Really, Where Are The Christians?
Have you heard about the war in the middle east? No, I'm being serious here. Apparently there is a war, battle, crisis, whatever they are calling it on the news, between Israel and Lebanon. Israel and everyone, for that matter.
You sure haven't heard much about it from Christian/emergent blogs, including this one.
Where are we on this? Why are we afraid of talking about this?
I know, let's talk about our next cohort meeting and the latest church planting book or debate using the word emerging over emergent and what we think is our identity.
I have never fought in a war. I don't want to. I love my many freedoms I have because I am a American. I did nothing to earn that except I was born at the right place at the right time. It's like the grace of God, but not near as good.
I appreciate those who have given their lives in war, including relatives of mine, so that I can sit in a Borders listening to my iPod and write whatever I want because someone sacrificed it all for me. And I mean all.
I hate that I have to qualify all of that to feel like I can now say something that might be perceived as negative.
I hate that it took Pat Buchanan asking me where I am to get me to write about this.
Did you see that yet? Check out the article.
Look, I know there are so many layers to this that it is difficult to get our collective head around it in 500 words or less.
I don't have any answers.
Is Israel justified in this? Is this retaliation the right thing to do?
At the risk of sounding like a bible banger I hesitate to throw this out there...but what would Jesus do? Seriously. We call ourselves Christians, that is, Christ-like. Are we serious about that? It is easy to profess, but hard to do. Would Christ go down this road?
What about that stuff about turning the other cheek? Being nice to your enemies? Yeah but this is different right?
If I walked out of the store and I saw a man holding a knife to a kid's throat I wouldn't just pray for the child's safety. I would want to do something about it. Then I would want to make sure the guy paid for what he did. A little retribution.
Take Israel's two kidnapped soldiers. This was the tipping point for unleashing an attack. If any of my kids were kidnapped, I would want everything possible done to get them back. If anything happened to them I would want that person to suffer horribly. I'm not proud of that. I just know myself.
See, we pretty much toss out all of Matthew chapter 5 when we come in contact with the world. Matt. 5 works great in a vacuum, like bible class/church.
So, what do we do?
Start talking. You don't need to have all or any of the answers.
If you are a pastor that drops by here from time to time, and I know there are a lot that do, then don't talk this Sunday about the amazing love and example of Jesus and the same time sweep all of this under the rug and ignore it.
Or how about praying. Try this..."God hear our prayer and end the fighting in the mid-east. End the violence. God, soften their hearts and keep them safe."
Over the 4th of July weekend, I heard a church leader proclaim his thankfulness for those willing to commit violence on our behalf. Part of me agrees and laments this statement at the same time.
Perhaps someone fighting in the war is thankful for those willing to pray for them on their behalf.
I don't know.
Start somewhere. Start now.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
You sure haven't heard much about it from Christian/emergent blogs, including this one.
Where are we on this? Why are we afraid of talking about this?
I know, let's talk about our next cohort meeting and the latest church planting book or debate using the word emerging over emergent and what we think is our identity.
I have never fought in a war. I don't want to. I love my many freedoms I have because I am a American. I did nothing to earn that except I was born at the right place at the right time. It's like the grace of God, but not near as good. I appreciate those who have given their lives in war, including relatives of mine, so that I can sit in a Borders listening to my iPod and write whatever I want because someone sacrificed it all for me. And I mean all.
I hate that I have to qualify all of that to feel like I can now say something that might be perceived as negative.
I hate that it took Pat Buchanan asking me where I am to get me to write about this.
Did you see that yet? Check out the article.
Look, I know there are so many layers to this that it is difficult to get our collective head around it in 500 words or less.
I don't have any answers.
Is Israel justified in this? Is this retaliation the right thing to do?
At the risk of sounding like a bible banger I hesitate to throw this out there...but what would Jesus do? Seriously. We call ourselves Christians, that is, Christ-like. Are we serious about that? It is easy to profess, but hard to do. Would Christ go down this road?
