Depends on where you stand; how you see it!

The tenor of our debate has gained renewed interest in recent days. Just what is and is not acceptable or appropriate language is of concern. And, after the shootings at a “Congress on the Corner” event in Arizona, language that involves guns is being examined.

Americans who come from the rural parts of our country defend guns as important to their way of life. To have a political figure speak of “not retreating, but reloading” simply comes natural. And to put the sign of “cross-hairs” over a congressional district simply shows that this is a targeted seat. To load, aim, and target are natural ways to speak in rural America: just as natural as living in defense of the Second Amendment.

However, Americans who live in urban parts of the country can also say that guns play an important part in their daily lives. Having lived most of my life in metropolitan areas, I hear of guns every day. They are the instrument of death on our city streets. I cannot open the local paper, watch the evening news, or listen to the radio in the morning without hearing of shootings or killings. The language of loading, aiming, and targeting is unfortunately a part of my life (without even owning a gun).

In order to provide protection for the “general welfare” of the American citizen, it is important for each of us to appreciate the situation of the other.
There has to be a protection of the right to be safe, as well as a protection for the right to own and operate a gun. The gun represents something different in the rural spaces than it is in the urban streets. In one instance it may be a way of life. In the other it is most often a way of death.

Authentic Christ-like Presence

While praying in worship on Christmas Eve, one petition caught my attention. Each year, I pray on behalf of the congregation, that God use us to establish an authentic Christ-like presence in the world.

I do not know how those words affect the lives of those who are there to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus; but when I pray these words they call forth a response. I am reminded of Jesus saying: “Follow me!” I am moved to reclaim the vocation of a disciple.

As Christians seek to be true to the way of Jesus, the Christ-like presence becomes real and is extended. Through this language, voiced in our prayers, we are drawn to reconsider Jesus as the model of the godly life. Such words add credence to the question: “What would Jesus do?” A question that sends us back to the Gospels; back to the story of Jesus’ words and deeds.

Although we have two thousand years of Church history; although that history includes great councils which have produced creeds and proclamations; although individual denominations continue to have conventions and commissions who produce theological statements; the authentic Christ-like presence has only one source. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit who would bring to mind all that he said and did.

May each Christian continue to seek the guidance of the Spirit toward a life of discipleship. There is no doubt that our world is still in need of the Spirit of grace and mercy that only found in Jesus.