Persist

"I will send my Spirit upon him, and he will announce my judgement to the nations.

He will not argue or shout, or make loud speeches in the streets.

He will not break off a bent reed, or put out a flickering lamp.

He will persist until he causes justice to triumph,

and in him all peoples will put their hope."

Matthew 12:18b-21 - (a quote from Isaiah regarding the Messiah)

 

 

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Jesus did not seem overwhelmed by the constant needs. He did not allow constant demands on His time to change His purpose. While He gave Himself unconditionally to those around Him, He never seemed to be in a hurry. He did not seek attention - in fact, He often asked those He had ministered to not to tell anyone. They usually ignored that request, however, and the crowds continued to grow. We know He had to have worked tirelessly - someone that can sleep in the bottom of a boat during a storm has to be exhausted. He sought balance. As the crowds grew increasingly larger, He continued to step away, go out into the wilderness and seek solitary time with His Father. He consistently pulled away from the crowds to spend time with the smaller, and yet smaller still, group of friends and followers.

Given how we see Him move and respond within His years of ministry, the verses above really struck me as I read them this time. He did not argue or shout, he did not give loud, attention-seeking speeches. I had to look up the phrase, "He will not break off a bent reed," -- it means he would not hurt or take advantage of the weak or powerless. As His popularity grew, He never took advantage of others in that process. He constantly sought out the marginalized, the outcast, the weak, the broken. He sought them out - not to take advantage of them, but to love them - to heal, to share a meal, to celebrate, to have long, deep conversations, to forgive, to offer hope.

And that last section gets me - "He will persist until He causes justice to triumph."

He will persist.

What are some of the temptations today as we seek to follow Christ, to walk faithfully as He walked? It can easily and quickly feel overwhelming. When we look around at the needs, they are endless. Systems need to be dismantled and rebuilt to truly see lasting change in the way the marginalized are treated in our culture. Those hurdles can feel insurmountable. The needs feel like too much, too hard. Our participation can feel like a drop of water in the ocean and the temptation waivers between giving up entirely and throwing ourselves in to the point of burning ourselves out. Neither of these options are healthy or helpful. We can see in Jesus a balance that is necessary. Jesus did not heal every sick person he passed. At the time of His death, the world was still full of pain and brokenness. There was still work to be done. There were many He never had a conversation with. He did not rescue everyone. He did what He was called to do while He was here. He worked hard. He rested. He found times for refreshment. He built relationships. And HIs greatest work on earth (His death) appeared, even to those closest to Him, to be utter failure. Yet, this "failure" brought about the victory that will ultimately lead to the triumph of justice that is described in the verse above.

He persisted.

With some of us, "success" in ministry can bring attention and crowds and the temptation is huge to think that gathering masses is the answer. It's easy to believe that being bigger, or louder or more clever will reach more people - and obviously more is better, right? I believe there is something to learn in the fact that while Jesus spent a good deal of time with crowds and was not put off by them, He never sought them and often pulled away to smaller and smaller groups.  

A temptation that can easily grow out of the bigger is better mentality of mega churches and social media culture is leaving behind those that don't help you get to those bigger and better numbers, or don't make you "look good" to the masses, or to manipulate what others see to make it look more pleasing. It is easy to forget the marginalized in the desire for "more". Building relationship in the margins is not glamorous and it rarely builds a crowd. Yet, this is where Jesus focused His time and energy. I believe strongly that these people were His friends - people know when they are projects and they don't hang around long. These people wanted to be around Him - they were His friends. He was accused of gluttony, of being a drunkard, of serving Satan. These accusations came primarily from the powerful in His community and because of the company He kept. The very people they were happy to leave behind, the "bent reeds" they easily broke and forgot about -- those were the people Jesus came for. He was not the least bit shaken by their criticisms. He continued with the relationships and friendships He had built, unphased by the detractors. 
 

