Hi, PDX!
You shall love your neighbor as yourself (LNAY). Leviticus 19:18.
Funny thing about love, though. Can't do it anonymously. Try it. I defy you.
Other than God's instruction to care for creation, LNAY is the oldest and most continuous instruction in all of Judeo-Christian scripture. Jesus quoted Leviticus. Apostle Paul quoted Jesus and Leviticus. The concept has staying power.
I once used those words I frequently hear: "I minister to the homeless, the low-income, the mentally ill in downtown Portland." Then someone helped me hear and see my words., especially that preposition "to". Implies a one-way street, doesn't it? They need it. I have it. I give it to them. Or I do it to them. Very up/down. So very have/have-not. Ouch!
I learned instead to use the preposition "with". I minister with. . . the (fill in the blank). Better. More equal... Right? Not really. The problem has simply migrated.
Why do we talk about the homeless, the mentally ill, the low-income, the drug-addicted, the poor and needy (saw that in a church bulletin yesterday), the_________________? Fill in the blank?
Labels lump everyone into a single category, the implication often being a category of person unlike me. Putting the in front of the category might only add three letters. It also adds a distance of a thousand miles. I can't love someone so remote from me. Heck, I can't even love my back yard neighbor 30 feet outside my window unless I actually get to know my neighbor.
But when I do, everything changes. Now my neighbor becomes a real human being to me. When I know who my neighbor is; when I know my neighbor's story, my neighbor's identity and my neighbor's name, I know more than my neighbor's category or a convenient label. In fact, I find that labels don't even fit. They only get in the way.
When I know my neighbor and have a relationship with a unique human being, then and only then can I begin to love my neighbor.
But first I must begin to know and love myself. Otherwise, how can I present a whole and unique human being back to my neighbor? We are in this together. Now love can finally grow. Not before.
Without knowing my neighbor I can be compassionate, helpful, even kind. I can also stand in judgment of my neighbor quite conveniently from the perch of not knowing, from behind the fortress of a label. In fact, judgment practically demands some kind of separation.
Jesus wasn't real big on judgment. Neither was Paul a'la Romans 2.
Without knowing, I can judge but I cannot love. You try it. I defy you. I am called to love. So are you. We are not called to like our neighbors; aren't called to dislike 'em either. We are called to love. Loving and liking are vastly different things, not simply two shades of the same color.
Maybe ol' God knew what God was talking about way back when. Maybe God still does.
After 62 years of not getting it very right on this planet, maybe at last my understanding has cracked open. We will never make progress, I am firmly convinced, on anything we see as a problem in society until we stop seeing problems and start seeing people. Name any problem you want: homelessness, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, gangs, sexual abuse, mentall illness, poverty, substance abuse, illiteracy, immigration, terrorism, global warming, hunger--or our newest god, the economy. We get nowhere until we start seeing and knowing people dissolved of their labels.
Only then can we love. Only then can the Spirit of Christ live among us and come to us through each other.
What? Did we think economic growth would somehow fix all problems including other people? Really? Has economic growth ever fixed us? Hasn't economic growth caused a whole hell of a lot of the problems we fixate on now?
When God told us to love our neighbors, God was really telling us to get to know our neighbors, not Princess Di or some starlet or hunk on American Idol. Maybe ol' God knew what God was talking about way back when. Maybe God still does.
LNAY even works with enemies, not just strangers or neighbors we don't know.
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
P.S. Lev. 19:18 is one glove. It has a mate: Lev. 19:33-34. It might be nice to stop using Leviticus as an ammunition dump that fuels holy war. Instead, may we see there the fingerprints of God pointing us to Christ: LNAY.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Rob Bell--off and rolling!
Hi, PDX!
A little more winter sneaks in each day, but the buds are bulging. Spring is lurking out there. . . somewhere.
But it's warm and inviting where Rob Bell shares his amazing gifts of insight. We had a great conversation following the first DVD, BREATHE, last Wednesday, 2/11.
