The Oasis - October 30, 2024

      There is a lot of anxiety in the communities we live in these days. Many are anxious about things that are bigger than any one of us—the environment, the economy, genocides, division, freedoms, healthcare. Many are anxious about simply making ends meet—whether their job will still exist next month, where their next paycheck will come from, or if their support network will still be there for them when they need it most. Some have anxieties around the decisions our governments are making and may yet make, be they at the local, state, or national level; even more are anxious about the election: will it be fair, how will it turn out, and what will come in the weeks and years that follow?
      There is no outcome of next Tuesday’s election that will make everyone happy, and there are a great many people from all walks of life who are worried that however the elections go, their communities will either be in someone’s crosshairs, or on the chopping block. I hope that we can all be compassionate to everyone who is feeling true fear this month, just as we are compassionate to those who are fatigued by it all. May we always remember that “politics” is never just political… the decisions our governments make have real impacts on real people everywhere—their material conditions, their safety, and their very ways of life.
      May we not let our fears cause us to lash out in hate… may we instead act out in love, in all that we do.
      “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:38-39

Pastor Dan