I Made A Mistake

 

I made a mistake. 

I paid attention to the news. 

I read some tweets I don’t normally read. 

And I glanced at a newspaper editorial in which I read about brutal name calling, 

Not the least of which was scum, 

And I literally cried that our nation has come to this. 

 

If we, as Christians,

And that name has been thrown around, used, and abused as of late, 

Believe that 

In the beginning, 

God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them and called them good,

And we believe that 

God does not make mistakes, 

And we believe that Jesus is the greatest gift ever given to the world, 

And we accept that all the world outside of Jewish tradition is the Gentile world, 

Including America, 

And we believe that in Christ Jesus there is no Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, 

Then we must look upon the world and the diversity that God created and called good 

As friends, 

Not as enemies, 

As God’s creation, 

Not as scum. 

 

To deem whole groups of people bad. 

To call whole races of people defective. 

To pit us against them in harsh, judgmental language 

That leaves no room for grace or redemption or the dignity of human life—

Which is what so many Christians fight for in the womb but somehow come to deny after birth— 

Is wrong. 

And it is not at all what Jesus Christ, 

The namesake of Christianity, 

And the reason many of us celebrate Christmas,

Is about. 

 

And so my heart breaks. 

And my soul mourns. 

And my eyes water 

As I respond to what has become of the moral leadership of America

Or told us to have a Merry Christmas 

Because it might be our last. 

 

Jesus, 

You broke forth as light in a dark, hurting  world. 

Break through again and bring peace to all who seek you, 

Shepherds and wisemen, 

Americans and Somalians, 

Men and women, 

Rich and poor, 

All of us created in your image alike. 

Amen.