LUGGAGE will keep your attention the whole time this coming Wednesday, 2/18. Think about hw much we carry around that we could let go of. And need to. . . And we aren't just talking suitcases here!
7220 SE 39th Avenue (Holy Trinity Church). 7 PM. Coffee. Conversation. The gifts of the Spirit. Gently. . .
Bring a friend.
Shalom!
Pastor Roger
A little more winter sneaks in each day, but the buds are bulging. Spring is lurking out there. . . somewhere.
But it's warm and inviting where Rob Bell shares his amazing gifts of insight. We had a great conversation following the first DVD, BREATHE, last Wednesday, 2/11.
LUGGAGE will keep your attention the whole time this coming Wednesday, 2/18. Think about hw much we carry around that we could let go of. And need to. . . And we aren't just talking suitcases here!
7220 SE 39th Avenue (Holy Trinity Church). 7 PM. Coffee. Conversation. The gifts of the Spirit. Gently. . .
Bring a friend.
Shalom!
Pastor Roger
Friday, February 6, 2009
Rob Bell Rollout--NOOMA in Lent
Hi, PDX!
A little rain to remind us of where we live. That's a good thing.
Where we live... Something VERY exciting is coming to where we live. His name is Rob Bell, and we'll be rolling him out at our first NOOMA in Lent gathering next Wednesday evening, 7 PM at 7220 SE 39th Ave. (just down the road a piece from Woodstock).
NOOMA? Trade mark for a spirited piece of work. Anglicization of "pneuma", Greek for spirit or breath.
Rob Bell talks out in the real world: in/on a subway train, at an auto repair shop, in an airport gate area, outside a stadium, in a restaurant, walking down a wet street lined with cars held up by paramedics and fire fighters at the scene of a two-car accident. Life happens...
Rob Bell talks the way real people do in their private conversations with God and with friends. No fear. No apologies. Nothing but honesty, for once.
Rob Bell won't answer all your questions. Maybe he'll even give you a pile of new ones. But he will lead you on a journey that will bring freshness and hope and wonder to your spiritual path.
All in 10-13 minutes each week. Then there will be 45 minutes for us to exchange thoughts and reflect over coffee. Or tea.
2/11: "Breathe". What does it mean to have life and breath? Is each breath speaking the name of God? Is the breath of God in us? Does life allow us the time to breathe?
Six weeks, starting 2/11. 7 PM. Done by 8 PM. Fun. Free. Bring friends.
LENT. It's not the yucky in your drier vent. It's a journey...
And, yes, we know Lent doesn't start 'til 2/25; but we want to wind up before Spring Break. So we will on 3/18.
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
A little rain to remind us of where we live. That's a good thing.
Where we live... Something VERY exciting is coming to where we live. His name is Rob Bell, and we'll be rolling him out at our first NOOMA in Lent gathering next Wednesday evening, 7 PM at 7220 SE 39th Ave. (just down the road a piece from Woodstock).
NOOMA? Trade mark for a spirited piece of work. Anglicization of "pneuma", Greek for spirit or breath.
Rob Bell talks out in the real world: in/on a subway train, at an auto repair shop, in an airport gate area, outside a stadium, in a restaurant, walking down a wet street lined with cars held up by paramedics and fire fighters at the scene of a two-car accident. Life happens...
Rob Bell talks the way real people do in their private conversations with God and with friends. No fear. No apologies. Nothing but honesty, for once.
Rob Bell won't answer all your questions. Maybe he'll even give you a pile of new ones. But he will lead you on a journey that will bring freshness and hope and wonder to your spiritual path.
All in 10-13 minutes each week. Then there will be 45 minutes for us to exchange thoughts and reflect over coffee. Or tea.
2/11: "Breathe". What does it mean to have life and breath? Is each breath speaking the name of God? Is the breath of God in us? Does life allow us the time to breathe?
