While flipping through the nightly programming list on the TV a couple of days ago, I noticed a show called ‘Democracy is a Verb’. With the impeachment hearing for the past president of the United States very much in the news right now that is a topic on everyone’s mind. As recent events south of the border have shown us, people need to be ready to stand up for what they believe in, while giving the other side the same opportunity. When one side or the other stop being able to defend their views, democracy becomes an autocracy. So you can’t sit back, pay lip service but do nothing if you want a democracy to survive. Democracy requires that all citizens work to support the advancement of their ideals while listening to the opposing views.
This also brought to mind the phrase I once heard that said ‘God is a verb.’ God is not an object that you talk about, that you describe, that you take out of a box only on special occasions or when needed. No! If God, like democracy, is also a verb then that means that God requires action. These actions speak to what we believe more definitively than words.
As Mary McLeod Bethune, an American educator and civil rights leader said in the latter part of the 19th century <“Love thy neighbour” is a precept which could transform the world if it were universally practiced.> If you are looking for something to do this Lent as opposed to something to give up, to live as if God is a verb could be the challenge you decide to take up!
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