Monday Morning Manna

“When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.”                                                                                    Exodus 33:4-5, NIV

Many years have now passed and I’m still upset with Kurt!  Kurt was my roommate my freshman year in college and later it was determined that he and I were related but even still I have unfavorable thoughts about Kurt today.  The story goes that I held a job while simultaneously attending college and due to the income I received I was often able to afford things that the average college student could not. Of my many treasured purchases one of my most favorite was a pair of Air Jordan sneakers.  Specifically, they were the Jordan IX’s that came out in 1993.  They were the ones that were made after Mike led the bulls to their third consecutive championship just prior to him retiring to play baseball later that year. Because the typical college student is strapped for cash it was smart to always lock one’s dorm room so as to ensure that all of your stuff would be there upon your return.  Sometime late one night I entered the room only to find that several of my treasures had been stolen and one of the items were my new J’s.  I was livid to say the least!  Brothers and Sisters, in my opinion there is nothing worse than having something stolen from you!  Had I lost them at least I would have known that it was my fault; had I given them away at least I would have known that I did a great deed and had I torn them at least I would have known what happened to them but to have a thing stolen from you is awful.  Theft is awful because the human mind has to garner its response to the violation.  As you can imagine for the next several weeks I made it my business to look at everyone’s feet that left the dorm in hope that I would find my sneakers.  Second, I put up signs all over campus inquiring about the theft and most of all for at least the rest of that year the thought that someone had victimized me in such a cowardly way never left my psyche.  In time, I grew to forgive Kurt for leaving our room door unlocked but even after over twenty years have passed whenever I see Kurt, the first thing that crosses my mind is that he owes my $125.00.  I say all of this to segway into my thought that once something is stolen the violation can never be erased from the human mind and the overwhelming feeling of victimization tends to remain in the soul often making one distrustful of others.  To that end, my heart pains for the families of George Floyd, Ahmoud Arbery, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor and Trayvon Martin, to name a few.  These are the names of just a few people whose lives were stolen by mere murderers.  I cry for their families and am angered by the events that caused each of them to meet their untimely demise.  Today, a national outcry is occurring across the country by those who may not be related to either of them by blood but all of our souls can certainly relate to the victimization that each of them and their families have had to endure.  The outcry of this moment is being felt in the states of Minnesota, Georgia, California, Tennessee and to some degree even smaller states like Louisiana and Mississippi.  Every red-blooded American should be livid at this total disregard for human life and at the time of this writing many are exhibiting their anger in a plethora of unfruitful ways under the guise of peaceful protest.  Sadly, it’s even more painful to me that politicians at the highest levels as well as, evangelical leaders have remained silent.  The danger in silence is that according to the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, “silence equals consent.”   

Regardless, of what your feelings may be about this national disaster my appeal is that the best responses to it are prayer, protest and empathy.  In the verse above the children of Israel have been abundantly blessed by God.  He has brought them out of slavery in Egypt through the leadership of Moses.  If having freed them wasn’t enough, God also provided food for them during their times of hunger and water for them so long as, they were thirsty.  It followed that Moses left the congregation of over 2,000,000 people and went atop of Mt. Sinai to commune with God about what steps needed to be taken next and to receive the Ten Commandments.  While Moses was away rather than glorify God the large congregation opted to build and worship and idol god in the form of a golden calf made from their own personal gold ornaments.   Because of their actions God informed Moses that He was going to allow the children of Israel to no longer enjoy His Divine Protection which led them to immediately remove all of their remaining ornaments and to seek Gods forgiveness. The decision by God to remove His protection drove Moses to pray empathically for his kinsmen in hope that God would rescind His decision.  Isn’t it interesting that Moses didn’t protest, he prayed first and he didn’t turn a blind eye to what he saw instead, he prayed! Moses had no idea why these people would have behaved in such a way nor, did he understand the deepest desires of their soul but he did what he could which was to pray.  I appeal to you my brother and sister to do likewise and pray for the many lives being impacted by the stolen lives of beloved souls.  Though like Moses, you may not understand the situation and you may not have ever experienced victimization and you may not share the same bloodline as those impacted and you may not agree with any of their actions, you can pray for them by name!  To be honest, I hardly doubt that one can boast of being pro-life and remain silent during a life being taken irregardless of how it may have happened.  Additionally, I doubt that one can boast of being anything close to Christian if human tragedy can be viewed as not their business.  Every Christian should be concerned, every American should be angry and every human being should be hurt by the taking of innocent life no matter one’s race, color, gender, sexual and/or religious preference.  Every human being deserves to be treated humanely regardless of what they’ve done and the only one who should ever take life is, He who gave it! I declare that we are a better nation than this and we are a better people.  That said, I encourage empathy and prayer in the wake of everything that is playing itself out on the world stage.  In response to the outbreak of virus and disease we must pray, in response to loss of life, we must pray and in response to an atypical political climate we as the children of God must pray!  It was precisely empathic prayer by Moses that indeed led God to renege on His decision which caused Moses to then ask God to show him His Glory.  The story goes on to report that God told Moses, that no one could see His Glory and live but that He would place Moses in a cliff, put His hands over Moses’ eyes and walk by so, that when He had passed a step or two that He could remove His hand so that Moses could see His back.  If you were Moses in that cliff that day, what you would have seen was Gods back as He moved past which would have been just enough for you to know that God above all is seeable, knowable and touchable.  Saints, I believe that God Himself pains at the senseless loss of the myriad of lives named earlier in this writing as He too hurts anytime anyone anywhere is victimized.  Nonetheless, the Good News is that He can be seen, known, touched and His ears are always open to those who pray.  This week, I beg you to join me in prayer for our world, our country, our faith and every one of our personal relationships! Unfortunately, times like these in the not too distant past have divided us as a nation but my argument is that having seen enough what we ought do now is pray keeping in mind that, “Whenever life gets too difficult for us to stand, we must Kneel!’     

Sincerely,

A. Darrell Barlow, D.Min