We are all tired, anxious, and only slightly amused by cartoons of election night threats from a projected hurricane Zachery. Half the Sundays in September without worship, way-too-many nights and days in the dark and heat of powerlessness, and too much spoiled food tossed in the garbage. Then, again, cleaning out the refrigerator seems a minor nuisance when we see the pictures of destruction just north of us among our family and friends, let alone the devastation in Haiti.
We begin to understand the plaintive cries of the Psalmist, "How long, O Lord? How long!" Yet the calm comes, the power returns, and we once again eat well. The repairs are made and lives and lively-hoods are rebuilt. In the meantime we weep with those who weep that we may rejoice with those who rejoice when that time comes. In fact, it is in the midst of the weeping that many find rejoicing, as we depend on the kindness of strangers and the help of neighbors we barely noticed before. Once again we recall the preciousness of life itself and give thanks to God for the basics of life.
Lord, may we remember the lessons learned in the times of fear and deprivation when we experience the far more usual times of happiness and excess.