Cheap phrases and Quotes - they sell nothing new

Today was a day for noticing religious bumper stickers. That usually means Christian bumper stickers. I could become very cynical here - but I won't. Instead, I want to play with images and words and simply ask, what do you mean when you say that? Today's bumper sticker was actually the frame around a license plate. It is a well known quote even for folks who are not religious. In fact, if you live in Ohio, it has been the motto of our state since 1959. With God - All things are possible. I will probably try to say three things here - but when I start ranting, I'm not promising anything.

First of all, let's look at it like this. This can mean all things - just as it says. That means it includes the corruption in government - the violence in our lives - the racism - the hatred - the housing that is built to exclude - crooked politicians - unkind remarks - inequality - this and that and then some more. Yep, with God, all things are possible. It is as though when we say we believe in God or say we have God in our lives, that which is possible is endless. Sounds good. Usually it is a way religious folks try to tell others that if they would believe in God - their lives would be better - because all things are possible. That simple motto or that biblical verse is of no moral worth - it is weightless - it permits anything - it encourages nothing of benefit to the world - it simply says everything is possible. So, why even say it - why use it - why hang onto it as though it is the way to make your or my day any better. It is like saying: With God, All things are status quo...but could be better or even worse.

Another look at this well quoted verse points us in the direction of the weightless lie associated with prosperity religious/secular thinking. With God - All things are possible becomes the beacon for those who want people to follow their preaching and teaching - so that the preachers can become prosperous. It is so easy to think that someone who has become prosperous has had that happen because they believe in God. How else could that ass have changed - right? How many stories by well-worded preachers have been used to promise wealth and a good life? They are able to convince folks that the mantra - if often spoken - will change their lives. On another note, it also has a wonderful way of convincing people who get shit on every day - or find themselves at the end of a rope - that they can endure it. God will open up possibilities for you. Yet, most often, the people who are shit on in our society, rarely experience those possibilities. God becomes a type of magician - a power that can change what is, so as to give us what we want, or maybe, what we think we deserve - maybe more than others.

To be quite honest with you, I do not think this motto/verse has a thing to do with God giving us what we want or hope to have or expect will make things better. What if we are really being invited to look a bit deeper? What if this use of God and this mention of possibilities begins with the notion that there is a life in which peace prevails - race prevents us from going color-blind - justice and mercy rain down on all people without partiality - hope transforms us - forgiveness and reconciliation make up a stream that takes folks into a new world? To be quite truthful, all the stuff I just wrote down is a bunch of wishful thinking - foolish thinking - naivete to the max. Hmmm. Thinking like this is as easily dismissed as  hearing John Lennon sing 'Imagine.'

But - and please pause with me - what if With God - All things are possible means that all the things within the Reign of God - the Kingdom of God - the Kingdom of Heaven - the coming of the Messiah (whatever you call it), will come among us only as we let go of our ways of trying to bring it all about - which is usually by warfare - coercion - self consuming actions and policies - threats - control of others. Even though I don't have to write sermons anymore, I find that I count on the stories of the great Prophets and Jesus and any number of saint-like folks to lead me into that which is possible - The Peaceable Reign - or as MLK called it: The Beloved Community.

With the power of God - the power to dismantle the violence of the world's ways that are all around us (and including us) - I have been coming to the awareness that all things within the vision of God's Reign are possible. They don't just come - they become among us. That is the launching pad for the life that is able to turn into that possibility - no matter what the cost may be. Boom - that's the part that we usually kiss goodbye. We are each invited into the impossible of God's reign of justice and peace and endless healing and wholeness. It becomes possible - all of it - as we enter it and become a part of it - as we are able to take ourselves out of the cycle of death that is so much of our lives - as we side with those who seem to be push out of every side - even if we begin the adventure for mere moments at a time. Even more, if you are a coward like I am - a Peter who would rather blend into the crowd rather than stand within the vision of a new creation - then we need to lean into the lives of those who take the risk to walk into that which is called impossible so that we can begin to wander within God's expanding possibility for a new life. Folks learn about possibilities when they see them moving from the realm of impossibilities into the lives of ordinary folk taking the risk to be trampled but also taking the risk to build something in the image of God's creativity.
TRRR

