Change
“God. Guns. Babies. That’s what we love,”
declared a “Christian” politician from the South.
In fact, it’s the message many Christians loudly shout
As the guns they idolize [are used to] put someone’s baby in the ground
Can you see it? Can you hear it?
The wails of the mother growing hoarse from endless screaming for her murdered daughter.
The terrorized cries of children left to die as armed police officers stand idly outside
The shroud of blood covering ground, walls, tables, and victims
The echos of bullets in the minds of each witness
The hollow hopes and prayers from us Christian complacent
The refusal to make a change at least for the children
These last few years have been discouraging, to say the least,
As I’ve watched Christians I admired open their smiling mouths to speak
Of our “rights” being violated at a hint of inconvenience
All while proclaiming God’s great love and goodness
I see behind our eyes, the rot of individualism
Of comfortable lives that can’t be bothered by other’s pain-filled experiences
We are white-washed tombs, hypocrites calling for love,
Walking by the bloodied, beaten traveler with noses turned up
How can we believe we have a right to speak
Of God’s care, attention, and powerful mercy
When the words we use are—just that—words
Empty promises of comfort, inaction bred from fear
We fear a world in which our power is less
The power of men convinced they’re more important than the rest
The power of the wealthy to hole up in their homes,
removed from “undesireables” they would rather not know
The power of a system that elevates big names
over protecting the vulnerable, the wounded, the shamed
The power of patriarchy to silence women’s voice,
touting biblical passages when these women make noise
“But this isn’t all Christians!”
Of course not, but it’s enough to sully the name of Jesus, to taint his gentle touch
Would Jesus have defended the right to bear arms?
No. He said if you live by then you’ll die by the sword.
He lived a life of selflessness, he did nothing for himself,
he sacrificed time and energy, he never sought after wealth,
he prioritized the sick and wounded, he wept with those who weep,
he humbled himself beneath his friends’ rancid feet.
But that is not the image of Jesus the world sees.
They see instead the loud inaction of the church—Christ’s body.
There is in-fightening and name-calling
“Wolves in sheep’s clothes”
There is division and stubborn selfishness
Liberal and conservative pulls
Scandals and cover-ups
Protection of abuser over the abused
A disregard of systemic racism
Contempt for differing views
Something needs to change, Church,
We ought to be known by our love.
Not by predjudice, bickering, shouting for “rights,”
or ignoring the evidence of the harm caused by God’s people to the ones he came to save,
the masses longing for acceptance, warmth, compassion, a place
where they can belong and rest, where they don’t have to strive,
where they can find a family who welcomes them inside the house of the Lord,
a haven and home,
made for a diverse people, not ones who fit a mold.
Think of those Jesus ate with, laughed with, enjoyed—the parts of a community that are too often kept outside.
Let us be the hands of Jesus, and show him to the world,
let us prioritize protecting rights that matter—
safety in classrooms;
security in the every day: shopping, driving, walking home;
a sense that every individual life is signifcant,
no person or child should ever feel alone
Jesus spoke of the shepherd who pursued the one sheep,
while the rest of the flock was content and safe he did not ignore the minority,
the one who was in danger,
Jesus showed us he sees the little one hiding in the corner,
he sees the broken spirit crying in the dark,
he holds the hands of the abandoned,
he empathises with every part of our experiences whether seen or unseen,
he is gentle, patient, caring, the protector of all of these.
He is good.
And the Church should reflect him.
So let us stand up to action and start the change from within.
