The Year of 2020 Vision: Our Eyes Are Open
/3 years ago I had a dream. It involved a lion and a lot of fear so I’d like to tell you how it virtually disrupted the comfort of my life.
3 years ago I was living in my dad’s apartment in Irvine, California, after having moved in with him following a nervous breakdown due to neglecting the process of grieving my mom’s passing. In the dream I was in a house with a spiral staircase. The window was slightly open and I was in the bedroom looking into the hallway. I saw a lion walking towards me. The lion looked evil, like scar from Lion King. He was walking slowly towards me and I was fully aware of two things:
1. I couldn’t escape.
2. This powerful and scary animal was in the comfort of my safe home.
The lion walked towards me and I was sure I would die. Just as it came up to me, it rose up on his hind legs and stared me in the eyes. It didn’t look like scar anymore. It was a powerful and beautiful lion. Aslan, if you will. I remember knowing very well this powerful animal could still kill me but also experiencing a deep sense of safety. I very clearly heard the words, “Chivalry is not dead” and woke up.
“OMG I’M GETTING MARRIED!”.
Yes, shamelessly this was my first thought. Put the words chivalry and a lion in any Christian single girls’ mind and we will always, always, connect it to our future spouse.
My search for chivalry started as a weird 8 year old praying for my husband to be a knight in shining armor.
My search for chivalry ended when I encountered a number of disappointing and disheartening encounters within the world of popular church circles. It’s as if my eyes were opened though I didn’t want them to be. I saw people dictating who’s in and who’s out, yet these very people were hiding so many secrets of their own. It was baffling to me how someone could project so much judgment against someone made from the same humanity as them. It often came down to money. To power. The more power the more influence. It was disillusionment. Misguidedness. If you’re in, you get the book deals, you get the music deals, you get to be virtually worshipped because it’s more important to have a platform of influence than to love the ones who are outcasted.
I’m not saying everyone in this field is like this, that is certainly not the case. I’ve encountered many people with pure motives and lack of agendas. What I am saying is I did and am currently witnessing how this is playing out in today’s culture with topics like coronavirus, politics, injustice, dating, marriage, how to be more Spirit led, how to be ‘counter cultural’ etc. (I cannot describe how much I hate this term because no one knows what being current cultural even is).
Recently I was reminded of this dream thinking about a situation involving a friend of mine. He is not some loud outspoken man, yet he is one of the best examples I can give of a man who defends and protects women. He is a man of influence in LA’s industry. He had a situation at work where he virtually was the one person who stood up for a woman being harassed and did so in the most badass way, all while using his power as a long-standing executive for the benefit of someone who was being told they had no power.
This is chivalry. I studied the code of chivalry and came across this as part of the official code of arms
1. Duties to countrymen and fellow Christians: this contains virtues such as mercy, courage, valour, fairness, protection of the weak and the poor, and in the servant-hood of the knight to his lord. This also brings with it the idea of being willing to give one's life for another's; whether he would be giving his life for a poor man or his lord.
2. Duties to God: this would contain being faithful to God, protecting the innocent, being faithful to the church, being the champion of good against evil, being generous and obeying God above the feudal lord.
3. Duties to women: this is probably the most familiar aspect of chivalry. This would contain what is often called courtly love, the idea that the knight is to serve a lady, and after her all other ladies. Most especially in this category is a general gentleness and graciousness to all women.
Cred: Knights of the Eucharist
This year is weird. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it is an awakening. People are preaching revival but I don’t know if they see the same revival happening that I see. I see a revival of repentance, within the church. I see men rising up to be the ones who defend the voices of women. I see women rising up to use their voices for honor. I see men listening to the pains and burdens of the oppressed and handing them the mic. I see both doing this together and honoring those who seek & deserve justice. I see it happening already but it certainly comes at a cost. That cost is pride and the safety of comfort. We learn to put others before us. We learn to do just as Jesus instructed as a new commandment – ‘that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.’ John 13:34
There are people going around who seem to think they can ‘change the narrative’ through their own agenda. They claim persecution because Governor Newsom stated there shouldn’t be singing in places of worship right now as it could spread the coronavirus. I work in the field of residential mental health care and I can tell you, wearing masks and temporarily not interacting as much keeps people safe. We hate the masks. Low key, it causes acne, but I would much rather that than be the one who caused someone more at risk to catch the virus. We work very hard to abide by laws so that we can continue to operate and help people who need it. Church worship is still allowed in the comfort of our homes, outside, etc. I believe what people are really mad at is that the coronavirus is not gone. I get that. Be mad. But do not put others at risk, the elders, the ones immuno-compromised, the pregnant, the ones with children, just because you want to worship God inside a church.
The church is the body of Christ. (1 Cor 12). Meditate on that for a second.
I made a comment on a person’s Instagram who is leading this movement of petitioning against Newsom’s order. I briefly mentioned that we are not being persecuted in California and that as an Iranian American and daughter of Iranian immigrants, explained that the largest underground church in the world is in Iran, led by women. Persecution is very real to them. This is a temporary inconvenience for us here. He deleted my comment, deleted my friend’s comment, deleted plenty more – the irony of which is that his posts are all about free speech.
One woman commented in agreement to him and this woman 4 years ago prophesied to me at an event of theirs that God would use my voice.
Irony, at his finest.
I believe people have good intentions and we cannot label people as all good or all bad. That can never be the case. Everyone has a story that has led them to where they are. This is what has given me hope in my faith. Humans are exceptional. I listen to apologetics, to charismatic pastors, classic non-denoms, to Episcopalians, to Deconstructionists, to my never failing Brene Brown podcast.
The church is in awakening. We are in a time to use our voices to protect and honor the ones who’ve been silenced. It’s their turn. It’s their time. Pass the mic.
Truly we can say, this is the year of 2020 vision and truly I can say, I’m ready for my chivalrous lion husband to show up at my door.
-Kristina (@thedtrblog)
