Compassion Enlarged

The scenes from the disaster in Texas and the Gulf Coast are horrific.  It is difficult to fathom the scale of the disaster.  The media, skilled at bringing us the human story, provides us with names and faces and images that haunt us. And where no images are available, skilled wordsmiths paint verbal pictures that leave us overwhelmed and heartsick - like the toddler in the flood waters who clung to the body of her dead mother until she was rescued.

We watch.  We cry.  We feel sick.  We want to help.  We reach out and make a donation of whatever we can knowing that these people are family - we want to help.  

Those with sensitive hearts are wise to minimize exposure to the news - it can be overwhelming.  But we must be careful not to shield our hearts from the pain in the world.  Our hearts are meant to crack wide open in moments like this.  That's what causes them to enlarge so they can hold more compassion...which is desperately needed...because Texas is not the only place of brokenness in our world.  

Our hearts need to enlarge so that along with compassion for the suffering along the Gulf Coast we can find compassion and presence for the 16 million people impacted by the devastating floods across South Asia.  16 million people.  More than 1,200 people have been killed in these floods - 500 in the Indian State of Bihar alone.  Tens of thousands are displaced.  But unlike our neighbors in Texas, there are no people telling their stories.  In fact, when I went on the BBC website to look for information about the floods in Asia, it was buried under stories of a cash crisis, doctors fighting in an operating room, the infamous India rapist guru, and reports of a TV show taken off the air in India because of the controversy surrounding its "unusual love story."  Finally I found the story Toddlers Killed in Mumbai Rains - and it linked me to more information about the incredible loss and devastation happening in that part of the world...to our neighbors...our human family.

The Sierra Leone mudslides and floods that killed hundreds within the past two weeks has fallen completely off the news cycle.  

Both NPR and the BBC carried cautionary stories today about how the world focuses on what is happening in Houston and forgets what happens in Asia and Africa.  There are fears expressed by international aid agencies that people will donate towards the victims whose stories we know (America) and forgot those whose stories are never told (the rest of the world).  There is a fear that our hearts are only so big - that compassion fatigue will set in and the most vulnerable will be forgotten.  Again.

As followers of Jesus we are meant to be broken-hearted.  Our hearts are meant to be cracked wide open - enlarged - healed (again and again and again and again) until they can contain compassion enough for the suffering of the world.  Because we live in privilege and have access to the names and tragic stories of the people (and pets) facing catastrophic loss in our neighborhood of America we must not limit the scope of our compassionate response to what we know and what is familiar.  As Christians we are global citizens - our neighborhood is bigger than America.  Disasters in Asia happen to our family.  Catastrophes in Africa impact our relatives.  Until we can see and respond as citizens of this amazing but ailing planet we will never - and I mean never - have the vision necessary to truly address the global systemic issues that impact all life on our planet.  

Warming oceans enhance the frequency and severity of these weather events.  We share the same oceans and planet - we are all in this together.

Natural disasters impact the poor the most.  Those with privilege have options the poor lack.  We see glimpses of this in Texas.  But when we look at this on a global scale, those who are poor in Texas have access to resources that flood victims in Bangladesh do not.  Our hearts need to be big enough for the suffering in Texas and in Bangladesh.  Our will needs to be fixed on changing the systemic inequities that keep the poor living in the most vulnerable places with the fewest resources.  I am a pet lover and was deeply relieved to see the Humane Society rescuing pets from flooded homes in Houston.  But if we have the will and ingenuity as a people to see that pets are rescued from the flood waters and taken to shelters (and that the animals already in those shelters are flown to other cities to make room for the animals displaced by the flood waters in Texas), we surely can have the will and creativity to see that people whose stories we will never know - who face hardships we cannot begin to fathom - have the resources they need to find safety and the necessities to live a life of dignity.

Please - open your heart to the suffering in Texas.  Do what you can to alleviate the suffering of our nearby neighbors on the Gulf Coast.  But when you make your donation to the UCC (Wind and Flood Disaster Harvey) or the Red Cross or Save the Children or the Humane Society, don't stop there.  Make a matching donation for the other flood victims whose stories we have not heard.  Give to the IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) or Doctors Without Borders or any of the UN Relief Agencies.  By doing this you are acknowledging through your actions what we believe in our hearts:  that our neighbors in Texas are beloved children of God -  as are our neighbors who are flood victims in India or Sierra Leone.  We may not have easy access to their stories, but that does not make them any less deserving of our compassionate response.

