Friday, March 18, 2011

It's easy to be a critic--too easy

There is certainly a lot of room for criticism in our world. I am unhappy that civil marriage is not a civil right for same sex couples. I am unhappy with our country’s policies on trade and immigration. I am unhappy that “enemy combatants” are still being held at Guantanamo.
It would be easy to devote more of my time and energy to criticism. Part of the reason I don’t, is that it’s just too easy.
The 2004 tsunami killed more than 250,000 people in Indonesia alone. In responding to that tragedy, I asked where God was during that disaster. I then devoted several paragraphs to criticizing what I saw as the wrong answers, e.g. God punishing the wicked. But I devoted most of the time to my own answers to the difficult question of why do bad things happen to good people.
I can easily spend more than half of a sermon criticizing the answers of others . What’s difficult is coming up with answers that satisfy me. I have to discipline myself to focus more on my own answers instead of simply criticizing the answers of others.
We are living in a very uncivil and critical time. I think what we need is not more inspired criticism, emotionally satisfying though that may be. What we need are inspired answers, answers to the difficult questions that we are forced to answer by the circumstances of our times.
To paraphrase my colleague Earl Holt, what I am called to do when I deliver a sermon is to pose the questions that life asks of all of us, to answer them the best I can, and to encourage you to do the same. It doesn’t matter if our answers differ. What matters is that we do our best to answer the questions.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Hate filled speech and The Patriot Guard

Andy Sadowski is a member of the Rusty Chain Gang, the bicycling group that I most frequently rode with when I lived in Fort Worth. I miss them a lot and whenever I go home for a visit, I try and squeeze in a ride.
Andy and I are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. I suspect he may get all of his news from Rush (Limbaugh).
In 2005, shortly after we met, I tried to talk to him about politics. He warned me off. I said something to the effect of, “Oh, surely we can have a civil conversation about our political differences.” He looked me in the eye and said, “Trust me, we can’t.” I took him at his word. We do talk, but we avoid talking politics.
In addition to his bicycle, Andy rides a big motorcycle. One of the uses he puts it to is escorting funeral processions and services. The Patriot Guard Riders are motorcyclists who, with the consent of the affected family, help shield the funerals of military men and women from the disrespectful protesters of Westboro Baptist Church. Westboro Baptist Church members claim that the deaths of American troops are a result of God’s anger at tolerance of homosexuality. The U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that under the 1st Amendment, their protest at funerals is protected speech.
The Guard place themselves between the Westboro church protesters and the funeral and block the protestors from view by holding up large American flags. If it seems appropriate they will drown out the protestors by singing patriotic songs or revving their engines.
I can easily imagine Andy, a vet himself, protecting the families of the fallen by standing against the protestors. It’s a good image. We may not be able to legally silence the ugly speech of the members of Westboro Baptist Church but with the help of men and women like Andy, we don’t necessarily have to see or hear them.