Turn or Burn

Apparently I am going to burn,

Eternally

 

The conversation was about a preacher

who spews hate

and advocates violence

 

and people were all too ready to relegate him to the eternal trash bin

I struggle with the idea that God will throw anyone away

 

and so I pondered

I often do

about heaven and hell

 

and I suggest that I sometimes think about heaven and hell

this way

 

hell is when we find ourselves

reunited with that loving and amazing Other

from whom (I hate anthropomorphizing, but I have no better words) we came

 

when, Spirit carriers,

Image Bearers,

we move from communion to union

 

and then see, in the presence of Fierce Love and Fierce Grace

the ways we failed

to bear the Image

 

that would be hellish indeed (I do believe in accountability)

 

heaven is when the One

when Love, embraces us

reconciles us

heals us

and yes, loves us

and makes us whole

and welcomes us home

 

I was told that this idea (which admittedly is half-baked)

was going to send me to hell.

 

I don’t remember the entire tirade

but essentially I was a depraved sinner

and that Jesus came to save me

and that if I didn’t repent (and right now!)

and get in line (with this person’s concept of God and the godly)

I (and all those people who kill babies, etc)

was going to fry

eternally

 

I do not have to try very hard

sometimes

to understand why people are walking away from the faith system

I have chosen to embrace

 

because so many people who have claimed Jesus

present a faith system that is mostly about fear

God is hard, demanding

People are worms crawling through the primordial ooze

If you don’t do exactly what God wants, God punishes you

Not just in the moment, but forever and ever

eternal torment is the name of the game

 

Jesus is fire insurance

he came and was killed by this same “god”

to satisfy justice

and save our bacon so it doesn’t sizzle

 

if you “believe”

which in the book of such people means

uttering certain things

adhering to certain creeds

following certain rules

 

then you might not fry

 

but it is a faith of fear

“if you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity?”

 

A friend recently told of a camp experience where they (a cabin of girls)

were told they had better accept Jesus and get baptized,

like NOW

because what if they were killed in a car wreck on the way home?

they would burn!

 

OK

say God really is like that

who wants to line up with a God

who excludes

judges

kills

tortures?

 

who wants a God whose “people”

exclude

judge

kill

torture

dominate

control

punish

shame

 

I think Jesus came, more than anything else

to show what God is like

and to show that God is not, in fact, like that

 

to show God welcomes all

loves all

forgives all

restores all

heals all

 

and to show that God is a servant God

(I know, that violates our American mentality)

who came to overcome evil with good

to bring life through death

victory through defeat

 

to show us that love works

and love is the way

 

and that God is in fact

Love

 

I have no illusions

that I totally understand God

or heaven and hell

or eternity

 

but I am pretty sure about this

the God I see in Jesus

the God I have experienced

the God (Power/Love/Sacred/pick a name) that dwells inside me

 

is Love

 

and is more about making life the best and most it can be, now

you know!

Joy!

Peace!

Hope!

Love!

 

and is about creating a Kingdom of Love here on earth

now

than anything else

 

and on that fact

I guess I am betting my life

I see you

An ethical and moral life is about letting go of indifference and learning how to see…

 

When the Zulu people greet each other they say Sawubona, which actually translates not to “I see you” but to “WE see you”…

One response is Sihkona – “I am here; I exist.”  Another response is Yebo, sawubona – “I see you seeing me.”  Being seen and seeing becomes a contract, a covenant.

 

In order to live a moral life, a good life, an ubuntu life, we must commit to a life of love that means seeing all the things.  See your neighbor suffering and do something about it.  See a stranger laboring under a heavy load and help out.  See lies spoken and shared in Social media and call foul.  See a friend soaring and say, “I see you beautiful creature!” and build their self-love tank.  Love doesn’t pretend, love keeps it real.

          Jacqui Lewis (Fierce Love pp. 209-212)

____________________________________

 

I see you

I see you, as you see your vote taken away

I see you, as you are treated as “less” because of the color of your skin

I see you, as you deal with a history of repression and genocide

and mourn lands lost to white greed.

