I would respond to Officer Warren’s questions by letting him know that he is not only a hero to me because he had the courage to put his life on the line for others, but because he had the courage to ask questions that far too few of us ask.  Sometimes the questions are more important than the answers.

Though many of  us come to religion looking for set answers to faith’s difficult questions, Officer Warren had a true biblical faith. Faith grounded in scriptures struggles.  It is not satisfied with cheap, easy answers because discipleship is neither cheap nor easy.  It wrestles with questions:

Am I my brother’s keeper?

How can I sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?

What does the Lord require of you?

Who can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?

What is truth?

Even Jesus from the cross struggled with eternal questions:  My God, why hast thou forsaken me?

So I am probably one of the few that is not able to answer these questions in simplistic, easy formulas.  I can only look at Officer Warren’s life and faith, and say “Thanks be to God.  Would that we all had the courage to face the hard questions like he did.”

A few months before he was killed in the line of duty, Memphis Police Officer Timothy Warren made a YouTube video expressing his deep internal struggle between his “Two Paths” – between a Christian “life of service, compassion, seeking and forbearance” and a life in “police authority, command and governance.”

How would you respond to Officer Warren’s questions?

Memphis Police Officer Timothy Warren was a person of character. By that I mean that he honestly struggled with his integrity. He sought to make the inner and outer person congruent, to bring into harmony his thinking, feeling and behaving.

This is what a person of faith does. It calls for growing in spiritual maturity and discernment. Jesus taught using parables calling forth these qualities in his listeners. The stories rooted in daily living did not offer simple solutions but asked questions that required reflection. Often Jesus was challenged for not following exact rules and religious law in every situation. It was the spirit of the law rather than its letter than concerned him; how in the context of a situation one could be in right relationship, sometimes holding the tension between compassion and justice.

In a democracy the law supports the common good for all citizens regardless of a person’s religious identity. When teachings of faith are in conflict with the law, the law prevails because we do not live in a theocracy. When laws are not moral or just, people may resist them as happened during the Civil Rights era. Or there may be violence as in the American Revolution and the Civil War. Society changes laws and in every generation there are debates about controversial moral issues. Teachings of faith may also be prejudiced and destructive of right relationships.

Whether one is enforcing the public law or practicing a faith, interpretation and discernment is required. Truth is known in context and there are no laws or rules of faith that can take away the need for wise judgment. The good person does not have all the answers or knows exactly how to respond in every situation. The good person wrestles with the tensions inherent between being merciful and just, wise and observant in the ways of law and faith.

We cannot escape personal decisions. We cannot escape mistakes. What we can do is examine our faith and examine our laws and their practice. What we can do is learn and grow and pray for mercy and wisdom. A good person, a good police officer, a good person of faith, is not a perfect person. A good person asks questions and struggles for insight. This is what it means to have integrity. Officer Warren was such a person.

A few months before he was killed in the line of duty, Memphis Police Officer Timothy Warren made a YouTube video expressing his deep internal struggle between his “Two Paths” – between a Christian “life of service, compassion, seeking and forbearance” and a life in “police authority, command and governance.”

How would you respond to Officer Warren’s questions?

Police Officer Timothy Warren’s struggle to determine when to enforce the law and when to give lawbreakers second chances is telling. It underscores the seriousness with which he took his Christian commitment. However, I do not see his job to enforce the law as being at odds with his calling to follow Christ. Work that maintains an orderly society is in the interest of the common good. Without it our communities would descend in chaos.

That said, Officer Warren’s struggle to find the right balance between law and mercy inspires. It points to the great truth that while the One we worship is a God of order, he is finally a God of grace.

<strong>A few months before he was killed in the line of duty, Memphis Police Officer Timothy Warren made a YouTube video expressing his deep internal struggle between his “Two Paths” – between a Christian “life of service, compassion, seeking and forbearance” and a life in “police authority, command and governance.”
“Which path to follow?” Officer Warren said.
How would you respond to Officer Warren’s questions?</strong>

We all have gifts. Officer Warren’s was clearly service. As a police officer it is ingrained that the job is “to serve and protect” the innocent. As a Christian it is ingrained “to Love Thy Neighbor.” So it’s no wonder that he felt conviction in his line of work.

But, what I think Officer Warren may have not fully realized was how much he served God while doing his job here on earth. To a criminal, he seemed like an unforgiving persecutor. But recently, at his funeral, there were many, many stories of how he quietly helped the homeless find shelter; stories about how he had a heart for the neglected and downtrodden and how he went out of his way to help them.

Did he give speeding tickets? I am quite sure. Did he arrest people? I would certainly assume so. These were part of his sworn duties as a Memphis Police Officer. His job wasn’t to be a judge…his job was to enforce the law. And he did a fine job. He also served God by serving his fellow man. Jesus once said “By helping the least of these, you helped Me.”

I think Officer Warren did his earthly job morally and ethically, with integrity and honesty. I also think he will hear the words he longed for…”Well done, good and faithful servant.”

