ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 18, 2026
A quote from Bishop Desmond Tutu has been speaking to me over the last couple of weeks. He said, “Your ordinary acts of hope and love point to the extraordinary promise that every human life is of inestimable value.” Not to look at it from the negative, but after reading it for the first time, I asked myself, “What do I do that makes other human beings feel as if their lives are insignificant and dispensable?” I don’t like to think I have, but I know I have. From the other side, can you name a time or two (or many) when you have felt seen and affirmed? Those moments can shift your outlook on life and even change how you see others around you. Of course, when your starting place is one of defame and defeat, it only makes sense that nothing and no one have value. In my opinion, not only was the observation of Desmond Tutu spot on, it makes me realize how the world we desire to see is the world we are creating with every ordinary act of hope and love. Remember, every person has inestimable value. At least God thinks so.
You have placed before us, O God who sees and celebrates the immeasurable worth of every person, a vision for how we can help establish the world you have been seeking since life emerged from the primordial ooze. We have seen numerous setbacks, even recently, yet we trust your patient persistence to never let a setback become where we settle. Amen.
