“Have you been with me all this time and still you do not know me?” (John 14:9). The words of Jesus surely stung in the ears of Philip as Jesus directed them to him. As Jesus spoke of impending suffering and separation, Philip misunderstood and instead demanded of Jesus, “Show us the Father and we will be satisfied” (John 14:8). In the face of violence, death, tragedy, suffering, we often misunderstand Jesus and who he calls us to be and what he calls us to do.

In the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Paris, there have been calls by politicians and people of this country to turn away refugees fleeing the crisis in Syria. People are afraid and people are grieving and in that state, the call to turn away refugees can make sense. In 1969 Elisabeth Kubler-Ross wrote a book On Death and Dying, in which she describes 5 stages of grief–Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. The stages describe individual grief in the face of loss, but certainly apply to the experience of communal loss and grief in the face of tragedy. As we continue to process what happened in Paris (and in other parts of the world) our grief reactions will vary and they may not always reflect our faith values. This is to be expected.

But if you are a Christian, you are called to the hard work of transcending the sometimes wrenching emotions of loss.

• As Christians, we affirm what 1 John 4: 7-21 proclaims: God is Love…and that “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”
• As Christians, we are called beyond self preservation…”to fear not those who can kill the body, but those who can kill both body and soul.” Matthew 10:28
• As Christians, whose roots are in the Hebrew Scriptures, we know that we are to be concerned for the orphan, the widow and the alien resident in our midst. The words of the Prophet Isaiah ring in our ears:

“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house.”  Isaiah 58

• As Christians, we are called to remember the Exodus:  “You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 23:9
• As Christians, we hear the words of Jesus: “When you did this to the least of these, you did it unto me.” Matthew 25: 31-46
• As Christians, we heed the warning of a reversal of fortunes for those who have little and those who have much. Luke 16: 19-31
• As Christians we are called to show hospitality to anyone and everyone: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13: 1-3

I usually don’t like to pull texts out of context to make some kind of point, but I share these with you here because they keep rolling around in my head and my heart as I hear fellow Christians calling for a denial of entry of Syrian refugees into the United States. (I have also read lots of, “let’s take care of our homeless vets first”…by all means, I hope that the people writing that are fully engaged in their community, giving of their own time, talent and resources to bring aid to the homeless (vets and otherwise).

We are afraid….I get that. But our faith calls us to rise above and transcend our fears. If you stop by our church during the week, you will find the outside doors locked and a keypad entry on the backdoor. We house a preschool and because of that (and other reasons) we have locked the doors for added security and to monitor who comes in and out of the building…BUT, even though the doors are locked, we still answer when someone knocks.

If we stop answering the knocks at the door, then fear (and terrorism) wins for in that moment we stop being church…we stop being Christian.