Over the past few weeks the phrase "blessed are those who mourn" has taken on new life in my mind. Not because I have personally faced any sort of tragedy, but because of the incredible tragedy that has repeatedly besieged our nation and our world.
Fear is the antagonist in a story of despair and hate that repeats its morbidly captivating climax over again until we cannot look any more. Then, in fear, we hide our eyes. We sit in our churches, shop in our malls, watch our romantic comedies, and get out of town for the weekend to convince ourselves that it's really not that bad. We gather together on Sunday to proclaim the hope of Jesus, all while pretending not to notice the very reason we need the hope.
In some cases we.... I ....post sympathetic and pseudo-compassionate updates on social media to appease our conscience. We #prayfororlando and #kalamazoostrong or even #blacklivesmatter for the sake of solidarity. Then we go back to our own lives, continuing to deny the intrinsic connection between "us" and "them."
All because, at the core of every bit of hate, bigotry, racism, injustice, denial, blame-game, and false-compassion is fear.
Fear.
Fear of the "other."
Fear of being wrong.
Fear of being uncomfortable.
Fear of what might happen.
Fear of being part of the problem.
Fear of the long, painful, and intense process of reconciliation.
The author Cheryl Strayed, in her book Wild, wrote that "fear is a set of stories we believe. So I told myself a different story."
Fear wins because we are telling no other story. Fear is the story of the worst case scenario. Fear is the story of everything going wrong. Fear is the story of falling out of the tree that keeps us from climbing any higher. Fear is the story of being rejected that keeps us from striking up a conversation.
But there is another story.
Fear is the antagonist in a story of despair and hate that repeats its morbidly captivating climax over again until we cannot look any more. Then, in fear, we hide our eyes. We sit in our churches, shop in our malls, watch our romantic comedies, and get out of town for the weekend to convince ourselves that it's really not that bad. We gather together on Sunday to proclaim the hope of Jesus, all while pretending not to notice the very reason we need the hope.
In some cases we.... I ....post sympathetic and pseudo-compassionate updates on social media to appease our conscience. We #prayfororlando and #kalamazoostrong or even #blacklivesmatter for the sake of solidarity. Then we go back to our own lives, continuing to deny the intrinsic connection between "us" and "them."
All because, at the core of every bit of hate, bigotry, racism, injustice, denial, blame-game, and false-compassion is fear.
Fear.
Fear of the "other."
Fear of being wrong.
Fear of being uncomfortable.
Fear of what might happen.
Fear of being part of the problem.
Fear of the long, painful, and intense process of reconciliation.
The author Cheryl Strayed, in her book Wild, wrote that "fear is a set of stories we believe. So I told myself a different story."
Fear wins because we are telling no other story. Fear is the story of the worst case scenario. Fear is the story of everything going wrong. Fear is the story of falling out of the tree that keeps us from climbing any higher. Fear is the story of being rejected that keeps us from striking up a conversation.
But there is another story.
1 John 4:18 introduces a new paradigm. "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
Those who follow Jesus are the prophetic voices proclaiming a story that is more real than any fear, but lies just behind the headlines. It is a story written in the mourning families prayers of peace, in the reconciled lives of dirty cops and wrongly accused criminals, and in the painfully awkward conversations that bridge the gap between "us" and "them." (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/on-the-road-innocent-michigan-man-ends-up-working-alongside-crooked-cop-that-locked-him/)
It is the story that proclaims black lives do matter. They matter because all lives matter and they matter very much right now because of the odds stacked against them. It is the story of of police lives that matter because they defend and protect and serve and do not deserve to be maligned because of a few who chose evil.
It is the story of believers serving those in need even if they cannot condone their life style and mourning deeply at the loss of life, even when they believe the life is being lived in sin. Because they value all life. They love everyone, without the need to agree with them.
It is the story of the love of God that is already victorious. The love that is extended to dirty cop, criminal, white-middle class-male pastor, gay couple, black 20-something, and "normal" family in the suburbs. It is the love that offers forgiveness and reconciliation to even the most violent offender. It is the love that looked down from the cross on his murderers to ask for their forgiveness, before they had even finished killing him.
And it is the love that writes our story. Followers of Jesus do not live in the story of fear. They live in the story of redemption and hope.
We are not afraid of being part of the problem. I know I am part of the problem, but Jesus is the solution. I am being emptied of myself so that the Holy Spirit can transform me and use me to write the story of perfect love.
We are not afraid of those who are different than us, because we know the unconditional love of God that is offered to everyone
We are not afraid of the process of reconciliation because we know that the end of the story is so grand and so beautiful that any amount of tension and pain is nothing in the light of Jesus and what he is bringing.
We do not fear the struggle. We do not fear the pain. We do not let fear make our decisions for us. We do not let fear define us. We will not let fear write the story.
We tell a different story. The story of hope.
The story of life.
The story of Jesus.
What story is your life telling?
More importantly, what story are those around you reading when they look at you?
Thank you again for the challenge. It reminds me to walk with open eyes and heart to those God puts before me - and to rely on Jesus to help me love God and love people.
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