A few months before he was killed in the line of duty, Memphis Police Officer Timothy Warren made a YouTube video expressing his deep internal struggle between his “Two Paths” – between a Christian “life of service, compassion, seeking and forbearance” and a life in “police authority, command and governance.”

How would you respond to Officer Warren’s questions?

I think we limit ourselves and our decision making process by focusing on the question, “What would Jesus do?” The better question is “What am I to do as a follower of Jesus?” Justice and mercy are not enemies. In fact, a follower of Jesus, I believe, seeks always to exercise merciful justice. The exercise of justice as it relates to the law is not a matter of judging or not judging. The law officer is not the one to judge. The “law” makes the judgement. The task of the policeman is to respect and apply the law, but with a merciful attitude. That gives room to exercise “keeping the law” in ways that have professional integrity and yet demonstrates faithfulness to Christ.

A few months before he was killed in the line of duty, Memphis Police Officer Timothy Warren made a YouTube video expressing his deep internal struggle between his “Two Paths” – between a Christian “life of service, compassion, seeking and forbearance” and a life in “police authority, command and governance.”

How would you respond to Officer Warren’s questions?

As citizens, we are called upon to obey the laws of our land and community.  When it is not clear what steps we are to take to do so, or exactly how to balance competing ideals or legal requirements, surely the best course is to listen for guidance from God.  Many can affirm from their own experience that God sends angel messages to us all when we listen.  Whether or not the answer is clear, if we then follow our highest sense of good, we will end up somehow on the right track.

<strong>A few months before he was killed in the line of duty, Memphis Police Officer Timothy Warren made a YouTube video expressing his deep internal struggle between his “Two Paths” – between a Christian “life of service, compassion, seeking and forbearance” and a life in “police authority, command and governance.”

“Which path to follow?” Officer Warren said.

How would you respond to Officer Warren’s questions?</strong>

We who are members of the clergy live, to some degree, at a distinct disadvantage from the members of the communities of faith we serve.  While we get up each day and go to places of employment where our faith is our work, those who populate the places of worship where we preach and teach are privileged – and unmistakably challenged – to engage their faith at work in ways that we are not.

Slain Memphis police officer Timothy Warren vividly depicted his deep, heartfelt desire to see his commitment to follow after Jesus permeate every part of his existence.  Given what we in the wider community have come to know about his persistent pursuit for authenticity in his faith walk, is it any wonder that he wrestled with the questions that he did?  Here was a person who devoted himself to his work that entails both serving and protecting; a noble and vital calling to pursue for the sake of others.  More than that, by all appearances, he seemed to be someone who was even more earnest in his devotion to live as much like Jesus as he could; the high call of every Christian person in living our lives.  Sometimes, though, discerning how to mesh those two things is not easy.

Regrettably the Bible does not provide us clear, concise, step-by-step directions on how to handle every conundrum we encounter.  Officer Warren’s rhetorical questions about following Jesus and fulfilling his vocational duties, minding the rules and keeping in line with God reflect the nature of a soul engaged in a serious search.  Would that we all could remember that, in following Jesus, we are setting our sights on one who questioned the rules, challenged the limits of the law, all in pursuit of the loving heart of God.  One cannot help but sense that perhaps Officer Warren was nearer to the Jesus way than he himself might have realized.  His deep concern for how people in our world are treated – evidenced by his engagement with the ordinary folks along his beat – beautifully illustrate something that is near to the heart of Christian faith; namely, we care deeply about how people in the world are treated.  Therefore we live with neither aggressive rigidity about keeping every rule just so, nor with saccharine sweet permissiveness that says anything goes.

It is a fine, but sometimes blurry, line that we walk.  Many people enjoy the privilege of doing more than pursuing their careers.  While careers tend to focus on what’s in it for me, callings are all about loving God and living lives that show it.  Based on what we know of Officer Warren’s life, I think we know something of what it means to do more than show up for work.  He gave his life answering a call.

A few months before he was killed in the line of duty, Memphis Police Officer Timothy Warren made a YouTube video expressing his deep internal struggle between his “Two Paths” – between a Christian “life of service, compassion, seeking and forbearance” and a life in “police authority, command and governance.”

How would you respond to Officer Warren’s questions?

In seeing the video of officer Timothy Warren discussing his two paths, I am reminded of the story of Jacob who wrestled with God all night long. And while most try to figure out the “why” of that story, the most powerful point in the story for me is that Jacob wrestled period! So the question becomes for me, not why Jacob wrestled with God, but how come many of us are not wrestling with God? Why are we not wrestling with scripture, why are we not wrestling with our faith, why are we not wrestling with our beliefs? How come for many of us, we believe we have all the answers and because we are on some 3, 5, or 10 step plan, we have it all figured out?

I for one am glad that officer Timothy Warren wrestled with his call. I am glad that he struggled with the demands of his faith. I am glad that he questioned his calling and vocation. At the intersection of calling and vocation, I imagine that Officer Warren wrestled many times with God all night long and he did not let go until he found his blessing.