This is a
kingdom conversation about kingdom values. It’s a lean in and listen
conversation. It’s about our integrity as followers of Jesus. It’s about following
up what we say with what we do. It’s also about our consistency in speaking
from the word of God.
This topic
has been on my heart to write about for quite a while. In fact, this was
written quite a few months back, was altered and then for some reason shelved.
It was in response to a few happenings, which are still relevant. We also don’t
seem to have got to a point of rational and critical thinking regarding this
topic. There are numerous occasions where it shows up. It’s not an easy topic
to address because of so many varying opinions, and even in what I have written
here, there might very well be people who disagree with what I have said.
That’s okay. I ask that you read to the
end and ponder before responding. Mostly I would hope and pray that you would
see Jesus and his great love for the people in this world - every person.
The
plea I have is that we don’t get caught up in fighting about certain words that
have different connotations for different people and then forget to love all
people with respect and dignity. Many of these words, slogans and phrases get new and added meanings attributed to them, which makes it even more important to stay curious and find out more. Let's encourage all people in the world to treat all people with respect, dignity and
fairness.
There needs
to be critical evaluation with fear removed and remembering the Kingdom of God
and what it stands for. We can’t allow the water to get muddy, our lenses
fogged up and hearts hardened just because there are some voices shouting
loudly and making it sound like they have a handle on the truth.
To start
with, a very brief description of ‘Woke’. It’s not just some ‘leftist ideology.’,
It’s been around for years, many years.
The term
‘woke’ originally started out as meaning ‘being alert and wide awake to racial
prejudice and discrimination.’ In the following years other forms of oppression
and injustice were included to make it more about being socially aware and
empathetic. We absolutely need to wake up to injustice around us. This is a
kingdom of God principle. We cannot have our eyes closed and be asleep when
harm is being perpetrated against other people. We are called to always stand
against injustice and oppression.
This
includes all injustice, oppression and marginalization against anyone. We don’t
get to pick and choose. ‘Marginalized’ means people and people groups who are
pushed aside and seen as less than important. Straight away we can see where
Jesus would have been. Everyone was important to him. He has the same heart of
his Father who created us all equal with his image in us. He loves all people
and he died for all people.
People who
are marginalized are very vulnerable and at risk of discrimination and
violence. They are the first to be recruited into gangs and the sex industry. Abusive
actions, like rape and other forms of abuse are common acts against them. They also
risk being exploited through human trafficking. Groups that come to mind, in
varying degrees are Women, Children, People of Colour, orphans, homeless people, people
who are addicted, Child headed households, people who identify as LGBTQ, people with certain illnesses
like AIDS and TB, people who are in prison, people who are poor, people who are
refugees and foreigners, people who are in the sex industry, people who follow
different religions, widows, elderly people and people with physical or mental disabilities/different abilities.
Jesus calls
us to stand with, to stand up for, to stop abuse, violence and discrimination.
We are to make sure human rights are taken seriously and people are treated
with respect and dignity. All having the right to feel safe is so important. How are we creating safety in our world?
As followers
of Jesus when we have conversations about things we don’t agree with or about
people we don’t like or about people we believe are wrong, what is going on
inside our hearts? Let’s not let our own pride get in the way when we don’t
agree or we hold different beliefs.
What about
the person or the people we are talking about?
‘Do unto others as you would have them do to you,’ comes to mind.
Jesus came to earth and died on the cross for every one of us.
He loves every one of us, each person created lovingly in the image of God.
And he
showed us very clearly what to do and how to treat people.
It would also
be hugely honouring if we add the word ‘people’ into the conversation when we
are talking about people?
This will really help to humanize conversations about people who are made in
the image of God. It’s not just issues, wars and policies being spoken about.
It’s the people at the heart of the issues, wars and policies that are being
affected that we should be concerned about. Dehumanization is often a first
ploy to get us to not care.
The
treatment of people we don’t agree with or don’t see as worthy gets ugly.
There’s so much fear and pushing away. There’s so much thought and energy given
to protection of self and family and not thinking wider to extending love to
our neighbours.
