It's Complicated, Yet Requires a Response
The refugee children separated by the U.S. Government from their parents at the Mexican border and held in quickly thrown together detentions centers is on my heart and mind. It's been happening for months. Only now, U.S. Representatives and Senators, and journalists are beginning to report what they've learned during recent visits investigating the situation. The photos and reports are blood curtalling, and have raised a righteous anger in me.
In June on the 75th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, I rewatched HBO's mini series "Band of Brothers," the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army during World War 2. The series followed their training in 1942 and 43, then their D-Day mission, their subsequent march across France, their heroic holding of Bastogne, in the Battle of the Bulge. The most harrowing episode was the next to last one entitled, "Why We Fight." They stumbled onto one of the many concentration camps that held starving Jews, and other unwanted "deviants" the German Reich was trying to weed out in their nationalist drive toward national and racial purity. How could the German people let this happen? They would have been blind not to know of their government's xenophobic policies, which were quite public. They witnessed Jews, then Marxists, then homosexuals, then disabled, and people of color be rounded up and carted off in trucks and trains to first ghettos, then work camps, then extermination camps. Justified by the notion of Aryan superiority and that these were something less than human. Likely, most Germans did not know of their government's genocidal final solution, which soborred Easy Company and horrified the world in their discovery of it.
One hesitates to compare such a dark history to the U.S. Government's I.C.E. raids on undocumented neighbors, which began under the Obama Administration and continue today, or to the harsh inhuman treatment of asylum seekers at our border, or to Border Agents pouring out water from containers left in the desert by compassionate souls, harsh policies to deter others from following suite. All to say, "Respect our border and laws." Leadership's refusal in Congress to address immigration reform, says in essence, "We don't want your kind here," to appease their constituent base. While children torn from the arms of their parents pay the price, including we are now learning, sexual assault by some government employees taking advantage of their power in the situation. Watching the videos, seeing the photos, listening to the news reports and interviews with those who have visited our American detention centers, curdle my blood, and raises the putrid taste of bile to my mouth. This is not us! That some detention center workers have been raising concerns for months to deaf ears is infuriating.
How can this happen in America, a nation of immigrants? How can so many Americans still support this administration? Tough trade deals, the economy? Closer to my heart, how can so many evangelical Christians continue to support such a morally depraved administration? I suspect with the same clothespin on their noses as when the Access Hollywood tape came to light weeks prior to the 2016 election. A hard political choice, the price to pay in order to shift the balance of power on the Supreme Court to a more pro life stance.
Politics can be complicated. Issues are typically complex. Hands typically get dirty to gain political power and to compromise...give a little here, get what you want there. Polarity theory suggests that there are always upsides and downsides of most polarities. America has historically benefited from the rigorous debate inherent in our two party political system. Since Roe vs. Wade, Republicans support anti-abortion legislation fueled by pro-life Evangelicals and some Catholics, while cutting government safety net funding for those who are born and living in poverty. Democrats conversely support a woman's right to choose what happens to her body, and support government funding for the born, supported by most mainline Christian Protestants and I think the Jewish community, as a collective expression of compassion for the the least of these as commanded by the Torah and Jesus.
So it's complicated. Both parties claim a moral high ground of life affirming policies, and turn a blind eye for others sacrificed. Polarity theory suggests that polarities never go away and that effective leadership manages by listening to understand and act to minimize the fears of the opposing side, and strive to stay on the positive upside of each pole. Like, let's make it so that women have the constitutional right to control their own bodies, and not by white men of power who have nothing to lose. Let's craft public policies which build healthy communities in which prenatal care is a priority; birth control methods are taught and accessible; assure a living wage to curb poverty; and minimize the need for abortions.
There are plenty of reasons for moral outrage on both sides of this polarity. And there is plenty of self righteous chest thumping on all sides and fear of the success of the other side to drag us to the down side where we find ourselves. We need each other for a healthy and vigorous debate of the issues to forge a more perfect union.
HOWEVER, this is a moment to take a stand for the values we all share as a nation. History will soon judge us. Will we, like Germans before us, look the other way? Or will we, like some Germans Christians, stand up and repudiate the inhumane policies of our government.
Ordained Presbyterian deacons, elders and ministers of Word and Sacrament are asked a church constitutional question at our ordinations. "Will you be guided by the Book of Confessions?" The Presbyterian Church (USA) has adopted ten historical confessional statements for inclusion into our Book of Confession, which makes up Part One of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Constitution. These are historic statements by the church at particular times in history when an errant understanding of the faith called for clarification. One such confession is "the Theological Declaration of Barmen."
