Category Archives: Politics

Faith or politics informs our decisions?

09 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Organizational theory, Politics, Theology

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Beliefs and ideas about politics are often really no more than theological statements dressed up in secular terms.

Maybe you disagree with that statement.  But consider this, often politics offers something that theology has been about for a long time – a vision of salvation.  In theology we have terms for this – soteriology and eschatology.

Bad theology is often deadly and destructive.  It focuses on wrath, compliance, anger, and makes people suffer as a result.  Bad theology allows for abuse and violence.  Often these bad theologies find willing partners in political ideologies – a partnership of convenience.

When we hear politicians and others talk about salvation and a savior, it’s politics using theology.  Now, you may not think that politicians talk in theological terms but let me point out a couple of recent examples.  Remember when Obama was described as being like a savior?  Or how about people saying that Trump was put here by God.  How about every president invoking God’s blessing on the nation.  Or that we are a special nation ordained by God.  Those are theological terms that are hijacked for political purposes.  When we hear about being a great nation (or great again), it’s no different from what the crowds were expecting from Jesus when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  People were thinking politics, but were really doing theology.  They had an expectation of what a savior was.  But Jesus had a different definition.

Don’t tell me to have theology stop at the border of politics especially when politics tramples all over theology all the time and has for centuries.  As if theology shouldn’t have any effect on the public sphere.  It does, which is why politics is often trying to use it for its own advantages.

Which is the foundation of the other?  Is politics and ideology the foundation of life or is theology the thing that guides our decisions in both public and private life? Does politics and ideology inform our theology or does our theology inform our politics?

I would argue that most people place politics as the foundation of their lives.  We seem to invest a great deal of time on politics, ideology, party loyalties, and politicians.  Do we invest the same time, energy, emotion, and resources in to our theology?  How many times do we hear about a political leader being like a savior who is going to save the nation or make it great again?  Democrats and Republicans are both guilty of this.

How much time do we devote to opening the sacred scriptures of politics (news sites), listen to the religious authorities of politics (spin doctors on TV who tell us what to believe), give our tithes and offerins to the religion of politics (campaign contributions), listen sermons of politicians (speeches, tweets, etc)., and partake in apologetics of the faith of politics (defending the ideology from all attacks on social media, in person, or anywhere)?  Do we give that kind of investment of ourselves into our faith?  When is the last time you opened Scripture outside of church to read God’s word?  Want me to go on?

If you believe that theology and faith are only a personal matter and they have no impact on the social or community, the polity, then I have some questions for you?

How do you square that belief with the Great Commission of Jesus?  Matthew 28:18-20 states:

And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Jesus says “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  As in all.  Not a separation between personal and the political.  “Make disciples of all nations.”  Do you think that might have an impact on policies that are implemented?

How do you square the belief of theology and politics being in separate realms, not impacting each other, with the whole idea of the kingdom/reign of God?  How do you square it away with the image of Revelation 21.  How do you square it away with the prophets of old telling kings what God’s words were?  How do you square it away with the time before kings in Israel where God was the head and they had no need of a king?

How do you square it with Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey at one end of the city in contrast to Pilot entering at the other end on his horse with his soldiers?  How do you square it away with the titles given to Jesus that had been reserved for Caesar, the Roman emperor – King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Savior of the World, Prince of Peace?

How do you hold onto the belief that theology and faith have no impact on politics and living in community when the bible shows that the idea is false through out it?

If our theology and faith don’t guide our whole life, including our politics, then what good is it?

How is that faith and theology going to bring about the kingdom of God?  And do we really want the kingdom of God to come at all?  The kingdom of God is all-encompassing, not just affecting your personal life.  Throughout the Hebrew Bible we hear about God restoring the entire world, not just individuals.  We hear about the salvation of Israel, not just individuals.  In the Gospel of John, we hear that God so loved the cosmos, that he gave his Son.  Not God so loved individuals – no, the entire cosmos, all of creation.

Which god do we lay our lives out in front of to determine how we will live – both personally and communally?  Which god invites us to participate in the unfolding of a kingdom?  God or some earthly kingdom and ideology and politician?

The book of Daniel is full of examples of politics stepping all over theology and faith. And there are consequences of this because God doesn’t care about these human made imaginary boundaries that we construct.  They are human inventions.

Jonah is sent by God with a message for the a secular city and it’s rulers to change.  Elijah flees for his life from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel because theology and faith are foundational for personal and public life and the politicians don’t like being put in their place as servants of God rather than gods over people.

The Apostle Paul, over and over again, suffers at the hand of politics and politicians, eventually being killed by politicians.  John the Baptist is jailed and beheaded by politicians because he dares to speak faith and theology into the life of politics.  Jesus suffers at the hand of politics, eventually being crucified by politicians because he is offering an alternative kingdom in contrast to the empire.

Ephesians 4:25-5:2 states:

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Hebrews 13:1-5 states:

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honour by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’

When we read Ephesians 4:25-5:2 and Hebrews 13:1-5, do we only see these as personal suggestions on how to live life?  Do we put up walls to prevent them from being carried out publicly?  Or at least have higher expectations for our elected leaders?  Why?  What is it about these passages that is so dangerous to our political system that we make excuses for behaviors, rhetoric, and policies that are in opposition to what is in Scripture?

Before you level the charge that I am suggesting or advocating a theocracy, I am not.  Theocracies often end up being abusive, dangerous, full of violence, focused on compliance of action and thought.  Theocracies are all about using absolute power over people.  That’s not what the kingdom of God is about at all.

The questions I am raising are this – What does it mean to claim to be a follower of Jesus?  Does it only affect our personal life?  Is it acceptable to put Jesus on the side when it comes to our politics?  Why is that acceptable?  Why doesn’t our theology inform our politics, our policies, and our rhetoric?  That doesn’t mean we need a theocracy.  Far from it.  It means we need to live out what we claim to believe in into all aspect of our life, whatever our political structure is.

