Category Archives: Pop Culture

The Big Release

22 Sunday Mar 2015

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Jesus answPhone Sept 2014 2052ered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

John 12:23-25

It’s easy to cling to the status quo, the wheat stalk in our midst.

It’s easy to play it safe.  It’s much simpler to allow the voices that stagnate to overrule.  It’s much less complicated to keep lives and institutions in their current shapes.

But here’s the thing: if we keep gripping to the stalk on which we grow and not allow ourselves to die to the old and be reborn, we are going to die anyway.

If we cling to our current ways of living, the unhealthy will overrule our well-being.  If we cling to a destructive friendship or relationship, our soul begins to shrink.  If we cling to a rigid way of thinking about a subject, we will cut ourselves off of a still-speaking God in our midst.

This also applies to the way we are the church.

If we try to keep people happy, preventing anything from changing and anyone from grieving, we think to ourselves “well, at least we aren’t dying.  All must be well!”  We’ll remind ourselves that we aren’t shrinking.  We’re retaining members!  Instead, we’ll foolishly affirm to ourselves and others that we’re stable.  But we’re far from stable.  We are clinging to a dying stalk of wheat.

We allow ourselves to forget about all of the others that may come our way once we shed our status quo.  We will die in the lie of stability because stability doesn’t really exist.  And people-pleasing is only an illusion.

But everyone’s “happy.”  Or so it seems.

Here’s where I fall short: being a Christian isn’t about making others happy.  Jesus refused to make others happy.  Instead, he threw over tables in the Temple, healed on the Sabbath, touched the unclean and associated with expendable people.

I’ll be honest- as I give this more thought, I no longer believe it’s really about making God happy but, instead, allowing God’s call to draw us into life.  We are called to live the Christ-filled journey by releasing the old ways we in which we exist.  It requires us to stop the people-pleasing, cease clinging to the old and let go.

The path of Christ means free-falling into the air… wondering where we will land and having faith that we will land in soil that will nourish us.

Those who love their lives exactly the way things are right now will eventually lose it sooner or later.  We will get old and our bodies and/or minds will cease to work.  As we die we’ll wonder why we didn’t take more chances in life and free-fall into the call of God.

Likewise, those who love their churches exactly how they currently are and work to keep the status quo will eventually lose their church.  Our members will age.  We won’t have the bodies and monies to continue to run our current church structures and buildings.  As we cling to the old, the life and energy stirring around the church building will drift away.

Eventually, the church will die.  Only the hollow, echoing building will stand.  No more ministries.  No more worship.  No more laughter at 9:45a.m. on a Sunday morning.

Nothing.

Now, if we are willing to throw everything to the wind – our old perspectives, our old structures, our old procedures – just as this grain of wheat that Jesus spoke of, we have the potential to grow.  In this great release of the old, we may feel like we are killing off the past.  We may be tossing away everything we know.  And, yes, this means deep grief.

Living this wild life of instability forces us to stop the rigidity and start on the winding road to who-knows-where.  But the possibilities of growth are endless.  The laughter and energy may dwindle for a bit, but then begin to build.

Remember Jack’s magic beans after he sold the cow?  Without releasing the old (and maybe sacred) cow, a beanstalk wouldn’t have blossomed.

Just like many churches will sell their buildings, merge with other churches, advocate for something new… Basically everything they are into the wind…  Selling the sacred cows for magic beans.

But most of the time, when the seed releases and falls, the ground catches it, nurses it, and allows the seed to take root…

…And the buds of resurrection break through the ground.

The Kingdom of God Is Like a Glee Club…

20 Friday Mar 2015

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By Glee (Screenshot from a Glee episode.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Kingdom of God is like a Glee club where young people of all ethnicities, races, gender identities and expressions, economic levels, religions and perspectives come together to join their voices together in song…

Where the pregnant cheerleader, the rebel misfit, the disabled student, the girl with the stutter, the girl with a larger than life ego, the gay young man and the football player who lacks direction can unite in joy and share their gifts…

…Or so Jesus would say if he was telling a 21st century parable.

