Author: Pat Liberty

Your insipid twaddle is tiresome. You are not being oppressed.

• Oppressed are people of color who, every day, face a double standard and do not have access to the same opportunities you have because you are white. While you flash the confederate flag around you show your intent to keep hatred and prejudice alive.
• Oppressed are the poor who bear a disproportionate burden of this public health crisis. Traditional low wage workers were barely making it before this disaster. They don’t have the option of working from home. They may not even have a home.
• Oppressed are the six million Jews sent to the gas chambers during World War II because some lunatic decided they were an inferior race. It is tragic on every level, including the level that had thousands of people blindly following a crazy despot.
• Oppressed are GLBTQ persons in this country who don’t meet your standard for how someone should look or who they should love.

Wearing a mask does not quality as oppression. Privileged, selfish, spoiled, entitled small human beings are far more apt descriptors.

You think that your individual “rights” are more important than the well-being of our nation’s people. There are hundreds of thousands of grieving family members whose loved ones died without them by their side who would beg to differ. Just. Stop. Get. Over. Yourselves.

Your self–righteous, self-important assertions are not becoming. Your rights are not being violated. Your right of free association is not impinged. You can gather with whatever group of nut jobs you choose. You should know, however, you are being played like a cheap kazoo. Your so-called protests are, in many cases, bankrolled by those who have political motivations. Yeah, it’s not that there are that many people who agree with you. They are being paid by high rollers to take up your “cause” for the political favors they will call in down the road. It’s called astroturfing, and the solidarity they show with you is as phony as the grass after which it is named.

Lest you think in error about how your rights are being violated, let me clarify. According to Civil Rights attorney Peter James, “the Supreme Court has long upheld time, place and manner of public gatherings.” The current restrictions are within well-defined parameters and are perfectly legal. According to James, “Public health and safety, especially where it comes to highly infectious diseases, has been upheld as a compelling governmental interest that can override fundamental rights including the right to free exercise of religious beliefs.”

It is also perfectly acceptable for store owners to set limits on what can be purchased and when. They are free to set their own policies and determine how these policies are carried out. For example, store owners have the right to limit your purchase of toilet paper for your whole town, should everyone get dysentery at the same time. Store owners also have the right to deny you entry into their store if you refuse to wear a mask. Deal with it. Don’t go to a store jonesing for a fight and start recording so you can demonstrate how oppressed you are. It makes you a laughing stock. Don’t go to a store and spit in a cashier’s face because you refuse to wear a mask. It is a disgusting behavior under any circumstances, all the more now as it might be deadly. You might take heed that someone who recently did this has been charged with a felony.

What is curiously absent in your whiny assertions about your rights is a moral conscience. During World War II people willingly (for the most part) lived with rationing. It was for the good of the war effort and people were united around it. Currently, we need to be united around a common cause–saving lives and stopping the spread of the Corona virus. If you are utterly unable or unwilling to see this, you are indeed a sad human being.

The limits you are being asked to obey are for the good of people as a whole–social well-being over individual “liberty.” You are simply being asked to “take one for the team.” It is in the best interest of our country for you to get off your self-righteous soap box and follow the rules. Put on the damn mask. The loved one you save may be your own. The longer you insist on your silly little protests, the longer this virus is going to spread unchecked.

You should know that blathering on about your “rights” makes you look arrogant and unconcerned about anyone other than yourself. No one wears that look well. I would like to believe that you are better than that, but your behavior suggests otherwise. Prove me wrong, please. I dare you to put forth a better self. I challenge you to subvert your own self-centeredness with gestures of magnanimity that benefit everyone.

I have no idea what your political affiliation is and I do not care. What may interest you, however, is that there is wide bi-partisan support for not opening everything too soon. According to the Atlantic Monthly, roughly sixty percent of Americans are concerned about opening too soon.  You are not in the majority.

There is a need for social unity over individual assertion of rights and liberties. People everywhere are counting on every one of us to put forward our best selves.

Around the nation, and indeed around the world, people are missing out on celebrations.