We don't have to be pastoring a mega church or managing a huge Instagram market to fall prey to this temptation. When we view others as an interruption to our "greater plan", as numbers rather than friends, as statistics rather than beloved of God, we may very well be walking right past both the plan God has for us and beautiful relationships that will be built in the process. When we feel like investing all our life in what may seem like very few is a waste of time when we could do something else and reach many people, we've perhaps lost our focus. When we're tempted to quit because it's stupid hard, or it feels like failure, or it's not warm and fuzzy? We're likely right in the same places Jesus would choose to be.

So what should we do in that space? Again, I think we can draw from Jesus. Listen to what's going on inside of us. Perhaps the answer isn't to quit all together, or to "go big or go home". Perhaps the answer lies in determining to live faithfully, whatever that means, whatever it looks like, no matter what others think or say, or how many lives seem to be impacted. Taking care to pull back at times and rest -- alone with your God, surrounded by the two or three that speak the most honestly into your life. Then step back in, remembering that "success" is not the point. There may be times that one season ends and another begins and that is a legitimate thing to consider, but often we're the most weary and ready to give up because we're not balancing giving and receiving. We're letting the world define success. We're seeing people as projects. We're not resting. We're not being filled and fed. 

It gives me hope that Jesus experienced all those same feelings and that we can watch how he dealt with it.

The end of this passage also gives me much hope. He persisted until triumph came. He persisted because the healing, salvation and freedom from oppression of all people was His greatest desire. 

My crusty, cynical heart needs these reminders often. It is worth it.

Persist.

"Do not grow weary in doing good..." Gal. 6:9

One Word: Listen

For the last several years, I've tried to choose one word to reflect, or encapsulate what I hope my growth and goals to center around in the upcoming year. I've spent a good deal of time meditating on this for 2020 and this is the word I've landed on:

Listen

 

My hope is that this will touch many areas of my life and probably end up growing into areas I'm not currently even thinking of. Here are some of the things I'm leaning into for 2020:

• Listen to God. Slow down. Be present. Meditate. Pray, yes, but instead of so much talking, to instead talk less and be quiet more - see what I might hear when I'm not so busy saying all the words. This is hard for me. My mind is constantly, infuriatingly, busy. Stilling wayward thoughts is a constant battle. I am learning how to rein them in (with much failure and starting over) and bring them back to a place of quiet centering.

• Listen to people I do not agree with or do not understand. This is also hard for me. I am hard wired to argue, to prove points, to have the last word. But I want to learn to be quiet and truly hear what they have to say. Not to necessarily be won over or win them over, but to understand, to connect, to build relationship. 

• Listen to stories. Podcasts, movies, books and my favorite, real-life, face-to-face people. There are stories all around us, filled with the experiences of people I will never have the opportunity to meet, but I can definitely learn from their lives. So, if you have biographies, memoirs, podcasts to suggest, (or if you have a really great story to tell me), bring it on!

• Learn how to ask open ended questions and listen to answers. It's easy for me to ask leading questions and then proceed to prep my comeback while they're answering - again it's how I'm wired. It's great for winning fights, but not for building relationships.

I'm not really sure how these will develop, what God and life will add or take away from in the process, but I'm praying it will change me in good ways.

Do you have a word for 2020? I'd love to know what it is and why!

The "Right" Way to Participate

If a person got the entirety of their information from social media or their preferred news source, they would believe there is always a particular, definitive way we should be participating in our democracy. If you believed every meme or link, pastor or politician shared by the people in your life bubble, you'd likely have a clear picture of what your only options were. Depending on who one listens to:

• You should always vote Republican
• You should always vote Democrat
• You should never vote 3rd party
• You should never vote at all
• Involvement in politics is the only definitive way Christ-followers can live faithfully
• Christ-followers must always be above and outside of politics

It is nuts out there and growing crazier and more frightening on a daily basis. I routinely have to step away. I regularly hide people on social media from both ends of the political and religious spectrum because of the lack of love I see, because of consistently sharing unverified and false statements. The tension between the positive and negative aspects of media, both social and otherwise, is often exhausting. I rarely watch the news, I've cut my social media time way down, I've done a lot of unfollowing and hiding when I see consistent extremes or a lack of love, an unwillingness to listen or not valuing truth - all in my feeble attempt to balance this tension.