Six weeks, starting 2/11. 7 PM. Done by 8 PM. Fun. Free. Bring friends.
LENT. It's not the yucky in your drier vent. It's a journey...
And, yes, we know Lent doesn't start 'til 2/25; but we want to wind up before Spring Break. So we will on 3/18.
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
Monday, February 2, 2009
Bar-coded
Happy new month!
Two down, 26 to go. By the end of this month we'll have another hour of daylight. Yeeeessss!
But the 29th of last month wasn't bad. In fact, it was grand. In a cooperative effort with a Christian student group at Reed College, Koine Community helped bring the film Lord, Save Us From Your Followers! to the Vollum Lecture Hall at Reed. 40+ people attended, among them the film maker and star himself, Dan Merchant.
The students kept Dan talking for more than 90 minutes after the showing, and it was a great conversation. They weren't shy about identifying themselves as atheist, agnostic, Mormon, Catholic or Christian. And they were open to hearing anything Dan had to say--because he had shown them several hours' worth of his willingness to hear what they had to say.
One young woman behind me (that's a redundant statement since I was the oldest person in the audience) spoke up and expressed her frustration about being unheard and unrecognized by Christians. So much so that she found it difficult, if not impossible, to have a conversation with them.
I thought to myself, "Oh, could you only know how long I've felt like I've had a gag stuffed in my mouth here in the USA!" Christianity is not monolithic. But so often I feel unable to speak as a Christian because I will immediately be thrown into the box of stereotypes labeled as such.
I feel like I'm walking around with a gigantic bar code on my forehead. And the bar code readers of other people will only read the label, not me. We can't honestly know each other unless we get past the labels.
What labels do you use for other people? What labels do you feel them using for you? Do these labels work? At all? Is it time for us to break the bar code?
Oh, by the way. . . That 90-minute-plus conversation at Reed? If you had been there, you'd want to bottle it and take it home to your church or small group. Yep, that good!
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
Two down, 26 to go. By the end of this month we'll have another hour of daylight. Yeeeessss!
But the 29th of last month wasn't bad. In fact, it was grand. In a cooperative effort with a Christian student group at Reed College, Koine Community helped bring the film Lord, Save Us From Your Followers! to the Vollum Lecture Hall at Reed. 40+ people attended, among them the film maker and star himself, Dan Merchant.
The students kept Dan talking for more than 90 minutes after the showing, and it was a great conversation. They weren't shy about identifying themselves as atheist, agnostic, Mormon, Catholic or Christian. And they were open to hearing anything Dan had to say--because he had shown them several hours' worth of his willingness to hear what they had to say.
One young woman behind me (that's a redundant statement since I was the oldest person in the audience) spoke up and expressed her frustration about being unheard and unrecognized by Christians. So much so that she found it difficult, if not impossible, to have a conversation with them.
I thought to myself, "Oh, could you only know how long I've felt like I've had a gag stuffed in my mouth here in the USA!" Christianity is not monolithic. But so often I feel unable to speak as a Christian because I will immediately be thrown into the box of stereotypes labeled as such.
I feel like I'm walking around with a gigantic bar code on my forehead. And the bar code readers of other people will only read the label, not me. We can't honestly know each other unless we get past the labels.
What labels do you use for other people? What labels do you feel them using for you? Do these labels work? At all? Is it time for us to break the bar code?
Oh, by the way. . . That 90-minute-plus conversation at Reed? If you had been there, you'd want to bottle it and take it home to your church or small group. Yep, that good!
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Unfathomable
A time to mourn here in PDX,
Lower the flags of humanity to half-staff... And hold them there awhile.
What could go through the mind of a 24-year-old man who could so despair of life that he would aim his weapon at a clump of bright, adventuresome teenagers? Guests from around the world waiting to dance and celebrate a couple of birthdays?
Then turn the gun on himself?
