Last week, we found a swastika on the wall of a hallway in our church.
It was about the height of a fourth grader. It had been written in chalk, which was smeared as if the person who drew it tried to erase their mark, but failed. Probably, it was some childhood double-dare gone awry. But even so, it bothered us...maybe because another local church had a swastika carved onto its door last month, and its banners proclaiming God's love for all people torn down and cast onto the lawn.
Who have we become in America?
Or, maybe the better question - who have we remained?
When many of us think about civil rights issues, the 1960s jump to mind. Ironically, black and white photos and grainy television footage stand as reminders of a time when the world was truly seen in black and white. But the unfortunate reality is that fear of the other is still an enormous problem in our society today.
Racism.
Homophobia.
Islamophobia.
They are all real issues that real people struggle with every day.
Here's the thing - many of us don't see the problem. Out here in whitewashed suburbia, what are we supposed to do about it? Similarly, what about those small, rural towns where everybody knows everybody and has known everybody since forever? How can we deal with the fear of the other when we don't know the other, personally and truly?
Interestingly enough....evangelism might be able to help.
That sentence probably sounds crazy. Often, when we think of evangelism, we think of Bible-bashing, sign-waving people on street corners asking if you know what would happen to you if you died on the spot. But that's not true evangelism. Evangelism, in its most honest and honorable form, is sharing the Good News of God's love with others - not God's judgment. Evangelism that proclaims God's judgment glorifies condemnation. The world already has enough of that, and frankly, I don't think God has much interest in adding to that. Evangelism that proclaims love, on the other hand....that might be a game changer.
People say a lot of things about God, both good and bad. But what if we start here: God loves us, and calls us by name. I teach this to kids all the time - Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so....Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Why does that truth get hidden behind judgment once we grow up? We love because God first loved us. And, since God loves us, we ought to love others in a way that mirrors that love. God loves me - and God loves you.
Scripture is full of evidence to God's love. Besides the gospel narrative itself, which is entirely centered on a self-sacrificing God to the benefit of God's creation, the Bible is peppered with statements of love:
"I have called you by name; you are mine." - Isaiah 43:1
"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." - Jeremiah 1:5
"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God." - 1 John 3:1
In God's love, there are no divisions. Divisions are something that we have made up as humans, to help us understand ourselves and others. Unfortunately, with these divisions, inequality has too quickly followed. We are all equal in God's eyes - with God, "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave nor free, there is no longer male nor female, for all of (us) are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).
This doesn't mean that there are not things that make us different from one another, or that we should ignore those things that make us unique in favor of steamrolling everyone into the same assimilated form. But it means that we should celebrate those things that make us unique as gifts that God has given us out of God's infinite creativity.
We can often see those things that make us different more easily than those things that make us the same. But the fact that we are all beloved children of God is the single most important thing. That one enormous similarity outweighs a myriad of less important differences. We don't need to be afraid of the "other," because at our very core, there is no other.
Of course, all of this means little if it isn't put into practice. We cannot say one thing and act in a way that is contradictory - this is an insult to God, and the reason why so-called evangelism often fails. It isn't enough to say that we love others as God intends if we do not put that love into action. One of the most powerful ways that we can do this is by intentionally building meaningful relationships with people that are different from ourselves. Building relationships with people different than us requires us to go out of our way, putting ourselves in environments where we will encounter people who we classify as the "other." One way that I intend to do this is by volunteering with a local organization that helps refugees settle and acclimate to life in the United States. I hope that doing so will be a particularly powerful testimony against the fear-based rhetoric surrounding refugees that currently pervades socio-political dialogue.
As we seek to build these relationships, we need to show love without an expectation of reciprocity. Love for the sake of love is a powerful testimony to God's identity, and it is a philosophy that truly has the ability to change the world. Love inspires love, and unloving hearts are changed through love.
To overcome fear of the other, we have to blur the line between "us" and "them." Evangelism can help...if the message that we seek to spread is that God loves everybody.
After all, Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world.
We should too.
Bibliography:
Meyer, Holly. "Why a Nashville pastor urges congregation to answer swastika, vandalism with love." The Tennesseean. Last modified November 14, 2016. Accessed December 1, 2016. http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2016/11/14/why-nashville-pastor-urges-congregation-answer-swastika-vandalism-love/93793792/
Teasdale, Mark. Evangelism for Non-Evangelists: Sharing the Gospel Authentically. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016.
"World Relief Nashville." Accessed December 1, 2016. http://worldreliefnashville.org/.
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