The OK Adventures of Peppersloth and Annie

I don’t usually write blogs this close together, but this has been on my heart and mind. The world is very angry right now. Maybe it is always this angry, and I am just too sheltered to know the difference. Or, perhaps the right people are making the anger more prevalent for those of us too sheltered to notice. I am not sure. But, I do know that to do nothing is no longer ok.

                I do not like drama. I like theater, but if you bring drama into my drama, we are going to have a problem. I also do not like conflict. I do not like fighting. I will rise to a challenge if you bring it to me, but I won’t like it. But the fighting and conflict that I am seeing right now is too much for me to not respond in some way. I know people like to use social media to post their opinions. They say things and post things that would never be said in person. But how am I any better by staying silent?

                I have seen a lot of blame being passed around. Everything is the fault of a particular race. Everything is the fault of a particular group of people. Everything is the fault of a particular president. Everything is the fault of Christians. Everything is the fault of…XYZ. The truth? I don’t know. Maybe all are true. Maybe none are true. Maybe it’s split into thirds and called equal. What I do know is that pointing fingers isn’t helpful. And, in the end, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. It is now the responsibility of everyone to fix it. And I cannot tell you exactly what is going to fix it. I’m just a simple Annie who doesn’t even know how OK she is most of the time. But I know what I am going to do.

                I’m sorry. I am sorry to everyone angry at Christians right now. I am sorry to everyone who thinks Christians are nothing more than hypocrites. I am sorry to everyone who has been hurt by a Christian, or a church. I do not know everyone’s story, and I do not know who it was who gave you the idea that all Christians are the same. Was it me? Most likely. I am honestly not a very good Christian most of the time. I get a lot of things wrong. I say and do all of the wrong things. You are right when you say that we are called to live differently, and we do our name a disservice when we don’t do this. We are called to live out the love we have been freely given. We are called to love the oppressed. Not just love, but to ACTIVELY love! That means to do as much as we are able. Whether it’s praying, marching, giving, or writing…whatever it is. We are called to more. We are not called to be passive. We are called to be active.

                Christians are not perfect. But we are OK. Tell me how I can make us more OK.