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

To live within promise - we cannot be alt-f(right) or christian f(right)

Ah, I have started referring to those who see themselves as the white saviors of the land by tweaking some words they often use. Even though a one one-time devotee to the white supremacy movement has strongly urged people to never use the alternative labels for white supremacy - alas I found a way to corrupt their labeling preference. He said that all the labels like alt-right and nativists - for example - are labels white supremacist have put out there to soften what they are. They want us to use their words to cover up who they are: white supremacists.

After he laid out his history in and then his movement away from white supremacy thought and life, I considered putting his suggestion into my working vocabulary. So I have been using white supremacist much more. But now, I found my way to confront the beast of white supremacy and their racist antics by pointing out the power that keeps it alive. Therefore, my substitutes for white supremacy will be the alt-f(right). A similar change will work well for the religious folk who have an interesting way of making their faith white, exclusive, judgmental, and accusatory: the christian r(fright). The power of fear is great - but it is not the final word (read the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures).

The more I listen to people in both f(right) groups (yet, often their devotees overlap one another), I hear the voice of fear and then the anger that fear generates and then the threats that anger ignites and then the threats that are meant to exclude and demean and objectify. The christian f(right) has become a master of taking the words of love and grace and endless forgiveness and using them in a conditional manner. In that way, fear rather than love, becomes their gift to the world - but it is a nasty and corrupt gift. It is wrapped well in words of love - but, please note, whenever love is forced to flow through filters like if you... or when you... or unless you... their use of love may be the love they use to control their own little world - but it is not the love that is to be the image of our lives to which the Scriptures give witness.

The alt-f(right) masterfully tells us how 'those other folks' are making it impossible for us - to be us. And yet, with all their alt-f(right) words and action they are indeed being just who they are - fright-full racists who have never learned to see the world through more lenses than the one that was given to them at birth. Therefore, a story line outside their polaroid snapshot of only those who were able to fit into their family picture, is a foreign story and therefore a story to be ignored. But, when  those other story lines cannot be ignored because they are filled with the lives of neighbors and fellow citizens and those longing to a part of the melting pot of this country, the alt-f(right) freaks out. They gnash their teeth. They try to tell us and show us how strong they are but their fear-filled emperor has not clothes.

The alt-f(right) and the christian f(right) are unable to see the coming of that peaceable reign of life that is referred to as the Holy City coming down to earth in John's apocalypse. They are blind to the creativity of God who takes humanity - the whole spectrum of folks who often do not even look or act as though we are one people - and they attempt to demonize those who are created in the image of God's Peaceable Reign - but not their image. The f(right) must be nurtured into a life in which we need not fear - we need to touch and love and welcome and listen and share and offer up out lives so that the other may live in peace with us - as one of us. To resist fear we must be present with open arms. That is not easy - that has even proven to be dangerous - that can be life-changing for all sides.

It is not easy to resist a world built by those who can only hear and live by stories from the far f(right). The risk can be great. In addition, it may even mean confronting those who claim to be the opposite of the devotees of the world of f(right). Yet within their multicultural - open arms posture - and rants (like mine) they still find that f(right) finds a way into our living and talking and condemning.

To resist the f(right) that longs to rule all of us - takes work. It is work that demands our attention every day - listening again and again - saying yes and saying no - offering something new when we are living as people content with what has been. I do not want our country to be run by people who cannot see beyond their skin color or ethnic background or cultural patterns or the way they think it has always been (which is usually a non truth). That, takes work. I find it also means we live within the realm of promise not one of control. Damn, that's hard. Yet we are meant to put our whole humanity into it so that we will become (all of us) truly human. For many of us, it is almost impossible to do that - yet we must.
TRRR

Facing the faces we have learned are right and good - and racist

Is the church really a people who bring new life to the world? Maybe I need to ask if your congregation is a gathering of people who bring new life to the world? Then again maybe I need to look in the mirror and ask if I am a part of the church - of our humanity -the brings new life to the world?

Even in retirement - and more so when I served as a pastor in a parish setting - it seems as though we are too often involved in the sacred exercise of keeping things as they are. Obviously that is not true. Many folks will point out how much the church has done to change the world. Then again, just like the steamboat that keeps on rollin, the character of our society keeps on the path of keeping on the path of what has been - and with that - following the path of how it can keep on keeping on just as is - that is often the violence of a humanity that wants nothing to do with the peaceable Reign of God - whether religious our secular.

What is the new life we bring to the world? Is it a uniform and universal stance against racism? Not yet. More and more, it seems as though we speak well of the end of racism yet the church too often fades into the wall when race is brought into a conversation trying to uncover the ongoing game of racism - a game in which we - are the active pieces on the board. I am working my way though Tim Wise's book White Like Me. It is a life story that open up the subtle yet powerful way that we white folks are sucked into a false reality - a reality that closes off the wide wonderful spectrum of the diversity of our humanity. Wise presents an honesty and painful personal history that too many of us white folk try to dismiss - too, too easily.

When recalling a story of how his very, liberal thinking and living mother - having had too much to drink - said, Goddamn nig...  He shut her down. It was a point of painful recognition. When I read it, it made so much sense - painful sense. Let me quote something Wise wrote:
Racism, even if it not your own but merely circulates in the air, changes you: it allows you to think and feel things that make you less than you were meant to be. My mother, by proving her own weakness and exhibiting her own conditioning, taught me that one can never be too carful, can never enjoy the luxury of being too smug of believing oneself so together, so liberal, so down to earth with the cause of liberation that it becomes impossible to be sucked in, to be transformed. 

