An ugly time that isn't over

Fifty years, I wish we had come farther.

I saw that a movie is being released in conjunction with the fifty year anniversary of one of the worst race riots of the late sixties, Detroit.  I don't know if I'll see the movie, but just the announcement brought back memories. During the same era, twenty or so miles north of where I lived, large parts of Chicago burned. Just a few miles from where we lived stores where my family shopped and my friends worked were looted, torched, and eventually shut down (here). My roots are in the Middle South. I grew up in the Troubled North. My years of pastoral ministry were spent in a place better described as "mountain" than "southern," yet the vestiges of segregation were still evident, and the patterns of life that went all the way back to when one man owned another are undeniable. Now, I live in a place where a plethora of people groups live, and the struggle goes on. Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "I have a dream." I'm beginning to see that more than something I dream for, it needs to be a star that I aim for, to keep me on track. The way I relate to people and the worth in them that I see has nothing to do with color of skin, language spoken, or place where they grew up. Smart people are better at some tasks than some of the rest of us. For other things, strong people excel. Neither of those qualities, though, nor any of the other usual measurements, determines one's worth. People are valuable and worthy of respect because people bear the image of God. People are the ones for whom the Son of God died. The band of the redeemed who will praise God in eternity are made up of every tribe, and tongue, and nation. Lord, help me to keep aiming at that star.   It's STTA (Something To Think About).

Search not the internet to know for whom the siren wails.

It's about me:

If John Donne were  a 21st Century American, he might very well write, ". . . search not the internet to know for whom the siren wails.  It wails for thee." A relative of mine works at UNC Charlotte, friends of mine live in that community.  What is going on in Tulsa and Charlotte is not unrelated to reality here in the quiet community I call home.  I'll not argue for one version of the facts over another.  Actions--probably actions on both sides of the horribly complicated situation are being driven not by facts (alone), but by perceptions--perceptions only partially fueled by facts.  The rest of the space is filled with inappropriate conclusions, generalizations, prejudice, fear, and anger. The perception that a portion of our population is being dealt with unjustly, by the very people they should be looking to for justice, has to be recognized and dealt with.  The perception that we cannot trust law-enforcement personnel to make good faith decisions, rather we must demand 24/7 video footage so we can make up our own mind is problematic and must be addressed.  We often miss the point of the Good Samaritan storythat Jesus told.  The story comes at the end of a dialogue between Jesus and a man who was "put[ting Jesus] to the test,"  and who had a desire to "justify himself."  His opening question to the Lord was representative of the "I'm better than these other folk because I keep the law" mentality of the religious leaders we often meet in the Gospels  (Look here for another example.)  Jesus both pointed out how utterly misdirected the man's system of righteousness was, and the impossibility of him doing, through self-effort, what he needed to "do to inherit eternal life."  The expert on the law was asking the question, "Who is my neighbor?" in order to narrow the field.  It is hard to love my neighbor my neighbor as myself. I need to make the group who are my neighbors as small as possible, hopefully limiting it to others like me.  That way, since I'm loving others who are just like me, it won't be hard for me to love them just like I love me. I figure as the man heard Jesus begin to tell about the man who was beaten and robbed that he asked, "Yes this is a veryinteresting story, but what does it have to do with my questions?"  At the end Jesus reaches across the greatest cultural divide that existed in First Century Judaism and says, "You see that Samaritan, on the far side of the cultural landscape?  He is your neighbor.  The implication being that everyone else, between me and him is my neighbor as well.  In looking for self-generated righteousness the legal expert wanted to know, in essence,  "Whom can I leave beside the road, walking by without a concern, secure in my path to eternal life--whom can I treat as a non-neighbor?" Jesus shocking answer basically meant, "Nobody. There is no one who comes into contact with you that is exempt from this obligation. We agree on the mandate to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.  You even acknowledge that you need to love your neighbor as yourself.  Here is where we disagree.  You see everyone who is different from you as a non-neighbor.  I am saying they are." I can't pick up every roadside casualty in world, but in my little spot on the globe Good Samaritan opportunities present themselves quite frequently.  Is my behavior toward my neighbor leading toward, or away from what is going on in Tulsa and Charlotte?  The siren's wail serves as a reminder. It's STTA. Click here, to find out about has been done so that each of us can have eternal life--a life begins here in this messy world, where God desires that we make a difference.

Something to Think About for April 30, 2014:

A recent news story reminded me about a question I had to ask close to fifty years ago.  I was a teen driver getting around in the suburbs south of Chicago.  My first vehicle was a Honda 50 Sport.    That was replaced by a Volkswagen "bug" with a soft sunroof.   I worked at an after school job, and sometime ended up traveling home between eleven and midnight.  The late 60s and early 70s were turbulent times in the US.  My area was not exempt.  I used to ride by Dixie Square.  It was one of the earliest enclosed malls built in our area.  Later, after it closed, it starred in the "Blues Brothers."  I shopped in some of the stores Jake and Elwood trashed in the film.  I remember riding by the mall one night knowing that earlier that evening one of the stores had been robbed.  The take was a supply of guns and ammunition.  Other nearby businesses were burned and/or looted during those troubled days.  One of the tactics of some more radical demonstrators of the time was to block a road.  The barrier was not concrete or wood.  It was people.  A group of people would congregate in a street and stop a car.  Usually, what ensued was people surrounding the car, slaps on the top and sides, insults, and maybe something written on the windshield.  On a few occasions--at least according to the news that came my way--things got worse.  People were dragged out of cars, and beaten--even killed.  It was a time when fear ran high.   Recently stories have been published about encounters at the US-Mexican border.  On one side are rock-throwing youngsters.  On the other are armed guards.  I have no idea who is right and wrong, but some of the youngsters, allegedly rock-throwers, have been shot.  Rightly, there has been outrage. I remember the conversations of half-a-century ago.  "If they try to stop me, I'm stepping on the gas instead of the brake." said some of my more militant friends.  (Not a lot of comfort for a rider of a tiny motorcycle, or even a VW driver.)  The scenario has hung around my psyche for a long time.  "What would I do?"  "What would have been the right thing to do?"  I have no doubt that similar conversations take place around the troubled border.  "If one of those rocks . . ." If I had a clear answer the ugly--and thankfully for me, imaginary--scene would not have hung around in my mind for so long.  The perversity of the situation on the border or the street eruptions of my youth is that the decency of one side is used as a tool against them.  The self-restraint of one side becomes the encouragement for the other side's complete lack of respect for life and law.  But if that decency is abandoned, what is there left? It's messy out there. If you are looking for a clear answer, I'm sorry to disappoint.  This is indeed something to think about.  As close as I come being definitive is this:  The respect for life is so valuable that my protection of it, may, at times, put me in danger for my own. Like I said, It's STTA. (Sorry to be so dark.  I'll be watching for something lighter.)