May our hearts shatter in the face of such tragedy.  May our healing tears water the pieces of our hearts and help them to mend enlarged and able to hold more compassion.  May we see this beloved world and all its inhabitants through God's eyes of love.  And may we act accordingly.

Heartbroken and hope-filled,

Kim

Unhooking From the Defibrillator

Is this really happening?  I find myself shocked by something I read, see or hear in the morning news, conclude that I am now permanently unshockable, only to re-shocked all over again - sometimes in the course of minutes!  It is like being hooked up to a defibrillator that fires randomly but repeatedly.  Is there such a thing as shock fatigue?  Never did I think I would see unmasked white men in self-styled militia uniforms carrying weapons, lit torches and Nazi flags as they marched through the streets of an American city chanting anti-Semitic verses as if it were the most normal thing in the world to do on a Friday night.  In America.  In 2017.  Unmasked - unafraid.  Emboldened by the atmosphere present in our nation.  Never did I expect to see that in my lifetime.  

But here we are - punch drunk by the pace, chaos and intensity of the events happening in our nation and world.  If pastoral merit badges were given for the tendency to over-think an issue, I would have too many badges to fit on my stole.  Not that thinking things through is bad - in fact, a little more thought and a little less talk/tweets would help several national and global crises.   But one place where over-thinking has no place is in our condemnation of racism, hate speech and violence.  

It is wrong for white men carrying torches and weapons to reprise the worst of white supremacist/nationalist/KKK behavior - protected under the guise of free speech.  Spewing racist  hate speech to provoke and intimidate others is no more free speech than is shouting Fire to create panic and casualties in a crowded theater.  Intent matters.

It is wrong for white citizens to turn away and think it is a "Southern" problem or "African American problem" when each of us benefits from institutional/systemic racism.  

It is wrong for citizens to minimize or ignore anti-Semitic hate speech.

It is wrong for us to "normalize" or "soften" racist rhetoric and hate speech by re-branding it as "alt-right" and seeing it a reasonable alternative within civil discourse.  

It is wrong for our leaders to use racist or hate speech themselves or to set up false equivalencies that weaken the stand they must take against racism and hate speech in all its forms.  I do not condone violence and hatred as a way to address violence and hatred.   But there is no moral equivalency between the KKK/White Supremacists reprising the worst of the intimidation tactics they historically used and the Antifa counter-protesters who engaged them.  Again, I do not support violence as a means to address violence and hatred - it is like using gasoline to put out a fire.  But the two entities are not the same.  The end-game of Neo-Nazi rhetoric is the genocide of whichever identified group is in their sights.  It cannot and must not go unchallenged.  It must not be normalized. It must be called out for what it is and not prettied up with verbal cosmetics.  Leaders who refuse to call it out forfeit the legitimacy of their leadership.  

I can't believe that, in 2017, I feel the need to write it is wrong for citizens to minimize or ignore anti-Semitic hate speech.  Or it is wrong for our leaders to use racist or hate speech themselves.  Isn't this a given?  Not any more.  

So how do we unhook from the defibrillator and engage in transformative action?  I have no simple answers, but can suggest some steps that I have found to be helpful:

1 & 5.  Name and confront racism, hate speech and violence in a nonviolent and hate-free way.  Work with your gifts and abilities in whatever way you can to eliminate these poisons from our society.  Otherwise, you participate in normalizing them.

The quickest way for these poisons to take root in society is for them to go unchallenged.  Without a quick response, their roots go deeper and they are harder to uproot.  This response must be strong, clear, and itself rooted in nonviolence that is free from hatred.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has produced a helpful publication called Ten Ways to Fight Hate which we have posted on the Boise First UCC website:

http://www.boisefirstucc.org/what-s-happening/ten-ways-to-fight-hate

2.  Educate - Educate - Educate

The only way we can address the racism and hate speech endemic in our country is to understand its roots and the ways in which it was created and is perpetuated - understanding the systems and structures that fuel not only racism, but also white supremacy.  Understanding the historical/cultural context in which both arise provides tools for intervention.

