President Carter knew that those who lack housing or food are not merely political pawns, but the real presence of God in our midst. What we do, or don’t do, to serve them reveals everything about what we value in our world and in our congregations.
As the Colosseum was a monument to ancient Roman power, shopping malls, political rallies, and sporting events are monuments to America’s present moment. All are important, even replacing religion in many instances, because they are the embodiment of victory, something that Americans are willing to pursue to dangerous ends, even if it threatens our country’s continued viability.
We do not make the stories; the stories make us. We are products of stories of longing, finding, losing, and things made whole that have no reason to be.
“A Real Pain” isn’t an in-depth analysis of the Holocaust. Rather, it is a character study that points to a central fact that we all know – to be human is to suffer, and that suffering can be great or small.
What we really need is faith. Faith in that arc and its bending, faith that what we do counts for something, faith that we can be the friends that God needs now.