Of this world, in this world

Ephesians 6:12

     I woke up in the middle of the night last night, unable to return to sleep for well over an hour. I made the mistake of picking up my phone and with the back light set at low, I scanned the headlines of the day. My mind was racing. Such hate, such vitriol, such lies.  It really was the evils of the world that St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians about. I was feeling very overwhelmed. My response was anger and , yes, hate manifested by more restless. I knew that this was not mindfulness. I knew this is not what God wanted. I knew I had to alter course, even at 1:30 am.

     Yesterday I spoke of Lions laying down with lambs and briefly, how we are called to act.  I would have to double down on that today even as I appear to have faulted on that very task in less than 24 hours.  Jesus did not come and enter our humanity to be part of the political melee that surrounds us. It surrounded him as well with a different cast of characters. Jesus rose above it even as we know he died at the hands of that very religio-political war. If we just have a minimum of faith we know that Jesus did not die in vain.  WE know that Martin Luther King Jr. did not die in vain.  As faithful people we are called to rise above the mess and use a higher standard for actions and for seeing he world. 

      Conversion to Jesus' alternate way of seeing things and acting is what we are all about as humans. It is Lent in the extreme. It reminds me of the adage to 'in the world, but not of the world'.  It has all to do with not following the examples set out for us by Wall street, Madison avenue and the hallways of Washington D.C.

       While we are searching for ways to find ourselves and listen to God, perhaps we also need to focus on ways to focus on the task at hand and not be high jacked by the world.