infinitely more

an open letter to my siblings in Christ:

Hello. I want to preface this by saying I don't know what you're going through. I cannot and will not elevate myself to the point of thinking that by watching the internet rage over social injustices and experiencing the effects of a scary illness that I am omniscient. I am not.

I don't know if you are outraged because of the social injustices because you are a person of color with whom these problems deeply resonate.

I don't know if you are terrified because you are a person of color who has already dealt with some of the deepest evils present in our time.

I don't know if you are heartbroken because you are white and are  for your best friend/significant other/family member and the reality that they walk through every day.

I don't know if you feel guilty because you are white and have in any number of ways perpetuated the problem, whether consciously or unconsciously.

I don't know if the virus freaks you out because you or a loved one has a weak/ compromised immune system.

I don't know if you feel angry at those around you for not treating it seriously- or if you feel angry that the whole world seems to be living in an unbelievable state of fear. (I am currently feeling both).

I don't know where you are at, or if I have even mentioned what you are feeling (feel free to tell me what I missed because I am sure there is something).

If you are reading this because you are my brother or sister in Christ, keep reading let me tell you what I have found rest in. (If you are not, please keep reading so this might give you peace.)

The book of 1st Peter was written by arguably Jesus' boldest disciple- Peter. He followed Jesus around for three years. He walked on water. He went with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane and cut off the ear of one of the men arresting Jesus. He denied Christ three times, but was ultimately crucified upside down in a posture of humility to his Savior who was crucified uprightly.

In his first letter, he urges the Christians of the time to live in a way even bolder than he. You see, Peter was writing to Nero's Christian subjects- a scattered people who lived in what is modern day Asia. Nero's Rome extended into that region, and he outlawed people from worshipping freely unless he was the object of their praise. The Christians defied him and continued to worship the One, True God. They were sent to the lions.

That's not a metaphor.

The first chapter focuses on a living hope. "Living hope" is a complex term because as humans we often relegate the term hope to a smaller, stationary, and concrete goal. Hope the way Jesus talks about it, however, is expansive and all-encompassing. It is never changing but it is a living and breathing person, because it is Jesus Himself. He is our living hope, because He is the more alive than anyone currently walking the earth. How is He more alive? One, because He is one with God (that one is obvious). Two, because He inhabits a realm that is perfect and complete, lacking in nothing because it is the outpouring of His very nature. Finally, He is more alive because He beat death and His Spirit lives through all of us. (If you want to get some really cool insights into the Trinity, read 1st Peter 1.)

That's all well and good, but what about the believers who faced certain death for claiming Christ as Lord? What about Peter's specific audience? A living hope in someone who is not currently living with them does not seem like an ultimate answer.

That's where the duality of the term comes in. You see, like everything in the Gospel, the term begins and ends with Jesus. However, somewhere in between we are invited into the miraculous mystery that places the "living hope" inside of us. Peter's audience could face the lions and the rulers of the time because their hope would never die. The Object of their praise had been proven time and time again to be infinitely more powerful than rulers, lions, and even forces of nature. They had profoundly experienced Him and His spirit was actively living within them, and they could face all the world had to throw at them. 

So, He starts this letter addressing his dear friends, the ones he doesn't particularly know but with whom he "had all things in common" (Acts 2:44). They are scattered and their churches are in hiding, but their light is not being hidden. Peter greets his friends and prays grace and peace over them, even in their tumultuous time.

In the third verse, he blesses the Lord, citing His mercy as one of His greatest attributes. WHAT? His mercy? I'm sure the recipients of the letter were thinking what we are thinking: "Where is the mercy? People are dying." You see though, people don't deserve life in the first place. Not only does he give us this life on earth, His mercy and grace "has caused to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead". (Verse 3)

So we get two lives- one lived on an earth that is quickly slipping away and one lived in a perfect world through "an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in Heaven for you". (Verse 4)

The rest of chapter one outlines the beauty of this- that this eternal life is a thing "into which angels long to look". (Verse 12) It talks about how our life should now only reflect the grace we've been given, as we walk in a way that glorifies and imitates Him and proclaims that we love our neighbors.

Chapter two starts, "Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander." THAT'S BIG. THAT'S HARD. THAT'S IT. The gospel. Because of the truth of chapter one, we are called to chapter 2 verse 1-3 that we may do all those things in order to "long for the pure milk of the world, that we may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord." We cannot even begin to conceptualize the beauty of our salvation until we look beyond ourselves to see and truly believe that the same offer has been extended to everyone else, too. It's inclusivity reminds us that we have tasted the kindness of the Lord, and living for him, with Him, and like Him encourages us to keep doing so. His death was once for all, for everyone. verses 4-8 call us to build our life upon that truth, and outline what happens if we do not.

