Thursday Reflection September 2, 2021

 

Did you wash your hands?  Did you make your bed?  Did you clean up your room?

At times, life appears to be full of rules.  

This past year has certainly been filled with rules about cleaning.  Wash your hands, did you use hand sanitizer?  Do you have your mask—is it of medical quality?  

Then, there was the cleaning of tables—among a variety of other surfaces.  I think of how we all pay more attention when out in public—how effective the cleaning of public spaces has been done.

In the gospel for last Sunday, the Pharisees and scribes are harassing Jesus and his followers about washing their hands before they eat.  

This past year, washing our hands has not only become customary prior to eating.  It is now, before you touch that door handle, before you touch the shopping cart.  Before, before, before……… Then after, after, after……

Of course, this all good.

Reading this gospel, we quickly discover that Jesus is teaching about love, not the law.  Is life about keeping the law, or is it about showing and sharing the love of God through our actions in life.  

As we are entering into the 4th wave of COVID across our country, we need, I believe, to think about why we should—or why we should not—receive the vaccine.  At the same time, why—or why not—mask.

Jesus would tell us it is about our love for others. 

It is about protecting those around us, those who we love, those who we encounter.  

During our time in Saskatoon, we had the opportunity to visit with a mother and her three children (8, 6, 3).  

To witness their comfort with masking was such an encouraging moment for us.  From their mother, “I see it as just showing how much we care about, and love, our family, friends and strangers.”

Keeping the rules is about love:  it is like a red light at an intersection.  It is about life and death.

Blessings to all families this week as our children return to school, and for all our leaders in education.

 

In Christ,

Archdeacon Brian+