The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States "A superpower acted on 'disgust and dread'”
Wednesday, 17 August 2016
Exodus 1:6 Yosef died, as did all his brothers and all that generation. 7 The descendants of Isra’el were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied and grew very powerful; the land became filled with them.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt. He knew nothing about Yosef 9 but said to his people, “Look, the descendants of Isra’el have become a people too numerous and powerful for us. 10 Come, let’s use wisdom in dealing with them. Otherwise, they’ll continue to multiply; and in the event of war they might ally themselves with our enemies, fight against us and leave the land altogether.”
11 So they put slavemasters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built for Pharaoh the storage cities of Pitom and Ra‘amses. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, until the Egyptians came to dread the people of Isra’el 13 and worked them relentlessly, 14 making their lives bitter with hard labor — digging clay, making bricks, all kinds of field work; and in all this toil they were shown no mercy.
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Around 1550 BCE the Egyptians overthrew their Hyksos rulers and placed Egyptian kings on
the throne. That’s probably reflected in the ominous phrase that a king came to power “who
didn’t know Joseph.” Ruling one of the most powerful kingdoms on earth at that time, this king nevertheless reacted to the presence of these “foreign” people with fear, which quickly turned to hatred and oppression.
• This story shows us a human tendency seen repeatedly in history. We describe our drive
for power and wealth with the word “security”—yet, many times, the more power and wealth we acquire, the more insecure we become. In what does your security reside? Is there any dimension of your security that, in truth, tends simply to make you feel less secure?
• Also sadly familiar is the fact that the Pharaoh and many Egyptians feared the Israelites, in part, just because they were different. There’s no sign that any Israelite had acted against Egypt. When the Japanese air force bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States swiftly began interning Japanese Americans in camps, even if they’d been here for generations, and without requiring any evidence that they were disloyal. How can you help your family, your church and your nation to resist unreasoned fear of those who are different in some way?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, in 1 John I read, “Perfect love drives out fear.” In these days, when so much in the news can make me feel afraid, I ask that you will continue to plant your perfect love in my heart and mind. Amen.
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Insights from Wendy Connelly
Exodus 1:6 Yosef died, as did all his brothers and all that generation. 7 The descendants of Isra’el were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied and grew very powerful; the land became filled with them.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt. He knew nothing about Yosef 9 but said to his people, “Look, the descendants of Isra’el have become a people too numerous and powerful for us. 10 Come, let’s use wisdom in dealing with them. Otherwise, they’ll continue to multiply; and in the event of war they might ally themselves with our enemies, fight against us and leave the land altogether.”
11 So they put slavemasters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built for Pharaoh the storage cities of Pitom and Ra‘amses. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, until the Egyptians came to dread the people of Isra’el 13 and worked them relentlessly, 14 making their lives bitter with hard labor — digging clay, making bricks, all kinds of field work; and in all this toil they were shown no mercy.
-------
Around 1550 BCE the Egyptians overthrew their Hyksos rulers and placed Egyptian kings on
the throne. That’s probably reflected in the ominous phrase that a king came to power “who
didn’t know Joseph.” Ruling one of the most powerful kingdoms on earth at that time, this king nevertheless reacted to the presence of these “foreign” people with fear, which quickly turned to hatred and oppression.
• This story shows us a human tendency seen repeatedly in history. We describe our drive
for power and wealth with the word “security”—yet, many times, the more power and wealth we acquire, the more insecure we become. In what does your security reside? Is there any dimension of your security that, in truth, tends simply to make you feel less secure?
• Also sadly familiar is the fact that the Pharaoh and many Egyptians feared the Israelites, in part, just because they were different. There’s no sign that any Israelite had acted against Egypt. When the Japanese air force bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States swiftly began interning Japanese Americans in camps, even if they’d been here for generations, and without requiring any evidence that they were disloyal. How can you help your family, your church and your nation to resist unreasoned fear of those who are different in some way?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, in 1 John I read, “Perfect love drives out fear.” In these days, when so much in the news can make me feel afraid, I ask that you will continue to plant your perfect love in my heart and mind. Amen.
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Insights from Wendy Connelly
Wendy Connelly, wife to Mark and mom to two kids, is Community Outreach Director at the Leawood campus, a seminary student at Saint Paul School of Theology, and leads “Live and Let Think” dialogues at Leawood (starting again on Tuesday Grow Night in September–see www.cor.org/grow for details and registration).xenophobia (ξενοφοβία): fear of strangers
philoxenia (φιλοξενία): love of strangers (the biblical word for “hospitality”)
On October 16, 2015, while traveling to Chicago, I accidentally took the wrong seat on the airplane: 12A. “Um, I think that’s my seat,” a man said to me, studying his ticket. I looked at mine and realized I’d sat a row ahead of my assignment.
“I’m sorry, I’m supposed to be in row 13,” I replied, getting up. “That’s okay,” said the man, amiably. “I’ll just take your seat.”
I had a mysterious sense, in that instant, that I was in the wrong row for a reason. My intuition, frequently beguiled by moments of synchronicity, said, “Pay attention. This is no accident.”
Next to me sat a man in his sixties who, upon take off, pulled out a small Qur’an and began reading. My inner voice said, “Talk to him.” I glanced over a few times, mustering up the courage to gently interrupt him.
“Is that a Qur’an?
” I finally asked.“Yes,” he said, smiling. And out of curiosity and a willingness to connect, the door opened to a riveting, effervescent conversation. Precisely because he, Mahmoud, was a well-learned man, and I had read and studied much of the Qu’ran in seminary, we immediately entered into one another’s worlds, sharing fascinating points of convergence between our Abrahamic faiths. By the time we had landed, even the woman catty-corner behind us–who, coincidentally, explained she was a member of COR–said she had listened in the entire flight with absorption. There was a palpable spirit of unity, respect and love.
