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