What does it look like to be a Christian?
The following verses have been on my heart lately. You might think they are out of context, some are from the NT and some from the OT but I think they are just as relevant right now as they were then. They're long so bear with me and please continue on to read the rest of my blog...
Matthew 25:34
"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothes Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me. "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Micah 6:6-8
"With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
James 1:19-27
"But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."
Leviticus 19:33
"When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God."
What does it mean to be a Christian? The name Christian has been dragged through the mud and we have lost what it really means, in my opinion. Does it mean going to church on Sunday, attending small group, praying daily, reading the Bible, evangelizing? Sure all these things are important to one's faith but it is so much more, it goes so much deeper. I am not ashamed to be a Christian because I follow Jesus and not people around me. I look to Him for inspiration and wisdom, not my fellow flawed human beings. However I have grown more and more ashamed to be white and American. Maybe I have never done anything wrong, but I carry this shame of knowing how oppressive, violent and hateful my fellow white man and fellow American's have been and ARE STILL to this day. Our president, whom I have begun referring to in our house as "he who must not be named" is known to have referred to Mexicans as "rapists" and believes we need to build a wall to keep them out. He has placed people in power that are known racists towards African Americans. He has immigration policy that is displacing people who have a right to be here, separating families and causing people to fear for their lives.
Last night I watched 13th, a documentary on Netflix and it hit me hard. I am well aware of our nations history when it comes to racism but what I wasn't aware of was the unbelievable way the prison populations have grown and grown and grown. Rather than placing more time, effort and money into rehabilitation, parole and so on, the system is literally set up to fail black men and women. Many are being arrested for very minor crimes (some going to jail for years only to be proven innocent) and are literally doomed by the scarlet letter of incarceration forever, even if they get out their lives are essentially ruined.. I have heard people gripe about the Black Lives Matter movement, someone even had the audacity to ask "how is it different from neo nazism?" The thing is, white people...specifically white people in America will never fucking understand what it is to be black in America. I'm sorry, but it's true, and I say this as a white, lower-middle class woman sitting in the comfort of my home as I type on my laptop. I don't get it either, I never will. However, even though I don't get it and can't relate...my heart still breaks. I just cannot fathom the reality we live in. The fact that if I walk 4 blocks down the street to where my kids go to school, there is a definite "line" between where the white folks live and the black folks live. Our kids school is predominantly black, Kieren and Zoe are 2 out of probably 20 white kids at that elementary school...and we LOVE IT. They go to a public school that when we told people they were going , they reacted with "Ohhh, that school? Why don't they go to a Christian school? That school is pretty under funded..." Well you know what? We don't want them to go to a private school and we are very pleased that they go there and as a matter of fact they are excelling and have great teachers. They are also getting the benefit of cultural diversity, they are not in a white bubble.
Wow, that was a rant...sorry. I digress. Let me speak a moment about our denomination and why I am happy we are in it. The CRC has proven (to me at least) to be a very welcoming and loving denomination. Our local church is just amazing. Our pastor and some other volunteers go to our kids school to help with reading and mentoring. About once a month our church combines services with the Falam Baptist Church, a congregation mostly made up of refugees from Burma. The Office of Social Justice has a campaign called Blessing Not Burden, which basically means that immigrants are a blessing to us, not a burden on our system or way of life. What I'm trying to say is that in all this darkness, I have seen a glimmer of light and I have been inspired to help in whatever way I can. After all, this country is made up of immigrants for crying out loud. Why the hell are we so concerned with immigrants coming here, or refugees fleeing war and seeking freedom and opportunity? The only "native" Americans were just that, the Native Americans...and they had their land stolen from them...by us, the white immigrants. Hmmmm.....
Last night when Norm got home from school he caught the last half of 13th and at the end we were both really burdened by it. He said he knows he's on the right path and he needs to finish his Mdiv but he's not sure what it looks like after that...will he be a traditional pastor of a church? He's not sure that feels like the right thing. We are both very passionate about Jesus' calling to love and help the marginalized, the poor, the weak, those without a voice. Maybe that means not taking the easy way out and trying to escape to Canada...maybe that means fulfilling our calling by standing with our brothers and sisters and resisting hate, fear and prejudice. I firmly believe with all my heart that it's not just those who look like me that are my brothers and sisters...but everyone in the human race, for we were all created in His image. So last night I told Norm we should start praying about this and what it looks like for us. We are not lawyers, what can we do to fight for human rights? I have no idea what it will look like but I feel God leading us down this path. Please pray with us about what our future might hold after Norm graduates. Thank you for listening to my ranting and raving. ;)
Matthew 25:34
"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothes Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me. "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Micah 6:6-8
"With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
James 1:19-27
"But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."