• Graduates are missing the pomp and circumstance that acknowledges the work they have done to finish a particular part of their education.
• People who have had loved ones die as a result of the pandemic are denied a traditional funeral gathering.
• Our Muslim sisters and brothers are not able to celebrate Ramadan in traditional ways. (This Saturday marks Eid al-Fatr, a celebration marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.)
• Our Jewish sisters and brothers are unable to celebrate bar and bat mitzvahs.
• Baptisms/child blessings are on hold.
• Corporate worship during the Passover and Easter season was cancelled, as is weekly worship even now.
• In the Hispanic community, there are no Quinceanera celebrations marking a young girl’s transition to womanhood.
• In the Amish community, Rumspringa is being marked in a different way. Rumspringa is the time when young people are encouraged to go and enjoy all that life has to offer outside the Amish community. Then, if they return to the community, it is believed they make a more conscious choice to live in the Amish tradition.
• Wedding celebrations have been changed, postponed or drastically changed to meet social distancing and safety rules.

There is a combination of religious and cultural events that traditionally happen in the spring. For adolescents these rituals signify the transition from childhood to adulthood. For the grieving, these rituals signal the end of life as it is known and the transition to whatever comes next. Funerals also give a toe hold into grief, a socially marked time to express the sadness of a loved one’s death. For those getting married it signals a transition to a new and mutual partnership through life.  Weekly worship both encourages faith and expresses faith.

As all these life cycle rituals are put on hold, there are some amazing and creative ways people are celebrating. It is heartening to see all the ways graduations are being marked in communities across the country. Drive-through-weddings are now a thing…who thought that would ever happen? What’s next, drive through baptisms with a super soaker?

Joking aside, what all these rituals have in common is that they are more than the sum of their parts. They are not just words that are said in front of a bunch of people, followed by a party. Ritual is what gives us a place to stand for a moment, to mark a specific moment, as time inexorably marches on. Rituals punctuate time and proclaim the moment as significant.

Rituals also need people to bear witness. While some people may show up just for the party after the ritual, most people acknowledge that being present for life cycle rituals is important. The gathering of people who witness various rituals is a symbol of the present and the past. Saying the words of ancient history in a present moment, with a gathered community, connects us to our ancestors. We are reminded that we stand at a specific moment in history that is longer and larger than our lives in the moment.

We become vessels for tradition when we participate in the ancient rites of our particular people.  We embody the past and ground ourselves in the cloud of witnesses that has gone before us, saying the same words and promising the same things. They surround us and are there to remind and encourage us when we falter in the promises we have made. Rituals bear witness to the promise that we are never alone.

Rituals also touch something deep within us. As we punctuate time with a celebration and mark our place in history, we are internally grounded in a moment that is more than a moment. These rituals change us and acknowledge a new chapter in our lives. Rituals are not a magic switch that is flipped and we suddenly become someone else. Rituals, however, give us a new identity to live into and new expectations to live up to going forward. Rituals stand as a reminder that we stood in front of people, and in the midst of our ancestors, and pledged to do certain things and be a certain way. Such commitments are not to be taken lightly.

The loss of ritual in this time of global pandemic represents a kind of unmooring from the things which normally ground us. Grief and sadness are understandable responses to these losses, even if they are not fully articulated. We are created to be people of community. When that community is taken away we are bereft of a significant part of who we are. When ritual is absent from our lives, we are separated from the moments that solidify our identity, remind us who we are and what we have promised to do.

There are no easy answers, or even hard answers, about how to remedy this. A friend of mine is fond of saying that “The only way out is through.” We don’t have much choice except to get through it as best we can. Acknowledging our losses along the way and the sense of disconnection we feel in the absence of our usual rituals is an important part of validating some of the malaise and ennui we feel in this time.

Be gentle with yourselves, dear readers, be gentle with yourselves.

It is high time we stopped measuring the health of the economy by the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P and the Nasdaq no more represent the health of the economy than a duck represents the Mona Lisa.

Since the Great Depression, the stock market has been used as the gauge of economic wellbeing in the United States.  According to a recent article in the New York Times, the difference between then and now is the stock market’s distance to the reality of most Americans. In the market collapse of 1929 the S&P fell 86% and was viewed by many as the precipitating event of the Great Depression.  The privation of the American people and the crash of the stock market were forever connected in American consciousness.

Today the stock market does not represent what is happening in the lives of the average American. In April over twenty million people lost their jobs, even as stocks kept rising. The largest corporations in America tend to be multinational, have huge stores of cash and wide access to bond markets. This makes them far more resilient to the changes in economic health than small businesses and the average American. In addition, stock ownership is held primarily by the richest segments of the population who have greater resources to bring to times of social change.

Whenever people are one or two paychecks away from needing a food pantry, rental assistance, utility forbearance and increases in unemployment insurance and SNAP benefits, it is a sure sign that the economy is not working. The health of any economy is actually measured by how the poorest people are doing, how the most vulnerable are cared for and what social safety nets are in place all the time for low wage workers.

