I can also feel the excitement, the hope, from others.
As I have transversed through Nashville these past few weeks, I have noticed a lot of flags. This may be due to the fact that our ice hockey team, the Predators, were in the Stanley Cup recently and Nashville's annual Pride Festival was last weekend.
As I walk into coffee shops, workspaces, and businesses there are banners adorning walls and the sides of buildings. As I scroll through my feeds I notice the pride emoticon, new profile photo layouts, and even a rainbow reaction (I have yet to find out how to use).
In my particular place in life, I find it fascinating that people are willing to wave flags in the middle of the storm.... whether that be a catfish thrown in the middle of the Penguins ice arena or a rainbow flag hung on the outside of a place of business who has everything to lose.
Don't get me wrong, I am an 8 on the Enneagram (find out what you are here). Basically, that means I am a natural "challenger" of the norm; always wanting to enter into the fight and release the firestorm. I am the rare breed that feels compelled to poke the bear because it is "the right thing to do." I feel strong. I feel I can fight. I feel compelled.
A lot of the support that is being shown lately is to combat the decade-long (and in some cases centuries-long) oppression and shame that many people have told by society in direct and indirect ways that they embody. On a small scale it means just not ranking as important: being the underdogs. On a large scale, it means being remembered only for your ancestor's atrocities or being systematically disenfranchised and even abused.
In one of the most surprising and enlightening exchanges in Genesis is the story of Hagar. The story is a kind of flag, waving as a symbol, what we are about.
Sarai is the wife of Abram when God comes and promises him as many children and grandchildren as the stars in the sky. Even though God promises that this would happen through Sarai, Sarai is nervous. So she gives her servant, Hagar, to be Abram's wife too in order to fulfill God's promise of descendants.
But Sarai comes to hate Hagar; even though the situation is the result of her own inability to believe God. She treats Hagar so badly that Hagar decides to runs away. As Hagar sits by a well, God comes to her and asks her where she has come from and where she is going. Then, God tells her that she will give birth to a son named Ishmael and that the blessing of descendants will also be hers*.
Then something amazing happens. The story says, "So she named the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are El-roi'; for she said, 'Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?'" El-roi means, "The God who sees me."
You can't miss the context here. For them, "naming" only happened when you had power over someone. It is the position of influence.
We learn something from this story. It is a formative story for us.
Those who are oppressed are not only seen by God, but have the power to name God. Our sacred stories suggest that if anyone has power over God... it is the oppressed.
Now back to pride.
The Spirit of God compels Christians to go to the oppressed like God did in the story of Hagar. We must go to the oppressed, the underdog, those who have a flag to wave... and submit to being named by them.
Christians don't have a banner, we have a presence. We have a love, a blessing, a baby to give.
Humans get so caught up in trying to put people in their place. From political dualism to generational bias to sexual orientation, humans just love to put people in a box. It is natural, but it is not okay.
When Christ's body shows up, loves, and blesses... the oppressed are freed to name God "El-roi."
Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about positions, doctrines, walls, or laws.
In my heart, I feel a flag being raised up. It is not the German flag from 2014, it is not the rainbow flag from 2015, and it is not the Preds flag from 2017, but you could say in encompasses all of those flags. It is a flag for the oppressed that waves in every Christians heart, enlivened by the Spirit of God.
That hidden waving flag rises up when others face injustice and oppression. It comes to those who are waving flags and it stands next to them.
If you feel this, it is God speaking and showing up in your life.
If you want to join God and God's church, becoming breeze that blows the waving flag of the oppressed, PM me https://www.facebook.com/emilyjoannhaynes
*The whole story can be found in Genesis 16. I like the New Revised Standard Version.
