I Need You…

Many a church sings the words from Hezekiah Walker’s “I Need You To Survive,” but do we really believe them?

I need you, you need me.
We’re all a part of God’s body.

In a society that values and teaches fierce independence, do we really need one another? Most churches in which I’ve sung this, it’s been done so more for the sake of the part, “I won’t harm you with words from my mouth,” stressing the importance of supporting one’s brothers and sisters. While this is certainly important, I want to focus more deeply on the idea of truly needing one another. My ability to refrain from tearing you down does not necessarily mean I need you.

What would it look like if we truly needed one another? If we lived in true community? If we let our brothers and sisters get close enough to know the ways in which they could be God’s instruments in fulfilling “His will that every need be supplied”? What would the church look like if we truly were “important” to one another — if we saw one another through God’s eyes — if we truly needed one another “to survive”?

Life Lessons from Oscar Romero

Wikipedia: Outside of Catholicism, [Oscar] Romero is honored by other religious denominations of Christendom, including the Church of England through the Calendar in Common Worship. He is one of the ten 20th century martyrs who are depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey in London.[4] In 2008, he was chosen as one of the 15 Champions of World Democracy by the Europe-based magazine A Different View.[5]

A piece in the Kansas City Star notes that, “Romero, murdered 30 years ago this month, is being considered for sainthood in Rome and is indisputably a central figure in the history of the late Cold War era. But he is just one of many historical figures who no longer make the cut in the Texas Board of Education’s revised curriculum standards.”

Ironically, the removal of Romero from the proposed curriculum came at the hands of Christian conservatives, which brings me around to one of my longstanding questions — when did we allow our politics to trump our Christianity? Why does it seem that our Christianity informs our personally held viewpoints less than we allow our personally held viewpoints to define what it means to be “Christian”?

Proclamation of Good News for Women

I was traveling for a work conference and found myself visiting a church in the Hyde Park area of Chicago on the first weekend in March. As such, the day was designated International Women’s Day of Prayer, and the following Proclamation of Good News for Women was read. It was something I certainly needed to hear that day, and I hope others likewise find something in it not only for themselves, but to share with others:

The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news to all the women of the world:

To those who are weighed down with guilt, it is forgiveness.

To those who sin, it is redemption and renewal.

To those who are oppressed, it is freedom.

To those who live in fear, it is peace.

To those who are despised and rejected, it is kinship with the God who endured the shame of the cross.

To those who are bound by unChristlike culture and tradition, it is emancipation by One who places the greatest value on every soul. 

To those who cannot trust, it is dependence upon One who has proven Himself trustworthy.

To those who are lonely, it is friendship with the Best Friend women ever had. 

To those who are devalued, it is a new identity as joint heirs of the grace of God.

To those who are secure in their relationship with the Lord, it is an opportunity to be the bridge that leads another to assurance in Christ.

As women who follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we are compelled by His love, commanded by His word, and gifted by His Spirit to share this Gospel with those who have not seen or heard the salvation of our God.

Therefore,

We will radiate His Light into the dark corners of women’s experience;

We will bear His life to those who are dying;

We will share our bread with those who are hungry;

We will declare His promise to those who have no hope;

We will proclaim His empowerment to those who are powerless;

We will bring affirmation to those who do not know they are made in the image of God.

We will see with the eyes of Jesus, listen with His ears, speak with His words, touch with His hands, embrace with His arms, and feel with His heart.

Until that great day comes when every woman, man and child will know the glorious grace and goodness of our God.

© BWA, used with permission, as found in Adventist Women’s Ministries International Women’s Day of Prayer Leaders Packet

When is Murder Justified?

I had the incredible honor of hearing Sister Helen Prejean (known by most through Susan Sarandon’s portrayal of her in Dead Man Walking) speak. While already inspired by her life’s work, it was also amazing to me how she could weave in and out of humor and what is obviously an incredibly somber subject.

