WHEN THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD

In 1950 the Firestone Tire company came up with a jingle to convince American car owners to buy their tires. It went like this:

“Wherever wheels are rolling

No matter what the load

The name that’s known is Firestone

Where the rubber meets the road!”

I guess I’d translate that for us to say, Whenever things are hot, or hard, or heavy you’ll need something strong and tough enough to stand the test.

So, here we are. The hard, the heavy the hot are here. It is no longer theoretical. It is here and it promises to get worse. The back room money men and women have taken over. The rich powerful oligarchs, along with the massive corporations have implemented their plans to control the whole world for their own benefit. The government is being gutted. Every single service that benefits the old, the poor, the sick, and the weak is being privatized for profit.

The whole world is being turned upside down. Old alliances are being discarded like used tissues. And all the while the lawmakers wink, applaud, and mumble excuses.

We are all reeling and left wondering how our lives and the lives of our children, families, friends, and communities will be effected. We are carrying deep dread as we see the fabric of our democracy being torn apart. We wonder what will happen to healthcare, income security, cost of living, personal autonomy, women’s rights, safety for non white, and non binary people. We carry this dread, fear, and uncertainty like a heavy weight every day.

I have to be honest in saying that I have avoided writing this article because, quite frankly, I have been so sad and so shocked I have not had any words to say. I’m still not sure that I do. But here is my attempt to help us hold up, hold on and stay together.

I think most of us feel paralyzed, small, helpless and impotent in the face of such darkness. But I would suggest that there are two things we can do.

We can save ourselves and we can save the world.

Really? I can almost hear you say. I know it sounds absurd but here is what I mean.

Beyond the threats we face to security and life the biggest threat we face is the destruction of our own souls. These are the kinds of times that fill people with fear and anger which leads to hate and violence. These are times that cause our unprotected souls to contract into hardness. So the first thing we must protect at all costs is our souls. We must determine to remain compassionate, loving, kind people, even to our perceived enemies.

There is a story in Acts 16 about two of Jesus’ disciples, Paul and Silas. They were in a city that was that was a stronghold in the Roman Empire . In other words, they were in deep enemy territory. There they healed a little girl that was being used by mercenaries as a money-making spectacle. She was being abused and used for profit because an evil spirit inhabited her which made her able to predict the future. So, Paul and Silas healed her. Then they attributed her healing to God. This defiant action threatened the power structures of Rome and Jewish collaborators. They had maintain their positions as the only authority to be obeyed, and the only ones worthy of worship. So they captured these two men and they brutally beat them. After which they threw them into the inner most part of a prison where they were chained to the walls.

If there was ever a reason for them to be filled with hate, with despair, and anger this was it. They had committed no crime except that they had dared an action that flew in the face of empire. With bleeding backs and bruised beaten faces they did not revile their guard. They did not rehearse to each other the incredible wrongs they had suffered. They did something quite counter-intuitive. They sang. Their songs filled the prison and other prisoners heard them. The story gets a little long here so let me summarize by saying God freed them and the other prisoners. The guard was so thrown off his rocker that that he asked them to explain this kind of faith and unstoppable love. In the end he invited Paul and Silas to his house where he bathed their wounds, and fed them.

Sadly all such standing up against the powers does not turn out so well. But what I take away from this story is that these two followers of Jesus did not let evil people make them evil. They chose to sing. They chose to extend mercy and love even to their captor.

Hatred, fear, anger, and revenge will corrupt and kill our souls. We must, under every and all circumstances, choose to keep music in our hearts while we forgive and love even the evil doers. We must save ourselves.

And, we must save our world. Of course none of us has the power to actually save the whole world. But we are given the power to save little pieces of it. Real love includes real action. Running for your local school board or volunteering for an organization that serves the poor are examples of defiance and acts of love that will save little pieces of your world. Writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper, seeing the face of Christ in every homeless person, giving more money than you usually do to causes working for justice and mercy are actions within the reach of us all. These “little” acts can save our little corners of the world.

When Jesus left this earth He commissioned His followers to go into all the earth and make disciples. He wasn’t telling them to go to church or to hold revival meetings. He was sending them into an empire of politics and religion that had tortured and brutally killed him. Their experience would be no different.

The road we are on is dark and promises to get darker. Each of us must decide how we will walk it. I am reminded of this poem I have on my bulletin board.

“This is your day, your life.

Night will come, when you are no more.

But today you are God’s light in the world.

This is the time to shine,

To love, to forgive and ask forgiveness,

To speak for justice, to give yourself

To the mending of the world.

This day

The coming of the night need not frighten you.

But let it keep you awake

While it is day.”

So the rubber has met the road. The testing of what we are made of is here.

Oh Father, Mother God, help us to protect our hearts and minds from becoming like those whose actions and words are full of hate and self-promotion. Give us your heart to love and forgive and sing in all circumstances. And show each one of us our part to play, our corner of the world to save.

Amen