Doing right by others

Today the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, to which I belong because I work in the newsroom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, authorized an indefinite byline strike. That is to say, while we wrote stories we didn't put our names to them. (I don't write that much but had something published today.)

This has become as issue for us because contract negotiations between the company and its various unions have become pretty nasty. Not helping matters was a tasteless editorial published on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that tried to downplay President Donald Trump's racism in light of his alleged "s---hole" remarks the week before.

I bring this up because for the last few decades evangelical Christian media have taken aim at unionism, insisting that defeating organized labor would be a victory for "Christian values." I don't see how, frankly, as too often faith has been aligned with corporate interests. And while I may not personally have a dog in this fight, I decided to strike my byline from today's story in solidarity with my colleagues.

The reason is that, as a Christian, I support my colleagues per the Sermon on the Mount's "do unto others" principle. In fact, it's even the second of the two great commandments, to "love your neighbor as yourself." Working and fighting for economic justice meets that principle.

I sometimes wonder how our nation's political life would be affected if we believers actually lived that out. Rather than see folks who don't agree as the "enemy" we would place ourselves in their shoes and consider just how policies we support affect them. And we can't do this just on a personal level, either.

Are things that bad that such drastic measures had to take place? They might very well be.

In 1991, when I was working for a local grocery store, my union called a strike and we stayed out for about six weeks. The company thought that it could simply keep the stores open and induced the full-time workers to cross the picket line. (I wouldn't do that anyway, and besides I was only part-time.) We ended up winning because the customers stayed away, with people coming up to me in church saying, "Don't worry, Rick; we're not shopping at [that store]."

It may come to that as well in this case. That's why the union took the action and I've elected to support it.

I don't pretend to know what will happen with the new contract, but I do believe in taking a stand and also in standing with those who may be affected by corporate decisions. Sometimes a united front is necessary to combat injustice; for that reason I'm glad to stand with my co-workers.

A secondary spiritual gift

Those of you who know me know that my primary spiritual gift, referenced in Romans 12, is that of prophecy, the ability to size up a situation and speak into it, often to the chagrin of people who don’t always agree with me. Part of having the gift is also the toughness to withstand the arrows that inevitably come my way.

But recently I’ve been reminded of a secondary gift I have: That of mercy, which I think of as having, shall we say, an available lap for those in need to sit on. You need to exude a certain amount of safety to exercise that, of course, and I’ve apparently been doing so since the age of 10, when a much-younger girl fawned over me.

Now, like prophecy or any other gift, “mercy” also has to be cultivated, and by that I mean a willingness to enter into the pain of another without trying to force solutions that might not work or otherwise dominating the personage of another. In other words, it means forgetting that “it’s all about me” and connecting with someone where he or she is. In most cases it will mean having already processed one’s own pain or being willing to do so so that when someone comes to him/her with a difficulty the person can be heard properly.

I must say here that not everything can be experienced personally.

Though my parents split when I was 22, I cannot say that I understand all the internal dynamics of divorce since I’ve myself never been married. I’ve never been a parent, so I don’t “get” the devastation of the waywardness or, worse, death of a child. I’m not a woman, so I won’t know exactly what being raped feels like, especially in its aftermath.

Indeed, when I was an active fraternity member, one of the women attending a party of ours was mourning a breakup that she initiated. Having never had a steady girlfriend at the point in my life, I didn’t understand at the time why she would feel sad when she was the one who left.

(Eighteen years later, however, after having had to do the same thing, I got it.)

Also, many whites in America cannot understand what it’s like being part of a racial or ethnic minority and thus feeling put upon; too often we’re told simply to “get over it.” That’s sheer callousness, which has caused a lot of dissension in the greater society and even in some segments of the church. I sometimes wonder if part of the present polarization in society is the result of the unwillingness to “mourn with those who mourn.”

You see, the person with the gift of mercy must have a heart to listen to what a person is communicating and thus respond in kind. And do so in kindness.

One of my most precious moments surrounded a 2002 visit with a friend who lived in another part of the country. We had met during the summer of 1990, when she was in town doing an externship; her “inner child” felt safe with me from the start, and we’ve kept in touch all that time.

Anyway, after church we were sitting on the couch at her place watching a basketball game — to be exact, the second round of “March Madness” — and she confided to me, “I want to curl up with you so bad.” A few moments later she fell asleep in my arms. (I get misty-eyed just thinking about it.) Though I did derive some satisfaction from that, doing so wasn’t my goal.

Nor should anything like that be the goal of anyone who may want to show the gift of mercy — it should always be humble and self-effacing, never demanding its own way.

The Rev. Dr. King

One of my duties at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is to compile the daily Almanac — things that happen on a particular date, celebrity birthdays and a “thought for today,” much of which comes from the Associated Press. The AP noted, and rightly so, that civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born on this date in 1929.

I took it upon myself to make one small addition — “the Rev.”

We often tend to forget that Dr. King, before becoming a household name, was simply a local Baptist pastor who became, shall we say, a “community organizer” whose passion for justice and reconciliation sprang from his Christian commitment. Indeed, the pastor of my diverse evangelical church referred to him yesterday as “born-again.”

That might sound like a stretch, but as a pre-teen attending a Christian academy in the 1970s I got it.

