I was going to post a rant about the lack of truthfulness in our public discourse ( don't worry I will post it) but the devastation of Hurricane Sandy cannot go without comment. To watch the pictures, whether it is the coast of New Jersey or NYC or just around the neighborhood, one can only be awed by the power of nature. In relative terms, Havertown got off lightly, some down wires and toppled trees but that was the worst of it.To see the pictures of the utter destruction elsewhere reminds me of how precarious our lives are.
We tend to think that we are secure in our existence, that nothing can touch us. Well, pictures of Manhattan being flooded or Laguardia Airport looking like Venice quickly puts that security to question. The view of downed trees or sand filled streets of the Jersey coast reminds us that no matter what we do, no matter what precautions we take, life is uncertain.
Have you ever noticed how we are more human when we are reminded of this, that our lives are in fact uncertain? Many authors have written about the post 9/11 reaction of the United States when neighbors actually acted like neighbors, but then over time true nature came back out. As Hurricane Sandy approached, I noticed neighbors speaking to others they normally did not talk to, that included myself. Following the hurricane, neighbors worked hand in hand to help clean up. Why is it that we are at our best when we are in our darkest times?
Now don't get me wrong, if there is an admirable trait of humanity it is that when our backs are against the wall, we tend to transcend to another level. But why does it take a 9/11 or a catastrophic hurricane to bring us to this point? To quote the band Switchfoot "We were meant to live for so much more." As we recover from this disaster, and we will recover, perhaps we can live for so much more.
The Book of Leviticus gets its fare share of criticism as being archaic and rather out of touch. Yet it is also a valuable tool for creating a better world. Leviticus 19 epitomizes Jesus' teaching of loving neighbor as self, as God calls the community of Israel to share of its resources, to deal fairly with one another, to live with justice, to not hate in your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself. In Jesus ministry, he points out that life can be precarious, that bad things can happen but that our lives do not need to be defined by this. He demonstrated that we need not live lives in which we only look out for ourselves to fend off evil but that we can lead fuller lives by giving of ourselves to others.
Even living by Jesus' call will not keep us safe from disasters like Hurricane Sandy, but it will certainly make life more meaningful and create a society in which we truly look out for one another. We cannot live to our potential by living for ourselves, we can only live for more when we live for one another. Following Sandy, we can only live for one another as we seek to rebuild, but more importantly let us continue to live for each other as we build the Kingdom.
