![\"blog-bridge\"](\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/blog-bridge.jpg\")
This went on for many years, until a wise woman came along. She marveled at the dedication and steadfastness of love of neighbor. But she had another idea: \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go upstream and find out why these people are in the water?<\/p>\nby Carol Crossed<\/p>\n
There was a village and a river ran through its center. Every day at 4:00 people would go to the church to pray for those who were drowning in the water.<\/p>\n
The farmers put aside their plows, the students put down their books, the mothers took their children by the hand and they would go into the church to pray.<\/p>\n
This went on for years, and a wise person came along and was so impressed with the faithfulness of these people, but said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you also go to the edge of the water and pull the people in who are drowning?\u201d<\/p>\n
So every day at 4:00 the farmers put down their plows, the students put aside their books, and the mothers took their children by the hand, and some went into the church to pray and others went down to the river. Some made inner tubes. Others had the idea of teaching swimming lessons.<\/p>\n
This went on for many years, until a wise woman came along. She marveled at the dedication and steadfastness of love of neighbor. But she had another idea: \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go upstream and find out why these people are in the water?<\/p>\n
These are the 3 \u2018p\u2019s of ministry:\u00a0 the Priestly, the Pastoral, the Prophetic.\u00a0 The priestly is our spiritual life together.\u00a0 The pastoral is charitable works of mercy:\u00a0 our soup kitchens, crisis pregnancy centers, drug and alcohol addiction programs, and other direct charities. We see face to face the poor we serve. We dry them off and see their smiles.<\/p>\n
Going upstream is the prophetic approach.<\/p>\n
Justice always asks the question why. Does the bridge need repair? Are there too many people on the bridge? Why are so many going hungry? Why are parents, by aborting their children, throwing them overboard? Why is the military\u2019s budget so high that it takes from social programs? Why is it killing people, including civilians, in drone warfare? Why are the elderly and the disabled at greatest risk for assisted suicide?<\/p>\n
Could it be that we are running across the bridge with reckless abandon, intent to get to the other side, and others are in our way?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s my lifestyle, my body, my life. There are too many children in the world, too many single moms, we are taxed out of sight. Keeping prisoners on death row is expensive, so let\u2019s have fewer levels of appeal. Let\u2019s throw them overboard.<\/p>\n
But while we are up on the bridge asking the question \u201cwhy,\u201d we cannot be blind to the people falling overboard. What do we do? We involve ourselves in the peace and nonviolent movements of justice:\u00a0 We build human guard rails on the bridge and we work for laws that will build guardrails.\u00a0 We stand on the sides of the bridge and hold signs that say \u201cStop Drone Warfare!\u201d<\/em> at Griffiss Air Force Base rallies.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t abort your child\u201d<\/em> at the 40-days for Life Vigils.\u00a0\u201cAssisted Suicide: Another name for killing!\u201d<\/em> at the State Courthouse.<\/p>\n There are all sorts of people holding signs on the edge of the bridge: the progressive, the conservatives, the religious, the humanists.\u00a0 Because of our differences, huge gaps in the guardrails exist because we do not join hands.\u00a0 Your-issue-is-not-my-issue breaks the chain on the bridge and people fall overboard.\u00a0 Do we not threaten our own vulnerable group because the guardrail is not continuous?\u00a0 Can we drop our fears and work together, no matter if the person we want to save is a refugee from Syria, or an aborted child, or a person on death row? The consistent life ethic challenges us to go beyond our ideologies and love all human beings.<\/p>\n =====================================<\/p>\n See\u00a0the <\/span>list of all our blog posts<\/span><\/span><\/a>, put in categories.<\/span><\/p>\n For more blog posts written by Carol Crossed, see:<\/p>\n Spice Things Up with the Consistent Life Ethic<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Pondering Justice<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Carol Crossed There was a village and a river ran through its center. Every day at 4:00 people would go to the church to pray for those who were drowning in the water. The farmers put aside their plows, the students put down their books, the mothers took their children by the hand and… <\/p>\n