Faith Venture

Historian Heather Cox Richardson writing in her newsletter Letters from an American on January 14, 2024 had this to say about heroism:

When I was writing a book about the Wounded Knee Massacre, where heroism was pretty thin on the ground, I gave that a lot of thought. And I came to believe that heroism is neither being perfect, nor doing something spectacular. In fact, it’s just the opposite: it’s regular, flawed human beings choosing to put others before themselves, even at great cost, even if no one will ever know, even as they realize the walls might be closing in around them.

When I was but a lad we were given many stories from World War II about men who performed heroic deeds. Those stories resembled the insight that Richardson expresses.

Heroism is not limited to war. Stories about regarding people who have put others before their own health and welfare. The Jesus Movement grew exponentially in the early days of the Roman Empire when a plague struck the city. Officials and leading business men fled to the hills. Christians crept from their hiding places in order to minister to the health and souls of the stricken. The courage and selflessness of these Jesus-followers served as inspiration to a generation.

In our own times, we can look to Mother Theresa who served the poorest of the poor in India.

Or think of the many women you may know who give up time and energy to serve food and clothing to the poor and homeless of your city.

What can I do today to put others before me in service? And you?

This entry was posted on February 19, 2024 at 11:21 am and is filed under Service. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.