I see you, as you agonize over the death of the planet

I see you, as you lose control over your own body

 

I see you, as fearful and angry you grasp for power

I see you, as you find that no amount of wealth is ever enough

I see you, as liars plant seeds of fear in your heart

I see you, as your old comfortable privileges are challenged

 

I see you, as you struggle with cancer

As depression or anxiety haunt every breath

I see you, as you struggle for breath and COPD claims your vitality

I see you, as your marriage crumbles

 

There is so much pain in this world

I see it

I cannot help myself

It is there, crying out

Asking for compassion, kindness

Asking for honesty

Asking for healing

 

Because I see,

Sometimes I pray

Sometimes I give

Sometimes I speak out

Sometimes I am silent

Sometimes I feel compassion

And sometimes anger

 

I am helpful sometimes

Sometimes I am not

Sometimes I make things worse

Sometimes, I hope, I make things better

 

Not just for myself

But for the planet

And for that person I see

 

May God/Love guide my seeing

May I see the child of God in the person

who is struggling and wounded

May I see the child of God in the one who is grasping,

in the person who out of anger and fear

is causing harm.

May I see not just the pain

But the possibilities

The beauty

The hope

 

Seeing demands action

May God, may love,

Guide my actions

 

May I be a force for love

A force for healing

May I be a voice crying in the wilderness

For justice and equity

 

Lord, help me to see

And Spirit-led, do something about what I see

On change

Things change

I am proof positive

I do not think the same things I thought 50 years ago

I do not feel the same way I did, even 10 years ago

My body reminds me every day that change is inexorable

 

I have wrinkles where once I was smooth

I droop and jiggle where once I was firm

I am weaker, slower, and more tired

My brain does not work the way it used to

I have no hair where I once had hair and hair in places I don’t want it.

Everything hurts and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work.

 

Things change

Not all change is good

We all know that

But much change is

 

I like electricity

And being able to fly on an airplane

I like my heated house with its running water

I am thankful for advances in medicines

And for cures that save the lives of people once doomed

 

I like computers and cell phones (mostly)

And yes, the internet too

 

I think it is great that we know about DNA

And that we understand a lot more about the wonderful and beautiful gender spectrum

That we know about the dangers of smoking

And the value of vegetables

And that we have vaccines

 

Things change

And honestly, we must change too

Change the way we think.

Change the way we act

 

We must adjust as new information comes along

 

We must change how we see LGBTQI+ people

We must change how we think about guns (and the second amendment)

We must change how we think about the planet (or we will destroy it)

 

We must change social norms

Change laws

Change our values and priorities

 

We must change

 

Thank God for science which pushes us forward

Thank God for creative people who invent amazing things

Thank God for open-hearted people who are willing to think in new ways

 

Thank God for Jesus who taught us to see God in a new way.

 

I don’t think God changes

I think God is love, and always has been, and always will be

But people did not always believe that God is loving or accepting

Nor that God is about generosity or forgiveness.

Nor that God is the champion of all.

 

People did not believe that the poor and vulnerable have a special place

In the heart of God

 

Until Jesus came along

OK

A few did.  Isaiah maybe

And Micah, and Amos

OK

Maybe a lot of people got that God was love

 

But a lot didn’t

And then Jesus came along and ate with sinners

And healed the sick

And said that the poor are blessed

 

Then Jesus came along and included all

And gave up power

And just Loved

 

But it’s funny (not)

The people of Jesus’ time had a hard time changing

So they killed him

He was too weird and uncomfortable and threatening

 

And sadly many people who claim the faith system that bears his name

Still can’t seem to leave behind

That cruel and retributive God

That controlling coercive God

 

They can’t grab hold of God’s new thing

They can’t accept the things Jesus taught

And they can’t live accordingly

 

God doesn’t change

But God asks us to change

God only asks us to keep a few things constant

Our love of Love, and our love for one another (and ourselves)

Those are the constants in a world of flux

 

So God asks us to love, and love, and love,

But God asks us to think differently about

The planet

Guns

Women

People who are different than us

Power

And wealth

 

Right now we have a lot of people who want to go back

Make America Great AGAIN (as if we have not had our problems)

Be a constitutional originalist (as if those white dudes in 1789 knew all there was to know about everything

 

Really?

Go back to racism?

Back to women as objects?

Back to a God who wants to burn most of creation in a lake of fire?

Back to the was of domination?

Back to demonizing people who happen to be born LBGTQI+?

Back?

 

Things Change

Not all change is good

But much is

And God is always doing a new thing

And asking us along for the ride.

 

I’m with God.

Open your eyes

An ethical and moral life is about letting go of indifference and learning how to see…

 

When the Zulu people greet each other they say Sawubona, which actually translates not to “I see you” but to “WE see you”…

One response is Sihkona – “I am here; I exist.”  Another response is Yebo, sawubona – “I see you seeing me.”  Being seen and seeing becomes a contract, a covenant.

