I'm attuned to physical or emotional distress in those around me...built-in antennae from decades as a nurse. So when I heard scuffling behind me in church some Sundays ago, I turned and quickly made my way to support a elderly man who'd collapsed on the floor. His pulse and respirations were okay, so several of us helped him to a chair where I ruled out stroke and a possible diabetic reaction.
"He says he has these spells sometimes, where his leg gives out," offered a helper. I stayed nearby, moving our chairs to the narrow balcony just outside the sanctuary where we could hear the sermon while having some privacy in case of further distress. After awhile my "patient" seemed okay, but I was unable to concentrate on the sermon. My thoughts returned to the topic on which they'd been riveted for weeks: the state of post-election U.S.A.
I'd been following online, via the Southern Poverty Law Center, the rising number of hate incidents since the election. Reports of harassment and intimidation of Muslims, Jews, immigrants, and people of color had made me heart sick. Along with that, divisiveness and meanness of spirit were rampant, even among so-called people of faith...something I was witnessing daily on social networking sites and elsewhere. Further, I was reading of families and friendships broken apart by post-election rancor.
The man with the weak leg suddenly symbolized the condition of a United States disabled by a polarization that might well bring about a collapse--a collapse of the core values on which the country was founded: liberty and justice for all. I thought: "I've lost my marriage (my husband notified me of a divorce earlier in the year) and now I've lost my country." Overcome with sorrow as the church service concluded with a song of praise, I walked to a private area at the end of the balcony and wept.
Many are longing for peace, and it's what Christmas is about. Angels heralded the birth of Jesus with these words: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will." Shepherds who heard the angels were awed, but this was just the beginning of amazing events they and others would witness as the baby grew to manhood, explained both the love and the holiness of God, and eventually made his way to a Roman cross where he laid down his life "for the sins of the world" so that we, in embracing his great work on our behalf, might have abiding peace with God and with one another.
When Jesus began preaching, he said this about peace: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." He also said: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law…he who loves father or mother…son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:34-38)
The scripture in Matthew came to mind as I read about family relationships being broken post election. I can't shake my sense that something significant is happening in America and elsewhere around the world where political decisions based on fear and exclusion are growing, nor my conviction that we who are followers of Jesus are being called to recognize and fight more intentionally against racism and oppression…beginning in our own neighborhoods. I will therefore watch developments closely and continue to take action by joining/supporting work against hate and oppression.
I'm also called to be where Jesus would be found today. Perhaps in poor communities or countries, comforting women who sadly chose abortion because they lacked access to education/support to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, and who bear, in addition to that pain, the condemnation of those who refer to them as murderers. Maybe Jesus would be found in detention centers, where thousands of immigrants are held for long periods, often without legal support, and then typically deported, separated from their families. Or in refugee camps where millions languish awaiting welcome somewhere. No doubt he would be found in jails where we in the U.S. have incarcerated more of our minority populations than any other country in the world.
This Christmas, remembering the loving and righteous Prince of Peace, I ask him to help me follow more closely in his footsteps...by his grace, and for his glory.
