CONNECTIONS

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

 

Life began for me in Montgomery, Alabama, where my father was stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base. As a privileged white child, I didn’t know anything about the nineteenth century traders who delivered slaves down the Alabama River to labor in the surrounding cotton fields. Growing up, I didn’t hear much about black World War II veterans working to regain their civil rights in the South. I never heard of a black girl named Rosa Parks, arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. Nor did I know until much later about a young pastor, Martin Luther King Jr, who would be assassinated for leading the civil rights movement. The year of my birth was 1947, eighty-two years after the American Civil War tore our nation in two. I was only three years old when my father was transferred to Washington D.C.

 

I have since thought of the significance of my birthplace in terms of racial equality in our country. But nothing made me feel quite so close to the reality of that place until tonight. Oprah Winfrey hosted a story on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” mentioning the name of a black man named Wes Johnson, who was lynched in the cotton fields outside Montgomery, after being accused of—but not tried for—assaulting a white woman. The year was 1937, a mere ten years before I was born. I was appalled. I was sickened. I was incensed. This man and thousands of other black men, women and even children were lynched seventy-two years after slavery supposedly ended and our nation agreed to move forward as one race: human. That was awfully close to the time I came into this world.

 

Winfrey’s article featured the National Memorial for Peace and Justice being built in the city of my birth, documenting 805 counties where some of these lynchings took place. Criminal defense attorney Bryan Stevenson is spearheading the Memorial, calling attention to a part of history that many would like to forget. But like the Holocaust, we must not forget, lest we allow these atrocities to happen again.

 

God of the Innocent, raise our consciousness to remember those who have lost their lives just for being who they are. Amen

 

Watch the segment at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inside-the-memorial-to-victims-of-lynching-60-minutes-oprah-winfrey/

 

Meg Blaine Corrigan is the author of three books: Then I Am Strong: Moving From My Mother’s Daughter to God’s Child; Perils of a Polynesian Percussionist; and Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions for the Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of New Mexico and has worked with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and war veterans.  Her books may be purchased through her website, www.MegCorrigan.com or from www.amazon.com .

BROKENNESS AS BEGINNING

 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But (Thomas) said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in His side, I will not believe.” John 20:25

 

Why did the risen Christ appeared to the disciples with wound marks on His hands and side? The rest of Him certainly did not bear any marks of the horrific death He had endured. The Bible seems to paint a picture of Jesus resurrected in perfect health, wearing clean clothing and even desiring something to eat—not surprising after His violent death! Even outside the tomb on Easter morning, when the women mistook Him for the gardener, Christ looked for all the world like He had just risen from a good night’s rest. When He suddenly appeared in the Upper Room, where the eleven were hiding, He first said, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). Then He showed them His hands and His side, seemingly as proof not only that He had been raised from the dead, but that that He had indeed been cruelly executed as His beloved followers watch.

 

History has made much of poor Thomas’s reaction when the others told him of Jesus’s appearance in his absence. “I am not buying any of this nonsense,” Thomas said (my translation), “unless I can actually see the nail holes in His hands and the gash in His side.”

 

Perhaps Jesus shows His wounds to help us see that brokenness can be a starting point. The terror I experienced following a sexual violence attack was shameful to me at the time. The assault I endured was met with skepticism and even blaming by more than one law enforcement officer, an insensitive emergency room doctor, and yes, family members who could not “hear” what I was trying to tell them. Memory of trauma is not linear, like studying for an important exam and recalling the answers just when you need them. Trauma survivors are revisited by random memories that can wreak havoc with a perfectly normal day. Seeing Jesus as our “wounded healer” is immensely comforting. Christ’s wounds make the promise of His divine peace and healing all the more believable.

 

Lord, come to us now and share our pain so we may heal. Amen

 

Meg Blaine Corrigan is the author of three books: Then I Am Strong: Moving From My Mother’s Daughter to God’s Child; Perils of a Polynesian Percussionist; and Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions for the Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of New Mexico and has worked with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and war veterans.  Her books may be purchased through her website, www.MegCorrigan.com or from www.amazon.com .

LET GO OF THE ROPE

He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-11

 

I have never personally engaged in a game of tug-o-war, but I am certainly familiar with the struggles I get into with situations and people I try to control. I can feel the tension in the muscles of my neck. My fists clench and my brow furls. The headaches start on the right side of my skull, moving across the back of my neck until I feel as if I have a live grenade where my head used to be. When I am fully engulfed in attempting to “solve” someone else’s problem—a problem that is most likely none of my business—I lose all sense of reason and I do not sleep well at night. This state of affairs is exhausting, and I would like to think, in my seventh decade of life on this earth, that I have put this foolishness away.