THEN. NEXT. Verses 9 & 10. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." So much truth and awe in these verses. So much complexity. 

Essentially, Peter's audience was one not different than we are today. They had been separate for a long time, in two distinct groups: the Jews (people descended from Abraham) and the Gentiles (everyone else). One group was believed to be God's beloved, while the other was left to pick up their scraps. Our world today, unfortunately, seems to operate in a similar way. People with white skin have long oppressed people of color. In terrible ways. All people have rightfully been confronted with the choice of how to respond, and many responses- while justifiable by earthly standards- have proven more and more harmful to all people. There is anger from people of color that rightfully exists. There is white guilt, manifesting in social media posts from users with no underlying desire to change their ways- instead just to prove that they are "doing something" or that they "stand in solidarity". There is the white savior mentality, which is perhaps the most dangerous one of all.

You see, there will always be different races because long ago someone decided that different amounts of melanin in skin determine your "race". I think that it is important that this word is not a new concept. Racial divisions ultimately boil down to the tower of babel, where man thought they could work their way to God and He separated and scattered them to remind them of their right stature before them. Racial division, therefore, is only a reminder of how deeply in need of God we are- how we can not make it on our own.

However, I am here to suggest that the usage of the word might be more than what we usually think. Let's not forget that there are two meanings of the word race. The first often refers to someone's level of melanin. The second connotes a competition of sorts, in which each competitor races for a single prize.

WHAT if Peter's usage of the word race refers to both nation/family/descendant/kind and the race also outlined in Hebrews 12 and 2 Timothy 2? That we are a "chosen race... so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light." I think the unity of the two definitions suggest this: that we- all backgrounds, all ethnicities, all skin tones, all races- who have experienced Christ are now bonded together under the merciful obligation to tell everyone else- all backgrounds, all ethnicities, all skin tones, all races- of the glorious freedom of His marvelous light. That in essence, two races are being run: one (with participants of all backgrounds, ethnicities, and skin tones) towards the foot of the cross and subsequent empty tomb, and one to gratify the desires of our flesh which were ours in our ignorance. A heavy calling, but a beautiful one.

Verse ten only underlines this idea. For we were once not a people- we were once separated by ignorance, by skin color, by ethnicity. NOW we are the people of God- now all those things fall away in favor of us simply looking more and more like our blessed Savior day after day, minute after minute. There is so much that could be said in tangent to that incredible truth, but Peter chooses to say "you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." The only truth that can reconcile us to one another is that we were ALL equally and mercifully reconciled to our Creator and Savior. 

I opened this letter in reference to both the racial tension and COVID-19. I have addressed the former, now what for the latter?

I believe that the answer, the solution, is the same for both. As a friend told me this summer, "It is as simple and complex as loving your neighbor." 

Jesus tells us that the runner-up commandment to loving God is loving our neighbor. We often do not do a good job. At its core, that is why our world looks the way it does. It is why tensions are high and even, I might say, why sickness is rampant. (DISCLAIMER: I am in no way blaming coronavirus on us not loving people well. Sickness, however, is a result of the fall of mankind.)

Our goal as believers is to make the name of the Lord known in all things. To do so, we must love our neighbor. Regardless of their skin tone. Regardless of what they believe. Regardless of their stance or our stance on the usefulness of masks or social distancing.

This summer I worked at a summer camp. My term came to an early end because the virus found a foothold and moved rapidly through the campgrounds. We wore masks, and were only allowed to hug/ be within six feet of our "family unit" (cabin). As you can probably imagine, it was hard for a bunch of rowdy college students who themselves did not always adhere to the rules to regulate high schoolers who had an even more difficult time obeying. I struggled. It was hard. I had so many friends I wanted to hug, and often I forfeited the rules in order to do so. One day, my co counselor lovingly admonished me, "Keeping our masks up and encouraging social distancing is the best way to love others well." And, I was reminded that, as Christians, that should be are main goal in everything we do, because in so doing we bring glory to God.

We are not perfect. We never will be. We live in a time consumed by sin, and I am unable to appease the pain you might now be feeling for a myriad of reasons.

I am, however, here to remind you that we have been born again to a Living Hope. One that is imperishable, and undefiled, and will not fade away. A Living Hope "who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,  and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.  And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father." (Ephesians 2:14-18)  A Living Hope who promises us an eternal life on a renewed earth where "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4).

Come, Lord Jesus, and restore us to the joy of Your salvation as You sustain within us a willing spirit that we may love Your creation better and look more like You. (Psalm 51:12)

I love you friends.
Lucy