Mother and Child

I remember Rose rising up in worship to share the story of her sister in Liberia giving birth to twins, then dying soon after. No one had expected twins, and there was little to help Worplah with the complications. She lay there for hours, then succumbed to death – leaving the newborns – Mercy and Grace – to be cared for by family.

Rose and her husband Peter, Nashville residents, eagerly started adoption proceedings for the twins and their two-year old sister Rose – her namesake. I had just graduated from Vanderbilt Divinity School and was seeking ordination. I was filled with high expectations of what was possible in the aftermath of this tragedy. Soon, we realized this would be no ordinary journey to the U.S..

The complexities of adoption proceedings and Liberia exit/U.S. entry were intense, and help was requested on countless fronts – from state senators and legislators to legal advisors, immigration officials and more. After eighteen months of waiting, Mercy contracted malaria and died.

The U.N. Department of Public Information states that “more than 350,000 women die annually from complications during pregnancy or childbirth, almost all of them—99 percent—in developing countries,” and “every year, more than 1 million children are left motherless. Children who have lost their mothers are up to 10 times more likely to die prematurely than those who have not.” (http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/act/alerts/item/index.cfm?id=305)

Situations like the one involving Worplah and her children happen every day, but seeing the situation up close turns numbers into faces, names into beloved children of God. Perhaps those shuffling the paperwork didn’t get to see that soon enough. Each number above represents someone who is loved by another and above all, by God.
Rose and Peter persevered over the last seven years, providing for the girls (in the care of their grandma), visiting them when possible, and proceeding with the myriad of adoption requirements. During the wait, Rose’s sixteen year-old daughter Wilhelmina came to the U.S., but became ill and was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She passed away not long after.

After all this time, we finally got word that the girls have been approved for entry to the U.S., and the adoption is final. I can’t wait to meet them at the airport…to hear their laughter and see their smiles. I can’t wait for them to be safe with parents who have given so much to be with them. And I pray that as they grow, so will my concern for the care of other mothers and children still in need.

An Alternative Reality

I gave up partisanship for Lent. I guess I just started feeling restless from dwelling on news that really doesn’t call us to do anything other than gripe about “the other.” I don’t want to be one of those people who goes around with shallow anger about injustice. I want to be someone who speaks the truth in such a way that justice is produced as an alternative reality – something better than what we’ve seen.

Many people claim that the U.S. is a Christian nation, while only supporting laws of “don’t” and “can’t.” You can’t do this, you can’t do that. Sure, there are things that we shouldn’t do and those things must be dealt with. But the truth is, Christianity is based on laws of can and shall and should. Ways of life that show what one must do like loving your neighbor and your enemy. Ways of supporting the poor not because it’s what anyone deserves or has worked for, but simply because we’re supposed to love one another.

If a politician tried to legislate those things that Christians are called to do, they’d be considered socialist. No politically savvy legislator would ever try to push the way that the early church lived (Acts 4:32-35) nor tout Mary’s song in public (Luke 1:46-55) much less require that a person set aside a tenth of his or her produce for others (Deuteronomy 14:22). He or she would be thrown out, even by those proudly waving the Christian banner.

Engaging one another across party lines (or any other lines that divide) is the only way of hope. God crossed the line of divinity into humanity for the sake of life. Jesus crossed all sorts of lines that were meant to divide the poor from the rich, the “righteous” from the “sinner.” If we’re serious about faith and hope, we will use all means possible to dialog in ways that bring about change, and drop the divisiveness. We’ll stop encouraging divisiveness by not forwarding hateful emails, listening, watching and retweeting commentators who make a living off of hate mongering.

This doesn’t mean that we will remain quiet about injustice. Instead, we will open a new door to address injustice in ways that can possibly bring about true change.

Think about Nathan – whose story is told in 2 Samuel of the Old Testament. David had committed adultery, then had the husband of his lover killed. Instead of blogging, tweeting, FBing about it, Nathan went to King David and spoke in such a way that David felt convicted to change – to do what was right in the aftermath of his wrongs.