While the nation’s largest corporations continue to receive billions of dollars in bailouts, the poorest of the poor are facing homelessness, loss of health care, unemployment and in some cases the very real possibility of starvation. This is happening in the United States of America in the year 2020.

If the Corona virus has taught us anything, it is that our health care system is fundamentally broken and our financial system is rigged to benefit the rich. The lesson is driven home when we realize that those who have kept this country going are NOT the CEO’s and shareholders, but health care workers, grocery store clerks, sanitation workers, housekeeping staff and other traditionally low wage workers who often depend on social safety nets under the best of circumstances.

There is no place in the United States where a minimum wage worker can afford to rent an apartment, much less pay for food, medical care and other life needs, all the while putting something away for retirement. They often have nothing to put away for weekly groceries. Under the best of circumstances many people choose between paying their rent and eating, paying the light bill and buying medication.

The pandemic continues to disproportionately impact communities of color, elderly and communal living facilities and Native American communities. These are the undervalued and under-represented populations of our country. Their plights are often invisible and their cries for justice go unheeded. Racism, ageism and all the other “isms” that make us into “us” and “them” are widening the gap between what is needed and what is received.

In Liberation Theology, a major premise is the preferential option for the poor. It takes from Scripture the message that throughout both Testaments, God is primarily concerned for the well-being of the poor. Further, it postulates that the gospel can only be truly understood through the eyes of the poor. Therefore, the poor must be empowered economically and politically to participate in the structures of society and to help reshape them into something more just and equitable. Liberation Theology had its birth in South America but its premises are applicable to the United States as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

In the first Testament, every fifty years was to be a year of Jubilee; debts were cancelled, property was returned to its original owners and the balance of society was restored. In the second Testament, Jesus spoke more about the poor and needy than he did any other group of people. And the powers of his time would not tolerate it. He posed too great a threat to the status quo. Jesus wasn’t crucified for blessing babies and bouncing children on his knee, he was put to death as an enemy of the state because he was too radical and people were starting to believe his message. It was only a matter of time before the poor rose up and claimed a more equitable distribution of goods and services. The power brokers of the time made sure he was put to death before that happened.

We would do well to adopt the principles of Liberation Theology as a statement of protest against the powers and principalities of which Paul spoke in the eighth chapter of the book of Romans. Standing with the poorest and most vulnerable members of society is a benchmark of the faithfulness of the Christian tradition. American Christianity has a moral responsibility to be a prophetic voice for the poor and disenfranchised, not just during a pandemic, but every day.

The First Amendment protects your right to gather and protest. The Second Amendment protects certain rights to keep and bear arms. Storming the State House with assault rifles is, however, way over the top. It moves you from the category of protesters to domestic terrorists. It also illustrates with stunning clarity the privilege you enjoy as white men. If you had been people of color, there surely would have been some violence instigated by law enforcement.

Choosing the Confederate and Nazi flags as symbols of your “cause” is also your right. These symbols, however, beg the question of how such hatred and intolerance has come to define your way of being in the world.

The Confederate and Nazi flags are emblematic of two of the bleakest times in modern human history. The Confederate flag is a symbol of racism, pure and simple. During the Civil War the institution of slavery was the symbol of the status quo. Human beings were bought and sold like animals, and a person of color was considered 3/5 of a human being. The institution of slavery exploited millions of people, brought here against their will and enslaved to white entrepreneurs who depended on their labor to increase profit margins. Your choice of this symbol is a stark reminder that outlawing the institution of slavery has not eradicated racism. It is, however, incumbent on you to remember that the “rights” and “freedoms” you so freely flaunt are guaranteed to all people regardless of the color of their skin.

The Nazi flag is the quintessential symbol of intolerance and hatred. Millions of people were starved to death and slaughtered in the gas chambers of concentration camps. These victims of intolerance were put to death because of what they believed, who they loved, their social standing or their mental/physical ability. Well over six million people were murdered by a despot whom people willingly followed because of a bogus notion that there was a “superior” race and all others needed to be eliminated.

Flying the American flag with these symbols desecrates the flag you claim to care about so deeply. The American flag is a symbol of the rights and freedoms of all people, not just white men of privilege.

