After our national July 4th celebrations where there was hardly a mention of the 130,000 people who have died of coronavirus, or the recent killings of African Americans captured on cell phone videos, I find myself longing for some way to give “sorrow all the space and shelter in ourselves that is its due,” as Jewish writer Etty Hillesum put it during the German occupation of Amsterdam in World War II.
The full quote from Hillesum is very relevant to our circumstances:
“Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for if everyone bears his grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate. But if you do not clear a decent shelter for your sorrow, and instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge-from which new sorrows will be born for others-then sorrow will never cease in this world and will multiply.”
Instead of giving space and shelter to our sorrow, we are “Transitioning to Greatness”. Reopenings are being encouraged, schools are being pressured/forced into face to face instruction in the Fall, Americans are flouting guidance from CDC and medical experts regarding wearing masks and social distancing. And the numbers of coronavirus cases are surging around the country.
I guess that begs the question: What do we mean by “Greatness”? Does it have to do only with a strong economy, or political power, or ratings?
Jesus of Nazareth mentions greatness a number of times in the gospels. His disciples seem at times to completely misunderstand him and even to be going in the opposite direction. He had been telling them repeatedly that he was going to Jerusalem and would “suffer greatly”. Peter, memorably, says “God forbid! This will never happen to you.” After the third time he shares this with them, an argument broke out among them about who was the greatest. (Talk about being “off point”.)
Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant . . . . Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” For Christians who take Jesus as the model for what it means to be fully human, greatness consists in giving of ourselves in loving service to others.
I would be all in favor of a transition to this kind of greatness.
