Denise, Resurrection Farm Newsletter, 1994
Is there a link between doing direct service for individuals and taking a public stand in the name of Justice? Is our well being linked to that of the poor, the marginalized and despised? I think so.
Our own freedom to be ourselves, to follow the Gospel according to our own conscience needs constantly to be defended from the surrounding culture of competition, judgment and violence, and the economic and social structures that make some people feel inferior and without hope. And we resist for ourselves by resisting those forces on behalf of others. Pastor Martin Niemöller speaking of the early years of the Third Reich said, “The Nazis first came for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist, then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew, then they came for the Catholic and I didn’t speak up because I was Protestant. By the time they came for me there was no one left to speak for me.” Pastor Niemöller was imprisoned at Dachau throughout the war.
Those who suffer from mental illness speak of voices that whisper to them of Destruction. In some ways we all have voices of destruction. We hear inner voices urging us to caution, to defense, to hardness of heart. “Do not be too easy going.” the voice says, “or people will take advantage. Defend what you have because everybody is out for themselves.” These are voices that destroy the soul that break down the kingdom, that keep us enslaved to fear and insecurity, that keep us from entering into community. And we are obliged as heirs of God and followers of Christ to resist – to answer back with the power of the Spirit; to cry in the name of life and faith and trust and love. We are obliged by the love God bears for us to affirm the goodness of God and God’s creation, to declare our intention to live fully and faithfully, to serve and to enter into relationships with all God’s people. God protects and defends us from destruction and gives us grace and wisdom and joy, but we are obliged to search within ourselves for the will to always continue to resist.
Awesomeness