Proper9B6Pentecost, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 5, 2015,
by Annette Fricke
My great
nephew by way of my oldest brother is now in a similar position to where I was
when I was his exact age. He was born on
my fortieth birthday. Like me, he signed
up for and was accepted into the military.
What is different is that I joined the Coast Guard as an enlisted
member, but he is a new cadet at West Point.
The social norms of our society identify his position as being slightly
more admirable when it comes to comparing military service. On the down side, there is a risk with any
such undertaking entering military service whether it is on a voluntary basis
or being drafted. Most of you know that
having lived through all that you have known and experienced in World War II or
the Korean War. For example, there are
those who are deemed 4F, unfit for military service and those who are simply
weaned out during the process of the first few weeks. Probably one of the most gut-wrenching events
in young people’s lives is when they are eliminated, or more accurately
rejected for service. It’s an automatic
discharge for medical or emotional reasons.
You were one of us, but now you aren’t.
For better
or for worse, in sickness and in health, our society as well as others has
built into it the pressure to conform to the social norm. We take our cues from the people around us as
to what values we ought to hold, what to believe and what not to believe, what
to act on and what to let go. It is only
through the rigors of the testing of our beliefs through time and life events
that we come to a more mature understanding of what we really believe or don’t
believe. Each juncture of life calls on
us to make a decision that reminds us that we are disciples of Jesus. What would Jesus do if rejected? We would do as the gospel lesson dictates; we carry
on and continue to preach and teach about the kingdom of God, mindless of the obstacles
along the way. The kingdom of God can only
gain momentum as we join with Jesus to spread the news of the kingdom to everyone
along the way of our journey through life. It is our task as his disciples to accept that
invitation to draw others into that life-giving reality that is living in and through
God and God’s grace. God can do great things through us from the greatest of us
to the most ordinary and the least of our society; from the strong leaders down
to those who feel the most helpless and from the officers down to the new
cadets. Remember that you all are called
to and contribute to the betterment of society by your actions. It doesn’t matter that you are no longer
associated with the military or other social organization; you are still of
worth to God and represent God in the world.
Rejection is
a real and sometimes very strong feeling depending on how strongly attached you
have become to a previous association.
It is associated with the feeling of loneliness and isolation. It is based on the norm of society that we need
each other. Fortunately, needing each
other is also a Christian value. I have
seen that feeling of rejection where I work when a person is newly admitted to
our floor. It feels like you have been
cut off from your friends and that your friends are in the place where you
were. Even though from one perspective it
is a natural consequence of change due to physical and/or mental deterioration
of the body, our emotional attachments are not easily discarded. Making new friends when that feeling of
rejection is clouding our senses is not an easy task. Sometimes we need help to overcome that
feeling of rejection. We find ourselves
asking, “Whom can we trust with our feelings or who can sympathize with our
plight? Who can empathize with our
dilemma?” This question comes from another
reality I have seen. I have observed
staff members and residents who are actually quite cruel to residents who are
having a difficult time with their emotions and thinking processes. Perhaps
there are some who are unaware of their remarks which are perceived by others
as mean. I would suggest that it is our
role to say something about it. Our text
tells us to press on. We are not called
to simply sit back and say or do nothing.
This is just the equivalent of bullying among young school-aged children. Despite whatever fear is involved, when we
are in need of help, in order to become stronger, we need to ask for help. We need each other. When we are unable to ask for help, we need
others to become our advocates; the perceived strong helping the perceived
weak. The problem of rejection is that
we can allow fear to overtake us and paralyze us, stopping us from asking for
help. Beware of fear because fear of the unknown will keep us in a state of
inaction. Fear causes us to think erroneously that everything will remain the
same no matter what we do or say, so we do or say nothing. Fear is our enemy
more times than not. I might add that
the basis for all foreign policy is fear—fear that other countries want to harm
us, so we need to strategize so that does not happen. Of course the real premise is that they are
out to get us, therefore we need to do something first. Whether you deem that to be good or bad is up
to you. It is basically self-preservation for the country. There are some very good reasons why a
country would want to remain intact as a united entity just as there are good
reasons to fight for the preservation of the propagation of Christianity. It is the means by which that is accomplished
that is sometimes questionable to a Christian way of thinking.
Finally, do
not allow yourself to be confused between culture and Christianity. They are not one and the same. Our country has made many errors in the past
and some of them have been quite inhumane such as holding our own citizens,
those of Japanese descent, hostage during war and not allowing black people or
women to vote in local or national elections. Let us take a good strong look at
our past as a nation and learn from the mistakes, mistakes that have caused
people to feel less than human and rejected.
It’s certainly OK to be proud of our country and its citizens, but be
wary of giving blind obedience. We are
still a young country growing towards maturation. We have yet to understand and put into action
equal rights for all people and to not discriminate among different classes of
people.
The words of
Jesus are just as challenging today as they were during the years he walked
this earth in the flesh. There are many
obstacles, many potholes in the road of our journeys on this earth, yet we all
must walk it if we are to be his disciples like those of long ago. We are to move forward anyway. Fear is merely a fleeting reality when we
have God and our fellow believers at our side.
Fear is only a permanent problem if we allow it. Don’t allow it, but be strong in the
Lord. Robert Frost wrote a poem about
two roads diverging in a wood and as one being the better choice. Let me suggest that it is true that one is
the better choice, but that there is always that option to come back to the
better choice. There may be two roads, but I think scripturally speaking there
is always the option of re-setting our courses in life. Each day, each hour,
each moment has the opportunity to make a choice. Make life better for your neighbor.
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