I Used to Be Smart.

Since my iPod has been out of commission for the past few days, I’ve been relegated to a vastly inferior source of noise on my way to work — the radio.

Since I have a great propensity for breaking things, my radio does not work as it should, so I can only get a very small range of stations. One of these stations is the talk radio station, and it comes through clearly with all of its conservative programming.

In the week I’ve had to bask in talk radio, I’ve heard the immigration issue come up over and over and over again. True to form, I can’t help but have an opinion about it. Also true to form, I’m going to make an attempt to express that opinion.

I’ve realized a couple of things about this issue.

First, it’s tough. It’s really tough. I think it’s so tough because we’re talking about people. There’s no way to talk about the issue of immigration without talking about the people involved. The individuals cannot become abstractions. If we fall into the trap of making the people mere tools for a logical assessment, then we’ve missed the boat.

So, “my first allegiance” won’t be to ideas, or to what’s best for the geopolitical entity in which I happen to reside. My first allegiance will be to the people involved in this debate. Moreover, I can only come to this debate with one point of view — the point of view of a person of faith, and I can only speak about how I believe people of faith should act and think in this debate. What people of faith should do is not always what’s best for America, and I readily concede that. Though I have no solution to this debate, I am well aware that what I express will most likely not be in the best interest of America. I am well aware of that. I have some things that I believe to be more important than my commitments to a country.

And now that you are qualified, let’s begin…

I think what has bothered me most about this where all the anger is directed. All of the venom that I hear is directed toward the people who have been crossing the border illegally. The loudest voices are proclaiming it as THEIR fault.

I think that blaming the individuals is the wrong tactic. I’ve heard lots of statistics and defenses of the character of these folks. I won’t even do that. No matter who they are, they bear the unmistakable image of God and they deserve the same radical love we would give anyone else. Legal or illegal, there’s no denying our responsibility to them.

If we are upset about the stream of people crossing our borders illegally, we must FIRST be upset that they have been allowed to cross. If we truly believe that is a problem, the blame should be pointed at the people who make the decisions, not the ordinary folks crossing to find a better life. Who can blame them? Legal or illegal, they still want the same things that you want. Put in their position, most of us may well do the same things they have done.

I think that is as compelling an argument as any for some sort of amnesty program. We should not penalize them for our negligence. If they are participating in the country’s economy, let them participate as citizens.

Honestly, I don’t see how any Believer can think any differently. We’re not here to be good citizens of a country that is not our home. We’re here to be good citizens and good stewards of a kingdom that is yet to come. That kingdom has absolutely no borders. That kingdom penalizes no person because of the geography of their birth.

Shouldn’t we be doing our very best to enact that kingdom here on Earth? Shouldn’t we be about that kingdom’s work even if it is completely opposed to the work of the flag to which we have sworn our allegiance since our birth? Do we not follow something that is so large that it can be held by no national borders? That it can be defined by no language? That it marginalizes all forms of currency?

I wonder…

You’ll have to forgive me if I’m a bit a rusty at this.  It’s been a while.

The problem is that there are so many things swirling around in my head right now that I don’t even know where I start.  So I guess I’ll go with the beginning.  It’s as good a place as any.

Lately I’ve been realizing that there is a tremendous gap between the life that is lived and the life that is merely survived.  I realized this because my life, for quite a while now, has merely been surviving.

The merely surviving in my life has involved filling my head with noise — whatever noise I can find — noise that makes sure that I don’t have to engage anything, or take anything too seriously.  The noise makes it easy.  It makes it easy to float along from one day to the next.  The noise is just this grand distraction that is great at killing the silence.  That’s why noise encourages mere survival.  The noise is what lets us float through rote and routine without any real thought to questions of substance or consequences.

To live life, we must engage in a systematic campaign of corralling the noise.  We may never be able to shut it out completely, but we will learn how to slowly pare it out of our lives, so that we are aware of both the noise and its effect on us.

It’s time to stop merely surviving this life, and find a way to live it.

Keep your eyes open.

Something is afoot…