We are not ready, yet

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“A guilty suffering spirit is more open to grace than an apathetic or smug soul.' –

              Edna Hong Bread & Wine (day 5)”

 

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Ah Lent

a time that starts in ashes

and ends in death

 

It is but a momentary suffering

leading to a greater gift

that of release

and life

and hope

 

We enter Lent embracing a journey

that takes us into the valley of death.

We can not find our way to the Garden

any other way

 

A pattern is here

we all can see and grab

 

that sense that all is not ready

we are not ready

to receive

we are not ready

to receive love and hope

 

not because the gift is not ready

but because we have, in the midst of life

gotten immersed in what is not life

or love

or grace

 

We do not act justly

offer mercy, or live as servants of all.

 

Instead, we chase after gods of our own making

And seek dominion rather than sacrifice

Accumulation rather than generosity

 

In Lent, we stop

and listen,

we reflect and go deep within

 

In Lent, we realize there is no room

for spiritual arrogance or smugness

and there is no need

for spiritual despair, no need to abandon hope

 

We realize instead

that the heart opened

receives the gifts

we yearn to receive

 

justice and joy

When your enemy falls

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“Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice”         Proverbs 24:17).

 

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

          I Corinthians

 

“Ignorance and fanaticism is ever busy and needs feeding. Always it is feeding and gloating for more.”

          Clarence Darrow

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Anyone feeling bad for Amber Glen?

For some, the answer was clear.

No!

 

We don’t like her values; she’s just queer.

 

She should have practiced and shut her mouth

Sung the praises of our great leader

And kept silent about brutality and oppression

 

Anyone worried about the pain and terror inflicted by ICE?

Anyone upset about lies spoken and laws broken?

 

No!

 

Because we won

We owned the libs

We have the power

 

And we like it

We not only like it, we rejoice.

 

We delight in the failure of our enemies

We savor their pain

 

For some it is not that easy.  That is not a path we can thoughtlessly take.

We wonder, what do we do with such hate?

With such a disregard for the humanity of others?

When it is our hate and disregard?

 

It is a disturbing thing to see a profound lack of compassion

An inability to see the “other” as a person

 

When others do it, we are appalled

How could they be so uncaring?

 

Amber Glen, Alex Pretti, Renee Good

Fodder for disdain

The immigrant, snatched from his job,

Just someone who stole a “real” American's job.

 

Go ICE go

I hope you lose

 

But what do we do when we are the ones who delight in the pain of others?

 

When we experience the thrill of “their” defeat.

That ICE agent, on his ass on the Ice

The person who, outed for racism, has lost their job.

 

Sometimes it is us, thirsting for the blood of our enemies

 

Am I wrong?

 

We can deflect.  We can say, “Well, they REALLY deserved what they got

They are villains, not victims (unlike us)

And at some level, that might be true.

 

But is there not something about wishing another ill,

About savoring another’s pain

That is

 

Just wrong?

 

When Jesus saw evil, he wept.

When Jesus experienced evil, he forgave.

 

I am unwilling to give evil a free pass

Some people need to be stopped

They need to fail

I can even desire their defeat

 

But what I do next is important

I can rejoice that justice is done,

That karma has struck

 

Does that mean I can erase the person and

simply not care about them? As a person?

 

How will I think about Donald Trump when justice finally comes?

If he goes down hard, I will be glad that the evil has ended

That justice has come

 

I will think about the immigrants, the young girls violated

The people he fired, the programs he destroyed, and

I will rejoice that he has fallen from power

 

I will dance for joy for the planet

 

But then?

It haunts me, the idea that I will be unable to see him,

And so many others,

As people. Who fear and feel pain.

 

I wonder,

What do I lose,

when I lose compassion and empathy?

When I gleefully relegate those I despise

To hell (or whatever other punishment I can envision)?

 

I can justify such a response, can’t I?

Schadenfreude

Especially when I see it as justice

The triumph of good over evil

 

But still I wonder.  What is lost?

Does a piece of “me” go missing?

I don’t have an answer

God, forgive them

I’m not mad at you

Are you OK?

 

Still I wonder

A culture of violence

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… violence is a culture unto itself; it is not something one dons like a hat when dealing with the “enemy” and then gets set aside at the end of the confrontation.  Once violence enters the arena, it creates a culture that is very difficult to eradicate.  In fact, liberation in the true sense also means liberating the “enemy” from its own violence.  This is why nonviolence is often one of the most powerful tools in any resistance movement.

          Mitri Raheb, Faith in the Face of Empire

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It has become an estimable thing,

this oppression

 

Masked warriors

crusading against the enemy

the foreigner

those foul, dangerous denizens who lurk

seeking to destroy the very fabric

of our nation

 

Those dark malevolent purveyors of evil

who eat our pets

and speak in strange tongues

who shred our “traditional” values

(the ones we don’t actually live out ourselves)

 

Those enemies of “our God,”

who worship evil gods who demand

our destruction

those barbarians, poised to destroy

all that we hold dear

empire

 

Violence is necessary

isn’t it

to protect and suppress

armed soldiers in the street

a small price to pay

 

It is justifiable then

when, for the sake of freedom

we erase freedom

when we violently suppress

 

smashed car windows

a death or two

children incarcerated

women thrown face down on the ground

are a small price to pay

 

the random acts of violence

become the norm

the way it is

 

It becomes who we are

open carry

ICE

concentration camps

 

We find that we cannot stop

we cannot get enough

violence becomes our fuel

our security

 

There is no end

lost

are the teachings of peace

 

We mistake coercion and control

with peacemaking

(peace through strength)

 

We count the sins of others

and count those sins against them

meting out justice

 

In our culture of violence, we do not hear

turn the other cheek,

go the second mile,

suffer the children,

bless and do not curse

welcome the strange

These words have become strange

amid the cacophony of domination;

They should obey,

They deserved it,

They are bad, dangerous… evil.

 

We are overcome by violence

and no longer seek to overcome evil

with good

 

their violence becomes

our violence

 

Thank you, God

for those who step into the abyss

in between

 

who put their hearts, souls, and minds

on the line

Alex, Renee

Mothers with whistles

Young and old

 

Peacemakers

Protectors

Insisting that love wins

That we can overcome evil with good

 

These are the ones who dwell in the shadow of the cross

the ones who walk where Jesus walked

down the long path

through a fragmented world

to the garden