Now, I haven’t had much chance to watch Glee in the last couple of seasons.  But this year, I’ve revisited the show a few times and watched some of the last episodes including tonight’s finale.

Back in the fall of 2009, my group of fellow seminarians would get together each Tuesday night during our last year of seminary to watch Glee.  It was our ritual, joining with the diverse Kingdom of God to watch a show about the diverse Kingdom of God.  The weekly Sabbath hour of watching Glee became our time to fellowship together before the eventual parting of ways at the end of the year when we were called to different corners of the world to serve.

Glee was something to which many of us could identify.  Some of us had been bullied as young people.  Others had come out to their friends and family.  I think on some level, most of us felt like outsiders who came together with a common love and sense of call – just like Will Schuester and the Glee club.

In tonight’s finale, Rachel explains that Glee club is “Somewhere safe” and a place where people “learn from each other and be who we are including those who are different than us.  When we look back on our time here, we should be proud of what we did and who we included.”

Sue concluded with the following:

“It takes a lot of bravery to look around you to see the world, not as it is, but as it should be.  A world where the quarterback becomes best friends with the gay kid.  And the girl with the big nose ends up on Broadway. Glee is about imagining a world like that, and finding the courage to open up your heart and sing about it.”

The way Jesus explains the kingdom of God is this idyllic place, a place where all people are respected and given dignity.   All are experiencing the justice and peace that flows from God.  Through Rachel’s and Sue’s words, we are reminded that the ideal kingdom of God is a safe place where we learn from one another and where we appreciate each other’s gifts.  It’s a place where people who are extremely different from one another can join together to share life and build up our neighbors.

The Kingdom of God is like Glee, reflecting all of the similarities and differences between people – and the unity between them – joining together to make a melodic world.

Buddhism Reshaped My Easter

17 Tuesday Mar 2015

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IMG_0185Let’s face it – Easter tends to be the most Christian holiday of the year.  Besides anything that’s bunny, egg, chocolate, or flower-related, the holiday centers around the resurrection of Jesus, the heart and head of our faith.

But last year, I adopted a Buddhist view of Easter… at least in my sermon.

I recalled that each year right around this time, I head over a park on the other side of town.  The entrance to this park is lined with trees that, when they bloom, look like paradise.  I find sadness that this lasts only a short while.  Fortunately, I was able to visit the park right after they started blooming.  When I was over there yesterday, the pinkish-white petals had disappeared, and small buds of greened hung where the blooms had been.

There is sadness that fills my heart when I see the blooms gone for the year.  There’s a part of me that wishes the first days of spring could last all year, and the blossoms on the trees could last forever.

Of course, logically, I know this is part of the life cycle of the tree.  The trees are no longer in its beautiful spring state.  The petals drop to the ground, finding their death.  But in their death, the tree find its next phase.

We embrace much of our lives like we do like the blossoming trees.  We want life to stay a certain way, frozen in time.  But life is always changing.  Life starts, life ends.  Our bodies and our world are in constant motion.  From the mountains to our trees to our hair and our souls, we transform.  It’s concurrently beautiful and sad.

One of my best friends practices Buddhism.  When we have a chance to visit with one another, we have the best conversations about faith.  In reflecting on my sermon for last year’s Easter, the Buddhist principle of impermanence came to light. This principle is meditating on and deeply understanding that everything is impermanent, in a constant state of change and that everything will deteriorate.

She read to me excerpts from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book You Are Here which explained that impermanence and change is the heart of life and makes life possible.  When we reject impermanence, we reject life.  For hope lies in impermanence.

And in a roundabout way, we see that hope in resurrection story.

Mary Magdalene is weeping outside of the tomb, and Jesus the Christ calls her by name.  She then recognizes the risen Christ in her midst.  And then remembering all of the great times with Jesus during his earthly life, she wants to keep that with her.  She wants everything to be the same, and she clings to him.  Maybe she’s thinking “he won’t go away again.”  Maybe she’s thinking that “if I do something differently this time, he won’t die.”  I can’t say exactly what she was thinking, but she wanted the old ways of being with Jesus the Christ again.  But the Christ says otherwise – “do not hold onto me.”