It’s like “you
do you over there, but please don’t draw me into any of it. I would prefer to not
even look at you, or for my children to look at you. I would prefer to not even
talk to you or address you in any way that could possibly show any kind of
respect or dignity, because just, no!!”
Policies are
always about people. Policies affect people very personally. They are not just
about smooth governance. Policies are very political, and they are often there
to gain power and control. When those who institute the policies are all about
power, control and greed, then be sure that’s what their policies will be about
too. Often policies are put into place (either by vote or force) to gain
attention, fame and approval from their voter base, so that those in power can
stay in power.
Values are
the things that guide us in life. What are the value systems of the people in
power who are instituting the policies? Are their policies about cruelty to
others or about uplifting and caring for others? And do their value systems
align with ours?
As
Christians they probably will never align because we are talking about empire
and the kingdom of God which are like oil and water. Yes, we live in the world
and have no choice but to function in the political systems. But kingdom values
are always going to stand in stark contrast to worldly values. God tells us to
respect those in power and to pray for them, but he certainly does not tell us
to let go of our kingdom values or agree with Government values and policies
that stand against the kingdom of God value system.
And yes, it
can get tricky. And yes, we need to hold things in balance and possibly
multiple things at the same time and feel a little tension. It’s not all
straightforward. Sometimes we could be upholding something from the kingdom of
God but doing it in very ungodly ways and not with Kingdom attitudes and
actions. That’s why we need each other to see all there is to see. It’s why we
have each other so we do this together and in community. It’s why we will
always need humility, vulnerability and interdependence in the mix.
So, what are
our values? What is important to us?
To love God completely, with everything in us. Heart, soul, mind and body.
Some questions to ponder and to unpack the above statement - Who is God then? (And
that is not asked with any disrespect or dismissing God, but rather to remind
us as to who he is and what he is about). Who are we loving? What are we
loving? Does loving him completely mean we stand with all he is and says and
does? Does it mean we copy those things if we are loving him so completely? Is
the aim to become holy as he is holy? To become like Jesus, his son? In our
hearts and minds and attitudes and words and actions?
Do we know
who and what we are following and becoming. And it’s so important that we
should also take note of the opposite of who God is and who we should not be
following, supporting and copying and becoming like.
Jesus came
to show us who God is. He showed us everything while on earth. He left us with
the Holy Spirit to remind us of everything. So that’s why we say we can become
like Jesus because he was totally man – someone we can copy.
This is how
Jesus interacted with people while on earth:
He was loving, humble and gentle.
He was authentic, intentional and honest.
He was patient and filled with grace and mercy.
He was always consistent, always speaking the truth.
He saw the person, made in God’s image.
The person would always feel seen, heard and valued in his presence. Always,
without exception.
When we see
policies being put into place that are done more for public and constituent
approval and to increase power and control, we need to remember the people
these policies are affecting. They are not put into place for loving reasons.
They are generally not about mutual human flourishing, well-being and equality.
’Love your neighbor.’ Oh right. Forgot that for a moment, in amongst all the
‘yeah right, finally some common sense,’ or ‘they are doing such a good job’
etc’ comments made a few months back about new policies signed into law in
other countries.
Generally,
these policies are affecting already marginalized groups and making them more
marginalized. We should never be celebrating the casting aside of people and
making people more marginalized, more discriminated against, more exploited,
more excluded, more constraints put on them, more hatred towards them, more
public disgust, increasing their fear levels, more oppression and increased
levels of violence against them. We should not be getting involved in that
heart attitude. It sounds like pride, arrogance and hate. That’s not the way of
the kingdom of God.
It's never
okay to celebrate discrimination, injustice and people being put down and cast
aside and having life being made more difficult for them. And please, not in
the name of Christianity either. We don’t get to force following Jesus onto
others. We had a choice to choose to follow Jesus. The same choice and control
should be afforded to every person on this earth. We get to love people as
followers of Jesus. Jesus drew people towards him by his kindness and love.
