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July/August 2006 |
From the Bishop:
Whatever happened to ET?
Recently, I watched the movie "Signs" on TV. The story surrounds a pastor who has lost his faith (Mel Gibson), but who leads his family to overcome the invasion of aliens who are using crop circles as their navigation tool to attack Earth. The movie is about his struggles with faith after the death of his wife, and it deals with the question that he asks, "Is anything really just a coincidence?" Of course in the movie the hero helps to save his family, to defeat the aliens, and to rediscover his faith.
As I watched the movie again, I wondered whatever happened to ET? Remember that quaint and lovely movie in which ET (the Extra Terrestrial) is a kindly and funny creature who is welcomed by children, chased by adults and who inspires trust and hope? During the last couple of decades all of our movies about aliens have focused upon fear, danger and the need to fight off these invaders who are coming to attack us. I wonder which came first: the fear in our society about aliens, foreigners, anyone who is different - or the movies and media about such fears? Did the media create our fear, or does the media simply reflect our fear? Either way, it seems like a long time since anyone expected aliens to be like ET.
Our society is engaged in a huge debate over the issue of immigration. Too much of this debate plays upon our fears of anyone who is different, speaks a different language, comes from a different country, and who might be a threat to our typical way of life. Somehow in the midst of this fear about aliens, we have forgotten that the United States is a nation of immigrants, and all of us, with the exception of Native Americans who have been here for centuries, are relative newcomers to this land. My own family traces our roots back ten generations to my ancestor who came from Germany, but even such a time period of relatively recent in the long-run of history.
How is it that all of us who are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants are now so reluctant to treat new immigrants with hospitality and dignity? Of course we must protect our borders and enforce our laws, but the FEAR underneath the current debate is not worthy of our American spirit. If we lose our sense of being as a country which welcomes new immigrants, we will have lost part of the core values of our nation.
For those of us in the faith communities, the issue is even more crucial. The biblical mandate for hospitality is central to our faith. The Israelites were told that they were to love and not mistreat the foreigner, the wayfarer, the alien, because they too were once in that situation in Egypt (Exodus 22:21, Leviticus 19:33-34, Deuteronomy 10:19). In the New Testament, Gentiles are welcomed into the new Christian faith and told, "Once you were no people, but now you are God's people" (1 Peter 2:10). The whole concept of biblical hospitality is based upon treating others not as strangers but as potential friends.
In our churches today, we can too easily fall into the trap of being fearful of the new residents in our communities, leery of anyone who is different and even unwelcoming of newcomers who walk into our churches on Sunday morning. So we face a choice. We can be shaped by the media and the current culture of fear of aliens, or we can be shaped by the biblical call to welcome strangers into our midst, to treat them as guests and to relate to them as children of God.
Bishop Michael J. Coyner
Making a difference in Indiana
… and around the world.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008