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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Wednesday, April 15, 2020

together


It seems to be an ever repeated cycle

Something comes along that feels like a threat
Something that we do not fully understand

And we scramble and clamor for an answer
Not just an answer, be a cause
Not just a cause, but a cause outside ourselves
Not just a cause outside ourselves
But something or someone we can blame

We seek
an enemy

Someone we can blame
Someone one we can had

Someone on whom we can
Release the weight of our ignorance and insecurity

like the threatened animals we are
we huddle together
heads in
asses out

eyes closed
minds shut

ready to kick and repel

it happens every time there is a perceived threat
to our safety
to our way of life
to our norms

9/11
Economic recessions
Immigration
The mere growth of diversity
The emergence of the LGBTQI community
AIDS
And now COVID-19

Just this day a member of congress called it
The “Chinese virus”

Not just COVID-19
But a CHINESE virus
Because how handy it is to create blame
How lovely it is
as the virus threatens the stock market (the golden idol of America)
to be able to point a finger and say

“they did this”

Even though “they” took radical steps to contain the virus
And even though we in the US have not done nearly enough
To contain the virus

But now the enemies have been identified
And people of Asian descent her in America are being bullied
And minimized
And threatened

“go back to China”

In my own little corner of the world
Relatively unscathed as of yet
a white employee of a tribal casino is identified
with Covid-19

now story after story emerges
of tribal members being bullied
called names
treated with disrespect
told to “go back to the reservation”

I don’t think it is just a White thing,
But white Americans seem to have it down to an art
This delusion of superiority

The sad fact is it comes not from knowledge, but ignorance
And not from strength, but insecurity

And it makes us unkind
Sometimes cruel (think immigration camps and the separation of children from their parents)
It brings out our inner racist
Our inner bully

And it causes us to huddle closely together
Heads in
Ears closed
Eyes closed
Mouth open

Backs turned

there is an antidote
Spirituality

Hearts open
And filled with the lively presence of the Sacred
Which casts out fear
And drives us to people in need

Filled with the Spirit
Which opens our minds
Our ears
Our eyes
And our arms

No
This is not always safe
No
It is not always easy
No
It does not always turn out the way we think it should
(but what do we know?)

But it is the way
The truth
And the Life

Remember that guy named Jesus?
That guy that much of Christianity seems to have forgotten
As they wander in the retributive wilderness of some of the OT,
And pick up and cherish the worst parts of Paul?

Remember that one we have reburied
So that he can barely be seen
Underneath the religion we have created?

The one who said
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed..”

Yeah, that one

That one who welcomes all to the table
That one who came to touch all with love
That one who was about rescue, and restoration, and reconciliation
Not blame and shame

That one who did not think in terms of adjectives
Asian
Black
White
Poor
Rich
Religious
Apostate
Powerful
Weak

But looked the person in front of him and saw

Child of God
Child of God
Child of God

Even in times of trial, we do not have to be enemies
Indeed in times of trial we cannot be enemies

We are brothers and sisters
Together

And we must face the ills of the world
Together

Whether the ill be
Corvid -19
Or poverty
Or greedy
Or authoritarianism

No matter what comes our way
We must work together
to feed the hungry
Clothe the need
Free the oppressed
Heal the sick

Because that is
The Jesus way

Were all come
From east and west
And north and south
And sit at the table, together

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