[Epicopal Diocese of West Missouri]

Aug. 17, 2017

I was on the road when it happened, away from my home and my office, booked solid from dawn ‘til dusk for 10 straight days. I was swamped. Then the news broke from Charlottesville. Confrontation and violence on the streets of a normally beautiful college town.

I asked myself, “Marty, shouldn’t you respond? Shouldn’t you post something, blog something, offer a word or a thought or – well, something?” It felt like the answer should be “Yes”, but what should I say or do? From my point of view, decrying the white supremacists and pointing out how wrong they are would be an exercise in informing people of what they already know. It’s just so obvious. To me that is. Consequently, what could I contribute?And even as I’m thinking all this inside my head, the knee-jerk reactions start pouring out and into my phone, TV, computer, and iPad. OK. To be honest, castigating some of the responses as “knee-jerk” may be too pejorative. Some of them were well thought-out and worthy. Others were just the literary equivalent of a string of four-letter words. Some of them actually and literally were a string of four-letter words! A member of my own family could only respond by dropping an “F-bomb” on Facebook. Some of the most awful reactions came from people with whom I am in absolute agreement about the scourge of racism, white nationalism, and Neo-Nazism. I was ready for the vitriol from those who back that morally bankrupt line of thought. I was not ready – though I should have been (I guess I’m still a bit naïve) – for the hate that came from the mouths and pen and keystrokes of progressives.

And even as I’m thinking all this inside my head, the knee-jerk reactions start pouring out and into my phone, TV, computer, and iPad. OK. To be honest, castigating some of the responses as “knee-jerk” may be too pejorative. Some of them were well thought-out and worthy. Others were just the literary equivalent of a string of four-letter words. Some of them actually and literally were a string of four-letter words! A member of my own family could only respond by dropping an “F-bomb” on Facebook. Some of the most awful reactions came from people with whom I am in absolute agreement about the scourge of racism, white nationalism, and Neo-Nazism. I was ready for the vitriol from those who back that morally bankrupt line of thought. I was not ready – though I should have been (I guess I’m still a bit naïve) – for the hate that came from the mouths and pen and keystrokes of progressives.So, seeing the early and emotional reactions sprouting up from private persons, prognosticators, and pundits alike, I decided to wait a bit. The moment seemed to call me to stop and think. Do I need to react at all? If I posted or blogged or offered my tortured verbiage every time one of the ills of our society was put on display (as so graphically happened in Charlottesville), I would hardly ever get anything else done but writing comments. And that’s not all a bishop is elected to do. By a long shot. Besides, if I comment on everything, I’ll be the boy who cried wolf. No one will pay any attention, and I will have effectively drowned myself out by the volume of my own commenting.

So, seeing the early and emotional reactions sprouting up from private persons, prognosticators, and pundits alike, I decided to wait a bit. The moment seemed to call me to stop and think. Do I need to react at all? If I posted or blogged or offered my tortured verbiage every time one of the ills of our society was put on display (as so graphically happened in Charlottesville), I would hardly ever get anything else done but writing comments. And that’s not all a bishop is elected to do. By a long shot. Besides, if I comment on everything, I’ll be the boy who cried wolf. No one will pay any attention, and I will have effectively drowned myself out by the volume of my own commenting.

Obviously, my second thoughts didn’t clear matters up, but they helped me to know that I needed time to think. I’ve had a few days to do that, now. So, helpful or not, here’s what I’ve been thinking …

Charlottesville, Virginia. It used to bring to me historic remembrances of the Civil War in which it figured somewhat prominently. Now it reminds me that the causes of the Civil War have not gone away. They’re egregiously, terrifyingly present in our society and our day. Racism, one group feeling superior to another, and the accompanying, pervasive sense of entitlement – all these have not gone away. Yes, these, and so many other faults in our national life, are just too ubiquitous to ignore.

How do I react to that truth? What do I do about it?

Right now, my thoughts take me back to the five baptismal promises that, together with the Nicene Creed, form The Baptismal Covenant of The Episcopal Church (see p. 304-5, The Book of Common Prayer, 1979). They’re all pertinent to this sad occurrence, but the 2nd, 4th, and 5th are most applicable:

2.) Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?

4.) Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

5.) Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

To all these questions, each individual answers: “I will, with God’s help.” This is her or his expression of intent. Here are the lessons I learn anew in this moment by revisiting numbers 2, 4, & 5.