Ephesians and our politicians

08 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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Ephesians 4:25-5:2 (NRSV) states:

25So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and do not make room for the devil. 28Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 5:1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

This is a pretty good recipe for how to live if we claim to be followers of Christ – regardless of our calling and vocation.  Would you agree with that statement?  It’s easy to agree with that statement in a general sense isn’t it?

How do we measure up on this?  How about those in leadership positions – both in the church in the secular world?

One argument I hear lately is that we didn’t elect this or that politician to be a saint, but rather to get a job done.   The implication being that following Jesus’ way is a recipe for failure in the world.  Instead, we apparently need people who are opposite of Jesus and his way to run things.  We apparently prefer Caesar’s way to Jesus way of running the world.  Who doesn’t love a guy on a horse brandishing a sword dripping with blood after all?

Considering that Jesus’ way got him killed, there is a valid argument for that.  However, I don’t think Jesus really cared about the same things that our secular leaders do.  Jesus wasn’t interested in accumulating power or wealth.  He didn’t seem interested in making people fear him.  He didn’t care about patriotism or raising an army and crushing the enemy with military might.  He didn’t believe that the strong survive.  He certainly didn’t believe in the ends justifying the means.  He spent time with the lowest levels of society and the outcasts.

I suppose Jesus would never make a good president in America in modern times.  But then again, his agenda isn’t about what is best for the nation, but rather the unfolding of the kingdom of God.

Often when I hear arguments defending politicians for their actions or words, some questions come to mind that I like to ask.  Given what was said by a politician, would you defend the same words by a politician in the other party?  Given the actions of a politician, would you defend those same actions if someone in the other party did them?  If someone in the other political party got the same results, said the same things, acted the same way, treated people the same way, would you be defending this person the same way that you are for your favored politician currently?  Be honest.  Would you do that, or are your excuses really about loyalty to your political party and ideology over anything else.

I ask these questions because I think they relate to the Ephesians text.  This passage from Ephesians is in direct contrast to how our world operates and has operated for centuries.  This passage of Scripture, though, is radical in nature.  It showcases Jesus way against and in opposition to Caesar’s way, the empire’s way.   It comes down to this – where does our salvation lie?  In Jesus and his way, or in some politician, political party, and their ways focused on strength and the ends justifying the means?  Politicians and political parties come and go.  But Jesus is eternal.  I’ll take my chances with Jesus, thank you very much.

Same thing, different name vs. something special

25 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Theology

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Nazi Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering was interviewed in a Nuremberg prison during his trial after the war for crimes against humanity and other such atrocities.

He spoke about ways to get common people to war – to leave their lives to fight.  He acknowledged that most people don’t want to do it – they have nothing to gain and are lucky to come back alive.

Here’s the quote that caught my attention:

Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

(Source:  https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/war-games/)

This isn’t new.  And it didn’t start with the Nazis.  Nor are they the last ideological group to use this line of reasoning.  As I’ve been saying recently, there is nothing special about this way of thinking.  Nothing at all.  There never has been and there never will be.  There’s nothing special about the leaders who espouse this way of thinking either – regardless what ideology they label themselves with.  Nothing unique, nothing special.  They do the same things, speak the same ways, dehumanize people the same way, divide people the same way, create fear the same way, use anger the same way, get the same results, bring about the same destruction, and have the same followers.  The only thing that is unique is the name of the person holding the ideology.

The same is true of theology that is not life-giving.  There have been plenty of theologies that believe in a vindictive and small god who is full of wrath and only wrath.  Let’s call these theologies what they really are – pathetic.  They become about the personalities of the followers and how they live, rather than about any deity.  The deity and their way becomes justification for the followers doing violence to others.  There’s nothing special about these gods and theologies.  They are pathetic at best, destructive at worst.  They are just like the ideologies – same thing, just a different name.

Fear comes in relation to these things because people buy into the lie that these people, their beliefs, and their gods are unique and unlike anything or anyone before them – so that people don’t know how to deal with them.  When we realize that they are not special, not the first of their kind, and are in fact a flawed repeat that ended in death, then they lose their power to enthrall people.  They lose conformity.  They lose respect.  They only have threats of and acts of violence against those who will not comply with them.

These ideologies and theologies do not deserve fear as a response.  They deserve to be treated for what they actually are – predictable, unspecial in every way, irrational, destructive.

They deserve to be spoken out against so we don’t repeat the same mistakes and suffer the same destruction.

More importantly, people deserve to have an alternative way proclaimed in contrast to what they offer – which is nothing special at all.  People deserve an alternative vision for what the world can be like, rather than a tired, old, unspecial way that leads to death.

What would that alternative way be?  New life, thriving life for all.  For Christians it is the image of God’s kingdom unfolding before us.  It is Revelation 21 being lived out.  What God has to offer is special because it is far different from anything all of these ideologies and theologies can never offer – thriving and transformed life.  Only God can offer that.

 

Control

19 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by in Church, Health, Organizational theory, Politics, Society, Theology

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I think there is a valid argument for saying that the biggest sin that humanity commits is control.  It’s a sin that puts the created in the place of the creator – crafting ourselves as a god.  The sin of control is the ultimate broken relationship with God.  It’s us saying to God: “We don’t like your ways.  We’ll do it our way, thank you very much.  You go sit over here for when we need you to bail us out.”

The first commandment states “You shall have no other gods before me.”  (Exodus 20:3)  This applies to how we make ourselves into a god as well – not just idols that are created and worshiped.

