ALL Lives Matter

Jesus was pretty clear about the importance of “loving my neighbor as myself.” 

One day, an “expert in the law” had a follow-up question for him: “And who is my neighbor?”  (Luke says the guy wanted to justify himself.)   [Luke 10:29, NIV]

If I want to obey Jesus’ commands, I do need to understand who is my neighbor. Therefore I will pay attention to his answer - which comes in the form of a story.

’Tis a familiar story to those of us who grew up inside the church walls - the one about the man “going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers.”

Jesus mentions that a priest and a Levite, both religious leaders, “passed by on the other side” - evidently not wanting to contaminate themselves by getting involved in a messy situation.  

Then a Samaritan came along, took pity on the guy, and stopped to help him.

Not just a brief stop to offer “thoughts and prayers.” 

Rather he interrupted his own travel plans.

He inconvenienced himself. 

He cleaned the guy up and did what he could for him.

Then he put the guy on his own donkey and transported him to an inn.

It is an inspiring story as the Samaritan leaves extra money with the innkeeper and promises to come back and pay whatever else might be needed. 

As he finished the telling, Jesus had a question for the questioner: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”    - [Luke 10, NIV]

...

In Sunday School we learned that Samaritans were seen as second-class citizens. Jews regarded them as foreigners and treated them with hostility.  For Jesus to have chosen a Samaritan as the hero of this story seems pretty significant.

I could almost imagine a few sweet Jewish grandmothers who had begun to realize how badly Samaritans were treated. Maybe they came over to Jesus and and tearfully told him that SAMARITAN LIVES MATTER!

Maybe Jesus interrupted with a retort: “Of course, they do. ALL lives matter!”

No?

That’s not how the story went?

No. 

Jesus knew very well that Samaritans were mistreated.  

He was already doing something about it.

He had just elevated a Samaritan to hero status - quite possibly as an example for religious leaders.

He was being an advocate for people who didn’t seem to matter.

Let that be a lesson to me!

Multiple lessons even.

Obviously I need to respect those who are "the other”. 

Those who are different than me.

Those that don’t seem to matter in society.

They are my neighbors.

Like the hero in the story who had mercy, I am to do likewise.

I am to be their neighbor.

…

* Excerpted from my book Beyond These Walls: Book by Book.

Happy Juneteenth! I'm sorry I'm late.

Less than 10 years ago I first heard of Juneteenth and have been trying to learn more about it since.  Because I feel such a huge gap in my education, I can identify with this guy.

Yes, fact checkers have found this guy in Ohio, who told them,

"I hope it lets people know that it's OK

to change your opinion

when you're presented with new evidence

that clearly shows you were wrong.”

Today a Facebook friend posted these lines - and gave me permission to share.  Thank you, Ryan DjRhino Flemming. 

On this day in 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and read General Order No. 3, announcing and enforcing the freedom of enslaved people in Texas.

While President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation more than two years earlier on January 1, 1863, its enforcement depended upon the presence of Union troops. As Union forces advanced into formerly Confederate territory, freedom was not only proclaimed—it was secured. For many enslaved people in Texas, that moment finally arrived on June 19, 1865.

For those who had lived under the bondage of slavery, this was a day of profound joy and significance. In the years that followed, they commemorated the occasion as “Juneteenth,” and over time that celebration spread throughout the nation.

Nearly every major movement has a defining moment that comes to symbolize the larger story. Juneteenth has become such a moment in the story of slavery’s end in the United States. It represents the day when the promise that all people are created equal moved closer to becoming a reality for all Americans.

We remember Juneteenth not to celebrate the fact that slavery once existed in our nation, but to celebrate that it was brought to an end. We honor those who endured its cruelty, those who fought against it, and those who sacrificed to secure freedom for others. We also celebrate the truth that every person is created in the image of God and is therefore worthy of dignity, justice, and respect.

Happy Juneteenth!

 

... as seen on Facebook

 “You think your pain and your heartbreak 

are unprecedented in the history of the world, 

but then you read. 

It was books that taught me 

that the things that tormented me most 

were the very things that connected me

with all the people who were alive, 

who had ever been alive.”

     — James Baldwin 

Don't pretend it didn't happen

Oh, no!  I see that I have failed to post here during February.  I feel like a failure. It was my only real goal for my blog… to post at least once a month - and I have mostly succeeded for well over a decade.

But now I have failed.

What should I do with my failure?  

Too late to fix it.  

Okay; my first thought was that maybe I could still write something and pre-date it.  

To pretend the failure didn’t happen.

To give the appearance of doing well.

Or I can choose to admit my error and move on.

Go ahead and write a post for this month - or maybe even two.

But don’t pretend to be perfect.

.  .  .  .  .

Diana Butler Bass recently wrote about her visit to The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Two female names and one “unknown” caught her attention - all died the same day in Calhoun County, Georgia.  When she asked about them, she found this:  

After Calvin Mike voted in Calhoun County, Georgia, in 1884,

a white mob attacked and burned his home,

lynching his elderly mother and his two young daughters,

Emma, age 6, and Lillie, age 4.

Diana Butler Bass continues:   "I wanted to reach through time and throw myself between them and the mob; I wanted to save them. I wanted them to grow up to be women, to have their own children and grandchildren."

.  .  .  .  .

I too wished there was something I could do.

I didn’t even know about so much of this national horror until recently.

Now that I do know, I am appalled.

It’s too late to fix it.

We can't turn back the clock.

We can’t pretend it didn’t happen.

To give the appearance that all is well.

.  .  .  .  .

It is a bit absurd to compare these horrific stories with my silly little tale about my blog failure. Of course they are nothing alike… except maybe for that sneaky temptation to pretend it never happened.  To try to give the impression that everything is fine. 

But once again, the only thing I know to do is to admit the truth. And my ignorance. And then to take time to learn anything I can about how to stand for justice now.

Do the best you can until you know better.

Then when you know better, do better.

- Maya Angelou

The National Memorial for Peace & Justice...

A sacred space for truth-telling and reflection

about racial terror in American and its legacy.

Speaking up

I think I am a compassionate person - or at least I try to be. I think I have mostly goodwill in my heart toward people who are different than me.  But I realize that I'm kinda' clueless about what life is really like for them. I have never walked in their shoes but I have made feeble attempts to learn more about such things.  It is easy to see that in many cases, black lives do not matter and that is not okay with me.

A couple years ago I was challenged to read Black authors so I made a commitment to read and listen and learn.  I am finding so many writers from whom I can learn more about their reality. 

Jacalyn Wetzel is one of the many Black writers I've found and this is one of her everyday normal life stories.

I don't often speak up or share the things I'm reading.  Maybe I'm hesitant to get up on my soapbox.  But I am deeply troubled by the things that must be endured by so many - simply because of their skin color.

Maybe I could find the courage to speak up once in awhile.