We Need Jesus

 It may sound trite.  It sounds like something we put on a bumper sticker or a t-shirt. 

Ya'll (all ya'll) need Jesus. 

But it is so true. 

This world is filled with so much hurt and pain. 

If we don't see it-- we are lying to ourselves. 

We are numbing, ignoring, and choosing not to see.

This morning, as I was dropping off my daughter a woman, was continuing to drive through the parking lot without noticing the thruway traffic and was going to just keep going without noticing the oncoming cars.  Typically this is where someone would stop and look both ways before proceeding into the passing traffic of cars.  She did not stop and I honked my horn to alert her to please stop. 

She became irate. 

                                          Not the actual woman-- but a good depiction of her anger)

Our windows were up yet I could see clearly that she was cussing me out with a great deal of rage.  

I chose to stop and I calmy just waved her forward to keep on going. 

She mocked me by waving like I did while continuing to angrily cuss at me.  

I waited. 

She proceeded in front of me and then was forced to stop by the oncoming traffic.  

I was so ... shocked isn't the word. 

Sad, for sure. 

And somewhat confounded. 

Why so angry? 

Because I honked so she wouldn't proceed into the thruway? 

I guess I could have just stopped and let her go on and not done anything at all.

Yet, there's nothing wrong with using your car horn to alert someone not to plow into you. 

Part of me thinks, perhaps it's not worth it?  

To communicate with the car horn saying, "Hey-- remember there are oncoming cars here, please wait your turn."  

I kept trying to think about what I would have done if someone had honked their horn at me, typically in those moments I have waved and said-- "Oh, I'm so sorry."  

She was so angry and filled with rage as she mocked my gesture and hurled insults at me that met silence by the windows of our car. 

Why so angry? 

              It's 7:10am 

              We're in the High School parking lot dropping off our kids

                The sun is rising

As I drove home I couldn't help but contemplate this interaction further. 

I continued to feel so sad. 

I want to just stop the whole thing and go and tell her-- You are okay. 

You are loved. 

I want to hug her. 

And say--- it will be okay. 

As I drove away from the school, another car in front of me, another parent who had just dropped off their child had a bumper sticker that read, "Live. Laugh. Love.  And when that doesn't work, Ready, Load, Fire." 

I understand the bumper sticker is being, or trying to be "funny." 

And yet, our first response to practically anything is--- reactive.  

Rarely do we see the capacity to slow down and be thoughtful in the face of interactions with others. 

Faced with pressure to react to a situation, Jesus, often paused. 

When a mob wanted to stone a woman for adultery, Jesus knelt down and doodled in the dirt. (John 8) 

When faced with something that startles us, like someone honking the horn, or worse... where is our capacity to wait, pause, to reflect, to think, to respond?

What is at work inside of us? 

In this season of Easter I am contemplating so much -- Is Christ alive in me? 

Is it evident? 

Is Christ alive in me? or is Death at work in me? 

Do I offer grace and hope, peace and love?  

Or do I offer the things of decay, death, hurt, and further pain? 

Am I bringing hope or am I bringing fear?

Why was this woman so hostile?

I understand it really isn't about me. 

And yet,  I'm so sad. 

Sad- that someone is so on edge, that a honk of a horn warning them with basic driving etiquette, evokes such a rage-filled response. 

The kind of rage that leads to people choosing to take their anger and aim it at others while they shoot them: 

At birthday parties in Alabama 

In banks in Kentucky

At Easter Egg Hunts in Florida 

A Christian School in Tennessee 

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States) 

I also recognize that this possibility of a rage-filled, on-edge life could be true of any and all of us. 

Being in the world and dealing with life is so hard. 

There is so much pain and stress. 

So many people are walking around with all of that all the time and they have no idea how to deal with it, how to regulate their emotions, how to tolerate the distress they experience, and how to process the pain of life. 

Most of the time when we try to deal with our heavy feelings and pain- and we tell someone how hard something is, the response we receive can be either:

- Dismissal-- Yeah- well, get over it, that's just how things are. 

-One-uped - You think you have it hard, well let me tell you... 

The world is aching for an acknowledgment- a validation of their pain-- to just be heard, to be seen, to be loved. 

Jesus does this. 

The very presence of Jesus in the world is the acknowledgment of how much pain God sees us in and how God loves us and says, "You don't have to live this way." 

God sent Jesus to live and suffer WITH us, to love and teach, to be present and connect, to heal and release us from the bondage of sin, and to save us from the chasm of our own sin, pain, and death. 

Life does not have to feel hollow, fearful, angry, and hostile. 

How can we remind each other of this-- devoid of self-righteous,  I told you so, despicable religious behavior? 

How can we love in a way that is real and authentic that doesn't come across with a patronizing "I've got it all together" air but comes humbly willing to say-- This is all so hard and Jesus is here with all of us?

How can we share the love and power of Christ that can defeat this pain and increase our capacity for love, compassion, and grace in a way that those who are in so much pain can truly receive it? 

I don't have an easy answer. 

I do know that loving and offering compassion in this world of hurt and pain is an act of resistance.

We ask these questions when we profess our faith: 
Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world,
and repent of your sin?

Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?

Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the Church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?

I love these questions and I am constantly in awe at the depths of what they mean. 

I also know that these three questions are linked and they require a daily response from me.  

I need Jesus.  

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15: 

"Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to-- unless you have come to believe in vain."  1 Cor 15:1-2

 

Do we say in words, hashtags, social media posts, and superficiality, and not believe and embody the life and love of Christ? 

We all need this reminder. 

Have we come to believe in vain?

What does it look like to NOT believe in vain?

What does it look like to rise up and be alive in Christ? 

How can we share God's love and change the world?