If he wants to end his life, why doesn't he just do that? Why does he have to inflict suffering and death on other human beings first?
Unfathomable... Unless you've been in such a deep hole that you can no longer even see light, let alone find it or get to it.
Only intense blindness can do this. He could think of what to do with a few belongings: car, bank account, PlayStation 3. But he could not think of the feelings or the sufferings of family or strangers. He could not see them. He could only see... darkness. And no end to it.
Perhaps some sort of strange mechanism kicks in. Perhaps the only way he could act on his inclinations was to fire at other people first. Just like in the video games. After people had fallen, just like in the video games, and the trigger finger was warm, just like in the video games, and the rush was in, just like in the video games...
After all of this he could finally carry through his intentions for himself. But not before.
Unfathomable, unless you've ever been in darkness that deep. It takes over. Reason leaves. Emotion and feeling shut down. You are unable to help yourself. You are unable because you can't see. All you can see is the drain and it seems like the only way out.
Alone, you are no more able to fight back than do brain surgery on yourself.
PlayStation 3 and life blend and blur.
Be aware of people who might fit the description. Ask. Intervene. Don't look away or pretend it's not there.
You might save a life. Or half a dozen. Maybe someone else's child. Or your own.
Pray for the survivors. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
Lower the flags of humanity to half-staff... And hold them there awhile.
What could go through the mind of a 24-year-old man who could so despair of life that he would aim his weapon at a clump of bright, adventuresome teenagers? Guests from around the world waiting to dance and celebrate a couple of birthdays?
Then turn the gun on himself?
If he wants to end his life, why doesn't he just do that? Why does he have to inflict suffering and death on other human beings first?
Unfathomable... Unless you've been in such a deep hole that you can no longer even see light, let alone find it or get to it.
Only intense blindness can do this. He could think of what to do with a few belongings: car, bank account, PlayStation 3. But he could not think of the feelings or the sufferings of family or strangers. He could not see them. He could only see... darkness. And no end to it.
Perhaps some sort of strange mechanism kicks in. Perhaps the only way he could act on his inclinations was to fire at other people first. Just like in the video games. After people had fallen, just like in the video games, and the trigger finger was warm, just like in the video games, and the rush was in, just like in the video games...
After all of this he could finally carry through his intentions for himself. But not before.
Unfathomable, unless you've ever been in darkness that deep. It takes over. Reason leaves. Emotion and feeling shut down. You are unable to help yourself. You are unable because you can't see. All you can see is the drain and it seems like the only way out.
Alone, you are no more able to fight back than do brain surgery on yourself.
PlayStation 3 and life blend and blur.
Be aware of people who might fit the description. Ask. Intervene. Don't look away or pretend it's not there.
You might save a life. Or half a dozen. Maybe someone else's child. Or your own.
Pray for the survivors. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Class and Culture
Happy Winter, PDX!
Seems like the winter of '69-'70 I spent in intensive Russian in Syracuse, NY while in the USAF. Snowed every day for at least two months. Total immersion in Siberia, USA. But first...
A FREEBIE!!! Don't miss Dan Merchant's superb documentary dialogue movie, "Lord Save Us From Your Followers--Why is the Gospel of Love Dividing America?" Showing is this Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 7 PM in the Vollum Auditorium on the Reed College campus. Merchant himself will be there. Brought to you FREE by Reed and Koine Community.
But now... Been reading two timely books. The first is Consuming Jesus--Byeond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church by local author and professor at Multnomah Biblical Seminary, Dr. Paul Louis Metzger. Metzger makes some good and timely points on race and class but entirely misses the third from Paul's three-legged stool in Galatians 3:28: gender. Christ has torn down all three divisions of race, class and gender, not just the first two. The Evangelical church and the Catholic church have a way to go on this one. The U.S. Armed Forces and corporations like Intel are light years ahead of the church here.
