Don't Know Much About (Erasing) History

I completely understand when people choose to be apolitical on social media.  I'm right there with you--I try my best to avoid it, too.  Everyone has an opinion, and it's often an opinion deeply rooted and unwilling to be removed.

 

Not every opinion should be removed.

 

But there's a heaviness in the air this week.  We feel it in our own home, hundreds of miles away from Charlottesville.  Our family is extremely burdened by the news of what happened over the weekend.  Our hearts break for Heather Heyer's family, for the others who were wounded, and for the implications this has for the hatred that has thrived in our country.

 

When the darkness moves in is when the Church should rise and shine.  But I have been deeply disturbed and disappointed by some of the responses to Charlottesville in my newsfeed.  The most common "Christian" posts in reference to it simply argue, "Well, we shouldn't be trying to erase history."

 

That's it?  That's all you have to say?  We shouldn't be erasing history?

 

If you're going to respond, where is the response about love?  The response against hatred?

 

Really?  The only place you're going to go is the "erasing history" route?

 

Okay, okay, I'm not following the importance of your stance, so let's find some common ground here.

 

I saw one person posting about not erasing history because, she admonished, it will cause us to forget who we are and where we've come from.

 

I agree.  That's absolutely right.  But our points of view differ when it comes to which history we're talking about because I'm not talking about some statue.

 

First, let's back up.

 

I come from an area of the US where one of the most telling signs of your faith is whether or not you vote Republican and where you stand on abortion.  It's in whether or not you opposed the March for Women and on what color lives you think matter.  It's in whether you eat Chick-fil-a when it makes a statement against gay marriage or whether you insist on Merry Christmas over Happy Holidays. 

 

Things that make us feel like we're living out the Gospel (let's see...what does that say again?), but are really only parking spaces for our political stances.

 

And when something like Charlottesville happens--something where we can respond by living out the Gospel--I get so frustrated with the members of the Church who choose to respond only how it benefits them politically--no matter what side of the aisle they may be on.

 

It's disheartening to see Christians finding their political voice to be full of courage and their spiritual voice to be full of cowardice (or masquerading one as the other).

 

Why aren't we seizing this perfect opportunity to show the world what Jesus is like?

 

The Jesus we sing to on Sunday morning. The Jesus we fight so hard to keep in schools.  The Jesus we hope returns quickly.  The Jesus we say everyone needs--where is he in this sudden fight against erasing history?

 

I'll tell you one thing I've observed:

 

The only history being erased is the history of who Jesus was and what he stood for.

 

Jesus didn't fight for statues (he wasn't much into graven images anyway)--he fought for the downtrodden and the wounded.  He didn't condemn the brokenhearted for feeling hurt or offended--he came to bind them up.  He didn't overlook the sick or the weary--he comforted them and healed them.

 

He loved.

 

Love was his mission, and love was his greatest commandment--love God.  Love others.

 

And have we forgotten?  Have we taken an eraser to the fact that it wasn't the homosexual or the adulteress or the abortionist or the tax collector who sought to bring Jesus to his demise?

 

It was the Church.

 

People like us, who don't miss a Sunday (or the Sabbath), who didn't like that Jesus didn't want to play by their rules.  People who didn't like grace or the fact that he loved everyone.

 

Ironically, it wasn't the "sinners" who appeared to be threatened by Jesus but the "saints."

 

Do we forget that?

 

Are we the ones erasing history?  The most important piece of history to ever exist?

 

In refusing to put aside our political and legalistic agendas, we're putting him to death a second time.  We're putting his legacy to death.

 

When the Women's March happened several months ago, there was a lady in my state who ran a yarn store who refused to sell pink yarn to anyone wanting to make a hat for the march.  It violated her beliefs, she said, to sell to people who didn't agree with her.  She was offended that anyone would use her material for something that didn't line up with her religion.

 

And yet, I've seen Christians roll their eyes and yell, "Stop playing the victim card!" when the black, Muslim, and Jewish communities voice being offended by racist acts.

 

I've seen the Christian community destroy Bill Clinton for his affair and excuse Donald Trump's.  Trump is a Christian, they say [FYI, the Clintons say they are, too].  He's forgiven.  The Bible is all about forgiveness.  [I guess forgiveness only applies when it's your candidate.]

 

Consider if there was a statue of someone who was a pioneer for LGBT rights.  Would Christians be quick to preserve that history?  Or would Christians petition for its removal because, well, "JESUS. GOD.  HOMOSEXUALITY BAD, BAD, BAD."

 

These days, Christians don't allow themselves to be wrong.  Period.  There's a painful lack of humility (and I'll include myself in that). And right now I see a group of Christians digging in their heels to support a chaotic and hateful president because they would never want to admit they were wrong.  So they have made up reasons that his behavior is okay in the name of humanness and mercy and whatnot, but hear this...

 

If everyone else doesn't get to use the humanness excuse when they mess up, you don't get to either.  Being a Christian does not give you the right to distort and rationalize poor choices or disgraceful stances.  We're either all flawed and need to be better about owning our mistakes, or nobody should have to be accountable.  You can't have it both ways.

 

I don't care what political implications are involved in denouncing what happened in Charlottesville.  What I care about and hope other believers care about are the implications for our reputations as Christians if we choose to sit passively by.  And that doesn't necessarily mean making a Facebook post about it.  I couldn't care less if you do that.  But understand that our nation is hurting and broken and full of hatred and hopelessness.  We don't need another political stance or another defense for things that don't really matter.

 

I'm sick of seeing someone's political party [and that goes for any side] being more important than their chance to witness.

 

I have had a lot of fear about posting anything like this because I know that, while my blog doesn't have a massive following, it's decent, and its audience is primarily made up of people who will likely disagree with me.  I hope I won't lose readership because of this, but I really might.  And that's just something I'm going to have to be okay with because I feel very passionately that we are quickly becoming a disgrace to the name of Christ.

 

If you take away nothing else, hear this:

 

If you're of the mindset I'm speaking against, I don't think you're a bad person.  Hear that? I don't think you're a bad person.  I don't believe in bad people, I believe in bad choices and misguided beliefs. I love you. God loves you.  God loves the ones who feel slighted by your indifference.  And my greatest desire is that everyone gets to know that awesome love He has for each of us.  It's changed my life, and I long for it to change everyone else's.  I long for the world to know that God chose us when we weren't good enough by any standard, and I want Christians to stop acting like God used a more lenient blueprint when He died for us than He did for everyone else. 

 

We need Jesus to show up in you.  In me.  We need hands and feet that will love and serve one another, regardless of our backgrounds or race or whatever else.

 

Because our history is this and this alone:

 

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

 

He already paid the price.  May we not quiet the power of his legacy of loving the world, even when it wasn't ready to love him back.  May we not put him to death once again because his message isn't convenient or doesn't line up with a specific political party or agenda.

 

Let's save the American history for our classrooms and save the spiritual history for how we treat others.  Show others that love conquered all on a cross.

 

Because if there's a history worth fighting for, it's that one.

 

Class dismissed.