We’re All in This Together, Bit by Bit

Opinion

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“When people become self-centered and self-enclosed, their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume. It becomes almost impossible to accept the limits imposed by reality. In this horizon, a genuine sense of the common good also disappears. As these attitudes become more widespread, social norms are respected only to the extent that they do not clash with personal needs.”― Pope Francis, “Laudato Si’: On the Care of Our Common Home”

United Methodist Insight Special | April 24, 2025

Most people of faith were reflecting at least part of their time on the death of Pope Francis. For many, especially those concerned with caring for God’s creation, their thoughts centered on his 2015 outstanding encyclical Laudato Si’: On the Care of Our Common Home. While the document as a whole is a masterful declaration of the responsibility to care better for the Earth, it also reveals many of the spiritual woes of contemporary humanity, like the opening quote.

I had a real-life experience of Pope Francis' words this week. I realize I've become something of a sheltered old church lady, but a trip to our local warehouse outlet for food for a church meeting set me back.

As I wandered the aisles trying to find the products I needed, I felt as though I’d been transported to a speedway. People pushed heavily laden shopping carts fast and rudely, nearly knocking me down twice. Others shoved past me without so much as a perfunctory “excuse me.”

On my way out to my car, other vehicles wouldn't stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk as instructed by signs. On the road home, drivers were downright menacing, weaving in and out of traffic at high speed with little safety space. The drive stressed me to the point that I felt compelled to check my blood sugar once I got home; sure enough, it was elevated.

In a way, the encounters forced humility upon me, as it seemed safer to simply let others go first (believe me, I wasn't consciously humble).

Thankfully, that experience was counterbalanced that evening by the final meeting of a four-session book study involving members of a predominantly Black congregation, St. Luke Community UMC in Dallas, and our predominantly white congregation, St. Stephen UMC in Mesquite. We’d been studying a book, "Running While Black," written by St. Luke member Rick Hightower, about his experience living as a Black man in America.

I confess I went into the study a little jaded. After all, St. Stephen has been working on dismantling racism since the summer after George Floyd was murdered. We sponsored an online discussion group about racism that put us in touch with Mesquite School District officials and sparked some work with students.

So, when it came time for a traditional United Methodist potluck supper and book talk, I went somewhat unwillingly, as Methodism’s founder John Wesley went to a society meeting in Aldersgate Street. The rudeness of the day’s encounters, and my awareness of what our society is enduring under the current federal administration, weighed heavily on me.

Wearing a red-white-and-black running suit, our author-facilitator Rick Hightower went briefly back over the contents of previous sessions, but then he challenged us to finish a couple of sentences:

"Racism will end when …"

"One thing I can do to end racism is …"

Rick reassured us we're all in this life together, and that even the smallest gesture of kindness can have widespread effects. His words were a sharp contrast for me as I read some of this week’s newsletters that I use as research. The following quotes are from The Marshall Project’s April 24 Opening Statement newsletter edited by Andrew Cohen.

  • More to fear than fear itself. “What matters is that acts we once took for granted as virtuous, routine, and safe — telling the truth, representing those oppressed by the state, providing legal aid to the powerless, volunteering to work at a polling site, basic journalism — now carry some risk. They now require some courage. Maybe the government won’t send you to prison. At least not yet. But it can make your life really difficult.” The Watch
  • An executive branch that no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt. “Although the federal courts have some tools to enforce compliance, their effectiveness depends on democratic cultural norms — and those norms in turn depend ultimately on the vigilance of the American people.” The Atlantic
  • The Justice Department isn’t going to help fight white supremacists. “Criminal prosecution for hate crimes under the Trump administration seems unlikely, requiring innovative forms of litigation. Civil rights organizations and advocacy groups can learn from the success of previous lawsuits against far-right extremist groups that rely on the legal framework of the Ku Klux Klan Act and other civil rights violations.” Lawfare

Friends, these aren’t merely partisan approaches to American politics. They’re attacks on the rights granted to us by the U.S. Constitution.

At the risk of being “too political” as Cliff White argues, we folks from St. Luke and St. Stephen came away from our communal study with a new commitment to meet as often as possible, to tell one another our life stories, and to stand up to racial injustice wherever we encounter it.

Bit by bit, we’re going to do our best to spread God’s love through kindness wherever we go. In the process, we hope to counter the meanness and injustice of the world we're living in now.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, an online journal she founded in 2011 to be a media channel for news and views by and about marginalized United Methodists. Please email for permission to republish this material elsewhere.