IT HAS BEEN A ROCKY WEEK in America.
There has been so much Crazy that I, for one, haven’t known which Crazy to tackle first.
When I need a little help focusing, I’ve found that the Bible is often a good place to start.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;
ensure justice for those being crushed.
Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless,
and see that they get justice.”
Proverbs 31:8-9 NLT“See that justice is done.
Defend widows and orphans
and help those in need.”
Isaiah 1:17 CEV“Don’t mistreat widows or orphans or foreigners or anyone who is poor.”
Zechariah 7:10 CEV“Don’t do anything for reasons that are selfish…Think of other folks as more important than you are.”
Philippians 2:3, Casual English Bible
These are themes that carry God’s people from one end of the Bible to the other. To ignore them is to ignore God himself, it would seem.
- When we put ourselves first, or our country first, how can we put others first?
- When we bar the doors and build the walls, how can we welcome those who come to us war-torn with nothing but their need?
- When we see injustice at work among us but do nothing to block it, how can we help the helpless find the justice God says they deserve?
Deport Lady Liberty
In the spirit of what has happened in the past few days, the thought occurred to me that there’s one more Lady we need to deport. We should just send her back to the country from which she came: France.
For heaven’s sake, she stands there in New York Harbor as a propaganda tool reminding us that we are the “Mother of Exiles.” She says we cry out to the world:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,”
We’ve got plenty of detention centers at the airports.
For the first time in my life, yesterday I called my congressman. I tried to call my senator, but the phone lines were busy. As they should have been.
On a more personal note
When I write short articles like this on rare occasions, reminding us all of how the Bible intersects with life and with grubby politics, I take heat and I lose some subscribers, though I gain some as well.
I always feel uncomfortable doing this because it’s not the kind of thing I do in my books.
In my books, if there’s a controversial issue, I try to give such a balanced overview that people can’t tell what my position is.
But in grappling with what has been going on in our nation for the past year, in particular, there is clearly a battle being waged between truth and alternative truth.
The Bible is pretty clear on which truth is true.
Good journalists, like good people of God, seek the truth, reject the lies, and expose the facts that prove the lies. Then, each and every time a lie is told, they say with respect, “I’m sorry, but that’s not the truth.”
When we don’t, lies win.
As we have seen.
I agree and words didn’t lose a subscriber, but inspired one How true are your words and I want to phone my local Federal representatives. By this I want to communicate my displeasure with walls and closing our shores to those seeking safety and freedom. I want to phone my congressman and Senators.
I visited our Adams County Library (Gettysburg, PA) yesterday. discussing for a few minutes about what the Wall will do from a completely selfish way, but I realize the big picture also. First, from the selfish view. I stated that products from Mexico ( fruits, vegetables, and Dollar Store items will go up at least 20 % unnessarily, because of the tariff with Mexico. I think the new President also wants a tariff with China from what I remember from his speeches I listened to and disagree with on many levels. People crossing the Mexican border rarely costs America much. Besides being once a United Methodist minister, I was also once a government employee. As an employee working with the Welfare or the Assistance Office, I found some needy Americans and all undocumented Aliens can not receive money or services. You have to have documents to receive anything. People who come over our southern borders provide work over here spend money here and send money back over to their relatives, their country to help their countries economy. It is a win, win. We will pay for the unneeded wall by having the tariff passed on to us, the consumers, by having the price of the tariff fees passed on to us in higher prices we pay for our goods from Mexico and later from the tariff from China. Really N.A.F.T.A has been good for all countries. Nafta raises the standard of living for other countries and provides Americans with less expensive goods. If jobs are lost here from Nafta and some aren’t, they are lost because of automation and out-dated methods of producing products or out-priced products,( typewriters, Steel production) do not make it profitable. Laid off employees can be retrained for that is the government organization I worked for when I worked in partnership with the Assistance Office employees. Now that I have a renewed desire to more intentionally “be in Christ” and try to live and learn what it is to be a “New Creation” renewal of my actions and renewal of the way I think about things (renewing my mind) I feel guilty about discussing this matter yesterday with one library employee that seemed to be for the “Wall” and higher prices happen. The employee said, higher prices happen every year and walls are good. I have heard on the News and I have experienced that we do not need the Wall or closing our Country from Near East people coming in because without these new policies the last 15 or 16 years we haven’t had any terrorists acts from people from outside the borders of this Country, but from people who have lived here for years and are usually mentally ill. The Vetting and Homeland Security measures, the past fifteen years, have made our Citizens quite safe.
Thanks Richard. I know it’s tough to talk about this stuff. Yet I remember reading about how silent Christians remained during the rise of strongman fascism in the 1930s and 40s. On this side of history, it’s a place of shame because of what the silence allowed evil people to do to the innocent.