We all create our own idea of perfection and try to live up to it. But the whole thing is an illusion…
We all create our own idea of perfection, and we try to live up to it.
Ironically, our ideas of perfection are far from perfect.
The whole thing is an illusion, but the effects are very real. We buy into this illusion and tell ourselves we are either “perfectly wonderful” or “completely inadequate.”
No wonder we are such neurotic people!
This is painful to recognize because our egos like to be “worthy” and “good enough.” It gives our brains something to obsessively focus on (whether we see ourselves as wonderful or inadequate).
Let’s call it what it is: Addiction.
We would rather chase this illusion of perfection than accept we are already enough exactly as we are.
(There isn’t enough endorphins or stress to excite our brains and bodies when it comes to this way of thinking and living…it’s almost too relaxing, too peaceful, too nonanxious…which is the point).
There’s no earning anything.
There’s only accepting it.
In my faith tradition, we call this “grace.”
And the point of grace is to shatter the illusion so that we live in this place of peace and non-anxiousness.
The idea that Christ would come back and take people away to heaven while the world was destroyed…That is a pretty new idea. 193 years old to be exact.
Christians have always talked about Christ returning.
The earliest creeds of the church talk about Christ’s return. It’s also mentioned in some New Testament letters from people like the Apostle Paul.
However, Christians believe differently about what the return of Christ looks like.
Some believe Christ will literally return like the Apostle Paul seemed to believe.
Others, like the Gospel of John, seem to believe it is more of a spiritualized return where our hearts and communities are transformed by justice, love, and peace.
But the idea that Christ would come back and take people away to heaven while the world was destroyed…
That is a pretty new idea.
193 years old to be exact.
This idea is often called the “Rapture.”
Creation of the Rapture
A young Irishman named John Nelson Darby started this interpretation in 1830.
Basically, he taught Christ would come and take Christians from the earth and everyone left on earth would suffer all kinds of horrible things, which he pulled from the Book of Revelation. Then, after all the destruction and suffering, Christ would come back again and make a new world. (The technical name for Darby’s teaching is “dispensationalism”)
Darby made a number of mission trips to the U.S. in the mid-1800s to share this idea. A few prominent preachers in the U.S. took up preaching his ideas. Eventually, a whole Bible was created called the “Scofield Bible.”
The Scofield Bible had headings and commentary that focused on teaching this idea of the rapture. It would take different passages of scripture throughout the Bible and say “This is all about the end times.”
In the process, the Scofield Bible completely ignored the historical context and what the authors of the books were actually talking about. (As one of my mentors says – A text without context is just a con)
Millions of copies of this Bible were sold, and for most of the 20th century, Americans were influenced by headings and commentary about the rapture and the end of the world.
Seminaries, such as Dallas Theological Seminary, were started with the specific goal of teaching about the rapture.[1]
Many people know this way of thinking because of popular books like The Late Great Planet Earth in the 70s & 80s and the Left Behind series in the 90s and early 2000s. These authors wrote from Darby’s teachings and perspective.
All of the sudden, the Bible was turned into a book about the end of the world. And the book of Revelation held the secret code.
The Book of Revelation
Early church leaders, like St. Augustine, opposed including Revelation in the Bible but agreed to accept it as long as it was made clear that it was to be understood as a spiritually symbolic book and not taken as literal. Early church leaders worried this book could cause harm (and it has).
Revelation is a specific style of writing called “Apocalyptic literature.”
The writing is coded language that pulls from deep within the Jewish tradition to reveal spiritual truths. This made it difficult for people outside the Jewish faith to understand, but the original readers of the letter knew what was being said.
For example, Revelation uses the name “Babylon” as a code name for Rome. Babylon destroyed the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 587/6BCE and carried them into captivity. Jerusalem was rebuilt and later on Rome destroyed the Temple in 70CE. Jewish people started calling Rome the name “Babylon” as a coded reference.
Revelation is filled with subtle details like this.
African-American Spirituals
During slavery, African Americans used spiritual songs in similar ways.
These songs were sung to give hope and encouragement to each other. They sang “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” and “Steal Away to Jesus” to cryptically request or signal the help of the underground railroad, which was the “sweet chariot” to get “home” (Northern states or Canada). Many slaves had to get past the Ohio River, which they called the “Jordan,” to get to the “promised land.”
The song wasn’t about being taken away from earth into heaven. It was about heaven coming to earth and “bands of angels comin’ after me” to carry them to freedom from slavery.
These spiritual songs were coded and symbolic in order to give hope, strength, and encouragement to keep going and to trust that one day things will be different.
It was never about leaving earth. It was always about heaven coming to earth.
This is what John Nelson Darby got wrong.
Not an Accurate Teaching
One of the foundational texts for Darby’s view of the rapture is simply misunderstood. This is what it says:
the Lord himself will come down from heaven with the signal of a shout by the head angel and a blast on God’s trumpet. First, those who are dead in Christ will rise.17 Then, we who are living and still around will be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet with the Lord in the air. That way we will always be with the Lord.
