Today’s Scripture Reading (January
29, 2015): Ephesians 3
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| Statue removed in King, North Carolina |
The city of King, North Carolina, earlier
this month removed a statue from a war memorial in a public park owned by the
city. The city was being sued over the subject matter of the statue, an image which
depicted a soldier kneeling in front of a small cross, a cross that looks like
it has been placed as a marker at the grave of a fellow soldier. The basis of
the lawsuit, which was being pursued by an Afghanistan Veteran and Americans
United for Separation of Church and State, was that the statue promoted
Christianity and therefore could not be placed in a park that is paid for by
the public purse. I have to admit that as I looked at the statue, I missed the
problem. I understand that there is a cross and a man kneeling in front of it,
but the reality is that there are crosses similar to the one depicted in the
statue that are placed on soldiers graves all over the world. And the man may
have been praying, but he could just as likely have been remembering the life
of a friend who is buried beneath that cross. The lawsuit seems to be a reach,
but the city was scared enough of the lawsuit to vote to remove the offending
statue – as well as a Christian Flag that flew over the park – and to give the
group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the sum of $500,000
to pay for some of their legal costs. And I still don’t understand. A statue of
Jesus on the cross, maybe, but a patriotic statue of a soldier kneeling at the
grave of a fellow soldier …?
And I wonder
if it is this unfamiliar position of kneeling that is offensive. We just don’t
do it much in contemporary society. Even within the Christian Church we don’t
kneel much anymore. In a world where each person feels entitled, we have lost
the necessity of kneeling. Once upon a time, in a society that was layered with
cultural expectation, it was common to kneel in front of someone who was of a
higher class than you. And in this act of kneeling, you actually made yourself
vulnerable to the one you were kneeling in front of – in the days when fighting
was done with a sword, kneeling was a lousy position from which to start the
fight, And when the one who kneeled also bowed their head, they made their neck
vulnerable to the sword of the one who stood over them. This act indicated both
respect as well as trust.
Judaism
didn’t demand kneeling as a prayer position. There are examples of Jews
kneeling in prayer, but for the Jews standing before their God was the more
prevalent prayer position. But Paul decides to kneel. And in doing so he
recognizes the place that his God occupies in his life. As far as Paul is
concerned, this God that he serves is not just the God of Jews, but the God of
everyone and everything - this is the Father of Creation - and so Paul kneels.
Not everybody had to agree with him, but that wouldn’t stop him from kneeling –
and giving the respect and trust that Paul believed belonged to his God.
No matter
what your religious background might be, the act of giving respect should never
be something that we are ashamed of doing. And suing over a statue that depicts
a soldier giving respect to a fallen comrade, even if he was praying, still
does not make sense to me.
And I have
to admit that as the NFC Championship game closed a couple of weeks ago, the
image that was left in my memory was not the amazing Russell Wilson to Jermaine Kearse pass that
ended overtime, and it was not Marshawn Lynch’s tradition of only shaking hands
with his fellow players after a great touchdown run (which I admit that I
love.) But the image that was left with me was of the players kneeling at
center field, Russell Wilson kneeling with them with tears streaming down his
face, together acknowledging that there was someone else that deserved an
expression of their respect – no matter whether they won, or lost. It is a
celebration that never gets old – and one that I hope we will never consider making
against the law.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Ephesians 4
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