Daily Reading: 26 January
(from www.christianaid.org.uk)
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Something to read
Now our flesh is the same as that of our kindred; our children are the same as their children; and yet we are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been ravished; we are powerless, and our fields and vineyards now belong to others.
- Nehemiah 5:5 from full reading Nehemiah 5: 1-13.
Something to think about
How do we measure our circles of influence and concern?
We are told that the first lies within the second. We naturally focus on who and what we know and are more willing to work to change what we can actually see and experience.
But our circle of concern is always trying to widen that inner circle of influence by showing us the struggles of others and directing us to actions, perhaps small ones, whose success we may never celebrate.
Nehemiah is hearing from his own community, who are being oppressed by those close to them, geographically, culturally and ethnically.
But the cry that reinforces the commonality of flesh, the same experience of bearing and rearing children across national boundaries, religious definitions and racial separation, is one we hear today through the media technology that penetrates everywhere.
Can we be concerned and not ask how we can respond? How do we find those who can help us to respond effectively? How do we learn to live with not always knowing if we made a difference?
Something to do
Look for a way to act for someone or something that is not within your immediate comfort zone.
Perhaps it will be a call to be present at a gathering, or it will need time for reading and learning before writing a note of protest or consolation.
Something to pray
God of Moses, you said you had heard your children’s cries and were come to rescue them.
Open our ears to hear the cries of your children today, provoke us to leave the places where we are most at home and find you elsewhere;
Grant us the wisdom to discern, through experience and reflection, how to add our influence to our concern.
Today’s reading was provided by Sue Richardson, former theology advisor for Christian Aid.