Together
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
This past week the city of Minneapolis had a practice drill to test our emergency response capabilities to a school shooting. It was just a practice drill. Since the disaster at the 35W bridge we, probably more than other cities, want to make sure we are ready as a community for any kind of disaster that might happen. Since the Police Chaplain Corp is part of the disaster response process, I got to participate in the exercise. We were called to Folwell School to a simulated school shooting. There were several casualties and injuries. Whenever you go into one of these drills, either pretend or real, you never know all the information. How many shooters? Are the shooters students, staff, parents or strangers? Are all the students and staff accounted for in safe areas? During emergency situations like this the chaplains are assigned the task of setting up and running the family assistance center. This is the place where families come to be reunited with their loved ones and receive the latest news about what is going on in the event, if it is prolonged, like the bridge incident was, for example. We are also responsible for notifying families about the death of their loved one. We always do that in person – not over the phone or through email or a text message – because there are some important moments in life that we need to be together.
It is amazing to be part of one of these exercises because you get to see how the many parts of the response work. Each person and department has their role to play. When everyone works together well, the effects of the disaster are mitigated. If everyone doesn’t work well together, then it adds additional problems or pain to the families victimized by violence. The point of the exercise is to help us learn where the holes might be so that in the event we face this kind of thing again – only real – we have some experience handling the challenges. It was a fascinating way to see how when many come together and use their expertise and skill to accomplish something, it has amazing results.
We think we’ve got it bad sometimes, don’t we? When I think about what people experience in disasters or even when I read about what the folks in our text from Hebrews went through, my stuff doesn’t look nearly as bad. I mean, nobody has tried to stone me, saw me in two, kill me with a sword or make me sneak around in a goatskin – a Jerry Garcia tie perhaps but never goatskin! I feel pretty fortunate to live in a time and a place where I have never had to face anything like that. It’s not like there haven’t been challenges. There have. There always will be. But you know what makes all the challenges, all the problems, all the meanness, all the bigotry, all the insanity that comes our way from time to time manageable? It is that we get to do it together. I’m not on my own in having to stare down prejudice or speak truth to power. You’re not alone when you grieve the loss of a loved one or celebrate the milestones of life. I get to do it with you. We get to do it together.
That’s pretty freaking amazing, when you think about it.
It is a lesson our world needs to learn. During the last State of the Union address President Obama announced that he would bring an end to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) which for the last 17 years has resulted in thousands of GLBTQ military personnel being dismissed from duty. Since the State of the Union address, the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have joined the President in supporting the end of this policy. They have set up a plan to poll the military to find out how this would impact morale. It should be pointed out that when the military was racially integrated, no poll was conducted. When the military started including women into the active forces, no poll was conducted. When it was decided to invade Iraq or Afghanistan, no poll was conducted. The military simply said, “This is the way it is going to be.” That’s how the military operates in every other case. With an executive order, the President could halt any DADT proceedings while the military works through its plan, but he has chosen not to do this. As a result this week alone, Lt. Col. Fehrenbach, an Air Force fighter pilot with 17 years experience and 6 tours of combat duty faces discharge. Cadet Katherine Miller, who surpassed every fitness test that West Point could give, will leave the military because she can no longer pretend to be heterosexual. Lt. Dan Choi, an Arab translator, who has served with distinction for years, was discharged. Captain Jonathan Hopkins, who was fourth in his class of cadets, has 10 years experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and has earned three bronze stars was fired because he refuses to be silent any longer. Over 1000 people have been separated from the military under DADT since President Obama came to office. Our nation needs to learn that we are stronger when we do it together and use the resources of all us in our efforts. We have allowed the voices of fear to keep us silent. Together we have a voice that can change the world.
Of course, there are things to celebrate. Proposition 8 was overturned in California and marriages will begin again this coming week. Also, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that marriage equality must be recognized in all the states of Mexico.
We have very little in life about which we can be certain. We can’t be certain that we will be here tomorrow. We can’t be certain that the stock market won’t crash. We can’t be certain that somebody’s finger won’t slip on the nuclear bomb button. We can’t be certain that someone won’t snap and take a gun into a school. We can’t be certain about what anyone else anywhere else at any other time is going to do that might make our lives change forever. What we have is a promise. We have today and we have each other and no matter what, we trust God’s grace will sustain us.
According to the book of Hebrews, that is what it means to live by faith. I’m always amazed when I hear some people talk about what it means to be a Christian. They often talk about having answers or knowing what God’s will is for them or having absolute certainty about life’s most perplexing questions. That’s not my experience of living by faith at all. For me, living by faith means I rarely know the answer, much less all the information in coming to an answer. I don’t have concrete certainty about the complexities of life – I simply trust God’s grace to help me navigate the choices. I don’t have any absolutes when I think about what the future will hold. I simply trust the One who holds the future. Sometimes I think people become Christians because they think it will mean they won’t have any more problems or questions or fears or doubts. It is almost like being a person of faith is supposed to shield you from the horrors of life. It doesn’t. Becoming a Christian is about learning to live with my problems, my questions, my fears and my doubts in the context of a community of faith that walks with me and cares about what happens to me and gives me the opportunity to care about what happens to them. There is no magic incantation that will make things happen the way you want them to happen – even if you call it prayer. There is no correct doctrine that will make life no longer have any obstacles. There is simply a desire to follow the way Jesus lived his life and others like him down through the centuries (like Hebrews recounts) – living their lives in such a way that what is produced from that effort makes this world a better place because we are here. There is simply the willingness to trust God’s grace, no matter what life presents. That’s what it means to live by faith… and I have found in my own life that it works best when we do it together.
Today marks a new era when we come back together as a worshipping body. I believe there will again be a time when we will grow to the point that we will be able to offer multiple worship experiences and lots of programming and plenty of spiritual growth opportunities. For now, we need to know that we are in this together, that God’s presence surrounds us with love and that we go forward together in faith. Everything that happens through this congregation is only possible because somebody put the effort and energy and planning and sweat into an endeavor. When we all do our part, it makes the result much more amazing. Find your place, your contribution, your piece of the solution. We need you to do that. We need to do this together.
Sources:
www.homileticsonline.com Gouty Christians, August 2010.
http://www.sldn.org/ Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/ The Rachel Maddow Show, August 11, 2010.