Salsa

 Caste: “an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of ancestry and often immutable traits, traits that would be neutral in the abstract but are ascribed life-and-death meaning.” Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

“When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 12:12-14

I recently read a review of the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. As I read her definition of caste, above, I couldn’t help but think it is the opposite of the warning Jesus gives to the Pharisaic leader who had invited him to a luncheon. These two very different visions of the world represent the worldview of people in power versus God’s desire for our living within God’s creation. And it is clear that the conflicting visions exist even today.

This conflict is something I have wrestled with for some time, especially as it relates to my Christian faith, a faith that often proclaims superiority over any and all other faith expressions. 

My time at City of Hope has given me plenty of time to reflect on this conflict. It’s also been an opportunity to listen to some of my nurses and reflect with them on what it means to be a Christian in the world today. Actually what it’s always meant to be a follower of Christ.

The word I’ve used more than once to provide a context for Christian meaning is diversity. Think of the diversity within the world. We have trees, but how many different kinds? Seemingly infinite. Same with all other aspects of creation. Including people.

When I was teaching World Religions at IVC I used the sample of salsa to explain the reality of diversity as God’s vision for the world. In our valley there are how many Mexican restaurants? I’ve eaten in many of them. They all serve salsa. They all use the same essential ingredients in their salsa. 

Yet, there are no two salsas that are alike.

And every culture has it’s version of salsa, or sauce. Same result. Using the same essential ingredients there are no two sauces that are alike. The overwhelming evidence is that diversity is what God intended for the created order. 

So why would we think that there is only one true religion, or one true religious expression? That is not even true within Christianity! 

Think of the varieties of salsas as a gift. The Greek word for gift is charis, where we get the word charism. Or charisma. What if we thought of each faith expression as a charism, a gift to the whole of our understanding about God, the world, and our place in it?

What if we recognized that feelings of superiority of one over others is actually a form of idolatry, a way of describing the original sin described in the Bible.

Does diversity weaken faith?

I was asked to sing at a memorial service for an Interfaith group while Pastor at San Luis Obispo UMC in 2003. I struggled with what to sing that wouldn’t offend other faiths. Ultimately I sang out of my Christian faith. Afterward Rabbi Lon Moskowitz thanked me for the beautiful expression of my faith. I learned then that diversity doesn’t weaken faith.

Embracing diversity can make one’s faith stronger.

Law and Order

In Remembrance: John Lewis

There’s been lots of talk about law and order recently. In this political year, this political environment, the talk of law and order often rises to the surface. So much so that I wondered how our talk about the subject reflects the Biblical reality of what law and order means.

When the Israelites are liberated from slavery in Egypt they enter a period of time in the desert. Forty years is the time frame, but contrary to the commonly held belief they wandered for forty years, they only wandered about two years. They camped at the banks of the River Jordan, whereupon Moses sent spies into the land of Canaan, the land God intended for the Israelites to settle. The spies came back and reported a very negative situation there, one that the Israelites would have trouble with. So God said they needed to stay on the other side, where for the next thirty eight years they looked over into the land promised, longingly, until they were ready to cross over.

During that time God gave them the Law.

The Law began with the Ten Words, what we commonly call the Ten Commandments. You know, the “Thou shalts.” Todays Jews would call them the Ten Words. 

Here is how I would summarize them: Monotheism, Idolatry, Swearing, Sabbath, Honor Parents, Murder, Adultery, Stealing, Lying, Coveting.

These Ten Words are the framework for the Law. There are actually a little over 600 laws in the Old Testament, found in the first five books of the OT called the Torah Hebrew, and Law in English. The laws interpret the Ten Words, respond to the questions that arise in the course of understanding what it means to worship idols, or swear, or honor mom and dad. What constitutes adultery? Or murder?

Without the Ten Words there is no possibility of making sense out of the laws.

Our talk about law and order today seems to struggle with what the framework is that makes sense of our laws. What is our framework? Most would say the
Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Interpreting those documents is difficult since they were written by people who, while writing of unalienable rights of life, liberty and happiness, of the rights to protest, to have a fair trial, to bear arms, to practice one’s religion without interference from the government, owned slaves, thought men who owned property had a vote, women were still property, and they had a God-given right to exploit native peoples.

That dissonance has led to laws have been written to protect a few, the rich and powerful, at the expense of the many, the common folks.

And so it was when Jesus began his ministry some two thousand years ago. 

And what Jesus taught was such a challenge to the law that he became a criminal in the eyes of the state, and was eventually executed. All Jesus did was boil the law down to two: Love God with all you’ve got and do the same with your neighbor, and yourself.

Pretty simple.

But is that our example of Law and Order? The most recent images of our example of law and order is watching peaceful marchers in Portland, Oregon being disrupted by military troops. That example is not new either. It is a repeated image, one that I have grown up with. I lived in LA in 1992. I lived near South Central LA in 1965. We’ve all seen the images. And I wrestle with how Jesus would make himself present in those situations. I struggle with what the framework is that shapes our understanding of law and order. I wonder where Jesus’ command to love one another is in those moments.

What are our Ten Words, our Golden Rule?