You may think that using these symbols makes you a badass protesting big government and standing up for your individual “rights and freedoms.” They do not. Rather, they show a remarkable intolerance to those who are different from you. Racism, Antisemitism, homophobia and other irrational fears of people who are different are inherent in the symbols of your “cause.” There is no way to redeem these symbols for our time. By using them you are tacitly, or blatantly, putting forth the “values” and “ideals” for which they stand. This doesn’t make you a badass; it makes you a bad American. America, at its best, is a nation where the rights and freedoms of all people are equally respected.

America, at its best, is also a nation that respects the rule of law. It is the standard of our society, a standard for which you show blatant disregard. For whatever selfish reason, you think your rights and freedoms are more important than anyone else’s. You are wrong. Flying the American flag with these symbols of hatred and intolerance desecrates the flag you claim to care about so deeply.

This is a time in our history when we need to be other focused and consider the common good above individual rights and desires. It appears that you assert your individual rights before the common good. Your resistance to this general principle of human decency is troubling. Perhaps you can select one or two family members you are willing to sacrifice for the sake of your “personal freedom.” Your grandmother, your child, your sibling or your spouse all make potential candidates for illness and death in the service of your “rights.”

Should you contract Covid-19, please have the human decency to refrain from seeking medical care. You surely have the right to put your life and the life of your cronies at risk. You do not, however, have the right to put health care workers at risk because of your selfishness. Perhaps your precious assault rifle can be the symbol that you are not a priority in health care since you put yourself in this position. Think of it as natural selection.

This blog is a safe space. Comments that are on point and relevant are welcome; disrespectful, hateful and vulgar comments will be removed by the moderator.

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Squash, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and more are sprouting in seed trays. Nurtured by regular, but not too much watering, these tiny seeds are bursting into plants that will be summer vegetables. As one who can kill rocks, I am enthralled with this daily process.

What all these young plants have in common is that they reach toward the light. Every day these seedlings lean into the light that spills through the window. The trays are rotated daily to keep the plants growing straight and strong. It is a marvelous thing to behold.

It is also an apt image for us in these uncertain and troubling times. We do our best when we reach toward the light.

In a literal sense, it means going outdoors and soaking up some sunshine. Feeling the sun’s warmth and the cool spring air is bound to raise our spirits.

In a deeper metaphorical sense it means reaching to the light that is within us, within all people and all creation.  Holiness resides at the core of all life. It is part of what it means to be created in the image of the Divine. All around us is holiness.

Light and darkness are repeating themes in most sacred texts. In the First Testament, commonly called the Old Testament, the word light is used 139 times. In the Second Testament, commonly called the New Testament, it is used 93 times. The word light is always used in relation to dispelling darkness, both in the world and in us. The light of the holy within and around us means reaching for wholeness, peace, love and justice.

In the Quran, light is a central concept in understanding Allah. The image of light is prevalent in the beautiful poetry of the Quran. Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth.

In Buddhism, Enlightenment is a life-long goal. It refers to the knowledge or wisdom of a Buddha. For millennia, in response to the struggles and sorrows of life on this planet, people use the image of a flame (light) and pass it to one another. It is a way to symbolically take part in the agonizingly slow but impossibly tender awakening of the world as a whole.

There is within us all an inextinguishable light. This inner light dispels the darkness of fear and change. In these days of social isolation when it feels like our light is growing dim, we can nourish it through keeping in touch with close friends and family, enjoying the beauty of spring and engaging in a spiritual practice like meditation or yoga. Ten minutes of quiet and silence per day can be life changing. We are nurtured by all that brings light into our lives. When darkness and fear are overwhelming, we can imagine the light within us and consider what we can do to reach toward it.

The same light that is within us is in every single person. In yoga practice it is common to greet one another saying, “Namaste.” It means that the holy in me greets the holy in you. In the challenge of isolation and being cooped up with partners and children, it can be helpful to remember that the same light shines in us all.

The light that shines within us also shines in all of creation. It means that the ground we tread on is holy, the water is holy, the sky is holy…all of it. We can be deeply nourished by the holiness and light that is around us every day.

These are days of struggle. Life as we know it is and will continue to be radically different. It is unclear exactly what life will look like. Uncertainty is an unsettling thing. It shakes our fragile but persistent delusion that we are in control. In truth, we are in control of very little in our lives. If we have any doubt about this we have only to look at a global pandemic that has ravaged the world and isn’t done yet. This lack of control can be mitigated by seeking the light within and around us.

Reach toward the light. It is good for the soul, good for others and good for all creation.

