After the 4th of July comes a text that has some real relevance for any community. President Clinton used this passage as his text for his first inaugural address that was a really sermon. It was little noticed as that. It is a difficult text both for American citizens and American churchgoers. Its speaks of bearing one another’s burden. At the same time, ti says that one should bear their own burdens.When I started work on this, I had performed a community funeral service. The Midwestern woman had a motto: “it will be fine.” Midwestern stocisim emphaiszes that we do not want people to go to any trouble, since I’m fine; I’m all right.it will be fine.” We don;t want to be a bother, don;t want to burden others. Community responds with the great line from Boys’ Town: “he ain’t heavy; he’s my brother.” Indeed, in our polarized time, the right emphasizes a heightened individualism, and the left places weight on community responsibilities.
I do realize that when we help someone out we are taking the risk of being played and manipulated. Some folks do look for others to carry burdens for them that they could shoulder themselves. On the other hand, captivated as we are by outward appearances, we may not be able to peer into their minds and lives to sense some of the very real disabilities they may be carrying already.
Part of being a mature individual is to carry our own burdens. part of learning to accept community is that point when we realize we cannot carry o a burden on our own and when others seek to provide some help, help that we may yet be unable to admit or have not yet brought themselves to recognize.
In a way, the story of Naaman is all about bearing another’s burdens. The slave moves past her own insular views to extend an offer of help to the family she serves.The servants of Naaman know him so well that they help him perceive his own good by appealing not to his petulance, not his self-interest, but his egotism. They perform what amounts to an intervention with him to keep him on track.The king of Israel is afraid that he is going to be held responsible for a healing, something out of his control. He fears that his failure to bear the burden will be used as a pretext for an attack from Syria.
Notice people seek to help Naaman, but he does not seem to seek much aid for himself, except to receive permission to seek a cure in Israel.I cannot tell from the story if the enormous amount of presents he brings are his own or from the king of syria who provides him with a letter of introduction to his counterpart.One of the expectations that I dislike in myself when we deal with folks at our feeding programs is that I expect them to be grateful and not demanding and find myself grow angry when they complain and do get demanding.
Everybody should try to be responsible for one’s life. At the same time, everybody can use a helping hand sometimes.regardless of gender ethnicity, or class, our sotries today remind of our our equality in the face of personal boundaries or being afflcited by troubles, many of which go past any sense of individual fault alone.In one way or another, we seek healing. to me this is especially true of matters of the heart and soul.
No comments:
Post a Comment