What it says in the text is “do not cling” not “do not touch.”  We see later that it was ok for Thomas to touch Jesus.  I don’t think that it was a problem that this Christ was touched.  But what she was doing was holding on with all of her might in order to keep the pre-crucifixion, pre-resurrection Jesus with her.

In letting Jesus in his previous embodiment go, leaving the garden and running to spread the good news, I believe Mary embraces the hope that lies in impermanence.  She embraces the great change that happens with the Christ – from the original human body format to a format that transcends space and time.  That Christ goes with us wherever we go, and that Christ changes as the ways our life and world change.  When we meet new people or experience life in a new way, we understand Christ deeper.

It may seem odd that I speak of a Buddhist principle on Easter Sunday, but I wonder, how are we with changes in our lives, of letting things go, and then looking at embracing change as hopeful.

I remember what Thich Nhat Hanh says: “hope lies in impermanence.”  The tomb could not seal off the Christ from the rest of the world.  And while the death was traumatic, without the change in the form of the Christ, I don’t believe the good news would have gone beyond that small part of the world.  Would people know of the radical love of Jesus, of the way he validated the lives of those who were in the margins?

If Mary Magdalene would have staying in that garden right outside the tomb and kept holding on to the Jesus she once knew instead of sharing the Christ in its newest form, we wouldn’t have known the Good News of new life and resurrection.  That’s hope.  Maybe there were still tinges of sadness that resonated within her.  But I believe the privilege of sharing the good news of life and hope helped her to let go of Jesus the Christ in his previous form.

I’d like to think of Mary releasing Jesus like any of us releasing the beauty that leaves with the end of a season.  There is a tinge of sadness that still remains in me when the blossoms drop from the trees.  But with the changing trees and the falling flowers comes rich greenness for all to enjoy, full trees for people to rest under during the warm months.  If the trees didn’t change throughout the year, they would die.  That’s like us: if we don’t change constantly – our cells, our thoughts, our churches – we die as well.

So each year, when trees bloom and Easter rolls around, I recall the Buddhist principle of impermanence.  It’s given me the gift of seeing the transitions and changes that come with the death and resurrection of Jesus with a new depth and greater hope of new life.

This post was written as part of Synchroblog’s March 2015 theme “What I Appreciate about [Other Religions].”  Below are other blog posts that have been written as part of this theme.  The links do not necessarily reflect my perspective.

Finding the Grace in Divorce

10 Tuesday Mar 2015

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Abraham banishes Hagar and Ishmael; Sarah and Isaac look on. Engraving by R. Parr after G. Hoet. Iconographic Collections

In seminary I researched the Malachi 2:13-16 text:

“And this you do as well: You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor at your hand.  You ask, ‘Why does he not?’ Because the Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.  Did not one God make her? Both flesh and spirit are his. And what does the one God desire? Godly offspring. So look to yourselves, and do not let anyone be faithless to the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless.” (NRSV)

A portion of my work on the Malachi 2 text was studying the word “divorce.”  The Hebrew word for divorce as seen in Malachi 2 is found two other places: when Abraham banishes Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness and when David’s son Amnon throws David’s daughter Tamar out after he rapes her.

Divorce in those cases has to do with one person who has the privilege (usually the man in Biblical times) not taking care of the other person, leaving them destitute in body, mind and soul.  Likewise, the Malachi text pertains to abandoning one’s wife and leaving her to survive with little resources.

Divorce happens.  Sure, God dislikes divorce – nobody likes divorce.  We don’t head into marriage expecting that our covenant will end.  We truly hope that our marriages and relationships will triumph over the statistics.

But sometimes, divorce is inevitable.  The covenant is broken through abuse, infidelity and other trust issues.  Sometimes, after much counseling, a couple will divorce because the relationship is no longer healthy.  People will change over the years, and couples will try their hardest to make the relationship work, but in the end will find peace in the dissolution of the marriage.