~1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Paul is pulling from a very common image at the time.
When the emperor would visit part of his kingdom, the citizens would go out to meet the emperor in open country and then escort him into the city.
Paul’s image of the people “meeting the Lord in the air” isn’t that all of the sudden Jesus takes the people away into outer space or heaven. The image is that the people will immediately turn around and lead the Lord back to this world.
This isn’t about leaving earth. It’s about welcoming Christ into the world.
That is what we pray when we say, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
The book of Revelation teaches the same thing. It ends with heaven coming to earth and a loud voice saying, “Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3).
We aren’t being taken away from the world to go to heaven.
Heaven is coming to earth.
This world is our home.
Conclusion
Our whole faith tradition is built on the idea that God leaves heaven and comes to earth.
Because God loves and cares for all of creation.
As followers of Jesus, we don’t try to escape this earth.
We embrace it
We care for it.
We love it.
We nurture it.
Refusing to allow evil, injustice, and harm to chase us away.
The way of Jesus invites us to forsake heaven for earth…so that heaven may be on earth.
May we be bold enough and brave enough to live in this way.
[1] Learn more of this history Barbara R. Rossing’s book, The Rapture Exposed (Basic Books, 2004).
I officiate funerals and I’ve heard people say all kinds of things. But there are 3 things we would all do good to never say in a funeral line. (The last one is the worst one in my opinion)
“Everything Happens for a Reason”
Yes, there is a cause and effect to the things we do – like feeling sick after eating too many donuts (ha!).
But what most people mean when they say this is that this death was part of the plan of the universe or life or God – so it’s okay and we shouldn’t be sad or upset because this is actually a good thing.
This can make people feel bad for feeling sad and upset.
2. “They’re in a better place”
This says to the family and friends that “here” was bad and not good enough.
Sometimes people use this phrase because the person was in a lot of pain, and death seems like a relief. But saying “They’re in a better place” implies that the family shouldn’t be upset of sad, and that they should be okay with whatever’s happened because it’s better.
There’s a lot of mixed emotions when someone who is in a lot of pain dies. I’ve had people tell me they feel selfish for feeling sad the person is gone.
If the family says, “they are in a better place” that’s okay. But we shouldn’t be the ones to say that to them.
3.“God just needed another angel”
This implies that God is a monster who kills people and turns them into angels (I have yet to meet anyone who actually believes this, even though people use this phrase)
What most people are trying to say is that this person was really special. But again, what comes across to the family and friends is that you shouldn’t be sad or upset.
A Simple Reminderfor Us All
The common theme through all of these sayings is that we don’t want to feel sad or upset. So, we say whatever we can to try and take the hurt and pain away from people.
This doesn’t work. We can’t take the hurt and pain away.
What we really need to do is just be with people in their sadness, grief, and pain – without trying to make it all better.
We don’t need to use say a bunch of cliches.
You’re making them feel better just by showing up.
Oh, and thank you…for showing up.
It can be hard and uncomfortable…but so important.
“They don’t think Jonah actually got swallowed by a whale! I can’t believe they said that to people!” The person was looking at me with intensity.
Sitting down, I responded, “Well, actually the story says it’s a fish. Not a whale. We got the whale idea from somewhere else, kinda like the image of Eve eating an apple. The story just says ‘fruit.’ Besides, we all know it was a watermelon.”
(They’re don’t even acknowledge my watermelon joke…which I thought was pretty funny. They’re really upset)
“Okay, fish. Not whale,” they say. “But don’t you think what we believe matters!”
“Of course, what we believe matters.” I adjust in my seat and say, “But does it really matter if the story of Jonah literally happened or not?”
The person sits up, “It does to me!”
“That’s fine,” I say. “Just don’t require everyone else to believe what you believe.
We need to look at the big picture of the book of Jonah. The details matter, but the problem with Jonah is that we tend to get stuck in one detail – whether Jonah literally got swallowed by a fish or not.
But that’s not what matters in this story. (The fish is barely even mentioned.)
In my Jewish Study Bible, the Jewish scholars say this story isn’t supposed to be understood as history and they don’t believe this story literally happened.
Some people do believe this story literally happened.
Whatever you believe is fine, just don’t let it sidetrack you.
This story is about a much deeper truth than whether or not someone can survive in the belly of a fish.
It’s about a guy who wants everything to be his way. And when it’s not his way, he gets upset and turns into a jerk.
If your beliefs turn you into a jerk,
If your beliefs justify you harming others.
If your beliefs give you a license to become selfish and make everything about yourself…
It’s time to reevaluate our beliefs.
The story isn’t about a fish.
It’s about Jonah, and how we hope we’re not like Jonah.
Some of the most barbaric stories in the Bible were actually revolutionary stories that changed how we think about God and life. This is true of Abraham’s (almost) sacrifice of Isaac.
One day, I called my friend who just had his first baby, a son. I asked him what he thought about the story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac in Genesis 22.
