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I have not actually asked a question, let alone a specific question. But my actions, in a way, or the way I have vented about what I have experienced and my frustrations have asked the “wrong” question. From the way I have shared my frustrations it has been received that I am placing blame and therefore the response has repeatedly been defense for the “opposing side”. As I think about it, it makes sense of the responses I have received because the wrong question begets the wrong answer. Instead of placing blame, my heart’s question has been…
Without placing blame or convicting the oppressor, but also not condemning the oppressed for having the experience and wounds thereafter, how does one console the oppressed?
Time after time I have shared my experiences with Christians wanting them to help me figure out what to do with my emotions and wounds. Every response I have received has been to rationalize and sweep the emotions and hurt under a rug as if they are not there. To illustrate how that feels…
A friend and I are walking to the grocery store. A person comes out of the bush and slices me across my forearm forcing me to let go of my wallet that I had in my hand. As the person runs away, my friend starts to explain “you are ok. They just wanted to steal your wallet. It’s not personal. They have no grudge against you!”
Between the shock of the experience and the shock of my friend’s response, all I can think is “I don’t care about why or whether it was personal or not. I’m hurt!!! How do I get to a hospital to get my wound addressed? What medicine do I need to heal?”
In my opinion, the friend is a symbol of the church as it currently stands in America. It spends it’s time saying “don’t be offended by the world and the battle raging around us in the spiritual realm. It’s all because of sin.” And the church proceeds thinking that it’s rationalization is enough to be medicine, but those words don’t ease the pain, heal the wound, or mourn the situation that just violated them.
Jesus doesn’t rationalize our pain as current Christians are doing. Jesus feels the pain with us. Then He requests the power of Spirit, or Sarayu, from the Papa to heal the wound. That power flows from inside Jesus to His hand radiating and funneling the power into our wound. And He stays with us and simply listens as we process what has just happened and mourns the part of us that was wounded and lost from the situation. He allows us to feel the emotions that come from being wounded and mourns the dead skin that now covers the wound. He stays with us until the scab falls off and speaks for the first time to say “I am sorry this happened to you. I can’t change what happened to you, but my Presence is with you. I have given of Myself to heal you and make you new. I love you and will continue to walk with you.”
So, as per the original question, how does one console the oppressed?
You love them through the pain, healing, and mourning process ensuring that healing is complete on the inside and out.
