What Now? - Part 2

In Friday's “On The Way” reflection I wrote:

“In our time, as in all previous tumultuous times, the Church of Jesus Christ is called to do what it has always done:  proclaim the Good News of God’s love and grace for all people in Jesus Christ, walk with the poor, the powerless, the lost and the forsaken, work for healing and shalom among the broken and the suffering, and pray for the words and the wisdom we need to be the Body of  Christ in the world.  The promises of Jesus give us the hope and the courage to carry out this mission.”

I believe that.  But, because I understand that others may read this call to return to what is central in different ways, I want to expand on what I think this means for the Church in this tumultuous time. 

The Church is called to proclaim the Good News of God’s love and grace to all people…   but, especially to those on the margins, not just those who think and believe like we do.  That means LGBTQ people, and undocumented immigrants, and people of all races, cultures and creeds.  Loving all people does not mean “convert” them.  It means “love them.”  It means to see others as beloved children of God.  It means seeing the image of God in their faces.  It means treating them with compassion and respect.  It means expecting God to teach us something in the midst of our relationships with people who are different than we are.

…walk with the poor, the powerless, the lost and the forsaken…   As a person of privilege and power, I admit that can never fully understand the pain and suffering that those on the margins of our society experience.  But that doesn’t mean we cannot walk together.  I struggle with how to do that (see my reflection from a week ago).  Instead of vilifying people, putting them down, and rejecting them – which seems to happen with all too much frequency these days – we need to listen.   Can we who are privileged hear, really hear, the cries of African Americans, immigrants and the LGBTQ community?   Can we hear the pain and fear  that drives those who protest?  Can we hear the stories of women who have been abused without blaming the victim?  Do we even try to know our Muslim neighbors, or do we simply accept the stereotypes that cast every Muslim in the worst possible light?   We have a lot of work to do here.

…work for healing and shalom among the broken and the suffering…  The issues that confront our nation and our world are as complex as they are divisive.  The solutions cannot be found in thirty-second sound bites, and venom filled diatribes.  People of faith need to bring a voice of reconciliation and hope into the midst of those who are trying to find positive, life-giving paths forward.  We need to facilitate bringing diverse people to the table to thoughtfully search for solutions.   We need to respond through acts of kindness, and mercy for those in need, and advocate for systemic changes that reflect the intent of our loving Creator who cared enough for us (as messed up as we humans can be) to live among us and die for us.  That, in my opinion, is what it means to “build bridges of justice, hope and peace in a tumultuous world.”

Peace,

Bishop Mike

What Now?

Luke 21:5-19

On Wednesday morning, half the population of our country woke up shocked and horrified at the election of Donald Trump as the 45^th president of the United States.  The other half woke up elated and joyful.   This week’s election and the reaction in the days since have revealed, in striking terms, the real divisions at work in our nation.  The results of the election have caused many people, on all sides of the divides, from pundits to passers-by, to ask, “So, what now?”   I have heard the same question from friends and colleagues within the church.  “So, what now?”

Tumultuous and uncertain times are really nothing new.  In this week’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is with his disciples in Jerusalem.  It is Holy Week.  He is just a few days away from dying on a cross.  While the people around him are infatuated with the ancient structures surrounding them, Jesus sees tumultuous days ahead.  By the time Luke wrote his Gospel, the tumult Jesus described was happening in real time.  It would be easy to get caught up in Jesus’ description of the tumult:  false teachers, wars, famines, plagues, earthquakes.  We often do.  But focusing on the promises Jesus gives in the midst of his hair-raising predictions is more important.  In the midst of the uncertainty of the times, Jesus promises to give us the words and the wisdom we need.  In the midst of the tumult, he promises protection and life.  These are not empty words.  Three days after dying on the cross he rises again to prove the power of God’s love and life is greater than the tumult, the uncertainty and even death itself.   Fifty days later, the promised Holy Spirit blows like a mighty wind giving the apostles the words and wisdom they need to take Christ’s message of hope and promise into an often hostile world.

So, whether you were shocked or elated on Wednesday morning, maybe Jesus’ promise is the best answer people of faith can give to the question, “So, what now?” 

In our time, as in all previous tumultuous times, the Church of Jesus Christ is called to do what it has always done:  proclaim the Good News of God’s love and grace for all people in Jesus Christ, walk with the poor, the powerless, the lost and the forsaken, work for healing and shalom among the broken and the suffering, and pray for the words and the wisdom we need to be the Body of  Christ in the world.  The promises of Jesus give us the hope and the courage to carry out this mission.

As I reflected on the results of Tuesdays election as Wednesday dawned, Paul’s words to the Corinthians bubbled up in my meditations:

“So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation…”  (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).

Reconciliation.  Building bridges of justice, hope and peace in a divided and tumultuous world.  Christ’s work. 

As people of faith, that’s what we always need to be about…   no matter who is occupying the Oval Office. 

Peace,

Bishop Mike.

Thank you for reading.  Please join me in praying for our nation and for our world.

Take One Step

Luke 6:20-31

We stood in a row across the middle of the meeting room.  We were a mixed group of folks:  African-American, Euro-American, men, women, most of us middle aged or older.  The facilitator said,  “If you are a white male, take one step forward.”  I took a step.  “If there have been times in your life when you skipped a meal because there was no food in the house take one step back.”  A few did.  I stayed where I was.  “If your family had health insurance, take one step forward.”  I stepped forward.  “If you have ever been called bad names because of your race, ethnicity, gender, skin color or sexual orientation, take one step back.”  Again, I stood still.   Statement followed statement.  Step followed step. By the time the exercise was over, I was standing by myself.  Everyone else in the room was behind me.  I was stunned.  I had never felt the reality of my privilege so powerfully.   Things that I just took for granted were simply not available to others in the room.  It opened my eyes.

The Beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke paint a striking picture of privilege and lack of privilege.  Jesus makes it pretty clear that, in God’s economics, the tables are turned.   This theme of reversal runs through the whole Gospel.  It starts in the very first chapter as Mary, Jesus’ mother, proclaims,  “[The Lord] has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty…”  (1:53)

But these blessings and woes are not meant to set the privileged and unprivileged against each other.  Jesus’ goal is not to incite class warfare.  Instead, Jesus always has an eye to reconciliation and justice.  Jesus calls upon us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, give to those who beg and do unto others as we would have them do to us.  

As always, Jesus shows us the way.  As Paul teaches us in Philippians, Christ emptied himself of his privilege, humbled himself and gave his life on a cross to reconcile us to God and to one another. (2:5-8)  As followers of Jesus, we participate in that reconciled life and are moved to share it.

I was stunned when my privilege was reveal to me.  But, more than that, I was motivated to figure out how to use my privilege to be a blessing and to change systems that perpetuate such divisive realities in our world.  I’m still trying to figure that out.  A friend tells me that it begins by building relationships across the very divisions that were revealed in that simple exercise.  We need to step towards each other, not further apart.  I am convinced that, as we seek reconciliation and justice together, we will discover and share the blessing that Jesus promises us all.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading!