SPIRITUALITY
Sermon of the Grapevine
A small beacon of hope as we live through a time of pruning.
I have been feeling very stressed, saddened, disappointed, and profoundly disturbed by the protester activity happening on American college campuses lately. It’s to the point where I can barely stand to listen to the news. I feel tangled up in knots of fear, anxiety, appalled bewilderment, despair, and anger at my fellow citizens.
How can we be so hateful to each other? Students who protested against racism after George Floyd’s death seem to think racism against Jewish people is just fine — even unto their death. What the heck?! This is not the way we’re supposed to act. We know better than this — or we should.
What I see on these university campuses is a lot of violent, immature, groupthinking sheeple who need to have boundaries imposed on them, but whose university leadership refuses to impose such boundaries. Even though everyone involved is of legal age, there are no adults in the room.
Anxiety about all of that was on my mind when I went to church this morning. Today’s sermon, however, eased my mind somewhat, though what I created from it is likely not quite what my rector intended. Still, it at least helped me find a path to hope, where I didn’t have one before.