On the Isle of View, the flags fly half-mast every day. I wonder why, who, or what determines when the flags at Perkins, the banks, or the post office aren't fully raised. I often think that the media have to proclaim that it's a "national tragedy" or name the event a serious attack on our patriotic dignity, for the banner not to reach its tallest destiny.
Reality on the Isle of View is fully known. This perspective affords us the courage, the inner strength, and the hope to honestly proclaim that the violence of everyday life does not permit us to act out of denial or arrogance in displaying the colors in full view. The fact that there is violence every day stops us from acting as if the crisis is over and we can go about our normal lives. The Isle of View clearly recognizes how fractured, disconnected, and isolated the world is.
As a person of faith, one may ask how I can speak so negatively. Is it negative or real? To honestly face everything that happens in our everyday life is exactly what faith helps us do. The authentic life of faith helps us to admit the scope and severity of the desperation that is so pervasive and prevalent. This admission comes from a willingness to enter all of life - the difficult, the sad, the hatred, the love, the glory, and the beauty of living in solidarity with all of life. Attention is given to all the struggles and all the joys that affect all of God's creatures. This attention is not manipulated or directed by what the media chooses to cover or ignore.
From this island perspective, we can freely yet disturbingly make the admission that there is no clear diagnosis nor prescription for what ails the world with so many earthshaking manifestations of violence in total disregard for any form of life. I, for one, have no clue as to what is going on. If I did, I would package the cure, market it and sell it to the highest bidder; or just plain heal the whole world of all division, misunderstanding, hatred, and wounds which leave the ever-festering infections of resentment. After all, what do I really know about the causes and cures of the world's problems?
I have the suspicion however, that even knowing the causes would not in fact, eliminate them.
The View from the Isle tells us to love our enemies. Following the example of and acting on the power of our Lord Jesus, we can and ought to care about the unlovable in a way that expresses a dignity and value not rooted in anything that has been done or has failed to be realized, but from the fact that all creatures belong to God. In this way, people of faith seek ways to avoid the repeating cycle of isolation, alienation, and disconnection.
Our faith, which places us on the Isle of View, tells us that what we know doesn't necessarily get us to where we need to go, but Who we know does. As the Good Shepherd said this past weekend, "My sheep recognize My voice. I know My sheep and My sheep know me.” The Isle of View offers a perspective only obtained through the personal knowledge of Who the Shepherd is. We enter into this knowledge when we choose to enter, with a greater trust than what any evidence would warrant, a transforming and challenging relationship with this Good Shepherd. The Shepherd not only protects us but leads us to be in that same kind of transforming relationship with others – especially with those who are difficult to love. This is why I strongly believe the Boston bombers throughout the world and in our own neighborhood are the invitation for us to prove to ourselves, if to no one else, where it is that "we live, and move and have our being.” Do we live on the Isle of View which forces us to listen in such a way that would recognize the Voice of the Shepherd from someone who we would rather not hear? Does this desperate voice scare us because their methods and means are offensive and destructive? What did Jesus do on the Isle of View? Yes, He taught his own disciples a non-tolerant attitude towards violence. And He engaged with those who used violence. He could've run away from those who used violence to eliminate Him. He chose to answer those who accused and condemned Him. His answers aimed, not at satisfying the goals of violence, but rather took advantage of the opportunity that the questions of the violent provided. His answer revealed who He is. Yes, the King of the Jews; but a Shepherd-King showing mercy and compassion to those who are unlovable. The path to the heart of this Shepherd-King is through his wounds. Suffering can open our ears of faith to hear His Voice.
Why is our suffering only given permission to be acknowledged when the media
says it is okay? Why is it that with only certain tragedies we choose to
unfurl fully the Stars & Stripes? Our hearts are broken by so much
violence and hatred which only seems to beget more hatred and
violence. However from the Isle of View, our hearts
are broken not to become bitter and to perpetuate more of the same, but they
are broken to be open to everyone who hurts and longs to hear the healing,
compassionate Voice of the One who beckons us to trust even more because of the
sickening, half-mast violence.
How do we up the ante of our trust when, it seems, the more we trust, the more we are beaten down with violence? The view from the island tells us that it's only through sacred conversation where listening leads to knowledge of the Other. Jesus did not stop talking to the violent simply because He was against violence. He spoke to them through His nonviolence. He spoke to them with mercy and compassionate forgiveness, pleading to His Father “forgive them they know not what they do.” How else can one express love for the enemy? Even when the violent do not want to be loved, the people on the Isle of View choose to continue to love. This Love becomes more significant when the flags are flying at half-mast. the salvaged skipper
