After reports of national violence against Muslims this past
week, our pastor--on behalf of our PCUSA congregation--left a rose and a
message of support at Ithaca's Islamic Community Outreach Service (Moosalla
Noor). Although there is no reason to suppose our pastor (Rev. Kirianne Weaver
Riehl) was thinking of today's lectionary at the time, her action was
consistent with verses from it that I have selected below, and with the meditation
I have assembled based on them. Here is the gracious Muslim response to our
pastor's action:
To our good neighbors
and friends by God's grace,
Please forgive the less personal
format of this response to the beautiful flower and heartfelt message that was
left at the door of our Moosalla. We wish for you to know that it has been
received with much appreciation, and hope that our thanks can be extended to
all from your congregation who came together in such a generous outreach.
We stand with all in the Ithaca
community and beyond who resist the calls to succumb to the fear and hatred
that has become so much a part of public discourse of late, and as we have been
commonly guided by the scriptures of our Faiths, to respond to evil with something
better.
Thank you again to all at the First
Presbyterian for your gesture of kindness and solidarity, and blessings for
exemplifying a good way forward.
Your friends at Islamic
Community Outreach Services and the Ithaca Muslim community
Strong to Walk in Your Name
God, make us strong
to walk in your name,
yet open to receive
your kingdom as a little child.
Remind us--the needy
shall not always be forgotten--
and help us bear one
another's burdens, fulfilling your law.
Lectionary Readings
Ps. 62; 145; 73; 9
Zech. 10:1-12
Gal. 6:1-10
Luke 18:15-30
Selected Verses
Ps. 9:18
For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
Zech. 10:12
I will make them strong in the LORD,
and they shall walk in his name,
says the LORD.
and they shall walk in his name,
says the LORD.
Gal. 6:2
Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill
the law of Christ.
Luke 18:17
"…Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of
God as a little child will never enter it." [Jesus to his disciples]
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