Jesus, Stephen Lewis, and Haiti

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ ‘Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come’” (Josh. 5: 13-14).

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Prov. 27: 17).

This Friday evening Stephen Lewis is speaking on campus, and his coming has generated a mixed reaction in the Redeemer community. Someone stopped me in the hall last week and asked, “why did we invite an atheist to speak on campus?”

I do not know the shape of Mr. Lewis’ religious convictions, though I do know that in the past he has been associated with causes that many Christians reject.

But I have heard Mr. Lewis speak twice before, and I’m thankful that he is now speaking on our campus.

Here’s why: the brokenness of this world is far greater and deeper and more complex than any of us can understand. If you’ve watched even five minutes of the news from Haiti in the past week, you know what I’m talking about. So often I’m tempted to simply hide away in my tidy Redeemer bubble where I can pretend that a high stress life is one in which I have too much school work to do in too little time.

We Christians are called to “seek first the kingdom,” and kingdom-seeking requires us to abandon our bubbles, immerse ourselves in the brokenness of this world and live as instruments of God’s grace within this immense breakage in any way that we can. We are called to be a body contagious with shalom, God’s great healing grace and peace.

And that impossible calling leads to this simple prayer: “Lord, you call us to be bearers of your goodness in a thoroughly messed-up world, giving us a task far too great for us to carry out and even understand, but in your strength we joyfully take it on. Open our eyes to see whom we might partner with in seeking first your kingdom.” The news from Haiti makes crystal clear just how important such partnerships are.

Globally, I’m convinced that the answer to this prayer also includes Stephen Lewis. His work and experience as the United Nations special envoy for AIDS/HIV in Africa have grown him to be “iron” that the Lord uses to sharpen our “iron” as Christians seeking mercy and justice. And I’m convinced that the panel that will dialogue with him on Friday evening will also be the Lord’s iron for him, sharpening him.

Historically we Christians have too easily fallen into “us vs. them” traps, just as an anxious Joshua did as he was about to lead his troops into Canaan. The response of the angel that appeared to him (notice how powerful that “neither” is!) makes clear that it’s never a simple matter of informing the Lord that he must be on our side. God’s kingdom is always far greater than we can grasp or imagine, and it’s not our job to declare whom the Lord must accept or reject. It’s our job to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6: 8).

When Stephen Lewis was born his Jewish parents named him “Sholem,” a variant of the Hebrew shalom. I pray that his visit will help us to live out his birth name, and thereby challenge us to embody the Truth that has set us free.