 

In order to live a moral life, a good life, an ubuntu life, we must commit to a life of love that means seeing all the things.  See your neighbor suffering and do something about it.  See a stranger laboring under a heavy load and help out.  See lies spoken and shared in Social media and call foul.  See a friend soaring and say, “I see you beautiful creature!” and build their self-love tank.  Love doesn’t pretend, love keeps it real.

          Jacqui Lewis (Fierce Love pp. 209-212)

____________________________________

 

I see you

I see you, as you see your vote taken away

I see you, as you are treated as “less” because of the color of your skin

I see you, as you deal with a history of repression and genocide

and mourn lands lost to white greed.

I see you, as you agonize over the death of the planet

I see you, as you lose control over your own body

 

I see you, as fearful and angry you grasp for power

I see you, as you find that no amount of wealth is ever enough

I see you, as liars plant seeds of fear in your heart

I see you, as your old comfortable privileges are challenged

 

I see you, as you struggle with cancer

As depression or anxiety haunt every breath

I see you, as you struggle for breath and COPD claims your vitality

I see you, as your marriage crumbles

 

There is so much pain in this world

I see it

I cannot help myself

It is there, crying out

Asking for compassion, kindness

Asking for honesty

Asking for healing

 

Because I see,

Sometimes I pray

Sometimes I give

Sometimes I speak out

Sometimes I am silent

Sometimes I feel compassion

And sometimes anger

 

I am helpful sometimes

Sometimes I am not

Sometimes I make things worse

Sometimes, I hope, I make things better

 

Not just for myself

But for the planet

And for that person I see

 

May God/Love guide my seeing

May I see the child of God in the person

who is struggling and wounded

May I see the child of God in the one who is grasping,

in the person who out of anger and fear

is causing harm.

May I see not just the pain

But the possibilities

The beauty

The hope

 

Seeing demands action

May God, may love,

Guide my actions

 

May I be a force for love

A force for healing

May I be a voice crying in the wilderness

For justice and equity

 

Lord, help me to see

And Spirit-led, do something about what I see

Ceding power, God's stragtegy

It takes more power than I can imagine to give up power…

We do not have to understand anything except that the Maker loves us enough to come and be part of us.  This is what matters

          Madeleine L’Engle (Bright Evening Star)

__________________________________________

 

Love (Aka God)

is weird

 

Really, weird

 

When we think of God we think of power

The think of God having and using power

Of God, in control!

Calling the shots!

 

Sometimes we wander into that space

where we think God’s power is our power

 

After all, God is our God

that great cosmic bellhop in the sky

whom we ask to give us goodies

give us comfort

give us power

gives us “wins”

give us healing

 

it’s not all bad

turning to God for help

for if one can’t turn to the One who is Love

who can we turn to

 

after all, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”   (I Cor. 13)

 

but too often we miss the point

that in Jesus God gave up power (Phil 2)

 

and God came down

down into this world

down into the pain, the anger, the hate

down into the mess

 

and when God came down God exerted only one kind of power

the power of Love

 

Yes, there were miracles, but they were miracles of love

of healing

and feeding

 

and then there was the miracle of the cross

 

it was a miracle because God chose to change the

the world through loving participation in the world’s pain

rather than through a coercive, domination oriented

use of power

 

I believe the cross was inevitable

not because God “planned” the cross

but because God knew that when you throw love

into the midst of hate and violence

hate and violence will inevitably

attack

 

and destroy

 

but God also knew that Love gets up

that Love rises from the ashes

and lifts everything else up with it

 

that love, ultimately (although not in the short-term)

wins

 

many of those in America (and elsewhere)

who claim God

are also seeking and claiming power

power over

power over others

especially those they don’t value

or those they dislike

or those who frighten them

or those who make the squirm

or those who are different.

 

They claim power through politics

They claim power through the judicial system (SCOTUS)

They claim power

 

When

They should be letting go of power

And loving

 

Loving the black person who wants to vote

Loving the woman who in desperation wonders if she can survive another child

Loving the immigrant who has fled certain death

Loving the person with addiction who has lost control of his or her life

Loving the children who live in fear of mass shooting

 

Power suppresses the vote

Controls women’s bodies

Excludes the immigrant

Incarcerates the person in addiction

Insists on the “right to bear arms”

 

Love lets God

And reaches out

And picks up

 

Love comforts

Feeds

Lays down weaponry

Stands with people in their desperation and pain

 

And love

Love is how God works.

