When I saw the video of the car plowing through the crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia, it immediately brought to mind the automobile assault my family experienced in Stillwater almost two years ago. The commonality for these horrific incidents seems to be a loathing of life.
Adacia Chambers was suicidal when she drove her car through the police barriers and into the crowd during the parade in 2015. Unfortunately, this loathing for life seemed to cast its shadow upon her neighbors as well.
Now, the nation has been witness to another driver with lethal intent. The motivation for suspect James Fields, Jr. seems to be racial as he has ties to white supremacy and was ramming a counter-protest of those protesting the removal of the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Rather than seemingly random, this loathing of life is more focused toward neighbors with differing ideals on race relations. The hate toward the other becomes stirred up so much inside that you would seek to engage in terrorist tactics and throw your own life away to make a statement.
As we see the nation look to race relations once more, we find Christians on both sides of the argument. Many white supremacists claim to be Christian. I know many congregants who have wondered how someone can claim to follow Jesus and hate other people so vehemently.
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| I took this picture of the Jefferson Memorial during our recent vacation. His words* are especially important today. |
But if one has the primary view of God as the God of judgment who is measuring each person's worth by their actions, this seems to make one live in a state of fearfulness. The realization of human deficiency in this equation doesn't lead to a common dignity but rather a sense of worthlessness with regards to people in general. So instead of responding with a generosity toward our fellow humans, we have no respect for those we deem as worthless.
When you mix racism which is taught and not innate into the mix, you still may hold a faith in God but now you judge others with a fierceness that stems from self-judgment and ultimately self-loathing.
The lectionary reading for the Gospel this week is timely. Jesus deals with race issues as Jews and Canaanites clash. Surprisingly, some interpretation may seem to favor the tribalism so associated with white supremacy until we read it in its context with the preceding verses. As we witness all of the anger and hatred being spewed on the national scene, we realize the truth in what Jesus says, "it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles."
It is important for us to worship and remind ourselves that we worship a God of grace. This ultimately shapes our lives into generous lives that seek to love all our neighbors as we love ourselves.
I leave you with the hymn lyrics from Harry Emerson Fosdick's hymn, "God of Grace and God of Glory." As the pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, Fosdick was a chaplain during World War I and penned the lyrics for this hymn during the Great Depression.
Here is the second stanza:
Lo! the hosts of evil round us
scorn the Christ, assail his ways!
From the fears that long have bound us
free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the living of these days,
for the living of these days.
May God grant us wisdom and courage indeed!
In Christ,
Sam
*Words from the Jefferson Memorial:
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish a law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state and on a general plan."
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