And so, it seemed fitting to address the matter of the death penalty as my next blog topic. While anyone following the subject knows of the incredible racial and economic disparities inherent in the judicial system, Sister Helen pushed this point even further, asserting that it epitomizes our different wounds — racism, prejudice, and reliance on violence to solve problems we fear.

And so the question for me as a Christian has always been, “When is murder justified?” Never mind the many innocents the state has put to death…even in the case of guilt, how is it that “Thou shall not kill” applies to the individual, but not to the state? How is it we believe as a society that we can stop murder and violence by practicing murder and violence?

Loving Mercy and Doing Justice

As we look at our own commission as disciples of Christ, let’s start by looking at Isaiah’s commission, as found in chapter 6 of his writings. You’re familiar with this text, but let’s look a little deeper:

¹In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Notice when Isaiah remembers seeing the Lord – in the year that King Uzziah died. Except for the end there, it was said of King Uzziah that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He had reigned in Israel for 52 years – since the age of 16. And now we see at the time of his death the Lord appears to Isaiah.  Sometimes we can only see God clearly when that which we have set our focus upon is removed. Even the most worthwhile things upon which we set our focus can distract us from God.

So now that God has Isaiah’s attention, what is the response? It is at once intensely personal:

⁵Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

But never private:

⁸Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

As we see with Isaiah, our calling as Christians is at once intensely personal, but never private – let’s revisit that text in Micah that tells us so clearly “what the Lord requires”:

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
                                             —Micah 6:8

A previous post covered the personal nature of discipleship in what it means to “walk humbly with your God.” Now we turn to the public ministry, as we look at what it means to “act justly” and to “love mercy.” 

Immigration

I was writing something on Uriah the Hittite the other day, and was struck by the implications for how the people of God approach the immigrant.

Now, in the case of Uriah, we see someone clearly ingrafted into the covenant community, even one of David’s “mighty men,” and yet it is still deemed necessary to identify him as a Hittite. There may be many reasons for this, but one purpose it serves is to show how this individual — ingrafted into the family of God — acts far more honorably than any of the others mentioned in the story who end up being explicitly or implicitly responsible for this honorable man’s murder.

As a country, there may be reasons for determining who can and cannot be part of the national fabric, but as Christians, we must recall that our God is not subject to borders. What’s more, our nation’s history of immigration policy is incredibly racist, with those excluded at any given point in history reflecting the prejudices of the day. Most recent policy debates would make you think the United States only had one land border with another country, as immigration policy always has far more to do with our southern border than our northern one.

As we engage in immigration policy debates, we would do well to do so with God’s heart for all His people, irrespective of nation, tribe, or tongue. As in the case of Uriah, we know of many immigrants serving their chosen country honorably…let us hope we can treat them with greater respect than Uriah was shown for his unwavering loyalty and service!

Health Coverage

So, I return to my occasional series based on Luba Lukova’s social justice posters (see 12/30 post for brief intro/explanation) with a post on health coverage.

While I am a bit of a policy geek, health policy is not my thing, and I will not pretend to understand all the back-and-forths in this current debate. What I DO know is simple — the number of uninsured or underinsured in this “civilized” nation of ours is unacceptable; the fact that people suffer and/or die from preventable illness is unacceptable; the fact that families are bankrupted by medical bills is unacceptable. We can and must do better!

To say I do not understand all the back-and-forths in this current debate is simply to say this is one of those policy matters that concerns people’s very lives, and so should not be subject to the same political games inherent in lesser matters. It is fair to disagree, but let’s do so civilly and with the goal of coming to some kind of agreement that will better the lives of millions of Americans!

What I found particularly egregious was the first email I received regarding the so-called “death panels.” The email provided no link to verify this outrageous claim, nor even the bill number so the claims could be independently verified. (BTW, the bill is HR 3200, in case you care to look it up at http://thomas.loc.gov and judge for yourself instead of believing the spin of either side.)

