is he the one?

Mary Beth's sermon this morning was a comparison of the stories in all the different gospels about his relationship with John the Baptist.  I was supposed to be liturgist but *sick* so my friend Jay stepped up and did  a much better job that I would have with reading the Gospel.  MB talked about the timeline including John the Baptist and Jesus and offered a different version.  John was possibly imprisoned at the time of Jesus' baptism.  Picture this:  John can't know about all the things that Jesus had done to prove himself as our Messiah.  He was in JAIL.  Sooo...John's disciples visited him in jail and told him the stories.  He sent them back to Jesus with the question "Are you really the one?"  I can relate to that kind of curiosity because I have often felt that way myself.  In spite of experiencing miracles myself, sometimes I doubt.  Especially these days.

One of the biggest line items on the people's agenda was to get them our from under Roman occupation.  Which brings us to today in the good old USA.  Back in the days of Jesus, Jews and Christians alike were persecuted by the Roman government.  Which is pretty much happening right now.  Along with killing all the things that protect us as a world power.  I have to laugh sometimes just to get through the anxiety about what is happening here and around the world.  

The latest stupid move was to remove immigration judges because of a "a huge backup in cases."  So, you fire the ones who are doing that job?  I think not.  I will be the first to admit that I am tired of waste and fraud, especially with undocumented immigrants.  After working for over 40 years in the healthcare sector, I have seen almost every scenario where patients fall through the cracks because they have no advocate.  The current administration has no guardrails to reduce access to healthcare.  Yes, it's expensive.  And will probably become more so.  Our national forests are headed to the chopping block.  I could go on and on but I won't because it's not good for mental health.  This is where I just believe that Jesus died for us and our sins and God has a plan.  Maybe we are in the desert?  It's just a thought ^j^