We do this when we try to control things by keeping them the way they are or try to re-create the past.  Except we can’t.  Change will happen, does happen, and there is no way to stop it.  We can certainly adapt to it.  We can resist it to some degree, especially if the change is not healthy and good.  We might even be able to redirect the change.  But that isn’t the same as trying to stop change and keep everything the same – forever.

Look at the effort we give to trying to stop change from happening.

The most obvious way this happens is with ourselves.  We try to stop the aging process instead of embracing it as a part of life and adapting to it.  Our bodies change – that is a fact.  Look at yourself in the mirror.  Is this what you looked like 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago?  Of course not.  Your body changed, regardless of how you wanted to stop it.  You couldn’t.  Even if we cover it up, have surgeries, exercise, and have procedures, the fact remains that your body is still changing.  Yet, we are told a lie that we can stop aging, that we can hold onto our youthful look, that we can make our bodies youthful again.  And many buy the lie that we can stop change in ourselves.  There’s a lot of money to be made with selling a nostalgic self-image.

We try to stop change in our institutions as well.  Church is a good example.  Many want it the way it was, the way we see it through an idealized lens in which the pews were full, the pastor did all the ministry, everyone in town came to worship, everyone dressed up, and the culture assisted the church with laws and mores that gave the church a privileged position in society.  We want church to be a steady rock that never changes, all the while we will voice a desire for change, mostly because it seems like the right thing to say.  That is until we actually consider how that change will impact us, not just other people.  We want change in church, but change that doesn’t require us to change, only other people.  Often the change that is voiced isn’t so much a change with progress forward, with adaptions, and new ministries to serve new peoples in our ever-changing communities.  Rather it is a change by looking backward to nostalgia.  We want the world and the church to go back to the way it was – ignoring the challenges and sins that existed in the church and in the world.  We want to make church a steady and stable rock again.  We want a sense of control over life.

Yet, when Jesus calls people to follow him, he is asking for a huge change – a personal change.  He’s saying drop everything – all the nostalgia and the desire to control and stop change – and follow me.  Die daily so that new life can take hold.  Don’t just voice it, actually do it.  Jesus said:

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do no do what I tell you?  I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.  But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.  When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of the house.”

(Luke 6:46-49)

We try to stop change politically and as a nation.  We hear it in the slogan “Make America Great Again.”  Many desire a change to some romanticized time in which all was well, that we were great, and everyone thrived.  Except this time never actually existed.  It’s a change backward, a reverse of time.  And it’s a lie.  There has never been a time in this country when all was well and where everyone thrived.  Never.  Certain groups of people certainly have, but not everyone.  And often there have been and still are groups of people who not only aren’t thriving, but are struggling to survive – pushed down by those in more privileged positions in life.  This is what the desire to control does.  There is a cost.

Things that are alive change and adapt.  Any science book will tell you that.  Things that are dead don’t move on their own and don’t adapt.  They wear away and decompose.  In that respect, even things that are dead change.  And eventually, they become unrecognizable and become dirt.  Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.

And in the end the question remains – what is the point of trying to stop change completely?  Or of turning back the clock?  Change is coming.  It is already here.  It walks with us.  Why not spend our energy adapting to it, maybe even steering it in a positive direction towards something that actually can allow for more people to thrive?  What if we took some of the good things of the past and adapted them for our present circumstances as opposed to trying to recreate the past?

What is the point of trying to change things in a backward fashion – to a time that never actually existed and certainly can’t be recreated.  Everything else has changed around us.  The environment in which we find ourselves has changed.  We can’t go back.  We can’t be any of those things again.

Change means there is newness.  There is no “again.”  No matter how much we desire it, we can’t go back in time and have those beautiful memories become reality again.  There is change.  There is life and there is death.  And out of death comes new life.  We allow the past to die so that there is new life in the present and the future.  Shackling the present and the future with the past doesn’t bring us back to the past and the way it was.  It just holds us hostage.  And in the mean time, the world continues to change, without our consent.  Because we are not in charge. And we fall further behind.  This makes adapting to changes more difficult and costly.

This is what it means to follow Jesus.  We aren’t called to go backward in time with the church.  We aren’t called to go backward in time with our nation.  We aren’t called to go backward in time with our bodies.  We are called to go forward and to let past things die, so that new life can take root.

To another [Jesus] said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

(Luke 9:59-62)

These would-be disciples wanted to go back, to hold onto the nostalgia – to bury their dead and to say farewell.  To look back.  But Jesus knows that a look back will only hold us back.  You can’t plow looking backwards.  You can’t drive a car looking in the rear view mirror.  You can’t walk forward while you keep your eye behind you.  It doesn’t work.  You can’t be the church, or you, or a nation by having a tight grip on the past, holding the present and the future hostage, with an old model that doesn’t meet current conditions and challenges and cultures.

Jesus calls us forward, not to a time of nostalgia.  The kingdom isn’t in the past.  The best days of the kingdom of God are unfolding now and are to come.  They aren’t in the past.  It’s unfolding right now.  It’s causing a change.  Will we be embraced by it, or will we resist it?  In the end, resisting it and trying to stop it will never win out.  It can’t.  Because change is always taking place.  The kingdom is always unfolding in new ways, in ways that are different from the past.

When it’s ok to not follow Jesus

06 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in Church, Politics, Theology

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You claim to be a follower of Jesus.  And life is complicated.  You’re tired of the pastor saying things you disagree with about what it means to follow Jesus. What does he/she know anyway?  He/she lives in a bubble, not in the real world.