He said, “Don’t ask me that. Now I’m going to be walking around thinking about that all day. Would I would be able to do that?”
I said, “You’re wondering if you’d be able to do that? I’m wondering what kind of God would ask a person to sacrifice their own child!?”
But back then, it was every kind of God.
Cultural Understanding of Sacrifice
Early people knew that their survival depended on food and water. Those things depended on forces beyond their control (rain, sun, sick animals, a plague of insects, floods)
These forces or gods seemed to be either for you or against you.
To survive, you needed them to be on your side.
To make sure they were on your side you gave them stuff to make them happy and show your appreciation. When your crop came in you gave part of it to the gods in order to please them so that next time you would have good crop.
But if you didn’t have good crop it was clear these gods or forces weren’t on your side.
So how did you fix that? You offered more.
More crop, and if that didn’t work you’d you’d start offering animals. But not every animal was equal. An injured lamb wasn’t as good as a lamb with no injuries. A lamb with no spots on it was better than a lamb with spots.
You wanted the forces to be on your side so you offered the best of what you had. You were always kinda making a deal to make sure everything would be okay. (we still do this today)
So you offer the next best thing and the next best thing…and what would be the ultimate best thing? How about a child? How about your first born son who would eventually take your place?
Me getting sacrificed on an ancient altar in Petra
You can see how this could lead to sacrificing children. If you really want to earn the gods favor then the best way to show it is to offer your child. The best thing you have to offer.
It was understood that all gods required sacrifice. And human sacrifice was a part of it.
The Israelites Believed In Child Sacrifice
The Israelites also believed that gods wanted human sacrifice.
In 2 Kings 3:27 the kings of Israel and Judah are fighting the Moabits. They’re defeating their army when all of the sudden the King of Moab sacrifices his firstborn son and “great wrath came upon Israel, so they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.”
The King of Moab sacrificed his son and it saved him and his people.
The Bible says this.
Now, we don’t believe in other gods. We don’t believe sacrificing children to God helps you win battles or makes your life better.
But some of the writers and editors of the Bible did because it was the cultural understanding at one point in time. And that cultural understanding made its way into the Bible and into this story.
Child sacrifice comes up in other places in the Bible too. Like the story of Jephthah. He was leading the people of Israel to battle and promised God that if he won, he would sacrifice the first things that came out of his house when he got home (because people kept animals in their home overnight and let them out in the morning).
But an animal didn’t come out. His daughter did. And this is what he says:
35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”
Judges 11:35 (NRSV)
Jephthah ends up sacrificing his daughter because he made a vow to God, and he was worried God would do something terrible to him for not sacrificing his child.
We’re all devastated and disgusted that people would believe this about God…but that’s how it once was.
Abraham Understood This
So when God says to Abraham, “take your son and sacrifice him,” Abraham isn’t surprised. This is how it works.
You give the gods what is most precious to you and in return everything will be fine and you will be provided for…or else things won’t workout well.
Abraham doesn’t argue (which he is known to do with God). He gets up the next morning, saddles a donkey, gets a couple servants together, his son Isaac, and some wood…then they travel for 3 days to the place for the offering.
When they get there, Abraham turns to the 2 servants he brought with them and says:
“Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.”
That should make us pause for a second…God told Abraham to offer his son, but Abraham tells his servants they will both be back…that doesn’t make sense.
Something weird is going on in this story. Something different is happening.
They are walking up the mountain and Isaac says, “Hey Dad, where is the offering?” Abraham says, “Don’t worry, God will provide.”
Is Abraham lying and trying to avoid Isaac’s question or is that what Abraham really means?
The whole story is making us question what exactly is going on.
Then they get to the top of the mountain, Abraham binds Isaac, raises the knife, and an angel shows up and tells him not to do it!
God
Doesn’t
Want
Abraham’s
Sacrifice.
The Biblical Revolution: God Doesn’t Want It
What kind of God demands child sacrifice?
Not this God.
This is a total departure from the rest of the world…and over and over again the Bible tries to clarify that.
In the book of 2 Kings, this is what it says about Ahaz, one of the kings of Israel:
He didn’t do what was right in the Lord’s eyes, unlike his ancestor David. 3 Instead, he walked in the ways of Israel’s kings. He even burned his own son alive, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. ~ 2 Kings 16:2-3
Clearly God is against this.
The prophet Micah says this:
“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:6-8
The Bible pushes against this belief that God wants child sacrifice.
This story of Abraham is the revolutionary moment where the people of Israel realize, “We’re making sacrifices that God doesn’t want.”
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew congregations in the United Kingdom and one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century. He died in 2020.
He agreed that in this story of Abraham, God makes a stand against human sacrifice.
But he also said that this test wasn’t about Abraham being willing to sacrifice his son. It was about Abraham realizing Isaac was never his to sacrifice in the first place.
Isaac was his own person with his own relationships with God.
What God was asking Abraham to do what release his control over Isaac.
Abraham didn’t need to make a sacrifice for God to provide. Abraham needed to trust that God would provide for him, even if he released control of Isaac.