The Violence of Heaven and Hell

Violence is evil. It is always a part of the evil complex that is willing to deny the worth of the other or to consider one person to be worth more than others. One of the most evil - let's say devilish - forms of violence is when the wolf dresses up as a sheep - in order to consume sheep not be one of them. Why is it that the most vile form of violence has a history of being perpetrated by the institutions so many call sacred - blessed - holy? It could be that they have the best collection of weapons to use on ordinary people. I will call it the violence of heaven and hell. It is the violence of a system that seeks the welfare of the institution - the stability of those in power - the positions of privilege.

How many priests have held over the lives of the innocent ones they have consumed the notion of heaven and hell? It happens in many and various ways. It is a part of how much of Christianity has operated. It is part of how the Church has been able to prosper and grow. It is how the truthfulness of a gracious and loving God is thrown away for a domain of violence that allows some to prosper and others to be abused. Unfortunately, this violence works. It always has. The power of evil comes dressed in words and actions that have been labeled as holy but really are tools to allow violence to disregard, dismantle, and desecrate the true holiness that comes as one is a living, breathing human being - made in the image of God. Once again we are seeing in PA., how easy it is for the Church to be vigilante at destroying the image of God in young people. They have become masters of betrayal. They have let the robes and pectoral crosses and head-coverings of religious institutions mean more to them than the lambs - the innocent - the blessed one. Ah, but that is how violence works best - isn't it? It comes disguised and it spins a  story that works like hell to sound as though it stands with the innocent.  Yet, it is life stealing - the fox always views others as food for its dinner table. Therefore, the master of religious violence work like hell to make life a living hell for those they need to devour to stay alive.

I wonder if the real imprimatur (mark of approval) of the Roman Catholic Church is the mark that let's those in power know how to create victims for the welfare of the institution. Just as the Basilica in Rome was constructed with the threat of the violence of heaven and hell, so too  does it seem to be able to sustain itself within walls of violence that understand how to abuse victims, but also, it know how to use the threat of condemnation to hell or the reward of heaven to subvert grace and love and nonviolence and peace. The hierarchy knows what is to be announced - the grace and love of God for all without condition. And yet, the hierarchy also knows what wins the world - what will keep power in place as it always has been and always hopes it will be. It does this by using simple, manipulative, sincere sounding words that actually ignite violence and control. Therefore, the system of violence is maintained and other words - words of truthfulness and hopefulness and graciousness and forgiveness are held off and doled out only when the institution sees fit to do that. This action - this doling out - this holy action - this demonic action - this wolf in sheep's clothing action - this blasphemy, is violent to its core. It may be clothed in words of love and protection and honor and purity and discipline but it exists outside the bounds of love - it does not protect it perverts - it has no honor it only shames - its purity is pure evil and its discipline leads the innocent to a death march while the institution thrives.

Now this may sound anti-Roman Catholic. Well, the ongoing violence of that church body did toss me off my chair as this new episode in PA fell in line with a long line (both revealed and still hidden) of how religious folk are too often some of the most violent people in the world. That was a bit too strong, sorry. Religious folks are just as violent as others. But we, have these weapons of mass destruction - heaven and hell. The way they are used is not to inspire the best of our humanity. They are used to make sure that the image of God that attempts to nurture new life in us is halted - twisted - and weaponized. It is so important that we all - all religious folk - take a long look at how we use the words and images of our faith to commit violence against others. Some may say we must defend ourselves against the powers of evil in the world. But in our language of condemnation and reward, we become, quite quickly and quite masterfully, a part of the violence of heaven and hell that promises to crucify any innocents that long to live into the image of God.