"In May of 1934, some 139 delegates representing eighteen Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches from throughout Germany met in the town of Barmen-Wuppertal to reiterate their common faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In so doing, they were contesting the imposition of Adolf Hitler's National Socialist agenda on the churches in Germany. To appreciate the significance of the Barmen Declaration, one must remember that to oppose the Nazis in 1934 was considered by many Germans to be at the very least unpatriotic and, at the worst, an act of treason.... As the power of the Nazis grew, so too did that of their ardent supporters in the churches, the so-called German Christians. While officially organized on June 6, 1932, the German Christians drew strength from earlier movement that, among other things, championed the need for racial purity, asserted the racial superiority of the German people or 'folk' (Volk), and prosecuted a fierce opposition to Marxists, Jews and others....Once Hitler's grip on power was assured, the Nazis began intervening coercively in church affairs. Among the most notorious laws that the Nazis enacted during these years was the so-called Aryan paragraph, which called for the exclusion from the church of all Christians with Jewish ancestry. This had the egregious effect of making race a direct criterion for church membership. In response to all this, an opposition movement called for a free and confessing church. (Book of Confessions pages 345-346).
Karl Barth, one of the great German theologians of the 20th Century, was the primary author of the Barmen Declaration. The declaration did not mince words. It articulated one key pillar of the gospel of Jesus Christ after another, and rejected the false doctrines of the German Christians which violated the essence of the gospel. They took a stand repudiating public policies contrary to the gospel.
One of the Reformed faith is to be historically informed. I commend the reading and study of the Barmen Declaration today. While the crisis it addressed was different than our challenge today, there is much which resonates, and which can provide moral backbone to our moral and political choices today.
Carolyn Winfrey Gillette is a Presbyterian Christian and contemporary hymn writer. She has composed many hymn texts and set them to familiar hymn tunes in response to various storms and tragedies. She put my righteous anger into words in response to the administration's detention policies on our southern border. We sang them at worship last Sunday. Singing them was an emotionally powerful experience.
In June on the 75th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, I rewatched HBO's mini series "Band of Brothers," the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army during World War 2. The series followed their training in 1942 and 43, then their D-Day mission, their subsequent march across France, their heroic holding of Bastogne, in the Battle of the Bulge. The most harrowing episode was the next to last one entitled, "Why We Fight." They stumbled onto one of the many concentration camps that held starving Jews, and other unwanted "deviants" the German Reich was trying to weed out in their nationalist drive toward national and racial purity. How could the German people let this happen? They would have been blind not to know of their government's xenophobic policies, which were quite public. They witnessed Jews, then Marxists, then homosexuals, then disabled, and people of color be rounded up and carted off in trucks and trains to first ghettos, then work camps, then extermination camps. Justified by the notion of Aryan superiority and that these were something less than human. Likely, most Germans did not know of their government's genocidal final solution, which soborred Easy Company and horrified the world in their discovery of it.
One hesitates to compare such a dark history to the U.S. Government's I.C.E. raids on undocumented neighbors, which began under the Obama Administration and continue today, or to the harsh inhuman treatment of asylum seekers at our border, or to Border Agents pouring out water from containers left in the desert by compassionate souls, harsh policies to deter others from following suite. All to say, "Respect our border and laws." Leadership's refusal in Congress to address immigration reform, says in essence, "We don't want your kind here," to appease their constituent base. While children torn from the arms of their parents pay the price, including we are now learning, sexual assault by some government employees taking advantage of their power in the situation. Watching the videos, seeing the photos, listening to the news reports and interviews with those who have visited our American detention centers, curdle my blood, and raises the putrid taste of bile to my mouth. This is not us! That some detention center workers have been raising concerns for months to deaf ears is infuriating.
How can this happen in America, a nation of immigrants? How can so many Americans still support this administration? Tough trade deals, the economy? Closer to my heart, how can so many evangelical Christians continue to support such a morally depraved administration? I suspect with the same clothespin on their noses as when the Access Hollywood tape came to light weeks prior to the 2016 election. A hard political choice, the price to pay in order to shift the balance of power on the Supreme Court to a more pro life stance.
Politics can be complicated. Issues are typically complex. Hands typically get dirty to gain political power and to compromise...give a little here, get what you want there. Polarity theory suggests that there are always upsides and downsides of most polarities. America has historically benefited from the rigorous debate inherent in our two party political system. Since Roe vs. Wade, Republicans support anti-abortion legislation fueled by pro-life Evangelicals and some Catholics, while cutting government safety net funding for those who are born and living in poverty. Democrats conversely support a woman's right to choose what happens to her body, and support government funding for the born, supported by most mainline Christian Protestants and I think the Jewish community, as a collective expression of compassion for the the least of these as commanded by the Torah and Jesus.