 

Thanks be to God, what I just described happens far less frequently in my life than it did when I was younger. It is no accident that I named my memoir Then I Am Strong, Paul’s prophetic words from 2 Corinthians 12. It is such a simple action, to choose not to waste my energy in such a futile practice as “control.” When I allow God to step in—when I realize that I am powerless over most of the stuff I worry about—I then find that I am free to enjoy my life, and appreciate my own talents and those of others. I have far more energy to “go about being the hands and feet of Christ,” to paraphrase Teresa of Avila. And most of all, the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual pain in my life gives way to “the peace that passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

 

Are you struggling today? Let go of the rope, and let God give you what you have been laboring to receive from Him.

 

God, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change…. Amen

Meg Blaine Corrigan is the author of three books: Then I Am Strong: Moving From My Mother’s Daughter to God’s Child; Perils of a Polynesian Percussionist; and Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions for the Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of New Mexico and has worked with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and war veterans.  Her books may be purchased through her website, www.MegCorrigan.com or from www.amazon.com .

 

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Then Jesus said to (them) who had believed in him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:31-32

 

I do not want to write about ugly things. I want to write about the love of God and the peace of Christ. But we keep getting bombarded with tragedy, and as practicing Christians, it’s important to examine our secular perspective. Last week, a man entered the offices of the Annapolis, Maryland, Gazette newspaper with a shotgun and smoke grenades and killed five employees. He intended to kill many more but was stopped by law enforcement. They said the man once unsuccessfully sued the paper and must have somehow felt his attack was justified. And then, the same rhetoric began again: the nation’s “leader” said he stood in solidarity with the Gazette and would stop at nothing to ensure our nation’s safety; the debate began again about the Second Amendment and whether the problem was guns or mental health or both or neither; the period of “watchful news reading” began, but can be expected to fade with very little time, just as it has each time our nation has faced gun violence.

 

But this time the debate is really about the value some place on the First Amendment and others place on the Second Amendment. The Washington Post has coined a “new” slogan within the last two years: “Democracy Dies In Darkness.” Some of that “darkness” was on vivid display at the Annapolis Gazette, when five innocent people, just doing their job on an ordinary day, fell prey to the madness that has become The Gun Safety Debate. More darkness: our nation’s “leader” has called the press “the enemy of the people.”

 

In British government, the “three estates” were the king, the clergy and the commoners. The United States was founded to separate church and state, and the term “fourth estate” is sometimes used to place the press alongside the three branches of government: legislative, executive and judicial. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.” Christians are to be peacemakers. Their role in gun safety matters.

 

Come, Lord Jesus, give us tools and passion to bring about peace. Amen

 

Meg Blaine Corrigan is the author of three books: Then I Am Strong: Moving From My Mother’s Daughter to God’s Child; Perils of a Polynesian Percussionist; and Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions for the Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of New Mexico and has worked with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and war veterans.  Her books may be purchased through her website, www.MegCorrigan.com or from www.amazon.com .

LAYERS OF TRAUMA

(Jesus) said to them, “Let the little children come to Me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Mark 10:14

 

My home state of Minnesota recently began receiving immigrant children separated from their parents upon crossing the southern border of the United States. Several weeks prior, the man posing as the president of our country announced a “zero tolerance” policy on illegal border crossings, setting in motion prosecutions of all persons crossing the border, regardless of their status or requests for asylum. In just seven weeks, over 2300 children—including infants–were separated from their parents and sent to detention facilities around the country. The international outcry was deafening. Then, after blaming the Democrats for not taking action to change a policy that he himself had created and could undo, our illustrious leader backtracked and signed an executive order ending the separations. A United States District Court Judge then issued a subsequent nationwide injunction to reunite already separated families within a specified amount of time, but it was noted that the government “has no system in place to keep track of, provide effective communication with, and promptly produce” the separated migrant children.

 

Sarah Brennes, director of the refugee and immigrant program at the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, said these children have already suffered “layers of trauma,” even before being separated from their parents. The families made the dangerous journey from their homes in Central America because of profound violence and unrest in their home towns. A chance at a new life in the United States was seemingly worth the risk. These children are scared. “We can’t treat children as little adults. They aren’t little adults,” said Alison Griffin, an attorney representing immigrant children.

 

This is not the way of Christ. Jesus valued children, all children. In fact, He said children, in their innocence and wonder are closer to what God wants us all to be than adults. The immigration crisis in our world will not end as long as there are wars and greed and sin—which is to say until Christ Himself returns. Let us use our minds, hearts, spirits and votes to respond to this situation. There but for the grace of God might go all of us.

 

Saving Lord, free us from intolerance and oppression. Make us worthy of Your Kingdom. Amen

 

Meg Blaine Corrigan is the author of three books: Then I Am Strong: Moving From My Mother’s Daughter to God’s Child; Perils of a Polynesian Percussionist; and Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions for the Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of New Mexico and has worked with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and war veterans.  Her books may be purchased through her website, www.MegCorrigan.com or from www.amazon.com .