Punk'd

Often lately, I feel like America is being punk’d. 

Everyone says we need God back in our schools, more prayer in schools, prayer on the sports fields, and prayer whenever, wherever we want. I have absolutely no problem with that, as long as every religion is given the same right. 

We get upset when people say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. Personally, I think it’s silly, but I understand the sentiment behind it. It’s about Christ. It’s about religious freedom. Keep Christ in Christmas. 

Finally, we get mad about a company’s choice of cup design because we feel like they’re disrespecting Christmas. I’m not gonna lie… That’s just plain stupid. But we love Christ. We love Him so much we want to show it, feel it, see it, share it everywhere, always. Christ is our savior. I get it.

So here’s the joke that is being played on Americans. Many – not all, but many – of the same people spreading that particular love of Christ are, at the same time, spreading a message of fear and separation. They are displaying some very un-Christian-like behavior. All of their prayer and Christ promotion is superficial. It’s window dressing. It’s an act. It’s a farce. It’s lip service. The only purpose any of it serves is to make ourselves feel religious; feel like we’re doing God’s work; feel like we’re spreading the Good News.

All that stuff is Old Testament. It completely ignores the New Testament. It completely ignores the message of Christ. When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, show God what you’re made of, hard work of love

we fail.

We are good at the lip service. We have perfected that. We become sufficiently outraged over our perceived religious persecution. But we fail to live up to His message, His teaching, and His request of us. He sacrificed His life to show us The Way.

We are failing Him in his sacrifice.

He taught love and compassion. Acceptance. Mercy. Love thy neighbor.

What we’re doing is the opposite of that. There is a crisis in the world right now and we are ignoring it. No. No, it’s worse than that. We’re actively rejecting it. We are not being Christ-like when we promote turning refugees away from our borders and refuse to allow them into our states once they are here. It is shameful. It makes a cruel mockery of our 'Keep Christ in Everything' campaigns. 

Years ago there was a WWJD campaign. I think we need it again. We need to ask ourselves what would Jesus do?

What would He do?

Turn them away? Say not in my country? Say not in my state? Ignore their plight, their suffering? Would He be afraid of them and their motives? 

Or

Would He extend His arms to receive them in His embrace?

I remember learning about his death. I don’t remember the exact day and time I learned about it, or how old I was, but I remember the feeling that came over me. Sorrow. Complete sorrow. Then disbelief that human beings could be so cruel to the most loving, gentle man I had ever heard of.

Even after our cruelty to Him, He would not turn any of us away.

Ever.

And we know it.

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