Scripture: Psalm 147:3
God heals the brokenhearted and binds up our wounds.
 
Thought for the Day: For thousands of years, the church and its spiritual ancestors like temples and synagogues provided not only spiritual guidance, but also necessary public services. The Roman temple complexes were centers of healing, intellectual debate, education, commerce, and of course, prayer and sacrifice to the gods. The Jewish temple worked in much the same way. People would gather in the outer courtyard to debate ancient texts, the meaning of life, and the existence and nature of God. But the temple complex also provided a convenient central gathering place for people to exchange goods and services. In Islam, the first mosques were also the schools that helped usher in a golden age of learning that advanced mathematics, science and medicine, while the West was still enveloped in the Dark Ages.
 
The first schools and hospitals in America were in churches or part of religious institutions (that’s why so many hospitals today are still named “St. Patrick’s” or something along those lines). Secular, international service organizations sprang from churches full of people heeding the call to heal a broken world. Every non-profit in existence today owes its very being to the traditions of churches, synagogues and mosques as places intended to heal the mind, body and spirit.
 
As we enter into our stewardship season, which is sort of like an NPR pledge drive for churches, many people might ask why it’s still important to support the church. After all, in the 21^st Century, religion seems to be dying, and many people see that as a sign of progress. While I certainly see a lot of problems with modern religion, I also understand that the church, when it is working well and truly being faithful to God, continues to provide services no other institution on the planet even attempts.
 
Church at its best still pushes people to think beyond themselves. Religion at its best urges us to consider that we are all part of something greater, that we are all children of the stars, that our resources are not here for us to hoard and kill each other over, but rather are provided for us to tend and share equally. Modern religion teaches us that we are God-infused beings who are much more capable, much more in tune with the Universe than we have dared to dream. Church dares us to dream ourselves greater and our world gentler.
 
Religion at its best creates people like Moses, Jesus, Abraham, Gandhi, Pope Francis and you and I—people who understand that the world is corrupted and people are corruptible. Religious institutions still deserve our support because they teach that the only way to heal our brokenness is by helping everyone understand we are one species, many cultures. We are one people of many ethnicities. We are one race—the human race, and we are all beloved of God, and infused with God’s being so we might all begin to snap out of this rat race we’ve created, and instead begin designing a different world, more compassionate, more understanding, more equitable.
 
That’s a message I still don’ hear anywhere other than church, synagogue and mosque, and that’s the only message I hear that has the potential to change our world by changing our hearts and attitudes once, and truly, for all.
 
Prayer: Give me the resources of time, talent, and money I need to support my religious institutions, so we might together continue the important work of changing the world for the better. Amen.