Yet there can be faithfulness even in divorce.  When we see divorced couples working together for the sake of their children or amicably splitting property in divorce settlements, we see two people loving God and neighbor the best they can through a challenging time.

Lastly, God gives grace in divorce.  God wants us to find happiness and mercy in our lives, and I believe God wants us to abide in hope and find love again.  Even in the case of Abraham and Hagar, both were given God’s gift of descendants through both Isaac and Ishmael.  We will find that blessings in our lives as well.

A prayer for those divorcing or divorced:

God of the coupled and uncoupled,
You sit with us in the shadows of our souls.
Your hope feeds us and your grace quenches our thirst,
And through your nourishment, we find movement towards tomorrow.

Bless those who are currently journeying through the wilderness of divorce.
Help them to see their estranged spouse as a person created in your image.
Bless their efforts in amicable settlements and custody arrangements.
Help them find new ways of being family, even if family has taken a new form.

God, we know your grace is always pouring upon us
And so we ask that you help us see that grace
In the moments when hope seems far
And shame seems too close to us.

Amen.

My Least Favorite Sunday

07 Saturday Mar 2015

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16561871989_6111ecd81c_kI can say with little hesitation that my favorite Sundays each year are Easter and Pentecost Sundays.  The excitement that is generated on those two days fills the church and our hearts, sustaining me in body, mind and soul.

I’m sure I can’t be the only pastor or person writing or reading this who has a least favorite Sunday: Spring Forward Sunday.  We find ourselves waking up with one less hour of sleep because, let’s face it, we aren’t going to go to sleep an hour earlier on Saturday nights.  Whether we are working, relaxing or spending time with friends, our bodies aren’t usually ready to sleep earlier than usual, even if we plan for it.

This leaves us a little extra tiredness during worship on Sunday morning.  We’re ready for our afternoon nap soon after our Sunday morning events are complete.

I think there’s a little level of disappointment knowing that our day is noticeably shorter.  As we progress in our lives, we realize the value of each and every hour.  And we recognize that we’re a bit thrown off by this time adjustment.  What may seem like 3p.m. will really be 4p.m.  Our bodies may take a day or two to get used to this new time change.

However, I believe God’s grace blesses this shortened day.  While I dislike the one less hour of sleep,  I rejoice when I see the light around 7 p.m. or later.  I am reminded that light continues to come into the world, whether it’s the rays of sun or illumination of Christ.

So as we search for God in this wilderness season of Lent, even when we often travel through the shadows, our days are becoming longer and light is growing in our lives.

 (Adapted from the St. Paul UCC March 2015 newsletter)

What Color is That Dress???

01 Sunday Mar 2015

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This week, the internet burst with comments and postings to discuss this dress:

Photo Credit: Swiked/Tumblr

My first thought was “Who cares?  It’s just a dress.  There are more important issues to discuss than the color of a dress: poverty, homelessness, trafficking, hate crimes, health care…”

And that’s basically what I initially posted on social media.  In response to my post, a friend reminded me that this is more than a dress.

Riiiiiiiiiight!

I saw a white and gold dress.  Yes, the dress is undoubtedly white and gold.  Undoubtedly.  (Am I right?) As I looked longer at the photograph, I wondered if the dress could be blue and gold.  Was it lighting and shadows that gave me this doubt?  Was my brain playing tricks on me?

I still had no idea how people saw the lace as black.  I truly tried to see it from their perspective – squinting my eyes and staring harder.  But I could only see gold or brown, not black, lace.

Maybe if I stood on my head I could see a different color trim…

Articles were released on the scientific reasoning behind how we perceive color.  A combination of factors aided whether people saw blue and black or white and gold: how the eyes are picking up color, how the brain works, and the lighting of the room.  (Being that I’m not a scientist, I won’t try to explain this, but check out these articles HERE and HERE.)

If something so objective as color can divide people, how much more will subjective topics like religion and politics come between people?  The dress becomes a concrete symbol of how we can perceive things differently than the people closest to us.

