In recent weeks, many of our Divinity family received an email from someone who insisted they were a certain pastor and needed prompt assistance with gift cards to improve…whatever sob story was given. Granted, this isn’t the first time for us. And such a scam is making its rounds amongst nearby ELCA congregations and other communities of faith and well…pretty much anywhere is fair game. Of course, on the church office front, we do our best to reinforce the reality that we would never request financial or any other similar form of assistance through electronic means; or to always contact us directly if you’re ever unsure. Then again, that won’t stop others from still doing their best to improving the tale to hopefully reel in some of the more compassionate and always-willing-to-help-out-at-all-possible-costs people around.
One of the normal parts of our reaction to such a con, after the initial confusion and eventual clarification, is our eye-rolling and frustration and even anger, perhaps to the level of questioning the sender’s basic humanity in their attempt at ripping off people who may not be in the best of financial circumstances. It is more than understandable, to be sure, but it’s a rather…complicated terrain of our human emotion spectrum that we must traverse in such matters. Yes, we see our fair share of not the best human behavior, and not just on television and computer and cell phone screens, but right in front of our eyes when we venture out into the public sphere from the highway to the grocery store to the high school sporting event to the restaurant to the…well, anywhere is fair game. Sometimes, even we, the Bible-readers and devotion-prayers and weekend-worshipers, have our moments…to put it mildly.
It's a rather…complicated both-and we’re supposed to pull off in this life. We cling to this God who evidently has more than enough love to encompass the whole world, including the entire humanity, but we know not all of humanity embraces the whole “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” philosophy on the day-to-day living. But we also know the God we cling to had some moments of going off on the rip-offers who attempted to manipulate those in not the best of financial circumstances. And yet, that same God comes to life in Jesus Christ and calls on tax collectors to help lead a compassion movement and forgives betrayers and deniers (and still calls on them to help lead that movement) and even crucifiers, as if this God…really…has…no…limit to the grace well beyond our understanding.
But…it’s complicated for us. We of the church do not want to have children of God believe that they need to open themselves up for such unpleasant human behavior, as some others will always attempt to manipulate compassionate people in giving up heart-wrenching amounts of what they need to go on about their day-to-day living. Those same compassionate people who will do their Bible-reading and devotion-praying and weekend-worshiping, and from time to time, will hear about giving up all possessions or surrendering coats and plenty of other Biblical material that seemingly guilts and shames us into believing that anything we have might be too much in the eyes of God. Of course, that’s why communities of faith will insist on Bible-reading and devotion-praying and weekend-worshiping with that very community to better grasp the context of long ago and grapple with how best to apply it thousands of years later…without the guilt and shame. For we do not cling to such a god.
Yes, it’s complicated. We cling to the God who will go off on the rip-offers, but will still for some mind-boggling reason offer them hope and new life. Yes, they can face earthly consequences, but in the ultimate Divine perspective, they still have hope and new life. It’s complicated, to be sure, and we know it will not be getting easier anytime soon. But I suppose that’s why the Gospel movement took off with the help of individual tax collectors, as well as betrayers and deniers, to be sure, but it thrived off of communities of faith. And it’s still somehow remaining firm with love and grace and hope and new life in spite of all the…well, the not-so-much. Sometimes we don’t understand why God would still offer such things to our humanity, but for some reason, Christ is still Risen indeed for exactly that. Thanks be to God, indeed!
In Christ,
Pastor Brad