Bear Witness

How do we protect those we love from those who question their very worth, their humanity, their right to exist? How do we protect ourselves from that constant batt-le?

Bears are pretty powerful all by themselves, but sometimes armor is called for. Bears have claws and poundage and teeth and jaws. But these are bears I found inside music–and they work differently. In the Bible, Paul talks about putting on the armor of God–and describes breastplates of righteousness, helmets of salvation, sword of the spirit, etc. Far be it from me to edit SAINT Paul– known for his perfect wisdom about what to do with women in the church, about singleness, about sexuality– but I’m going to anyway.

The bears I had didn’t defend me by attacking others; they defended me by empowering me and equipping me with better armor, better defensive structures.

They gave me a Helmet of Empathy– a way to see others struggling to see me, a way of understanding where they were coming from so that I could see them as worthy of love too; frankly, a helmet of Salvation further divides us into “saved” and “unsaved,” worthy and unworthy. Empathy makes us all worthy of being saved, protected, understood.

A Sword of Truth in Love–not just from a 2000 year old book, but from modern science and psychology and communication theories and yes, a Bible that has Jesus caring about us, about all of us, and loving us, and asking other Christians to love us too. Our love for people compels us to use Truth to free others. We cannot use Truth as a bludgeon without Love being part of it. Especially when I believe that LOVE IS TRUTH.

The Bears gave me a Breastplate of Joy to guard my heart and my inner organs. On this breastplate of joy I’ve put sheet music–but it can be art, theatre, nature, your grandchildren–anything that brings us joy. We have to build up that breastplate of joy to repel the arrows meant to take away that joy. The more joy, the fewer arrows we will feel.

The Belt of Boundaries. What armor would be complete with some boundaries? Armor IS a boundary of sorts, isn’t it? We have to protect our peace through boundaries, and this goes for when we are defending ourselves or others, as we need these boundaries to not absorb every problem, every attack, happening to everyone, everywhere. The bears just can’t fight it all. they needed me to build boundaries for myself too—to build armor. We have to have something in place so that all of our resources don’t just get used up by the constant accusations and criticisms, but also because of the constant need from others who haven’t built their armor yet, or need to repair theirs.

Gauntlets of Encouragement–to protect the arms that DO something: that wield the truth, build the armor, hug and hold those who are grieving and scared, brace the walls, carry the water, bear the burdens. Encouraging each other builds that armor too.

Shoes of Peace and Progress. We have to move forward in peace but we also have to stand our ground in the Progress we make. We can’t back up, give in to demands to strip people of rights they have gained, or take away others’ worthiness for the sake of Peace. I can’t march backwards across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I can’t march backwards up Christopher Street and back into the Stonewall Inn. We have to move forward, not backwards, for Peace.

This isn’t a complete list, of course. It never is. It’s not a good list for purists of a wildly edited book that neither Jesus had nor Paul nor anyone in the Bible had. But these thoughts were enough to equip me over that year and a half before I took on the church and denomination, …. and in some sense failed.

My soul survived though. My joy survived. My positivity survived. My voice survived. My FAITH survived. That’s the point of the armor. Not that we always win, but that we survive. Music helped me survive and fought battles for me and inside me.

Look at how the bear wears music on his breastplate and also walks across music on the floor. Flames are reflected in his armor, but he approaches them anyway. Those behind him are protected by his armor and his presence until they can build armor of their own. That’s how I felt every Sunday I got to sing the word “bear” in a hymn–it brought me secret joy, and my armor was building.

“My burden gladly bearing,” is a call to bear each others’ burdens too–not just an observance that Christ “beared” our burdens, sorrows, pain–but that we do the same for others. I believe we teach them too how to protect each other and themselves.

The music, the joy, the children, the “stars, … the mighty thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed,” the art, the friendships, the love, the dogs and cats and birds and other companion animals– they are our armor and our shields. Teach each other how to build armor, protect each other. Let the music protect you too.

“My Burdens Gladly Bearing,” Jerome Stueart, watercolor, mixed media on paper. Part of the Bears of the Baptist Hymnal series. Prints are available through my Redbubble Shop on the right.