After giving it further thought, I wrote this on social media:

If there’s more than one way to see the colors of a dress then maybe there’s more than one way to see God and faith.

In seminary, I learned of the Wesleyan Quadralateral, a system where one establishes their sources of authority on Scripture, reason, tradition and experience.  The way many of us study Scripture differs, and sometimes there are conflicting accounts in the Bible.  Translations also play an impact on how we read scripture.

We also come from a spectrum of traditions with each one highly influencing our theological core.  If we are Protestant, we may find that our teachings lean heavily from Martin Luther or John Calvin more often than St. Augustine or Thomas Aquinas, two theologians who influence the doctrine of the Roman Catholics.  Even our individual churches and families of origin impact the ways tradition influences our beliefs.

Additionally, experience is the great lens through which we see life.  When we gather the information around us through the filter of our own joys and pains, we see only small pieces of a larger picture.

And because of the lesson of the dress, we can see that our brains reason differently, a point which should always be taken into account.

My friend was right: the dress is more than a dress.  It begs us to understand that we won’t see the world as our neighbors and that everyone comes to their beliefs through a multi-layered lens.

Through the exercise of the dress and knowing how our brain works in gathering information, this is the time for us to become a more understanding people.  It’s time for us to stop the shame and name calling of people who have different political and theological perspectives than we hold.  It’s time for us to stop claiming that such-and-such people will go to hell or that they won’t be accepted by God.

It’s time for us to see that no matter what color dress, theology, politics, or anything else we have or see, we are fully accepted by God and made in God’s image.

Patricia, Sarah, and the Women with (Some) Privilege – A RevGalBlogPals Post

01 Sunday Mar 2015

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Here’s a post I wrote for RevGalBlogPals section The Pastor Is Political:

The Pastor is Political – Patricia, Sarah, and the Women with (Some) Privilege

Cutting off the Split Ends of Our Souls

22 Sunday Feb 2015

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imageThe other day I got my hair cut.

Now, that probably doesn’t sound too exciting to all of you.  Hair gets cut. Tresses get trimmed.  Sideburns get shaved.  (Of course, I don’t have sideburns, but you get the point.)  No matter who we are or how old we are, our hair sometimes need attention to keep it healthy.

One fact to know: I hadn’t gotten it cut since November.  Being that it’s now February, I could tell that it was frequently getting hard to control.  My stylist pointed out the hair in the back had been broken off, and I could tell that the hair near my face was splitting.  No longer was my hair healthy, and I had to make the time to get it trimmed.

Keeping my hair at the longer length was, basically, a stumbling block for my hair to be healthy.  My hair would never be in its healthiest state if I kept trying to grow it without cutting it.

Jesus never speaks of hair cuts or even hair very often.  But Jesus does mention cutting off one’s limbs if they are causing the entire body, mind and soul to be unhealthy:

‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

-Mark 9:42-48

I’m not exactly sure if Jesus literally meant cut off a limb or poke out an eye.  But obviously, Jesus felt that we need to rid ourselves of unhealthy attachments at times.  And, yes, sometimes it is a drastic as cutting off piece of ourselves as crucial as an arm or leg.

(Personally, I like to a little less dramatic analogy –  much like trimming the split ends from our hair.)

So now that we’re in Lent, what will we trim from our lives so that we are healthier people?  During this journey, what will we expel from our lives?

Will it be that “friendship” that is bringing us down?
Will it be boxes of things we no longer need but is taking space?
Will it be activities in our lives for which we no longer have passion but we feel that we SHOULD continue with that activity?

According to something I read online, the average person only has 29, 200 days of life.  And that’s if we live until 80.  This number may seem like a lot of days, but when we look at how many days have gone by, it’s very eye opening.  We ask ourselves “how we will live the rest of our days?”  When I calculate that I’ve lived about 15,500 days, over half of my life could be complete.  What will I do with the rest?  What can I rid myself of so that the rest of my days are open to the call of God?

