On the front page of this morning’s paper there were two tragic articles front and center, side by side. One was about the trial of Nicholas Lindsey, an African American teenager who shot and killed a white police officer in St. Petersburg. And one about Trayvon Martin, an African American teen shot and killed by a white community crime watch volunteer. Both cases are heartbreaking. Both mothers are crying. Both stories should have us all crying.
What has our society come to? Innocent people gunned down in the street. A police officer on the way home after work and a young teen talking on the phone with his girlfriend and eating Skittles. People carrying guns like an ol’ time western rerun on TV. In 1969, when I was 9 years old, our family visited our relatives in Germany. Their favorite TV show was Bonanza. You know, Lorne Green and Hoss and the gang. My cousins asked me if we rode horses and rounded up cattle. Now they might ask if we all carry guns like the cowboys in the old west. What a terrible image.
We might be tempted to say this is not “our” problem. We had nothing to do with either case. We were not directly involved. These killings are about personal decisions by the people involved. And, yes, they are. But all the people involved, as well as we ourselves, live in a society that forms and shapes us and that we have a responsibility to form and shape. George Zimmerman and Nicholas Lindsey, the two who did the killing, did not drop down out of the sky with their evil intentions. Both thought carrying a weapon and using it was part of “normal” for them in this society. I sat next to a woman in the waiting area at the doctor’s office today who was talking with her young adult son about buying a gun and looking at websites on her phone about where to get what he wanted locally. They were discussing this as if they were talking about stopping at the store on the way home to get milk. I was horrified. Zimmerman and Lindsey are not aliens, they have been produced by this society. And who has produced this society?
In Psalm 107 we are given an image of God putting down those who are wielding their power at the expense of others and raising up those who are being put down:
When the hungry are diminished and brought low
through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
God pours contempt on princes
and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
but God raises up the needy out of distress,
and makes their families like flocks.
The upright see it and are glad;
and all wickedness stops its mouth.
Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
and consider the steadfast love of God.
In Christianity, as far as I am concerned, there is a lot of room for leeway about many things. You want to believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Fine. You don’t believe that. Ok. You believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Ok. You believe the resurrection is metaphor, that’s ok, too. You believe that baptism should be conducted for people who are of age. Fine. You want to have your baby baptized. All right. You like the New International Version of the Bible. Ok. You prefer the New Revised Standard version. Fine. You believe that people should be embalmed and buried. Ok. You think cremation is a more sensible option. Fine. I think there can be lots of diversity and variety under the Christian umbrella. [See the reflection from yesterday for more on diversity within the Christian family.]
But there are other matters about which there is such clarity in the Bible and in the tradition of Jesus that they cannot be open to compromise or interpretation. One of those matters is the condition of oppression. Any kind of unfairness, bigotry, violation of human rights, abuse of power, or victimization be it economic, social, or religious, etc. is wrong. In the Bible and in the teachings of Jesus that have come to us, there is ZERO TOLERANCE for oppression of anyone. In the scriptures, as we just noted in Psalm 107, God takes the part of those on the bottom, those left out, and those who are exploited for others‘ gain. ZERO TOLERANCE. No compromise. No variety of views. Simply, no oppression. Christianity is about living for a world that is completely liberated from every kind of oppression.
Now, this can be complex for us. In one scenario, we may be on the bottom. In another, we may be perceived as the victimizer. From a global perspective, we may be seen as those who abuse our power at the expense of others. Locally, we may be discriminated against because of gender, race, age, or sexual identity. We may not be in just one camp or the other.
As an example, many years ago we had a couple join the church. They happened to be two men. When they were introduced to the congregation, in person and in print, I made sure to introduce them separately as distinct individuals . Later they mentioned that they felt I had not shown proper respect for their relationship because I had introduced them separately. I was shocked. I had not intended to devalue their union. I explained my perspective. I told them that so often with married heterosexual couples, the woman is subsumed under the man, so I had made it a point to introduce married people separately to show equal respect for the man and the woman and treat them as distinct individuals both worthy of respect. So, to be fair and egalitarian with this same gender couple, I did what I do with heterosexual couples. Only it had a different result. Once we discussed this, we saw that we were really all on the same side. We were all for ending oppression, disrespect and unfair treatment of people.
And that is the point about which there can be no wavering for a Christian. We must be against every kind of oppression and be working for a world where there is no oppression. No oppressors and no victims. And no one caught in the cross fire because one way or another, we all suffer because of oppression. The lives of both those teen aged boys, Trayvon and Nicholas, have been ruined by oppression. Racial oppression and abuse of power has also taken its toll on Officer Crawford and George Zimmerman. But we are not simply products of an oppressive system. We are also the producers and consumers of that system. And that is where we as Christians are called to be God’s agents of change. We are called to stop producing and consuming oppression. And we are called to be agents of reconciliation and healing. The world is groaning for hope, new life, and resurrection.
Prayer
Our hearts break over the violence and killing around us. We lift up our prayers for the family of Trayvon Martin. We pray for George Zimmerman and his family. We pray for Nicholas Lindsey and his family. We pray for the family and loved ones of Officer David Crawford. And we pray for ourselves. For the healing of our hearts. For the courage to overcome fear and complacency that we might liberate ourselves and the world entire from oppressive systems – social, economic, and religious – which take life away that cannot be returned or replaced. May hope be resurrected within us and may we be in solidarity against all oppression. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 