Then he writes; People never hurt others in moments of strength and bravery, or when we're feeling good about ourselves. If we spend all of our time in places such as that, then fighting for social justice would be redundant - we would simply have social justice and be done with it, and we could go swimming, or dancing, or whatever people do. 

Within our diversity - within our world that draws lines between neighborhood - within the places we claim as safe as we point at those that we see as dangerous - within the wonderful way our humanity is expressed in different colors and languages and life experiences, there is one truth that too many of us are afraid to hold onto and not lose our grip: we are one. But that, that truth, is something we have learned, somehow, is not true. Where in the hell did we get that? Well, we were born into it and we drank its poison even as it was hidden within the love of wonderful family and friends. Today, we must not accept poison or lies. We must be vulnerable people who question. We must be  people who know how to bend and bow and not make others into our image - but listen to the story of their humanity that is as human as ours - maybe more so.

We have come out on the other side of of another Independence Day. We, especially people of faith, need to divest ourselves of the stuff that has given us so much. So that - we will be open to the humanity of those we have been taught - however subtlety - is not like ours. Until then, the same old power of death will lead us - we will draw lines - we will move away - we will talk about them - we will see ourselves as the blessed norm. Yet, the norm has never been blessed. It has always been the power of the beast that the Lamb - through its love - dismantles through sacrificial living.
TRRR

Please, continue to inspire me

When we are seduced by fear, by what will come, it is easy to restrict life by closing in our minds - closing in our circles of acquaintances - closing our doors - closing off our hearts - closing our borders, and making up boundaries that we come to trust as the way our lives will be saved. 

When we are seduced by fear, we search for ways to be saved - saved from them - saved from all that is different and unknown - saved from harm - saved from the influences of that which is new or previously beyond our experience and our desires. In all these ways, we are fooled into believing that being saved has to do with keeping life as we want it.

When we are seduced by fear, we lose the vision of how scripture uses the word saved or save. Fear attempts to twist our minds and hearts into trusting that God saves us from a scary and troubled world - saves us from those powers out there - saves us from the life that is here and now - saves us from a Hell of a place - saves us like fragile figurines that are quite lifeless.

So, when fear attempts to seduce us, we must remember that we are saved for a life that faces trouble - opens our hearts and minds - risks harms way even when it means stepping out of our safety net to rescue others - greets and protects the alien - sacrifices what is, so as to enter what might be - and even breaks wind at threats of Hell. It is within this kind of a saving adventure that religious lines are able to be crossed and the brutality and bigotry and condemnation that upholds those lines can be exposed for the violence they proclaim and produce. 

When fear attempts to seduce us, we are invited to turn and face the lies that attempt to keep the world around us within the grasp of the many beasts of violence. Such beasts, never want to be seen as beasts. They want to be seen as upright - pure - law abiding - keeping the world safe and sound. In the face of such beasts, we are invited to pull the veil back on such images that attempt to color the world with the lies of self-righteousness. In other words, we are invited to get off our butts and act contrary to any and all laws - norms - society assumptions - and religious mandates that adhere to the violence of the culture. That, for instance, is why the great prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures were great. They uncovered the brutality of the acceptable and that which was considered holy and above reproach. We also saw such action from Jesus as he walked through the living lies of the religious and cultural establishment of his day that were sold on and were selling fear and death rather than saving folks for a boldness of life that is vital to crossing all boundaries and borders and walls in order to being peace - shalom - and wholeness to all people. 

When fear attempts to seduce us, we are invited to, toss off the threats that come from the beasts around us and that live under another rule - another way - another power that promises some kind of salvation - a promise that has never been fulfilled throughout history. The beasts around us are like foxes - able to trick us into their ways - always bringing about violence and death and control and more fear. Yet, I am overcome by the Hen. When the beasts and  foxes come dressed up as old-time religion or patriotic warriors in order to have their way - the Hen does not follow. The Hen gathers its young - places them beneath her and shelters them. The Hen will not be seduced. The Hen will not follow. The Hen will protect the future by being a nonviolent witness that sits down - resists - takes the hit and gives the future a picture of life that fears not. That is life that is not undone or seduced by fear. That is life that sees a gift in bending to serve all - no matter what the cost. That is life that needs no affirmation from the structures of the day - for those structures keep everything as is. That Hen life is life that knows that no power - no beast - no well-mannered rule - will bring about the well-being of all. 

Fear is attempting to win the day around us even today, and unfortunately, it is so easy to be seduced and to keep things as they have always been. That always seems safe - yet, such safety is a lie that offers comfort supported by endless lies.  That is why people are so taken back by the words of visionaries who are able to speak of another way to be truly human. That is why just a few words from a prophetic voice are able to turn our heads and, at times, our hearts and, at times, the whole way we step out into the day at hand. 

I have found that it is not easy for a self-described coward, to speak about the boldness of a Hen and the need to confront lies and speak in words that offer a new world and a new life. Yet, with the voices of discrimination and hate and intolerance and self-absorption and fear attempting to seduce us yet again, I know I must face my fears and become the unending love I claim to hold dear. Today, I was driving along and I was quite overwhelmed with fear. I started to think that my voice should become softer - my presence less noticed - my advocacy for and with the least among us more controlled. I became so upset with myself I wasn’t sure what to do. I felt threatened and disposable. That can be enough to make ordinary folks, like me, into a piece of the beast that thrives on fear and anxiety. It sure had me by the chest while I was driving. But then, I thought of you - and you - and you - and you - and you - and those others I know only by the stories I hear. I need stories of Hens who do not give up - never give in - resist unto death - offer up new life. So, continue to inspire me so that fear will have no power to seduce me.

TRRR

Fences - Walls - only create a hell among us

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