(some journal thoughts and questions from a few weeks ago)

I need to visit my Muslim friends this Friday at the Mosque. Muslims are my friends and I need to stand with them in these times. I’ve got many questions.

“Do they fear now more for their lives, their families, their futures here in the US?”

In my mind however, I’m also wondering about some of my other friends of color–even my Mexican niece.

“What is their sense of being part of this nation now?”

As a white person (and also part of a faith community which seems to have voted in an administration committed to a slew of policies and ideas about the “foreigner among us” that I find hard to align with the Bible), I’m asking myself an agonizing question!

“Why did this election have to be shaped by the narrative that one group (a subset of white America) was losing their grasp on the American Dream, or becoming less secure because of the presence of others among us?”

I think that is a lazy proposition to a more complex problem and will only guide us to wrong solutions. So many questions. I’m trying to form answers but it seems an undergirding fear guides us to wrong solutions and closes our ears to appropriate responses that in the end truly address what is happening in our world. My work is peacemaking, building bridges of understanding and friendship with the “other”. And in that I will continue tomorrow, and the day after that, and the one after that. Listening. Learning. Loving others. And quite honestly being loved by the “others” among us. I think I’m taking my ques from Jesus, from how I read my Holy Book. I love my work. And I truly love Jesus. I love my friends from other tribes. I’ve discovered they are much like me when I cross over borders and break down walls of suspicion and mistrust. It has made my life so incredibly rich and full to be on the other side! And though the walls that divide us just got more building materials I know they still come down when we reach out with a genuine heart of love and respect. But I do fear for my friends that don’t look like me tonight. And I pray for peace, justice, love, understanding and hope.

Here’s a visual tour of my journey of peacemaking over the last month.