Will I rid myself of fears so that I can live more fully?
Will I rid myself of things so that I will have more space to enjoy?
Will I rid myself of hurtful past memories and find forgiveness so that I can live more freely into the future?
Will I rid some unhealthy behaviors – like too many cookies or fried foods – so that I can live a healthier life?

This is what Lent is about: working to become our best selves in relation to God and one another.  It’s examining the twists and turns of life with sober judgment and as we try to grow in body, mind and soul.

So, as you find time for your next haircut, what will you be cutting from your life to make it healthier?  What will you release from your life so that your 27,000-31,000 days are more meaningful to you and those you love?

A Prayer for the Lone Ones on Valentine’s Day

14 Saturday Feb 2015

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imageAs someone who often writes on marital status and the church, I feel it necessary to remember those who endure Valentine’s Day on their own.  People splash their privilege of dates and gifts on social media leaving others to feel even more isolated and expendable.  From my experience, Valentine’s Day gives privilege to the haves – whether it’s haves of money or love.  During the many years when I was single on Valentine’s Day, my soul felt so insignificant.  Now that I do have a Valentine with whom I can share my day and my heart, I feel blessed but I must still remember the loneliness that this day will bring many, and urge all of us to send our love to those who struggle today.

God of the broken hearts
And the lonely souls,
On this day reserved for those “loved”
Those who seem so “whole”
Give us the peace of knowing we are complete.

Just as we are.
Today.

On this life-long journey
We wander in the wilderness, sometimes.
And sometimes, we wander that wilderness alone.

We set aside our celebrations
Of pink and red and sparkles
To give our hearts to those who dwell in solitude.
May they discover joy outside of the expectations
That this day brings
And in spite of the chocolates and roses and dinners by candlelight.

For those whose singlehood is new
After a recent break in their lives
God, fill their hearts with peace
And may they see the expanding lights of hope.

For those who have been single year after year
In the shadow-filled tunnels of silence-
Those who wonder when their turn at love will arrive
And feel trapped in exile-
Open their hearts to all possibilities.
Guide them out of the wilderness.

For those who have lost loves to death
And their person abides on that side of heaven,
Uplift their spirits.
Take away the pangs of grief.
Bring light into their lives again.

For those who ache
Wondering if their love will last,
Spark their hearts with the flame of renewal
And may love rise from the ashes.

On this human-created day where some have so much
and others are empty,
Scatter your energy around, God,
So that hope abounds
And joy will be embraced again.

Vaccinating the Body of Christ

12 Thursday Feb 2015

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By Photo Credit: James Gathany Content Providers(s): CDC [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Throughout my entire life, My mom would often speak of her childhood experience with measles and whooping cough.  These memories remain traumatic for her as she recalls how she almost died from measles, and as a kindergartner, missed three months of school in the process of recovering.  Both she and my grandma experienced pertussis, or whooping cough, during my mom’s youth.  The trials of coughing to the point of choking left a fearful memory with my mom, and she ensured we had the vaccines needed to avoid unnecessary childhood illnesses.

When I speak with my mom regarding her previous health issues, she expresses the horror of her experiences with these extreme illnesses and the sadness surrounding the time and energy she lost while recovering.  By sharing her stories, my mom has been a great influence on me and, hopefully, others on the importance of vaccines to our population.  Likewise, as I place my mom’s experience in conversation with science, history and theological thought, I continue to strongly support the inoculation process.

Just as we thought that some of these illnesses were nearly eradicated in our first world culture, they seem to have been reappearing more frequently in our privileged communities.  Some have chosen not to vaccinate out of deep fear for their children’s health.  Some have decided not to vaccinate due to receiving misinformation.  Some believe that it is more dangerous to receive a vaccine rather than the risk of contracting the illness.

The conversations surrounding this are complicated and very passionate.  The people who have  experienced the struggles with preventable illnesses often stand firm on their pro-vaccination views. Likewise, those who focus their attention on the dangers of vaccines and the compassion in their hearts for their children both care fully about those closest to them.