Crossing lines doesn’t come as easy as divisiveness but nobody ever said being Christian would be easy. It takes work and faith in a strength far greater than our own. May the Easter season bring this kind of new life – an alternative reality.

Why do we go to the cross?

Reflections for Palm Sunday...on Sat night at 61st Ave UMC

Tonight is a special night. Many times we read the Scriptures…tonight we act them out – with the children parading in, waving palm branches and us shouting “hosanna” just as they did way back when. Tonight is a special night because we are nearing the end of a season in church life. Just as we have spring, fall, winter, and summer, the church has its own seasons and one of them is Lent. This 40-day period before Easter, prepares Christians to experience the depth of love that Christ shared on the cross.

At the beginning of this season, we marked ourselves with ashes – the sign of the cross on our foreheads. I thought about that night and how crossing lines on our foreheads should be a symbol of the way we live our lives as Christians. God calls us to go into new places and meet new people – to cross these artificial lines drawn to separate us instead of bringing us together. We cannot grow by staying on “our side” and there’s no Scriptural foundation for us even trying to do that. Jesus crossed all sorts of lines – eating and drinking with sinners and outcasts, visiting homes of and talking with people who were despised in their day. The ultimate hope of God is that all shall be brought in to His love and that we love one another in that way. God, who wants no stone unturned until all who are lost are found, calls us ultimately to the cross – the place where the ultimate lines were crossed – those lines between sin and redemption, love and hate, life and death.

This week – the week before Easter, which we call Holy Week, leads us to the cross, if we dare go there. We would of course rather go from the praises that we’ve just experienced directly to Easter and the resurrection. We’d rather not think about what Jesus went through in the days leading up to the cross. Oscar Wilde once said, “he who can look at the loveliness of the world and share its sorrow, and realize something of the wonder of both, is in immediate contact with divine things, and has got as near to God's secret as any one can get.” That is where we are going tonight. To look at the sorrow of the world and God’s loveliness…drawing near to the Divine and experiencing God.

Someone asked me this week why, if people were so glad to see Jesus, they would kill him. He went on to say that Jesus had to have done something in between the praises and the crucifixion to get killed. I had not thought of it that way before, but Jesus did do something. Scriptures tell us that in between the praise and the cross, Jesus upset the way that people were doing things. Jesus went to the temple and threw out the “money changers”…those who were making a profit by selling “acceptable” sacrifices and creating a barrier for those who sought to honor God but who maybe didn’t have that kind of money. Money is power – at least in this world – and Jesus did not win any friends that day among those to whom money and profit was their best love.

Jesus had a history of challenging people’s love of money. He once told a parable about workers who were paid the same as others even though they had not worked as much. Of course, this (in our world) isn’t right! We’d rather people get what’s coming to them…if you’ve worked x amount of hours, then you need to get paid for that amount of hours. Just think – if we’ve worked hard all day, and someone else shows up at 4:45 and gets paid the same, we’d probably all be trying to pass some kind of legislation to make sure it didn’t happen again. Yet Jesus said that this is the way of God. God’s economy isn’t based on getting what you’ve worked for. God’s economy is based on a concept called grace…getting something for free out of love…not what you’ve earned. In fact, we even segment a verse from the Bible to prove that point. Most of us know “The wages of sin is death.” Can anyone share the rest of that verse? “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) The gift of God…a gift is something unearned…free…undeserved.

Before the cross, Jesus was challenged by those who considered themselves to be righteous. They drilled him with questions, trying to trip him up. They couldn’t. Yet they also didn’t like his answers. Jesus’ answers threatened their complacency…the way they had come to love life.

That scares all of us. We get settled into a certain way of doing things and we don’t want somebody else coming in and shaking things up. Darkness breeds darkness. The things we do in the dark, we want kept in the dark. Think about Jesus coming in and turning a light on in a room where drugs are being done, where people are getting drunk, where there’s adultery and cheating and lying, or money exchanged in illegal, underhanded ways. Can you just imagine someone coming in and turning a light on in any of these situations…disrupting the darkness? Jesus coming into a room and shining his natural light would anger anyone who wants to be left alone.