(for Rabbi Sacks, this is the moment in Jewish history when the individual comes to exist apart from their parents or family)
The Other Biblical Revolution
But one other major revolution that happens in this story.
Normally you have to offer something to God in order to get something.
Not with this God.
In this story, God stops Abraham from killing Isaac and then provides Abraham with a ram to sacrifice.
God provides for Abraham even through Abraham doesn’t give anything.
That’s not what gods do.
But that’s what this God does.
You don’t have to sacrifice your life or your kids or your joy so that good things will happen. So that God will be pleased with you.
Isaac’s name literally means “laughter.”
Abraham was going to kill the laughter, the joy, the goodness in his life…because he thought it’d please God and that God would bless him for it.
But God refuses to allow Abraham to do that.
God isn’t a kill joy.
God doesn’t ask us to be kill joys either.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t times when we have to do difficult things and things that are unpleasant, painful, not fun. Yeah, that’s true. It’s a part of life.
Sometimes, being faithful requires us to do difficult and painful things.
But if the sacrifice you’re giving isn’t adding any beauty, goodness, hope, healing, love, or joy to the world…according to this story, I’m not sure God wants it…and maybe you need to reevaluate it.
Conclusion
The greatest sacrifice isn’t sacrificing your child or offering things that make you miserable.
It’s daring to trust that God will provide
Even though you’ve got nothing to offer
Even though you can’t imagine things will work out
Because sometimes the greatest sacrifice is not making the sacrifice.
As I was walking through the house I heard my wife say, “This book is disgusting.”
I asked, “What are you reading?”
She said, “The Bible!”
There’s gross stuff in there. There’s not only gross stuff in there…there’s stuff that’s difficult to believe God said, approves of, and wants to happen.
Like when Psalm 139 says “blessed are those who take their enemies babies and dash their heads against the rocks.”
Or 1 Samuel 15, when God commands the Israelites to kill all the men, women, children, and babies of the Amalekites.
Did God actually say those things?
Is that what God actually wants?
People have always struggled with these scripture passages because they seem wrong.
In fact, one early Christian completely got rid of the Old Testament because he said it was so violent it must have been a completely different God than the God Jesus talked about.
But the violence God condones isn’t the only struggle people have with the Bible.
Some people struggle because the Bible says God created the world in 6 days, but science says the world was created through evolution over billions of years.
Contradictions?
Other people struggle with the Bible because there are a lot of contradictions in it. Meaning, the Bible doesn’t agree with itself. Here are a few examples:
Genesis 1 says that God created the world in 6 days and all other creatures were created before humans. Humans were created last. Genesis 2 says that humans were created first before other creatures. These stories say two different things about how the world was created…suggesting we’re not supposed to read them literally.
In one part of the flood story with Noah, it says he took one pair of every kind of animal with him. In another part of the story it says he took 7 pairs.
1 Samuel says that David kills Goliath. But 2 Samuel 21:19 says Elhanan killed Goliath. But 2 Chronicles 20:15 says that Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath. Who killed Goliath exactly? The Bible doesn’t agree.
1 Samuel says that God encouraged David to take a census of his kingdom. 1 Kings says that Satan encouraged David to take a census of his kingdom.
The Gospels and the New Testament are full of details that disagree too. Like when the Gospel of Luke says Jesus ascends into heaven from Bethany but the book of Acts says Jesus ascends from the Mount of Olives. Those two places are miles apart.
People have always wrestled with these “contradictions” in scripture.
In fact, Rabbis debated whether the book of Proverbs should be in the Bible because of these two verses in Proverbs 26:
4 Don’t answer fools according to their folly, or you will become like them yourself. 5 Answer fools according to their folly, or they will deem themselves wise.
Do you talk to a fool or not? The Bible isn’t clear on that.
There are many other things too, like marrying foreign wives, or why bad things happen, or whether or not sacrificing your kid will help you win a war.
When we start reading the Bible and paying attention, we start realizing that the Bible itself doesn’t agree with all parts of it being read literally.
Reading the Bible Literally?
Actually, the majority of Christians agree the Bible shouldn’t be read literally.
Gallup did a recent poll and found that:
58% of Christians say the Bible is the inspired word of God, but not everything in it is to be taken literally
25% say it should be interpreted literally
We don’t talk about this because we’re afraid and uncertain about how everyone else feels.
It’s also a little scary and uncomfortable to admit because
If the creation stories aren’t literal…
If maybe David didn’t kill Goliath…
If God didn’t tell the Israelites to kill men, women, and kids…
Then what about Jesus?
That can send us spiraling and doubting what we believe.
In that moment, we discover our faith isn’t actually in God…
Our faith is in the Bible…
Which goes against the first commandment in the Bible – “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
What Is the Bible?
We want the Bible to give us answers and make us feel certain.
So we turn the Bible into all kinds of things it isn’t:
A science book.
A history book.
A book that agrees on everything.
But the Bible refuses to let us do that.