Looking for a list of situations of when it’s ok to put Jesus aside?  When it’s ok to not follow Jesus?  Look no further.  I have spent hours and hours of time compiling a list for you.  All from the best sources – words from Christians, people who claim to follow Jesus on when it’s ok to not follow Jesus.  Without any further ado, here goes:

  • When you are attacked.  Of course it’s ok to put Jesus aside in this instance and strike back.  It’s not like Jesus said to turn the other cheek.  That’s just crazy.  You could get hurt or even die.  Plus that whole turn the cheek thing is for other people, not you.
  • When you come across someone who is clearly wrong.  On any subject.  You can certainly put Jesus aside here.  Jesus was obviously more concerned with right belief and compliance, and getting your act together before following him.  Plus, you are the authority on what is right anyway.  Everyone knows that Jesus comes to you for the answers.  There couldn’t possibly be another way to looking at a situation or issue and coming to a different conclusion?  There’s only one way and you have it.  Why would Jesus want someone who’s clearly wrong following him?  That would make him look pretty bad.  Plus it would get kind of crowded – you don’t like crowds, and you can’t imagine Jesus does either.
  • When you come across the poor/homeless/prostitutes/victim of human trafficking/etc. It’s not like Jesus spent time with these people!  No way Jesus wants you to be uncomfortable or inconvenienced by these people.  They are just lazy after all.  And smell.  You might get dirty or something.  And of course these people are violent and might steal from you.  Instead, throw them a dollar and tell them to get a damn job.  That’s definitely the Jesus way.
  • When you come across someone from another country – especially an immigrant, or even better, an asylum seeker.  These damn foreigners are going to kill our country.  It’s completely fine to not follow Jesus with these vermin.  They are just going to be an infestation in our land, taking our jobs, and stealing all our government welfare.  They are going to use our health care.  They are going to rape our women and kill us all.  Damn foreigners.  No way that Jesus would want us to treat them like ourselves.  No way.  They aren’t even people, they are just illegals.  Send them back to their own shithole country.  It’s not like Jesus and his family ever fled for their lives to a foreign country.  Or went into a shithole like Samaria where the people hated Jews.  He was just trying to make Israel great again, not expand the kingdom to outsiders.
  • When you are dealing with an enemy.  Yes, we know that Jesus said to love your enemy, but really?  Do you really think he meant that?  By love your enemy he clearly meant to nuke the assholes and wipe them off the face of the earth.  Then we could have peace.  Peace, after all, is the absence of enemies – once we’ve killed them.  God is on our side anyway, so that trumps whatever Jesus said, right?   Besides, national security is God ordained.  Anyone who doesn’t care about it should just leave.
  • When dealing with someone who is different from yourself.  Jesus was a working white guy from the US after all, so we know that he was just like us.  He only spoke English.  I know this because I’ve read the King James Version of the Bible – the original authorized Bible.
  • When dealing with someone in the opposing political party or anything political at all. Jesus was all about scoring political points and making his political opponents look like the schmucks that they were.  Children of God – Ha!  Children should be seen and not heard, don’t you know.  And those damn (Democrats/Republicans) act like a bunch of babies.  They are more interested in destroying the country anyway.  Plus, what did Jesus have to say about politics anyway?  He was just a nice preacher who never made anyone feel uncomfortable – unlike your pastor.  The guy/gal won’t shut up about politics and injustice.  Politics and religion don’t mix.  There’s no way that God wants to say anything controversial or upset the status quo.  Besides, even Jesus said “render unto Caesar that which is Caesars.”  That means you can have whatever political beliefs you want – Jesus doesn’t want to have a say in politics.  It’s not like the church is trying to change the world.  It’s more like a country club.
  • When dealing with money.  It’s not like Jesus ever talked about money and what it should be used for.  You earned it, you determine what to do with it – all of it.  God should feel lucky to get any of it.  It’s like another damn tax – a God tax.  I don’t want to pay the bills of the church.  The pastor only works on Sundays anyway.  What the hell does he (she – God forbid there be a female pastor) do anyway?  Why isn’t he/she checking in on my more often?  That lazy pastor.  We ought to get rid of him and get someone who will do all the ministry, bring in more people, find more money, do all the visitation, stay away from controversial topics, and make you feel good.  We pay him/her too much anyway.  I only want my money going directly to ministry, not paying salaries.  I’m not sure how that ministry will happen without staff, but that’s beside the point.  The staff should be happy they are getting anything.  It they want to be well paid, they should work for something like a video game company that makes violent video games, not a non-profit or church that are trying to make a positive impact in people’s lives.  Seriously?  What does the pastor think the church is about anyway – making disciples and following what Jesus said?  Yeah right!  It’s about me and my well-being.  That’s what I pay him/her for.
  • When dealing with our own safety.  Jesus doesn’t want us to be unsafe.  Jesus understands our fears.  It’s not like Jesus said to pick up the thing that will kill us and carry it.  No, Jesus said to pick up a gun and follow him.  We have to be able to protect ourselves after all.  And that means we have to mistrust people.  Especially anyone we don’t know, looks different, sounds different, looks at us strangely, walks near our property.  Jesus really said pick up your crossbow and follow him.  The editor missed the end of that.

I’m sure I’ve missed a few exceptions – times when it’s ok to not follow Jesus as a self-proclaimed follower of Jesus.  The above lists are actual arguments, with actual language that has been used (and a few exaggerations, but based on truth) I’ve heard related to these topics – so Christ-like, isn’t it?  Christ radiates out of all of these sentiments, doesn’t he?  Maybe we can redo the words of the old hymn – “They will know we are Christians by how we ignore Jesus, how we ignore Jesus.  Yes, they will know we Christians by how we ignore Jesus!” Needs a little work, I admit, but you get the sentiment.

When you compile this list, you’ll see that in reality being a follower of Jesus is pretty easy.   There really aren’t a whole lot of times or situations when you need to actually follow Jesus and his way.  It’s not like Jesus is asking you to drop everything and follow him with your whole life.  Geesh!  Actually when you look at what’s left, I think the only time you need to follow Jesus is when you are by yourself, feeling happy, have no worries and aren’t bothered by anyone else.  So about 1% of your time.  Unless you want to follow Jesus in your sleep too.  That jumps the time right up to 25-33% of your day right there.

