Hope for Us All

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At a time when many of us are discouraged in making the world a better place, a recent email I received may revive our hopes:

Long ago, you came to speak at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC. It was 1996, I believe. I was a sophomore back then. I was a conservative activist with the College Republicans. I made fun of you and your message during your visit with all the courage of a modern internet troll. I remember we (College Republicans) had a meeting to discuss how to pressure the school to disinvite you.

I wanted to say that I am deeply sorry for the stupidity of my youthful immaturity. I am grateful for your perseverance all these years, despite the harshness inflicted by people like me. I want you to know that I am a completely different man today. I know the worldly news is otherwise discouraging here in 2019. But there are people positively changed, even if it’s cool to be an ass again. Be encouraged.

You may imagine how moved I was to read these words. When I read it aloud to Wade, my voice broke and tears came. When I decided to write this post, I intended to paraphrase the email and obscure the venue. But the power of this person’s words should not be muffled or muzzled. I’ve been given permission by the writer to use the email in this post.

I wrote back,

Thank you, ----, for a most amazing and encouraging email such as this! I am grateful for your change of heart, and for your taking the time to write to me. When I was young, I too had views that I can’t imagine having today, so I understand. You have made my day! I cannot adequately say how much your email means to me!

After his grateful response, I wrote that “I may use this occasion of our recent exchange (anonymously) as a sign of hope for us all.”

God is good, all the time—even when we are not.

And then there were three...

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Copyright © 2019 by Chris R. Glaser. Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution of author and blogsite. Other rights reserved.

Stand Your Ground: Ferguson, Washington, Jerusalem

Possibly not even residents of Ferguson, Missouri fully comprehend what’s happened there in recent months after the shooting death of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson.  Wilson was not indicted by a grand jury last week, prompting protests and rioting not only there, but in other cities, including my own, Atlanta, where black and white seem to work together better than in any city in which I’ve lived.

A CNN commentator complained about the extended “whine” of the Ferguson district attorney regarding initial reports by social media and the media in general, but I do think social media as well as the internet can enable a virtual lynch mob to form opinions without a full and accurate story, not to speak of due process. We love that when it topples despotic dictators, but we should be concerned when it may bias either a judicial outcome or public opinion, especially when sparking violence.

I have found it difficult to talk about these events even with people who share my political views, so strong are our opinions.

So I want to talk about the larger problem when it comes to conversation about this and all contentious issues. “Stand your ground” laws that permit use of violence to protect ourselves are simply outward signs of an inner, spiritual problem. “Standing up for yourself” has now become  “stand your ground” when it comes to any issue, as if the ground you’re standing on is first, yours, and second, high holy ground.

When I believe the ground belongs to me and mine, when I consider mine the high moral ground, or even worse, holy ground, there is little room for listening to the concerns of another. This could apply not only to our conversations about Ferguson, but also about Washington and Jerusalem and every other place of conflict.

Forgive me for once again citing NPR, but a recent study reveals that people fail to “hear” opposing views because they doubt their opponent is basing their opinion on positive motivations.

Adequate incentive is required to begin to see another’s perspective: in the study, a financial incentive did the trick! I believe a spiritual incentive could as well. As Jesus said, go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, give your cloak as well as your coat, love your enemies and pray for those who oppose you.

What also interferes is that we defensively fear the other is assigning negative motivations to us.

When you’re standing your ground, it’s hard to share, and find common ground.

I personally experienced this recently while discussing a New York Times article about police experts speculating if Officer Wilson could have performed his duties in such a way to create a different outcome. On ABC News Wilson unequivocally rejected that anything he might have done could have avoided the tragedy. Now, in our litigious and “gotcha” culture, I understand that self-doubt and uncertainty become indicators of guilt or malfeasance, but if I had done something that ended in someone’s death—no matter the circumstances—I would have been wracked with guilt and doubt, wondering what I could have done to avoid or prevent that.

But trying to tell this to a friend came across as minimizing Michael Brown’s bullying and threatening behavior and maligning Darren Wilson, which I did not intend.

Both Brown and Wilson could be said to “stand their ground.” Republicans and Democrats, Israelis and Palestinians do the same. And it begets either stalemate or tragedy.

The day I write this I felt encouraged by another Times story by Manny Fernandez and Brent McDonald about someone trying to bridge the gap in Ferguson. Lt. Jerry Lohr, who manages the security of the Ferguson police headquarters, wears no riot gear and carries no baton. He treats protestors like people, saying “please” and “thank you.”

“Allowing people to talk on a one-on-one level does a lot as far as building bridges,” he says. “They may not agree with what I’m doing, but now they at least know my name and my face. I’m human again. They realize that I’m a person. I’m not just a uniform. We have to bridge this gap. It’s not going to happen overnight. This is going to be a long-term relationship, a long-term commitment, that both sides are going to have to make.”

Preach it, brother!

Related Posts:

A Call to Civility

Wise as Serpents

A Pre-emptive Peace

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Progressive Christian Reflections is entirely supported by readers’ donations. It is an authorized Emerging Ministry of Metropolitan Community Churches, a denomination welcoming seekers as well as believers.