 

Every now and then it is helpful to look at how planet earth is doing as humans continue to live on it and mess it up. As Earth Day turns fifty today, it seems especially important to look at what has changed and what has not. When Earth Day started in 1970, it was an American celebration. In fifty years, it has become an international event marked in various ways by over one billion people. It is the single largest coordinated effort to care for planet earth.

During the occupant’s administration, environmental regulations have been repealed. Many of them date back to 1970, when the EPA was founded. Most of these changes have passed without recognition. It seems disingenuous to sneak through all these changes while people are busy trying not to die.

According to National Geographic, the occupant has rolled back over ninety regulations related to the environment. The most significant ones include:

• Decreasing safety measures related to offshore drilling.
• Appointing David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for energy and agribusiness, to be Secretary of the Interior.
• Increasing administrative power to block states’ rights to protest oil and gas pipelines.
• Making Andrew Wheeler, former lobbyist for the coal and auto industry, head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
• Signing an Executive Order to increase logging by 31% on public lands.
• Approving the use of seismic devices to search for oil and gas deposits that COULD be buried on the sea floor from New Jersey to Florida.
• Disbanding the Pollution Review Panel of the Environmental Protection Agency.
• Approving decreased fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks.
• Repealing rules related to methane gas emissions.
• Pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.
• The complete list is here.

According to the Brookings Institution, their annual state of the earth report noted these things about the United States:

• 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide were released in 2017, the last year for which data are available.
• The average American generated 4.5 pounds of solid waste per day. This is up from 3.6 pounds in 1980.
• 718 animal species in the US are listed as threatened or endangered.
• Over two billion dollars were collected from mineral extraction on public lands.
• Only 0.8% of the federal budget is spent on the environment, not including renewable energy.
• Polar ice caps are melting at an unprecedented rate.
• The complete article is here

When it comes to helping planet earth, even the smallest actions can have a great impact. During this time of pandemic and distance learning, one thing we can teach the next generation is reverence for the earth. Here are a few suggestions of small things that make a big difference.

• Save eight gallons of water per day by turning off the water when brushing your teeth– same with handwashing.
• Unplug appliances when not in use. Use power strips to turn off multiple appliances.
• Wash laundry in cold water.
• Turn off the heated dry cycle of the dishwasher.
• Buy eco-friendly household products. Companies like Cleancult have 0% carbon footprint home cleaning products.
• Decrease plastic waste by buying shampoo and conditioner bars from a company like Naples Soap Company.
• Use cloth towels instead of paper towels.
• STOP using plastic water bottles.
• Bring a reusable cup to the coffee shop.
• Invest in a rain barrel for watering plants.
• Fix leaky faucets.
• Stop using plastic straws.
• Buy energy efficient light bulbs.
• Opt out of junk mail.
• Switch to e-books, or better yet, visit your public library!
• Recycle old electronics safely.
• Support your local farmer’s market.
• Eat lower on the food chain. One vegetarian meal per week decreases the methane gas produced by agribusiness.

In Genesis 1, the more familiar creation narrative tells humanity to have “dominion” over the earth. Too often this is understood as permission to pillage and plunder. A second narrative in Genesis 2, tells humanity that caring for the earth is a task entrusted to all. “Till the earth and keep it” is the command. It means that taking care of the earth is everyone’s responsibility. We are in partnership with the Holy to be good stewards of this planet. Holding the earth as those who “till it and keep it” means we are to be good stewards of what is entrusted to us. A steward is one who holds another’s property in trust, responsible to the one who owns it. We hold the earth in trust for the Divine. Being good stewards means that we manage resources wisely. Pope Francis said, “We are stewards, not masters of our earth. Each of us has a personal responsibility to care for the precious gift of God’s creation.”

The Ecological Society of America states, “Earth stewardship requires a new ethic of environmental citizenship on the part of individuals, businesses, and governments. This must be based on a clear understanding of the consequences, tradeoffs, and opportunities associated with action choices that influence the trajectory of our planet.”

Planet earth is at a crucial junction. We can still reverse environmental degradation if we act now.

We have been at social distancing, sheltering in place, remote learning and remote working for a month, give or take. Tensions are running high, boredom is setting in and financial woes are lingering on the not too distant horizon. It feels like there is no escape. It’s enough to get on your last nerve.

Try to imagine what it is like to live with this all the time. Social distancing, sheltering in place, remote learning and working are gifts of the privileged. It assumes a place to live where social distancing is possible. Living in your car does not qualify. Sheltering in place also doesn’t work for the homeless living in shelters where guests need to be gone by 9:00 or so in the morning. Remote learning and working assumes access to the internet. One needs a credit card and a credit history for remote purchases and grocery delivery.