Of course, if we claim to follow Jesus, then are there exceptions?  No.  The above arguments are as empty as they sound.  They are statements of faith though – faith in something else besides Jesus.  Sorry to burst your bubble on this – actually, I’m not sorry to state this obvious fact at all.  I guess I’m one of those pesky pastors people complain about.  If we claim to be a follower of Jesus, then that means we follow Jesus.  Always.  Especially in difficult situations.  There aren’t exceptions.  Exceptions mean that we think Jesus is full of it, when it comes down to it.  Why would you follow a way of someone you either don’t trust or don’t really believe?  That’s what we are saying when we make excuses for ignoring what Jesus says about difficult situations, enemies, money, and more.

Here are some other’s who had the same belief.

Another of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’

(Matthew 8:21-22)

Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

(Luke 9:61-62)

If your faith is only a guide for you in easy, simple, and peaceful times, then what good is it?  If it doesn’t guide you in difficult times, then why bother?  If following Jesus doesn’t make a demand on your life and isn’t costly, then why bother?  If it doesn’t change your life, then what is worth?  If following Jesus isn’t worth following in difficult situations and times, then do you believe that Jesus knows best?  Do you believe that Jesus is your salvation?  Do you believe that Jesus will be with you?  Or do you think that Jesus will abandon you in times of trial, so you have to go another way?

We’re moving into difficult times.  Now is the time for faith – faith that will guide our steps.  Faith that will guide our lives.  Faith that will sustain us.  Faith that will save us – not from trials, but will walk with us in these trails.  Faith that doesn’t need exceptions.  Following Jesus way does that.  Especially in difficult times.  Everything else is lacking.

Safety

28 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Society, Theology

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There are anchor people on certain networks complaining about and blaming protestors for disrupting the private lives of Administration officials – as if this is disconnected from actions the Administration is taking.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Administration’s travel ban was legal.  Children, who seek asylum and are trying to escape from violence, are housed in cages with little hope of ever being reunited with their families.  There are reports of increased violence against Muslims, African-Americans, and those with foreign ancestry – harassment for being who they are.  The Administration admitting that there are planned detention centers.  ICE raids in businesses.  The President stating that people don’t deserve a hearing and should be deported immediately – regardless of whether they are a citizen or not.

Is this what it means to make America great again?

Is this what you believe it means to be a follower of Christ?

Do these facts and questions make you uncomfortable?  Are you angry that I bring them up?  Are you coming up with excuses and rationalizing these activities?  Are you telling yourself that these things will make you safer?

Were you unsafe before these things?  How so?  How exactly are they making you safer?  I want you to actually voice it so that we can all hear the reasoning.  So that you can hear your own words and what thy really mean.  Be really clear.

How many more of these things are needed until you reach this mythical state of safety?

At what point do these actions actually make us less safe?  If you don’t realize it, we have already moved to that point.

What is it with this idol-like worship of safety anyway?  Jesus certainly doesn’t call us to safety.  He calls us to be risky – to be vulnerable. To take up our cross.  There is no safety in following Christ.

Who is safer as a result of these actions?  Not even the people who they are designed for.  Because when our government can impose such actions on a group or groups of people, then where does it end?  When will you be the threat and need to be removed?

Is this really about trying to keep us safe?  Then where is the concern about safety for the asylum seeker?  Where is the concern for the safety of African-Americans who are just living their lives but are having the police called on them by white people?  Where is the concern for the safety of those who wish to carry out their freedom of speech in opposition to these actions?

Why do we seem more concerned with patriotic displays of nationalism, rather than the safety of our military personnel when we start insulting our allies.  Are we not putting them in harm’s way unnecessarily?

Why are we not concerned with the safety of our veterans – many who find themselves homeless, hopeless, addicted, and many completing suicide?  Granted, this has been going on for many years.  But it certainly hasn’t improved in the last two years.  It continues as it did before.  We are really good at taking a civilian and making them into a soldier to do things that most people would never want to do, nor should have to do.  We are terrible about taking that soldier and making them into a civilian again and giving them the support they need.  Too often we toss them aside once our leaders are done using them for their dirty work.  We don’t honor them, we scapegoat them.  What does it say about a country and it’s concern for safety when we have private organizations that are dedicated to helping homeless veterans.  Homeless veterans – let those two words sink in.  Why are any veterans homeless at all?  Is this how we treat those who are most loyal to the country – who gave up years of their lives and risked their lives, for the country and what it supposedly stands for?  This is how they are repaid.  Lost, hopeless, forgotten, and in the way.  And we are supposed enjoy the pomp and circumstance of flag waving?

And we claim to be concerned about safety and civility?  What part of any of these actions is civilized or safe?  Or patriotic?  Or following Christ?

Why are we more concerned with the safety of some privileged people who don’t want to be uncomfortable or inconvenienced, rather than the safety of all – including those considered to be “others” by those same privileged people?

We have a serious problem in our nation.  A sickness that is getting worse.  A disease that is spreading.  But it is not new.  It has been operating under the surface for a while, but now is full-blown – no shame.  And we aren’t taking any medication for it.  Instead we are feeding it.  We are lying to ourselves and saying that we feel great again.

In reality, we are advancing towards our own death and cheering loudly for it.  If we continue, we will reach a point that we become terminal. And I’m not even sure we’ll have the benefit of hospice care at that point.  We’ll get what we deserve – to be thrown out with the trash.  That’s where we are headed if we continue on this course.

Prophecy isn’t about having some kind of special knowledge from God.  It’s looking at where we have been, where we are, and seeing what’s next if the course does not change.

