Once Upon a Sand Creek

Nov 29, 1864 probably doesn’t mean much to most of us.  But it should.

The name John Chivington probably doesn’t mean much to most of us.  But it should.  Especially to the Church.

On Nov 29, 1864, in modern Kiowa County, Colorado, approximately 150 Cheyenne, mainly women and children were slaughtered near their homes by the United States Calvary led by Col. John Chivington.  Chivington had claimed there were upwards of 500 Warriors in the village, but no evidence collaborated this.  Instead, 700 men ran down a village that was little equipped to defend itself.  After the ‘battle’, Chivington’s men returned to the scene to collect trophies of scalps and other body parts, including genitals.

Col John Chivington was known as a cold and brutal man, who employed violence to achieve his ends.  He was known for an accidental attack on a Confederate Supply Train during the Civil War, whereupon he threatened to kill his prisoners. 

But what makes Chivington noteworthy, and infamous, is that he was a Methodist Preacher.  He was a Christian.

Chivington had been appointed as a preacher by the Methodist General Convention and sent to Colorado. He was known as a ‘hell and brimstone’ preacher, one who preached the anger and wrath of God.  He preached against the existence of the Native Americans and urged his congregation members to exterminate them.  When the Civil War broke out, he applied for a commission.  When offered a commission as a Chaplain, he refused, insisting that he was going to be a warrior.  He served and was never punished for the events at Sand Creek.

Today, Chivington should remind us in the Christian Church about the dangers of extremism, of fundamentalism and of hatred wherever it shall be found.  This should be a reminder that we are not called to hate, not called to violence, but to love and to peace.  The Church needed to have helped the Cheyenne and all Natives.  A little less than a hundred years later, Dietrich Bonhoeffer would remind us that the Church has a duty, “not to simply bandage the wounds of victims of the wheels of injustice, [but] we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”

Sand Creek should remind us of our failures of the church in the past to even bandage the wounds.  The Cheyenne, the Sioux, the Navajo, indeed all Natives and all slaves, needed us. 

We should mourn the 29^th of November as a day when a man of peace became a man of violence.  And we should renew our commitment to serve others, to love others and to be that instrument of justice and peace that God has called us to be. 

Wake up! An Advent Reflection

So…be honest….how many of you enjoy coming to church? I mean, really enjoy waking up and getting ready for to come to church? If you have kids, you know that this is a weekly struggle of getting them roused and out of bed, dressed to be somewhat acceptable for societal standards and then throw some breakfast down them and throw them in the car to get them to church on time. 

            In my house, Sunday morning normally begins something like this:

            Me: Owen…wake up.

            Owen: uhhhhhhh…….(rolls back to bed)

            Me: Owen…WAKE UP!!!! We have to go to church!

            Owen: uhhhhh……..why do we have to go to church?

            Me: Because God said so!

            Owen: I don’t want to go to church!

            Me: I don’t care what you want to do….you are going to church! Now GET UP!!!!

            So, this conversation probably sounds familiar in your household.  Church has never been a place that most people have bounded out of bed and headed towards.  Even time is different at church.  I can watch a movie and it feels like no time has passed at all, but a 15 minute sermon….oh my!

            In a lot of ways, I can sympathize with kids…and others…that don’t find church enjoyable.  Growing up, I never wanted to go to church.  Of course, I was an atheist, so maybe that had something to do with it.  I remember one Christmas when my friend really wanted to bring me to church.  He mustered all his nerve up to ask me to go to church.  When he finally did, I simply responded by saying, “Church? Church? It’s Christmas Eve, why would I want to go to church?” (Irony is not lost on me now)

Most of us are probably not morning people...

            My attitude was a long way from the Psalmist’s attitude: “I was glad when they said to me, let us go up to the House of the Lord.”  Glad?  As a kid, I never went to church gladly.  I always resentfully and never found it joyful….simply boring.  I mean, after all…what does the Church have to say to me? To us? To the World? Anything? What can the Church offer?

