Liturgy 037: Beryl

🕊️ A Reflection and a Blessing for Kindness in the Storm

“Which of these three
do you think was a neighbor
to the man who fell
into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied,
“The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him,
“Go and do likewise.”

Luke 10:36-37

💡 Reflection

My family and I diverted north, staying far out of Hurricane Beryl’s path.

While discussing the terrible images of roads flooded, trees uprooted, fences blown down, and homes ruined, we pull up to a quaint burger spot in downtown Fort Worth.

Midway into our meal, a middle aged lady decides to sit at the table next to us on the patio.

I pay her no mind.

I bite into a juicy medium-rare cheeseburger, when I hear a loud and sudden BOOM! BOOM! BOOM-BOOM!

What???

I look up and I see the lady grimacing, grabbing her finger.

There is blood.

As she was moving a table, the stone tabletop had fallen off its frame and cracked on the floor, the remains of the table cutting into her skin.

Immediately, intuitively, instinctively… my wife gets up and asks, “Oh my God! Are you alright?”

At the exact same time of immediacy, three other random strangers come to this woman’s aid. They rearrange the patio furniture and place the broken tabletop in a safe place. They too ask if she’s alright.

As I get up, my wife speaks. “Hey Mike. Can you and Zoe grab the Neosporin and Band-aid from our First-Aid Kit?”

We go.

Our six-year old child brings this complete stranger antibacterial ointment and an adhesive bandage. My wife helps apply the Band-Aid on her finger.

It all happened in a moment.

Sudden disaster and sudden acts of kindness.

I’ve already lectured my daughters a thousand times. Poor girls. Pray for them. I drop life lessons on the daily. I teach them the Bible. I read them stories. I exegete Jesus’ parables with them. I field their theological inquiries about the impossibility of God’s omnipresence. I bring them to church. I ask incisive questions about their Sunday School lessons…

But there is nothing like seeing your own mother instinctively respond to a stranger’s pain with immediate kindness.

What better witness can we give our children than to respond to disaster with kindness towards our neighbors?

🙏 Prayer

LORD

Everyone wants to be an expert in the Law. Airing out their hot takes on race, gender,
politics, and faith… Help me, instead, to be like the Samaritan — one who cares for the material well being of those he has been taught his whole life to despise.

For you told me to go and do likewise.

Amen

🕊️ Blessing

May you cultivate a natural impulse towards kindness in the face of disaster. May you do the work of exercising kindness when it feels unnatural. May you help mend fences. May you help pick up trash. May you send money. May you create space to listen. May you be a witness to the kingdom of God.

In the Name of the One who Entered Our Broken World with Loving Kindness
Amen