What Are We Witnessing?
This week saw the passing of yet another international Holocaust Remembrance Day. On April 18th people from around the globe took a moment or more to think upon all that happened in those days. Of the genocide that happened throughout Europe.
For me, reading Elie Wiesel’s Night helped me better understand some of what happened to those who lived through that atrocity. Others read Number the Stars, The Devil’s Arithmetic, The Hiding Place, or even The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Countless people have told their stories of those times. And it’s important to remember those stories. To tell those stories. To serve as living witnesses to the suffering of many.
But as another Holocaust Remembrance Day passes, I look to my faith as a place that I see another death that mattered. Jesus. No one wants to dwell on the heavy suffering and torture of Christ, but in so many ways it is the aspect of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection that people can understand. Yes, Christ’s grief at the passing of Lazarus hits pretty close to home, but something about suffering is relatable and pretty universal.
And the question becomes, the convicting or inspiring question, is what are we witnessing? What are we seeing in our lifetimes that need to be talked about. Remembered. Fought for and against.
Food instability is on the rise. There’s a growing housing crisis. Illness is treated as a crime. Gun violence is on the rise. The North Texas Conference is sharing resources, condemning in public forums actions that are oppressive, and praying for the people in our neighborhoods. Our neighbors, both geographically and spiritually. There are always going to be people who do good and the right thing. But are we truly among them? The people who are crying out to God for justice and mercy as the Israelites did during their captivity in Egypt? Are we able to see that others are oppressed and downtrodden and suffering just as Christ did because of fear, greed, anger, or pride? We are fixing immediate, physical needs, but is that all the suffering in the world?
It is easy to honor ourselves and God’s goodness when we look at the work we do here in Valley View to participate in God’s kingdom. We feed hungry people, we cloth the naked (nobody leaves shoeless!), and we offer some financial resources for a crisis. We do good here. But is it enough?
There are people right now who are afraid for their lives. They are fleeing from certain states to others because they worry they will be arrested, imprisoned, beaten, or murdered. And it’s not just individuals who are victims of domestic violence and abuse- it’s whole swaths of people who identify in certain ways. Women and girls are worried about their right to bodily autonomy. Trans-men and trans-women are worried about their right to live. BIPOC are worried about violence enacted by police (and this week a home owner shot a 16 year old because he rang his doorbell…) All people are of sacred worth and let the person who is without sin cast the first stone… so what are we witnessing? What are we called to do to help people? To stand with them against oppression?
I passed a billboard this week while I was in the city that asked what I found to be an incredibly convicting question. It was about how many synagogues in bigger cities have to have armed guards. It’s not an option for them anymore because their places of worship are being targeted by acts of violence. And not just gun violence when people gather, but arson and painted swastikas violence. I know mosques and other gathering places for those who follow Islam are still living with increased security because of the violence enacted upon them by their communities. These are people who do not share my faith, but that does not mean I want violence to happen to them. It’s where the silence is complicity idea comes in. When we do not condemn the things we see, when we do not use our power and voice to help those who have no power and no voice, we are silent. We are not crying out to God for mercy and justice.
This is no lighthearted joking end to this one. Reality is kind of awful sometimes. And so much of the hate and violence that we do witness comes from one human to another. I want to witness the kindness and goodness, not the hate and animosity. I want to witness the feeding of the people, not the starving. I want to witness the children finding true joy, not becoming jaded. I want to witness the peace, not the fear and persecution. May God guide us all into the kingdom where such things happen every single day.