But Metzger needs to get out a little more to really see what's going on in America. Poor non-whites in Mississippi aren't the only ones taking it in the shorts. But at least Metzger's heart is in the right place. He just needs to get to Winchester, Virginia. Thereabouts...
Second book is Deer Hunting With Jesus--Dispatches From America's Class War by Joe Bageant. Bageant himself grew up in Winchester, VA, then got out for several decades. After returning to live there, he takes a long, hard look at the permanent underclass of impoverished and undereducated Americans around him. Winchester is like much of America's small towns and rural areas which are only 25% of our population but which have contributed 50% of our war dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Winchester, hard working folk who despise government aid can work all their lives and maybe advance to $9/hour before they retire. And if they are lucky, they may be able to afford home ownership consisting of a mobile or modular home costing over $250K in payments and made of "exterior Masonite" that only depreciates in value and doesn't outlast the payment schedule.
BTW, Bageant published in 2007 and absolutely nailed the housing market collapse and the implosion of the financial world with it. Where were Alan Greenspan and the U.S. Congress? Deer hunting in Iraq or election La-La Land? Times can't be good in Winchester. Or Central Oregon.
Why is life becoming more impossible for so many folks in this "pro-America part of America"? And why do guns hold such strong attraction for these folks, half of whom don't vote but all of whom own guns? Go deer hunting with Bageant and find out why his brother is legend, why Lynndie England ended up in Iraq and in prison. For an honest look at America's heartlands that political speeches will expropriate but never show accurately, go Deer Hunting With Jesus. And maybe take Metzger along to the deer stand, the nursing home and the local bar. Five thumbs up for this spicy read.
Thought: if trickle-down economics work, why isn't America experiencing record wealth and economic growth across the board? After all, never has so much wealth flooded the penthouse holdings of so few. Surely it's going to come flooding down the stairwells and elevator shafts to us in the cellar soon! A trickle maybe? Or not.
Pray for a cloudburst, pray for a gusher, a deluge. Soon. And love your neighbor as yourself because God loves you. God was here first. Galatians 3:28.
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
Thought:
Seems like the winter of '69-'70 I spent in intensive Russian in Syracuse, NY while in the USAF. Snowed every day for at least two months. Total immersion in Siberia, USA. But first...
A FREEBIE!!! Don't miss Dan Merchant's superb documentary dialogue movie, "Lord Save Us From Your Followers--Why is the Gospel of Love Dividing America?" Showing is this Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 7 PM in the Vollum Auditorium on the Reed College campus. Merchant himself will be there. Brought to you FREE by Reed and Koine Community.
But now... Been reading two timely books. The first is Consuming Jesus--Byeond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church by local author and professor at Multnomah Biblical Seminary, Dr. Paul Louis Metzger. Metzger makes some good and timely points on race and class but entirely misses the third from Paul's three-legged stool in Galatians 3:28: gender. Christ has torn down all three divisions of race, class and gender, not just the first two. The Evangelical church and the Catholic church have a way to go on this one. The U.S. Armed Forces and corporations like Intel are light years ahead of the church here.
But Metzger needs to get out a little more to really see what's going on in America. Poor non-whites in Mississippi aren't the only ones taking it in the shorts. But at least Metzger's heart is in the right place. He just needs to get to Winchester, Virginia. Thereabouts...
Second book is Deer Hunting With Jesus--Dispatches From America's Class War by Joe Bageant. Bageant himself grew up in Winchester, VA, then got out for several decades. After returning to live there, he takes a long, hard look at the permanent underclass of impoverished and undereducated Americans around him. Winchester is like much of America's small towns and rural areas which are only 25% of our population but which have contributed 50% of our war dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Winchester, hard working folk who despise government aid can work all their lives and maybe advance to $9/hour before they retire. And if they are lucky, they may be able to afford home ownership consisting of a mobile or modular home costing over $250K in payments and made of "exterior Masonite" that only depreciates in value and doesn't outlast the payment schedule.
