Monday, May 28, 2018

What are we doing?

"Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket[a] for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him"
Exodus 2:-4

It is a story most of us know. A story of two people that could not hide the child they were supposed to have killed so they put the baby in the basket and sent him up the river. We know this story ends with Pharaoh's daughter finding the baby and raising the baby that we all know as Moses. Moses would go on to fight for the freedom of his people, The Israelites.

It's such an old story. It seems that it has zero relevance today except that Moses freeing the Israelites has pivotal in the story of the Bible. 

Here is where I am stuck and can't quite figure out how to ignore this. 

Yesterday I read a facebook post by Rachel Held Evans, a writer and blogger. She shared of immigrants crossing the border and having their children being ripped from their arms and taken as "punishment" for crossing the borders illegally. These are people that are fleeing persecution in their own countries, that despite what they may or may not know about the state of the US still believe it will be better. So they risk it and come. They come hoping for a better life and then their children are taken. Put into the foster care system or maybe lost in the foster care system some to be suspected to be sold into human trafficking.

Moses' mother knew that her child would be killed if he was found. All boys under the age of 2 were to be killed out of fear. Pharaoh wanted all of the power- so when power is threatened just kill kids. For Moses' mother this is what she thought was best. She risked him being killed in the river, being found by someone that would know he was an Israelite and kill him yet she thought this was the best option for her son. 

As we honor fallen soilders and those that have gone before us today, I wonder what they would think of this. I wonder if the country they fought for was one that takes children from their mothers' arms or if it is a country that provides stability and life for people that may not find is elsewhere. 

When a young person signs up to be in the military you often hear them say that they want to do good, they want to defend our country, they want to make us safe. 

We are lucky. We are lucky to live in a country that gives us the freedom to walk out our door and not worry that a bomb will fall on us. Now there are many things not okay with this country but I won't go into that. 

I want to believe that the people who have served our country and have lost their lives for our country wanted it to be safe for all people. For the children they met while serving in Iraq that were scared, hungry and needed safety. 

I have to believe our world is better than this.

Moses was lucky and chosen by God to save his people. Moses' mother risked it all to save her son and knew that she would likely never see him again. This story should be one of hope for all of us, that we do not have to live in fear of this EVER again. Yet it isn't.

I don't know how to fix this, how to do something about it but I do know that Jesus welcomed the stranger, fed the hungry and preached for us to welcome the immigrant.

Prayer and hopes won't fix this. Legislation and fighting for the oppressed is what will. 

Rachel Held Evans encourages all of us to call our Senators and Representatives to tell them to make this stop. Call. Call. Call. 

Action and fighting for what is right is what will help us all be the transformation that our world needs, that God longs for and Jesus preached about.

Moses was an unlikely choice to save his people- he hated talking in front of crowds, he was awkward. Yet he was chosen, just as we all are. To share our abundance and the love to Christ to all that we meet.

God Bless all those that fought for my life to be free and for all those that continue to do so. May we make you proud and live as our God and country wants us to.

Blessings to all

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