Because the Bible didn’t magically drop out of heaven.
It was written at different times by different people,
For certain communities at certain times in history,
The Bible a community library.
There are 66 books in our Bible.They’re written by around 40 different authors on 3 different continents over roughly a 1500-year time span.
Of course the authors have different perspectives and opinions and experiences of God! (Just like each of us do)
The Bible is a conversation about God and life throughout generations of people.
That’s what makes it so powerful and sacred.
God chooses to speak through our disagreements and debates and conversations…
The power isn’t found in being certain.
The power is found in all of us wrestling with what God wants, how we are called to live, and what it means to be faithful.
It’s in the doubting and wrestling that we come to grow in our spiritual life.
So go ahead and question the Bible. The Bible questions itself.
Beside, when God wanted people to know what God was like…God didn’t write a book and drop it out of heaven.
God sent Jesus.
Jesus as Ultimate Word
Jesus is the ultimate Word of God.
The Bible itself tells us that.
The Gospel of John opens by saying
“in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God…and everything came into being through the word…the word took on flesh and dwelt among us.”
That “word” is Christ.
Jesus is God.
That means if we want to know what God is like we look at Jesus…
That’s why we struggle with passages of violence…because we don’t see Jesus acting like that.
The story ofJesus pushes back against biblical stories that depict an angry, vengeful God.
Twice the disciples want to attack and kill people because they’re not following God or listening to Jesus. Jesus stops them both times. (The disciples want to call fire down from heaven in Luke 9:51. They try to attack the guards that come to arrest Jesus in Luke 22:49).
Since Jesus is the ultimate Word of God. We interpret all of scripture through the lens of Jesus.
If we read something in the Bible that doesn’t match up with the life and teachings of Jesus…then it doesn’t match up with God and who God is.
So maybe those commands to kill people in the Bible aren’t from God…it sure doesn’t sound like Jesus…but it seems that’s part of how people understood God at that time…
But Jesus shows us a clearer image of God.
We come to trust that if it isn’t loving, then it isn’t true.
But is the story of Jesus true?
How do we know we can believe the story of Jesus in the Bible?
Here is my answer:
I don’t trust the story of Jesus because I read it in the Bible.
I trust the story of Jesus and follow the way of Christ because when I read the Bible, something in me said, “Yeah, that’s true. That’s how I’ve experienced God and love and creation in my life.”
I don’t trust the story of Jesus because of the Bible.
I trust the story of Jesus because I found truth in it.
A subtle, but important difference.
I believe God can, and does, speak to us through scripture. But my faith isn’t in scripture.
My faith is in God (and scripture helps me wrestle with God and my faith)
The truth I find in the story of Jesus is how I try to read all the rest of the Bible.
If You Disagree…
You may not agree with anything I’ve said.
That’s okay.
We can disagree with each other as we try to follow God.
The Bible itself does that…
You don’t have to believe the same thing as me about the Bible…because our faith isn’t in the Bible.
Our faith is in God.
The Bible is something we wrestle and struggle with.
Psalm 119:105 says it is a lamp to our feet.
Lamps don’t tell us which way to go or what is right and wrong.
Lamps don’t tell us what to see or what we’re seeing.
Lamps only help us see enough to begin exploring and finding our way…
I grew up understanding Independence Day was all about celebrating how Americans defeated an oppressive nation and freed ourselves to become the greatest nation in the world. When I was told my family came over on the Mayflower I felt even more proud to be a part of such a great legacy.
Over the years, my understanding about Independence Day has grown. I learned more history about how Native Americans were treated by my family. I met people whose families were not freed by the Declaration of Independence. Instead, they became oppressed.
Over the years, many African Americans and Native Americans have shared what the 4th of July means to them. These hauntingly relevant words of Fredrick Douglass from 1852 continue to stick in my mind since I first heard them:
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. (Full speech is here: Fredrick Douglass)
Much injustice still exists today.
We’re struggling with human rights, ecological devastation, militarism, and racism, and poverty.
Currently, there are 140 million people who are poor and low-income (42% of the country) in the richest country in the world…
We’ve got some issues…
Now, I’m not saying we shouldn’t celebrate and have cookouts or spend time with family or have water balloon fights or hotdog eating competitions (which I am excellent at winning) or enjoy fireworks.
We can be grateful to live in this country, and still recognize the harm, injustice, and failure to live up to our ideals.
We have, and continue to, harm and oppress people while claiming everyone is equal and shares the same liberty and justice.
We must recognize we have failed, and change how we think and live.
Making these changes is part of the very ideals written in the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Our country’s founding documents demand we change and improve our government when it is not recognizing equality, life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness for all people.
The 4th of July is not simply about celebrating what happened back then. It is about celebrating what CAN be. It is a time of hope and inspiration. It is a time of celebrating our ideals and working to bring those ideals into reality.
The 4th of July is not simply about celebrating what happened back then. It is about celebrating what CAN be.