So -- what does it look like to be a Christ-follower or even just a conscientious citizen, and participate in the form of government we have in the United States? Is there a "right" way to do it? I'm sure you're guessing by now, that for me, the answer to that second question is "No." There are wrong ways, but I do not believe there is one right way. If we can't trust the biased news sources we see, if we often can't trust our politicians or even some of our so-called spiritual leaders, what the heck are we supposed to do?

For me, personally, I begin with some basic reality checks: 

• We do not live in a "Christian nation", whether we like it or not.
• We live in a pluralistic society, within a democratic republic, created to honor our religious (and non-religious) differences. And ALL of those people deserve equal rights - whether we agree with them or not.
• We can learn to be salt and light within those parameters, or we can continue to wage war with the culture we are clearly in.

Then I study, pray, listen, love. None of the ultimatums listed at the top of this page are true. We're never going to agree on all the things. There will not be one right answer in this arena. Yet, what is always true? We love. I've tried to make a list of the things that matter to me and why I believe strongly that we must be actively involved. Prioritizing these beliefs help me determine how I'll vote, how and when I'll speak up, where I'll volunteer and participate. We won't all do it the same. Here are some of my parameters:

• I believe how we treat and talk about immigrants (both documented and undocumented) should reflect an honoring of all life. When immigrants are painted as criminals, rapists, murderers and drug dealers in broad, judgmental swaths, not only is it blatantly false, it is not life-honoring. When individual stories of people's pain and real persecution are treated as lies or irrelevant because they do not fit the narrative, life is not honored. When children live in cages, life is not honored. We can differ on the specifics of how we protect our borders without the polarizing disaster it has become.

• I believe strongly in protecting the life of the unborn, but I also believe in protecting, honoring and respecting the women that will carry those children. There are a multitude of ways we can, and should, do both. Unfortunately, as a nation we have primarily settled into the either/or scenarios of it's only about the baby or it's only about the woman. Any protection of a woman's rights is said to be supporting the murder of babies. Any protection of the baby is hating and controlling women. These two extremes are not only rarely the truth, but harmful and deny actual truths. I would also suggest that never will these two extremes solve any long-term problems, nor do they honor all life. If we could drop our verbal and political weapons and look at the systemic reasons we are at this place, much good could be accomplished. (I have multiple specifics that would be a whole other post or a long conversation I'd love to have, but I'll leave it at this for now.)

• I believe how easily we call for war and the ever-increasing amount of money we are willing to put toward our military versus meeting human need should reflect an honoring of life. When we continue to grow a military that could already turn our earth to dust hundreds of times over, yet turn a blind eye to the poor, homeless and abused, life is not honored.

• I believe how we talk about guns and those ravaged by gun violence matters. Again, when we reduce it to extremes, we are told that either we believe in almost anyone's right to stockpile semi-automatic weapons or that we don't believe anyone should have a gun for any reason. Any thinking person knows these are not where the majority of us sit, but these are the battle lines we've allowed to be drawn, the memes we share, the verbal grenades we lob at one another. When we care more about our rights than those ravaged by gun violence, we're not honoring life.

• I believe when people are arrested, tried and convicted unjustly, when those impacted by this injustice are in overwhelming percentages from minority groups and the poor among us, followers of Christ should be on the front lines to speak against this and work for the systemic change that must happen for these lives to be honored.

• I believe the way we treat people that are and have been incarcerated should reflect a belief that people can be forgiven and made whole. The Church should be at the forefront of rehabilitation programs within and outside of the prison system. We should be the front lines of reform in this area. Prison reform must look at who we incarcerate and why we choose incarceration over other options that have proven to be more effective at rehabilitation and reform.

