One of the hobbies my father had when I was growing up involved finding quotes, and then he would "print" the quote on a piece of 1/4" plywood by gluing macaroni letters to it. Then he would shellac it, and it would then be placed in various locations around our house. One of his plaques I remember said, "Be aware you may be the only Bible someone reads."
That memory came to me as I was reading a devotional I'm using for Lent: A Book of Hours. It is a week's collection of daily prayers compiled from Thomas Merton's writings. If I had the plywood and macaroni letters, I would do this plaque tonight from this source:
"Contemplation is the response to a call: a call from Christ who has no voice, and yet who speaks in everything that is, and who, most of all, speaks in the depths of our own being, for we ourselves are words of his."
In my Christian experience, this captures a valuable orientation for our faith, one that puts in sharp relief how politics, grievances, and corruption are moving people further and further away from the persona and teaching of Jesus. Many calling themselves "Christian" have badly forgotten how to be like Jesus. If we aren't modeling Jesus in our daily lives, can we really expect the world to improve?
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