Finding faith in one another
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The article 鈥溾�業t鈥檚 what I鈥檝e been looking for鈥�: Why this mother of two embraces her church鈥� in the Nov. 24 Weekly effectively summarized the role of churches in today鈥檚 world. They cultivate prosocial communities where people bond over similar values.
Yet I cannot help but caution against another underlying trend: abdicating social responsibility. Turning to God for things big and small is a potent emotional act, but many of the prayers listed in the article 鈥� buying a house, looking for a job, dealing with depression 鈥� are problems that can be ameliorated by engaging with neighbors, seeking resources, and supporting services and organizations that advocate for those very needs.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote, 鈥淲e must learn that to expect God to do everything while we do nothing is not faith but superstition.鈥� Thus, praying over human-made and human-solvable problems ignores the God-given power of each individual to interact with and improve their social world. If we all began trusting our neighbors and working together to build better communities, we could pray to God for the unknowable and look to each other for the solvable.
鈥� Drew Lusher,聽Norfolk, Virginia