In the past weeks, I’ve gotten into some thought-stretching interactions with friends regarding the vaccination debate.  Through discussions, I began to see a myriad of views present in vaccination conversations.  While I may be firmly pro-vaccination, I also must try to understand the other side of the argument even if I don’t agree with it.  So I’ve begun to ask myself “How can I be an advocate AND still refrain from shaming those who believe differently?”

By presenting my view on this, I hope to influence others to realize that they do not make decisions in isolation.

As I look at this issue through the lens of scriptures, I am reminded that we are all part of the same body of people, and many of our choices directly and indirectly impact others within our society. First Corinthians 12 reminds us that we are forever connected with all others.  When we are part of the Body of Christ, we are compelled to acknowledge our connection with every single other part of the body.  We are forced to see that when we choose to vaccinate or not to vaccinate, there is the possibility that both loved one and stranger will be impacted by our choices.

Being someone who does support vaccinations, I believe that when the vaccination option is not chosen it heightens the risk that it will negatively impact the entire body of people.  That being said, we are still part of the same body as those who choose not to vaccinate, so removing their humanity and vilifying them creates chaos in the body.  As we are in covenant with people with whom we disagree, we have a responsibility not to denigrate those who make different choices than ours.  How can we have conversations without shaming the other side?

I posted a pro-vaccination editorial cartoon that my friend Kevin Necessary drew for WCPO.com.  This drawing opened my eyes to another parallel conversation: peanut allergies.  While peanut allergies and vaccinations are two very different and separate issues as reminded to me by friends, they have one common connection: our choices on both of these issues ripple into the world and can have a very positive or negative impact.

When peanuts enter the Body of Christ (or the entirety of humanity) through someone who loves to eat peanuts, there is still a possibility that another member of the body will touch or consume a small portion of those nuts.  In doing so, the allergic individual has the possibility of getting very ill or dying.

If a member of the body of Christ is not vaccinated, there also is a possibility that measles, whooping cough or a number of other illnesses can come into the body.  We’ve seen it recently at Disneyland and through the spread of the highly-contagious measles.  Concerning both peanuts and vaccination issues, we have to work together to keep these lethal possibilities out of the Body of Christ.  Making decisions without thinking of how others will be impacted is neglecting our place in and the constant connection with the rest of the Body of Christ.

The image of this Body of Christ reminds me of conversations I had in college on the principle of utilitarianism which I believe has also influenced my stance on vaccinations.  After some online reading, I found this quote by Francis Hutcheson that expresses this concept of utilitarianism:

When thinking about what’s best for the greater numbers of people, I reflect upon science and history and see that most vaccinations have been positive for the greater number of people.  Thus when we consider the happiness and health of the greater good, we are considering the Body of Christ.

Because of community immunity, or herd immunity, a certain percentage of people in a society need to be vaccinated in order for the larger community to have a strong level of protection .  When the vaccination levels falls below that designated percentage, the Body of Christ and our society becomes vulnerable to illnesses.  What we often forget is that those with no immune system rely on a system where enough of our society is vaccinated.  In reflecting on what’s best for us, we also need to remember those who are too young or have a weak immune system and can’t receive the vaccination.  Pooling our communal immunity together protects those who can not be given an inoculation.

I remember the story in Acts 2 on how the church came together, combining their resources to build the church and sacrificing to support one another.  In our time, vaccinations can be our way to live out our Acts 2 faith of combining our resources together to strengthen the Body of Christ.

No matter what our views on vaccination, we must continue to remember the constant connection between us and the rest of the Body of Christ.  Our decisions should not made in a bubble, and it’s important to weigh the cost of our decisions on how they will impact ourselves, our loved ones and the extended human race.

I highly doubt that I will change my views on vaccination.  But being a part of the Body of Christ continues to shape my heart, mind and soul to open myself to those with other viewpoints.  In doing so, this transformation has given me more compassion for those who are fearful of vaccinating and urged me to advocate for vaccinations to make sure the Body of Christ is as healthy as it can be.