Dear Members and Friends,
While initially uniting us as a nation, the terroristic and traumatic events of the last few years, and those threatened yet to come, have started to re-polarize many people along previously predictable party lines. Whether the discussion centers on Homeland Security or issues in Iraq, snipers in Virginia or refugees from Haiti, too often problems that confront us all as a community tend to divide us all into a collection of competing cliques.
Recently participating with 19 others at a conference instigated by 9/11 and founded on principles of trauma awareness and recovery, with people from Afghanistan to Pakistan, India, Sierra Leone and Belfast, I was struck by the vision that individuals with a wide diversity in perspective can truly find a collective unity based in mutual respect and admiration. It was as though citizens gathered from within manifestly different nations, carrying widely divergent perspectives, could nevertheless feel "safe" to be themselves and with each other. Yet, going back as far as my seminary days, it is this sense of safety that I have felt far too elusive in the Body of Christ - particularly on the broader, wider level.
During our gathering at Eastern Mennonite University, discussing the difference between true prophetic witness and mere political propaganda, I was caused to recollect and recount the story of the Roman Centurion going to Jesus for help. While the details of this encounter are important, there is an insight all its own contained in the fact that a member of an occupying pagan army felt safe with a powerfully prophetic Jewish Messiah!
This Christmas, as we each approach that marvelous Babe in the Manger, let us be humbly mindful that while he is our personal Savior, he is not our private Savior. Indeed, the One we celebrate as Emmanuel, God with us, is God for all of us. He is the redeemer of liberal and conservative alike; he is the Holy One for the ardent pacifist and the army general; he is the Comforter and Challenger of Republican and Democrat, left and right, rich and poor.
Right now, as a nation, our leaders and our people are under significant attack. While we might not all agree on how to respond, let us all give each other credit for attempting to do what we think is best. Realizing that salvation is not a special interest agenda, let us each seek and affirm the presence of Christ, not only in those with whom we agree, but also in the hearts and minds of those with whom we differ. For indeed, the Child born of Mary who calls all of us equally into question is also the One who invites all of us fully into the Kingdom of God!
From Reverend William J. Keane,
Senior Minister of First Baptist Church of Branford
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