What about that stuff about turning the other cheek? Being nice to your enemies? Yeah but this is different right?
If I walked out of the store and I saw a man holding a knife to a kid's throat I wouldn't just pray for the child's safety. I would want to do something about it. Then I would want to make sure the guy paid for what he did. A little retribution.
Take Israel's two kidnapped soldiers. This was the tipping point for unleashing an attack. If any of my kids were kidnapped, I would want everything possible done to get them back. If anything happened to them I would want that person to suffer horribly. I'm not proud of that. I just know myself.
See, we pretty much toss out all of Matthew chapter 5 when we come in contact with the world. Matt. 5 works great in a vacuum, like bible class/church.
So, what do we do?
Start talking. You don't need to have all or any of the answers.
If you are a pastor that drops by here from time to time, and I know there are a lot that do, then don't talk this Sunday about the amazing love and example of Jesus and the same time sweep all of this under the rug and ignore it.
Or how about praying. Try this..."God hear our prayer and end the fighting in the mid-east. End the violence. God, soften their hearts and keep them safe."
Over the 4th of July weekend, I heard a church leader proclaim his thankfulness for those willing to commit violence on our behalf. Part of me agrees and laments this statement at the same time.
Perhaps someone fighting in the war is thankful for those willing to pray for them on their behalf.
I don't know.
Start somewhere. Start now.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
posted by Bart at 9:23 PM
4 Comments:
When I think about the wars in the world it seems my thoughts always end up with the "ordinary" people, people "just like me." They are not necessarily the ones launching missles or telling others to do so, they are not the ones adding fuel to the fire, but they are not throwing dirt on the coals either. They're annoyed, angry, conflicted, and frustrated.
What IF we loved our enemy and turned the other cheek? What are we turning our cheek from - why did we "get slapped in the cheek" in the first place? Do we want to know? Are we afraid to know? I don't know.
Because, growing up in Sweden, one of my mom's close circle of friends were Iranians, I don't see the folks in the middle east as a people all out to destroy the west. In fact, one of the things I remember hearing back then was how incredibly compatible Chritianity and Islam actually are. This was in 1979... Since I'm not an expert of either religion I don't really have any way to argue or back that, so I go with trying to understand. The point is to try to find similarities, common ground. I don't think Jesus meant to go into the world and conquer all and beat them into submission until the are on their knees crawling to the baptism tub... or to the banner of democracy, for that matter. It's nice to have a strong buddy beat off the bully, but in order to truly stand on your own feet that bully has to be beat off by yourself (remember the scene in the Christmas Story? Remember the American Revolution?!)
We definitely should talk about it. There is a lot to talk about. We can't be afraid that something we say will disturb the waters. You can't get anywhere without a little wind. (oh, now there's a pun!!)
The more I understand the less I fear, and the less I fear, the more I can love.
Great post. Thanks for the prayers for peace.
Glad to see George Bush and his cohorts don't represent the Church as a whole over there. I hope your conversations spur more people to speak out against this atrocity.
As one of you're countrymen said far better than I ever could;
"More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people who sit idly by and say wait on time. Somewhere along the way we must see that time will never solve the problem alone but that we must help time. Somewhere we must see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
While I'm no great fan of Dubya, I don't see how we can blame Israel for all the things Buchanan lists. I don't think they should give money to a government run by people who want to destroy them. As Yuri Orlov says in "Lord of War": The first and most important rule of gun-running is: never get shot with your own merchandise.
The Israelis are fighting a war similar to ours in Iraq: one that is against an alien enemy that is willing to put civilians in danger to protect itself.
Why blame Israel for Hamas firing rockets at them? They could have used diplomatic means. By simply removing the call for the destruction of Israel from their charter, they could have avoided the loss of revenue. Instead they got mad and killed people. Bad Israel!
I wish the war would end. But it seems to me that Israel never starts the fighting. So shouldn't we be calling for people to stop attacking them? Instead of saying Israel overreacted, we should be telling people to stop attacking them. It all just seems backwards to me.
Post a Comment
<< Home