GO MICHIGAN! On God's Side

Go Michigan!

That is, the U of M basketball team as they head to take on Louisville in Atlanta Monday night.

What side is God on, some ask?

Does God take sides?

Does God care?

I believe God loves deeply beyond one's own deepest compassion.

For the common good, God does take notice also, I think.

Jim Wallis of Sojourner Magazine removed himself from the routine of life and observed it for months.

Then, he wrote the book to tell about his experience: On God's Side: For the Common Good.

"It's time to reframe our priorities," concluded Wallis.  "I witnessed the worst of us as a nation."

When there's a lack of a look at others as sisters and brothers in this nation, Wallis asserts, and public service is replaced with power and privilege, and, campaigning replaces governing, it's time for change.

"What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn't Learned About Serving," is the subtitle of the good read that had me glued to the pages for days until I completed the tome.

Aim of the work is to engage a national dialog. 

Wallis worries about the common good.

I grew up with the common good.

That is, that you matter, and everyone else does.

The neighborhood on Lynch Road and Van Dyke, on Detroit's east side, was on the side of the common good.

Neighbors knew it.  My six siblings and I knew it as neighbors kept an eye on our behavior, and, first greeted us daily. Elders engaged with me.  In turn, they taught me how to be hospitable and conversant, along with my parents, pastors, teachers, others.

They helped, like a village, to raise a family.

Love your neighbor as yourself is the Christian foundation for the book.  It's the most morphing ethic of life, according to Wallis, the author, preacher, and conscience of America.

We owe each other the common good.

What else matters when it's God's agenda.

God's on all sides always.

But, especially that of  the common good.

The fading side on my watch.

Go team.  Go common good.

And, go Michigan Monday!

Win it for the common good.

Your team's aim.

Every team's thrust.

For sure.