Tag: ears to hear

EARS TO HEAR THE MEMORIES OF D-DAY

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, Government Reform

The commemoration of June 6 as D-Day always feels important to me because of its historical significance and the fact that my father fought against Fascism in World War II. My dad wasn’t part of the Normandy Invasion. He was a young enlistee in the war and by the time he went through flight training and officer candidate school the war in Europe was winding down. He did fly a few missions over Germany as a B-17 pilot before VE Day, but his most harrowing experience ironically came after the war. The B-17 he was flying back to the States lost both engines and had to ditch in the North Atlantic. He was one of only four of the 17 on board who survived.

So I take fascists and dictators very seriously, and what is going on in our government today makes me furious. All those brave men and women who risked and thousands who lost their lives will have sacrificed in vain if the MAGA devotees of Donald Trump are allowed to finish destroying our democracy.

In all my years of studying evil governments from Pharaoh to Putin did I ever dream it could happen here. I’m not naive. I am painfully aware of the ugly chapters in our own history, but in all those episodes the leadership has emerged to return our nation to a course based on the critical values of equality and justice our democracy depends on. In the last 18 months under the dictatorial rule of the Trump administration such leadership has not risen up in numbers significant enough to stop the chaos and corruption.

We need examine our current situation through the famous warning that comes from an 1887 letter Lord Acton wrote to Bishop Creighton regarding the moral standards used to judge historical leaders. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

My fear now is that those with nearly absolute power in the U.S. are so determined to keep it and protect themselves from prosecution for their crimes that they will do anything and everything to rig or cancel the midterm elections. If that happens our experiment with government of the people, by the people, and for the people will be dead for at least a generation. What evil that can happen with absolute power fills volumes of human history, and the last 18 months have shown we are not immune from the dark side of human nature.

And that brings me to a nightmare on this D-Day that I cannot get out of my head. I hope and pray with all my being I am being too pessimistic, but for the first time in my life I can imagine a time when an allied group of nations like those who defeated fascism in 1945 might be necessary to invade the USA and liberate us from our own captivity.

Another famous quote we need to dust off and live into is the one that says “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” While frequently misattributed to Thomas Jefferson, the true origin and evolution of the sentiment are fascinating: The sentiment originated with Irish statesman and orator John Philpot Curran, who stated in an 1790 speech: “The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.

The shorter version is much easier to pay lip service to, but Curran’s warning about the servitude that we risk if we fail to be very vigilant and act on it packs a much more powerful punch.

This whole situation reminds me of Jesus’ words which are so important they are repeated six times in the Gospels: “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”                                        

June 6, 2026

Compassionless Leadership: Destruction of 500 Tons of Food

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values

I am one who is certainly grateful that Jesus and the New Testament teach us that our God is merciful and gracious. I John 4:8 plainly states that “God is Love.” I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

And Jesus taught and practiced forgiveness right up till the very end. He taught his disciples to forgive not seven times but seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:22). And Jesus practiced what he preached. In the throes of a most painful and gruesome execution he forgave one of the thieves crucified with him ( Luke 23:43), and even asks God to forgive the very men who nailed him to that cross (Luke 23:34).

But you know who he didn’t forgive? A bunch of goats! Now, before you call the SPCA on Jesus go read Matthew 25:31-46, and if it makes you feel uncomfortable, read it again slowly. And if it doesn’t make you uncomfortable read it two more times with an open mind and heart. This parable is, of course, not about four-legged goats and sheep, but about humans and how we treat those who by the world’s standards are “the least.” The goats in this parable are those who lack basic human compassion and concern for their fellow human beings.

Here’s what Jesus has to say about those people: “Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41-46)

What made me think about that parable this week is a story in the news that has gotten much less attention than it deserves. Buried under all the coverage generated by the Jeffery Epstein saga, which is important, is a horrific report that makes me furious. Because of the deep cuts in USAID, which provided humanitarian relief to starving people in some of the world’s poorest countries, 500 tons of food already bought and paid for by American taxpayers to feed thousands of the “least” of our brothers and sisters will be destroyed. Yes, 1,000,000 pounds of food being destroyed while millions of children and adults starve to death.

That is simply criminal, immoral, and inexcusable! As I said at the beginning of this post, I am grateful for a merciful God. Because of that I do not believe in hell as a place of eternal punishment, but I am starting to rethink that. Forgive me for playing God, but I think there has to be a special form of punishment somewhere for those who cruelly withhold food from starving people.

In the parable of the sheep and goats the goats are accused of a passive failing to care for the marginalized people, but the MAGA cuts to USAID and the destruction of 1,000,000 pounds of food are an intentional act of cruel and inhumane treatment, and the Scriptures tell us that is the same as starving Christ himself. And to those Jesus says, “You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

I’m not sure what this all means; so let me end with this frequent biblical admonition: “If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” (Mark 4:23 and several other verses). 

Dueling Psalms, 130 vs. 19

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Values, Faith Development, spiritual discipline, Wellness


No, that 130-19 is not a lopsided NBA finals basketball score! It’s the score of my attitude adjustment a few days ago when I awoke in one of those woe-is-me moods and thought of the lament known as De Profundis in Psalm 130. That’s Latin for “O crap I have to face another day of aches and pains and bad news!” My arthritis was nagging at me, my chronic back trouble was moving up the pain scale, and the news was full of more terrorist attacks and hate crimes. Reading the newspaper over my morning coffee used to be one of my favorite times of the day. I still do it out of a sense of duty to be an informed citizen, but it has become an increasingly depressing task.

Psalm 130 begins “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!” As tensions between our nation and others mount, as our president foolishly believes his own nationalistic rhetoric that we can shrug off our responsibility for climate change and go it alone, as fears of terror attacks increase, and partisan politics paralyze any attempt to address critical domestic and international issues responsibly, I often wonder if God or anyone is listening to the voice of my supplications.
Later that same morning I went out to work in our lawn and gardens still down in the depths. We are blessed to live on a beautiful property decorated with my wife’s gardening handiwork, a pond, trees and flowers. But the beauty requires hard work, especially this time of year when the grass and the weeds are being very fruitful and multiplying. It’s the work that prompts me at times to say that “yard work” is made up of two four-letter words. But the birds were in good humor that morning and serenaded me as I went forth to mow the lawn. And then I looked up at the blue sky dotted with huge languishing cotton ball clouds pictured above, a sight not seen nearly often enough in central Ohio, and my heart shifted gears from Psalm 130 to 19:

“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” (Psalm 19:1-4).

In basketball 19 doesn’t beat 130, but in the game of faithful living it does. God’s presence is all around us no matter how far down in the depths we are feeling. We just have to look for it with all our senses. No, the skies are not always breathtakingly beautiful, but the loving God of all creation is always surrounding us if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. Even the author of De Profundis knew that while in the depths, and Psalm 130 ends with this statement of faith and hope:

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.”