A stranger in the land

Several things have been bothering me for the past several weeks and I now see that they are connected. As usual, it was the Holy Spirit that woke me up.

There were two letters to the editor in the local paper this past month. The first talked about the need for immigrants to speak American in this country. I am not making that up – the writer really thinks American is the official language of the U.S.

The second writer was concerned about the preservation and dissemination of Americanism (preservation and dissemination are my words not those of the original writer). I had to wonder if that was left or right Americanism or red or blue Americanism? Was it 21st century Americanism or 18th century Americanism? And what is Americanism?

When did the all the immigrants who came to this country without invitation from the indigenous population begin to speak American and display Americanism?

Then the Holy Spirit brought me the readings for Pentecost. This passage is particularly meaningful to me because it was the first reading I ever did as a Lector in church; and look at what trouble that caused. From The Acts of the Apostles 2.1-21 we have this excerpt:

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."

I lived in South Florida for several years around 1980 and it was not uncommon to hear Spanish from the large Cuban population. At the time there was even an effort to make English the official language of Florida. Today in a small community in Pennsylvania it is not uncommon to hear Spanish as well as dozens of other languages. The local school district has somewhere over 30 different languages represented in the student body. In many ways it is music to my ears as I reflect on the wonders of each of these unique cultures. It is also sad for me to think that I can not communicate, even a little, with most of those brothers and sisters in their own language.

While I realize that being functional in English is important to someone living in the US so that they can be productive, stripping them of their own language is not the answer. Forcing the American language or Americanism culture upon someone is disrespectful.

The final piece to this puzzle came to me from a recent op-ed piece written by Rabbi Jack Paskoff where he makes a plea for compassion. Rabbi Paskoff reminds us of the words of the Hebrew Bible that say "You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 23:9). Very few of us can claim that we or our families were not also strangers in the land of the US. But how many of us can claim compassion for the stranger in our land?

PAZ,

Ears to hear

I am convinced that God is alive and well and quite talkative. We just need to listen. God speaks to us in many ways. This is not usually the Bill Cosby variety where he used a booming voice to call out “Noah, NOAH, I want you to build me an ark.” In the skit even Noah said “Who is the really? Am I on Candid Camera?”

No I think God is much more subtle than that. He often speaks to us in our dreams. Not the type were you need to psychoanalyze every dream; but rather, waking up and knowing what you are to do. Writing this blog post is one example. I woke up knowing what to say, I just hope I remember it because at 3am it sounded really good.

God also talks to us through other people. People we interact with in the course of our day help guide and direct us. Some of those people are not there by mere coincidence.

Sometimes a piece of scripture will speak to us. It may be something we have read before. Or it may be a new passage that we found just when we needed it.

Yes, God is talking – but why are we not listening?

Case in point, Floyd Landis. Floyd was raised in a very devout Mennonite home. I would think that he should recognize when God is trying to get his point across. Yet according to Floyd Landis, he began using performance enhancing drugs in 2002. Why did he not listen to that voice in 2002 that said not only are the PEDs dangerous, but they are wrong to use? Then in 2006 when he was caught using the drugs he lied to the world. More profoundly, he lied to his parents. I firmly believe that God was trying many different ways to tell Floyd to stand strong with the truth and then try to resurrect his life.

Now Floyd says “I lied then, but now I am telling the truth” and he is implicating other riders. God wants us to be united in brotherhood, not accuse our brothers. Floyd is still not listening.

What is it about our society that makes it so difficult to listen to God? I denied my own calling to the ministry for decades. I am sure others are also missing the message about their calling, whether in ministry or the secular world. One only has to see the front page of the paper to see those who are missing the message about ethical behaviors.

I don’t think this is a problem that is unique to those in the 21^st century. However, we complicate the issue with technology and pressure for monetary achievement.

Think about Jesus walking in a crowd and he sensed that someone had touched his robe. That is awareness. Yet for many, they would not even notice the crowd because they are texting or talking on the cell phone.

Can we become more aware? Prayer time helps. Removing some the technology distractions would be a good start (even just for a little while). Stopping to study a flower, really look at it closely, might open you up to hear.

When I enter a place of worship I begin by kneeling in prayer. Often I simply ask that God open my eyes to see, my ears to hear, and my heart to feel. May this also be true for you.

Shalom,