What’s a Teenager to Think?

     I hear that 1968 was a troubling year to be a teenager. The Smithsonian Magazine called it, “The Year that Shattered America.” Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. The Vietnam war made LBJ a devil in the eyes of young people across America and around the world. Protesters outside the Democratic National Convention were dispersed with teargas. 

     Today we are a nation that can’t decide whether to honor, graffiti, or ignore the past. We can’t decide whether we want the rule of law, either. If it means police brutality, we don’t. If it means the end of riots, we do. What would Charles Dickens say? On another note...

    Will there be another George Floyd?

    Teenagers, like so many of the rest of us have to work incredibly hard to find a firm place to stand. There’s no one way to describe it. Confusion abounds. If you’re poor, you see it one way. If you’re rich, you see it another. Black students will see it different from white. What about Latinos? I don’t hear much talk about immigration at the moment. The world teens are inheriting is male vs female; woke vs asleep; liberal vs conservative; capitalist vs socialist; Democrat vs Republican; Christian vs Secularist; city vs country; country vs hip hop; cat vs dog, and dog eat world. There are even people who believe the earth is flat and that the Apollo space missions were a hoax.

     Increasingly, a student looking at the smorgasbord of ideas gets the hunch that she is expected to see everything on a scale. She must either choose all the options that are associated with the left or the right. There is a widening chasm between them, similar to the all or nothing approach that rent the country in two over slavery. If she thinks this is unfair and tries to find a middle position she runs the risk of being labeled a defector from one camp or the other. We need her, more than ever, to have the courage to step into the middle and listen...really listen.

     Politics used to have reasonable boundaries. It used to be that dinner conversations with polite friends would avoid the topics of religion or politics. What now can we talk about today that excludes them? Are we nearing the point where choosing a dog or cat for a pet means we are liberal or conservative? Can Republicans be vegan? 

     If I were a teenager today, I would look long and hard for the most stable thing I could find in the sea of ideas. With storms and turmoil all around, I would look for something that has stood the test of time. Not everything new is better; not everything old is either. Just because some voices shout louder and longer doesn’t make them right. If an otherwise trusty car has a faulty headlight don’t scrap the whole thing, learn to fix or improve what’s broken and keep it on the road. 

     

Racism, Riots, and America, the Beautiful

     When Katherine Bates wrote the words to “America the Beautiful” she had no idea it would become so popular. In poles, many prefer it to our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It’s easier to sing and not so warlike. I wonder if she would have written the fourth verse the same if she were still alive. It goes like this,

O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years, Thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!

     Recent events have looked like anything but brotherhood in gleaming cities. Today we learned that Derek Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder related to the death of George Floyd. It’s unclear whether this will soothe the anger that boiled over into rioting in cities all across America and even around the globe.
   

 When it comes to politics there seems to be an assumption that those who are on the Left must be heard shouting against racism and that those on the Right must be heard condemning the riots. Those on the Left try to paint those on the right as racists and those on the Right try to paint those on the Left as anarchists.
     If all we see in each other are terrible characterizations the gap between “us vs them” will only widen. I can see that happening quickly and it’s alarming. More and more aspects of our lives are becoming politicized and as new issues arise the two parties scramble to be on the “right side of history.” Stereotypes are also more deeply entrenched than ever. If I’m a Republican, am I allowed to believe in global warming? If I’m a Democrat, am I allowed to think that it’s wrong to kill human life in the womb?
     I see a metaphorical table in the middle with seats set around. People are in the stands. The two-party teams are facing each other on the field. Angry participants on either side have dug trenches and strung razor wire. Exploding bombs and missiles are in the air, being hurled by both sides in the newspapers, on newscasts, and on social media. Strategists with headsets look for the most damning words in each article or video, rip them out of context, and hold up these bloody scalps for the rest of their righteous party to gawk at. “See,” they tell themselves and each other, “What more proof do we need?!”
    Some try to make it to the table to have personal conversations—to speak honestly and to listen generously. Those who find a seat notice quickly that they all look very different from each other, and they don’t talk with the same grammatical precision. Yet, perhaps we might hear them slowly join in a song with a familiar tune:

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife. Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than strife! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!

     I think Katherine Bates saw this country with eyes wide open. Perfect? No. Something to embrace? Yes. I think she would call us to strive to make things better without losing sight of America the Beautiful. There are still open seats at the table.

Galatians 3:28; John 7:24; John 13:34; James 2:8-9

Follow Jesus Away from Racism

John 4

Racist. Today this label can get you fired, ostracized, and branded untouchable in our culture. But as I look around, racism seems to be alive and well despite the efforts of both religious and non-religious people.

Racism, as I see it, is when I think I'm better than someone else because of what race I am, what my race has accomplished or what my race is capable of doing. It is a branch of elitism and prejudiced is a related term.

Jesus knew about racism and intentionally placed himself right in the middle of the issue. One of the realities of his day was a deep-seeded resentment between Jews and Samaritans. How did he respond? In stead of walking around Samaria to get to Galilee from Judea he walked right into Samaria and asked a Samaritan woman for a drink (totally scandalous!). Their ensuing conversation is incredibly enlightening because Jesus showed concern for her as a person. He did not profile her. He merely offered her what she wanted most: Redemption.

As a Christian I am sensitive to this issue because Christians are sometimes labeled intolerant, sexist, homophobic or bigoted elitists. Nice. Some of that criticism is deserved, especially when some of us go around dropping "truth bombs" on hapless citizens without concern for the effect it will have. What sets us apart is our claim to know the truth. That's something from we can't shy away, nor apologize. But, truth must be packaged in love (Ephesians 4:15). We'll be getting somewhere when we are as concerned with the way in which our message is received as we are on "getting it off our chest."

Ultimately, racism won't die until Jesus returns and banishes all our superiority complexes. But in the mean time I think we'll get closest to what Jesus did with the woman of Samaria by facing the problem head-on. If Jesus didn't think he was too good to sit at a Samaritan well, neither should we.

Paul's words in Galatians 3:28 seem like a good way to end:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you [Christians] are all one in Christ Jesus."