 

 

On Extremism

I will not tire of declaring that if we really want an effective end to violence we must remove the violence that lies at the root of all violence: structural violence, social injustice, exclusion of citizens from the management of the country, repression. All this is what constitutes the primal cause, from which the rest flows naturally.*

Oscar Romero

 

“We are living in modern times throughout the world and yet are dominated by medieval minds.”

Eqbal Ahmad

 

Now, really, how arch

Can you be when you march

With a sword,

With a spear?

You belong

 

To a curious team,

You're in the extreme,

Maybe left,

Maybe right,

Maybe wrong.”

Walt Kelly, The Pogo Poop Book

__________________________

 

perhaps I am wrong

I want to be wrong

But it seems like an inconvertible truth

 

extremism makes a person blind

as  Clint Eastwood (great philosopher that he is)

once said

“Extremism is so easy. You've got your position, and that's it. It doesn't take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right you meet the same idiots coming around from the left. (Interview, Time Magazine, February 20, 2005)”

 

extremism makes a person rigid

extremism narrows a person’s world down

but most of all

 

extremism makes a person cruel

 

by definition extremists are on

the end of the spectrum

 

it does not matter which end

 

and they deem as unacceptable anything to the left (or right)

of their position

 

which means that almost everything is unacceptable

 

and if it is unacceptable, it must be irradicated

controlled

even destroyed

 

which means extremism is cold, and it is cruel

 

I have seen Vegans bemoan humans killing animals

but joke about animals killing humans

Really?

 

I have seen liberals celebrate when people on the right end of the spectrum

Face difficult times

 

And conservative suggest liberals ought to be put in “camps”

 

We have seen the rush to ban abortion by pro-life (really pro-birth) extremists,

a campaign that is now bearing fruit

 

while protecting the lives of zygotes and fetuses

this movement totally and cruelly abandons

the female human creatures who carry them

 

ignoring incest and rape

ignoring age

ignoring, ultimately, the child who is born

 

functionally abandoning them (because of their political orientation)

once born

to violence

illness

gun violence

homelessness

hunger

 

cruelly forcing both mother and child

into a lifetime of pain

 

sure, it’s complicated

but that is the point

it is complicated

and there is no room in extremism for complications

for inconvenient truths

 

so it is OK to destroy a 13-year-old girl

who has been raped

and consider her agony an “opportunity”

 

Ok to demand the right to bear arms

And ignore the

 

extremism leads to violence

not just physical violence, such as that seen on January sixth

but emotional,

spiritual

relational violence

 

extreme anything can do great harm

 

unless

it is extreme love

which does not stake a spot

at any one place on the spectrum

but in love

embraces the whole spectrum

 

I can only think of Jesus on the cross

Arms stretched wide

Reaching out to the criminals on either side

Arms stretched wide

Embracing the tormentors below him

Embracing the mourners below him

Embracing the disciples, the women, the Romans

His friends, his enemies

All

 

Any ideology, theology

Any stance we would embrace

Any value

 

Must always be subservient to love

If your love of zygotes negates your love of the woman

who happens to carry that zygote?

There is a problem

 

If your love of guns negates your love

Of children

There is a problem

 

If your love of power

Negates your love of equity, or equality

There is a problem

 

If your love of money

Negates your love of people

 

Even love for the oppressed

Can lead to an abandonment of love!

 

As I said, it is complicated

 

It seems as if the only form of extremism that is healthy

The extremism that says

(and perhaps there are exceptions even here)

I will not leave the planet behind

I will not leave the flora and fauna behind

I will leave no human creature behind

 

I will love

and do the best I can

to eradicate hate

and violence

 

toward anyone

toward anything

 

I will inch my way toward

that extreme place

illustrated by Jesus on the cross

 

and embrace all

love at its best

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.

          Martin Luther King Jr.

