麻豆约拍

Good morning. Earlier this year I was privileged to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I'd never been before and, as a Christian, being at the sites and places associated with Jesus had a powerful effect on me.
Having heard stories about Jesus since my childhood, I thought I knew what the places in the gospel looked like---but I was wrong. As I journeyed around Jerusalem and Galilee, what struck me most forcefully was how different everything was to how I had imagined it to be. I had always assumed, for example, that the Sea of Galilee was huge, and I was quite taken aback when I discovered that you can easily see one shore from the other. Likewise, the place of Jesus' crucifixion, Calvary, and the tomb where he was buried are so close that they are now both inside the same church.
The experience makes me wonder what else I might be missing.
Seeing things from a different perspective can, of course, be an immense challenge. And it can be all the harder when we're convinced that we already have the full picture or understanding of any given topic. But perhaps it's precisely on those occasions that a new perspective is most needed. Stepping outside our own worldviews for a moment can empower us to assess the legitimacy of another's viewpoint, and if we鈥檙e fortunate, their insights may just enhance our own.
Jesus once said, "Do you have eyes and fail to see?" It's a question I think that鈥檚 worth posing to ourselves now and again, especially when we find ourselves in the middle of disagreements or conflicts.
Lord Jesus, you invite us to see the world as you see it. Open our minds to new worldviews and new perspectives; shake from us our closed certainties and help us to truly listen to others that we may build with them a world of justice and peace. Amen.