May 2025 Monthly Letter

Dear Reconcilers,

Thank you for your support and encouraging comments for the monthly letters. In these unstable times and rising prices your support is a blessing. This month’s letter is written by Willard High, Pastor Emeritus of The Shepherd’s Community Church in Harvey, Illinois.  

Disturbances In The Force

Have you ever felt the urge to contact or visit a relative, a friend or a new acquaintance? This can happen “out of the blue,” so to speak. Perhaps you have not seen them in a while but suddenly they are on your mind in a way that calls attention to a need to reach out to them and check on their well-being. When this happens to me I have noticed that if it is delayed, the urge often gets stronger. 

If I continue to delay, that person who was on my mind will sometimes contact or visit me. They often share that I was on their mind at about the same time and that they could have benefited from a call or visit. 

Star Wars characters refer to this as a “disturbance in the Force.” The Force being a non-physical connection between persons and things. Over the years I have discovered that these urges and feelings of discomfort have tangible connections to my real life. I wonder if you have experienced this too. 

I am convinced that there is an unseen and too often unacknowledged connection between people and animals. While seldom acknowledged, it allows us to share the joys, pains, uncertainty and confusion of others—if we care.  We call it sympathy—the ability to sense what another person feels in a genuine but somewhat detached way from outside their experience. Sometimes we can go deeper, feeling empathy. The ability to get inside another person’s experience to a greater degree and sample their hurts, joys or sadness, usually because we have experienced, felt, suffered something similar in our lives. Caution: despite wielding this empathetic superpower, we can never know exactly how another person feels. In fact, most people will be offended if we say we know how they feel, and rightfully so. For example, even if you both have lost a husband, wife, child, brother or sister—our relationships do not match up exactly; therefore, we do not feel the same. However, sharing similar circumstances can give us depth of feelings, like sympathy or empathy. In the vernacular we say, “I feel you.” This acknowledges a genuine recognition of the other person’s situation or feelings. 

A very influential person recently said that empathy—caring about another person’s feelings and trying to give comfort—is a weakness. No, our world is weaker and in peril because we only care about our well-being and feelings. Today we are going through unprecedented stress and trouble in our nation and the world. More than ever before, we need to be aware of not only our own worries but have sensitivity for what others are experiencing. In these times a kind word, a listening ear, and if possible tangible assistance, however small, may make a world of difference. A caring word spoken in time of despair or discouragement can help. I encourage you to pay attention to urges from within that tell you others are in need. Consider the needs of others and if there is a reasonable way you can help, do so. Believe it or not, we are all connected.