            This really is the question that the Church asks itself again at the beginning of Advent.  As we begin a new year, the church asks itself, “why do we exist? Do we have any meaning? Is there a purpose to this?”  In the midst of the holiday season, after the busyness of the year, the Church often forgets why we are here and what we are about.

            It’s almost like every Advent, the Church needs to be reminded about its purpose, its vision and its destination. 

            That’s why Advent starts off with these magisterial images of a new world.  Isaiah kicks off our new year with a vision of a different world…a world renewed…a world changed…by God.

In days to come the mountains of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.  Many peoples shall come and say, ‘come let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in its paths.  For out of Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples.  They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn for war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:2-4 NRSV).

            Now talk about an unbelievable picture! Not only will there be world peace…but people will ask…and WANT to go to CHURCH!  Seriously, though, we see that the world is to be transformed into a different place…different from the one we know…the one filled with anger and violence, warfare and strife.  It sounds almost too good to be true.  But it’s not…it’s the Gospel in action.

            Isaiah’s vision is meant to inspire the people of Israel…and the world…to look forward to a new dawn.  The time of Advent is a time to refocus on where we are going as a people.  We have been wearied by reports of World events…of wars and rumors of war…that it is hard for us to imagine that anything else could be different.  One of the reasons perhaps that many people find church ‘boring’ is because we have forgotten this vision of where we are going.  We have forgotten the message that we are supposed to be living out.  We have forgotten to offer people the very thing they are looking for: peace.

            The vision of Isaiah offers something completely different than anything the world can offer.  We often speak of ‘peace’ in political terms.  And while the vision definitely encapsulates this, it is much more expansive than this.  It is for the Hebrew word ~wlv that captures the sense here.  This means ‘completeness’ or ‘wholeness.’  People will be so at peace that disarmament will be an individual project, where people will give up their weapons and contribute to the common good by providing food for all.  

            But how is this supposed to come about?  We sometimes read a passage like this and we think that this is going to happen overnight, as if we don’t have to do anything.  We can sit back and let nature take its course and peace will magically appear.  But that’s not how it happens, is it?  This vision of Isaiah is the destination to which we are heading. It is God’s promise, but the way we get there is to live ourselves into it. 

            That is why Paul, in his letters to the Romans, tells people to ‘wake up.’ “you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep’ (Rom 13:11 NRSV).  What does he mean by this?

      

      Paul has been talking about how different the Christian life is in light of the promises of God.  He is trying to get the people to live into those promises of God.  He says that we should lay aside the ‘works of darkness’ and put on the ‘armor of light.’ What ‘light’ is Paul talking about? It is the same light of Isaiah. The early Church theologian Origen says, “the light is dawning everywhere, and the reign of darkness is rapidly coming to an end,’ which is because of the decisive work of God in Jesus Christ. 

            Paul declares that it is a ‘new day’ and because of this new day, people are changed people.  What is remarkable is that even in the midst of preaching the gospel of grace, Paul declares the ethical imperative for the people to enact the gospel promises of peace. We are to become ‘peace’ people…a community of Shalom.  We are to ‘walk in the light’ and to encourage others to live into the gospel values of peace and love and wholeness.

            I love when the church gets this right…and we do!  We have to remember that it was the Church that built and developed many of the early hospitals.  It was the church that retained a love of education and sought to educate much of the world.  It was the church that led the way in developing orphanages and it was church that has helped many people get back on its feet. 

            Personally, I remember a time when my church personally helped a young family get back on their feet.  It was near Christmas time and this family was living out in their car.  They had a very small child and another child on the way.  Our small church, with its budget stretched beyond imagination stepped up and provided a place for them to stay.  We were able to get the young man a job so he could work and provide money for his young and growing family.  This was a time when church ‘worked,’ when we were able to be that community of shalom.

            But too often, the church has lost sight of this.  I mean, how often have you heard of a church that has been a shining example of shalom to the world?  Too often, we get bogged down in internal conflict within the church.  We fight over…well everything! We fight over what type of music should be played, we fight over the color of carpets and we fight over who said what to whom.  Forget ‘world’ peace…often times we would like to find peace in our own church!

