Faith that is primarily defensive is not faith at all

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.

                I want to free what waits within me

                so that what no one has dared to wish for

                may for once spring clear

                without my contriving.

                If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,

                but this is what I need to say.

                May what I do flow from me like a river,

                no forcing and no holding back,

                the way it is with children.

                Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,

                these deepening tides moving out, returning,

                I will sing you as no one ever has,

                streaming through widening channels

                into the open sea.

                                - Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

                                (Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)

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the cat sits on the porch

perched high upon the arm of a chair

ears twitching

tail too

the entire fabric of her being alert

wired

out there

somewhere in the dark it lurks

big and threatening

loud and aggressive

the tomcat who wanders through the woods

slinking, searching

and

dangerous

and so she sits

watching

waiting

afraid

frozen

no longer free to explore the deep grass

to ambush ants

or pounce on fat quail who have eaten one too many sunflower seeds

no longer able to freely roam the pasture

looking for a spare mouse or ground squirrel

ah, this is what happens

when life is about dangerous people

dangerous beliefs and ideas

that lurk in the dark

this is how it is when people of faith

are against

more than they are for

when the world is populated with people

who must be avoided or attacked

this is how it is when we are “against sin”

but not “for people”

how many people

who would follow God

sit perched behind walls of righteous and hate

looking out

angry and hostile

stuck in a world that is grim and gray and barren

afraid to grow

afraid to move forward

afraid to accept and affirm

afraid to love

how many perch behind walls

of fear

staring out

hugging to themselves a righteousness

that held closely all to easily becomes hate?

a faith that is primarily defensive

is not faith at all

_____________________________

Occasioned by new reports about the “Watchmen (note, its men) on the Wall conference, which is

Sponsored by the Family Research (using the world very loosely) Council

Inspired by such anti-Christ “christians” as Tony Perkins, the Cruz’s father and son, Franklin Graham, Alan “Duck Dynasty” Robinson, Purifying Fire Ministries (Cruz), and more.