i made these comments and prayed the following prayer at one of our worship services at SPUMCWF yesterday, and had a few folks asked if i would post them, so there they are: It has been a season of terrible tragedy. And I have noticed in the news a trending phrase: thoughts and prayers. It even has its own hashtag on twitter and other social media, but net necessarily in a good way. People are understandably tired of hearing about others’ thoughts and prayers, when that is only a thinly-veiled way of saying that our only obligation to those who suffer is a brief moment of silence, or nothing more than a tweet or public statement. The truth is that, for those of us who follow Jesus, much is required when our neighbors suffer. We are called to do justice where we can, to love kindness and mercy, and to walk with God through it all. But let us be careful not to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. We are, as people ...