BTW, Bageant published in 2007 and absolutely nailed the housing market collapse and the implosion of the financial world with it. Where were Alan Greenspan and the U.S. Congress? Deer hunting in Iraq or election La-La Land? Times can't be good in Winchester. Or Central Oregon.
Why is life becoming more impossible for so many folks in this "pro-America part of America"? And why do guns hold such strong attraction for these folks, half of whom don't vote but all of whom own guns? Go deer hunting with Bageant and find out why his brother is legend, why Lynndie England ended up in Iraq and in prison. For an honest look at America's heartlands that political speeches will expropriate but never show accurately, go Deer Hunting With Jesus. And maybe take Metzger along to the deer stand, the nursing home and the local bar. Five thumbs up for this spicy read.
Thought: if trickle-down economics work, why isn't America experiencing record wealth and economic growth across the board? After all, never has so much wealth flooded the penthouse holdings of so few. Surely it's going to come flooding down the stairwells and elevator shafts to us in the cellar soon! A trickle maybe? Or not.
Pray for a cloudburst, pray for a gusher, a deluge. Soon. And love your neighbor as yourself because God loves you. God was here first. Galatians 3:28.
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
Thought:
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Curiosity
Strange word to have in a president's inaugural address, isn't it? Curiosity...
In Errol Morris' documentary The Fog of War, Robert S. McNamara stares straight into the camera. MacNamara, who was Secretary of Defense for a number of critical years during the Vietnam War, talks about nearly coming to blows with the former Defense Minister of North Vietnam. Decades after the war these two old men were at a dinner. The Defense Minister asked McNamara why the U.S. had fought his people so hard for so long. McNamara replied, "Our hope was to keep them from falling under the domination of Communist China. Why did your people fight Americans so hard?" The Defense Minister was incredulous. "My people had been fighting the Chinese for a thousand years. We were fighting for national unification of North and South Vietnam. First we had to drive out the French colonizers. Then America tried to colonize us. You forced us to seek help from our Chinese enemies."
How could we not have understood this? Did we so misunderstand our enemy? Were we so uncurious?
I'm curious. The U.S. invaded Iraq after 9/11. It became the major front in the war on terrorism. "We have to fight them there so that we don't have to fight them here," we said. Only problem is that nearly all the 9/11 plotters and attackers came from Saudi Arabia, not Iraq. Ooops!
Funny. I've heard many people, many Christian people espcecially, agonize over why anyone would attack the U.S. And how could anyone strap explosives onto a person? How could anyone become a homicide bomber, even killing his own people? Why are all those Muslims so backward and bloodthirsty?
Since the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 when Americans were held hostage for 444 days, our attention has been focused on Muslim militants and extremists. And especially since 9/11. Over the years I've heard many of my fellow citizens talk about what we need to do to them. Nuclear weapons are frequently mentioned.
Many people know that Jean and I lived in a Muslim country for over 2-1/2 years. Hundreds actually, in workplaces and churches. Not one--family members included-- not a single one has ever asked, "You've lived there. What makes these people so crazy? Why do they act this way?"
Have we so little curiosity? Or do we think we already know the answer, or that the answer doesn't really matter? Were our minds made up before they were ever made?
Far too much history lies behind the events of recent years to go into it here. But consider this, how could 20th-century Germans do what they did? These are my own people by blood. They were educated, literate people, nearly all Christians, either Protestant or Catholic. They were a sophisticated people who had contributed so much to science, mathematics, physics, anthropology, art, architecture, literature, chemistry, metallurgy, manufacturing, optics, medicine, music, poetry, philosophy and theology. What made them do it? What made them even capable?
What made white Anglo-Saxon Christians in our own country capable of putting on hoods and hanging people in cold blood, or burning down Christian churches, or tying people to trucks and dragging them to death, sicking dogs on them or blasting them with fire hoses? What about Wounded Knee and the Trail of Tears?
