Goodness Connected

Let the good in me connect with the good in others, until all the world is transformed through the compelling power of love. — Nachman of Breslov

Dear Mayfield,

Since late 2003 I have faithfully listened to StoryCorps on National Public Radio (NPR).  First in St. Louis, then in Princeton, IL, Ann Arbor, Mayfield Township, and Chicago, I have tuned in regularly at 5:30/7:30 am central time or 6:30/8:30 am eastern time to hear the week’s broadcast story. Molly and I recorded a story with StoryCorps in the summer of 2012. The five minute broadcast each Friday morning has long been one of my favorite NPR programs providing me with inspiration and periodic worship material over the past seventeen years.

Linked to this Web Notes is this morning’s story. It is a story from the medical frontlines of Covid-19. The story features two young adults, Sam and Josh, both of them health care staff in adulthood, who grew up as best friends in Brandon, FL, and who even then, at a much younger age, spurred one another on to acts of goodness.  The story even includes a reference to Camus’ The Plague.  It is a story you can easily listen to more than once. Click here and then again on the link when it comes up.   STORY LINK

Please keep the following in your prayers:

• Those showing up day after day on the frontlines in grocery stores, pharmacies and restaurants, at hospitals and public health locations, along trucking roots, on the streets of cities and towns as first responders, workers with public transportation, and any who pick up garbage or recycling.
• The Northern Illinois Food Bank and the Food Depository of Greater Chicago who together are addressing enormous needs for the hungry in fourteen counties of northern Illinois.
• To those at Wrigley Field who have made the decision to open up their iconic space to serve as a much needed food distribution site.
• TJ and Sue.
• Becky and Roger in the wake of the death of  Becky’s mom, Catherine, early on April 16 and all others who are mourning losses in this season of great grief.
• Mitch who has received a teaching offer from Sycamore High School.
• State and local officials who are tirelessly making their way through a thicket of issues to keep us as safe as possible and to address growing economic realities.
• Carolyn’s mother Virginia, and others who reside in and staff long-term care facilities.
• Children, families, and teachers creatively addressing educational opportunities for learners of all ages.
• The unemployed.
• A multitude of performing artists who are making free offerings of quarantine art available online and museums who are opening up their collections digitally — efforts to enrich at-home time for the rest of us.
• Other joys, concerns, delights, and struggles that you carry within.  Let me know if there are any you would like to add to our prayer list.

Peace, Martha