Tuesday, August 15, 2000
Tuesday, August 15, 2000
The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.
What world are you reaching out to?
(Psalm 145:9
NRSV)
There is a wonderful novel by E. M. Forster, A ROOM WITH A VIEW. Lucy Honeychurch is
visiting in Italy with a friend. They're rich English people, out on holidays, and when they get to a
hotel, they want a room with a view. They want a room that looks out on the beautiful things of
Italy: the colors of nature, the marble statues, and fine architecture. But there's only one room left.
And it's on the wrong side of the hotel. It doesn't have "a view"; at least not the kind of view they
want. It looks down on the markets, and the teeming mass of people, poor people, rough people,
the kind of people they don't want to know about. All the other rich people pity them. A room
with no view! What a terrible way to spend the holidays! And Lucy Honeychurch at first buys into
that idea. Think of her name: "Honeychurch" Religion where everything is nice and pious and oh,
so sweet! But Forster changes her heart. He helps her to see the poor people. He has her heart
reach out in compassion and touch their hurts, and share their needs. She begins to see life as it
really is. In the end we get the feeling that Lucy Honeychurch actually does have "a room with a
view." It's a view of things as they truly are. It's a window looking down on a world of good and
evil, of beauty and pain. And Lucy Honeychurch reaches out to that world.
God of peace, in reaching out to my world, help me to show your compassion and love. Amen.
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