Micro Aggression or Macro Aggression
Good Morning Friends,
There is a developing form of communication being born out of the painful intersections of intimacy in the multicultural, ethnically diverse environment that is the flow of people to the world’s cities. To some it is seen as a social disease, to some antagonistic diplomacy. To others it is a process of healing over a long time as the streams of people converge into a roaring river. It can be abrasive. It cuts to the core of change and we do so not like change. But on a positive note I see it as a way of God gradually using others to prepare us to not just see ourselves as others see us but, ultimately to see ourselves as God sees us. For the slighted minority, for woman in ministry, for the outcast, for those who face pain in the river, have hope. Following the tanks going into Crimea was an ambulance. All this is just a way of trying to communicate in a new way whether it is a Micro Aggression or Macro Aggression.
Scripture: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10 (NRSV)
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:19-23 (NASB)
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Romans 7:24 (NASB)
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Romans 8:1-2 (NRSV)
Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
Acts 10:34-35 (NRSV)
Message: Ok I do not consider myself a perpetual victim because I am Christian, but more one of extreme privilege because I am one. And that is difficult because I am also white, having been born in the United States, so this feeling carries with it undertones and preconceived notions that murky the water in the hearts of others. There are subtle micro aggressions, assaults, insults and invalidations that exist is society leveled at people of faith as well as any defined people group, race, gender, sexual orientation or even personality types. Clear communication on the subject is really difficult. To get a handle on it people put others in boxes as a point of reference. What is expressed and what is received can be two very different things. It is a painful discourse. We see it in the story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus faced this problem too and I think he focused on those who would try to control power for selfish ends and those who simplly did not know how to love. Communication in this territory is so complex. Of course one can get hypersensitive to this for all our natures…everyone… each and every person on the planet is prejudiced about something. This morning I consider those things that prompt alienation and the history of oppressors becoming the oppressed. The reality is that we can be paranoid about all this and still some will be out to get you. It is difficult to put ones finger on this unless one is in love with God and our neighbor….and our neighbor has learned to love as well.
Pray we realize that we are physical and spiritual beings and as such are in conflict. Pray we realize that society’s solution to inequities will never work unless connected to the Spirit. Pray we realize that culture has lost an accurate understanding of what it means to be human and therefore it has a wrong understanding of the motives involved in human behavior and how to deal with them. Pray we realize that culture will give us the illusion of self-awareness as we hunt to find the cause of suffering. Pray we realize that inequities are never fully resolved but on the cross. Pray we realize we are redeemed by God. Pray we communicate in a way that guides others to see us as we are and may become in the love of Christ. Pray we see ourselves as God sees us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 