Tags
I have struggled with our national immigration system all week – or rather the implementation of it. I’ve seen the pictures, heard the audio, from refugee seekers and those in detention facilities. I’ve heard supporters carrying out the law. I’ve heard the president shift from saying that his hands were tied to signing an executive order changing the situation. I’ve read numerous accounts about what the law and policy is and is not – none really agreeing with each other – the same goes for the executive order.
I’ve found the policy to be immoral at its core, but at the same time, I think that’s simplistic.
It’s easy to complain and point fingers and to scapegoat. I’ve seen plenty of that on social media. Heck, I’m willing to admit that I’m just as guilty. Being right feels good after all. Being able to point a finger and blame someone and label them as wrong, evil, or immoral feels really good. And we as a nation are really good at that.
And it’s exhausting. And it doesn’t end. And we’ll be exactly where we are next week, only on some other divisive issue that will cause the nation to be divided, to point fingers, and to throw labels around.
I’m tired of it. But I’m not quitting. I will speak up – but hopefully in a different way. Will I fail – most likely, I’m a broken and sinful person. I have my opinions and ideas. I have my biases and worldviews.
And like the disciples in the boat this Sunday, I’m sure I’ll be distracted by the storms of life, rather than focused on Jesus who is in the boat with me. I’ll keep asking “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And Jesus won’t answer. He won’t answer because that’s the wrong question. The better question comes from Jesus – “Why are you afraid?” Ouch.
Good question Jesus? I don’t have a good answer to that question. But maybe I can start to ask that question to myself and others. To really hear people where they are – what they fear. To hear what they place as their identities. To voice my own fears. To really connect with people in a vulnerable way.
We want simple answers to these challenges that we face. I heard plenty simple answers: “Just follow the law” “The Republicans can change the law anytime” The Democrats passed it – it’s their fault” “The Administration decided to carry this out six weeks ago” “Democrats didn’t care about this before six weeks ago.” And back and forth it goes. Until we get to the next issue that where the arguments are not really any different and people are forced to choose sides in the battle of partisanship.
And like the disciples in the boat, we are missing the more important question – Why are we afraid?
Are we afraid because we know that our memes, and tweets, and one-liners, and insults, are as empty as they sound? Are we afraid because we know that our simple solutions aren’t solutions at all – but rather blunt objects meant to cause damage to our opponents and enemies? Are we afraid because we don’t know the answers and we don’t like not knowing? Are we afraid because deep down we know we are not in control? Are we afraid because the answers might require us to change? Are we afraid because if we became vulnerable with each other, we might actually learn that we are more alike than we thought – not just political opponents, but refugees, law enforcement, people with different skin colors, people who speak a different language, Democrats, Republicans, Hillary, Trump. Whoa!
It’s easy to offer simple solutions. It’s easy to attack and divide. It’s easy to dehumanize and devalue people. It’s easy to do this either as an attack on someone or a group and it’s easy to fall into this for defense. It’s so easy that often we don’t realize we are doing it and then what?
Right now I’m reading a book called “Living without Enemies” by Samuel Wells and Marcia Owen. Yes, living without enemies. The premise is that we don’t get to choose who is our enemy – we aren’t God. And God sees everyone as a Child of God. Because we claim to follow God, then we are to see the world the way God sees the world – God empowers us to do that. And to God, there are no enemies.
One of the key ideas in this book is Being With. It’s the theology of presence. Not coming up with answers, because sometimes there are no answers. When I sit with a family who’s 28-year-old son is dying, there are no answers. There is nothing I can say that will change the situation. All I can do is be present, to sit with them in their sorrow, their grief, their questions, their anger, their doubts, their fears. That’s it.
There are no simple answers to our immigration system. That doesn’t mean we sit idly by and do nothing. I think the only way we will ever be effective is to start by being present with each other.
In silence there are no answers, only companionship. There are no explanations, only humility. There is no blame, only common humanity. But that silence takes discipline, self-knowledge and many years of practice, because it runs counter to a great many instincts and social conventions. Often we want to speak because we don’t want to feel. And sometimes we speak to try to stop people from feeling.
(Living without Enemies, pg. 78)
Let’s start with Jesus and his question for the disciples – “Why are you afraid?” We may not have an answer, just like the disciples. So let’s sit with that for a while. Let’s sit together and admit we are afraid and we don’t know why. Let’s just sit together and be afraid. It’s as good as any starting point that I know of. It’s not a simple answer to the challenges we face. But it’s the start of something different. I want something different. Don’t you? Or would you rather wait until the next outrage happens and revert back to the same thing of seeking simple answers that don’t exist?
Matthew,
Thanx for the conciliatory post. The peace seeking post. The self examining post. Thanx.
I often sense fear and frustration in the blogs – in fact usually. And it is an issue subtly creeping up beside all the other issues being discussed.
I sense, though, that simply acknowledging this is not a simple solution to its own problem.
On the other hand, I am sure I could explore a lot of heavy theological concepts with which to address all the worlds problems (something I am inclined to do) because I am sure that the creator God not only CAN handle it all, but HAS already. We merely need to implement his answer(s) faithfully… right?
