Friday, September 11, 2020               (today’s lectionary)
Humble beginning
Tribal patriotism is easy to come by in crisis. And by George (W), the events occurring on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 became a crisis for the United States. Bin Laden’s helpers made a plan, it was not intercepted by either the CIA or FBI, and then two twin towers fell, the Pentagon was bombed, 2,977 people were killed and for several days everything just stopped. No airplanes in the air, and not much happening on the ground, either. What would happen next?
Of course I never have inside information, and apparently neither did the president. I wonder why. That question lingers, and Lawrence Wright won a Pulitzer Prize trying to answer it. Nineteen years later the Orwellian-named US Dept. of Homeland Security sometimes stifles, sometimes protects. Since then there have been no bombings here on that scale.
As always, we did some things right and some things wrong in response to Al-Qaeda’s offensive operation. What we did right, I think, was put up a defense and make it strong. What we did wrong, I think, was dismiss humility as an appropriate attitude after the attack. American history abounds in brash confident moves forward. No one much apologizes to people in the way, whether Native Americans or slaves or Irish and Italian immigrants. And if a plan falls apart, we just move on. Eventually White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) win every time.
Paul, arrogant half-blind skinny Jew that he was, found humility in the Damascus dirt, and he never forgot it.
I am free, but I have made myself a slave to all
So as to win over as many as possible.
I have become all things to all, to save at least some.
Paul runs the race to win. He looks straight ahead and probably, like American leaders, rarely apologizes. The difference between Paul and politicians is in the race’s goal, which transcends patriotism and family values and other tempting idols.
Run as to win, like every athlete.
They run to win a perishable crown, but we race for an imperishable crown.
Therefore I do not run aimlessly or fight as if I’m shadowboxing.
No, I drive my body and train it.
Can I sort out the perishable from the imperishable, the tangled threads of propaganda, patriotism, and Spirit? I feel vulnerable, in danger, exposed. I want to settle back into obscurity and sing quietly to my Lord in the closet we inhabit together. Watch my birds.
My soul yearns and pines for you, my living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest.
Jesus loves the birds, but he does not stay in my closet or his. He continually confronts both politicians and priests, leaders that protect some but persecute others, often only to save themselves, offering little justice and less mercy.
Can a blind person guide a blind person? Listen to me!
Jesus is strong, he is angry, he drives like Paul to win the race. Listen to God! Do not listen to the self-protective voice of ego inside your head! Only then can you receive God’s gift of humility. Then you will see your own sin and be still in your suffering, giving it back to God.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye but not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
You hypocrite! Can a blind person guide a blind person? Listen to me!
Be still before God in all your filthy rags. Admit your sin, your most grievous sin. Let God feed you and clean you up, yes, even deck you out, so you can praise Him all day long. That’s evangelism. That’s the message that moves mountains.
           (1 Corinthians 9, Psalm 84, John 17, Luke 6)
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