Seen and Heard In The Neighborhood
Note #4
“As for suffering: I believe that there are fewer people than ever who escape major suffering in this life. In fact, I’m fairly convinced that the Kingdom of God is for the broken-hearted.” -Fred Rogers
Just a simple quote for today’s “Seen and Heard In The Neighborhood.” As you know from this note, Fred Rogers is someone I admire very much, and I’ve been thinking about this statement of his a lot recently. The world really groans with broken-hearted pain right now, so I’m trying hard to be aware of how great the need for tenderness is in my community . . . which is sometimes hard to stay open to.
Are you practicing any extra tender community care right now? Even just awareness?
BTW, just to be extremely clear (my friend, Mitch, says the internet is “just one big caveat”), I am in no way, shape, or form evangelical. How you conceive or don’t conceive of the “Kingdom of God” is your business and I have no judgment about it at all. The sentiment is what stands out here.
Acknowledging the caveat for "Kingdom of God," I both love and hate that it's for the broken-hearted. Love: because it's open to anyone, even those of us who've tried and fallen short; Hate: because that feels like a cruel toll to have to pay to get to a good place.
Which takes us to note #5. My body and life feel ripped apart by multiple conflicting ideas-feelings-perceptions-and more. For instance, Covid: stay safe, keep others safe, get on with life. Rip, tear, slash.
Split.
Yes, I feel the layers of loss and suffering like a beautiful aching 7 layer dip. We have lost 7 people in our immediate family to normative and non normative deaths in the last few years, plus cancer scares, accidents, and also trying to carry and uphold joy and reverence for life. We feel shifted, lost, and concurrently grateful for the chance to have family in our life. That our losses were not due to violence or a shooting. I love this quote. And have been thinking about resilience while broken hearted and how we build it in community.