"About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning The Way." -- Acts 19:23
Over the past few days "no little disturbance" has arisen on Facebook over Starbucks' release of their very plain red paper holiday cups. A one-person cry of blasphemy toward Christmas, and by extension Christians, has managed to morph into a near rebellion with even one leading Republican candidate to suggest boycotting Starbucks for not including a "Merry Christmas" message on their cups.
This struck me as not altogether unlike the disturbance told in the later part of Acts 19 only in reverse. According to the story in Acts, the popularity and spread of the Christian Way through the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor is starting to pinch some businesses. The silversmith's union in Ephesus was up in arms over the new number of Christian converts who were not buying statues for the goddess Artemis anymore. A large gathering was threatening Paul's life and riot in the streets. The town clerk stands up and basically says, "They aren't doing anything illegal so disperse."
In 21st century America, it seems we've come full circle such that over-sensitive Christians feel offended by a business simply including a free cup with their coffee. The ridiculousness of this claimed insult has bypassed all rationality, and seriously damages public perceptions of the Christian Way that the Apostle Paul taught us. Why is there such a powerful siege mentality among a loud, significant minority of Christians? One video online this morning showed a "Christian" so offended by a paper coffee cup that he rebelliously waved his handgun while ranting about Starbucks encroaching on his rights. Seriously? I don't get it.
From the beginning of the Church, legitimate Christians secure in their salvation have never raised alarms or weapons over the very real persecutions they endured. "Blessed are you when people revile and persecute you... your reward is great in heaven," --Matthew 5:11. American "Christians," who will be whining all through this entire holiday season about the "oppression of Christianity," need a reality check. Their sickening sense of entitlement and privilege being used to whine over their "persecuted status" is an egregious insult to those brave Christians throughout Church history who did endure gladiators, torture, imprisonment, and death for their faith.
Please take your guns, your cameras, your computers, phones, and vitriol and just quietly pray somewhere. If your faith feels threatened, then do something constructive for the rest of Christiandom -- find someone who needs a loving hand and the True Word of our Lord's hope and grace.
Lord, forgive them for they know know what they do. Amen.
Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Christ who loved us. -- Romans 8:35, 37
There were 21 Egyptian Christian men murdered last week by ISIS in Libya. First, I want to honor them by listing their names here. More important than these fallen ones (who are now with Christ) are their families, who are still among the living, grieving their absence from their lives. Even though the news cycle has moved on and these eleven men are passing out of our awareness, let us remember their families in prayer as they still smart from the loss.
Richard Rohr begins a talk about "How Men Change" by listing the hundreds of thousands of war dead since 1990 and comments, "When one person dies, those who knew him or her feel the tragedy; when thousands die it's a statistic and we have trouble relating. We simply can't get our heads around it." Some of Rohr's stated figures included, 2 million dead in Afghanistan, 1.5 million in the Sudan, 500,000 in Angola, 200,000 in Guatemala, 150,000 in Liberia, 77,000 in Algeria, and 880,000 in Rawanda (in 90 days).
Violence pretty effectively generates more violence in it's wake. Egypt's response to the ISIS murders was to bomb ISIS bases. Many "defense experts" feel military retaliation is a necessary response. A State Department spokesperson, Marie Harf, got soundly criticized for making the statement, "We can not kill our way out of this war." She was suggesting that there were socio-economic reasons for violence being perpetuated. Why the resistance to talking about the socio-economic changes needed? Because such change would shake the foundations of the wealthy, who ultimately benefit from the cycles of violence.
All Christians should spend time in prayer and study during Lent pondering all the structures that support and maintain violence -- from racism, classism, and sexism to a world that bases individual identity on possessions and consumption of the world's resources. We say we worship the Holy Trinity and yet, when famine, fire, sword or other lesser threats challenge our lives we resort to defensive strategies that protect me and mine by destroying you and yours. Rhetoric and actions that wave a flag and declare war violates the victory we already know through Christ. In addition, hatred, hostility, and revenge pumps more massive negativity into the world emotionally and energetically. The cycle needs to be broken and belief in Christ along with the New Testament provides a strategic plan for doing this. The Pauline Letters, and in particular the 4th chapter of Philippians summarizes sound Christian advice on transforming the negative downward spirals in our private emotional lives, as well as in our collective global life.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." --Isaiah 55:8
How often does it happen that we're faced with some situation that needs prayer? We gather up silent space and begin praying for the positive outcome we want. Sometimes, perhaps even most of the time, the prayer is answered in exactly the way we desire. Fairly frequently the answer is not what we had hoped. Sometimes, the answer is even the direct opposite of what we needed. Or, how often do bad things happen to good people? Or, how often do you find yourself in the troubled space of wondering whether God really can or will protect us or our loved ones? This verse from Isaiah is a good one to memorize and keep in our quiver of arrows to shoot at the doubts that creep into our minds.
We humans like to fancy ourselves as having control. Some non-religious types, who reek control, drive us crazy with their bossiness and need to be right. More religious types might carry an indirect righteousness of control; namely, by being good enough God will do their bidding. The reality, however, is that nobody has the experience, perspective, or scope on life that God holds. God's thoughts and ways are seriously nothing like mine, as pure as mine might seem from time to time. The truth is, I don't get it and never will in this life. All I can do is remember that my thoughts, understanding, and ways are forever going to be getting stretched if I am sincerely surrendering to the full Wisdom and Majesty of God.
We can get angry with God over suffering. We can claim doubts about God's presence. We can even say we are done with God. We would not be the first ones to do so over all the expanse of time and space. "Scoot over all you millions of disgruntled people, let's commiserate." We aren't going to be the last.
Hope and faith share a common factor. That factor is that when what we have faith in or hope for is visible and always proven through a preponderance of evidence, it is no longer faith or hope that we have. Faith and hope are founded on an invisible, and yes, at times disputable, fact that God is. This majestic divine presence who has called us out of our wee humanness invites us to stand back in life as witnesses to the suffering, pain, glory, and power of living firmly resolved to hope and have faith. Your life, your period of suffering, is but a blink of an eye in the eternal embrace of God's overwhelming Light and Love freely given to you. So, when overwhelmed with loss, sadness, misery, or mystery stretch your thoughts out on the rack of eternity and with a blind assurance of God's love just stretch. Stretch wide until you can foresee that glimmer in the east -- Love does win in the end. It always will!
Prayer:
Dear God, relax me into the stretch to feel your eternal mercy at all times. In Christ, through Christ, and beside Christ we walk and pray. Amen.
