With Me or Against Me?
March 27, 2025
Katie Davis-Crowder
Hard hearts.
Turned backs.
Stiff necks.
Sound familiar?
As of this writing (back in February!), frigid temperatures and impending snowstorms serve as an apropos backdrop for this moment in our country and world. I find myself gutted daily by the hardness of heart we are witnessing as elected officials and their unelected collaborators choose power over people. Simultaneously, I am teaching my sophomores about Jeremiah, the prophet of today’s first reading, whose intense language seeks to motivate a stubborn, selfish, divided community to change.
Luke’s gospel asserts that the solution to such conflict is unity. It’s crucial to understand, however, that the prophet’s righteous anger is the context for this invitation to unity. In other words, the Gospel isn’t referring to unity as some vague feeling of pleasant togetherness, and certainly not to unity as nationalistic pride. Rooted in God’s Word as spoken through the prophets, Jesus motivates us to be united in and around God’s vision of love and justice. There we find true strength.
Katie Davis-Crowder is an Ignatian-trained educator and spiritual director, a singer and writer, and a presenter and retreat facilitator in Chicago. Passionate about the intersections of spirituality, social justice, and the arts, she holds an MDiv from Loyola Chicago and a BMus in musical theatre from Catholic U. Katie loves exploring nature and building home with her partner Kevin, toddler Harrison, and rescue pup Smartie. katiedaviscrowder.com
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