Now put yourself on the outside side of that room – that place of darkness – at darkness’ door. Have you ever stood by while someone you loved was doing something hurtful to themselves or others? Have you ever wrestled with how to confront that kind of situation? It’s painful. We don’t want to shine a light on their darkness because we know they’ll get mad at us. We’re afraid that they might hurt us, or never talk to us again. Yet leaving the darkness alone only commits it to an environment where it will grow and affect more people and future generations.

In smaller towns and throughout tribal villages, accountability is stressed – people are accountable to one another because they know who each other is and where they are from. In our society today, people do not know one another – who you belong to. We stay out of one another’s business.

Jesus wouldn’t stay out of humankind’s business. Jesus – God – put Godself squarely in the middle of humankind’s business. And we didn’t want him there. Those who were content doing things that impoverished the poor did not want Jesus there challenging the way they handled money. Those who were oppressing the powerless certainly didn’t want change…they liked things just the way they were. Those who segregated people based on their particular sect of religion or heritage didn’t want to come together..they liked setting themselves higher than others. Still, God did not stand outside humanity’s door of darkness…God entered taking all risks because God loved us so.
 
Thank God that He put himself in the middle of our darkness! His light is the only thing that drives out pure darkness – His light overcomes it and from that light even death’s darkness evaporates. Line by line, all was crossed for the sake of love.

As we approach Holy Week and in particular, Good Friday – when we remember that day when Christ was crucified – we go there not to bear the weight of sin – Jesus did that for us. While Jesus went to the cross bearing that weight, we go to the cross to let go of our burdens. While Jesus went to the cross to experience the pain of separateness, we go to the cross to become whole again – a part of a collective whole where all is made well. While Jesus went to the cross to die – we go to the cross to live – to find life anew…not just that life that we have to die to get, but a new life to be experienced here and now.

May God lead us to the cross. Amen.

Something Special

One of my favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone is “The Eye of the Beholder” where a woman undergoes multiple surgeries to conform to societal pressure. She looked too different – too ugly to all the others. They could hardly bare to look at her. When the bandages are removed, it’s revealed that she is quite beautiful…just not according to their standards. Her nose is not full and snout-like. Her brows and lips are quite unlike the others’ curled and distorted ones. Eventually, she has to leave her home because her appearance is just too disturbing to others.

I thought about this episode recently after I listened to a friend. She has always looked different, and her life has been filled with hardship because of it. She’s taken the insults with courage. She’s prayed, and sought solace in God. She’s remained kind to others. Yet she finds late in her adult life that the words and snickers of others still strike at the core of her being, wounding her deeply.

Some of the most interesting people I’ve met in life are unconventional-looking people. People who aren’t perfectly groomed, whose faces wear haggard expressions of hard living, and whose clothes reflect individual style way over anybody else’s opinion. Reminds me of a homeless woman named Sue in Mississippi whose figure always reflected the lumps of the things she carried in pockets, sleeves or even her bra.

The hymn, “How Can We Name a Love” includes the words:
“Within our daily world, in every human face, Loves echoes sound and God is found hid in the common place.” (Brian Wren)

I think God must have fun hiding “in the common place.” Think about it. God became manifest in a baby who was born where animals dwelt…to parents who were not wealthy nor politically powerful. God still is found among the poor and those who society is quick to dismiss. We’ve got to look for God and not be fooled by outward appearances…I can just imagine God laughing when we discover Him…almost like a spiritual hide and go seek.

Psalm 139: 14-15 says, “I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.” (The Message)

From nothing into something. That says it and I think my friend is really something. Something beautiful. Because I see God in her time after time. In the bright gleam of her beautiful blue eyes, I’ve seen God. I think of those who hurl insults rather than experiencing her presence, and I think man. They’ve really missed something special.