Months ago we had no idea what “society” would mean as we
agreed to write this blog on the issues of salvation, scripture and society. It seemed harmless enough. I mean, we had a few other ideas but none of
them were as catchy as these three words, all starting with the same letter and
relevant (at least we thought) to where and who we are as a larger community in
SE Portland. In retrospect, it has been
a discipline of thought and conversation, and I have grown from reading the
writings of my colleagues and searching my heart and soul in order to share
something of equal importance to this blog.
And now here we are at week twelve. The last of our blog entries bearing these
titles of salvation, scripture and society – and as the lottery of it went, I
am tasked with writing a final blog on the topic of society in the wake of a
week that we are still trying to understand.
Yet, that task seems to be impossible for me as I don’t understand
it. I don’t understand it in the least,
and when I close my eyes and try to invite the Holy Spirit in to help me
understand it better I see images of angry faces with tiki torches and the
images of people flying through the air as a car intentionally plows through a
crowd. And nobody even tried to hide.
Nobody tried to hide who they were. No hoods. No hiding.
Gathering in the middle of the day.
Just blatant hatred and anger.
The boldness of those who choose to hate rocks me to my core
and pushes me out of the naivety I found myself comfortable in.
The word society is a noun.
And by definition it means, “the aggregate of people living together in
a more or less ordered community.”
Where does the tiki
torches fit in to a more or less ordered community?
Where does the
screaming and the anger fit into a more or less ordered community?
Where does the judging
others solely by their race, culture, sexual orientation and religion … and in
that judgment deciding that some are better than others, fit into a more or
less ordered community?
It doesn’t.
What seemed harmless enough months ago as brainstormed ideas
about what this blog should be about now seems like something much bigger and
much more relevant than we could ever have imagined as we sat around that table
in our local coffee shop.
I don’t have many answers but I still carry hope that good
will prevail. That love will
prevail. Against the hate and the anger
that our society holds, I know that there are people who truly love and desire
the world to be a fair, safe and an equal place for all of God’s children.
I just came back from some educational training in Atlanta
where one of my colleagues, a young African American woman wisely said to our
group during a challenging discussion on race and class that, “nobody shifts
their cultural perspective if they remain comfortable.”
She meant that as hope.
She said it as a promise. She
prays that as we engage each other honestly dealing with issues that challenge
us to our very core, we will find a way to reach a common ground that is based
upon love for the neighbor, mutual respect, honor and dedication to a common
good.
Right now, I have to believe her. Right now I realize how pushed out of my comfort
zone I am and I have no choice but to trust that out of this we will find
greater unity and a stronger bond amongst humanity. I pray that we as a society will work to be
an aggregate of people living together in a more ordered community, by the
grace of a God who loves us all… equally.
Contributed by:
Pastor Kelle Nelson, St Paul Lutheran Church
No comments:
Post a Comment