3.  Self/Community Reflection

From that place of contextual understanding we can then look at ourselves and our communities to see how we, intentionally or unintentionally, perpetuate racism and hatred.  For example, I am white and of European descent and come from a working-class family with parents who believed that their relative poverty was due to unfair advantages given to immigrants and peoples of color.  This was not true, but it was what they believed.  When I understand the context of how and why my parents saw the world this way, I can then take steps to address the biases I internalized as a child.

I do not want to be racist and work hard to not think and behave in racist ways.  But I was raised with biases and privilege that cause me to make micro-assessments that are filtered through bias and privilege.  Since this happens initially outside of my awareness, does that give me a Get Out of Racist Jail Free card?  Absolutely not!  I can not undo the biases programmed into my mind, but I can take responsibility for them and learn to spot them when they are active.  Education and awareness are critical for all white Americans so we can take responsibility for the ways in which we perpetuate racism.  And it is also a key for understanding what fuels white supremacy and the subtle ways it is legitimized.

We also need to do this reflection as Christians.  For example, I grew up being taught that Christians were God's chosen people and that only Christians would go to heaven - everyone else was destined for hell.  Christian exceptionalism has caused hatred and violence and emboldened our ancestors to launch Crusades, commit genocide and steal lands already occupied by others.  It fueled the American exceptionalism that haunts our nation today.  As Christians, we live with and benefit from that legacy while continuing to perpetuate it.

Our sacred scriptures include verses that support Christian exceptionalism as well as anti-Semitism, anti-Judaism, slavery, and the oppression of women, non Christians, the disabled and those who identify as LGBTQ.  The authors of the Gospels, written decades after Jesus lived in Palestine, cast him as antagonistic to Judaism and murdered by the Jewish people  - despite the fact that Jesus was an observant Jewish teacher who many historians believe sought to be a reforming prophetic presence within Judaism (not the creator of a new religion) - who was executed by the Romans. The Revised Common Lectionary omits the most offensive passages from Sunday worship (like telling slaves to be obedient to their masters and women to be obedient to men) but still includes frequent anti-Semitic references.  It should stop us in our tracks when we realize that what we often read aloud during worship we would NEVER say in public or polite conversation.  Will Christianity writ large ever address this hypocrisy?  Will we?

Ouch - that hits close to the bone.

Perhaps acknowledging the ways in which we participate in the behaviors we rightly condemn in others will help us to have compassion for those engaged in the cycle of hate and violence.

Compassion does not mean condoning - but it does lay the groundwork for possible conversation and engagement with those actively perpetuating racism and hate speech -  if that can be done in a safe setting.  A counter-protest is not the setting in which that can happen.

4.  Integration

Integrating our words and actions with our values is difficult work - but also holy work!   Having integrity does not mean being perfect or having all the answers.  It does, however mean being aware and willing to learn and grow - and aligning our words and actions with our values.

Having integrity in our witness is key.  Otherwise, we followers of Jesus are like the angry parent who slaps their son for hitting his brother while saying "don't you ever hit him again!" Or the person who screams at the top of their lungs "I TOLD YOU TO BE QUIET!"  

A witness without integrity has no power.

1 & 5.  Name and confront racism, hate speech and violence in a nonviolent and hate-free way.  Work with your gifts and abilities in whatever way you can to eliminate these poisons from our society.  Otherwise, you participate in normalizing them.

The quickest way for these poisons to take root in society is for them to go unchallenged.  Without a quick response, their roots go deeper and they are harder to uproot.  This response must be strong, clear, and itself rooted in nonviolence that is free from hatred.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has produced a helpful publication called Ten Ways to Fight Hate which we have posted on the Boise First UCC website:

http://www.boisefirstucc.org/what-s-happening/ten-ways-to-fight-hate

*****

In the face of our current national climate, I totally understand the desire to dig a hole, crawl in and pull the hole in after you.  But I am also heartened by the courage I hear expressed by others - people who are finding their voices and speaking truth clearly and from a place of integrity.

May we feel the feelings - the anger/rage - the fear - the disgust - the disbelief - the sense of being overwhelmed - but not act from a place of verbal or physical violence or hatred.  May we let our strong feelings tell us how serious the situation is and how high the stakes are.  May we use that energy to educate and to integrate our beliefs and values with our words and actions as partners with God in the ministry of truth and transformation.

It is time to unhook from the defibrillator and get to work.

Pressing on with hope,

Kim