I wonder
what happens inside our hearts when we push people aside when we don’t agree
with their choices, or we have come to see them as less than others.
Did Jesus
say we should only look out for ourselves and our families? Our neighbor is
anyone we encounter daily, and it’s also people on the other side of the world.
Our heart attitude towards people made in the image of God is important.
Are our children being exposed to our cold, hard, fearful and unloving hearts?
OR are we exposing them to having loving and real conversations about people to
love as their neighbour who may be battling with various things in their lives
or are being treated unjustly by others?
What message are we ultimately sending? What message do we want to send?
We seem to
have forgotten where we are living and what our mission is in this world? To
love God, love people and to make disciples of all nations. ‘All nations’ means
everybody. It’s ludicrous to me when I see how many times many feel the need to
point out and highlight that Jesus came for all, for every person. It’s so
often because in everyday life, too many people are actively living as though
he only came for them and their people, and not for those people over there.
The unconscious bias is alive and well.
How do we
love and make disciples if we push people away and stay far away from them? We
are increasing the separation and breeding discrimination and hatred.
Jesus loved people. He drew people close. He touched people. He spoke truth to
people with grace and mercy. He became the person they wanted to be with.
People are changed when they are treated like that.
That’s the
kingdom of God. That’s the gospel.
I am so
tired of reactions from Christians that are not loving at all. Even calling for
violence, destruction and death towards other human beings.
And there’s
always an expectation of changing the titles that make some people
uncomfortable - In 2020 we had ‘Black Lives Matter’ surface again on the back
of another injustice This got silenced in some spaces because some people gave
it a connection to something else that people were afraid of. Why could we not
have just acknowledged that it’s true that black lives matter and find out how
we can help to stop whatever injustice is happening to cause people to have to
shout it out so loudly. Now we have ‘Woke’ being silenced in some spaces
because some people have connected it to things they are afraid of. Why must the
people, who are most often marginalized, keep being silenced in their call for
being seen as worthy of having human dignity? Why must they change the terms we
are uncomfortable with? I wonder what word is next. Should we rather say
‘awakened’, ‘awakening’ or ‘wide awake’? That seems more acceptable in some
circles. But ultimately, given the track record, those could also be demonized.
Words are often weaponized to stifle dialogue and critical thinking. We need to
challenge all forms of discrimination, just like Jesus did.
Why are we not able to take a step back and look with different eyes at what is
being asked, what is being demonstrated about, what is being brought to our
attention as an injustice to certain people? People calling for justice are
often labelled as inciting violence, but the slogans and actions have arisen
from violence being inflicted on them in the first place. These are desperate
rally calls to rise up against injustice. We cannot be the ones who dismiss,
criticize, ignore and stifle these cries for help. There’s a pattern here to
take note of. The people suffering injustice start calling out for help by making
a noise about the injustice or oppression. The people who are causing, or are complicit,
in the injustice move very quickly to discredit the call for justice and ask
those who are asking for help to say it in different ways with different words.
This often causes a distraction away from the original call and things
eventually go quiet and injustice continues. Nothing really changed. Nothing
was solved.
Something makes me think that those causing injustice don’t like being
called out, are very comfortable with the way things are and don’t want to change. Often
the pushback comes from the people being unaffected by the injustice, and with
that comes a lack of understanding. So, for them it's a great idea to try and
silence the calls for justice and keep the status quo. Sounds way too familiar.
I don’t have the answers, I just know it’s possible and that it’s imperative to
find the answers and put them into practice. Living as representatives of the
kingdom of God holds a high level of expectation for us to respond to injustice
and sort it out, not to try and silence the calls for justice.
We need to
always ask ourselves ‘who is in the room?’ when we use these words about
movements, that are ultimately about people. (Mostly the words are used in a
dismissive, derogatory or joking manner, like ‘there goes the Woke crowd
again!’) There may be people in the room and in our midst, people who may hold
that call for justice (in whatever word is being used on the placards) very
personally in asking for injustice to stop and for being treated fairly,
equally and with dignity. There are people who support the word ‘Woke’ for its
original intention, which was ‘staying awake to injustice’ against marginalized
and minority groups of people. It’s a good call. We may have lost sight because
of our preoccupation with the slogans we don’t like or are afraid of, that it’s
people behind those slogans who are asking us to notice them, to see them, to
hear them and to stop the bad treatment of them. Jesus sees them. Jesus loves
them. Jesus is reminding us he calls us to love them too. Don’t turn away.
