"Whatever It Takes"
Updated: Jan 20
Brooklyn Bridges, Post 2
Thirty years ago today, my mother passed away suddenly in a car accident. As the youngest of her five children, I was her 'favorite" or so it seemed to me. I was away at college already when she died, but we were still close. It has been said that you are never truly alone until your mother dies, and part of me got exiled on a desert island when she left. On her tombstone is written, "She smiled on us with love out of a pure heart" (I Timothy 1:5). Though she was not famous in any earthly sense, the stories of people who felt loved by her have been endless. We all feel the ache even now.

With the inaugeration happening tomorrow, I can't help but wonder what she would say. She was the anti-thesis of a politician and certainly the exact opposite of the one being inaugerated tomorrow. Position, reputation, power, money, even earthly kingdoms like America itself -- they meant little to her. I don't recall her ever having a political opinion.
Ever since election night in November I have been thinking about writing something, but I can't seem to come up with the words. Anything I can think to say sounds petty and partisan, yet I can't quite stay silent. I am haunted by the words of MLK Jr. who said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Memories of mom today have given me the words I need. It's not really words at all -- just a tear. I just want to name the pain that many in my immigrant community feel. When mom was in the presence of conflict and pain, she got more quiet. She would look intently with a painful but warm expression. Sometimes she would shed a little tear. Not sobs born out of performative emotion, but a little bit of her heart would leak out. That's the way I want to be.
There is another good soul who died about 30 years ago. Rich Mullens, who penned the words, "if I weep let it be as a man who is longing for his home." That is how I want to weep today, as a man who doesn't feel at home in this country or any country. I weep because of the politicization of the American church. I weep for my immigrant friends.
You can listen to the whole Rich Mullens song here. It reminds us that there is more to see than what we usually look at. There is a greater meaning to things than what we usually think. It describes so well what I am trying to learn and write about in this "Brooklyn Bridges"series, that there is a better way. I pray that our country and more specifically the faith community across this land will catch a vision for a better way than the political power they crave.
There is another song that is going through my head these days as well. It is from the 70's, Whatever It Takes. It reminded me that what I really want is for the world to be made right and to be at peace, this starts with laying it all down. Dr. King laid it all down. I am not like him, but I want to be just as resolute in my willingness to give it all in response to the voice that calls me. In Him we find all we need.
There's a voice calling me from an old rugged tree
And it whispers, "Draw closer to Me
Leave your world far behind
There are new heights to climb
And a new life in Me you will find"
For whatever it takes to draw closer to You, Lord
That's what I'll be willing to do
And whatever it takes to be more like You
That's what I'll be willing to do
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