“I must grow smaller so he can grow greater”
John the
Baptist (John 3:30)
God is already present. God’s Spirit is dwelling within
us. We cannot search for what we already have. We cannot talk God into coming
“to” us by longer and more urgent prayers. All we can do is become quieter,
smaller, and less filled with our own self and our constant flurry of ideas and
feelings. Then God will be obvious in the very now of things, and in the
simplicity of things. To sum it all up, we can never get there, we can only be
there.
Richard
Rohr
__________________________________
I am an anxious soul
I was so anxious as a child that I had to take anti-acids
In grade school!
It is easy for me to get wrapped up in worry
And these are worrisome times
We have a man with no shame,
A man who cannot tell the truth
A man who has (mostly) likely assaulted women
Running for President
And supported by an intense and cult-like following
We have a Supreme Court riddled with graft
And extreme ideology
Which refuses to look at its perfidy
And there for is illegitimate and unjust
We have looming economic collapse
Because one party has created a lose/lose scenario
Go into default or past a bill that harms the poor (while
protecting the rich)
We have an epidemic of gun violence
And yet continue to worship guns
We have a party which has turned fundamentally fascist
And is living out that ideology of domination and retribution
At the state level
We have a movement to deny the existence
Of people who were created LGBTQI+
And not just deny their existence, but extinguish it
We have abused power
Hate
Racism
Graft
Greed
And much of this dysfunction is being done in the name of
Jesus
Forgive us God,
For while some know not what they do
Some know exactly what they are doing, and they don’t
care.
How did we get here?
We got here because we have attached to the wrong things
We have filled our souls with the wrong things
With spiritual garbage
In the Gospel of Matthew 5:3-10, Jesus proclaims nine
Beatitudes:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit”,
“Blessed are those who mourn”,
“Blessed are the meek”,
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness”,
“Blessed are the merciful”,
“Blessed are the pure in heart”,
“Blessed are the peacemakers”,
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of
righteousness”,
“Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you
and utter all kinds of calumny
against you
falsely on my account.”
I would summarize it this way
Blessed are those who let go of the need for power
Blessed are those who let go of the need to always feel “happy”
Blessed are those who are able to let go of their ego
Blessed are those who insist on the truth
Blessed are those who see the pain of others
Blessed are those who are willing to seek the common good
Blessed are those who do what is right, even if it is not
politically expedient
Blessed are those who are willing to be marginalized
because they stand on the side of love.
Because they stand with those the world would marginalize (the poor, the
mentally ill, the LGBTQI+ community, the immigrants, the aged)
Or more simply yet
Blessed are those who fall into Love
Who empty themselves
Who become quieter, smaller, and less filled with their
own self
Less filled with a need for wealth
Less filled with a need for power
Less filled with the need to get retribution
Less filled with fear
So that there is room for Love
For Sacred
For the Holy Spirit
For to these belong the Kingdom of Heaven
These are the people who will ultimately prove that love
wins
And God knows
It is not those loudly proclaiming Jesus
And proclaiming Jesus
And legislating their version of Jesus
Who are going to “win the world” for the Sacred (Love)
It is those who have emptied themselves, who have taken
on the mindset of Jesus
Those who “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
conceit.
But in humility value others above themselves,
And look not to their own interests
but to the interests of others.
This is the only way we will ever pull the Kingdom of God
into reality
This is the only way it will be “on earth as it is in
heaven”
This is “the way” God will become present in the very “now
of things”
In this very hurting world
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