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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, January 13, 2021

lift your voice

“...and when the world tells you to lower your head and submit in silence to how things are and always will be, lift your voice instead and sing bravely of how things can and should and will be, because that song is why you are here.”

― L.R. Knost

________________________________

 

Sometimes it seems as if

“its just the way it is”

 

We watched stunned

As lies are accepted as truth

As alternate realities are believed and embraced

As hate flourishes

As people work against their own best interests

 

We watch the rule of law bent and broken by those who tout

The rule of law

 

We read people words, dragged into the light from

Parler and other dark places

About violence and disruption

About “the storm”

 

We stand, almost in awe

Our mouths open

But silent

 

And in the silence it feels as if our souls are leaving our bodies

We feel empty and helpless

We have done what we can

We have spoken the truth

 

And

It is what it is

Nothing changes

Children are still in cages

Children still die

The poor are still shame

The rich still wallow in affluence and privilege

The literalist legalists still violate the Bible

Fascism still flourishes

People still do not wear masks and people still die

 

It is what it is

 

And yet

We remember the prophets

We remember John the Baptist

And Jesus

And Paul

And Dietrich Bonhoeffer

And Martin Luther King Jr

And Desmond Tutu

And Nelson Mandela

And Dag Hammarskjold

 

A we hear the words of the palmist echo in our hearts

Sing to the Lord a new song (Psalm 96)

And we remember the proclamation of God through Isaiah

“Behold I am doing a New Thing, can you not see it?”

 

And sometimes we say “no”

I can’t see it

And sometimes the song gets stuck in our throat

 

But still we are called

Called

Called

 

To lift up our hearts

And life up our heads

And sing justice

Sing forgiveness

Sing acceptance

Sing Hope

Sing Peace

Sing Truth

 

Sing love

 

We are to “lift [our] voice instead and sing bravely of how things can and should and will be, because that song is why [we] are here.”


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