Ah, it is simply amazing how morality exhibits just how eager we are to give up our God-given role of being uniquely human. We do this so as to take on the role of playing the part of God. Religious folk fall (ha) so easily for something that is not ours. Over and over again - from this religious movement to that one - from followers of various gods to followers of various gods within a society, there is this earthy need to point out that which is right and - of course - that which is wrong. We do it very easily and we do it very quickly. They have done this - they caused this - they ruined this - they spoiled this - they are the ones who embody that which we cannot allow because it is not what we have deemed good.
It is simply amazing how morality leads the charge toward death. We become so sure of our way of seeing the world and our way of running the world - we will do whatever we must do to halt another perspective or another way of living. Too often we live as though we are constantly screaming 'death to them - death to their kind - death to those whose lives defile us.' Yet we do not understand that without all of them - our lives are limited - we cannot partake in the fullness of God's creation. Instead we live as people afraid of everything we have come to see as other - often calling it evil. When our lives are run by such fear and anxiety we are not alive - we are always dying. We are cutting off the relationships that are meant to be a part of the fullness of our humanity in order that we can fall into the abyss of a humanity we think we are able to create. We know that humanity - it is the right humanity - the good humanity - the blessed humanity - the righteous humanity. Yet, it is death to us all. No one lives as fully as is promised within the Reign of God when we are caught up within the self-adoration and self-righteousness we have mastered so well.
It is simply amazing how morality ruins life - how it puts life under a bushel - how it disables the gift of human vulnerability - how it segregates in order to obliterate - how it blows out the light of God's creativity. As we attempt to walk or ride a moral high ground, we are usually slithering around like the serpent who seems to want us all to pretend we are God by knowing how all things should be. That is all the serpent can do though - trick us into pretending we can be like God. Instead, as we attempt to take the moral high ground by - stepping on the lives of others - taking away the lives of others - discounting the lives of others - condemning the lives of others, we let go of the vision of Creation that honors diversity as a gift into which we have been placed so that our humanity rises to its fullness and we rise within the goodness of the whole creation.
It is simply amazing how morality makes us turn away from the gift of life that is right there in the form of those we choose to destroy. If those people are worthless because we have been able to come up with a storyline that tells us we can make that judgment, then are we also susceptible to being called worthless by others? That is how death rules the world around us. No one is worthy to stand among us unless they are like us. Even then, we find ways to tighten the belt of morality even more so that we can feel good about calling for the death of those who do not fit our precise vision of what is good and what is evil. Unfortunately, our vision is flawed - it is our creation - it is poisoned by our desires - it is blurred by judgments that uses our lives as the rule of law.
It is simply amazing how we have let morality rule the life we say is a gift of God. In my own crude way of saying things, I think we 'break wind' in God's face each time we justify ourselves and simultaneously condemn others. And yet, we religious folks (even the followers of Jesus) are known most within the world as folks who live within the valley of death called morality. Sure we all do good things for others - but for the most part we are seen as ones who condemn - persecute - belittle - boast - and consider ourselves the saviors of the world when we lynch others who do not abide by our vision of what is morally right.
It is simply amazing how we of let the banter and noise of morality distract us from a simple hymn: Christ has humbled himself and become obedient unto death even death on the cross. Day in and day out we are being invited - I would even suggest, pulled by the Holy Spirit - to end our pursuit of goodness and our persecution of that which we see as evil and befriend all who do not fit into what we have come to believe is a morally perfect life but is really a life that is a lie and only brings death for all.
It is simply amazing how God's peaceable Reign is open to us even as we work so damn hard to create our own reigning power of morality that we intend to control - unto death.
TRRR
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