People are quick to criticize those who need food and rental assistance after a month without a job. I have heard that “these people” don’t know how to “save;” they “overspend” and “don’t budget.” The truth is that most Americans are no more than one or two paychecks away from financial disaster. There is no place in the United States where one can work a minimum wage job and afford rent as well as the normal costs of living. As a result, people often work two or three jobs and crowd into spaces meant for fewer people to decrease living expenses.

It is a snowball effect. Closer quarters mean increased infection rates of Covid-19. Poor healthcare access means more underlying conditions that are not well managed. Illness means missed time at one or more of their jobs where there is usually no sick pay. High absenteeism leads to job loss. This is the structural inequality of our country.

This is also the daily reality of millions of Americans before the Corona virus. Those who were vulnerable before this crisis will be vulnerable when it is over. That is, if they are not dead.

Add in the reality of systemic racism and you see death rates that are twice as high for people of color as they are for whites. The statistics don’t lie.

The Corona pandemic did not create this situation; rather it exposes it with stunning and troubling clarity.

We have an opportunity, and I would argue a moral imperative, to look with compassion on those who are struggling. Food insecurity, depleting savings (if there are any) and high unemployment means that sometimes those who are struggling are our neighbors, or even us. In our families and our circle of friends there is genuine hardship and difficulty. Perhaps for the first time, people we love are in the same boat with “those people.” It is our opportunity to see that “those people” are no different from most of us.

These days remind us in powerful ways that we are all interconnected. While listening to the Growing Edge podcast with Parker Palmer and Carrie Newcomer, I was reminded that the ancient gift of hospitality is one that we need to reclaim for this time.

The ancient history of hospitality had nothing to do with inviting people for cocktails and dinner. It was unrelated to using the best china and the sterling silver. It was, instead, a practice of making sure people were cared for, that those around them had what they needed. It was strongly motivated by the question of “When will I need hospitality extended to me?” The question was an acknowledgement that we all take our place in the chair of vulnerability from time to time. And when we do, we hope there will be someone who extends hospitality and care to us.

There are a lot of people in our world who are hoping we extend the ancient gift of hospitality to them. Food pantries are in desperate need of donations to meet increased demands. Schools that are trying to fill the gap in nutrition for students who depend on breakfast and lunch programs are delivering meals to those children. They could use your help. Homeless shelters are always full and soup kitchens are seeing increased need. Domestic violence is on the rise and your local domestic violence resource could use a donation.

Maybe this time can teach us the nature of interconnectedness and move us toward care for all, without judgement and without prejudice. After all, we could be in the chair of vulnerability.

Check out new music and book recommendations above.

This blog is a safe space. Comments that are on point and relevant are welcome; disrespectful, hateful and vulgar comments will be removed by the moderator.

Disclaimer as required by Facebook: This website is the sole property of the Rev. Patricia L. Liberty. She is the administrator and is solely responsible for its content. This website receives no remuneration from any individual or entity, foreign or domestic. This website charges no fee for any of its materials, and accepts no donations or advertisements.

 

 

 

 

It’s hard to know for sure what really happened that first Easter morning. A lot of ink and blood has been spilled in theological fights about it. Frankly, I don’t know if Jesus was physically resuscitated from the dead, and it makes no difference to me one way or the other. You may write me off as a heretic at this point, and I’m okay with that. Just be nice in your comments or I will delete them.

That said, I do believe with my whole being in resurrection. Resurrection is about far more than whether Jesus was raised physically from the dead. Resurrection is about a new way of living in the world. It is about the life and teachings of Jesus embodied in us. It is about our path to wholeness and freedom in the spirit. It is about the justice and mercy of Jesus embodied in us.

Resurrection is risky. It’s personal and it’s now. In this new way of being in the world there is no room for violence and privilege. No one is excluded. All the people we hold at arm’s length are now welcome at the table. We are called to invite them to sit beside us in the pew.

The metric we use to separate people into the left and the right, rich and poor, smart and less smart, good and bad, valuable and less valuable are no longer valid. The identity we have so carefully built on our homes, income and jobs is null and void in a new reality. Our new identity is found in the Holy, in what is good and right and just.