Prophecy is not set in stone though.

This doesn’t have to be the course we continue on.  Realize that not everyone will be onboard with a course correction.  Many will resist.  Some will become violent.  So be it.

I for one am not interested in continuing on this path.

Here are some vital questions we need to ask ourselves – do we really believe in the ideals of this nation that we claim to believe?  Or are they just nice things that sound good when the times are alright?

Or were those ideals made for a time such as this?

Christians, do you really believe Jesus?  Do you believe his call to serve the poor, to welcome the stranger, to love your neighbors and enemies?  Do you believe in the Sermon on the Mount?  Or is Jesus full of it?  Are they just nice things that sound good when the times are alright?

Or are Jesus’ teachings made for a time such as this?

Is your faith from God?  And do you believe that God is love and that Love is God’s way?  Then love is the only way to proceed.  Love all people and God’s creation.  There is no other option.  There are no valid excuses for dehumanizing people, for caging children, for causing anxiety among entire groups of people, for creating fear.  These are not things of God.  Anger and fear are not the way of Christ.

God is love.  Love is the only way.  Let us live that love.  If your top priority is safety and by that it means devaluing, dehumanizing, restricting freedom, and fearing, then you are way off the path of love.  You are invited to come back to the path.  The way is narrow, but it is worth it.  You will not be alone.  There is forgiveness, mercy, grace, peace, and joy on this path.  It isn’t safe, but it is thriving life.  When our primary focus is safety, we are only looking to survive.  When our primary focus is love, then we will thrive.

 

Simple answers

22 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Theology

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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?

I don’t want to write about these things

21 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Theology

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I don’t want to write about these things.  Nor do I want to preach about them.  The smart ass response to that is “Well, you should have known what you were getting into when you signed up to be a pastor.”  Yeah, because everybody knows what the future holds.  Thanks for the compassion.

I really don’t enjoy writing about all of the things that are happening every day.  I don’t enjoy preparing a sermon that talks about all the things that are going on either.

I don’t want to, but yet I can’t avoid it.  I guess I could actually.  I could just stay quiet.  I could not speak about any of it.  I could not rock the boat and be vulnerable to the arrows that come my way in response.  I could allow the fear of criticism and negative comments to win the day.  I could allow the potential anger in response to have sway over what I say or write.  I could create a false sense of peace to make sure that no one walks out on the sermon or protests what I have to say.  I could interpret render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s to mean that as a pastor I have no say in politics or what happens in the world.  Jesus didn’t interpret it that way – he ended up being killed by the Romans.  Talk about meddling in politics.  And to anyone who interprets that passage that way, I have a question – what belongs to God?  And why do you get to determine where God gets to speak?

I don’t want to write about any of this.  Who in their right mind would?  Who wants to write or preach about children being separated from families at the border as they seek asylum?  Or trying to make sense of an executive order that allows for indefinitely holding onto asylum seekers?   Do you think it’s fun or enjoyable to point out the uncomfortableness of this, the messiness of this?  The sin of this?  Who wants to write or preach about how we treat our neighbors, our enemies, and refugees?  Who wants to write or preach about dehumanizing other people?  Who wants to write or preach about how they see a nation tearing itself apart because of fear and anger?  Who wants to write or preach about any of this?

Instead we want quick answers that make nice sound bites.  We want to make issues seem easy.  Things like, it’s the law, so we obey it.  Or it was passed by a previous administration, so they are to blame.  Or we should ignore the law here, but not deal with a broken immigration system.  Or so much more.  This isn’t easy.  There are no simple answers.

Most people would rather hear a sermon about mushy love and being nice and tell the pastor how nice the sermon was. Why?  Because that type of sermon or writing isn’t costly.  They require nothing of you.  They don’t require you to do self-examination.  They don’t require you to look at yourself in the mirror and question important things about yourself, what you believe, and what you stand for, and what Jesus is calling you to.  They don’t require a cost or a response or a radical reorientation.  They don’t require a sort of death of the self.  Those are cheap grace sermons that remain silent about the reality of evil in our midst.  Those are sermons that would rather close our eyes because the big bad world is just too scary to deal with.  You can hear many of those sermons in churches each Sunday.

And I don’t fault the pastors that preach these sermons either.  Preaching the Gospel is costly.  It’s disruptive.  It points out the unpleasant truth.  It’s scary.  I know I have failed in this regard plenty of times.  This Sunday we hear the disciples ask Jesus in the midst of the storm – “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  Many a pastor asks Jesus the same question each week.  Just as Jesus didn’t answer the disciples, he doesn’t make it easy for us either.

I was going to write about where I saw things going – the path we are on, but really, what the heck do I know?

Instead, I’m going to tell you something else.  There is much to worry about in the world – let’s not kid ourselves.  We have an unhealthy society right now.  We are in the midst of a great storm of life.  We are calling out to Jesus – “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  And like in the boat, Jesus doesn’t answer.  Why doesn’t he answer?  We want Jesus to say comforting things.  But he’s quiet.

Often, I think we get confused. That’s not a radical statement.  The disciples spent actual physical time with Jesus and they screwed up all the time.  Why would we think we are any better.  And after Jesus calms the storm, he asks them a question – “Why are you afraid?”  They completely miss the question.  They marvel about Jesus calming the storm, but miss what Jesus is really saying.

Did they really think that God would allow the storm to harm Jesus?  They were in the boat with Jesus, the incarnate Word.  Did they think that the storm was more powerful than God?  They were letting something else define them and who and whose they were.  They let fear define them and their existence.  And Jesus asks a simple question – “Why are you afraid?”  It’s as if Jesus is asking – did you forget whose you are?  Did you forget that your identity is as a Child of God?  Why are you letting fear define you?

