We have a choice

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Humans have a propensity to sin; life is full of temptations and our own natures tempt and mislead us.  But we do NOT inherit sinfulness; we are born innocent.  As our lives unfold, we draw closer to God or farther from God through the choices we make… We learn goodness by confronting choices in the world and choosing well; and in the process of learning goodness, we become more like God…Life is not a process of moral repair… it is a process of moral development. 

 

The church provides an account of Christian citizenship which is not defensive, fearful, or self-isolating, but which embraces the messy frustration process of negotiation as bringing Americans closer to God.  It renounces as scriptural the zero-sum…  mentality in which only one side can triumph and everything depends on winning the next election..  It rejects any effort to model politics on warfare, any desire to drink the other side’s tears.  It also rejects the radical version of progressivism which would impose secular law on religious life….     

          Jonathan Rauch, Cross Purposes

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Adam and Eve sat under a tree

And, so the story goes, gained the knowledge of good and evil

Acquired the ability to engage in moral reasoning

 

Is this right, or is this wrong??

Or, in Jesus' terms, is this love, or is it not love?

 

As children of God, we cannot be forced to follow

It must be a willful offering, a decision of

Heart, mind, and soul

 

Instead we get to choose,

And wait, there is more

For us to have moral agency

We not only have choices,

But we are blessed, or is it cursed, with the consequences of our choices.

 

But it is in the freedom, in the choosing

That we “grow up unto Christ”  (Ephesians 4)

This is how we become more than dependent infants

Or worse, an oppressed and controlled people

With a cruel God

 

This is how we become real

This is how we become sacred children

This is how God becomes a parent

Not a tyrant

 

Yes, we can choose poorly

And we can make monumental messes of our lives

Even our country, and the planet

 

Yes, the consequences can be good and bad

That is the risk that makes us offspring

Not slaves

 

Because as we walk along our given path, and make choices, good and bad,

God will walk along side us all

Each of us, individually and collectively

And work in and through our choices,

Even if they are wrong

 

Even as we work our way out of messes of our own making

We are growing and learning,

Growing wiser and stronger

 

But of course freedom is unpredictable and messy

 

So, we try to prevent sin by making it impossible to sin

We try to control others through coercion

And the application of power

 

Thus the church models its relationship to the world as warfare

And supports oppressive control

And coercion

 

Christians believe they need to fight, and win

Or all is lost

 

But all is not lost

God is always present, always working, always nudging and directing

Always seeking to make us precious children

Always creating new beginnings, so that

Sometimes we win by losing, and come alive by dying to many things

 

God is always seeking to move us forward

 

So plan A becomes plan B, becomes plan C

(I think I may be on plan 24Z)

 

But this says something about what kind of government

And what kind of faith system we embrace

 

No, gangster fascism is not OK

Using force, oppressing, creating fear

Seeking to force all into obedience to our will

Into our concept of good, or holy, is not OK

 

Christian nationalism and the Church of fear

Are not of God

 

If they were Adam and Eve would not have been given a choice

The Kings of Israel would have all be good

Jesus would not have chosen the way of servanthood and sacrifice

 

No, we don’t (or at least I don’t) totally understand it

And it is messy and painful

And we stumble and fall

But we fall, we fall into the arms of Grace (as Rohr puts it, we “fall upward”)

 

And something good happens.

 

I wish I had not made many of the choices I have made

(I wish people had not made the choice to vote for MAGA)

 

But I know this.  As a child of God I have choices.

 I am free to make them, even if I choose poorly

I am not free to avoid the consequences

 

I also know that when I choose poorly

My God is with me, working with me

Loving me

Healing me

 

And that is how I learn, and grow

And become more like Christ

 

(OK, I have chosen to write far too long.

I will simply refer you to Hebrews 5:11-14)

 

Blessing on us all

And God help us