Walter Brueggemann writes, “The defining mark of the Easter world is driven, cosmic generosity that outruns our need and our want and our hope and our desire, to endow us with every gift, most wondrously of all the gift of new possibility. All our prepared destinations are vetoed at Easter.” (A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent)

In these days of uncertainty, fear, economic anxiety and so much more, we need the Easter message that is about resurrection. The hope and trust is that we are held by a powerful God who is with us in the midst of it all. God’s presence doesn’t fix it, rather it makes it bearable. This is the promise of new life.

The risen Christ is everywhere around us and within us–at work in the world in every deed of kindness and love, in every act of mercy and grace, in the love we receive and the love we show to one another. The risen Christ is at work in the world, in the cycles of the created order and the rhythm of the seasons. The risen Christ is embodied in everyone who is working together in the midst of this pandemic to bring healing, comfort and relief.  In the midst of the pain of loss and uncertainty, we are in the presence of the risen Christ who says, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid.”

Richard Rohr writes, “All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain. Creation has a pattern of wisdom and we dare not shield ourselves from it or we will literally lose our soul. We can obey commandments, believe doctrines and attend church services all our lives and still daily lose our souls if we run from the necessary cycle of loss and renewal. Death and resurrection are lived out at every level of the cosmos, but only one species thinks it can avoid—the human species.” (Daily Mediations, CAC.org)

We cannot avoid the necessary cycles of loss and renewal. We have spent plenty of time in the loss part of the cycle and it isn’t over yet. On this Easter Sunday we want trumpets and joyful singing and loud Alleluias. It may be that Easter comes this year in far quieter and more subtle ways. Maybe this year Easter comes in new insights, in settling into the necessary cycle of loss and renewal and seeing the moments of renewal that come in the midst of the losses.  Life is never all one or the other, but some combination of both at the same time.

Dear readers, I wish you Easter blessings and every lengthening glimpses of the resurrected Christ.

There are still a few religious kooks around saying the Corona Pandemic is the handiwork of God, a punishment for _______; fill in the blank. The usual reasons in their narrow minds are society’s tolerance of homosexuals and abortion. They would have you believe that God has sent this horrible plague on human kind as some way to get humanity’s attention regarding these few hobby horses they like to ride. They could have sent a telegram.

No matter how their hatred arrives, it is pure theological bullshit, plain and simple.

It is not God’s will that:

• People are suffering and dying by the tens of thousands.
• People are losing their homes and their livelihoods.
• People are frightened and lonely in the uncertainty of it all.
• Some are suffering at the hands of another in an abusive relationship.
• Financial ruin is a constant threat hanging over so many peoples’ heads.
• First responders and hospital staff do not have the personal protective equipment they need and are falling ill and dying.
• People are grieving and broken hearted over the death of their loved ones and their inability to be with them.
• Whatever else I have failed to name that is a result of Covid-19.

If there is any message you take from this blog, let it be that this is not God’s will or God’s punishment.

Coronavirus happened somewhere a half a world away because this virus jumped from an animal to a human for reasons that are not entirely clear even now. The contagion of this virus took a little while to figure out and during that time it spread from an area of China to pockets throughout the world. The horrible suffering of people is squarely at the feet of the virus. Those who came to know of its volatility and contagion and did nothing are complicit. Those who failed to lead in the distribution of personal protective equipment are complicit. Those who minimized the threat and failed to listen to scientists whose knowledge of the virus grew daily are complicit. None of this suffering is God’s will.

This is a week where people of the Christian tradition focus on suffering, particularly the suffering of Jesus as he faced the inevitability of the cross.  The problem with suffering is that we tend to lump it all together and make it the same. And then we wrap it up in some language about holiness. We end up with a convoluted theology of suffering that is associated with being or becoming holy. We have made suffering salvific and it is not.

Jesus suffered and died on the cross because he was a threat to Roman power and the religious leaders of his time. Jesus died because he exposed the collusion and evil visited upon people by the Roman Empire and the religious leaders of his day. He was put to death as a criminal who dared challenge the powers of his time. He was a prophet who spoke truth to power. It was the prelude to his suffering on the cross. The cowardice of religious and political leaders who were threatened by Jesus cannot be overstated. Jesus’ death was all about religion and politics run amok in the most evil of ways.

I do not believe that Jesus suffered and died for my sins or anyone else’s. This belief is called substitutionary atonement. I don’t buy it for a minute. Jesus’ death was a particular event in an historical time. The meaning we make out of it for our faith is a matter for lifetime exploration. It is related to what we believe about sin and what we believe about God. If God is so good and loving and wonderful, why did God demand the sacrifice of his only son for appeasement? Are we born sinful because of Adam and Eve in the garden? What we believe about Jesus’ suffering is connected to everything else we believe.