It’s 3:15am as I’m climbing onto the bus. I squeeze by seats filled with high school students, young couples, and older adults. I make my way to the back, sit down, and settle in for a long ride. When I wake up, the sun is up and the person next to me starts talking.
“My fiancé has cancer and we can’t afford the surgery. I don’t have insurance even though we both work full time. I can barely afford a place to live, with roommates!”
James’ voice starts to shake as he finishes talking.
“I’m only 18. Life shouldn’t be like this. Things need to be different. That’s why I’m here!”
The story James shared with me that morning is not unique. It’s the norm.
There are 140 million poor and low-income people in the U.S. (over 42% of the country and over 52% of our children). Before COVID, 700 people a day died from poverty.
Things shouldn’t be this way.
Thousands of people came from all around the country to join the movement.
This movement isn’t democrat or republican. It is a fusion coalition.
People from all cultures, races, religions, political persuasion coming together to say poverty is killing us.
We live in the richest country in the history of the world. Abundance is not the problem.
The Poor People’s Campaign is the continuation of the work of MLK and other civil rights leaders from over 50 years ago. Bernice King, MLK’s daughter, spoke to the crowd that day with some powerful words: Bernice King Speech
The Poor People’s Campaign believes those who are most directly affected by the wrongs should be lifted up and leading the charge as the moral leaders of our age.
That’s exactly what happened.
As we gathered in front of the Capital in D.C, we listened to poor people from almost every state share the injustices and struggles they have been experiencing.
A father who had all three of his children commit suicide. It started with his daughter who was denied help because she had gotten seen too many times and their insurance would no longer allow her to get help.
A woman who worked 2-3 jobsher entire life just to barely provide for her kids…and she spent virtually zero time with her children because of it.
A father who can’t get a job that will pay him enough to support his family. He’s on SNAP benefits (same as WIC/Food Stamps) to make ends meet. He is preparing to have a second child when he finds out baby formula has been taken out of the SNAP program. He won’t be able to buy formula to feed his newborn daughter.
A veteran from Kansaswho was discharged from the military because of a disabilityshe received while in the military. They didn’t note it as a disability discharge. She didn’t receive any support. She ended up homeless, along with 1000s of other vets in Kansas because of the lack of government care.
Community leaders from St. James, Louisiana, that is part of an 80-mile stretch of land called “Cancer Alley.” This area is literally deemed as a “sacrifice zone.” 150 chemical companies are on this stretch of land. They moved in and bought up all the white neighborhoods, but wouldn’t by the property of the black neighborhoods. This left 45,000 people trapped, unable to sell their homes, and being poisoned every day with polluted water and air. DuPont chemical is literally located 1500 feet away from an elementary school. The government allowed these chemical companies to move into these locations and has allowed these families and communities to continue to suffer and die, for these companies.
A woman who served 38 years in prison instead of her required 30, because they lost her files. Her mother, father, and daughter died all during those 8 extra years she was locked up.
A 17-year-old from OK who struggles to pay rent because she can’t find a job that pays enough for her to live on. She grew up in poverty and is still in poverty.She said, “I don’t want handouts. I want a fair and equal shot.”
These stories go on and on. We know these stories because they’re our stories. They are the stories of people in our churches and in our communities.
140 million people. 42% of the country. 52% of children.
These stories are the norm. But they shouldn’t be.
Everybody’s got a right to live.
In the richest country in the history of the world, there should be no poverty. Everyone should have healthcare. Nobody should be forced to live in “sacrifice zones.”
Even now, when gas is high and inflation is happening, we could turn this all around.
Our country is suffering from a misappropriation of resources and an absence of values
52 cents of every federal dollar goes to the pentagon. It goes to war.
The war in Afghanistan and Iraq cost us 6 trillion dollars, while our country struggles in poverty.
There are solutions. The Poor People’s Campaign has a list of them.
How we currently spend our resources is a distortion of our Christian values.
We are commanded to care for the least of these.
Though “the least of these” is quickly turning into “the most of these,” as Bernice King said.
Poverty affects us all.
Poverty harms us all.
We must be for life.
We must be for each other.
We must love as Jesus loved.
Somebody is hurting our people, and we can’t be silent anymore.
“We met a woman who broke her hip falling off the border wall!”
He was yelling so I could hear him over the wind.
“While we were riding along the border wall, we saw someone fall and break their leg!!”
I peddled my bicycle faster, so I was near enough to hear him, while also listening to the car that was coming behind us.
“It’s built just high enough, if you jump or fall off, you won’t be able to walk away!”
I am riding across the state of Florida on the final stretch of a 3200-mile cross country bicycle ride with the group We The People Ride. The purpose of the ride was to highlight the need for better immigration policies. Policies that do exactly what our faith asks of us: to welcome the foreigner and the stranger (Lev. 19:34). To remember this land is not ours – it is God’s, and we are all immigrants (Lev. 25:23).
I joined the group in November for the last section of the ride. I didn’t know anyone in the group. When I flew into the Tallahassee airport, two strangers driving from Ohio picked me up. I was provided with a bike, food, and a place to sleep each night. This little community was living out the very way of life they were asking our larger country to live out: to welcome and care for the stranger.
