Kindness

A few years ago I read Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman. Its premise is that humans are essentially kind. The book offers several real-life stories of how that kindness changed the course of history.

In our world where violence, cruelty, hatred, prejudice, oppression, domination, war, and division grab the headlines, it’s hard to accept that goodness, generosity, compassion, and caring can truly make a difference.

But Jesus knew this. He urges us to overcome evil with good.

Certainly the kindness and generosity of our St. James congregation are ever present and offer hope for our community.

I’m thinking also of our Oak Bowery Fire Department ladies who marshalled donations for Ms Barbara whose house burned down last week. A widow in her late 70’s whose daughter had died, Ms Barbara lost everything in the fire, except her Bible. The ladies gathered the donations and visited Ms Barbara who was temporarily in a hotel. She was overwhelmed with the kindness of strangers. These ladies now are helping her find an apartment and services to assist her so she can restart her life. Could this be what Jesus meant by loving our neighbor?

I’m thinking too of Steve Hartman who often gives heartwarming stories of kindness on the CBS Evening News. Schools now use the resources in his Kindness 101 Character Counts to engage children in activities of kindness in their communities. https://charactercounts.org/digital_classroom/kindness-101-library/

A priest once called me an infernal optimist. I suppose I am because I do believe that as we all continue to offer kindness, compassion, and caring to others, little by little we (with God’s help) can do our part to make a positive impact on our world. Kindness is love. And love, the love of Jesus, is the most powerful force for change in our world.

Pentecost blessings,

Judy Q+