Love is messy

Presbyterian Bloggers

Powered By Ringsurf

Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount is not about maintaining the status quo. “Bad” people didn’t kill Jesus; conventional wisdom crucified him. Jesus taught an alternative way of being instead of the maintenance of the social order. When we can weep, when we can identify with the humble ones, when we can make peace, when we can be persecuted and still be joyful—then we are doing it right. The Beatitudes are describing what holiness looks like in the kingdom of God.

          Richard Rohr   Daily Meditations 7/16/2026

_________________

 

Who are the “bad” ones?

It is interesting that it wasn’t the radical left

That killed Jesus

 

It was the conservatives.

The ones determined to preserve the status quo

The law-and-order folk

 

Make Israel Great Again

Make Israel a Holy Nation!

 

There was no room in that time, in that place

For a radical

Not even one whose message was radical love

Especially not one whose message was radical love

 

Radical love is messy.

It is inconvenient

Maybe even risky

 

Love the lepers?

Love the Romans?

Love the Tax Collectors, and the women of ill repute

The poor?

Love the “lazy moochers?”

The women?

 

That is not good for the bottom line

That is not how you amass power

 

Love often meets resistance from power.

It should be expected, really.

 

And the question is, what do we do

When we try to love

When we try to resist injustice and inequity

And the system resists us!

 

We can get angry

We can feel offended

We can respond in kind

With name-calling, harshness, personal attacks

 

I do

All too often

 

And we should resist!

There is no question about that

Paul didn’t say, “be an observer.  Look at evil from a distance”

Paul said, “overcome evil with good”

 

So we have to stay in the mix

But we have to stay in the middle of the hate

Chaos and conflict

 

As people who feel deeply

Care deeply

Act compassionately

But keep our joy

 

When we are resentful, retributive

When we see ourselves as victims

When we carry a sense of affront

 

Our resistance turns into something other.

Than resistance. 

We become

Part of the problem

 

I am not sure I can do it

But I am sure I am called

To be joyful

always

Becoming what we despise

Presbyterian Bloggers

Powered By Ringsurf

You will always become the thing you fight the most.

          Carl Jung

 

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

          Friedrich Nietzche

 

We become what we hate. The very act of hating something draws us to us. Since our hate is usually a direct response to evil done to us, our hate almost invariably causes us to respond in the terms already laid down by the enemy.

          Walter Wink

________________________________

 

I made a mistake today

I make mistakes most days, I fear

But this was one that struck home

 

I became what I detest

I read a comment (wrong)

And responded vindictively

 

You hypocrite, I wrote

I should have been looking in the mirror

 

This is the thing about fighting people like Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, and Stephen Miller.  It becomes too easy to become what we despise

 

It is a Catch-22

We must call out evil

But when we engage with evil, it gains power over us

We can pretend it doesn’t

But it does

 

I don’t know how Jesus did it

He got angry

At those who hurt others

As for those who hurt him?

He forgave, he blessed

He did exactly what he taught his followers to do

Bless and do not curse

Love your enemies and pray for them

 

I believe we must resist evil

I know that racism and prejudice against my LGBTQI+ friends is wrong

I know that what ICE is doing is not OK

I know that it is not acceptable to lie and steal

And that sexually preying on children is wrong

 

And I know that somehow we must resist

But how?

How do we fight monsters without becoming monsters

 

I don’t know

I do know that it is important to

Stop

Breathe

Then think

 

It is important to seek to understand

To listen

 

That we must make sure we have it right!

 

I do know we must start with humility

And lead with love

 

And I know we have to ask for help!

Come, Holy Spirit, come

I am grieving

Presbyterian Bloggers

Powered By Ringsurf

I am grieving today for things lost

For symbols and terms that have lost their meaning

Or that have become toxic in the hands and on the lips

Of the evil

And the manipulated and deluded

 

I used to see an American flag flying

And this

Oh, a patriot

Now I think, Oh, a white nationalist

 

I hear the word Christian, and think of Jesus

Now I hear the word and think of MAGA Christianity

Rallying around the flag

And bowing at the feet of a person who is

The antithesis of Jesus

 

I used to hear traditional values

And think of generosity, kindness, inclusion, compassion, and honesty

Now I think of people who are biased and rigid

And dislike everyone who is not

Just like them

 

I used to hear the word conservative

And think of people who were careful, perhaps cautious

Who were OK with change, but were happy to take it slow

Of people who doubled down on the truth

And needed to gather all the facts

 

Now I think radical, stuck, fearful, controlling

And worse

 

 I used to see the cross and think of sacrifice

And radical love

Now I see it wrapped in a flag

And used to promote domination (abusive power)

And wealth

 

It has become weaponized

And turned back into a symbol of oppression

 

I want them all back.

 

I want to celebrate the flag

See patriotism as good

 

I want to argue and then work with

Real conservatives

 

I want the cross and Jesus

To reflect the love of God

 

I want to think of traditional values

And think of the Statue of Liberty

Of a Constitution upheld

Of a President who carries herself with dignity

And treats others with respect

I want to think of love, compassion, and generosity

 

I want to be able to claim that I am a Christian

Without that being seen as a red flag

To all too many people

 

I am grieving

But I am in the market

For hope and joy