Oh the glamour and sizzle of the Christmas season in America – parades and decorations, sales and bargains, parties and special events. Then, comes Christmas morning with presents under the glistening tree with carols playing as the aromas from the pending family feast waft through the house.
Most of us enjoy some, if not all, of the above.
Some, perhaps many, still push back on that a little and find time for praise, prayer, and thankfulness for what Christmas is really about.
This year a Christmas related verse from Isaiah keeps flashing a stark image in my mind – "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned" (Isaiah 9:2, also Matthew 4:16). The image I see is troubled people in darkness, then a light of hope appears.
Isaiah cast the light as hope to come from a child who would become the Messiah (Isaiah 9:6), a child who would shatter “the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor” (Isaiah 9:4).
Now, visualize millions of oppressed people walking in darkness and dwelling in lands of deep darkness with little hope. These would be among the 68 million men, women, and children worldwide who have fled homes to escape war, famine, persecution, and pestilence. More than 25 million have crossed borders into other countries to become refugees. Another 43 million are displaced within their home countries.
Last week the United Nations acted to shine some light of hope on them. Almost unanimously, the UN General Assembly adopted the Global Compact on Refugees. The goal of this non-binding compact is to help countries hosting refugees and displaced persons to provide better care and support, particularly for the 33% or so clustered in dismal camps and shelters.
Shaped by the same Providence as Isaiah and founded as a beacon of hope, the United States once championed such initiatives. Derived from our heritage and mores, U.S. policy was to provide aid and support to victims of mass displacements.
Our beacon is going dim. Last week the U.S. joined Hungary as one of the two votes against the compact; 181 nations voted for it.
This issue is far larger than the meager 5,000 Central Americans who caravanned through Mexico and others who assail our southern border, or even the million Syrians who have escaped into Europe. The vast majority of refugees and displaced persons huddle in developing countries without the infrastructure or resources to cope with them. Providing infrastructure and resources for these countries is the goal of the compact.
Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, Uganda, Bangladesh, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen, to name a few, host millions who were able to flee from Syria, Afghanistan, the Sudan, Myanmar, Venezuela, and Somalia. Even more remain clustered in their home countries with little to no support.
“But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” 1 John 3:17
Christmas celebrates God's love and the light he brought forth to lift us out of darkness. As you celebrate say a prayer for those walking and dwelling in the darkness. And be thankful. But for Providence, we could be among them.
Crawford is a syndicate columnist from Meridian.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Bill Crawford: Our Beacon is Going Dim
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12 comments:
RE: 1 John 3:17 Do you NOT know that this doesn't apply to Republicans?
3:20 - That's right. The Bible clearly instructs us to provide for the indolent, give cheerfully to the slothful, feed those who will not work and set a place at the table for those who bring nothing.
I forget the chapter and verse, but verily it is said unto me that I have a duty to remove the door to my house, unlock my closet, hand over half my livestock and provide chickens and biscuits for those who would crawl through my windows bringing nothing but a sack and sabre.
What's mine is theirs and what's theirs is theirs and I must work even harder so they they will have no need to. And it is my continuing obligation to help them up into the wagon and keep the oxbow lashed to my shoulder.
Almost as if Benjamin Netanyahu wrote this column himself, refugees for thee, none for me.
There is not a single 'refugee' among the lot. You're easily fooled.
I think 7:03 said that tongue-in-cheek, but isn't that what Jesus did? He set a pretty high bar.
The Scripture, tells us in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3:10, 'for even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: if a man will not work, he shall not eat.'
No, 7:01...that is NOT what Jesus did. The Bible, if you'll bother to read it, admonishes us to act exactly the opposite of my tongue in cheek post at 7:03.
Jesus never fed the indolent or the slovenly, never provided for the slothful, never fed those who refused to work, never instructed us to provide for thieves, never suggested we load up the wagon with sluggards and the lazy and pull them.
You can rewrite history but you cannot rewrite The Bible.
So does the light of Jesus pass through the United Nations on its way to earth, or is the United Nations producing its on light?
I'm not religious, but isn't the Bible mostly about what YOU, as a Christian, are morally obligated to do with YOUR time and resources?
Open immigration for "refugees" (seeking "refuge" from the crappy economies their political choices created) is mainly about upper middle class white folks, who don't see their jobs threatened by cheap labor or their social services over-burdened, telling working class folks to "be more Christ-like".
You have no skin in this game, so you don't get to talk. Check your privilege, sit down, and shut up.
To whom is that addressed 10:56? I can't tell.
@ 8:20, someone had to say it, and for the first time it wasn't me, bravo sir or ma'am
There's more than a little selective Bible quoting.
There's no ability to differentiate between the Old Testament and New Testament or understanding why Christians should give more weight to the latter.
Passages are taken out of context and God forbid anyone quotes The Sermon on the Mount in its entirety on a political website.
Were all the people at the Mount employed? Was Jesus paid after he stopped working for his Dad and started spreading the Word? Were the disciples paid for spreading the Gospel of Jesus or did they live off the generosity of others?
I think some of you that think you are Christians need a Bible that highlights the words of Jesus in red. At least, re-read the entire New Testament and use a yellow highlighter.
Nowhere does the Bible encourage you to be a greedy, mean-spirited, SOB lacking in empathy who has no concern for the plight of children.
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