Numbers Are Not my Favourite Fruit

February 8, 2021

Scripture

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.  Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies. (Hebrews 13:1-3 NLT)

Numbers Are Not my Favourite Fruit

…. and we are awash in them. Case numbers, stock market numbers, unemployment numbers, comparisons between jurisdictions around vaccine availability and application and most sadly, numbers of deaths. 

When I was a child,
I learnt to count to five:
one, two, three, four, five.
But these days, I’ve been counting lives, so I count
one life
one life
one life
one life

Because each time is the first time that that life has been taken.

(Excerpt from The Pedagogy of Conflict in Sorry For Your Troubles, Pádraig Ó Tuama Canterbury Press)

This little piece from Ó Tuama’s book about deaths from “the troubles” in Ireland over the years, stopped me in my tracks. When my father died, he wasn’t a statistic. When my nephew died, he wasn’t a statistic. When my childhood friend died, he wasn’t a statistic. They were Dan, Grant and Blair. They were all stories of sorrow and loss that I carry with me to this day after decades have passed.

It’s impossible to take every death in our town, country and world personally but we can live with awareness of the loss and pain that is in the air. An angry word, a careless joke, a thoughtless accusation may be received by those whose face will crumple with sorrow if we are only watching.

Your name, your life, your story is important in the days that pass so quickly and often repetitively. We are loved, we are redeemed, we have a destiny is a variation on a mantra used for months by a hostage. He was free in his captivity to love, forgive and hope. And so are we one day, one life at a time.

A Prayer for Today

O God who knows us to the point of the hairs on my balding head, help us in these days of statistics not to lose our human vision and connection to one another. Grant us courage and patience, and civility in expressing our opinions …. For Jesus’ sake.