BUT "...WE ARE NOT CONSUMED..."

  Our wonderful pastor at the Haydenville UCC church, Mark Seifried, always posts a short Scripture verse each morning. This heartens, enlightens, and reminds us of the solid ground we stand on (God's earth) when what we see happening in our country makes me feel definitely wobbly and as if the earth were shifting in an earthquake.

  Today's was this: "Because of the Loving One's great love, we are not consumed, for God's compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23)

  How can you take that into your heart? How can you write this upon the palms of your hands (as the Gospels tell us our names are written on the palms of God's hands) to give you courage and strength for the days ahead, which are dark indeed?

  "...we are not consumed..." Some of you may know that I have become passionately interested in World War II, following several sites on FB, sites with videos or photographs; a World War II Rationing place;

 Old London Photos; and more. My Dad was a Captain in the army stateside and was a manager at a Southern company making blowup materiel for the Ghost Army. (If you do not know about this, please research it, as it is fascinating.) Someone tried to bribe him with $350 dollars (a huge amount of $$ then) to pass the rubber tanks on without inspecting them, but he refused. He was always very proud of this, as were we.

 

  Along with my passionate interest in this period of our history (I see myself as a child of World War II), I have become fascinated by Nella Last's Diaries. She was a housewife in Barrow, Lancashire during the war and saw herself as a soldier as her son was. She volunteered at a Canteen, serving all the sailors who came ashore as well as the RAF and Army men. A member of the Women's Volunteer Services, WVS, she helped at a Centre to knit and sew things for soldiers. She started a Red Cross shop to raise money to buy clothes and food for prisoners of war abroad. And she helped make bandages at a local hospital, among her many actions. She also, praise God, sent in diary entries of at least 2,000 words every single night to the M.O. in London, which started this venue to have ordinary people in England write answers to questions they sent out and then return them to London. Nella was a fascinating and lively woman who observed her world with courage, wit, and sometimes fear. I have learned from her how to survive hard and frightening times. You can get the paperback of her diaries online and Nella Last's War as well. You want it in paper so you can underline passages.

  One reason for my love of Nella may be because I see myself, in a modest way, as a solider in the Resistance Against Fascism in our current regime. I send money to Democratic candidates for the House and Senate; I send money to ActBlue; I try to uphold others who are more on the front lines than I am; and I write blogs and give occasional sermons to try and hearten our people. 

 

 So that is why the phrase "...we are not consumed..." has such meaning for me; that I will not be overcome, that I will continue to push back and work to being Gospel values and cheer into our damaged world. Reading about World War II and seeing how incredibly brave folks were, both on the front lines and at home, heartens me. I love seeing pictures of the Land Girls, 500,000 of them, who went out to work on farms and help farmers since most of the men had been called up

. I love seeing photos of the Timber Girls who were trained to cut down trees, saw them up, and send the wood to mills for the war effort. Even kids were put to work harvesting crops to help feed troops. Everyone had a role to play.

  I wish we had that same courage and sense of duty today. We have become so divided that it is almost impossible to have a conversation with someone of differing views. I admit to this fault myself! I just think we all have a duty in these parlous times, to find ways we can uphold each other, contribute to the resistance, help to keep Democracy alive, and bring joy to one another. For as the wonderful Heather Cox Richardson has said, "Joy is an act of resistance." Yes, indeed, wonderful woman who may herself be in the crosshairs of media suppression by this regime. I believe she and Jasmine Crockett (a hero of mine) will be doing a live FB time together at 7:00 on April 14th.

  Whatever you need to do to keep your spirits up, fight the good fight, find joy, and hopefully see God in all things (a Jesuit tenet of faith), please do it. The only way we are going to get through this hard time is by sticking together and doing small acts of kindness, compassion, and resistance. Couragio! Excelsior! We shall "not be consumed!"