What a strange week it has been.
I returned home from our Easter service to find that while we were celebrating Christ’s victory over death, the president was threatening war crimes on the coming Tuesday, and telling Iran to “Open the F*****’ Strait, you crazy b*******, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH!”
Then come Tuesday morning, he followed up his threats by claiming “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
My childhood was colored gray by the shadow of the Cold War. The history of the world I was taught was an us-vs-them history, with the USA and its allies pitted against the USSR and its allies. There was a delicate balance of powers that had to be maintained in order to prevent nuclear war — and if nuclear war began, it meant nuclear annihilation of all.
Still, with regularity we drilled for such apparent eventualities in school with the same regularity as we did fire drills. A particular siren would sound, and we would funnel into the portions of the school that were designated as “bomb shelters” or “shelter locations.” There, we would be instructed to sit, lean towards the wall, and hold our largest textbook over our head and neck to protect against debris.
We likewise underwent drills for the even more unfortunate possibility that we would not have time to get to the shelter locations. In these instances, we were to take shelter under our desks, still with textbooks over our heads and necks.
I don’t know what you imagined when you heard or read the president’s threats, but I suspect you can figure out now what I imagined.
I don’t know where the nearest bomb shelter is. I no longer have a social studies textbook. But I also know that these things were always illusions of security — something to do when there was really nothing that could be done.
As I write on Wednesday, there’s a two-week ceasefire in place. Based on his history, I have my doubts about Netanyahu honoring his side of that agreement, and I worry about what that might mean for the rest of us. But our president is once again spinning all of this to attempt to save face and make himself look like the world’s best dealmaker. It’s all an illusion, just like the security those textbooks or desks might have offered against a nuclear bomb. The “deal” on the table is a situation worse off for the USA and the world that the situation that preceded the president bombing Iran in the first place. People have died — children have died! — but what matters to this president and administration is whether they can again bamboozle the American people by conjuring up the right illusion.
Here’s the thing though: we all seek security through illusion. We all conjure illusions around ourselves to deceive ourselves or others into thinking certain things about us…… certain things that we believe put us in a more favorable or secure or powerful position. Compared to nuclear war, they may seem minuscule or even petty. But they can be dangerous and damaging in their own way.
In what illusions do you seek security? If they come to mind right away, maybe God has been working to help you see them and find a way through they to truth and life. If they don’t, perhaps consider praying on the question and ask God to accompany you towards discovery.
God knows I have work to do. But remember: we’re all in this together.
Pastor Michael
Edited to add: Predictably, Netanyahu has already violated the ceasefire and the US administration is trying to protect him to the detriment of any peace agreement. Perhaps this only underscores the urgency of addressing our own illusions of security as we are propelled further into a dangerous and unpredictable future.