I believe that our ORIGINAL SIN as a nation is not Racism alone, as some have said, but HUBRIS - that false sense of superiority that leads one to "look down upon" or hurt others.
It led us to the mistreatment, de-humanization and genocide of the people who lived here long before we "discovered" this land.
It led us to the slavery, objectification and holding down, back and out of our black sisters and brothers for generations which still suffer from its effects and current expressions.
It led us to occupy and steal lands from Mexico, and then to the exploitation of Braceros and the de-humanization, objectification, vilifying, scapegoating and now deportation of those we consider "mojados".
It has led us to conquest, not only militarily and politically, but economically through our dominance of the WTO and other organizations. Our economic colonization is done for the sake of the billionaires who own or profit from our corporations now.
It led us for many years to stereotype, ostracize and discriminate against our LGBT sisters and brothers.
Our HUBRIS allows us to believe that we are ENTITLED and PRIVILEGED. It allows us to create "free market" practices that bail out the wealthy and penalize the poor. It allows us to hurt whoever we want because, "it's not personal, just business". It necessitates three justice systems - one for the powerful and wealthy, one for the middle class and one for the poor and black or brown.
It has led us to fund our schools unequally and "re-gentrify" neighborhoods - yes, "take them back"/steal them from the people who have been living there with horrible services, and provide stellar services for the more wealthy and more white who move "back in". It has led us to pay those who we have victimized through poor education, much less - not enough to live on, while we pay executives huge bonuses after they have driven companies into the ground and have eliminated jobs.
It has meant the incarceration of our own at an alarming rate, the illegal incarceration of others across the world, the invasion, destruction and occupation of multiple foreign countries at a time. It has meant our meddling covertly and blatantly in the political affairs of sovereign nations. It has caused the collapse of foreign economies for the sake of our corporations, and the exploitation of workers, pollution of environments and wasting of resources at home and abroad.
Our hubris is that out of which comes our XENOPHOBIA, ETHNOCENTRISM, SEXISM, RACISM, HOMOPHOBIA, CLASSISM, NATIONALISM and EXCEPTIONALISM... ALL of which have meant that whole peoples have been hurt or destroyed. It leads us to victimize others and then blame them for their own plight - the conditions WE created and forced upon them.
I was in Junior High School when I knew that I was called to ministry. I was in Junior High School when I saw that my black and brown friends were treated differently, even in my own home by my own father. I was in Junior High School when I saw people I cared for get mistreated just because of the color of their skin, and realized how different I was because we were poor. It was in Junior High School that I started to hear the teachings of Jesus in a new way.
American "Christians" can get their praise on, give their tithes and expect their favor and blessings all they want, but the CHRIST they claim to Worship and follow...
Identified with the Poor... BECAME poor to identify with them.
Reached out to those who were foreign, ethnically, racially and religiously different from Him.
Associated with those who were outcast from society.
COMMANDED that we love our neighbor AS OUR SELVES... and defined neighbor as the one who is different from self, even stranger and enemy.
Raised and Motivated an ARMY (5,000 men plus women and children) to march for the Kingdom of God and its values, in the face of a occupying Roman Army that held very different values based on their hubris.
... and said that the sheep at His judgment will be those who feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, visit the sick and imprisoned...
... and that the GOATS will be those who exploit the poor, refuse the hungry, strip people of what they have, deport the resident alien and prevent them from entering our land, and who ignore the sick and their needs or exploit them for profit, and create more in prison, rather than rehabilitate them and who refuse to create REAL justice in the land.
Jesus taught, commanded and modeled humility. Agape Love comes from a humble heart.
Jesus taught, commanded and modeled equitable treatment. His law of Agape demands it.
Jesus taught, commanded and modeled Grace and Mercy, instead of exploitation, de-humanization, vilification, objectification and the relentless punitive treatment of others.
Jesus taught us Agape Love - commanded Agape Love - modeled Agape Love that necessarily includes forgiveness and a refusal to judge others, and is UNCONDITIONAL, SELF-SACRIFICING, ACTIVE COMMITMENT ON BEHALF OF THE OTHER, EVEN STRANGER AND ENEMY, AND CERTAINLY THE MOST VULNERABLE AMONG US.
Jesus' followers in the 1st Century lived that - they reached out to others who were ethnically, racially, religiously, sexually different and the world took notice of this astounding, radical love and the radical community that arose from it.
THAT is the good news. Jesus demands something else. People CAN follow what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled in how we live in THIS PART of God's Kingdom, here and now.
The bad news is up to us as Christians and Americans. Will we continue to claim the name of Jesus and walk away from His Way as He taught, commanded and modeled it in the Kingdom Values we have as witnessed in the Gospels, or will we follow Him - go where Jesus went in society?
Will we let our HUBRIS as a nation continue to take us further from Jesus and His Way, or will we humbly learn to live Agape Love with our neighbor, even the most vulnerable, even the stranger and our enemy? Jesus said, "You cannot serve two masters." Which will it be?
Pastor Jamie
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