            And yet, isn’t this the entire point of what we have been celebrating? Isn’t this what Jesus, Paul, and Isaiah point us to during this time…during every time?

            What would happen if we took these passages seriously? What would happen if we truly began living in peace? What would happen if we became a ‘shalom’ people?  Sound too good to be true?   Maybe…but when people become captivated by the message of peace…with the message of the gospel…anything can happen…at any time!

            There is a reason that Jesus warns his disciples that the kingdom of God can break out and occur at any point.  Advent should be for us a time to stay alert for new possibilities, for new signs of the coming of the kingdom.  Jesus warns his listeners that life may seem to go on normally, as if nothing would ever change.  But here…and there…change can happen! The kingdom of peace can break in at any moment.

            You may have heard the story that happened during WW1 on Christmas Eve, but it is worth telling again.  The trenches of France were hardly a place where peace could reign…it was hardly a place that peace could have a foothold! People had been shooting at each other, killing each other and it seemed like there would be no end.  Then Christmas Eve came around and there was a ceasefire.  Somebody began to sing ‘Silent Night’ and before you know it, others joined in.  The German lines heard the singing and then they began to sing the song.  In that moment, dreaded enemies…people who had been shooting and killing each other just moments before, were joined together in their hearts and in their voices as they sung of eternal peace.  After this, hockey games happened between the two sides and there was, for a brief shining moment, a living realization of Isaiah’s vision.  Peace had come into the world! 

            As Advent begins, we hear the Gospel call back to the vision and promise that God has for the world.  We are called to come awake and to live out the gospel values that help embody the kingdom of Peace that Jesus has come to establish.  We are called to look out for signs of that peace that is breaking into our world.

            People have learned to ignore the Church because we have strayed from our vision.  Instead of a kingdom of peace, they see a people who have lost their way, who no longer know what they are living for.  The church has often times lost its excitement and passion for the coming kingdom… to embody the promises of God.  They may hear us singing our Carols and our Hymns, but they don’t think we mean them. 

            Advent is a time for us to renew ourselves and our Church.  At Advent, God calls us to

Wake Up! 

            But the message is not, “Wake up, we have to go to church.”

            No, instead, the message is and always has been, “wake up…it’s time to be the Church.”

Forgive and Forget?

Here is a tale of two ways.

The first way is described at the beginning of Dexter Filkin’s book The Forever War.  A group of people have come to witness a trial and sentencing of a murderer.  Under Islamic law, the accused could go free if the victim’s father will forgive the murderer.  While the accused’ s father begs for his sons life, the victim’s father is unmoved.  “I am not able to forgive him.”  With that, the sentence is handed out and the accused murder is beheaded.

On Oct 6, 2006 a horrific event happened in Nickel Mines, PA.  A lone gunman entered a one room Amish school house and shot 10 girls and killed five, the worse shooting in the town’s history. But what happened next amazed the world: the families of the girls who were shot came to the shooter’s house and forgave his family.  

This illustrates two ways: the way of justice and the way of forgiveness. This is not an indictment of one culture and praise of another, because justice and forgiveness belong to all cultures.  Rather, this reminds us of the important tension that exists in our world whenever tragedy happens and whenever bad things happen in our lives. 

This week we are reminded again of this tension and provided with a choice of which path we should take.  The bombings in Boston and the actions of Dr. Gosnell are just two examples of the horror that exists in our world.  In both events, innocent people were brutally murdered, lives were irrevocably changed and the world again tasted the horror that undergirds much of our daily existence.

Already the internet is cluttered with calls for these men’s blood.  These are echoes and reminders of calls to war from the recent past and throughout human history.  Can society heal

The question at the heart of this, is can we and should we practice forgiveness? Can we forgive the Boston Bombers for their actions that took the lives of three people and injured close to two hundred? Can we forgive Dr. Gosnell for the brutal murder of innocent children? Or on a closer level: can we forgive those that have wronged us today? Can we forgive our wives and our husbands for the things they do to us? Can we forgive bosses and co-workers for being insensitive? Can we live on the path of forgiveness?