Though I wasn’t able to ride along the border, I was able to learn a lot from the riders who did. I found immigration is at the intersection of so many of our deep struggles in the U.S. At the core, immigration speaks to our tendency to devalue life.
We The People Ride spent the first 1600 miles of the trip riding along our southern border meeting immigrants, refugees, border patrol, and communities who are directly impacted by our immigration policies.
It became very clear that the purpose of the border wall isn’t just to deter immigrants. It’s meant to permanently harm and kill people. The term used is “Deterrence by death.”
The border wall used to be 10 feet high. Then, it was increased to 17 feet high. Now it is 30 feet high…because if you fall from 30 feet you won’t be able to walk away. Our group not only heard stories about this, but saw the effects first hand, when a man fell off and broke his leg.
The border wall is also strategically placed to funnel people into death traps, like the desert in Ajo, Arizona. The wall stops and invites people to try their luck crossing the desert. Thousands of people have died trying to make this journey as they run out of water and food. A wall doesn’t stop desperate people, and neither do deserts. In June 2021, 380 people died in the Arizona desert.
People try to cross the wall and desert in hopes of a better life. As people of faith, we know these stories. This is the story of Hagar in the desert, the story of the Israelites in the wilderness, the story of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus fleeing to Egypt…all searching for life and hope and freedom.
Our government doesn’t track migrant deaths, but the communities on the border do. These cities and towns care deeply for the immigrants and refugees. Groups from these communities literally travel into the desert and leave food and water hoping people might find it and survive their trek through the desert. Maria Singleton lives in Ajo and shared that they’re deeply impacted knowing people are dying around their community. Bodies are found all around the desert and even just outside of town. In Arizona, over the past 10 years, almost 4,000 migrant bodies have been found (and surely more people have died since it takes as little as three weeks for a body to disappear in the desert).
As our group road through these communities who live on the U.S. border, they asked the same question to everyone: “What do you know that you wish everyone else in our country knew?” Citizens, mayors, men, women – everyone who lived on the border always had the same answer: “Would you please tell people that it’s not dangerous here. It’s not true what people are saying about us. It’s not dangerous to live on the border.”
What is happening on our southern border is a result of the false stereotypes we have created. We’ve been fed the story that living on the border is filled with immigrant criminals, rapists, drug lords, and the cartel. These are lies that feed our fear; our fear of strangers, non-white bodies, and people who are poor and from poor countries. This has created the extremely toxic narrative in our country that everyone coming across the southern border is dangerous and a threat.
This is not what the communities who live on the border in the U.S. experience though. These communities care deeply for immigrants and refugees. They advocate for a change in our immigration policies. These cities and towns are teaching us how to live and work for the common good of all people.
As people of faith, and as United Methodist, we must be advocating for Common Good immigration policies. We The People Ride understands the “Common Good” to mean “setting policies leading to the inclusion of immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers through a clear, fair, accessible path to migrate into the United States.” Learn more
Every person I spoke with on the ride (people were constantly talking with us when we stopped places) agreed that our immigration system is not working, but most people don’t understand how harmful our border policies are for immigrants.
Take for instance the policy coined “Remain in Mexico” – a Trump era policy that is continuing under President Biden. This policy massively reduced the number of asylum seekers to a record low of 15,000 and requires anyone seeking asylum to wait in Mexico.
Now, tens of thousands of asylum seekers are in make-shift camps with no money or resources All the people our group talked to said they paid to make this journey (many selling everything they had) and also ended up in debt to criminal cartels along the way. They are to pay off the debt with the money they make in the U.S., which would also guarantee the safety of their families back home. Now they are stuck in Mexico, with no money or resources, at the mercy of the cartels.
While the Biden administration has raised the number of asylum seekers, it still isn’t high enough to fix the problem we’ve created. People came to the border, not only with the hopes of gaining asylum, but of being able to wait safely in the U.S. as their case is adjudicated (which can take 6 months or more). By drastically lowering the number of people granted asylum, and by requiring everyone to wait in Mexico, we have trapped people. They cannot come and they cannot go. They cannot find a safe place.
We have strengthened the power and influence of the cartels and we have created more desperation, which will lead to more people taking more chances…which will lead to more deaths….
Our immigration policies have been, and continue to be, literal death sentences for 1000’s of innocent people.
But, there are people who want to change this.
People who are doing amazing work.
People who know that we need Common Good immigration policies.
I had no idea what this pastor was getting so upset about. What are devil shoes? Then I saw another person talking about it. Then, another person.
Everyone was very upset and condemning Lil Nas X for making “devil shoes.”
So I looked into the details…
Which got me thinking about on of my favorite phrases Jesus says to his disciples: Lay these words in your ears.