Copyright © 2014 by Chris R. Glaser. Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution of author and blogsite. Other rights reserved. 

A Letter to President Kennedy, Thanksgiving 1963

Thanksgiving, 1963

Dear President Kennedy,

Thank you for being our President. I am so sorry you were shot. It’s hard to believe. We prayed for you at our Christian school, even though you are Catholic.

I was so very sad all that weekend, watching all the news about your death. We went to a Mexican restaurant that Saturday night to get away from the TV and I was surprised to find it was filled with people having a good time, laughing as if nothing had happened. I just turned 13 last month, but it felt wrong. I felt so sad for your family and for our country. You were so smart and funny, good-looking and cool, and you did a lot of good. I especially liked your Peace Corps idea.

Sunday morning I saw Lee Harvey Oswald shot live on TV. I did not feel good about that, but was glad he would no longer get so much attention.

I know my Aunt Helen is particularly sad. She took my older brother to the Democratic Convention here in Los Angeles when you were nominated for President, and as a high school math teacher in Kansas, she is active in the NEA.

My parents loved Roosevelt and Truman, and voted for Adlai Stevenson twice. Please don’t hold it against us that they voted for Nixon partly out of fear that you would be under the Pope’s control. (By the way, I was very sorry that Pope John XXIII died this past summer. I knew the world had lost a great man.) And please forgive me that I have been supporting Goldwater lately.

Even though many of our friends are Republicans, some of our best friends are Democrats, and we are glad that Republicans and Democrats can get along despite their differences.

I am so glad you were President when the Russians tried to put missiles in Cuba. We were having a schoolwide assembly for my junior high when Mrs. Gerrald, our principal, announced the Russian ships had turned around. We were very happy, because we were afraid we were going to have the atomic war we have been afraid of all of our lives. Mrs. Gerrald was also the one who went from class to class, including my English class, to announce you had been shot in Texas. My algebra teacher Mr. Parrish said it was likely the singlemost historic event that we would ever witness. I wonder if that’s true.

My mother cried when they took your rocking chairs out of the White House.

I greatly admire you, and I want to be like you when I grow up.

We will never forget you.

Love,

Chris

While the content is true, this letter is a work of imagination, and I invite readers old enough to remember President Kennedy’s assassination to consider writing their own letters from the perspective of their age and experience at the time. It may help us understand why his life and death and that era meant so much to so many over the past 50 years.

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Copyright © 2013 by Chris R. Glaser. Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution of author and blogsite. Other rights reserved. Check out past posts in the right rail on the blogsite. Consider using a post or quotes in personal reflection, worship, newsletters, and classes, referencing the blog address when possible: http://chrisglaser.blogspot.com.

9/11 : When We Were One

Copyright © 2011 by Chris R. Glaser. All rights reserved.

In the days following the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, as people speculated as to the U.S. response, an unorthodox thought crossed my mind. “What if we did nothing?” I wondered. “What if we just took the brunt of their hatred and did not respond in kind?” We had gained the world’s empathy; why squander it on violent action?

It was an idealistic thought. Certainly easy to say for someone who only experienced the terrorism on live television; who had lost no one directly. And not pragmatic, as I pride myself at being. Probably would be interpreted as weakness, inviting more attacks. My experience with church bullies has taught me that not responding to attacks is an ineffective way to stop bullying. And I must admit I was glad to see the Taliban driven from power in Afghanistan—those who had blown up the giant stone Buddhas, those who wouldn’t let girls go to school, those who banned children from flying kites.

In a presentation in Chicago a week after 9/11 and in Dayton three weeks after, I pointed out that our immediate response to the attacks was heartening:

Categories seemed to disappear; divisive walls came down. We were no longer Democrats or Republicans, no longer black or white, no longer gay or straight. We were humbled, but not by the terrorists. We were humbled by recognizing our need for one another; that we do not, that we can not stand alone. Look how quickly Jerry Falwell was slapped down for his divisive comments that blamed gays, feminists, pro-choice advocates, and God! Remember how rapidly we sought to defend Arab-Americans and Muslims that some would separate out for retribution. And notice how we resisted those few who would divide us by blaming the victim, the U.S., in a way they would never blame the victims of any other form of violence, such as rape or spousal or child abuse. We are rallying around each other, symbolized politically by the flag, symbolized spiritually by our prayers. 

And then I cautioned:

Eventually, Americans and the world will move beyond the tragedies in New York City, Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvania countryside. Walls and differences and partisanship will be reconstructed.

I paralleled our experience as a nation in that moment of kairos—that moment of spiritual crisis and opportunity—to a conversion experience, an encounter with an awesome God that is humbling, prompting us to come together “no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female,” remembering that we are ALL beloved children of God:

An encounter with God transforms us, and we are ready to love everybody. But then we return to building our walls, divisions, categories—reminding us that we have not yet recognized the kingdom of God in our midst, the commonwealth of God in which we share a common spiritual wealth.