by Bishop Bill Gohl
This last Sunday was such an experience for me. With the press of increased enforcement of immigration policies that have caught the worlds attention towards the needs of children being forcibly separated from their asylum-seeking parents at US borders, I left my weekly pericope Bible study armed with a preaching trajectory to address this policy in the context of last Sunday’s scripture readings. By Sunday morning, however, I had run out of steam, will and power. My sermon, which was fine and was identifiably "Lutheran" with its Law and Gospel didactic, failed to name the elephant in the forefront of the world we live in.
And I apologize. It has nagged at me ever since. I missed an opportunity to invite those in my care to act on behalf of God for the sake of the neighbor.
The 24-hour news cycle, public denunciations of the validity of factual evidence, social media echo chambers – rather than connecting us and opening us to the experience and perspectives of others, continue to silo us and create a tribalism that fractures any sense of mending the larger fabric of community. When we are as right as we are...
And the collateral damage is our hurting neighbor pressed further to the margins by our social paralysis and our fatigue in acting with and for our neighbor in need.
Beloved, we cannot get used to the horrors our neighbors are experiencing. We cannot simply allow ourselves to accept incivility as being a new normal. And while sometimes we might feel like we’re throwing toothpicks at Goliath, our call is clear: loving God must lead to genuine love of neighbor. Such a witness is as unusual as it is refreshing.
You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust." For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot. Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation. – Psalm 91