do not be afraid

It's clear: we are all nervous.  An attack like the one we saw unfold in Paris reminds us that terrorism is at our doorstep.  It is all too close to home.  It all-too-quickly brings to surface the fears we faced 14 years ago on our soil.  It makes our blood boil.  Causes our stomach to churn.  Nausea flairs with every thought of each life lost, each bullet fired, each bomb-- strapped to the chest of someone so committed to their cause, they are willing to not only die, but incite their own death-- detonated.  Its not that we don't lament the loss of life at all costs, everywhere, but rather, that in these attacks, we've been reminded of our own mortality, of our own fragility that has been exposed.

And when we are fearful and nervous, we search for a life raft to cling to.  We feel like we have to choose a camp, 'our people,' in which we choose sides, and simultaneously lob our own ammunition with the conviction that we now have a right to do so, lest the lives lost be in vain.

We feel like we must take a stand, one way or another.  With our politics, with our religion, with our country.  With whatever it is we truly pledge our allegiance to.

As a citizen of the United States, I want to feel as if my country is doing what they can to keep us safe.  That our commitment should be first to keeping our cities free of terrorism and arming ourselves with words and weapons to defend and protect our very fragile lives.

As a Christian, I feel a call to love my enemy, to turn the cheek (even when it wasn't mine that was slapped in the first place).  I feel a call to the orphan and widowed, the oppressed and the foreigner.  A call to live like Christ, and to live amongst those that don't know him, so as to be a light. To follow the most spoken piece of advice and "do not be afraid," and to "take courage," and to "love God and love others."

I get the fear, and I get the courage.  And it's messy, because I don't know which camp to stand with.  Practically, it can't be both, and.  Patriotically, it can't be, "let the refugees live freely here!"  Protestantly, it can't be "KEEP THEM OUT!"

I admit that I don't know.  My citizenship isn't strong enough to fully bleed for the protection of our country at the exclusion of those fleeing this terror.  My faith isn't strong enough to unabashedly say that I am without fear in ushering in thousands of refugees, unknowing if a terrorist is disguised within their mix.

But we are comforted that the strength of God is made perfect in our weakness.

I'm just worried that my weakness will cause harm to one side or the other, and that passing off the responsibility for Christ to shine in spite of my ignorance is a cop-out.  So, I resort to the Word.

 "For if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor*, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods top your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever."  --Jeremiah 7:5-7

Clearly, we have a call to walk in righteousness as we welcome the foreigner and orphan into our land.

But read on:

"As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lit up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede for Me; for I do not hear you. Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of (Judah) and in the streets of (Jerusalem?  The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite Me ... Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place."   --Jeremiah 7:16-20

The truth is, we as a human race are ultra manipulative.  We can make just about anything say what we want our message to reflect.  We can easily pull scripture about inclusion and exclusion.  In the same way we do with research for or against what we hold to be true, we do with scripture, typically from Old Testament stories that were spoken over a specific people or place in history.  And while the Word is still true, I don't believe it can always be fully extrapolated to reflect God's personal promise over our own lives.  I am not denying his Providence.  I am not denying what I and many other Christians choose to believe as historical promises and assurances in our faith.  I am echoing what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 12: "Beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.  The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God, and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person."  In other words, the *data* is infinite, and virtually inconclusive if you truly, open-mindedly review both sides equally and without bias. But in the end, follow God and keep His commandments.

One of my favorite books in the Old Testament is Isaiah.  I believe it shows God's heart for His people, and His faithfulness to upholding the righteous.  Chapter 41 is an encouragement to the nation of Israel, but as Christians, we adapt it as an encouragement and promise to us:

"You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its remotest parts
And said to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you;
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
You will seek those who quarrel with you, but you will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you."  vs. 9-13

I could pretty much go on and include chapter 40, 42, heck, all the 40s, and well into the 60s, but you get the point.  We take these verses as a promise that God is with us as our strength and protection.  If we believe these verses are for us, and not just Israel, that means we must also believe two things:

1) Even in light of war and contention, we must rest assured that we are not to cling to fear, but to God, or more specifically, Christ.  That we should take courage that God is with us, and for us.  He will protect us from the evil that lurks, no matter where it may be hiding.
2) If these verses are for us, and not just Israel, how can we be sure these verses aren't also for the Syrians that don't yet know Jesus as Lord?  What if this also falls as a promise that God will rescue and protect the innocent Syrians that are fleeing their land due to those that contend and quarrel and war with them?  Do we not look back, in our present-faith, to a time prior to conversion or commitment, and see God's providential hand on our lives, and relate to scripture in a way that we recognize our own rescue from our old-self?

If we're not entirely onboard with allowing these promises to be for Syrian Muslims because they are outside the fold of God as we recognize him (in the trinitarian view), then what about Isaiah 56?  After the prophet exhorts the righteous living under the covenant, promising they are welcomed in as daughters and sons, he says,

"Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
To minister to Him, and to love the name of the, Lord,
To be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath
And holds fast My covenant;
Even those I will bring to My Holy Mountain
And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My alter;
For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples."

In order for foreigners to join themselves to the Lord, they likely need to see a reason why they would even want to associate themselves with the tribe of people that call themselves Christians.  They need us to be the light that ushers them into the life-changing presence of the Lord.  What are we doing, and saying, to be that light?  We don't want you?  You are evil?  You're not welcome here?

What better people for Christ to speak to: the lost, those stripped of their identity, the rejected.  Those without an earthly home, living life chained in fear and isolation and the bondage of what they have experienced on their own soil.  But let's please not spoil that opportunity by being the reason that someone would not want anything to do with Christianity.

Paul charges us, those that have been called to freedom, to not turn our freedom into an opportunity to serve our flesh (i.e. fear, and other signs of living by the flesh), but rather, "through love, to serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, 'You shall love your neighbor* as yourself.'"  --Galatians 5:13-14.

Christ Himself tells us whatever we do unto the least of these, we have done to Him (Matt. 25:40).  I not only believe that includes feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, inviting in the stranger; but also in rejecting them.  

I know my musings have run in circles, with no declarative answer outside of this is a messy, messy world.  We are all bruised and wounded and scared.  And in our fear, we often turn to selfishness as a means of self-preservation and protection.  I get it, it's human instinct to protect ourselves and our own.  But please, let those of us that know the life-giving grace of Christ that has brought us out of the depths, let our love be the salve that helps to heal the physical wounds caused by bullets and bombs and well-intentioned words that have internally harmed those already broken and bruised.



{*for definition of neighbor, see the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10}