Repent? Really? Yes, really!

Beauty before me

Beauty behind me

With beauty all around me

I walk

                                Navaho Chant

___________________________

Some days one feels immersed in the ugliness

I have lately been assailed by the comments made about the poor and struggling

by self-satisfied commentators on TV

and by many politicians, many of whom are not only wealthy

but were born to wealth

Words like “takers”, “moochers”, “lazy”

“slothful”, echo through the air

people who have been beaten down by life

assailed by generational poverty, our economic system,

an inability to find jobs (they ARE trying),

medical expenses (tell me again why we don’t want to transform healthcare)

addiction, mental health issues and more

instead of being seen with compassion, and helped

are seen with the eyes of judgment and condemned

I can think of no greater indictment of a society, then when the power structure of a society,

and this includes its media and its politicians,

wage a systematic campaign to oppress the oppressed,

while at the same time furthering their own grasp

on power and wealth

And I can think of no greater indictment of those institutions

called churches

those communities who claim to gather in the name of Christ

than their collusion with these forces of oppression

the silence of the American “Church” is deafening

the erosion of the American Church, as it no only fails to speak

but becomes ensnared in the culture

of power and wealth

is saddening

while it is clear some Christians see

and some Christians (and churches) act

to feed the hungry, clothe the poor

and seek justice

the church as a whole has at the best become silent

as the worst, become part of the culture of judgment and oppression

As American Christians we need to regain our grounding in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

We need to remember what his ministry was all about

We need to be the eyes of Christ, seeing people with compassion

We need to be the hands of Christ, feeding clothing, healing

We need to be the voice of Christ, challenging those whose would hate and oppress

Those who would manipulate, use, and abuse positions of power and privilege

the time has come for the church to be the body of Christ

the time has come for us as followers of “the way”

to be a transforming presence in our nation

to be those who water the seeds of hope, and compassion

understanding and caring

not the seeds of division, judgment, and discord

this coming Sunday we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus

In that baptism Jesus identified with a humanity that has lost its way

But much more happened

In that baptism God affirmed his pleasure in Jesus, and not only Jesus

but also, I believe, in all his creation, and all his creatures

including us

and the Sacred One

sent the Spirit (wow, the mystery of the trinity in one story),

planted in his people the capacity for healing transforming and loving

if we would be the church, we must understand as, Thich Nhat Hanh suggests,

that “the teachings of Jesus must be practiced as they were lived by Jesus”

we must reach out and touch the poor

not succumb to our tendency to prefer the rich

we must reach out and be with and for the oppressed

not collude and collaborate with the powerful

we must insist on social and economic justice

and not align with politicians who cut food stamps

attack unemployment benefits

and believe that the way to stability, power and wealth

 is on a path paved by the bodies of the vulnerable

this seems like an impossible and unlikely transformation

and yet

at the River Jordan

John Baptized the people with a baptism of repentance

And the heavens opened

the world was seeded with the Holy Spirit

and a ministry of love, reconciliation, caring, and healing was begun

and the poor, and ill, and oppressed

were given healing, and love, and hope

Oh God

Here we are

We are far too like that brood of manipulative “religious folk”

John called a brood of vipers

but You are mighty

dip us into the river of repentance

plant the seed of the Holy Spirit in us

and send us on our way

caring

forgiving

healing

helping

rejoicing

_________________________________

Beauty before me

Beauty behind me

With beauty all around me

I walk

                                Navaho Chant