Don’t close your ears and eyes and hearts. Don’t let us be the ones causing
damage. Let us not be the ones supporting injustice, harm and discrimination. As
some people would say to us, ‘stay awake to injustice.’ Let God’s love flow
through us to a hurting people in a hurting world and work towards ending the
injustice against people.
When we talk
about ‘being salt and light in this world’, it’s very inclusive of everyone. There
are no distinctions made. Don’t let the lens of fear stop you from being salt and
light. You are salt and light if you follow Jesus. There are many people behind
the term ‘Woke’ who are being hurt, pushed aside, being further marginalized
and feeling very unloved by followers of Jesus choosing who they will be salt
and light to. Let people see Jesus. Let them taste Jesus - His love is sweet.
Let’s not leave a darkness and a bitter taste behind us because of hate,
prejudice and lack of understanding.
We can’t
have on the one hand, ‘love your neighbor’, and then on the other hand, ‘stay
away from certain people’. Our love can’t be conditional and dependent on
certain changes made for some people. Or seeing words like Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion as things that are on Jesus’s heart, but then being happy when
they are chucked out and seen as part of being Woke. So many gains for human
rights are being lost in these harmful decisions.
We need to
be light and shine the light and go near the darkness on purpose. We can’t live
afraid of the dark. Jesus reminds us often, ‘Do not fear, I am with you.’
Be salt and don’t have a diluted impact on the world because of fear of Empire
and powers that might try and silence us because of following Jesus and the
ways of his kingdom. Be prepared to speak up for the kingdom of God and be the
example the world needs to see. Be prepared for being persecuted for
righteousness sake.
It is so
important to critically evaluate the sources of information we are listening to
and to ask, ‘what does the Bible actually say?’ It’s not the healthiest
response to react to words, headings and titles and not do the work of finding
out what it’s all about, because in the long run that then sidetracks and
hinders us from the good works that God has set aside for us to do. That last
sentence is vitally important to take note of. If our fear is causing us to
hinder the work of the kingdom, that is a big problem. We must take calls about
injustice seriously. We can’t ignore them due to our own ignorance. We must
stay curious and humble in this journey. An example is that white supremacy
can’t just be ignored because we think that might not be at the heart of many
issues and because it doesn’t line up with our understanding of the heart of
many issues. We know that Jesus looks at our hearts and our hearts are sinful,
but remember that white supremacy is sinful and has caused huge problems in our
world and continues to do so. It is completely anti the kingdom of God.
When we say
we want to know Jesus’s heart - what is on Jesus’s heart for the world? Jesus
was a friend to all people. His company was sought out by those who needed him,
because he loved with a genuine and authentic love. What is on any friend’s
heart for those friends they hang out with? Generally, it’s good thoughts, love
and ideas to bless the person. God loves us even more than that. Oh God, soften
our hearts to be like your heart.
I saw a
comment recently that really stuck with me - it said that ‘injustice starves’
and it’s so true. It takes away from and leaves people feeling empty, hungry
and with lack. But Jesus came that we might have life and life in abundance.
All of a sudden, the light goes on and justice has entered the room with
bursting energy and life. That’s what we are to be about as followers of Jesus.
God is at
work in the world. Let’s join him. He is working towards justice and Shalom.
His heart longs for redemption, renewal and restoration of all things. He needs
loving followers of Jesus to be salt and light. To allow his goodness, grace
and beauty to shine through into the darkest places. Let’s pray for his grace
and beauty to break through from heaven to earth. Let’s join him in this
journey as followers of Jesus living out his kingdom values and purposes in our
world.
Top artwork by Evelien Burger
Bottom photo taken at a local Gqeberha Church
