Ez 9:1-7, 10, 18-22 / Mt 18:15-20
If you wander through almost any gathering of people, be it a seriously upscale cocktail party at the very best club or a notably downscale hay ride and picnic in the country, before too long you’re almost certain to hear laments and denunciations of everything from music and hair styles to computer games and the size or price of entrees at the local restaurants. “In my day…” begins many a lament, and oft times we’re tempted to respond, “In your day, things were worse!”
In today’s Old Testament reading, those who “moaned and groaned” had few other means of protest, and so they were marked to be spared from the coming holocaust. The same cannot be said of us. If we keep our focus and choose wisely the grounds on which to challenge what is wrong in our culture, we can help to fix what is broken and we can be agents of change, if only within our own circle.
Moaning and groaning is no excuse for not getting a life and for not bringing our gifts to bear on the building of God’s kingdom. Don’t settle for cheap talk. Leave your mark, and let it be God’s mark.
