12-20-2013
In one of those serendipitous convergences of moments in
time (or in laymen’s terms, “a funny thing happened on the way to this post”),
I have been working on a paper in which I was attempting to search for
similarities between writings of both Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Tupac Shakur in
an attempt to find a bridge between traditional orthodox Christian views of
community and those held within the hip-hop culture. (it was 19 pages, so I’ll spare you and not
post that one…) While I was engaged in
reading for this, the dust up over attempts to remove Christ form Christmas
began. Now the suspension of the Duck
Commander has occurred as well; all over a statement of his opinions and his
(already open) declaration of his faith and the beliefs that are born in
it. (It’s been a busy Advent season to
say the least!)
While I am neither surprised by nor, frankly, shaken by the
latest round of conflicts for the soul of humanity, I am a bit surprised at the
angry tone of many in this debate. I
have seen many people on social media who have decried the treatment of the Robertson patriarch,
or the need to keep Christ where He belongs, and speaking of the need for
tolerance to be a two way street. (A
truer statement may not exist…) The
problem is that each time someone declares that God is not hate, God is love,
that these statements are largely made using ALL CAPS with extra 4 or 5
exclamation points added for emphasis!!!!!
The text world’s equivalent to screaming. There seems to be a disconnect in this action
for me.
We find the reason for the season in the expression of God
for the world in the presence of Emanuel.
Phil gets that. And apparently
believes in it fully enough to put his “show” (livelihood) where his heart
is. But I have seen no angry statement
from any of the family about the situation… maybe we could take a page from the
very man we claim is important enough to support through actions like boycotts
and petitions and learn to embrace the totality of the faith in the One that
also says that the world will despise you for your belief in me, but fear not
for I am always with you. (paraphrasing
here of course)
I mentioned serendipity earlier in the fact that I have
recently been reading The Cost of
Discipleship by Bonhoeffer. The reason
I say this is that I just recently read his statements on the ways to handle
the days when our “enemies” would rise against us (a thought that is born from
the sermon on the mount contained in Matthew BTW)…
“’Bless them that persecute you.' If our enemy cannot put up with us any longer and takes to cursing us, our immediate reaction must be to lift up our hands and bless him. Our enemies are the blessed of the Lord. Their curse can do us no harm. May their poverty be enriched with all the riches of God, with the blessing of Him whom they seek to oppose in vain. We are ready to endure their curses so long as they rebound to their blessing.”
Or to quote a news anchor friend from my days in
broadcasting, Wade Phillips, “Outrage is not a fruit of the Spirit.” I don’t know about you, but that seems to be
a much better way to end conflict… and while Wade and Dietrich may have
sometimes been wrong, Jesus NEVER WAS!!!
(ahem... Sorry,) never was.
Merry Christmas and may God bless you with peace that
surpasses all understanding!
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