America, 2018: The Whole Truth

There is much to celebrate in America. Yes, that I know, and for all the good and all the great, I give thanks.

Some would call attention only to the good and to the great, but that's not enough for emotional or political health. We have to face the stark realities of a mixed story, filled with sorrow, blood, violence and death.

We have to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to free ourselves from the current divide pulling us apart, and giving rise to instincts and behavior originating, not in the heart of a human being, but in what's left of our reptilian brain.

We are:

A land of genocide and slavery.
   A land of lynchings and Jim Crow.
      A land of Trails of Tears.
         A land of internments and prisons.
            A land fraught with fear of the other,
A land of Sacco and Vanzetti, and Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, and Joe McCarthy.
   A land of manic religion and self-righteousness, full of Jesus-talk and devoid of his Spirit.
      A land of military might and industrial power.
         A land ripping to shreds the earth, fouling air and water, and grabbing the money.
            A land where politicians are bought and sold with ease by the NRA.
A land where a president (in name only) has a child's mind and a vindictive personality disorder, and 36 percent of the population think he's terrific.

Until America can face these realties, the divide will continue to grow, and the cancer eating away at our soul will intensify, because a land cannot long survive on half-truths and lies; a nation that cannot tell the truth about itself will not stand the test of time.

The Lord of History is kind and patient, but not endlessly so. The annals of time are replete with failed histories, great and storied nations that ran aground and sunk on the rocks of falsehood and dissimulation.

It hurts to tell the truth, but it's a hurt unto humility and healing and hope.

All Lives Matter????

When someone says, "All lives matter," I'm immediately suspicious.

Why?

Because I think it's an avoidance thing ... an avoidance of the specific, the very specific, issue: Black Lives Matter, and every day, how our society makes it clear that Black Lives don't matter very much at all.

The avoidance of the specific, to blunt the sorrow and to sidestep responsibility.

Yes, all lives matter ... but without specificity, the slogan becomes just another meaningless, throwaway phrase ... like, "How are you today?" or, "Have a good day!"

In reality, if we want to get serious and go to work, then it's Black Lives Matter ... here is a need, a task, to keep our society busy for a long time to come.

Some would say, "The Devil's in the details."

I say, "God is in the details, and so is love and justice, if we make it so."

Mourdock

Mourdock, Rape and God!

Another example of the pro-birth crowd and its idiocy.

Pro-birth - that's what it is.

Birth at any price.

Rape, whatever!

Who cares about the mother?

Who cares about the criminal intent of the man?

It's what God intended.

And who can argue with God?

The whole thing is so wrong, on so many fronts.

It takes a loving God and twists God into a monster.

It makes light of evil.

It's obsessed with birth.

It has no regard for the women as a human being, but only as a baby-factory.

I keep asking: Where does this crap come from?

What kind of a church promotes this junk?

Who are the preachers blabbing such nonsense?

I've been a pastor for 42 years.

I have a D.Min. from a fine seminary with an excellent faculty.

I've read widely, and continue to do so.

I've been a faithful follower of Jesus all of my adult life and some of my earliest memories are of God's gracious presence.

Mourdock is wrong and he doesn't speak for God.

His opinion is warped and dangerous.

He doesn't belong in a pulpit.

And he doesn't belong in the Senate.

Can Religion Ever Lead the Way?

Congress is holding hearings on discrimination in the government against transgenders, who are finally being given a chance to tell their story. Hats off to Representatives Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin for these hearings.

The Bush admin has been a hostile environment, but the simple truth is sadder: the TG community has long been on the thin margin, and only the recent efforts of the gay and lesbian community has brought the light of compassion and common sense to bear.

But once again, "religious" folk reveal a narrow, if not malicious mindset - hiding behind religion, convoluting and twisting it, rather than using religion to open doors and "make straight the way of the Lord."

Opposing the legislation, Glen Lavy, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, said it would be a mistake to define gender identity or gender expression as a protected class. He said that objections to "the concept of transgender" are based on religious beliefs and that forcing the idea as a valid concept "is like forcing an Orthodox Jew to eat pork." And he said that employers would have difficulty enforcing dress codes and assuring privacy.

Exclusion arguments all have the same ring.

Read what folks said about integration 60 years ago. Dire predictions of social decay and disruption, not to mention "religious beliefs" supporting segregation.

Religion always has a narrowing impulse (see Leviticus), yet this is the very book Jesus quoted when adding a second component to His summary of the Law: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18).

When Peter (a Jew) is engaged by God to reach outward to the Gentiles (Acts 10), Peter has scruples, but in a vision/dream, Peter sees a sheet (picnic blanket) coming down from heaven with all kinds of unclean animals on it - the Lord says, "Eat!"

It seems that Peter was hungry!

Peter objects: "I've never eaten anything unclean."

The Lord says, "Don't call unclean when I've made clean."

Did the Lord have a change of mind?

Yup.

Lots of things necessary at one point give way to a new scheme - that's pretty much the heart and soul of the Bible - God really changes - not in love or purpose, but in the details, as God moves religion along a pathway from exclusion to inclusion, from narrowness to expansiveness, from hatred to love of neighbor, reminding all of us to not call "unclean" what God calls clean.

In these days of transition, God is clearly shaking the pillars of religion all around the world. Giving us a good shake, we're nervous, clinging to outmoded models and shouting our little laws and traditions all the louder, in the hope of proving their validity by our volume.

Like Peter, are we not hungry?
For Justice and Peace?
For a better world?

Like Peter, are we not tempted to stand by the old laws and regulations, the old patterns of thought and prejudice?

Yet in our hunger, God shows us a better way. At first, "Oh no, Lord; I'd never do that."

But God is doing a new thing (see Isaiah 43:19).

I thank God for the windows of understanding and tolerance being opened. I just wish "religious" folk could be at the vanguard.

Campaign

Will the Dems slug it out?

Hope not, but even if they do, two candidates vying for the nomination will at least keep the cameras turned away from McCain.

I have no doubt that McCain is a man of integrity and intelligence, though I disagree with him on most everything.

The easy way he says, "I'm a conservative," caves in to the mantra of the right-wing, which hasn't had a constructive or coherent thought in decades, if ever, simply because it relies upon cliches and slogans that fire up the heart of the unthinking!

The current collapse of the economy is the fruit of a Repub policy and a fruitless war that can only bring more heartache to our world, and now that the news is out, that soldiers are committing suicide at a higher-than-ever rate, we ought to review our foolish ways and become a partner with the world, rather than trying to be a world-dominating superpower - which simply means pretension and hyperbole - there is no such thing as a superpower, but only large nations with vast sums of money to support a huge military machine.

Superpowers are deluded by their own dreams, and always and ever extend themselves beyond their capacity, only to experience humiliation and loss, at which point, we can go back to the moral drawing board, or in a fit of pride, exert our powers all the more (which is exactly the trap into which Bush and Gang have fallen).

All human greatness is from God.
All human greatness becomes arrogant.
God brings down all human arrogance.