Taking a Knee

            A little over thirty years ago, I took an oath to solemnize my enlistment in the U.S. Army. The hustle and chaos of the day obscured the import of that moment. Like most young men, I missed a chance to give serious thought to what I was doing. As the years passed and my service stacked up, the impact of those words sank in. I’ve reproduced them here for your perusal.

I Matthew E. Robinson do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

            Unlike many militaries of the world where service-members take an oath to a leader or to protect geographic territory, our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines swear to protect the ideals expressed in the constitution. And that is how it should be as the true strength of our nation flows not from our might in arms, but from ideals and ideas that elevate all of us and when we depart from those ideals it erodes our strength and worth as a nation. And this especially applies to recent demonstrations by athletes who choose not to stand during the playing of the national anthem and those who take umbrage at such displays.

            When we seek to deny them their freedom of speech; we ignore one of the most basic tenants of our nation and we insult all those that have sacrificed for the advancement and survival of it. We may disagree with their statement, but we need to be strong enough to let them make it and wise enough to consider their point. You see, those of us who enjoy being white and well-to-do inhabit a very different world from those of color. We live and move throughout our days enjoying a certain privilege and place. Yes, most of us must work to secure our place and we to suffer the vagaries of human existence; however, the table is undeniably tilted in our direction and to deny such insults those that suffer from it and displays our ignorance to the realities of American life.

              Our nation was born out of similar protests; which when ignored by those in power turned into violent revolution. We need to carefully consider these protests, seeking to understand the forces that generate such frustration. In their own way, the athletes that take a knee during the National Anthem are engaging in an act that is patriotic to its core, just as patriotic as my enlisting in the Army.  Our intransigence regarding these demonstrations will only serve to further alienate those marginalized segments of our population that badly need our help and assistance. Instead of railing at the demonstration let us instead seek to understand the forces that are the genesis of such frustration and seek out common ground and solutions. The demonstrations are not acts of disrespect. They seek change to better our society and as such, are acts of patriotism. Those who willingly shoulder the slings, arrows, and criticism taking a knee during the National Anthem deserve our respect and a fair hearing.

How I choose to remember.

I remember standing in the Hertz rental kiosk watching CNN. I was in Wiesbaden and Christy and kids were half a world away in Youngstown, Ohio. I signed some papers and drove over to the Jag office. By the time I arrived a crowd had gathered around the TV, fixated on a burning tower. Horrified, we gasped as the second aircraft slammed into the other tower. All of us, soldiers, knew that our lives had changed. And they did. We watched as the towers sagged and crumbled, along with our naïveté and hubris. Many things died that day, including several thousand people; innocent going about their daily duties. 

We tend to focus on the physical aspect of that day, the lives lost and property destroyed. And, at some level, we should; especially the lives. Those who lost loved ones rose the next day to a world forever darker, grimmer, barer. For them September 11th will always remain a sad reminder, a day passed in mourning. 

We rarely stop to consider the spiritual and moral loss to our nation. We've discarded the openness that for so long characterized our nation. We turned to baser motivations.  We let fear corrode our sense of decency and welcoming nature. Now we talk of walls and limitations on speech. We turn away when jack-booted thugs stomp on others and the civil liberties that set us apart. In a sad way we dishonor those who died on that bright September day. 

If we wish to truly honor the memory of those that died on that day, and all those that have perished in Afghanistan, Iraq, or other some dreary dusty alley let us reclaim and reinvigorate our commitment to the values laid out in our foundational documents. A renewed sense of basic decency will best preserve our liberties and defeat those that seek our destruction. 

I was a Stranger

                Over the past few months the droves of disappointed voters flocked to various public platforms to voice their discontent with the outcome of the last presidential election. President Trump has discovered that being president is not nearly as much fun as running for president. He’s also discovered the constitutional limits and leadership challenges of the Presidency, enduring the unending stream of criticism directed at all presidents. And, sadly, he generates much of the criticism due to behavioral and policy issues. But now, those of us who claim the name of Christ find ourselves faced with a moment in which we may stand together for an issue of import, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; commonly referred to as DACA.

                This morning my daily devotional reading took me to Matthew 25. Here in the final days before the crucifixion Jesus talks about end times and the separation of the sheep and goats. Among the failures of the goats He listed, “…⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me…”.

The goats complain, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger…?”

Jesus replies, “Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

And the goats then shuffle off in the sad darkness of eternal separation from the Lord. Matthew 25:43-46 English Standard Version (ESV), modified for length and emphasis.

This is not a solitary moment in the sweep of scripture. Throughout the Bible, God proclaims His love for the sojourner. At Sinai, with the dust of Egypt still fresh on their sandals, God reminds the Children of Israel to always take care of the sojourner, remembering that they too were once sojourners. Repeatedly the stringent voice of prophets rings out chastising the Jews for oppressing the sojourner. In Isaiah, chapter 10, the Lord condemns those who write iniquitous decrees that oppress the poor, the widow, and the fatherless. In these passages God reminds us that His heart is inclined toward the weak, the widow, the orphan, and the sojourner. And such were we.  At some point, all our families got off the boat, strangers in a strange land.

This is a moment of opportunity for Christians in America.  Here is an issue that God speaks about in direct, unambiguous language. We should clamor for legislation that extends a hand to the sojourner among us. We can set aside our constant sharing of sarcastic memes and instead clamor for taking care of Jesus. For many, who find President Trump wanting, the tendency has been to focus on constant attacks on questionable character or decisions. While this may provide some transitory pleasure, in the end it is illusory, of no real substance. It takes no intellectual effort to click or tap “share.” For those Christians who supported President Trump the tendency has been to spend time denigrating and ridiculing those who did not. We ought to unite over this issue. We all desire a more “Christian” nation and now we have an opportunity to move, however incrementally, toward God. We can love these people in a tangible way. And, in doing so, we show love for our Lord. This group of people, largely voiceless, needs our advocacy. In a like way we found ourselves in desperate need with no one to intercede for us, then God moved to serve and save us. By serving this unrepresented group we show love and ultimately serve Jesus.