WORSHIP

When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there, but it is still there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid.

-Valery Legasov from the HBO series “Chernobyl”

 

Siblings in Christ,

            I write to you as our nation finds itself rent asunder, just days after the senseless killing of Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis. I, like many of you, have seen the incident from multiple vantage points and the conclusion is inescapable. Pretti was killed without any sufficient cause. What we are seeing is the culmination of fear and anxiety weaponized into cruelty and malice. What we are seeing across Minnesota is not the judicious use of good governance, it is the wages of our sin-made manifest. It is the consequence of our worship before the idols of security and scarcity. This is not about safety, it’s not about fraud, it’s about punishing a perceived enemy, while brandishing the sword of the state. This is not a righteous cause and those who use Christ’s name to excuse it commit heresy.

            We must face this truth. We must face it because every lie we tell ourselves incurs a debt. Every lie we tell ourselves or allow others to tell makes it almost certain that Renee and Alex are only the first of those yet to come. We can try to ignore it or bury it, but it is still there. God is not mocked. We will reap what we sow (Gal. 6:7). We already have.

I do not mean to sound naïve or uncritical. There are also real dangers and costs that come with not seeking out those who would wish to do us harm. However, there are better, more humane methods to root out violent undocumented migrants. There are more effective ways of addressing fraud. Past administrations of both parties were able to conduct this work much more effectively with far less violence and unrest. Safety and compassion are not hard binaries. Seeking safety cannot and should not entail grave bodily harm as an acceptable cost of doing business. As followers of Jesus, we cannot sanction this nor can we stay silent in the face of it.

Finally, siblings in Christ, I exhort you, do not grow weary or discouraged in this time. Hear again the words of Psalm 27:13,” I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” As I mentioned last month, this Psalm does not profess hope in some naïve bubble, it comes during hardship, violence and fear. It is hope sturdy enough to survive moments of great darkness. We trust that God is in our midst, working in and through us to reach out with compassion making the hard choice to love our neighbor no matter how different. We must embrace the truth that no lie can ever destroy, that the power to transform comes in dying to ourselves and rising with Christ. It comes in living in response, choosing to love again and again when the idols of scarcity and security beckon us once more toward violence.

 

As Ever in Christ,

 

Pastor CJ