“Love your neighbor as yourself”… the trouble is
that this exhortation flies in the face of everything else that our culture
encourages and that our worldview sees.
If we cannot love our neighbor as ourself it is because we do not see our
neighbor as ourself, but as a potential threat (or potential aid) to ourself.,,.
The power over issue is central…. Competition characterizes
everything… it is natural law that there should be winners and losers, rich and
poor, those who control/manage/command and those who obey, the powerful and the
powerfulness. We need to realize how
deep this view is in our psyches, individually and corporately. The psychology of domination encourages us to
see helping others as possibly harming ourselves, to see harming others as a
way to help ourselves.”
Beatrice
Brutreau, Holy Thursday Revolution
___________________________________________________________________
Four piles of hay
Four horses
And thus it begins
The game of musical hay piles
As round and round and round they go until Alpha
mare Sadie
Stops….
Then it is a game of 3
Then two
And then finally the bratty little brother
(Gelding Tres)
Is able, at last to claim his pile of hay
Its natural this game
This game of ‘power over”
There are those who dominate
And those who are dominated
There are to who have power
And those who do not
There are those who are valuable
And those who are…….
Wait!
I don’t think that is what Jesus said
And yet, that is the way our world sees it
the world view of dominance
that is how the world lives
nations seek to dominate and oppress other nations
people seek to dominate and oppress other people
it’s a way of life
it is felt in our lives in so many ways
domination by money
where the CEO who does little (really) earns
unbelievable amounts
compared to the workers, who actually produce the
produce
and then use their power(money) to buy more power
(politics)
there is social domination,
with classes formed based on sex, race, age,
occupation
language, profession
where power is exercised to the advantage
of those in power
we live in a culture where people are compared,
not respected
in a culture where people are competitors to be
minimized
or objects to be used
into this world
into this culture came a man named Jesus
who said such crazy and foolish things, like “love
your neighbor”
“forgive those who hurt you”
“Give generously”
into the dust and anger of this world
came Jesus, who knelt in that dust
and washed feet
into the radical hate and fear
of this world, came one who died on a cross
to show another way
to show a way marked by servant hood and
generosity
not power and coercion
but how do we walk along this way
when all the world
including the church
including the people who are supposed to be
echoing
the words of Christ
the way of Christ
(do you really think mega churches are not about
power over?)
(do you really think legislated morality is not
about power over?)
teach and preach
and live
by the rules of domination?
Ah,
The is the hard part
this is where we stumble
this is where we need to sit
on a rickety bench in a shabby room
and let the ruler of all creation wash our feet
this is where we learn
that we are REALLY the children of God
we have a piece of the sacred in us (and it is in that
person next to us as well)
this is where we become born again
from above
by God
and become magnificent!
what child of God cannot be magnificent?
this is where we move from
I AM a counselor
I AM a doctor
I AM a CEO
I AM a worker
I AM rich or poor
I AM female or male
I AM weak or strong
and simply move to
I AM a child of I AM
and understand
that fundamentally that is all we need
that is
enough
Speaking of enough
This is enough, for now
This is a complex concept
There will be more to come! Stay tuned
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