What is the nature of the Sacred?
Or if we must be anthropomorphic, what is the nature of
God?
And thus what, if we are the bearers of the Sacred or
those created in the image,
Should be our nature?
Is the power that brought all into being
And sustains it, one way or another,
Restorative, or Retributive?
It is I think, an important question.
Is nature restorative or retributive?
After all, we abuse our planet!
Is it the nature of our planet to restore itself,
And thus bring gifts of plenty to us?
Plenty of water, grain, and fruit. The warmth of the sun. The refreshment of the rain?
Can we sing the words of the old hymn (yeah, I know,
Godspell too)
“All good gifts around us are sent from heav’n above.
We thank you, God, we thank you, God, for all your love’
Or is nature retributive
Paying us back for our “sins’ with hurricanes,
Tornadoes
Drought
Floods
Earthquakes
Fire?
Is that mystical force that is in nature
And in us (I believe)
Woven into the fabric of everything
Retributive or restorative
Or to use more classical terminology
Does “God/Sacred/Love, who is we insist, all about
justice
Use retributive justice or restorative justice.
We know all about retributive justice
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Or, as we in America still, sadly practice it
A life for a life.
Seems reasonable at first glance.
That person who killed that child ought to die.
Those people who caused 9/11 should be destroyed
Hamas, those bloody perpetrators of terror should be
eradicated
Make them pay!
Our souls scream
But it seems that all too often we do more than get even
We battle evil, using the tools of evil, and evil rubs
off on us
As Nadia Bolz-Weber puts it,
“we can actually absorb the worst of our enemy and on
some level
even become them.”
When I hold on to hate.
When I lust for revenge.
Something bad happens to me (and you)
And I don’t end up reducing evil, I feed it.
Think about what America did after 9/11
Over 20 years now of a destabilized and increasingly
violent world
We did not make it better with our bombs, and our
invasions.
We made it worse
I worry about how we respond now.
On so many levels
We see the right engaged in the rhetoric of retribution.
They promise that if they get back in power people will
pay!!
And on the left, we see a lust for vengeance
And rejoicing when those on the far right pay the price
of their extremism
Jesus said, (Matthew 5, Sermon on the Mount)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth
for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you
on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to
sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you
to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do
not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[b]
and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
Seriously, Jesus?
What about accountability?
What about protecting ourselves?
What about…?
How far do we go!?
Jesus says, “As far as the cross”
(Or so it seems to me)
Mind you, I believe in justice!
But justice should be restorative in nature
Jesus responded to violence by dying and refusing to be
retributive
Instead, he turned that event into something restorative
This is how you live, the cross cries
This is how you die
For others!
Father forgive them
Today you will be with me in paradise.
This (the violence and the hate stop here)
I know, it doesn’t seem to work!
Or does it?
That mystical difficult faith Jesus taught is still
around
And people have changed the world with a restorative
approach
Martin Luther King Jr.
Gandhi, Mandela… more
This is why I can’t go with the classic view of hell
The way it is presented it is retributive
Turn or burn, for all eternity
I believe God’s dealing with us, even when they might
hurt
For a moment
Are always about restorative
About bringing us back to the way of love.
I have no answers for the complications
I understand the “practical” issues with the way of Jesus
I am not sure how I would respond to Hamas, the “Jesus
way.”
I believe in accountability
I just struggle with what that looks like.
However, we respond to violence
To hate, and racism, and all the ills of humanity
Our goal cannot stop with accountability and retribution
We must always look past those to restoration
What would the world look like today?
If we had sought to bring restoration of prosperity and
peace to the Middle East
After 911
If Israel had sought to truly bring peace and hope to the
Palestinians after the conflicts there?
If the GOP or the Democrats truly wanted
ALL people, even those on the other side to find peace
and hope and healing?
I have no clear answers
But I do believe that God is restorative, not retributive
And that God loves all
And I believe that I should reflect
The image of God
God help us all
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