Each time I volunteer as a Clinic Escort for Planned Parenthood, I expect I will have at least one person from the other side of the fence - among the protestors - tell me how I will rot in hell or face eternal damnation or have to deal with the wrath of God. These 'kind' words are magnified for those protestors who have found out that I am a retired pastor. It is quite odd that these followers of the Prince of Peace - the Lamb of God - really get off on images of apocalyptic destruction and condemnation. Since I am on the wrong side of the fence in their eyes - I'm dirt - I'm misdirected - I'm a follower of Satan - I'm vile. Words of grace are not for me or any of the women and men who enter into the clinic - unless we abide by the rule of death from the other side of the fence.
At the fence, if you listen closely, you will hear how the peaceable Reign of God is turned into a way of intolerance - distain - condemnation - promises of death (horrible death). Unfortunately that is how the Scriptures are perceived by many folks today - both young and old. Many have turned the bible into a book that nurtures violence. The violence is always against them. The them are people who must be saved. I suppose I am one of them for I do not follow along with the words and images at the fence. At the fence (as in most other contexts) being saved has nothing to do with being made whole and well and restored into the fullness of our humanity in the image of God. It is a word of threat. So someone is saved if that person goes along with the notion that some get to go to heaven and the rest are to go to hell. Get it right (our way) or to hell with you. Doesn't that just sound comforting? Get it right (our way) or God's wrath will come down on you.
Some colleagues and I read Compassion or Apocalypse (James Warren) last year. near the end of the book Warren turns to the John's Revelation. That's the last book in the Christian Scriptures and it is a book that is often used to try to scare the Lord Jesus into your life. First of all - just to be clear -the peaceable Reign of God that was embodied in Jesus is not brought about through fear or threat. But in that book, we hear about the kings and rulers and magnates and generals and the rich and powerful and everyone, slave and free running and hiding from - get this - the wrath of the Lamb. The Lamb, he writes is the hero of that last book. The hero is utterly vulnerable. The hero only practices a life of peace and reconciliation. The hero embraces all - without partiality. The hero will be slaughtered for the well-being of any and all. Now, why would one be afraid of a figure who gets nailed. Well, it is one of a judge who judges in favor of us - even when we are on the wrong side of the fence. The Lamb models a new humanity that never abides by the powers of the world and those who really, really want to be able to pass judgment on others - because this judge - the Lamb - refuses - at every instance - to be on the side of the powerful and rich and rulers and all who have a whole world history of bringing about the same old - same old - kind of world without end. As one writer noted, all hell (literally) breaks out around the Lamb - because they cannot abide by such a world - such a vision - such a unending welcome and embrace and forgiveness and healing.
But at the fence, folks seem to thrive on the battle - the zero sum game - the us and them - death or life - and, of course, their own biblical literalism that is always ready to support their need for control over the lives of others - most often noted as in the name of Jesus. One of the aspects of being a Clinic Escort is that we do not engage those folks at the fence. That would be an endless back and forth that is nothing more than hell itself. Instead, I have witnessed men and women whose focus is on the well-being of those people who have come to the clinic. Yes, some come for abortions, some come for other forms of medical attention, some come for educational materials, some come for contraceptives, but all come from a world that often violently rejects who they are and the lives they choose to live. I have also noticed that our silence - our hospitality toward people coming to the clinic drives those folks at the fence into a fiery frenzy that, in many ways, portrays the hell in which they choose to live and try to pull others.
We are such a divided society that the fence becomes a metaphor for our differences. These will not go away. No wishful thinking. No prayers. Unless, of course, we stumble upon and enter into a miracle of dialogue that is utterly beyond us - as long as we know only the violence of a life that manufactures division - blame - hatred - and self-righteousness. God is not violent. God is love. We are made in the image of God. How is it that we keep looking for life that is not within that image? Maybe we love our fences and the hell they create more than the open spaces of reconciliation and kindness and sacrifice of life for the welfare of our sisters and brothers and any who may even be our enemies today.
TRRR
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