Monday Morning Reflections: James
“I will not let my myself, my mind, drown in fear and outrage… my interest is in how these marks that I am scratching on this page can have meaning at all. If they can have meaning, then life can have meaning, then I can have meaning.”
Percival Everett, James
Repentance is not so much about moving forward but about moving better. UMCom photo by Kay Panovec
One of the things I do for myself is to be part of a book club. A few months ago, we chose to read James by Percival Everett. This is a satirical novel based on Mart Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In James, we see the original story told by James, or Jim, the slave who escaped with Huck Finn. If you have not read this book, I HIGHLY recommend it.
I was taken by the quote above and our search for meaning. Sometimes we are so entrenched in working with things that matter that we forget that we matter. Midway through Psalm 76 the author cries out to God,
How long will you rage Lord? Forever?
The question is within the context of other nations abusing the people of Israel, God seeming not to care. In the line that just precedes the question, the author describes Israel as a joke to other nations. I love the author asking this because it’s as if he was saying to God, “Hey! We are here! Look at us, we matter!” I love this question because at the brink of despair they knew their lives were made of a collection of experiences that gave them an identity, a holy identity. Their lives had meaning. They knew they mattered.
Do we?
We pour ourselves into the lives of so many people. We go the extra mile to let them know their lives are meaningful and that they matter. Do we know we matter? Do you know that you matter? In Christian theology, we say that we are made in God’s likeness and image. That matters. Jesus recognized the complexity of experiences and virtues and gifts of who we are as human beings. He invited us to love ourselves. That matters. There is meaning in that.
If you have not heard it before: My friend, you matter. We see you. You are loved.
Prayer
Divine Love, you have called us to love others. Sometimes we forget to love ourselves. We ask you to help us see ourselves as you see us. Remind us that we matter. Amen.
Rev. Eduardo Bousson
Senior Manager, Collegiate Ministries
The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry
The United Methodist Church
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