I believe that sin is inevitable, not intrinsic. It is easier to follow in the ways of the world than submit to the relentless love of God that never lets us go and never lets us off. We are always and ever God’s beloved. God, however, calls us to a life of faithful obedience to the ways of Jesus. We are to be people of love and justice, mercy and peace. To the extent that we benefit from the powers and principalities of the world that privilege us and deprive others, it is the same scenario that put Jesus to death.

Jesus’ suffering and death at the hands of political and religious corruption is not remotely connected to the suffering caused by the Corona Pandemic.

In this week let’s be clear about the difference between human suffering and what caused Jesus to suffer. Human suffering is often capricious; Jesus endured suffering because he refused to give up his convictions.

There are still a few religious kooks around saying the Corona Pandemic is the handiwork of God, a punishment for _______; fill in the blank. The usual reasons in their narrow minds are society’s tolerance of homosexuals and abortion. They would have you believe that God has sent this horrible plague on human kind as some way to get humanity’s attention regarding these few hobby horses they like to ride. They could have sent a telegram.

No matter how their hatred arrives, it is pure theological bullshit, plain and simple.

It is not God’s will that:

• People are suffering and dying by the tens of thousands.
• People are losing their homes and their livelihoods.
• People are frightened and lonely in the uncertainty of it all.
• Some are suffering at the hands of another in an abusive relationship.
• Financial ruin is a constant threat hanging over so many peoples’ heads.
• First responders and hospital staff do not have the personal protective equipment they need and are falling ill and dying.
• People are grieving and broken hearted over the death of their loved ones and their inability to be with them.
• Whatever else I have failed to name that is a result of Covid-19.

If there is any message you take from this blog, let it be that this is not God’s will or God’s punishment.

Coronavirus happened somewhere a half a world away because this virus jumped from an animal to a human for reasons that are not entirely clear even now. The contagion of this virus took a little while to figure out and during that time it spread from an area of China to pockets throughout the world. The horrible suffering of people is squarely at the feet of the virus. Those who came to know of its volatility and contagion and did nothing are complicit. Those who failed to lead in the distribution of personal protective equipment are complicit. Those who minimized the threat and failed to listen to scientists whose knowledge of the virus grew daily are complicit. None of this suffering is God’s will.

This is a week where people of the Christian tradition focus on suffering, particularly the suffering of Jesus as he faced the inevitability of the cross.  The problem with suffering is that we tend to lump it all together and make it the same. And then we wrap it up in some language about holiness. We end up with a convoluted theology of suffering that is associated with being or becoming holy. We have made suffering salvific and it is not.

Jesus suffered and died on the cross because he was a threat to Roman power and the religious leaders of his time. Jesus died because he exposed the collusion and evil visited upon people by the Roman Empire and the religious leaders of his day. He was put to death as a criminal who dared challenge the powers of his time. He was a prophet who spoke truth to power. It was the prelude to his suffering on the cross. The cowardice of religious and political leaders who were threatened by Jesus cannot be overstated. Jesus’ death was all about religion and politics run amok in the most evil of ways.

I do not believe that Jesus suffered and died for my sins or anyone else’s. This belief is called substitutionary atonement. I don’t buy it for a minute. Jesus’ death was a particular event in an historical time. The meaning we make out of it for our faith is a matter for lifetime exploration. It is related to what we believe about sin and what we believe about God. If God is so good and loving and wonderful, why did God demand the sacrifice of his only son for appeasement? Are we born sinful because of Adam and Eve in the garden? What we believe about Jesus’ suffering is connected to everything else we believe.

I believe that sin is inevitable, not intrinsic. It is easier to follow in the ways of the world than submit to the relentless love of God that never lets us go and never lets us off. We are always and ever God’s beloved. God, however, calls us to a life of faithful obedience to the ways of Jesus. We are to be people of love and justice, mercy and peace. To the extent that we benefit from the powers and principalities of the world that privilege us and deprive others, it is the same scenario that put Jesus to death.

Jesus’ suffering and death at the hands of political and religious corruption is not remotely connected to the suffering caused by the Corona Pandemic.

In this week let’s be clear about the difference between human suffering and what caused Jesus to suffer. Human suffering is often capricious; Jesus endured suffering because he refused to give up his convictions.

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