What Are We Learning?

I find it easy to get stuck in a certain way of thinking, living, and being. It’s easy to get comfortable, sink deep into our easy chairs, and rest in the belief that everything is just as it should be. And then something happens that knocks us out of our chairs. It knocks us right onto the hard floor. At first we are startled, maybe disoriented. Then we realize that we’ve been hit by something large. Maybe our first reaction, after the shock of disorientation, is to turn around to see who or what did this thing to us, eager to lay blame. After a time we may regain some composure and look to understand more deeply, but how often do we get stuck in the defensive posture of blame, rather than seeking understanding? Why did this happen? Was it something I should have seen coming?

The Way of Jesus is an introspective one. It invites us to step back a moment, think deeply about our reactions, and consider how we might respond in the way of God’s love. Keep in mind, God’s love is not a mushy sentimental kind of love. It is often the difficult love of a child who has misbehaving. It is the painful love when harsh words as said out of anger. It is the challenging love that makes us want to look carefully at our own behavior before we start pointing our fingers at others. It is the onerous love that speaks out when there is injustice or when a minority of folks are behaving irresponsibly and selfishly by protesting the actions of governors who are trying to protect those same people.

In the midst of the blatant lies of our president (even when he really doesn’t have to lie), the misinformation spouted by so many elected leaders, the protests against public safety, and the willful ignorance of many who choose to believe that the current pandemic is somehow a conspiracy, there are learnings to be had. Here are just a few that have been stirring in my mind:

• the vast majority of people are good and kind people who are willing to do the right thing if given the chance, who understand that wearing a mask is a matter of care and compassion for others who we may infect;
• not ALL career politicians are power-hungry people, and that many actually want to do the right thing;
• the people who are protesting in front of capitol buildings, though they get way too much air time on the news, are a minority, and their actions should be put into perspective;
• our medical professionals are amazing and should be honored as such, from the doctors and nurses to the administrators to the custodians who clean those hospitals;
• we are not broken, but the virus has exposed many cracks and fissures in our economic, social, and medical infrastructures;
• no one political party has all the answers, and that taxes are not inherently evil—what is evil is when hard earned tax dollars are spent with arrogant disregard and pulled from desperately needed programs like medical care, pandemic response, and other programs that actually help, all while people go hungry, are without work, and are now suffering from a pandemic that was anticipated and we should have been better prepared for as a nation.

That’s just off the top of my head. And each one of these is tied to one of our religious teachings. For instance, in the Book of Genesis, the authors saw fit to record God declaring all of creation “good.” In John 3, Nicodemus, a Pharisee and leader of the Jews, comes to Jesus to find out for himself what Jesus is about. His first words are to acknowledge Jesus as a Rabbi (teacher) and someone who has come from God. In 1 Peter 3, the author challenges readers to keep on doing good: “Even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed.” The truth is that there will be some people, like the people protesting the capitol buildings, who will seek to spark dissent because they act of out of ignorance and fear. Jesus, sadly, experienced that first hand. I have come to understand the crowd that celebrated his entry into Jerusalem in Mark 11, Matthew 21, Luke 19, and John 12, is not the same crowd shouting for his crucifixion in Mark 15, Matthew 27, Luke 23, and John 19. Or, maybe they were and it reveals how easily we can be persuaded when we are not willing to think critically about what we hear, when we choose to check our brains at the door and follow blindly. In fact, Jesus heals the blind. He doesn’t go around trying to make people blind.

Jesus taught that those who choose to follow him should be willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of another. Jesus did not tell us to go jumping into fires or look to become martyrs, as some Christians did in the early centuries. But he did teach that to follow him will require letting go of so much that we hold dear but also keeps us separated from fully living into the love of God that is very real and very present.

I, too, am growing tired of the war mongers and haters, the people shouting idiocy into the airwaves, and those willfully perpetuating misinformation. To be sure, President Trump did not create or bring about the Coronavirus. But I am also well aware that his inaction, his refusal to acknowledge the truth (even still, some 4 or more months later), has caused needless suffering and death. Yes, some people were going to die no matter how effective our measures were. But we could have prevented the vast majority of the deaths we have thus far and that are still being projected had our government stepped in to be the government and worked to test and contact trace, as many professionals had suggested from the get go. As several have suggested, he may as well have shot them down on 5th Avenue as he stated he could and still get elected.

What I’m learning during all this is that we are truly better when we are together. We are better when we actively seek one another’s welfare; when neighbors share toilet paper and flour and support; when a neighbor needs groceries and can’t get out of their home for fear of their health; when we wear masks in public and maintain social distancing because we know our efforts are for the safety and protection of others; when we choose to not give in to the loud minority of voices that are claiming selfishly that their rights are being impeded, regardless of the rights of others to be safe and the responsibility of our governments to try to protect people. I’ve learned that the vast majority of people actually want to do the right thing, it’s just hard to sift through all the B.S. to figure out what the “right thing” actually is.

Fearing the president is not a partisan issue. It is a moral and ethical one. Choosing to call into question assine policy statements like injecting disinfectant into our bodies (which has resulted in numerous emergency calls) is not about Republican or Democrat or Libertarian or any other party line we might draw. It is about using our God-given gift of reason and critical thought, and caring for our neighbors as well as ourselves. Claiming “Jesus is Lord” is clearly stating that the empire is not, and claiming that compassion and love always trumps fear, violence, and exclusion.