Where Will I Stand — A Brief Reflection

As I look at the hatred, born of fear, in this country and world today, my heart breaks. It especially breaks as I look at sectors of the church and society who peddle in the fear of anyone who doesn’t fit their mold. All over this world, the rights of women, BIPOC (black indigenous people of color), and my LGBTQAI+ siblings are being stripped away at the local, state, and national level. I wonder what this has to do with the christian faith they purport to hold. I don’t recognize the Jesus whom they serve.

In his book, Jesus and the Disinherited, the African-American theologian and mystic Howard Thurman reflected on that question in the opening chapter of the book. This reflection can also be found in the book A Strange Freedom: The Best of Howard Thurman on Religious Experience and Public Life (p. 132)

Many and varied are the interpretations dealing with the teachings and the life of Jesus of Nazareth. But few of those interpretations deal with those who stand, at a moment in human history, with their backs against the wall…

Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak. This is a matter of tremendous significance, for it reveals to what extent a religion that was born of a people acquainted with persecution and suffering has become the cornerstone of a civilization and of nations whose very position in modern life has too often been secured by a ruthless use of power applied to weak and defenseless peoples.

As a cisgender white male, I must first recognize my own privilege. Next I must ask who I am truly following. Finally, I must ask do I model the life Jesus called his disciples to model. How will I love God, my neighbor, and even my enemy? Where will I stand in this moment in history? I believe that I must stand with those who have their backs up against the wall.