Well, I am sure there are complex answers to complex problems. I am sure that not all aspects of the Gospel are simple. But some are. Some are, and they are powerful too.
I suggest LOVE.
A four letter word that is full of simplicity and bursting at the seams with it, and yet full of complexity too.
Hmmm…
What if we ministers spent one whole year looking only at LOVE passages of Scripture. I am not saying give up the rest of the Bible, but just focus on those passages for one whole year of your life. Read them, meditate on them, preach them and stick with just them for only one whole year.
What is the most important command?
Love.
Love who?
God and others.
Who are the others?
Neighbors AND enemies.
Everybody?
Who else is left?
How do you show love?
No one has greater love than that he lays down his life…
Whoa.
Love is patient; love is kind….
Whoa.
Love never fails!
Really? Never???
Yeah. And those who have showed no greater love are pretty much all gone now because it is that costly, but they will testify that it has not failed.
Hmmm…
What else is there about love in the Bible? Did I exhaust it with this brief analysis?
No.
Now… How are we going to implement this? Can we legislate it? Can we call our congress rep and get it going? Can we vote it in office? Which candidate was bringing the LOVE in the last election?
Hmmm…
What about the church?
Oh… yeah. We can LOVE through the church.
Maybe God thought of that when Jesus built in on this rock and the gates of hell cant withstand it… Maybe….
Hmmmm…
I wonder… What if “the church” put all our nickels and dimes together and went down to the border and bought every acre of ranch and farmland there that gets trespassed by aliens everyday and night? It would be perfectly legal to do it. Oh sure, some folks there would be stubborn and not sell, but we might not have to actually purchase every inch of this land. After all, it turns out that THE WALL may not cover every inch as well…
But then maybe SOME of the landowners there are church people already, and maybe they could be persuaded to join the cause.
Now. Imagine the church owns all this border front property and she wants to LOVE those who might enter the country under any circumstance. Some of these will be drug dealers and rapists. Is our LOVE going to affect them? Well, LOVE never fails, right? But a lot of them will be desperate parents fleeing gangs with their kids, will our LOVE affect them? What about border patrol? Will our love affect them?
What will this love look like?
What if it looked like a prodigal son feast? What if we throw a welcome party for those coming out of sin, fear, and oppression? What if we said, you came to us in search of a job, of freedom, and the American Dream, but you found JESUS right here at the border?
I’m not stupid, Matthew, I know this is a farfetched scheme. But so is a virgin birth and resurrection from the dead, so don’t give me too much flack about farfetched. Okay?
What if we start with this kind of talk and water these kinds of seeds in our Christian imaginations and share it with the church and the church share it with the world?
Love never fails.
And after a year of this LOVE diet, I wonder what the rest of the Bible would look like.
X
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t think it’s farfetched at all. I think the world is farfetched. I think the world’s ways of doing things is farfetched – to actually believe that living in any other way than love will actually work is crazy. We are literally insane. And it seems that many are not willing to actually follow the Jesus way. They want the label, but not the cost of following Jesus. Many followers don’t really believe Jesus apparently. Why else would so many think that Jesus way is farfetched. I wish we would just be honest about it instead of trying to fool ourselves into thinking that we actually follow Jesus. I have no idea what I’m going to preach this week. My heart has ranged from being pissed off and sad to concilatory to seeking peace to loving and back again. I am at a loss, and I’m tired of living a lie for the sake of some false sense of peace because someone might walk out and take their money with them and it might cause the church to die. Let it die then. If it was on that much of a shaky ground, what was it’s foundation anyway? God is faithful, this I know. God is love and calls on us to live in love, this I know. God doesn’t see enemies, this I know. God calls us to love our neighbors and our enemies. That’s risky, that’s dangerous in the eyes of the world. It might cost us our lives. But is it really farfetched? Is it crazy? Or is it really the only option in the history of the world that makes sense? I say it makes sense. And the world calls me crazy. I don’t care. The insane usually don’t realize their own insanity.
LikeLike
One major aspect of Mark’s gospel that grips me strongly is how awful the disciples are at being disciples. And Jesus gets frustrated with them too. And then…
Sometime sit down and read Mark all in one sitting, except stop at 14:50 and come back to finish the next day…. and then the next day stop at 16:8.
14:50 is one of the saddest/darkest verses in the Bible. 16:8 is the last verse original to Mark that we have … and some of us think Mark meant for it like that.
If Jesus loves those disciples… then maybe we actually have a chance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve read Mark all the way through. The rush of the Gospel is gripping. It feels like the whole thing happens – all of Jesus ministry – in about 3 weeks total. I just read 14:50. Maybe 14:50 is the reality that we will face and not so much a sad/dark verse as a reminder of what following Jesus really costs. I also prefer to have 16:8 as the last verse. It leaves us with lots of questions, which seems to me exactly what Jesus did throughout his ministry – asked lots of questions and leaves us uncomfortable. Why wouldn’t the resurrection do the same thing?
And yes, if Jesus loves the disciples, then we do have a chance. Amen.
LikeLike