School administrators, teachers, and parents have surely been challenged this past year or more. We say we “want to make the best decisions for the children.” We are well-meaning when we say that… and yet too many life-influencing decisions this past year have been made out of fear. Fear of a virus. Fear of the unknown. Fear of being called out. Fear of never being able to return to “normal.” Fear of doing what is right in the midst of so much that is wrong. And, as is often the case in times of “crisis,” too many decisions are made with limited information.
This week, a petition to lift our school district’s mask mandate was presented to the school board. The petition had 500 signatures. A group of concerned parents attended the meeting. Long story short, the board voted 3-2 in favor of lifting the mandate seven days prior to summer vacation. There was tension. Words of emotion… but also words of reason and calm. Hours later, thoughts and feeling were made public via Facebook; some constructive, others not so much. The local newspaper quoted certain statements from the meeting but not others. In the days that followed, most everyone acknowledged that the school administration and staff had endured an extraordinarily difficult and wearisome year. However, a few people suggested that the parents bullied the administration and teachers. For now, that suggestion hangs like a gray cloud over our town.
A spirit of fear weighs heavy on many of us. There is unsettledness. Psychological stress. Paralysis. There is an enemy who takes advantage of every opportunity he gets to overwhelm the humans God loves so much. (Jesus calls that enemy a “liar” and “murderer.”) If I were to offer my two cents in the form of a letter-to-the-editor, it would go something like this:
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
The enemy is not the school board, administration, or teachers.
The enemy is not the parents.
The enemy is not one half or the other of this community.
The enemy is anything that seeds chaos, stirs up fear, and turns us inward.
The enemy delights in dividing neighbor against neighbor.
The enemy never builds up but always tears down.
As neighbors who live and work together, we should resist the enemy. Making good use of our different skills, experiences, and perspectives, we can build bridges to common ground.
We are small town folk. Many of us are thankful to be small town folk. That does not make us less intelligent, rational, or creative.
Small town folk help each other out. When faced with hard things, we rise up to meet the challenge and go the distance. We exchange information and ideas. We may be courageous enough to speak, but also courageous enough to listen. We patiently dialogue possibilities. Watching us, our children and grandchildren learn to do the same.
Many of us remember Mr. Rogers’ invitation, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” I think he understood that neighbors will never agree on everything. But he also understood that self-discipline and kindness to others strengthens community.
In this way, the real enemies who threaten the neighborhood are not so scary.
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Note: I’ve been told that the LTE above will be published in the Iowa Falls Times Citizen on May 19, 2021.
End note: Because I’m limited in posting on my Facebook page, I’m attaching this link to an interview of Dr. Peter McCullough by Tucker Carlson. How did Tucker respond to this physician (The McCullough Report)? “… you’re blowing my mind…” and “I didn’t expect this interview.” Why was Tucker so surprised by what he heard? Find out here: Dr. Peter McCullough on Tucker Carlson: Not an Error of Omission! – America Out Loud THIS is information that our school boards, administrators, teachers, parents, and whole communities need to hear!
Ezerwoman's Blog 
Don’t Mingle, “Dig In”
Posted in Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Life issues, tagged " conform, " vulnerability, chaos, church, God's Word, hope and change, influence, Jesus Christ, kindness, lifestyle, nation, order, PC, political correctness, public opinion, silly myths, The Life, The Truth, The Way, world on October 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Andree Seu, writing in WORLD (11-6-10), paraphrases comments made to her by Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf. With both hands about shoulder-level, roughly 12-inches apart, Rep Wolf explained to Seu that we have “the church” here and “the other world” here. He posited that this is always a constant distance of separation. Seu writes,
“Where the thing gets scary, explained Wolf, is that as the world moves toward greater immorality, the church continues to keep the same distance from it. That is to say, the church is sliding into debauchery along with the world, just at a slower rate. What is important to note is that this slippage from God is not so easily detected because the gap between church and world remains the same, and so we seem, to ourselves, to be doing OK.”
