We Call Bull S**t — The Sermon on the Mount Circa 2018
Worse weeks I can hardly imagine. A day on the calendar circled for loving, tragically became a breaking headline of evil and hate. The diabolical pull of a trigger shattered lives and dreams. And if the sight of distraught children and loss of seventeen innocent lives were not heart wrenching enough, within minutes the scab of our national division was ripped open once again.
My wife would tell you that I watch way too much news. And the news on this day and the days to follow was not good. Seasoned news reporters, law enforcement and parents wept openly on camera. The initial shock and tears quickly turned to finger pointing and anger. And we adults once again did what we do so well, went to our respective corners and came out swinging, clinging to our respective constitutional rights.
And yet may I remind you of the idiom which says “Little pitchers have big ears” meaning that children are watching and listening to words adults speak. And unavoidably they can become filled (as a pitcher would) with these words. It just happens for good or for bad.
And on Saturday at a raucous and emotional rally of thousands in Parkland, Florida, child after child (these little pitchers) took to the microphone scorning hate, scorning violence, and lecturing the adults, especially lawmakers for their words, money grubbing, and inaction to do seemingly nothing to stop the killing.
Emma Gonzalez became a poster child for these students. Her words were emotional, tearful, angry, articulate and disrespectful. And rightfully so after having friends gunned down in the solace of her very own school. Will any of these kids every look at learning and their neighborhood school in the same way?
And with the skill of a seasoned pulpiteer, Emma seized on a single memorable phrase to hammer home her point — “We call BS”!
Now granted this may not be the most lady like or gentlemanly way of saying something. However, Emma grabbed our national attention. And almost on cue social media lit up, some calling her a hero and others, well let’s just say she became another target of hatred being a female, hispanic, and choosing to wear her hair short.
This irreverent phrase (BS) according to the Urban Dictionary is simply a way in which one says enough is enough! I’m calling you on your stuff. Put up or shut up! Or as Popeye the Sailor Man once said, “I can’t stands no more!” And as an aside, you can now take a college level course called — Calling Bull S**t – Data Reasoning in a Digital World. http://callingbullshit.org. Who would’ve thought!
Famed theologian Karl Barth is quoted saying, “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.” And so as I meditate this Sunday morning, this is what I find both frustrating and fueling as a Jesus follower and pastor. That an eighteen year old high school student has to call BS on a nation we would call Christian. Perhaps even on a church which to a large degree has become at worst impotent and at best marginalized in a nation looking for a moral compass.
This child was thrust into the national spotlight on a week of love and giving, instead only to address a national tragedy by saying, that all you adults are leaving us as kids is a nation that lacks goodness (forget greatness) and all we see is hate and taking. Amen Emma, amen!
So — if you’ll give me a little grace and latitude on this one. I think Jesus and Emma are saying much the same thing. One day Jesus took to a hillside and in essence he too called out his citizenry. He contrasted the ways of the world and the ways of true life and godliness. We refer to this as his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). His money line, “You have heard it said, but I say…”.
For the sake of Emma and all those in our rising generation (who by in large part find church irrelevant) what if we who claim the life and ways of Jesus — intentionally began to live out the ways of Jesus (the Sermon on the Mount) in the everyday places of life that we live, work and play?
Would we perhaps get more response to our “Christian message” if we served the needs in our community and volunteered in schools and loved our neighbors? Could it make a difference in a fractured society of broken and lonely individuals? What if our efforts went more toward loving versus protecting or legislating or condemning?
Agree or disagree, I for one intend on continuing to place my bets on loving others. My hope being that in circa 2018 the response will be the same as in Jesus day when it says, “the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great of a burden” ~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Live humbly and kind,
Jim
I’m less worried about the grammar and language than I am the point these determined teens were making. Enough I enough! It is time we stand with them. If the real adults can’t do it for them then then let’s join their voices in demanding the various incremental and obvious changes that must be made. Why any civilian need an AK-15 in their possession is beyond me. I believe this will be a difficult conversation among our citizens. I support the 2nd Amendment but no one in the general population is trained to use this type of weapon. It has no purpose anyone’s gun closet or case unless they are law enforcement or military.
NEVER AGAIN should we mourn the lives of so many, particularly children attending school, gunned down attending school., going to a night club or a rock concert. It our legislators at the state and national level lack the resolve and courage to stand up against this then it is time for them to retire and let younger more enlightened individuals step into their roles.