I didn’t come from a classically Christian family but, after reading some child-oriented material on Dr. King, then dead about four years, that my parents had left around the house, I noticed that he was doing things in the “street” that I was learning in school and the church I was attending at the time. Because I had some behavior issues at the time I became quite a handful, and yet the people there didn’t react the way I thought, and was told, they would. Eventually, they conquered me.

I didn’t realize exactly what happened to me until I read these words from his message “Loving your enemies”: “We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.”

It was then that I perceived Dr. King’s long-term strategy. I didn’t say so at the time, but I immediately recognized him as a Christian leader and that ultimately he called upon the Holy Spirit to cause those changes.

And that creates a dilemma for both sides of the political aisle. Though politically he leaned left, secular liberals often downplay the spiritual side of the movement, while many conservatives still don’t appreciate the obstacles, often placed or at least supported by other “Christians,” that he had to overcome. It’s one reason why I’ve always rejected modern conservatism as congruent with the Gospel; in key ways it certainly isn’t.

One friend who was formerly an elementary teacher in the Pittsburgh Public Schools and openly Christian, in teaching about the civil-rights movement, encouraged her students to sing hymns in class. Administrators really couldn’t do anything about that since participants in the movement did sing hymns — call her efforts subversive if you will, but the sentiment was entirely accurate.

Perhaps it’s time that we as a nation understood that the dismantling of Jim Crow laws happened not just through legal challenges but because God Himself changed hearts and minds to a point where injustices were recognized for what they were — opposition to the intention of God Himself. And Dr. King should be recognized not just for what he did but also how and why he did it.

Making amends

One of the major tenets of 12-Step recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous — I’ve attended meetings, but not specifically AA, off-and-on since 1983 — is that of “making amends.” Specifically, step 8 reads: “Made a list of persons we had harmed and were willing to make amends to them all”; with the subsequent step reading: “Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” (It should be noted that the program is an offshoot of the Wesleyan revival during the turn of the last century.)

If there’s a problem with our political and social discourse today it’s the unwillingness to do so, even among Christians. I find that sad because I would think that people who recognize their fallen condition would be willing not just to have their sins forgiven but to address the effects of their sin on other people. Indeed, I don’t believe that you can appreciate on a theological level just how bad you’ve been unless and until you recognize and own up to the way you’re hurt others. (For me, that began on a church retreat 34 years ago, and I have since attempted to mend fences with a number of people against whom I had sinned.)

The Christian Gospel was never merely about sins being forgiven so people can go to heaven; it represents a complete change of life which might, should and probably will mean a complete renunciation of underhanded dealings, gossip, resentment and other things not always “covered” among the typical sins surrounding sex, stealing and lying that comprise the heart of the culture wars. This is one reason why “preaching the Gospel,” at least in this country, isn’t enough to cause change — in many cases, hearts truly aren’t changed.

Nowhere do I see this more starkly than in politics, where since 1980 malicious gossip against primarily Democratic candidates for high office is not only not condemned but often even justified. If you wonder why our society is so divided these days, start there because if you’re focused on defeating an enemy by any means necessary I have to question your spiritual maturity. It’s also why I don’t believe that President Donald Trump’s alleged Christian conversion is genuine — not only at no time has he ever delivered any sincere apology for his actions but he’s never even mentioned just how his life has been changed as a result of meeting the living LORD and thus tried to make things right.

And I believe that resistance to “making amends” comes from a refusal to embrace humility. Saying “I was wrong” isn’t easy, you know, because it makes you vulnerable, but it has to be done for the sake of healing of everyone involved. Any married couple who won’t confess their faults to each other won’t last long, nor will a church survive without the regular confession of sin.

We in the church should be a model for the rest of the world because of our supposed commitment to reconciliation. Too bad that it hasn’t worked out that way, and the spiritual awakening we want can't or won't happen unless we can say to each other, “I messed up.”

This is of course the birth month of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., my hero of the Christian faith who was denigrated in his day and in some cases resented to this day because he unearthed the sin of racism. He was quick to say, of course, that not doing so would cause the wounds continue to fester; indeed, his very last message, never delivered, was entitled “Why America Might Go to Hell.”

I’m not going to tell you at this time exactly what’s required for reconciliation, whether money, reputation or anything else, because each circumstance is different. I will say, however, that if you’re not willing to eat humble pie because you can’t admit your failings I have to question your commitment to the Christian message.

Oprah for president?

Longtime television personality Oprah Winfrey delivered a stirring speech during last night’s Golden Globes awards, which I admit I didn’t watch. Some people are thinking and saying that she should run for president.

Frankly, I hope she doesn’t. We don’t need another celebrity in the White House.

Unlike many, I don’t have a problem with celebrities embracing politics and causes or sharing their views — this is a free country, after all, and I appreciate their willingness to become informed. But I certainly don’t want anyone actually running a country without any experience in government.

See, it’s really easy to go on the stump and say what you’ll do if you win. It’s another entirely to deal with lawmakers, lobbyists, media and representatives from other nations, among other things — and do so simultaneously. In our system the president isn’t a monarch to be worshipped; he or she is an administrator that needs to put people in different jobs, nominate judges and other things. If you understand basic civics, these should be understood immediately.

And as such, being simply well-known doesn’t make a qualification for any office. Unfortunately, we Americans don’t seem to get that, believing that a transition to government service should be seamless. As we’re seeing now, it isn’t that simple because, like it or not, nations need a “political class” because it takes more than a desire to be involved.

If Ms. Winfrey really wants to contribute, let her run for something else first. Being president is simply too much at this point.