Sometimes I wonder if God really is involved in the daily facets of our lives. Does He really have a plan for me? Does He really direct our lives in an ongoing way, or does He show up with specific intervention just once in a while? I struggle with this partly because of the time spent in  prayer that seems to be unanswered and disappointments that chiefly seem to come from other Christians. (Of course, if I were in an area of the world where Christians experience regular persecution and even death because of their faith, that would be the source of my questioning, I'm sure.) Today I'm thinking of a friend's unjust treatment by other Christians and subsequent struggle in finding employment and a son's disappointment because of the fickle nature of people paired with a lack of considerate, respectful communication (an email doesn't cut it). Understandably, these situations have a tendency to throw me back to my own bitter pills of not so long ago. I begin to wonder if God really has an end in view with regard to my slight existence and if He is either orchestrating the pitfalls and obstacles, or if He works around things that happen simply because we live in a fallen world. Deep in my soul, I continue to believe that God is able to work at both the macro and the micro levels. However, sometimes, like today, my belief stumbles. So as I began reading the daily office,  confessing sin and praising the Lord, I prayed that God would show me the truth about His intimate involvement in our lives. If God exists in some detached way in relationship with His children, He is still worthy to be praised. But if He is really present and at work in the mundane (and not so mundane) facets of my life, I want to know. So I read through the Psalms and the book of Baruch, and then I came to the epistle reading for today: 
James 5:13-18

13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.

This passage seemed like an answer of sorts to my prayer. Sickness, health, suffering, and joy--these are the things that make up the fabric of our lives, the things we experience on a daily basis. In this passage, James encourages believers to pray about all of these things and is confident that God hears such prayers and answers. So even if prayers do not seem to be answered quickly and disappointments heap one upon another, I will continue to pray, believing that God indeed hears and will answer. 

White Fragility and Freddie Gray

http://abc7.com/news/video-angry-baltimore-mom-beats-son-suspected-of-rioting/684791/

I've been thinking about this story of the angry mother who beat her son after seeing him throw rocks at police during the "riot" in Baltimore spawned by the death of Freddie Gray. Gray died in police custody. This, of course, follows several other black deaths at the hands of police officers in the past year. My question regarding this specific story within the larger Baltimore story has to do with the reaction of the public. Reportedly, Toya Graham saw her son throwing rocks at police after the funeral of Freddie Gray. Her well-documented response was to physically thrash the boy in public, repeatedly grabbing him, smacking him, and dragging him away from the scene. Her momentary vault into celebrity status was met with what appears to be praise and affirmation by the media and the general public. In this report, ABC news, WMAR affiliate, seems to condone the behavior of Graham reporting that she was "dishing up a dose of discipline." People who commented on the story refer to her "good parenting" and even name her "mom of the year."  My purpose here is not to make a value judgment about Toya Graham's actions, but to wonder why in this case her actions receive acclaim, whereas if a video like this were seen in a different context, she might have been arrested for child abuse (at minimum would have had a visit from child protective services). Why this duplicity in public response? There may be several answers to that question, but I thought of two.

When I first saw the images of Graham hitting and dragging (all the while screaming) her son away from the crowd, my response was, "I don't blame her." That scene evoked a visceral response as a mother who has known the passion of protection and the fear of losing a child. So I think I understood her actions, to an extent. I at least could reconcile a loving mother behaving in such a violent manner. An unwelcome memory of slapping an out of control child in the face immediately sprang to mind. So how could I condemn Graham without condemning myself? After all, but for the grace of God, I could have done such a thing. Maybe the collective public approval stems from parents who know the pitfalls and anxieties of raising teenagers.

However, a second possibility nags at my thoughts. I have not seen reaction to Graham's actions from the African American community, so I don't know what that specific demographic thinks about it. I am basing my thoughts purely on the response of the media and a few responses from Facebook. (Incidentally, my Facebook friends reflect almost entirely a white middle class perspective.) What eats at me is the possibility that this woman's actions in this case have met with praise because it makes white people feel better to see a black woman punishing her son (even in such an out-of-control and public manner) for being involved in protest behavior. Robin DiAngelo in, "White Fragility," from the International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, introduces the concept of white fragility being a "state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves." (DiAngelo, Robin. "White Fragility." International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, Vol 3 (3) (2011) pp. 54-70.) Because white people live in a "social environment that protects and insulates them from race-based stress," they live in a world that "builds white expectations for racial comfort while at the same time lowering the ability to tolerate racial stress." This, according to DiAngelo, constitutes a condition of white fragility. I wonder if this inability to deal with the stress of race-induced tension might cause the ironic reaction that we witnessed to this incident. In our intense desire to mitigate the angry reaction of the black community to yet another death at the hands of law enforcement, we not only over-looked, but actually condoned and hailed the beating she gave her son. Could it be that people applaud whatever would serve to dispel violence toward the police and restore equilibrium to the white community?