The Greek is confusing and most translations don’t say it this way because it doesn’t make sense. But this is a Hebrew idiom. (It’s like when someone says, “I’m all ears.” The sentence makes no sense. It doesn’t actually mean I’m literally a bunch of ears. It means “I’m listening.” We understand it because it’s a cultural phrase that we understand.)
The Jewish people knew what Jesus meant when he said “Lay these words in your ears.” It meant: Listen up! But it’s more than that too.
This sentence is only said one other time in the entire Bible: Exodus 17.
Moses has led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness where the Amalekites show up out of nowhere and attack them for no reason!
Moses is told “lay these words in the ears of Joshua.”
What words exactly?
God will “thoroughly erase every trace of Amalek.”
Oh, and don’t forget that the Israelites will be “war with the Amalekites from generation to generation.”
From here on out, there’s a lot of fighting with the Amalekites. But the Israelites never totally defeat them and the Israelite people don’t forget about them (in fact, they’re told to never forget in Deut. 25:17).
Over the years, Rabbis came to understand the Amalekites as anyone who tried to harm the Israelites.
Jews understood Haman from the book of Esther to be an Amalekite. Rome was considered Amalekite. Rabbi Dr. Daniel Roth says the Nazis, Hitler, Stalin, and even various radicalized leaders in the Middle East were understood to be Amalekites.
Christians also adopted this term for people and groups. Christian crusaders considered Muslims to be Amalekite. Martin Luther believed the Jews were Amalekite. Christians coming to North America deemed Native Americans Amalekite.
While it seems some of Christian history used the name Amalekite as justification to attack and harm other people, over time, the idea of the Amalekites wasn’t bound to any specific person or group. Anyone who was looking to cause harm to the Jewish people were viewed as part of the Amalekites.
Being an Amalekite became about the spirit the person held rather their identity.
But the Amalekites aren’t just some outward enemy. They are part of the Israelite family.
It’s all in the family.
Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. One of Esau’s sons, Eliphaz, has a concubine named Timna. Timna gives birth to Amalek (Genesis 36:10-13).
The Amalekites are cousins/family of the Israelites.
The battle that happens, the never ending war that happens from generation to generation…it’s all in the family.
This led to rabbi’s wondering and questioning why this animosity developed.
One of the traditions in the Talmud (commentary on scripture from various traditions and rabbis throughout the centuries) says that Amalek’s mother, Timna, was a princess.
Timna came to Abraham because she wanted to be a part of his family. Abraham and Isaac turned her away and wouldn’t include her. Yet, Timna wanted to be a part of the Abrahamic family so badly that she became a concubine of Esau’s son.
A concubine isn’t really part of the family. Some scholars even say it was like being a slave in many ways, always on the outside and never fully a part of the family. Timna gave up being a princess for this.
When Amalek is born he’s not accepted anywhere either. He’s not a part of Abraham’s family and his mother is no longer a princess so he doesn’t fit or belong into this other kingdom his mother came from.
This rejection leads to fury, anger, and rage.
This rabbinic tradition says this is the reason the Amalekites attack the Israelites.
All because Abraham rejected someone who wanted to be included.
For generations and generations, this spirit of exclusion and condemning and rejecting gets passed on.
It becomes violent, vengeful, cold, and cruel.
All because someone who sought acceptance was rejected.
Which brings us back to Lil Nas X…The devil shoes he had made…And the onslaught of condemnation and attacks he has received.
As this was happening he sent out a tweet:
“I spent my entire teenage years hating myself because of the [stuff Christians] preached would happen to me because I was gay. So I hope you are mad, stay mad, feel the same anger you teach us to have towards ourselves.”
This is Lil Nas X saying, “I was hurt. I wanted to be a part of this thing and you didn’t accept me or welcome me or include me. You rejected me and condemned me and taught me to hate myself.”
We have done exactly what Abraham has done in the Jewish tradition. Someone came to him and wanted to be included, accepted, loved…and Abraham turned them away.
What do we think happens when we reject people and condemn people and turn people away?
Of course it turns into anger.
Of course it turns into hate.
Of course it turns into revenge and attacking.
Of course it turns into hurt, which then gets passed around.
By ignoring the details, we’ve condemned, rejected, and hurt someone without realizing we are the reason they are doing what they are doing.
The devil is in the details. Not the shoes.
We all have a spirit of the Amalekites in us.
The work is to wipe that out of ourselves.
When Jesus says, “Lay these words in your ears,” he is calling us back to the story of the Amalekites…to notice and stop this cycle of hurt that we pass around.
Then, Jesus shows us a new way:
A way that doesn’t reject and condemn, but accepts and loves.
A way that doesn’t pass along the hurt, but transforms the hurt.
A way that wipes out the spirit of the Amalekites in us.
The idea that Christ would come back and take people away to heaven while the world was destroyed…That is a pretty new idea. 193 years old to be exact.
I officiate funerals and I’ve heard people say all kinds of things. But there are 3 things we would all do good to never say in a funeral line. (The last one is the worst one in my opinion) Yes, there is a cause and effect to the things we do – like feeling sick…
Rev Joel Simpson 