As we hurtle through this immigration mess, I think Jesus’ question is so very important.  Why are we afraid?  What is our identity?  Is politics our primary identity?  Are we Republicans and Democrats first and then Children of God?  Are we Americans first and then Children of God?  Are we legal first and then Children of God?  Are we identified by fear first and then Children of God?  What are we?

If Christ is not the lens that we look through, the foundation of our identity, first and foremost, then there is no hope.  We will end up killing each other.  Nothing but Christ offers us any hope.  History shows that to be true.

Let us remember who and whose we are.  That Christ gives us a different identity.  That this identity doesn’t mean conformity of thought.  Rather, it allows us to have differences, even on important issues, and still see one another as Children of God.  We don’t have to agree, but can we find something, anything, that we overlap on?  Can we start with that?  Please.

Let’s start by acknowledging that we are afraid, and that we are having a difficult time voicing our fears honestly – with being vulnerable with one another.  Let’s start with the fact that Jesus’ question makes us uncomfortable because it touches us deeply and shows our own weakness and brokeness.  Let’s start with the fact that we don’t trust one another – actually voicing it out loud so that the reality is acknowledged.  It is only from there that we can move forward.

It starts with Jesus asking an uncomfortable question that gives us room to respond.

Why are you afraid?

I don’t want to write about any of this.  I don’t want to preach on this.  Yet, here I am.  Yet, there I will be on Sunday.  Silence is not an option.  Anger isn’t either.  The only thing that overcomes fear is love.  Let us speak in love.  Not mushy fake love.  Deep love that shows that there are no enemies.  There are only children of God.  It’s not easy.  We can’t do it on our own.  We follow Jesus who empowers us.  And we risk it all.

Why are you afraid?

 

Is legality the highest value?

20 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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I have a question for those who believe that fulfilling the law is of utmost importance.

Imagine it is 1861 and you live in Maryland.  A fugitive slave family has escaped slavery in the South.  They come onto your land and seek safe passage.  You encounter them.

What do you do?

Do you fulfill the law of the land that states that a fugitive slave shall be returned to their masters – knowing that this will lead to severe punishment, possibly death, and maybe even the separation of families?  Or do you give safe passage to the family on their journey to freedom, thus disobeying the law because you recognize it as immoral and destructive?  Or do you do something else?

It’s easy to point out the differences in this situation with the current immigration mess.  It’s easy to make excuses and dismiss the example I provided.  In fact, it’s easy to decide to see the world in black and white – to separate things into issues and people’s lives and believe that the two are not related – missing the messiness of the impact of this way of thinking on people’s lives.  But are you willing to answer the question given your current logical reasoning?  Are you willing to be the one who enforces this law?  If not, why not?  It’s not your job?  That’s a cop-out.  Are you willing to take a look at how the situations are similar?  To be uncomfortable?  Are you willing to be consistent in your thinking that the obeying and fulfilling the law is of utmost importance – regardless of the morality of the law?

Or how about this situation – you are Jew in Bethlehem during the reign of King Herod – the ruler of the land you reside in.  Herod declares that all male babies two years old or younger shall be killed.  The reasoning doesn’t matter.  You have a one year old.  Would you willingly hand over your child to the soldiers in order to fulfill and obey the law and the governing authorities?  What if you didn’t have a child, but you knew a traveling family passing through did?  Would you turn them in?  Why?  Or would you do what you had to do to disobey this decree in order to save the life of your child or any child?

Now imagine you are a refugee, or even just an immigrant from Central America.  Seriously, put yourself in their just a small section of their shoes.  And don’t give me the nice neat answer of “I would obey the law and follow the rules.”  You are still thinking from the safety of your life.  Imagine that the situation in your own country is not good.  Your family is in danger if they stay – you and your family could end up dead.  You decided to leave and make a journey north to America – a land known as a place of opportunity.  While so much is unknown, you determine that it has to be better than where you are right now.  You make the trip and get to the border.  What you do is illegal, but staying within the law means almost certain death.  What do you do?  What do you hope will happen?

It’s not so easy when we move past black and white thinking is it?  It’s rather messy.  Life is messy.  Law does not equal morality.  This isn’t an argument for lawlessness.  This is an argument about the morality of certain laws and what we are supposed to obey when those laws are suspect or outright immoral – regardless of who passed them or when.  This isn’t an argument about Republicans and Democrats – of who should get the blame.  That doesn’t resolve anything and is a distraction.

What we are dealing with is a difference of image – not the skin deep images of celebrity and consumerism.  No, deeper images – ones that define and shape who we are.

Is our national image shaped by this and what it stands for:

illegal_alien_border-550x275

Or this and the poem which is associated with it:

statue_of_liberty_paris_001

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

(Source: the New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, 1883)

Which image will we embrace?

The first image is an image of the law – cold, heartless, and concerned with security, safety, and control for some.

The second image is an image of risk, welcome, and uncertainty for all.

We can do so many things that try to make us more secure, safer, and give us the false sense of control over our lives.

The disciples in this coming Sunday’s Gospel passage are all on board with that.  They are in the sea, in a boat.  And there is a great storm brewing.  They are scared and they seek safety.  They wake Jesus up because they feel insecure and unsafe.  They are not in control.  They worry about the bad things that will happen to them.  And they ask Jesus, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38, NRSV).

Jesus doesn’t answer their question.  He doesn’t give the answer they want – “of course I don’t want you to perish.”  Nope.  He doesn’t say anything.  Hardly comforting.  Later he will call on his disciples to pick up their cross and follow him, to deny themselves.  To die.

Yet, death does not have the final say.  After Jesus calms the storms around the boat, he asks the disciples these questions – Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?

These are deep questions for us.  And they are Gospel too.  Why are we afraid?  What do we fear?  Do we believe that Jesus walks with us – with all of us?  Do we believe that Jesus walks with these refugees too?  Or is Jesus just reserved for us on this side of the wall?

