Well, here goes. My thoughts on yesterday, from my faith-based perspective. I share them with humility knowing I don't know everything. In fact, the more I learn the less I know.
I don’t know if there is a “greatest” or “worst” sin. Is it murder? Rape? Theft? When we look at sin as a specific action in which harm is done from one person to another, we are left wondering which is worst. We then come up with a set of rules of what we can’t do and enforce those rules and dole out punishments based on the severity of the sin. The object or purpose is to try and manage or control our sin. We want to do less of it, with the hope of not doing it at all. Essentially, our lives become one of avoidance. We simply need to “stay away” from the “bad” and tell other people to do the same. Everything is about “Sin Management.” Hence, the church is known way too much by making people feel guilty for all the things they have done and by telling them they shouldn’t have done those things. (Please note, this isn’t entirely wrong about sin, but an extremely inadequate view of sin.)
But, as I watch events unfold around me, I have begun to think the answer to that question is different than what we might normally think. The answer to what is the “greatest” or “worst” sin is, in a word, idolatry. Idolatry is a word that is thrown around in faith settings, but often times the definitions given are vague and simplified so it is stripped of its actual meaning or substance. Briefly and in that vague and simplified way, idolatry, in the Christian sense that I have come to understand it, is having a god before God. Think of the first commandment, “You shall have no other God’s before me.” What does this mean? (A very Lutheran question!). Some of us like to think that idols or idolatry are essentially things that we deem more important than God or that we give more time and attention to then God. Therefore, it is easy to name things like movie stars or sports as idols. We care more about what they are doing and who they are dating. We know stats from 50 years ago and who is breaking that record today much more than knowing scripture, who wrote it and why it was written. But if we really want to get at the heart of idolatry, placing other god’s before God, we have to go deeper and be ready to be truly offended. Idolatry is not about specific actions of one person against another, rather it is the cause of our actions toward others.
The storming of the United States Capitol Building yesterday by domestic terrorists occurred because of the culmination of the idolatry so many of us place on our country and on power. You don’t need to have been walking the halls of the Capitol with a confederate flag to have played a role in all of this. As a follower of Christ, I should be concerned about one thing and one thing only, how is the love of God revealed and expressed to my neighbor, and most specifically to my neighbor that is oppressed and marginalized. That neighbor could be my literal next-door neighbor who looks like me or it could be my black, brown, or gay neighbor. It could be my fellow American neighbor or my Russian, Hispanic or Norwegian neighbor. It could be my Christian neighbor or my Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist neighbor. The truth is, as long as my neighbor is being treated with the respect, love and dignity they deserve, because of their inherent value and worth given to them by the creator of the universe, I should not care about who is or is not in power…as long as the ones in power are advocating for ways to treat those neighbors with that same respect, love and dignity. I should not care about what party is in control. As long as that party is advocating for ways to treat those neighbors with that same respect, love and dignity. I should not care about what country I live in and whether or not it is “the greatest nation in the history of the world” as long as that country is advocating for ways to treat those neighbors with that same respect, love and dignity.
What led to the actions of a small, fringe and radical group yesterday did not stem solely from ideas that occurred the last 4 years (although certain people absolutely stoked the flames that led to it by what they said or how they kept silent). It stemmed from all of us getting our worth and value from things are not God and instead it coming from power and a perceived loss of power. What we saw was a culmination of it and one example of it, but we all do it in other ways. Once our worth comes from something besides God, we are concerned with losing it because we know it won’t last. We need to cling to it as much as possible because we won’t know who we are unless we keep it. This is why we have racism, and toxic-masculinity, and white privilege and homophobia. This is why we have violence, chaos, anger, and resentment. This is a not new to us in our time and place but has been going on throughout history. We are only seeing it fleshed out in unique ways before our eyes. God has never been, nor ever will be American, or Republican, or White, or Straight. God is not a foreigner, Democrat, a minority or gay. God is not what we create God to be (although we do a really good job of trying to do that). God is love and goodness and beauty and humility and kindness, that as a Christian, I believe is most fully revealed in the life, death and resurrection of a human named Jesus. (Also, this does not mean that God cannot be revealed through other faith traditions rather, I believe the fullest revelation of God is in Jesus. But that is another conversation for another day.) Hence, we should want leaders who are rooted in love and goodness and beauty and humility and kindness who will advocate for the love and respect and dignity of our neighbors.
As you process the world around you and your place in it, pray for help to see it only through the eyes of God. Ask for help to view it as one who is loved unconditionally, not because of party affiliation or country of origin, but because the creator of the universe has chosen to love you. Remember, there is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can do to make God love you less. God loves you. May you live from that place of love.
