An Accidental Oppressor….

After generations of captivity in a foreign land the Hebrews were set free from their oppressors: Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

In that freeing there was a slaying – the horse and riders thrown into the sea (Exodus 15:21).

God’s punishment meted out to the guilty and those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There’s the Good News and the Not So Good News:  oppressors will be given their come-upance and innocents will inevitably get caught in the crossfire.

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Good-news and not-so-good-news

God has promised to set the oppressed free and I am reminded that I must stand beside them in whatever capacity I can.

I am called to defend the underprivileged in my daily life,

to turn my ordinary gifts of

garden planting, child rearing, cake icing, rosary praying, jig dancing and pop-over turning,

into skills for peer mentoring, ministering to the grief-stricken, praying for the forgotten, understanding the unhinged, loving the unlovable, walking beside those who are the same kind of different as me (Ron Hall).

I do this during my daily walk with those around me and I pat myself on my back relieved that I live in a place where freedom reigns, the crushed are defended, the disadvantaged heard, the downtrodden lifted up…

Grateful that I don’t have to struggle with my moral code, jeopardize my ethics, second guess my values, venture far from my comfort zone and cause a bump in my fair weather days.

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Venture far from my comfort zone

Or is it that simple?

Do I perpetuate the slave labour in Guatemala when I buy those lovely, flowing dresses from Shein?

Do I support the factory overseers in South America who chain young children to the carpet looms because their fingers can tie exquisitely tiny knots in the silk threads woven into the beautiful rug I bought from a warehouse in Dallas?

Do I buy into Asian women’s second-class citizenship when I presume my male students are better at math and science then their female counterparts?

Do I turn a blind eye to the abject poverty in third world countries when I buy cheap canvas shoes, made in a sweat shop in Bangladesh, from Primark in London?

Am I an Accidental Oppressor because I am not a mindful consumer or a sensitive teacher?

Will I be caught up in God’s retribution, either because I was guilty as charged or in the wrong place at the wrong time, when He swoops in to set His oppressed free?

It would behoove me to be more in touch with my surroundings and those I spend my time with,

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Be more in touch with my surroundings

To be acutely aware that I could wear the label Oppressor were it not for the grace of your mercy, sweet Lord.

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