• I believe we should honor the sacrifice and diligence many of our law enforcement officers give their life to and for. We should also be on the front lines of making sure our law enforcement officers are trained in ways that reflect an honoring of all life and that when they do not perform in a way that reflects that training, they are held accountable every single time. When we reduce this to either/or and either deny the existence of many admirable people in law enforcement or deny the lives being lost unjustly, excusing them as exceptions or blaming the victim, we do not honor life.

• I believe the way we choose to treat the most inhumane in our society should reflect Christ more than it reflects their heinous crimes. Yes, they should be kept away from society for the remainder of their lives, but I do not believe that their inhumanity should bring us to practice inhumanity towards them. I do not believe the death penalty lessens crime, but I do believe it makes us less human.

I believe that our calling here is to work to leave this world and it's people better, to love our neighbor and want their lives to be better. We are not here to protect ourselves, defend our faith, stand up for our rights - nowhere in scripture is this our calling. The Church must be on the front lines of protecting the rights of all people, not just our own. If our lives are improving, if our rights are protected, if we're flourishing while others suffer and we're content to turn a blind eye, we're not living out His greatest command. (See Jeremiah 29:7 and Matthew 22:37-40)

I fully recognize that these are hot button issues and we do not have to agree on all these points. I am certain there are issues I have not touched on that are at the top of your list. We can, in the midst of our disagreements, recognize that there might be reasons that someone could be a devoted follower of Christ AND choose not to vote Republican. Or not to vote Democrat. Or choose to vote 3rd party or not vote at all. There are valid reasons that someone may vote or believe differently on any number of issues and still be thoughtful, engaged, loving human beings. We must stop questioning the intelligence or wisdom or depth of compassion of people because they've come to a different conclusion than we have. We all have much to learn. We all need to leave space to acknowledge that we might be wrong. Just as I know many of you reading this will disagree strongly with me on some of these points, I also recognize that many of you have prayed, studied and reflected before coming to that differing opinion. Jesus was not a Republican. He was not a Democrat. He was not a capitalist. He was not a socialist. I have strong disagreements with both parties - disagreements that reflect how my faith leads me to honor all life as bearing the image of God.

In the end, it comes to this. I am a registered Independent. I will look first at the integrity and character of candidates. If they cannot be trusted, if they do not respect others, if they cannot work respectfully with those they disagree with, then what they claim to believe or support means nothing. If we end up more divided, nothing lasting has been accomplished. After that, I will look at the whole of their platform (not just one or two tenets - see above) and how they choose to work that out in their policies. I'll consider how that will work alongside the checks and balances we have in this country. I'll listen, I'll pray, I'll read. I'll listen some more. If I'm going to participate in the way our country was designed for us to participate, I'm going to have to make hard choices at times. You are too.

Much of our political arguments start and end in the extremes. (See: All Democrats are socialist baby-killer clowns or All Republicans are racist child-cagers, and on and on.) There is almost zero nuance or grace given from either end of the political spectrum. I believe if we could stop the posturing, stop the memes and judgmental sound bites, the defensiveness, the screaming across keyboards, if we could stop listening to the talking heads from MSNBC to FOX, from CNN to OAN and sit down with our neighbors and have real, authentic conversation, we would find the grace and truth to move forward - not necessarily agreeing, but at least without sacrificing the ways Jesus said to practice our faith in the real world.

If we do not live a life, and interact with our government and each other, in a way that reflects a respect for all life, if our integrity and the integrity of those we champion does not reflect what we say we believe, if we do not adamantly and consistently practice truth telling (including what we post and share), our opinions will mean very little to a watching world.

The powers-that-be have tried to force us into only two extremes. And for the most part, we have lined up willingly and followed along. But we do not have to. We should not. If we are falling completely in line with one party or the other, we are likely giving our allegiance to our politics, over and at the expense of our faith. If we are defending/following a person or a party at the expense of the teachings of Christ, we are not honoring Him. 

Perhaps we could listen to people and ask questions with a truer desire to hear their answers. We could sit together at tables rather than raging through comment threads. We could stop judging other people's standing with Christ or the legitimacy of their convictions based on which party they ultimately decide to vote for.

If we abandon the Sermon on the Mount to "win", we have not won.