Last week I was standing on the steps of the statehouse listening to words of hope in a time when I see that a minority has more say in our lives than the majority. It is a time when a few are able to install - as truth - a lie. When this cracked system is allowed to codified as the rule of the day - a lie, the majority is raped. That may be a strong image, but as history shows us, women - the majority - face the fear-filled power of men that cannot stand up to the nurturing and life-giving power of women. Men attempting to exercise an exaggerated masculinity - a possessive machismo - do so at the expense of turning their backs on the image of God into which we are all created. For without a respectful, loving, and equal commitment to the welfare of the other, the image of God is left concealed.
I use God language here because those folks who want to command control over the life choices of women have become masters at using the violence of religious words and images to design their kind of a world. It is my contention that this world they seek to create is not at all a reflection of God's reign of peace and justice that brings hopefulness to all and healing without partiality. I have read through the pamphlets folks attempt to hand out to people arriving for care at the Planned Parenthood clinic where I volunteer as an escort. I find their picking and pecking of scripture to be masterful. They attempt to sew together words of love and words of utter condemnation as though love and condemnation belong tightly wrapped together. It is a lie that has a long history among religious folk. Their notion of love, though, is not love at all. For it thrives on punishment, threat, shame, guilt, and the never-ending story that demands that you must have the correct ticket to ride - or to hell with you.
I find it confounding that those who like to take command of heaven and hell and act as the self-empowered stewards of those domains are only able to do one thing - embody a living hell that they attempt to make the mandatory way all people are to live. When folks play the game of heaven and hell, a hellish life wins the day. Oh, that life is painted as an orderly and controlled way to bring about a world of love, but, unfortunately, hell is the controlling power. When that power controls the day, there will be no creative love - there will be no conversation - there will be no give-and-take - there will be no room for forgiveness - there will be no kindness without limits. There will only be a pride-filled gathering of self-righteous folk who thrive on claiming to have the power to condemn others. What a hell of a place to be. Promises of a reign of peace and love are hung out to dry and die in order to keep the hellishness of fear in power.
As I was standing on those stairs I thought, 'What would a follower of Jesus be doing here when fear attempts to reign and condemnation seeks to control the day through laws of the state? I think they would listen to those being condemned and lean in to hear every story and hold the hands of the meek and honor the boldness of those who do not fade in the face of threats and stand in awe of those who persist to make shalom reign and resist the hellishness that comes during a time that is rightly labeled - lame duck.
TRRR
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