Leviticus 19:33
"When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God."
What does it mean to be a Christian? The name Christian has been dragged through the mud and we have lost what it really means, in my opinion. Does it mean going to church on Sunday, attending small group, praying daily, reading the Bible, evangelizing? Sure all these things are important to one's faith but it is so much more, it goes so much deeper. I am not ashamed to be a Christian because I follow Jesus and not people around me. I look to Him for inspiration and wisdom, not my fellow flawed human beings. However I have grown more and more ashamed to be white and American. Maybe I have never done anything wrong, but I carry this shame of knowing how oppressive, violent and hateful my fellow white man and fellow American's have been and ARE STILL to this day. Our president, whom I have begun referring to in our house as "he who must not be named" is known to have referred to Mexicans as "rapists" and believes we need to build a wall to keep them out. He has placed people in power that are known racists towards African Americans. He has immigration policy that is displacing people who have a right to be here, separating families and causing people to fear for their lives.
Last night I watched 13th, a documentary on Netflix and it hit me hard. I am well aware of our nations history when it comes to racism but what I wasn't aware of was the unbelievable way the prison populations have grown and grown and grown. Rather than placing more time, effort and money into rehabilitation, parole and so on, the system is literally set up to fail black men and women. Many are being arrested for very minor crimes (some going to jail for years only to be proven innocent) and are literally doomed by the scarlet letter of incarceration forever, even if they get out their lives are essentially ruined.. I have heard people gripe about the Black Lives Matter movement, someone even had the audacity to ask "how is it different from neo nazism?" The thing is, white people...specifically white people in America will never fucking understand what it is to be black in America. I'm sorry, but it's true, and I say this as a white, lower-middle class woman sitting in the comfort of my home as I type on my laptop. I don't get it either, I never will. However, even though I don't get it and can't relate...my heart still breaks. I just cannot fathom the reality we live in. The fact that if I walk 4 blocks down the street to where my kids go to school, there is a definite "line" between where the white folks live and the black folks live. Our kids school is predominantly black, Kieren and Zoe are 2 out of probably 20 white kids at that elementary school...and we LOVE IT. They go to a public school that when we told people they were going , they reacted with "Ohhh, that school? Why don't they go to a Christian school? That school is pretty under funded..." Well you know what? We don't want them to go to a private school and we are very pleased that they go there and as a matter of fact they are excelling and have great teachers. They are also getting the benefit of cultural diversity, they are not in a white bubble.
Wow, that was a rant...sorry. I digress. Let me speak a moment about our denomination and why I am happy we are in it. The CRC has proven (to me at least) to be a very welcoming and loving denomination. Our local church is just amazing. Our pastor and some other volunteers go to our kids school to help with reading and mentoring. About once a month our church combines services with the Falam Baptist Church, a congregation mostly made up of refugees from Burma. The Office of Social Justice has a campaign called Blessing Not Burden, which basically means that immigrants are a blessing to us, not a burden on our system or way of life. What I'm trying to say is that in all this darkness, I have seen a glimmer of light and I have been inspired to help in whatever way I can. After all, this country is made up of immigrants for crying out loud. Why the hell are we so concerned with immigrants coming here, or refugees fleeing war and seeking freedom and opportunity? The only "native" Americans were just that, the Native Americans...and they had their land stolen from them...by us, the white immigrants. Hmmmm.....
Last night when Norm got home from school he caught the last half of 13th and at the end we were both really burdened by it. He said he knows he's on the right path and he needs to finish his Mdiv but he's not sure what it looks like after that...will he be a traditional pastor of a church? He's not sure that feels like the right thing. We are both very passionate about Jesus' calling to love and help the marginalized, the poor, the weak, those without a voice. Maybe that means not taking the easy way out and trying to escape to Canada...maybe that means fulfilling our calling by standing with our brothers and sisters and resisting hate, fear and prejudice. I firmly believe with all my heart that it's not just those who look like me that are my brothers and sisters...but everyone in the human race, for we were all created in His image. So last night I told Norm we should start praying about this and what it looks like for us. We are not lawyers, what can we do to fight for human rights? I have no idea what it will look like but I feel God leading us down this path. Please pray with us about what our future might hold after Norm graduates. Thank you for listening to my ranting and raving. ;)
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