I guess it's time to face my silence - both in the blogosphere and in life. It's been a while since I've posted, and I could offer a list of time-consuming things that prevented me from writing, but that wouldn't change the fact that I've been silent. In fact, the list of time-consuming things continues and more than likely will continue until the day I'm done on this planet. So my list of time-consuming things can become a hiding place (of sorts) if I'm not careful. The list, and everything on it, can become distractions and excuses and justifications for silence: I'm too busy; I'm too tired; I'm only one person; I need to take care of myself; How can I make a difference?; What do I say? And the list can go on and on.
So...what to do? And what do I mean: the cost of silence? For starters, I didn't grow up going to church. We didn't even go on Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day. Just wasn't in our vocabulary. And that's okay; there are a lot of us out there. But, if people in my life remained silent about God, I wouldn't be where I am today - a pastor, a believer, a disciple, and a man baffled by the unfailing love of God. But, along my journey through life, people spoke up. People invited me to know this God of love. People taught me about this God of love. And the people who taught me about this God of love are not all pastors, believers, disciples, and people baffled by the love of God. They are children, patients, prisoners, folks without homes, the voiceless of society, the super wealthy, the middle class, straight, gay, black, white, documented, undocumented, loved, hated, older, healthy, ill, prominent, and average.
And to me, this is who God is: diverse, complex, multi-layered, multi-faceted, colorful, beautiful, inclusive, accepting, inviting, passionate, creative, intense, and alive. And all this can be summed up as: love. And the kind of love God offers is sometimes incomprehensible. It's unconditional; it gives without any expectation of getting anything in return. But it has expectations. This love expects for us to share with others and not keep it to ourselves. This love expects for us not to decide who gets the love and who doesn't. This love expects that we will not keep silent about those who are excluded, misunderstood, and judged. But, if I speak up, especially for those who are excluded, misunderstood, and judged, this leaves me open for exclusion, being misunderstood, and judged. And honestly...that scares me. Sometimes it scares me into silence. And this is what I mean by the cost of silence.
But, perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4.18). So if I let fear keep me silent, I am not loving and I am not sharing the unconditional love of God. Yes, there is a cost for speaking up. I might be judged as a rebel, a trouble-maker, someone distorting the Gospel, a liberal, or a whole slew of other names. But hopefully the reward will be the betterment someone else's life because of love. All of us are created in God's image. And this blows my mind because we are so different and diverse in this world. That means that God is different and diverse - like the above-mentioned list. Too often I think we try to make God after our own short-sighted images. Because we tend to hang out with people who are like us. And if we're not careful, then we can think that God is just like us. We try to make God conform to us.
There are challenges in our lives - some thrust upon us and some we create. And there will be times when choices must be made: Do I remain silent, or do I speak up? Will I include or exclude? Will I judge someone, or will I listen to her/him? Will I give or take? Will I try to protect myself, or will I share this unfailing love of God? Will I help with healing and reconciliation, or will I promote the problem by remaining silent?
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. says, "In the end, we wil remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." May this inspire us to consider the cost of our silence, the cost of not receiving and sharing love, and the cost of a life that ends because hatred, injustice, and misunderstanding won out over love.
