On Gatekeeping

There's a lot of talk today.  A lot of talk about Syrian refugees, about France, about a lack of concern for Beirut... there's a lot to weigh in on, and there are a lot of us choosing to weigh:  do we see Jesus juxtaposed to these refugees seeking shelter?  Do we do our due diligence to keep our country safe?  Where is our information coming from and who will consider it credible?  Which statistics make us the most comfortable?  What Scripture can we use to back up our claim?  How harshly can we attack the opinion of our neighbor, colleague, coworker, friend? How can we feel most justified and most correct in our particular position?

There are one thousand different things to believe about today-- and let me be clear-- everyone is entitled to their beliefs.  I, just like everyone else, am trying to sort out mine.  And as I grapple and sort and sit in the tension, and lean to one side, I am faced with a deep and aching tragedy:  we are doing nothing together.  What is grounds for an argument in this case, does not apply to that one.  We claim that it's no easy task to determine who can enter the United States because we might unknowingly allow a terrorist into this country.  We are the gatekeepers of united safety.  We, therefore, must use caution and can't take Jesus overwhelmingly at his word to welcome the alien.  But, what about the terrorist already in our country?  What about judges who turn a blind eye to domestic violence?  What about government systems so bent on being unapologetic that police brutality goes unchecked?  What about young women who are raped and forced to carry their attacker's child because they are denied judicial bypass?  What about our own brokenness and our own failings?

Have we forgotten them?  Have we forgotten that before we were given liberty, that the majority of us come from a lineage of oppression, violence, and religious extremism?  How easily we exchange our own oppression for the opportunity to oppress others.   It is not as tidy as we wish it was... it may never be.

I have no salient point- other than, wherever you land- let's be cautious today and everyday that we are all gatekeeping.  We are all guarding a sacred set of beliefs.  We are all in the right and in the wrong and every possible position in-between.  There is no binary here.  We are a spectrum of truths and struggles and compassion and hope for our nation and our world...