To resist evil, I must acknowledge that evil is also part of me. Resisting evil will not make me good. Whenever I resist evil, I stand the very real chance of falling into sin. I may become the mirror image of that which I resist. I think that happened in Charlotte. Clearly there was enough confrontation, enough in-your-face derision and contempt from both sides to set off what happened. Yes, a single fanatic drove the car into the crowd injuring many and killing a woman who, by all reports, was a concerned and caring person. But this was mob mentality. And there was a bit too much of it on all sides. So, repent we must. I must. For even though I wasn’t there, I cannot say I have had no part in racism’s persistence on this globe. My sins are surely sins of omission as well as commission. When I resist evil, I may fall into sin. I must keep that in mind lest I sanctify my hate, consecrate how I dehumanize another, or hallow my false assumption that I am superior because my beliefs are so much purer.I am called to love Christ in all persons because each person I meet is Christ in disguise. Jesus made that clear, so I am called to love Christ in all persons. Not white ones or black ones or those of any other hue. All persons. I promised to do that. I’ve renewed that promise uncounted times. I’m supposed to mean it. Loving my neighbor as myself is hard because I don’t get to choose who my neighbor is. I have never had control of who enters my life – maybe over who continues in my life – but never over who enters. I have promised to love that person be she a stranger, newly met, or be he a beloved friend of long-standing. I have vowed to love my neighbor as myself even if he joins the White Nationalists, even if she rallies with Neo-Nazis, even if he puts on the bed-sheet hood of a KKKlansman. That person too is the Christ I am to seek and serve.

I am called to love Christ in all persons because each person I meet is Christ in disguise. Jesus made that clear, so I am called to love Christ in all persons. Not white ones or black ones or those of any other hue. All persons. I promised to do that. I’ve renewed that promise uncounted times. I’m supposed to mean it. Loving my neighbor as myself is hard because I don’t get to choose who my neighbor is. I have never had control of who enters my life – maybe over who continues in my life – but never over who enters. I have promised to love that person be she a stranger, newly met, or be he a beloved friend of long-standing. I have vowed to love my neighbor as myself even if he joins the White Nationalists, even if she rallies with Neo-Nazis, even if he puts on the bed-sheet hood of a KKKlansman. That person too is the Christ I am to seek and serve. Wow that’s hard.It strikes close to home, too. My extended family, in the last several years, has become gloriously colorful. By that I mean, we are no longer all of

It strikes close to home, too. My extended family, in the last several years, has become gloriously colorful. By that I mean, we are no longer all of European descent, aka white. My son is married to a woman who is at least partly of African descent, who unabashedly shares that she has a multi-racial background. She is my daughter. Period. My wife’s sister’s daughter, our niece, just got engaged to a man she met in college; he too is of African descent. I look forward to the day when he is my nephew. My niece’s brother, our nephew, recently married a Turkish woman who is Muslim. I’m going to Maine in September to their U.S. wedding reception (the big party in Turkey was a couple of weeks ago). I am happy beyond words that they found each other.

Resist evil. Repent. Love your neighbor who is Christ in disguise. What else?

Oh yes. Strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of all. These certainly go hand-in-hand with and build upon the other two. To seek justice and peace is not to seek victory. Justice is not served by squashing our neighbor, nor by using war to impose peace. Everyone — and this includes those who believe their white supremacist creed, or any other belief I would classify as bigotry — are children of their Creator God. That — not their actions — means they deserve their dignity; that means I must respect their dignity as I have promised. It would be nice if they’d respect me in return, or respect their neighbors, their fellow human beings, in return. However, the promises I made to God, when I answered the Baptismal Covenant questions as I did, do not have a proviso about reciprocity. It is not, I’ll respect their dignity if they respect mine. My promise has no quid pro quos.

In the end, this is not about politics and groupings as much as it is about values. Both sides need to respect the other side. Though I’m not so naïve as to think that respect will blossom like wild flowers in the near future, that is the world we are called to build. That is God’s dream for his creation.

I pray that I will be a voice who can promote the civility needed to seek the ground of our common humanity. There’s too much shouting. Never once has another person or group of persons been converted to my point of view because I screamed at him or her. Or threatened. Or hurled insults. But sometimes — if I respect their dignity, love them as a neighbor because they are Christ present to me, strive for justice and peace for them not just for me, and resist evil and repent when I fall into sin — just sometimes, I am able to understand where another person is coming from, share my values, and help that person see another way to live and move and have their being.

The Church spread through the first century world, one person at a time. The Christ-given values the Church espouses can be spread the same way.