“Golden Rule 20-20” by The Rev. Kaji Douša

November 4th,2019 Categories: Pastor Kaji's Blog

Recently, a group of prominent Christian leaders asked a very important question – because you see we are just about one year out from the 2020 Presidential elections, in a year in which we, as a nation, will discern precisely what we want the rest of our lifetimes to look like – I really believe that is the scale of this moment. And while the nation is just as divided as any of us could imagine, how will Christians (this group of leaders wondered), how will we “call forth our better angels” to treat each other with dignity and respect, and to, as they say, engage in a civil discourse with one another? And in this call to civility, I just encourage us to think a little bit about what this position of civility may challenge what voices will be privileged, for the oppressed do not necessarily call out or cry out from jails and cages with words that are not sharp. And in fact, if we are supposed to be followers of Jesus, those who are wrapped in chains and those who are finding themselves in all forms of bondage are encouraged to make their voice known. The voice cries out in the wilderness to call for repentance and that is not a civil call. Nor would I think anyone who knows about Jesus ever accuse him of that either. So yes, I think we do have to call forth our better angels, but perhaps those angels are calling us forth to speak our truth in love – and that is the real call I hear Jesus making us to do – to love our neighbors, and yes, to love our enemies, and to know the difference. When someone says we don’t get to exist, when someone feels that we deserve nothing but starvation, we don’t have to say thank you to them. We have to love them, but we get to call them out, we get to show our awareness or, as some call it, wokeness. We do not dismantle the master’s house with the master’s tools. So, in your calls to civility, my hope is that civility includes opening up camps of children separated from their parents and stopping ways in which people are oppressed – that is not civil. And no one ever will listen if all I do is smile when I ask those words. Amen.

For Pastor Kaji’s sermon related to this subject: https://youtu.be/AjBL92UP04I