A quote from The Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo, pastor and college professor - ‘When I gave them food, they called me a saint,’ said Bishop Dom Helder Camaro of Recife, Brazil. ‘Yet when I asked why they had no food in the first place, they called me a communist.’

If like a Good Samaritan you dress the wounds of a mugged man who has been left for dead, you are deemed a godly person. But if the muggings continue, and you ask why the government doesn’t have police patrols and better lighting along the road, you will be asked if you, a religious leader, have overstepped your bounds. (Tony Campolo in Adventures in Missing the Point by Brian D. McLaren and Tony Campolo, Zondervan, 2003, p. 117)

Dr. Campolo has put his finger on the dilemma every pastor and other religious person faces when trying to decide what to do, and what to say, about “the least of these,” (Matthew 25:40) the Lord has put in front of us. There’s an old “preacher joke” about the man who was preaching a revival sermon one night. One deacon in the front row was amening everything he preached against: diatribes against drinking, cussing, gambling and running around – all received an uplifted hand and a hearty “Amen!” Then the preacher began talking about the evils of using tobacco. At this point the deacon, a tobacco farmer, shouted out, “Hold on there. You done quit preaching and gone to meddling!”

When the church speaks out against gun violence, when we ask for more and better gun control, when we plead that, for the sake of the innocent, the powers that be must find a backbone and stand up to the gun lobby – we find ourselves shushed. We are told that this is none of our business, that to talk about an American’s sacred right to own enough firepower to wipe out a small village is sacrilege, we are informed that we have quit preaching and gone to meddling.

Well okay, meddle I will. I grew up on a farm, we had a few guns around; shotguns for killing hogs, .22 rifles for dealing with large rodents and other pests. My father wasn’t very fond of hunting, but my uncles were and I never shied away from eating venison steaks and what we young boys called “Bambi burgers” just to annoy our sisters.

My point is this: while I recognize that there is a place for firearms in American life, things have gotten completely out of hand, and we must talk about this and we must come to an answer that starts us going in a new and safer direction. We in the church cannot just stand back and tend to the wounded without speaking out and advocating for change.

Folks, taking up a collection and sending money to victims is a good thing, but it is not the only thing, and it is not the final thing which must be done. We are called to do more than simply tend to the wounds of the victims – we are called to prevent people from being victimized in the first place. I encourage each and every one of us to be thinking, praying, studying, talking with each other, and talking with your neighbors about these concerns. Step out in faith when a path is opened to you. Find a way to speak out and to take action on behalf of peace and inclusivity. To stand back and shake our heads and do nothing is to participate in the continuation of the problem.

We are invited by God to be a part of the solution, we are called by God to meddle in the affairs of the world because that is the only way we can truly “do it for the least of these who are members of my family.” (Matthew 25:40)

Peace,
Delmer