_______________________________

 

I believe in power

But there is power, and then there is power

 

There is that power that is “top-down”

The power of domination and control

The power of retribution and punishment

 

There is the power that denies justice

And inhibits equity

The power of greed and racism

 

There is the power that intimidates

with guns

and brutality

the power that kneels on a black man’s neck

until he is dead

 

the power that oppresses and suppresses

 

there is the power of the tempter in the wilderness

who slyly suggested

that Jesus could have that kind of power

 

and that if he did

“what a wonderful world it would be”

 

Then there is that power that bubbles up

from the goodness of the universe

from mountain high, and valley deep

 

that power that springs up from deep within our souls

planted there, a good seed,

by a God who is love

 

the power of good

of original blessing

of love

 

this is the power of compassion

and generosity

the power of sacrifice

the power of justice

the power of service

 

there is no question

that Jesus modeled a weird kind of power

a power expressed by dying on a cross

 

and there is no question

that Jesus calls us to wield that same kind of power

 

I want to be a power broker

I want to use the power of love

The power of service and sacrifice

 

I want to live a life where every day

my words and actions help build

Equity, Equality

and Justice

 

where every day I disrupt hate

and greed

 

most people know John 3:16

it would be nice if we remembered 1 John 3:16 (and 17 & 18)

 

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

 

that, my friends

is what true power looks like

it looks like that kind of love 

On Gratitude

Religion is supreme thankfulness or gratitude

          Thomas Aquinas

________________________________

 

In the morning when I rise

I have a choice

 

A choice about how I will walk through this new day

A choice about what I will notice

A choice about what I will allow to shape my thoughts, my feelings, my actions

 

Sometimes it feels as if I don’t have a choice

As if the world has the power to shape me into its mold

 

And it is true!

I can’t avoid the ugliness of the world

The brutality of the war in Ukraine

The cold grip of religious authoritarianism

The racism

The greed

 

I must be awake to what is wrong in the world

 

But it is not true that I must let those realities

shape my soul

It is not true that I must allow

The ugliness of the world to become ugliness within.

 

I must also be awake to what is beautiful

I must see the beauty of the mountain on a spring morning

Snow painted pink by the rising sun.

I must see the beauty of the mule deer, who

affronted by my presence stare at me across the fence

I must see the beauty of creation

God’s self-expression

 

And I must be grateful

Gratefulness comes from both without and within

I can see the beauty without

When I am in touch with the love within

 

When I am not shaped by the world

But am transformed by the inner presence of Sacred Love

Then I have the freedom to see the good in the world

The good in other people

(and yes, the good in myself)

 

And then I can be grateful

And gratitude is powerful

Meister Eckhart once noted

“if the only prayer you say in your whole life is ‘Thank you” that would suffice.

 

We must learn gratitude

Matthew Fox suggests that the opposite of gratitude is forgetfulness

Forgetfulness

Forgetting God’s love

God’s creativity

God’s grace

 

This day may I not forget

This day may I remember

That love, creativity, and grace

 

This day may I be grateful

And live accordingly

 

there is enough

The 150-plus gallons of wine at Cana point to a generous God, a God who never runs out of holy things. This is the God who, much to the chagrin of Jonah, saved the rebellious city of Nineveh, the God who turned five loaves of bread and a couple of fish into a lunch to feed five thousand with baskets of leftovers to spare. This God is like a vineyard manager who pays a full day’s wage for just one hour of work, or like a shepherd who leaves his flock in search of a single lamb, or like a father who welcomes his prodigal son home with a robe, a ring, and a feast…

… our God is in the business of transforming ordinary things into holy things, scraps of food into feasts and empty purification vessels into fountains of fine wine. This God knows his way around the world, so there’s no need to fear. . . . There’s always enough—just taste and see. There’s always and ever enough.

                     Rachel Held Evans (Searching for Sunday)

_______________________________

 

There is always enough

Or at least there would always be enough

 

To feed the hungry

Clothe the poor

House those without homes

Provide medical care for all

 

There would be enough that all could flourish

and none would want

 

if we truly trusted the generosity of God

if we truly understood how deep, and wide, and high

is the love of God

 

there would be enough if we saw the planet

as a precious expression of God’s very nature

and took care of it

 

there would be enough if we understood

that every living creature is precious

and every human creature

a carrier of, and incarnation of

the Sacred

 

there would  be enough

if we believed that God loves and welcomes all

not just a few

them not just us

 

that God forgives

and transforms

and restores

 

there would be enough if we accepted the radicality of Jesus

“sell all you have and give to the poor”

there would be enough if we considered the lilies of the field

 

it is not easy

it goes against everything we have been taught

 

this path collides with our fear

our desire for comfort

our need for power (and wealth is power)

 

but Gandhi said it well

The “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need but not for every man's greed.“

 

there would be enough

if

filled with God’s love

aware of God’s blessings

trusting that God can turn leftovers into a feast

understanding that if we stop grasping and hoarding and

 

we would open our minds

and our hearts

and our hands

 

then we would not live in a world

where a rich dude can throw 44 billion

at a social networking site

while children starve

and people are without homes

and others must use GoFundMe

to get the cancer care they need

 

we would live in a world where

there is enough

to go around

 

with leftovers

Why are we here?