Mahmoud said it was “no accident” I took the wrong seat. What a blessing it was to me, too.Mahmoud invited me on a tour of Chicago with his wife, which I declined with much regret, having had prearranged plans. As we blessed one another to depart, we exchanged business cards and, today, frequent emails. Mahmoud even mailed me a hardcover, emerald green Qu’ran, highlighting his favorite sura.
One month after our flight, on November 13, ISIS attacked Paris. When Mahmoud’s daughter, Reem, stood in line at a checkout lane the day after the attack, another customer took offense at her headscarf, shouting: “That’s not how we do it in America!” The Chicago Tribune recorded Reem’s story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-muslims-respond-to-paris-attacks-met-20151115-story.html
The xenophobia has only ratcheted up since last November against the Muslim community in America and around the world. And Mahmoud’s emails record his growing fears for the safety of his family.
We have a choice to make in America: fear, or love. Xenophobia, or philoxenia. Will we label and hurt the “other” out of ignorance and fear? Or will we broaden our minds and hearts and enter into the “other’s” world, as Christ calls us to love?-------
Muslims express grief, frustration over Paris attacks
Director of Interfaith Engagement and Associate University Chaplain Tahera Ahmad holds a candle with other faculty and students at a vigil for the victims of the recent attacks in Paris, Beirut and Baghdad at Northwestern University. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Manya Brachear PashmanContact ReporterChicago Tribune
Like so many others, Reem Hassaballa's heart was broken Friday when she heard about the terrorist attacks in Paris. She posted a photo on Facebook taken in front of the Eiffel Tower two months earlier and added a French flag filter on Saturday as a gesture of solidarity.
But later that day, she also posted her account of a tense confrontation with a customer at a store who presumed she wasn't American because she was wearing a headscarf.
"This is not how we do it in America," the woman shouted at Hassaballa, when her sister joined her in line at the cash register.
"It really infuriated me," said Hassaballa, 39, of Hinsdale.
"I'm just tired of having to condemn things that we have nothing to do with. Why do I have to apologize for these people's heinous acts? It has nothing to do with me, my family, my kids. ... I'm constantly trying to prove to people we're good people."
The same routine plays out every time terrorists carry out violence in the name of Islam. Within an hour of the first explosion in Paris on Friday, American Muslim organizations posted statements condemning the attacks and denouncing religious extremism and its perpetrators. Individual Muslims took to social media around the world to decry the attacks with the hashtag #iammuslim.
At Loop vigil, French nationals worried about family, friends back home"I wrote it in my Facebook status to raise awareness of what happens when something horrific happens in the name of our religion," Hassaballa said.
Meanwhile, others posted condemnations of Islam. Even before authorities released a final death toll, former Republican Rep.Joe Walsh, now a conservative talk radio host, jumped on Twitter to lambaste lax immigration policies and Islam.
"At least 35 dead in Paris," he tweeted to his more than 30,000 followers. "100 or so hostages. You did this to yourself Europe. This is what Islam does. Wake up world."
"Come out 'moderate' Muslims," he tweeted later, targeting the Twitter #iammuslim campaign. "Come out, come out wherever you are! #iamnotamuslim & against Muslim violence."
Photo gallery: Terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, 2015, killed 129 people. The deadly assaults led to mourning, global displays of support and a military response from France.Ahmed Rehab, executive director of Chicago's Council on American Islamic Relations, said the backlash shifts the conversation away from the issue of what it takes to neutralize the threat of religious extremism. In effect, it lets the terrorists win, he said.
"When something like this occurs, it's another way the extremists are able to influence us," Rehab said. "They force that kind of aftershock. They're not out to kill 10 people, 20 people, 100 people. They're out to change how our societies function totally for their benefit."
Tahera Ahmad, director of interfaith engagement and associate chaplain at Northwestern University, said many young Muslims struggle with how to respond constructively, especially against the backdrop of other social justice movements that deserve attention, including the Black Lives Matter movement.
"A lot of young Muslims, what I hear them say is, they're confused about what they need to say," she said. "Some of the students I've spoken to don't want to say anything. If I say anything, I'm going to look like an apologist ... when ISIS does not represent what they stand for or what they believe in."
Ahmad had just landed in Washington, D.C., for a speaking engagement when the attacks in Paris began. She said there were many late-night discussions with students trying to process the violence. She flew back early Sunday to attend a gathering originally for students to express solidarity with activists protesting racism at the University of Missouri and Yale University. It turned into a vigil for the Paris victims. She hoped it would encourage students to put their collective energies into resolving the root causes rather than play into the us versus them dynamic.
"Terror is impacting all of us at different levels from different sources," she said. "In the Middle East, parts of Europe, it's ISIS. Here it's a different kind of systemic injustice."
On her own Facebook page this weekend, Ahmad synthesized the spectrum of voices she's hearing across campus communities.
"Praying for Beirut, praying for Paris, praying for Syria, praying for Jews, praying for Christians, praying for Muslims and all the traditions, praying for Mizzou, praying for Yale, praying for Black, Brown, White, and all the shades because the soul of a human being is not comprised of any color," she wrote. "But prayer alone is not enough. These traumatic attacks are rooted in systemic global tragedies of indifference to terror when it does not affect our own."
mbrachear@tribpub.com
Twitter @TribSeeker
Copyright © 2016, Chicago Tribune
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