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Burning Fires



Over the past couple of weeks, we have had to watch in horror as the greater Los Angeles area battled an uncontrollable fire powered by strong winds. It was heartbreaking to see homes, schools, churches, grocery stores and other property worth millions and millions of dollars burn to ashes. My thoughts and prayers go out to the many families who have had their lives upended by this disaster, and to the community of people whose livelihood have been destroyed. The fire is still burning but in a very different way. Families are hurting, and they will have to endure the pain of their loss for years and years to come. Some would need a lifeline.


My heart breaks for the entire community because all this tragedy was preventable. What hurts me most is a story I read about homeowners who had to cancel their insurance policies before the fires. They cancelled their policies because they could no longer afford the premiums. In one instance, the premium rose from about $4500 to $18000 a year. The homeowner dropped the insurance, and then the fire happened. He isn’t the only victim.


A few weeks ago, an insurance executive was shot in cold blood on the streets of New York City. It was shocking to hear how many people expressed some level of satisfaction and adulation over the killing of the executive. For many of these people, this was the kind of revenge they have been hoping for all along. Many of these people believed that this executive represented all that was and is wrong with the insurance industry in particular and the corporate America as a whole. That saddens me deeply because two wrongs don’t make a right.


I have no doubt in my mind that there is something fundamentally wrong with our society. We keep inquiring about who our neighbor is, but we are not prepared to accept who they are.


I believe that the inordinate desire for money and profits has driven to the background all that we know and expect of each other and ourselves. Once, Jesus talked about money, and he made the point that the love for money, not money in itself, but the love of it, is the root of all evil because it distorts our relationship with God and others. The love for money distorts all that we have come to know about the holy.


This past Friday, one of our parishioners suffered a stroke. This parishioner has been battling with his employers over the past couple of years over an injury he sustained at work. This injury wasn't his fault. but the fault of a colleague. He finally got the green light to see a specialist after the court intervened and ordered the employers to do the right thing.


The question is, why would you or anyone else pay into a system or work for a company, only for the company to neglect or decline a request for help because you are either that little guy or you didn’t read the fine print? Why would people within an organization try and find a reason why they should not honor their part of a bargain?


A few weeks ago, a parishioner, Ed, told a story about having paid his car insurance premiums on a consistent, monthly basis since he was a teenager. He, however, hasn’t benefited from making all these payments because he’s never had to call the insurance company. Like Ed, many of you haven’t found a reason to call to make a request for help because you haven't needed any help. But you want to believe that the help would be available when you call, and that’s why you pay your premiums. But what if they tell you a different story in your moment of distress? What if there is no help on the way?


Many are the wrongs that corporate America has perpetrated on innocent citizens in the name of profit. The sad reality is that we pursue all these profits at the expense of honesty, justice, fairness, and compassion. Values that are missing from our culture because we no longer teach them.


I am always amazed at the number of parents and kids at soccer games whenever I take my son James to soccer. I see all these beautiful kids, and I ask myself, "Who is teaching these kids about compassion and grace? Who is teaching them about being measured and merciful? Who is teaching them about justice and fairness?"


They are being taught how to be competitive, how to win, how to stay active, and how to be respectful to their opponents, teammates, and coaches. Great!! I love that. But are these enough?


As parents and grandparents, we forget that there’s a whole area of life that is hardly talked about because it doesn’t resonate with the daily experience of our kids. But we should talk about it because sooner, rather than later, we will come to find out that there’s more to life than what happens on the fields and courts to which we commit our children.


Having served as a chaplain for many years, what I came to realize at Assisted Living Facilities was that residents who had a constant stream of visitors, i.e., children and grandchildren, were those who actually took their children to church or synagogue. There, within those sacred spaces, children were exposed to conversations about compassion and caring for one another. Within those sacred spaces, children were exposed to hearing that bearing the other's burden was not supposed to be a chore but a delight. Within those sacred spaces, children were nurtured to honor their parents. Within those sacred spaces, children were formed to uphold justice, fairness, and honesty. Within those sacred spaces, children were encouraged to value and honor life. Within those sacred spaces, children were taught to be wise, and we gained wisdom by walking with God. Within those sacred spaces, children came to experience the real essence of gratitude as the highway to God’s heart. 


As I reflected on my deepest concern about what we are losing as a country, a parishioner shared a story of a father who told her daughter that her mother was diagnosed with some serious ailment and would need some help with her upkeep. The daughter told the father that he married her (mother) and not her (daughter). My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe what I heard, and actually caught myself tearing up because it sounded so heartbreaking and disheartening. How on earth did this happen? How did we get here?


If you ask me, I will tell you that this is all due to the culture we are creating - children who have no idea why they should care for the other, especially their parents. Parents who think that sports matter more than anything else, and families who celebrate Christmas but don't even know what Christmas stands for.


The Los Angeles fire is no longer burning or would have stopped burning by the time you read this piece. But the ashes and the ruins are still visible.


The fire is burning but in a different form. I can see the ashes and the ruin. But just as the firefighters put those fires out, so can we put out the burning fires that are consuming our lives, the lives of the people we love, and the lives of the people who depend on us for a lifeline.


I believe that when we teach children that the valuable things in life - compassion, love, justice, wisdom, fairness, gratitude, and friendship - are more important than wealth, lust, pride, and selfishness, we sure can believe that they will take those values with them. And when we live out those values for them, we become their first examples and affirm for them our belief in the proprietary of those values. 


We must teach ourselves and our children to believe that some things in life are worth defending, and there’s no honorable person who walks away from extending compassion, grace, and love to the vulnerable, especially those burning with fire. 


Manny+

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