We are all here, struggling to live up to the values we share, so join the crowd.  Join the band of everyday folks falling down and getting up again, failing, trying, often shining with compassion and kindness, sometimes backsliding into pettiness and fear.  Welcome to being human.  Do our best, right where you are to love someone into healing…   you don’t need to walk through fire or pass any tests to be a love warrior.  You simply say yes.  That’s why you’re here.

          Jacqui Lewis (Fierce Love, p. 136)

__________________________________________

 

 

Why are we here?

 

Why?

 

Everyone has an answer!

For some life is all about winning, controlling, dominating.

For some life is about protecting.

For some life is about accumulating.

 

After all the one with the most power

and the most toys wins!!!

Right?

 

The role models of this perspective abound

and we see their tortured posturing daily

as they lie and ferment fear and hate

these people who not only tell lies

but live a lie

 

for they are lying to themselves

that this life they are leading is why they are here

 

that this way of hate and cruelty

control, retribution, and punishment

has anything to do with what it means

to be a successful human

 

Imago Dei indeed

 

Why are we here?

To love God and enjoy God forever?  Yes!!!

But in loving God to be loved by God

And being loved by God to love and value ourselves

And being filled with love and joy (as only those in love can be)

to love others

 

Oh yeah!

We fail!  Often!

 

We fall, we get up.

We fail, we succeed.

We are loving one moment and a complete jerk the next.

We are kind and then cruel.

 

We listen to the wrong people

Believe the wrong things.

We choose poorly.

 

But through it all, we are loved fiercely by God

We are filled with God’s acceptance

and we have the capacity

to love others

 

All we need to do is say yes!

 

Yes! As Abram said “yes”

Yes! As Moses said “yes”

Yes! As David said “yes”

Yes! As Mary said “yes”

Yes! As Jesus said “yes”

Yes! As Peter said “yes”

And Paul too

 

We need a few “No’s” too

As Jesus said “No”

No to the lure of power

No to the lure of accumulation

No, sometimes, to safety

No to the liars and manipulators

 

But mostly we need to say “yes”

And we need to let our “yeses” overcome our “no’s”

Yes, to Love

And yes, again and again

For that is why we are here

Not Just Me

We should consider each other fellow travelers sitting in the same boat.  If the boat sinks, we will all sink together.

          Thich Nhat Hanh

 

What happens to another, whether it be a joy or a sorrow happens to me

          Meister Eckhart

 

Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others

          Paul

______________________________________

 

It is tempting to make it

all about “me”

 

to join with those

for whom life is a transaction

a matter of giving

but mostly taking

 

after all, radical individualism

doing what benefits one’s self

without regard for the other

is as American as apple pie

 

and so is the love of power

so many of us love to dominate and control

and so will do whatever it takes to gain power and keep power

 

the only measure of success

being whether it benefits us

 

and we gather in packs (or political parties)

drawing around us people of like mind

in a toxic and deadly game

that ignores the common good

for self-benefit

 

thus we put people in power

who ignore the common good

who value power over people

 

we entrust our states, even our county

to people who will do anything

anything

censor

pass oppressive laws

suppress the vote

neglect the poor

use their power retributively

value money and power over people

 

with only one thought in mind

winning

we want to win, win, win,

We want to win until we are tired of winning!

 

The end result is leaders who appeal to the worst in us

And tap into fear and resentment

into smallness

 

the end result is division

and disparity, inequity

injustice

 

we forget that we are in this together

we are sitting in the same boat

and if the boat goes down

we all suffer

 

the reality is this

if we make others suffer, we suffer too

if we help others find joy, we find joy too

 

I am sorry, Governor DeSantis

Former President Trump

Senator McConnell

 

I am sorry church leaders

who push an agenda of domination and division

(us versus them)

 

You have it wrong!

 

And I, when I buy into the same mentality

When I respond in kind

When if forget that we all are children of God

And carry the image

 

I too have it wrong!

 

This day, may I look more deeply within myself

and find Sacred presence

and find Sacred love

 

This day may I look more deeply into those around me

 

And this day may I commit myself to one task

Fierce love

A love that sees not my own benefit

But the benefit of others

 

For Jesus came to save the world

Not just me