To suggest that we should does not negate the justice question in anyway. The surviving Boston bomber must be put on trial and sentenced.  Dr. Gosnell must own up to his crimes.  Each of these must pay the consequences for their actions.  Forgiveness is not about ‘forgetting’ that a crime happened, or letting someone ‘off the hook,’ and to look the other way.  It is not about ignoring the consequences of behavior, but rather dealing with the consequences in a healthy and positive way.

While forgiveness may not be a uniquely Christian grace, it is a central one.  Forgiveness has played an important role in the Christian faith from the beginning. It may not have always been practiced as much as it should have been, but it is at the heart of the Christian life. 

Jesus taught the path of forgiveness.  In the heart of the Lord’s Prayer, we read, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matt 6:12). When Peter asks how many times he should forgive someone, Jesus responds, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:22). He reiterates to his disciples, “forgive and you will be forgiven.”  And most importantly of all, in the face of even his own death, Jesus not only taught the path of forgiveness, he lived it, for as he was being crucified, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34).

The Amish believe that forgiveness should be practiced as much as possible. They understand that their forgiveness is bound up with the forgiveness that we display to others.  They understand that if they do not forgive, God will not forgive them. While this may and does seem self-serving the other side of this is that if they truly forgive a person, then God will forgive that person as well (Matt 18:18).  In other words, they believe that there is a real correlation between the forgiveness we practice here on earth and the forgiveness that God grants in heaven. For an unbeliever, this may seem an inconsequential thing, but for believers, this is extremely significant. This is where we put our lives to the test and allow forgiveness to rule in our hearts.

If we do not allow ourselves to forgive, then unforgiveness and the sin of others will rule our lives.  When we forgive, we free ourselves from the sins of other people.

When we forgive someone, we acknowledge that there was a wrong done and hurt was the result.  With forgiveness, we restore the relationship we had, but in the light of the hurt.  We can’t pretend or ignore the events, but nor should we dwell on them. 

This may seem easy when the infractions are less serious, when a person has missed a date or misplaced some important information.  But what about when we are talking about serious offenses, like murder, terrorism and acts of violence.  Can we forgive then? Should we forgive then?

I am not directly related to either of these events, nor directly involved with the major tragedies of our day.  I do not, for a second, want to minimize or trivialize anybody’s pain.  I do not want to say that I have experienced similar things, because I haven’t.  I do not want to say that I can even imagine the level of suffering that has been present in people’s lives.  I do not want to gloss over their pain and their suffering. 

But at the same time, I have been the object and victim of cruel things.  I have been betrayed, I have been rejected, I have been abandoned.  I understand pain and the desire for revenge.  On the other hand, I have betrayed, I have rejected and I have abandoned, and I recognize the desire to be forgiven.  I stand as one who has betrayed God, abandoned God, forsaken God, and yet at the same time has been forgiven by God, welcomed by God, loved by God and accepted by God.

Christ calls us to forgive one another and the way of peace is the way of forgiveness. Imagine if we could, on an individual level, forgive those who have wronged us.  Imagine if we would heed the prayer that we pray every week and ‘forgive our debtors.’ Imagine what good could happen in this world if we could do this.    Imagine, if we could, as a country, and as a culture embrace the grace of forgiveness.

I am not a ‘pie in the sky’ idealist. Countries have interests to protect…namely their people.  And while the State must do what it needs to do, the people who make up the state can practice the art of forgiveness.

The work begins, as always, with us, with individuals. We must work to cultivate forgiveness in our lives.  When people wrong us, especially in the small and ordinary things in our lives, we must work to overcome our pride and forgive them. This leads us to be able to forgive people for bigger crimes against us.  Most of us will never deal with the events like the tragedies we have mentioned, but if we forgive for smaller things, we can work at forgiving the bigger ‘stuff.’

Forgiveness is a path that we can walk.  We might not be able or ready to forgive people for everything right away.  But with time, we can work at it and to forgive people as Christ as forgiven us.