Psalm 68:1-36
Genesis 42:1-17
1 Corinthians 5:1-8
Mark 3:19b-35

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. Mark 3:24-25

Christmas was very strange for me this year for a number of reasons, but chief among them was flying into and out of New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane Katrina laid waste to one of my favorite places on earth. I was spared seeing the worst of the devastation, but I did see ruined houses with spray-painted markings indicating the number of bodies found within. Driving across the causeway to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, the skyline of the city was invisible because no lights were illuminated. During this Lenten season I cannot help but think that anything I voluntarily and temporarily give up pales in comparison to the deprivation visited on the members of our American family who have lost so much. The vast gulf between races and classes exposed in the aftermath of Katrina highlights just how divided a kingdom our country truly is. My Easter prayer is that we attempt to heal this division and recognize a purpose in our shared humanity. In a later passage in Mark's Gospel, the crowd around Jesus tells him that his family outside asking for him. He responds by saying, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." Much of my family, immediate and extended, is still living in Louisiana. It is time -- it is long past time -- that we unite our divided kingdom so that they and the rest of us can dwell in houses that will be able to stand, now and forever.