Being that “bit of a policy geek,” it seemed pretty clear that no lawmaker was going to write “death panels” into a bill so obviously as was being claimed. For goodness sake, no one running for office can even run afoul of AARP for fear of losing political cache among the all-important (and voting) seniors, so this seemed like a good idea??? Wondering how such an idea was being found plausible enough for a usually sane individual to send me such an email, I looked further into the origins and was incredibly disappointed to find the source to be a widely respected organization among conservative Christians. Disingenuousness is one thing within politics, but I’ve been incredibly disappointed by some of the things stemming from such organizations beginning with the campaign and continuing through the present. It is absolutely appropriate for Christians to have a voice in the public square, but when did the worldly rules of politics trump God’s standards for the way in which such a voice should be expressed? When did it become alright for single-issue politics to stand in the way of a more just system for the most vulnerable among us? We would do well to heed God’s indictment of His people through the prophet Amos, and remember that we are called to a higher standard, and to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God  (Micah 6:8).

Walking Humbly

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
                                                —Micah 6:8

 It amazes me how little attention this verse gets…here it is, written out, the answer to all our questions: what does the Lord require?

To act justly
To love mercy
To walk humbly with your God

To best understand this text, I suggest working in reverse. Whereas our minds – trained in the Western scientific method – tend to work from cause to effect, the prophets often “[depicted] a scene in such a way that their listeners were led to inquire, ‘Why did this happen?’ This question led them back to the cause.”[1]

So let us start with the cause of all things – that which we find at the end of this text: GOD.

What does it mean to walk with God? It seems a simple and insignificant thing, but things happen when people walk with God…

MLK Still Speaks Today

So many of the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. still ring true today. While many people tried to pigeon-hole Dr. King, particularly toward the end of his life, he was taking on more and more issues, seeing all intertwined within his calling. On this day honoring his legacy, then, I will let a rather lengthy excerpt from his speech delivered at Riverside Church in April of 1967 speak for itself in light of current events:

… when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do …we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.

…For those who ask the question, “Aren’t you a civil rights leader?” and thereby mean to exclude me from the movement for peace, I have this further answer. In 1957 when a group of us formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, we chose as our motto: “To save the soul of America.” We were convinced that we could not limit our vision to certain rights for black people, but instead affirmed the conviction that America would never be free or saved from itself until the descendants of its slaves were loosed completely from the shackles they still wear. In a way we were agreeing with Langston Hughes, that black bard of Harlem, who had written earlier:

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath —
America will be!

…America’s soul … can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. So it is that those of us who are yet determined that America will be are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land.

“Who Sinned?”…Spiritual Blindness

Here I was concerned with the subtle condescension of those being interviewed on the news last night…should have known there was more to come. What is the actual reason for the earthquake, according to Pat Robertson?

…something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.” True story. And so, the devil said, “OK, it’s a deal.”

And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. … [http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/01/pat_robertson_blames_haitian_d.html]

I’m not sure why I continue to be so shocked and appalled by such statements, as this isn’t the first time Robertson has blamed the victims of catastrophic events to make his “Christian” point, but I keep hoping the compassionate Christian might show up! The only way for a successful slave revolt was through a pact with the devil?!?!?! (That certainly wasn’t the case in the Exodus…as it turns out, God has a history of being on the side of the oppressed!)

I don’t presume to know as fact or assert as a true story dealings with the spiritual realm. What I do know is what we’re told in the Word of God. In the ninth chapter of John, Jesus encountered a man blind from birth:

²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

Sometimes — a lot of times — things happen that we simply do not understand. Sometimes things happen that God may show His glory. This is not to say that God causes all these disasters we deem “acts of God,” but He does use these results of a sinful world to bring people to His saving grace.

If we are to ask “Who sinned,” the answer is at once “no one,” as in Christ’s answer to His disciples, and “everyone,” in that all of this devastation that was never intended in God’s perfectly created world is a result of the human race’s choosing to disobey God through the first Adam. But the good news is that God’s grace always trumps (Romans 5:12-21):