Sunday Musings – June 24, 2018
I have a host of thoughts and emotions competing with each other in my head on this Sunday morning following a week here in the United States during which the world witnessed the apex of a policy which has long existed in the United States. This is the attitude and policy of turning away those who are fleeing violence and/or poverty; a policy of criminalizing the choices one has as the result of an accident of birth. Whether it is families arriving at the border after traveling hundreds or thousands of miles to flee violence or those already in the United States who are welcomed by employers to do work for which they may not be enough United States citizens, these are our neighbors.
It might be accurate to suggest that the policies of the current administration have been more systematically unneighborly and even cruel. It might be accurate to suggest that the zero-tolerance policy is more blatant cruel then that of past policies. It is incredibly sad that our president stated that if he had to choose between being known as tough or without a heart he would choose to be known as tough.
I am hopeful that the policies are so nakedly cruel that we, as a nation, are ready to take an uncomfortable look at ourselves.
Still, on this Sunday morning, what most saddens me is the wiliness of many of us to mirror the behavior of those of whom we are most critical. I am thinking of the restaurant owners who refused to serve Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I am thinking of those times when we are arrogantly critical of our neighbor and refrain from offering them a place at our family dining table.
In yesterday’s blog, I referenced the rebroadcast of the On Being conversation between Lyndsey Stonebridge and Krista Tippett, “The Moral World in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt for Now”. In that conversation. Ms. Stonebridge reminds the listener that Dr. Arendt “wrote her dissertation on Augustin’s notion of love. And he would talk about word love, appetite, desire, which is love of the future, transcendent love, which is the love of God, which is the past. And the love that she was really interested in was neighborly love, which is neither wanting transcendence not wanting something or someone. It’s just the love that says, “I want you to be… ‘ the kind of love that’s available in the dark background of difference.”
This is also the kind of love to which spiritual teachers such as Jesus referred when he suggested that we learn to love our enemies. This is, I believe the kind of love which in the Christian Bible chapter of Matthew (5:3-12) Jesus is purported to have delivered what is referred to as The Sermon on the Mount:
Blessed are the poor in spirit….
Blessed are those who mourn…
Blessed are the meek…
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…
Blessed are the pure in heart…
Blessed are the peacemakers…
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake…
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you on my account…
One could and many have written books on the possible interpretation of these words. For me, the message overall is very simple.
It is easy for me in this place of comfort and safely to write about my disagreements with those I label “the others”. It is easy for me to puff out my chest and arrogantly point to the cruelty of criminalizing those who are fleeing violence – physical, economic and other forms of violence. It is easy for me to campaign against some candidate. Practicing neighborly love is, for me, often uncomfortable, awkward, and always humbling.
Written June 24, 2018
I have a host of thoughts and emotions competing with each other in my head on this Sunday morning following a week here in the United States during which the world witnessed the apex of a policy which has long existed in the United States. This is the attitude and policy of turning away those who are fleeing violence and/or poverty; a policy of criminalizing the choices one has as the result of an accident of birth. Whether it is families arriving at the border after traveling hundreds or thousands of miles to flee violence or those already in the United States who are welcomed by employers to do work for which they may not be enough United States citizens, these are our neighbors.
It might be accurate to suggest that the policies of the current administration have been more systematically unneighborly and even cruel. It might be accurate to suggest that the zero-tolerance policy is more blatant cruel then that of past policies. It is incredibly sad that our president stated that if he had to choose between being known as tough or without a heart he would choose to be known as tough.
I am hopeful that the policies are so nakedly cruel that we, as a nation, are ready to take an uncomfortable look at ourselves.
Still, on this Sunday morning, what most saddens me is the wiliness of many of us to mirror the behavior of those of whom we are most critical. I am thinking of the restaurant owners who refused to serve Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I am thinking of those times when we are arrogantly critical of our neighbor and refrain from offering them a place at our family dining table.
In yesterday’s blog, I referenced the rebroadcast of the On Being conversation between Lyndsey Stonebridge and Krista Tippett, “The Moral World in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt for Now”. In that conversation. Ms. Stonebridge reminds the listener that Dr. Arendt “wrote her dissertation on Augustin’s notion of love. And he would talk about word love, appetite, desire, which is love of the future, transcendent love, which is the love of God, which is the past. And the love that she was really interested in was neighborly love, which is neither wanting transcendence not wanting something or someone. It’s just the love that says, “I want you to be… ‘ the kind of love that’s available in the dark background of difference.”
This is also the kind of love to which spiritual teachers such as Jesus referred when he suggested that we learn to love our enemies. This is, I believe the kind of love which in the Christian Bible chapter of Matthew (5:3-12) Jesus is purported to have delivered what is referred to as The Sermon on the Mount:
Blessed are the poor in spirit….
Blessed are those who mourn…
Blessed are the meek…
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…
Blessed are the pure in heart…
Blessed are the peacemakers…
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake…
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you on my account…
One could and many have written books on the possible interpretation of these words. For me, the message overall is very simple.
- Invite Sarah Huckabee Brown to break bread and learn what we have in common.
- Invite Donald Trump to break bread and learn what we have in common.
- Invite the individual and the family of refugees to break bread and find what we have in common,
- Invite the spirit of the Charles Krauthammer and his peers to break bread and find what we have in common.
- Invite the worker without legal papers to break bread and find out what we have in common.
- Invite all of those we label “the other” to the table and find out what we have in common.
It is easy for me in this place of comfort and safely to write about my disagreements with those I label “the others”. It is easy for me to puff out my chest and arrogantly point to the cruelty of criminalizing those who are fleeing violence – physical, economic and other forms of violence. It is easy for me to campaign against some candidate. Practicing neighborly love is, for me, often uncomfortable, awkward, and always humbling.
Written June 24, 2018
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