SD-56: Caught the flu-cold of this fall season so I've been down and out. Thought I would comment on Local Issues and a bit of Occupy Wall Street - from a faithful position - I hope I wrote this as part of a letter to the editor - it didn't make it but is being used by We Believe Ohio as part of adding our voice to issue 2 and 3. Hating together unites us - stops our divisions. When this is the shape of our world, we do not need to listen to the other side and take into consideration a reality that is other than the one we want to create. To be truly creative within society means that we use the whole palette of ideas and possibilities and critical analysis in order to bring about something that will be truly beneficial and make room for something new to emerge. S.B 5 - now on the ballot as Issue 2 - is less than creative. It is less than the best we can offer. Rather than bring out our best it does what is so often done when we do not know how to respect and honor others - we scapegoat. I am a part of We Believe Ohio. I think we want something more than Issue 2. We also want something more than the status quo in Ohio. We expect that we can be a creative people who are willing to be self-critical. We are a people who can step into conversations that seek to transform society for the well-being of all. We want to be a part of an Ohio where fear does not command our attention. We need to defeat Issue 2 in order to face the state of our life together in Ohio within a conversational creativity that will not settle for pointing fingers - at them. We believe lines have to stop being drawn - unless of course - they are lines that connect rather then divide. Hating together unites us - stops our divisions - but destroys the heart of us all. In Jesus (as God incarnate) - going to the cross - facing an unjust sentence of death - being a victim of systems that find ways to create scapegoats to silence crowds, we see then end of vengeance and paybacks and victimization. The resurrection reminds us that we are followers of one who was raised for living contrary to that which comes so naturally to us - blame and never-ending divisions that keep the peaceable Reign of God at a distance. It is so easy to find a scapegoat who we must knock down or destroy for what we see is wrong in the world. But that is not our way. Our way is the way of truthfulness. That is, we do not let the evil of the day prevail against us. We speak up and speak with those who are the victims of the day. We bring light that exposes and calls forth justice and mercy. It has been a part of the run of history (this even checks out within Jesus' day) that a very small percentage of the people 'have' and most 'have not' or are trying to keep stable what they do have. So it doesn't seem like a big jump to encourage us to face the day at hand asking about what is just for all -not merely some. The only way to do that is through dialogue - but the way things usually run, there is no dialogue and/or no new outcome from conversations. Connection: What are the alternatives to dialogue and conversation? The Occupy Wall Street people - if they would turn to the power of violence and vengeance - would not merely put up tents and sing and bang on drums and be carted of to jail. They might go in the other direction - the direction of the day - the direction of mode of operation of the elite. They would do all they could do to make the world as they want it. For all of us, that would be tragic. For if that happens - if scapegoating turns into its usual violent ways - the Wall Street individuals would need to be warned for the power of paybacks is an endless cycle in which violence wins and we all lose. Draw us into the wealth of your Reign, O God, for when we turn to other powers to sustain our lives, we tear down the very life that you have handed to us as a gift. Amen. |
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