Have we forgotten the Inquisition, the Thirty Years' War, Sarajevo, Srbrenica? And long before terrorism ever became synonymous with Islamic militants in the Western mind, it was synonymous with Protestant Christians and Catholic Christians in Northern Ireland, 99% of whom were surely baptized. But not converted.
My answers? Poverty. Fear. Ignorance. For sure, ignorance. Feeling threatened by anyone or anything. And using religion as a tool instead of being humbled and reformed by it. That's all I can figure out.
Is that happening anywhere in the world today? Could it happen here? Again? De we even have enough curiosity to ask? What blood-curdling risks do we take when we have no curiosity?
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
In Errol Morris' documentary The Fog of War, Robert S. McNamara stares straight into the camera. MacNamara, who was Secretary of Defense for a number of critical years during the Vietnam War, talks about nearly coming to blows with the former Defense Minister of North Vietnam. Decades after the war these two old men were at a dinner. The Defense Minister asked McNamara why the U.S. had fought his people so hard for so long. McNamara replied, "Our hope was to keep them from falling under the domination of Communist China. Why did your people fight Americans so hard?" The Defense Minister was incredulous. "My people had been fighting the Chinese for a thousand years. We were fighting for national unification of North and South Vietnam. First we had to drive out the French colonizers. Then America tried to colonize us. You forced us to seek help from our Chinese enemies."
How could we not have understood this? Did we so misunderstand our enemy? Were we so uncurious?
I'm curious. The U.S. invaded Iraq after 9/11. It became the major front in the war on terrorism. "We have to fight them there so that we don't have to fight them here," we said. Only problem is that nearly all the 9/11 plotters and attackers came from Saudi Arabia, not Iraq. Ooops!
Funny. I've heard many people, many Christian people espcecially, agonize over why anyone would attack the U.S. And how could anyone strap explosives onto a person? How could anyone become a homicide bomber, even killing his own people? Why are all those Muslims so backward and bloodthirsty?
Since the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 when Americans were held hostage for 444 days, our attention has been focused on Muslim militants and extremists. And especially since 9/11. Over the years I've heard many of my fellow citizens talk about what we need to do to them. Nuclear weapons are frequently mentioned.
Many people know that Jean and I lived in a Muslim country for over 2-1/2 years. Hundreds actually, in workplaces and churches. Not one--family members included-- not a single one has ever asked, "You've lived there. What makes these people so crazy? Why do they act this way?"
Have we so little curiosity? Or do we think we already know the answer, or that the answer doesn't really matter? Were our minds made up before they were ever made?
Far too much history lies behind the events of recent years to go into it here. But consider this, how could 20th-century Germans do what they did? These are my own people by blood. They were educated, literate people, nearly all Christians, either Protestant or Catholic. They were a sophisticated people who had contributed so much to science, mathematics, physics, anthropology, art, architecture, literature, chemistry, metallurgy, manufacturing, optics, medicine, music, poetry, philosophy and theology. What made them do it? What made them even capable?
What made white Anglo-Saxon Christians in our own country capable of putting on hoods and hanging people in cold blood, or burning down Christian churches, or tying people to trucks and dragging them to death, sicking dogs on them or blasting them with fire hoses? What about Wounded Knee and the Trail of Tears?
Have we forgotten the Inquisition, the Thirty Years' War, Sarajevo, Srbrenica? And long before terrorism ever became synonymous with Islamic militants in the Western mind, it was synonymous with Protestant Christians and Catholic Christians in Northern Ireland, 99% of whom were surely baptized. But not converted.
My answers? Poverty. Fear. Ignorance. For sure, ignorance. Feeling threatened by anyone or anything. And using religion as a tool instead of being humbled and reformed by it. That's all I can figure out.
Is that happening anywhere in the world today? Could it happen here? Again? De we even have enough curiosity to ask? What blood-curdling risks do we take when we have no curiosity?
Shalom,
Pastor Roger
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