What We Lost Last Week

It has been coming for quite a while, but we have not recognized it for what it is as I believe that we should.

We lost precious children and teachers in a horrific event this week.  We also lost a parent and her troubled child.

But, as bad as this may sound to you, I believe that we lost even more!

We lost our ability to respond to the pain of those who are maimed or killed as a result of someone’s act of violence with a sense of compassion.  This act, like others which preceeded it, became sensational news.  Caught up in the events, we became numb to the scenes before us, and tried to escape anyway we could - to CD's and other distractions.

As those of us who believe that God, God’s self, became Incarnate for the salvation of the world, this is particularly demonic.  If I believe that God became Incarnate only to free me from my pain and lostness, God’s gift becomes only my own personal relationship with God - important, but far less than God intended.   We can go along feeling sorry for others, but not really feeling compassion.  Translation:  It didn’t happen in my neighborhood or to my family.

But, God came to save all of creation in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Doesn’t that call us to accept our shared humanity with all of its brokenness?  To do so would open in each of us avenues for the pain of others to be felt.  By acknowledging and feeling the pain of others, can we can begin to respond with compassion.  After all, the word “compassion” means “with passion.”  Compassion is not regret.  Regret forgets until the next time.  Compassion is active involvement in the healing process.

If you’ve never experienced the loss of a child under your care, if you’ve never been huddled with others listening as gunshots ring out in a public place, if you’ve never experienced the fear of a forced evacuation because of a threat, if you’ve never seen the dark vacuum in the eyes of someone who intends to kill you, then I pray that you never will.  I do pray, however, that we will be more sensitive to those pains and fears shown on our TV screens – whether in our own country or in other lands being destroyed by war.

There are no easy answers to the violence that surrounds us. 

There is, however, hope.  Hope that comes in the form of an innocent child

• exposed to the elements,
• the neglect of the community,
• and the retaliatory fear of both religious and secular leadership. 

May the fragile Christ Child bring you the gift of hope this season as we all experience the saddness over the loss of not only the innocents, but the loss of our own innocence as well.

Brother Simeon, expecting the gift of hope from God - the only reliable source

The Killer in the Night

Growing up at Mack Morris Scout Camp and Lakeshore United Methodist Assembly, I spent a lot of time swatting mosquitoes.  They made me itch, and calamine lotion was the order of the day.

However, across the continent of Africa, and other underdeveloped countries, the buzzing sound of the mosquito brings harbingers of death - a death that is preventable.

It takes more than a net.  It takes a whole system of health care delivery with clear guidelines and compassionate workers to protect these children.

This week, I was given the opportunity to gather in Washington, D.C. with 100 other United Methodists at the Board of Church and Society to learn how we are killing this killer of children.  We were blessed to be given time in the busy schedules of our congressional leaders.  Gerry Campbell and I had the opportunity to meet with Senators Alexander and Corker and their staff.  They listened carefully, and gave us the time to make our points:

1.       Over 5 years ago, Bill Gates partnered with the United Methodist Church, the United Nations, and other faith-based organizations to create a network to lower the death rate of children from malaria.

2.       In the first year, a child died every 15 seconds from malaria,

3.       By the middle of the work, one child died every 30 seconds,

4.       Currently, one child dies every 60 seconds.

5.       We have created accountable clinics to provide nets for children’s beds which are treated with a powerful, yet safe, insecticide.  Education of families to the threat of the mosquito’s bite, coupled with medications to fight those cases which have already begun has started a revolution in world health care.

Your church is taking the lead in this battle to save children.

Please pray for this ministry.  To learn more, visit http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.5303261/.  Each of us can do something to stop this epidemic which is robbing hope from families and nations.

If your heart hasn’t been touched by saving children, think about this:

When hope fails, there is always someone there to blame the powerful countries for doing nothing.  Older children are drawn to groups who want to take revenge.  If you need a case in point, watch the children carrying AK47 weapons giving allegiance to Al Qaida.   The $10 net is much more effective in stopping the process of violence than drones and military action.

We have the opportunity to answer the biblical call to beat our swords into plowshares.  For us, it looks like a web tent that protects from the silent killer in the night.  Join me in providing ways to grow this ministry.

·         Brother Simeon

Silos and Shadows

I keep hearing that we, as a church, need to get out of our silos.

I agree that we do need to reach beyond ourselves and meaningfully connect with others.

BUT – I would like to suggest a different metaphor – it is one as old as Plato.

I believe that our problem is more that we live in our caves, observe the shadows on the walls, allow the “shamans” to interpret them for us, and believe that the shadows are reality.

So far, I’ve experienced a few wonderful events this week that have drawn me out of my own cave.

At Junaluska, we gathered to reach across cultural and ethnic barriers to experience God’s grace.  From the opening “smudging ceremony” from the Native American tradition to the Eucharist celebrated in both English and Korean, we felt the presence of the Word – the reality that is behind the reality which only see as shadows.

This morning, I walked the streets of Washington while awaiting the gathering of Church and Society delegates to learn more about “Imagine No More Malaria.”  We will also advocate with our congressional representatives to protect funding for world health initiatives.

As I walked, I was drawn to a church that had candles burning inside the doorway, with a sound of celebration coming from within.  As I entered, I left my own cave and entered into the reality of the world-wide community of believers. 

I was welcomed into a Christian worship service.  I was offered the sacrament expressed by holy water served in a paper cup to every participant, (after being told that the participants took off their shoes as we approached the altar.  There, I received a blessing from the pastor and greetings from those who had assisted in the celebration.

I did not understand one word that the liturgist nor preacher said.  But, I clearly heard the WORD of God expressed in the hospitality and spirituality coming from fellow Christians in worship.  After the service, I was invited to share coffee and bread with the congregation.  As the only Caucasian in the room, I stood out.  It was at the fellowship time that I was warmly welcomed and told that this was a Coptic Church with members from Ethiopia - one of the countries where our No More Malaria efforts will be focused.   

 

Their question of me:  “Are you a part of the Christian family?”  This United Methodist pastor was being evangelized by people whom I had just met!

The walk back to the hotel was with a different gait and vision inthe bright morning sunlight!  Those I passed on the street became real children of God, not just the strangers that I had passed earlier in the day.

Does God work in unexpected ways?  Yes, but we have to be open to feel God’s “nudges” toward the light and drawing us out of our caves and shadows.

Pray that we, as a church as well as a nation, will continue to protect the children of the world from malaria.  May we offer hope for life and not the fear of death that flies on the wings of the mosquito?

Walk in the light as He is in the light. 

I received more than a crust of spiritual bread today.  Thanks be to God!

Brother Simeon