What does it mean to follow Jesus?  What does it mean to love our neighbors?  To welcome the stranger?  When have we been strangers and been rejected?

What is Jesus calling us to?

Have you still no faith?  Guess what – we can’t have enough faith on our own.  If it’s about us and our faith, what we know about God, our safety, our security, our control – then we’ll just end up failing and dead.

Faith is a gift from God.  It comes to us because we can’t go to it.  Faith isn’t just head knowledge, but it moves through us and causes us to respond.  To pick up our cross and follow Jesus.  Especially in the storms of life.  When there is danger all around us.  Faith moves us forward – in risk, in welcome, and in uncertainty.  Faith means we are not in control and we aren’t going to fool ourselves into believing we are.  We are safe, but in a different way – we are in God’s hands. That regardless what happens to us, God will not forget us.  And God offers us a promise – resurrection.  New life.  Transformed life.  Changed life.  Risky life.  Invitational life.  Life.

The Weakest and Most Vulnerable

19 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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I’m struggling with the implementation of the immigration policy that has resulted in the separation of approximately 2000 children from their parents.  I’m struggling for a variety of reasons.

First, that we have a law that allows for this to happen and that this law has been the law of the land for several years.  I had no idea that this was the law.  It is immoral.  These are not violent criminals we are talking about.  Often these are asylum seekers – people who left places because their life was in danger only to find the life of their families in danger by coming here.

Why? Because we have to carry out the laws?  Except our government has never carried out all of our laws.  The current administration previously stated that it would not carry out the laws related to Obamacare.  So why this law and not that one?

I’m struggling with the Attorney General citing the Bible, all with a smile, as a justification for carrying out this law.  This is the same reasoning that tyrants have used throughout history to gain compliance from people.  It is the same reasoning that the South used to support the laws of slavery.  And it’s completely out of context – using the Bible as a weapon of mass destruction, rather than something that is life-giving.

I’m struggling with other things that go beyond this one decision.  Why is it that children are always the ones to suffer from immoral policies?  Is it because they are truly powerless?

Immigration laws that separate families make no sense.  Unless we are using children as a pawn, a deterrent.  But why are the powerless used at all?  Are they pawns in a game or human beings?

Shootings at schools go on and children die – the least and the powerless suffer.  And they are used in a debate about the laws pertaining to guns – what should be legal and what should not.  Any action is held hostage to the whims of those with power.  And we wait for the next shooting and the body count that will go with it.  It’s just a number after all.  And we aren’t serious about an actual change if it has financial (fundraising) implications, or forces the powerful to acknowledge the least among us – or give voice to them as if they matter.

Why is it that the youngest, the most defenseless, are the ones that always suffer at the hands of the powerful?

While abortion is a topic that is extremely divisive to even bring up, the least and most vulnerable suffer.  Regardless of your stand on abortion – the legality of it – can you see that there are victims in this tragic decision?  The tragedy starts well before the final act and leaves emotional scars the we are not open to offering healing, forgiveness, or help that might change lives, rather than end them.  Instead we offer shame and demand silence of the women who suffer, forcing them to continue to be punished and alone.  After all there is a whole lot of money to be made from this divisive issue – campaign funds are easier to come by from controversial and emotional issues after all.  The women and who they carry become pawns in a fundraising scheme for the decision makers.

Why are the least and the powerless, the most vulnerable, used as pawns?

There are no simple answers to this.  And it is not new.

King Herod was upset about a child being born – the newborn King of the Jews.  Someone who he thought would usurp his power.  So he had to strike.  And strike he did – at the least and the most vulnerable – children.  He slaughtered all the male babies two years old and younger.

The least and the most vulnerable suffer at the hands of the powerful.  Always.

Do the powerful fear children so much that they are willing to kill them?  According to history that seems to be the case.  Power is a hungry idol that demands human sacrifice.

Do the powerful fear the most vulnerable that they are willing to allow terrible things to happen to them?  Apparently.  Power is such that is lonely and has no use for koinonia (community).  It only believes in the self.

Do the powerful fear the children that they are willing to enforce an immoral law?  It wouldn’t be the first.  Nor will it be the last.

And the good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way.  None of it has to.  None of this is set in stone.  Laws can change.  It really isn’t that difficult.  What is difficult is the will to change – the will to empower the powerless.

God presents an alternative to this way of life – not just for us individually, but as a society and how we govern.  God’s way isn’t a top-down, do this or else, type of way of governing.  God is a bottom-up God.  God is one who is incarnate and walks with the least and the most vulnerable.  We see this in the example of Jesus.  God isn’t just a God of Law, but also of Gospel – Good News.  That the captives will be set free.  That the hungry will be fed.  That the last shall be first.

I believe in a different way for this world.  A way that is guided by the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes.  A way that is guided by Jesus command to tend to the least and the most vulnerable.  A way this guided by both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures that call on us to love our neighbors, our enemies – all people.  A way that is summed up in two words – Koinonia (Community) and Shalom (Wholeness).  A way that isn’t interested in using force to get its way, but lives by something else that Paul wrote

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

(1 Corinthians 13:1-13, NRSV)

Our world doesn’t have to be this way.  God offers us an alternative – one that is actually unfolding before us.  God invites us to participate in this unfolding.  God gives us the faith to participate in it.

Sometimes it can be difficult to see this way unfolding.  But thankfully, as we were reminded this Sunday – We walk by faith, and not by sight.

Let us walk in the way of the Lord, not in the way of the powerful.  Their way doesn’t work.  It never has.  It always leaves a trail of suffering and death.

There is an alternative.  The path is set before us.  Let us take this path.  Let us walk together and not look back.