Greetings Dear Reader,
We understand as a community the anger and pain of
loss. When the towers fell in New York,
we dropped our differences for a few days and were one people grieving loss and
unjust violence. We know that all lives
matter but we do not live that way.
Our society has many ills that scream that all lives do not
matter to us. Our nation is filled with the
homeless, suicidal veterans, human trafficking, and many forms of
prejudice. We murder the unborn for the
sake of convenience. We tolerate racism
even if we are not racist.
All lives matter but we do not live like it. Jesus makes it clear that all lives matter
but there were times when he also made it clear that prostitutes' lives matter,
children’s lives matter, and even Roman Soldier’s lives matter. He was concerned about the Samaritan, the
Gentile, and the sick. He made it clear
that at times there are groups who matter and need specific attention.
My obligation in following Christ is to listen when someone
feels that his or her life does not matter to me. I am obligated to pay attention when a group
of people feels oppressed. Further, I am
compelled to love them so deeply that I work against oppression and prejudice
of any kind.
The current outrage calls me as a Christ-follower to love
those who are outcast or mistreated. It
demands that I not care about politics or opinions but, rather, that I use all
that I have to treat others justly. I
must respond to Black Lives Matter without regard to anything but the degree to
which Christ loves them.
The violence and hatred that accompany the grief are
wrong. On any scale, it is not acceptable
to do violence just because we are angry, hurt, or feel a loss. On every scale, it is our obligation to
respond to prejudice with love and justice.
The obligation of the Christ-follower is to love every human in every
instance. When I fail to hear the cries
of those who feel mistreated, I am guilty of failing to love them as well.
The broad brushes with which we paint currently are all negligent
of the truth. The Father has painted us
all individually even though some of us are very similar. If we think for a moment that we are exempt from
responsibility for our brother’s welfare, we are wrong. We need to remember that the first murder was
a result of envy and neglect of love.
Jesus would be reminding us yes, he cares for every life, but right now,
we have a community that is in pain and needs our love more than any of us
realize. They need our care, justice,
compassion, and kindness. We need to help
them turn their grief to grace by owning our failures to love them like Christ
does. We cannot demand that they speak
equality over lives that matter when we will not treat their lives with the
same equality. If we respond to every
complaint, true or false with love, we cannot go wrong, Dear Reader.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner.
He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Every human story is part of the great story that leads
to the Father getting everything back to Good.
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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