Becoming what we despise

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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

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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

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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

No disposable people

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I felt as if I still mattered to God, and I needed to know that … Anne Frank mattered to him, too.  I needed to know that every person behind every pair of shoes recovered from every concentration camp mattered, that God had not forgotten them, that he loved them, and that he knew each of their names.  I needed to know that God does not make disposable people.

          Rachel Held Evans

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

          Declaration of Independence,  July 4, 1776

________________________________________

 

Do I matter to God?

Does this aging, somewhat beat-up

Increasingly impatient

Soul

 

Who has done good things,

And terrible things

Who is kind, cruel, intelligent, and incredibly stupid (at times)

Impatient and cranky.

Who is opinionated and yet probably has gotten a lot wrong

 

Do I matter?

Do you?

 

Who matters to God?

 

Do some matter more than others?

Do those who have muttered some formula about Jesus

Matter more than those who haven’t?

 

Do those who are cis matter more than those who are queer?

Do white people matter more than brown people, black people,

Than those who are olive-skinned?

 

Do males matter more than women?

 

Do the beautiful matter more than the common,

The rich more than the poor?

 

On this Fourth of July, hundreds of men

Bedecked with khaki pants, blue shirts, tan caps, white face coverings, and sunglasses

Carrying the flags of domination and racism

Marched

 

Declaring

We matter more

People of color matter less

 

At Mt Rushmore, a man obsessed with power

And full of hubris

Declared that all who oppose him, all who are not like him,

All who do not worship him

Do not matter

At all

 

They are enemies

Dumcrats

Communists (I am not sure he knows what that means)

Enemies

They do not count, they must be excluded, controlled, destroyed

 

I matter, you don’t

That is the creed of Empire.

 

But God says,

Come, all

Come to the table

Come to the table of grace

 

Come, stranger and friend

Come, Jew and Gentile

Come, people from all along the gender spectrum

Come trans children

 

There are no distinctions.

 

You are all children of God.

You are all loved

You are all precious and valuable.

 

So come

From north and south

East and west

Come from Somalia and Haiti

From Syria and Sudan

 

Come

Human creatures may sow and nourish hate and fear

They may attempt to use prejudice

As a way to grab power

They may attempt to detain and deport

To commit ethnic cleansing

Even genocide

 

None of that is from God

At all

At all

 

God does not make disposable people.

 

So come

God loves you, God has not forgotten you

God has called you by name

You belong in this country

You belong at the table

You belong

 

And your presence is something to celebrate