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Today's meditation
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Just facts?
Jonah 2:1-9: Then Jonah prayed to the Lord…, "As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!"
The powerful, disturbing book In the Garden of the Beasts describes the climate in Germany as Hitler took power. One man in it says, “I do…think that facts count; even if we hate them.”
Human beings are very good at looking away from facts when we “hate them.” Nowadays, it seems people don’t gather facts in order to decide a position, but instead accept only facts that reinforce their preferred narrative arc.
Even with regard to our personal histories and our own behavior, we tend to forget our role in bringing about uncomfortable or difficult circumstances. Jonah prayed to God, talking about his calling to God for help. He then said, Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty.” He used the word “their” as if he had not forsaken his loyalty to God because he didn’t like what God called him to do.
How can we learn to be honest with ourselves so that we admit, with humility, our need to forgive the very real mistakes we have made? How can we find the strength to admit how much of our trouble is self-inflicted? Will we learn to face actual facts…
…even if we hate them?
Psalms 93, 98; Acts 2:14,22-32; John 14:1-14Copyright 2025 by Carol Mead. For noncommercial use and sharing only. For more information on this ministry, and on a free subscription to these meditations, please contact the author by email (thenewmead@yahoo.com). Morning prayer can be found at: https://www.missionstclare.com/english/April/whole/morning/21m.html
Carol reads evening prayer online each Monday through Thursday at 6:30 pm. That service is available on the Facebook page for St. Peter's by the Lake Episcopal Church, as well as on YouTube and BoxCast.
The powerful, disturbing book In the Garden of the Beasts describes the climate in Germany as Hitler took power. One man in it says, “I do…think that facts count; even if we hate them.”
Human beings are very good at looking away from facts when we “hate them.” Nowadays, it seems people don’t gather facts in order to decide a position, but instead accept only facts that reinforce their preferred narrative arc.
Even with regard to our personal histories and our own behavior, we tend to forget our role in bringing about uncomfortable or difficult circumstances. Jonah prayed to God, talking about his calling to God for help. He then said, Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty.” He used the word “their” as if he had not forsaken his loyalty to God because he didn’t like what God called him to do.
How can we learn to be honest with ourselves so that we admit, with humility, our need to forgive the very real mistakes we have made? How can we find the strength to admit how much of our trouble is self-inflicted? Will we learn to face actual facts…
…even if we hate them?
Psalms 93, 98; Acts 2:14,22-32; John 14:1-14Copyright 2025 by Carol Mead. For noncommercial use and sharing only. For more information on this ministry, and on a free subscription to these meditations, please contact the author by email (thenewmead@yahoo.com). Morning prayer can be found at: https://www.missionstclare.com/english/April/whole/morning/21m.html
Carol reads evening prayer online each Monday through Thursday at 6:30 pm. That service is available on the Facebook page for St. Peter's by the Lake Episcopal Church, as well as on YouTube and BoxCast.