In the first session of my Titus 2 Retreat, “We Are Vulnerable,” I ask the group to give examples of “silly myths” that lead to “social experiments.” Believing “silly myths” (i.e. abortion is a woman’s right or two women who love each other should be able to marry) inevitably leads to social experimentation. Such experimentation is actually tampering with God’s design. This is never good for a people who want to imagine beyond themselves to new generations. God’s design brings order and new life. Experimenting with His design brings chaos and death.
We are vulnerable, I explain during a Titus 2 Retreat, when we profess Jesus Christ as our Lord but wrap Him around silly myths and social experiments. There is a saying: “We become like the company we keep.” We become like the world — even though we think we’re keeping a distance — when we begin to mingle (just a little here or a little there). When we let worldly ideas of spirituality, worship, the roles of men and women, marriage, family, and children weave into Christianity, we’re in trouble. Truth does not embrace or wrap around worldly ideas. Truth and the world are opposites. A lesson from history gives some clarity.
In the Old Testament book of Ezra, we learn that the king of Persia was going to allow the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem. They had been exiles and captives for a long time. It’s important to note that only a small number of Jewish exiles wanted to return to their homeland. Most were unwilling to give up their Babylonian property or lifestyle to go back to their old ways. So, because there was such a small group of workers, the rebuilding of Jerusalem became more difficult. There were people in the area who offered their help. Those people didn’t believe in God and held to a blend of mixed religious beliefs. It goes without saying that they had motives of their own. The Jewish people refused the offer of help with their building project. Why? 1) The task was given exclusively to God’s people; 2) accepting help from non-believers would obligate God’s people to pagan ways; and 3) the potential for corruption in worship was too great if God’s people became aligned with non-believers. (Ezra 4:3)
A Christian, wanting to be progressive, might think: If I embrace the best parts of a worldly idea, I will be able to move forward the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a modern way. But, too often, moral-influence flows the opposite direction. God knows that. Therefore, He says: Don’t mingle; dig in. Dig in to the One Who is not of this world (John 18:36). Jesus says, “I am the Light.” The world is dark (John 1:4-5). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The world is deceptive and leads to death (John 10:10). “My peace I give you.” The world offers no such peace. (John 14:27) For this reason, St. Paul was inspired to write in Romans 12:2:
Don’t mingle. Dig in.
To mingle with the world is to walk on shifting sand. For awhile, public opinion might lean one way; then, depending upon anything from the economy to a national crisis, public opinion can suddenly shift the opposite direction. Andree Seu explains that there is “a little thing called the ‘Overton Window.’ It is the term for an insight by a Joseph P. Overton that at any given point in the stream of a population’s public life there is a ‘window’ that contains or frames a range of opinion that is currently acceptable. Outside that window lie the ideas considered wacko. The intriguing thing is that what is ‘acceptable’ and what is ‘wacko’ can (and does) shift. The window itself moves — and clever and diabolical forces have an interest in moving it.”
What was “radical” yesterday is “acceptable” today. The unthinkable, notes Andree Seu, can go from “popular” to “policy.” Remember. Ideas like abortion, homosexual “marriage,” and euthanasia used to lurk in the shadows of the American landscape. Not anymore.
I’m an ezer woman who lives in a culture where “evil” is called “good.” For this reason, I’m compelled to dig heels into the foundation of God’s Word but, at the same time, push forward with weapons of truth. As ideas and behaviors spiral downward, the one who follows Jesus is called to be intentionally polite. Kind. Pure. This will irritate some and be seen as naive by others. But, for a neighbor caught momentarily in darkness, the light may shine more brightly. The Word of Truth, kindly spoken, pulls from shifting sand to solid ground.
There is a model for those who no longer want to mingle but, instead, dig in. Curious? I invite you to explore Titus 2 for Life.
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