"Intern-al Communications" (a message from our intern)

Merry Christmas! We celebrated the long awaited for arrival of the birth of the Messiah through this Advent Season. The Son of God who has come to set the people free…is here! God has heard his people, the time of captivity is over!

The people that journeyed with us in this Advent Season - Joseph, Mary, the Shepherds, Simeon, all of us had or has a story of longing, of hope, of praying to for to be heard and our lives to be lifted up out of the hole of oppression that we have experienced, somewhere, sometime in our lives.

The common thread that has linked all of us in this story is that we have all experienced an oppression, an experience in life that tells us that we are “just not good enough”.

For those in the Newer Testament, being Jewish was reason enough to be held in captivity, slavery, oppression, a lesser class than the Romans. Because they were “less than”, the ruling class (the Romans) could devalue them, dehumanize them, and then demonize them.
Many of us have experienced a similar encounter with being “less than”. For women, some of the oppressions have been the right to be heard and respected as full human beings, for the right to vote, to say “no” to an oppressor, to hold office in public or private work, to have control over your own body, and to have a say in these matters regarding reproductive rights.

For African-Americans, there are many similar experience, and overlapping experiences of oppression as well. Some of the oppressions have been the right to be heard and respected, as full human beings, for the right to vote, to say “no to an oppressor”, to hold office in public or private work, to have control over your own body, and to have a say in these matters regarding reproductive rights. (I think back to when the white society deemed it permissible to control, through experiments, the birthing process through sterilization)

For those who find themselves to be Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, again, similar experiences. Some of the oppressions have been the right to be heard and respected as full human beings, the right to say “no” to an oppressor, to hold office in public or private work as an “out” G,L,B,T person (which is illegal in many states yet today) to have control over your own body, the right to marry another person of the same gender (which is still illegal in many states and at the Federal level).

For those who find themselves to be with mental health or addiction challenges. They encounter many of the same experiences of not being fully human. I think of many friends who, having struggles with substances, were told to “pray that God heal you” or to just “not do that behavior any more”, like they had power over these challenges. Their right to be heard and respected, to be able to hold office in public or private work, the right to vote, the right to have control over their own bodies, the right to have a say in reproductive rights.

The “good news” of the birth of Jesus, is that he came for all of us, not just some, but for all of us, that we all might know the love that God has for all of His children! He has come to show us the way, to set us all free from the oppression and slavery that we have been experiencing.

As followers of Jesus, we are invited to be receptive to the working of the Holy Spirit, as Joseph, Mary, the Shepherds, and Simeon were in their time. To allow God to “break through” this slavery and oppression and set us free! But the work continues on, for God’s love compels us to pray and work so that all people, wherever they are, can experience God hearing and responding to them in their lives. How does God accomplish this, through us! Yes, God is showing up in us, through us, as us in this world! The great work begins!