Our Rights

Recently I read the 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights in the US constitution on factmonster.com. We are given the freedom to worship as we please and live without fear of "unreasonable search or seizure". No one can be punished without due process of law. People must be paid for property taken for public use. It bars excessive bail and fines and cruel and unusual punishment. These are a few from the list.

Further down the page is a version of the Rights of the Child adopted by the United Nations in 1989.

1. Every child has a right to life.
2. Every child has a right to a name at birth and a nationality.
3. Every child has the right to live with his or her parent unless it is against the child's best interests.
4. Special protection shall be given to refugee children.
5. Every child has the right to the highest standard of health and medical care possible.
6. The child has a right to education. The state is to ensure that primary education is free and compulsory.
7. No child shall be subjected to torture, cruel treatment, unlawful arrest, or deprivation of liberty.
8. Children under 15 shall not be recruited into the armed forces.

I am thankful for these rights; I also feel sad and pained for those who are not given these rights or allowed these protections. Much of our political disharmony and intense disagreements today center around some of these rights and many clamor for more laws to grant more rights.  Demanding rights is in vogue, and anger is the expected response when rights seem violated.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, how do I respond to the ager of others? What is a Christ-like attitude?  What do I believe about my rights?  What should my response be about rights that I know are being violated?

Jesus shows us the way to live justly and to be merciful.  He also shows the way to respond to suffering and death when we are mistreated and oppressed. We're living in very uncertain times.  As a society, we've moved away from disagreeing respectfully and helping each other process new ideas and change without judgment and, instead, with lots of grace and patience.  Demonstrating and angry threats may get quicker results on changing laws, but often the new laws bring new rights to some while taking away rights from others. 
 
I don't have the answers to my questions, but I want to live in step with the Holy Spirit and find out how he wants me to respond. I know prayer is always a right response.  I can pray while reading or watching the news. I can pray for those in authority, for God's Kingdom to come to earth, for his will to be done here as it is in heaven.

I pray also that God will lead me when it's time to act on behalf of others.  To have his heart of love for whoever I encounter.  I repent of attitudes that judge who is worthy of grace and justice and who is not. 

God also gives us opportunities to support others who are doing work we may not be equipped for or logistically can't get involved in.  This past week our church hosted Reggie Stutzman from New York City, where he pastors a church in the Bronx and in a community known for it's crime, drug lords and prostitutes.  Reggie told multiple stories of the people he ministers to.  How he showers the drunk who has soiled himself, searches the streets for the 13 to 14 year old prostitutes at early hours in the  morning, to invite them into his van to receive food and prayer, hosts a Thanksgiving meal with his church, to feed hundreds of people just to love them, and so many more heart-wrenching situations.  Reggie's heart is way ahead of mine in genuine love for the least of these and physically being the hands and feet of Jesus. I deeply want to have that kind of faith expressing itself through love.  Galatians 5:6 says that is the only thing that counts.

John 1:12 says, "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." 

This is the right that will never be taken away from me. In that right he has called me to work with him to bring heaven to earth. May I never forsake the pursuit of Jesus' heart of love.  May his passion ignite me and take me to places where his tenderness and gentleness break down barriers and send fear to flight. However that may look for me, it may be different for you.  He has gifted each of us for the places he will send us. Come and join me in this journey of learning what it means to love the broken.  Maybe call it social justice, maybe stand for the rights of others, but let's never turn our hearts away from pain or suffering, no matter the circumstances. 

The prayer of this old hymn seems fitting:

Lead on O King Eternal

1. Lead on, O King Eternal,
   The day of march has come;
   Henceforth in fields of conquest
   Thy tents shall be our home.
   Through days of preparation
   Thy grace has made us strong;
   And now, O King Eternal,
   We lift our battle song.


2. Lead on, O King Eternal,
   Till sin’s fierce war shall cease,
   And holiness shall whisper
   The sweet amen of peace.
   For not with swords’ loud clashing,
   Nor roll of stirring drums;
   With deeds of love and mercy
   The heav’nly kingdom comes.


3. Lead on, O King Eternal,
   We follow, not with fears,
   For gladness breaks like morning
   Where’er Thy face appears.
   Thy cross is lifted o’er us,
   We journey in its light;
   The crown awaits the conquest;
   Lead on, O God of might.

Ernest W. Shurtleff, 1888