable place to pass our days. We can share our humanity with all of its joys and struggles.
One day closer.
Pastor Jim
