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.