December 2025 Reflection from the Bishop - "Them"

My days pass away like a shadow, and I wither like the grass.

But you, O Lord, endure forever, and your name from age to age.

You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to have mercy upon Jerusalem; 

indeed, the appointed time has come.

For your servants love the city’s very rubble, and are moved to pity even for its dust.

You will look with favor on the prayer of the homeless; you will not despise their plea.

Let this be written for a future generation, so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord.

—Psalm 102.11-14, 17-18 (Evangelical Lutheran Worship)—

There’s a truth known by those of us who’ve grown up in the age of the internet: “Don’t read the comments.” The many benefits provided to us by the heightened connectivity of modern living come with the same problems shared by every age humanity has ever known: what exists can be used for sinful purposes, and likely will be as quickly as we can imagine. 

I must admit, however, that in recent months I’ve been heartbroken by the vitriol and certainty with which we so casually insult, slander and do violence against fellow human beings, all of whom we supposedly believe are created in the image of God. Our daily news has offered terrifying example after terrifying example of how we have dehumanized ourselves and how we view the world around us. Actions that would have been the cause of censure and discipline in other times get magnified and amplified with full-throated support and applause. We do violence to one another, sometimes literally, and as often as not there will be someone cheering in the background and asking for more.

I’ve been guilty of doomscrolling time and time again over the years: paging through social media apps and venturing recklessly into comment sections where angels fear to tread. We are really good at talking about “them,” especially in our online neighborhoods. “They” are the reason the world is falling apart. “They” obviously hate this thing that I love, and as a result “they” can’t be trusted with anything. On and on and on, post after post, until it’s hard to believe that “they” are even human, much less fellow children of God.

The season of Advent is upon us, a time of hope for what is yet to come, a time to look to God for deliverance — even a deliverance from the mess we’ve made of this world. The scandal of the gospel, even in this gloomy Advent of 2025, is that God’s deliverance isn’t just for us and those who agree with us. God’s crazy, foolish intent was to become incarnate in flesh, blood, and bone for “THEM” every bit as much as for you and me. The steadfast, self-emptying love of God is known by the depths to which it will go to obtain that which it desires, even if the righteous anger of God may recoil and rage at the violence done by we who are the intended recipients of that eternal, all-consuming, overwhelming love. 

We who stand doomscrolling among the rubble and dust of the world entrusted to us raise our voices in supplication: “Even so, Lord Jesus, quickly come!” We who struggle between outrage, exhaustion, and cynicism beg: “Even so, Lord Jesus, quickly come!” We who cannot imagine how to cross the divide between us and “them” implore you, faithful God: “Even so, Lord Jesus, quickly come!” We who are at the same time “them” to someone else pray: “Even so, Lord Jesus, quickly come!”

In Advent hope,
Bishop Scott

Questions to Ponder

1. Think of a “them” with whom you’ve vehemently disagreed. Can you see them through the eyes of God’s love? If so, what happens? If not, can you entrust them to God’s love anyway?
2. Remember a time when something you loved failed or came to an end. Have you come to an understanding of your part in that failure or ending? Have you forgiven yourself? Are you working on forgiving “them” also?

Prayer
Lord God, while our days vanish like shadows and our lives wear out like a garment, you are eternal. Although our earthly lives come to an end, help us to live in Christ’s endless life and at length attain our home, the heavenly Jerusalem, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.
Amen.