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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



Sunday, March 13, 2022

We need to come together

Someone once said that an “enemy is someone whose story you have not heard”
cool
I love that!
but I also know that listening, and coming to a deeper understanding of the other
is not always enough
I believe in listening!
I believe it is important to seek understanding!
it has been my experience that the more I understand
where another person is coming from, the easier it is for me to see them
differently
attentive compassion is a thing
if I can listen
if I can listen with an open heart
I can see the other person differently
I can see that they are afraid
or tired
I can see their vulnerability
I can see past the hurt they cause me
to the ways they hurt themselves
to the pain they carry
but still, I am far, in some cases from loving them
or perhaps it is better to say I am far from liking them
that person willing to put others at risk for their personal freedom
that person who is willing to sacrifice the planet for wealth
that person who believes that it is alright to hurt others to get ahead
(there have to be winners and losers, right?)
that person who is racist
who is hateful
who is authoritarian
who is cruel
who is abusive
sometimes the story gives no relief
just unrelenting pain
and yet I am told to love that enemy
even though I have heard what terrifies me
even my understanding still does not release me from those feelings
that divide
and yet I am told to love
and so I suffer
and I make others suffer with my anger and rejection
and so I sit here
struggling with those who would destroy our democracy for power
with those who will not protect their neighbor from this virus
with those who think guns are more important than people’s lives
with those who lie
with those who follow a liar down the path toward tyranny
and I can think of only two antidotes
one is the understanding (thank you, Rachel Held Evans)
that my worst enemy is myself
and as, sometimes, I must let go of those things about myself
that are terrible, in order to find the things that are beautiful
so also I must let go of things about others
this does not mean giving my worst self a freed ride
it does not mean I give that self-power over me
that self must be loved, but must also be challenged (and helped) to change
so too with those I struggle with
I cannot give them power over me, or the freedom to go on their way unchallenged
but how I challenge them matters
the other antidote is doing what it takes to create small
if only incremental change
if only I could stop for a moment
take a breathe
buy some time
say a little prayer
and then respond
and then, find a way to transform what seems unbearable
Rachel Held Evans turned her hate mail into origami
Shane Claiborne turns guns into gardening tools
how can I transform objects of hate?
words of hate
ideologies of hate?
I start by changing how I receive them
what I let them do to me
I turn them into tools for shalom
(still working on that)
what can I do, to change the trajectory of the maskless people
in the grocery store?
how can I challenge them but also accept them and help them transform
how can I do that with the Trump follower
the politician who is destroying the right to vote
the liar
alas
this is not easy
but I believe that we are called to come together
heal together
forgive together
work together
gather together (at the table of God)
eat together
and somehow
together
birth the Kingdom of Love
God help us all

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