“There are many people who have no idea what they should
be living for, or the meaning of their lives, nor have they any guide to tell
right from wrong. God looks down at people in that kind of spiritual fog, that
spiritual stupidity, and he doesn’t say, “You idiots.” When we look at people
who have brought trouble into their lives by their own foolishness, we say
things like “Serves them right” or we mock them on social media: “What kind of
imbecile says something like this?” When we see people of the other political
party defeated, we just gloat. This is all a way of detaching ourselves from
them. We distance ourselves from them partly out of pride and partly because we
don’t want their unhappiness to be ours. God doesn’t do that. Real compassion,
the voluntary attachment of our heart to others, means the sadness of their
condition makes us sad; it affects us. That is deeply uncomfortable, but it is
the character of compassion.”
Timothy Keller
(Note: Keller is a mixed bag for me. He believed, and said, stuff I didn’t agree
with. And stuff I agreed with. This, in his book on Jonah, seems helpful to
me. And it has profound implications in
terms of what is happening right now).
_________________________________________
I see them
With their hats and t-shirts
The harbingers of hate
I watch as thugs
hiding behind military gear
guns
and masks
prowl the streets seeking to intimidate and harm
I hear a president (small P)
Call a woman reporter a pig
And order her to be silent
He likes women who are silent
And, apparently,
Compliant
And I hear God calling me to reach out to them
To seek to get through the veneer of hate
And wake them up
To the way of Jesus
The way of compassion, forgiveness, welcome, and
generosity
And I don’t want to do it
I would rather turn my back on them
And leave them to face the consequences of their
Blind loyalty, cruelty, and hate
I would rather hide in the belly
Of my own self-righteousness
And my own version of arrogance
Then try to love them
But every time I try to
Reject and neglect
A person I have judged as hopeless
Does something kind for a neighbor
Every time I try to relegate them
To a spiritual trashcan
I see them with their family
And see the love exchanged
And it is as if God
Throws up
Poisoned by MY disgust and failure
By my inability to see “them”
As sacred children
Lost, perhaps, prodigal
Eating the messy slop
They are being fed
But capable of being so much more
And I am left on the beach
Naked and ashamed
Knowing
That I must pick myself up
And head off to Ninevah
With a word of hope, peace, joy
And yes!
Love
Yes, God asks us to change
to be accountable to love
to love our neighbor
but
God never gives up on anyone
Never
Ever
And neither can I
I will never hate anyone into the Kingdom
But I might draw them in
With compassion, forgiveness, and love
With the same love that looked down from the cross
And said
Father, forgive them…