TRRR

Reach up - Grab hold - Now is always a good time

I find that it is easy to simply coast. That can be taken in a number of ways. I tend to mean it as a way to live, as in, I can just coast until this passes - or  - not much I can do, so I will coast for now - or - this is too big, what can I possibly do. Coasting is easy. It is both easy to do and - it is easy to justify. When I was doing my poll on the last presidential election, over 50% of the riders said they were not going to vote - what will one vote mean? So many folks chose to simply coast - let others do the work - the thinking - the acting.

Today as I was going about my usual daily routine, I saw a bunch of litter on the road in our neighborhood. It looked like shit. Some of the stuff has been there for some time. In fact, I had been coasting by some of it so much I should have been taking daily photos to show how it was deteriorating. Instead I kept walking. Months ago when my daily walking schedule was early in the morning I was inspired to carry a bag to pick up the trash. I saw a friend doing it every morning and thought - I can do that. I did - for awhile. But the trash never stopped. Duh, trash does not stop - it keeps coming. So why did I stop? In some way I was giving in to the notion that I cannot solve this issue and if other are not picking up stuff - just coasting - I should probably just coast and do other things.

This notion of coasting - getting away with doing nothing or little - continues to be biting me on the ass. That's another way of saying - nudging me - making me more and more aware of something other than the stuff I want to do just for me - while I coast through my life. Today, in the last hour, there have been a handful of moments when I could have changed the day - stopped coasting - gotten up off my butt and made a difference. In several of those moments, it turned out to be nothing grand. I even got a refusal when I stepped-in to offer a hand. That's fine. At least the hand was there. And, to be quite frank, nothing I did for someone else made me lose anything. Helping someone doesn't mean I give up or lose anything. In fact, I'm finding it lifts up everyone.

I'm going to be sharing some words as to why my wife and I took on the task of organizing and then hosting a reception/fundraiser for Richard Cordray for Governor of Ohio. I can be such an introvert at times I don't even raise my hand to say something. But, there can be no coasting through the political arena of today. Though it is too simplistic to paint things red or blue, this does not mean that we simply let things fall to one side or the other. That is coasting. And just like bending over to pick up trash, we can put out a little energy and be engaged in what seems to be an impossible adventure - an election.

Here's is the center piece to my brief remarks I will be making. MLK used this powerful and poetic vision: the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. What an image of hopefulness. But then, a writer made this comment about that remark. He writes: It carries the risk of magical thinking. Then he adds that some may come to think - that there is no reason to work for justice - if the arc inevitably bends toward justice. I know that someone else has written that the arc bends with the weight of those whose lives stand on that arc. My thought was - wow, it can take quite a bit of energy and extroversion to climb up onto that arc - visible - exposed - almost attention grabbing. So, my thought was a bit different. 

That arc - that arc that bends toward justice - is a vision of the end that breaks into this moment at hand. I'm not going to bring about the end - but - but, I am able - right here and now - to reach up and grab hold of the arc and take part in the energy that is available for ordinary people to take part in the future - on even the smallest scale. I can do something - I can be someone - that is a part of the healing of the universe - the well-being of all things - the mercy that comes when justice is available to all. 

I know I choose to coast quite often. I also know that I have the ability to step off into the dynamics of the day that most folks would say are best left to others to handle. Then again, when I choose to coast - stay to myself - let others deal with it - the vision of justice for all continues - and yet, I'm missing out on the vibrancy of its life right now. Even if that means, reaching up and grabbing hold of that arc gets my hand slapped or my life beaten or my opinions shouted down, at least, for a moment in time, the fullness of a future of hope and justice and peace and mercy is present. In those moments, the story I am writing with my life is not all about me. I also know that when I see people around me living in the moment with their hands wrapped around that arc - they inspire me - they encourage me - they help me do the bowing and bending that takes into consideration the well being of others that takes place when each of us reaches up and grabs hold - even for just one small moment in time. 

TRRR