So it's complicated. Both parties claim a moral high ground of life affirming policies, and turn a blind eye for others sacrificed. Polarity theory suggests that polarities never go away and that effective leadership manages by listening to understand and act to minimize the fears of the opposing side, and strive to stay on the positive upside of each pole. Like, let's make it so that women have the constitutional right to control their own bodies, and not by white men of power who have nothing to lose. Let's craft public policies which build healthy communities in which prenatal care is a priority; birth control methods are taught and accessible; assure a living wage to curb poverty; and minimize the need for abortions.
There are plenty of reasons for moral outrage on both sides of this polarity. And there is plenty of self righteous chest thumping on all sides and fear of the success of the other side to drag us to the down side where we find ourselves. We need each other for a healthy and vigorous debate of the issues to forge a more perfect union.
HOWEVER, this is a moment to take a stand for the values we all share as a nation. History will soon judge us. Will we, like Germans before us, look the other way? Or will we, like some Germans Christians, stand up and repudiate the inhumane policies of our government.
Ordained Presbyterian deacons, elders and ministers of Word and Sacrament are asked a church constitutional question at our ordinations. "Will you be guided by the Book of Confessions?" The Presbyterian Church (USA) has adopted ten historical confessional statements for inclusion into our Book of Confession, which makes up Part One of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Constitution. These are historic statements by the church at particular times in history when an errant understanding of the faith called for clarification. One such confession is "the Theological Declaration of Barmen."
"In May of 1934, some 139 delegates representing eighteen Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches from throughout Germany met in the town of Barmen-Wuppertal to reiterate their common faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In so doing, they were contesting the imposition of Adolf Hitler's National Socialist agenda on the churches in Germany. To appreciate the significance of the Barmen Declaration, one must remember that to oppose the Nazis in 1934 was considered by many Germans to be at the very least unpatriotic and, at the worst, an act of treason.... As the power of the Nazis grew, so too did that of their ardent supporters in the churches, the so-called German Christians. While officially organized on June 6, 1932, the German Christians drew strength from earlier movement that, among other things, championed the need for racial purity, asserted the racial superiority of the German people or 'folk' (Volk), and prosecuted a fierce opposition to Marxists, Jews and others....Once Hitler's grip on power was assured, the Nazis began intervening coercively in church affairs. Among the most notorious laws that the Nazis enacted during these years was the so-called Aryan paragraph, which called for the exclusion from the church of all Christians with Jewish ancestry. This had the egregious effect of making race a direct criterion for church membership. In response to all this, an opposition movement called for a free and confessing church. (Book of Confessions pages 345-346).
Karl Barth, one of the great German theologians of the 20th Century, was the primary author of the Barmen Declaration. The declaration did not mince words. It articulated one key pillar of the gospel of Jesus Christ after another, and rejected the false doctrines of the German Christians which violated the essence of the gospel. They took a stand repudiating public policies contrary to the gospel.
One of the Reformed faith is to be historically informed. I commend the reading and study of the Barmen Declaration today. While the crisis it addressed was different than our challenge today, there is much which resonates, and which can provide moral backbone to our moral and political choices today.
Carolyn Winfrey Gillette is a Presbyterian Christian and contemporary hymn writer. She has composed many hymn texts and set them to familiar hymn tunes in response to various storms and tragedies. She put my righteous anger into words in response to the administration's detention policies on our southern border. We sang them at worship last Sunday. Singing them was an emotionally powerful experience.
Christ, you spoke to us of children;
"Let the children come to me.
Do not stop them, for the kingdom
is for little ones like these."
God, we grieve now as our nation
fails its moral obligation
to receive the refugees.
Christ, you spoke of God's intention:
"Do not cause my children harm!"
Yet we place them in detention,
far from loved ones, scared and worn.
Children, huddled close together,
Grieve for families that are severed;
God of love, what have we done?
Christ, you taught us to give water
And to help the ones who thirst.
Yet in places near the border,
we confess we've done our worst.
those who walk must now walk farther.
We have made their journey harder;
We dump water in the dirt.
God of immigrant and stranger,
God who welcomes those in need,
When your children are in danger,
Will we love them or concede?
May we not seek cheap forgiveness
Till we dare to work for justice--
Till your little ones are freed.
Biblical References: Isaiah 58, Matthew 19:14, Matthew 18:6, Matthew 25:31-46, James 2:14-26
Tune: Polish melody ("Infant Holy, Infant Lowly")
Text: (c) 2019 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com/
Permission is given for free use of this hymn.
Winfrey-Gillette sets I think a proper tone for our moral outrage and stand: not self-righteousness, but humble confession claiming our part in this imperfect union called America. History and our progeny, if not God, will soon judge us. What will we tell our grandchildren when asked where did we stand, what did we do during the Trump administration? Democracy is not easy or clean, but it is the best form of government humanity has ever devised. Now it is our turn as Americans and American Christians to name the false doctrines of this present administration and stand with the strangers, who are our neighbors, and whom the Torah and Jesus taught us to love.
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