Close to the Truth

If you get close to the truth
– there will be consequences.
-Dorothea Lange?

I saw this quote on a PBS video but I haven't been able to verify the quote and source. The quote appeared in the documentary about a program initiated by the Farm Security Administration to share images of the migrant farmers, the soup lines, dust bowl conditions, etc. The photo of the Migrant Mother was taken in 1936 by Lange and is widely used in textbooks. Through the hundreds of photographs taken there could be no doubt the total impact of the depression on the economy, farming and lives. Photos help complete the impact of the words of a story. The images from Katrina showed the devastating impact from the hurricanes force and the flaws of planning systems. After getting close to the situation there are many that have vowed to improve the lives of those affected three years ago by Katrina, and to improve the plans for evacuation preparation. Gustav is moving up the Gulf of Mexico with expected landfall of Monday or Tuesday, but already planners have been meeting all week on where and how to evacuate patients and nursing home residents. Starting early Saturday morning there will be a response camp at DFW airport preparing to accept Houston's evacuated with medical needs. Jane saw the truth of Katrina and the consequences were life-changing. She has been on numerous mission trips to the area and served as a project manager in Pearlington, Miss. She left a few weeks ago to serve as project manager at a PDA camp in New Orleans for the next six months and now she is in the process of packing up the camp and moving inland. She's going to have an entirely different degree of closeness to the truth.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You are the truth of the world. Alleluia! The realities of our world are hard to absorb, hard to understand, and hard to ignore. The acceptance of these facts is often hard to face and harder to respond. It takes action on our part and sometimes we hope that it might just go away. Sometimes the need is so immediate, so hurtful, so damaging that even the most faint-hearted are moved to help. Give us the strength, the courage, and the endurance to remain vigilant and faithful to those needs. Give us wisdom to know right progress and to make clear decisions. Let us be ready to see the truths in our world and rejoice in the Truth that can free us all. We have moved closer to your Truth and the consequence is that we are called to be disciples. Alleluia! Amen.