A robocall from the police department was meant to inform us
of something we already knew. There had
been an increased number of home burglaries in our neighborhood. Just a few days prior to the call, my wife
had been awakened early in the morning by a police officer at our door. She was asked if we had seen or heard
anything suspicious since the last evening.
Our next door neighbor’s house had been broken into and some items of
value had been taken.
Everyone in our general area was subsequently invited to a
neighborhood watch meeting. The meeting
was conducted by three police officers. They laid out the facts and encouraged
neighbors to watch out for each other. They
also distributed information on how to organize a neighborhood watch group.
I noted with some interest that most of those who attended
were older than I. There are a lot of
condos in the area which appear to be owned by seniors. In the pre-meeting chit-chat, I overheard
some words of fear but there were more expressions of anger and disgust.
There were two occasions during the meeting which drew
applause. The second was at the
conclusion of the meeting when the assembled group offered their gratitude with
polite applause. The first occurred in
response to the answer to a question by an older gentleman. “Is it OK to shoot someone if he breaks into
my house?” The officer said, “You have
the right to protect yourself.” The
audience response was rousing and animated.
I have struggled to find a word to describe my personal reaction. More than anything I think I was just
instantly and overwhelmingly sad.
Cheering the opportunity to shoot someone just does not seem right to
me. My sadness was compounded by the
fact that it had already been several days since Trayvon Martin and George
Zimmerman had become household names.
The following Sunday I went to church. I bristle when people accuse the church of
being irrelevant. But, on this Sunday
morning, for the first time, I, as one who has been a church “insider” for most
of his life, left worship feeling that the church, or more specifically this
particular congregation, was irrelevant to the mission given to us by Jesus
Christ.
Please try to understand me.
Yes, I had the opportunity to worship and offer praise. Yes, I had received the body and blood of
Christ. What I missed was a sermon that
somehow touched the realities of my life.
What I missed were prayers of the people that went beyond the
congregation. We prayed for the sick of
the congregation, but we did not pray for our neighbors. We did not pray for those whose lives have
been ruined by violence. We did not pray
for those who live in fear. We did not
pray for those who have no way out of poverty.
We did not pray for communities that suffer the divisions of racial
strife and injustice. We did not pray
for my neighbors who cheer the thought of creating their own justice with a
gun.
Perhaps it was just a missed opportunity. My fear is that my experience reflects a
congregation without a mission. Not once
was the assembly asked or challenged to go out and do something. There was no invitation to engage in
meaningful ministry.
I will admit that my reactions were predictable. I abhor violence. I grew up in a city that was nearly destroyed
by its racial division. I live in a city
plagued by poverty and lack of opportunity.
I love the church and think that we would actually have to work at
making it irrelevant. (How could our
proclamation of Christ ever be irrelevant?)
However, we need to do better. We
need to be better. I believe that we are
to be about the business of peace and unity.
I believe that congregations are called to make a positive impact in
their neighborhoods and in the world. I
believe that to ignore the issues that confront us and our neighbor is to
ignore what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
I am sad, but I am not hopeless.
“For [Christ] is our peace; in his flesh he has made both
groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility
between us.” Ephesians 2:14.
Comments? Go to http://niselca.blogspot.com
or comment on Facebook. --JC
Jeff, I hope that was not my congregation. Though I fear it could be. I can only think of one pastor who took to the streets and urged his congregation to join him. A middle ground would be to urge the signing of a petition to send to the Florida governor that is circulating on Facebook. But, the very least would be the prayers you suggest. Somewhere in the New Testament it reads that "faith without works" is dead. Is that the state of many congregations? Wayne
ReplyDeleteDuring my years as a highway patrol officer with the Arizona DPS, I once was on duty when a fellow officer had to shoot a suspect in self defense. I was the first from my department to arrive on the scene. He was not cheering, but was emotionally devastated.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I use to be a firearms training officer with my department. We never trained with joy about the possibility of having to shoot and kill someone; rather, we trained because we live in the reality of a broken world that sometimes required police to use deadly force.
In the case of the officer who shot the suspect that night, the suspect had drug abuse issues and lived on a poorer part of one of the Native American reservations. He was high at the time of the shooting. There were so many societal issues and history that brought that suspect and that officer together that night; but, our officer had to act in those quick few seconds.
I guess my point is that it is indeed sad that people cheer about being able to shoot someone in self-defense. Most of those cheering, however, probably are rejoicing at the prospect of vengeance disguised as some warped idea of justice, but they are ignorant about how much this vengeance costs each and every one of us. I suspect that most of those cheering, if they actually had to shoot someone to defend themselves, if they were forced to make a decision in those quick few seconds born out of generations of poverty and injustice, would not be cheering but would be emotionally and spiritually devastated.
As to the relevance of the church, I had a similar feeling as you when I read the proposed ELCA social statement on criminal justice. I was disappointed that there were no law enforcement officers on the committee that drafted the social statement and that there were very few on there from people who actually work in the criminal justice system or who have been actual victims of its brokenness. To me, the statement seems extremely academic and with generalized conclusions that our system needs to be more just. Not exactly a news flash for those who work in the criminal justice system.
There are plenty of people in our churches who work day in and day out in our police departments, courts, jails, victims advocacy groups and prisoner advocacy groups; there are plenty of people in our churches who have felt the injustice, brokenness and, quite frankly, the outright arrogance of our criminal justice system. I think there could have been a better representation from these groups on the committee who have experienced the criminal justice system firsthand.
"Blessed are the peace makers."
ReplyDeletePatricia
Faith, Joliet
From Facebook:
ReplyDeleteJeanne M Frank: Not hopeless -- Someone I know was mugged recently and he felt sorry for them and the life they lead.
Amanda Schanze: I think this is an opportunity for us to each explore our lives of prayer. When we face situations, even those we may not be directly involved in, that society or even our own congregations fail to administer a sense of hope (for justice, ...