It is easy to get hooked into talking about the evil I
see happening around me
It feels important to point it out. After all, we have a huge number of people
who have decided to trust people who lie and twist the facts, who push hate in
the name of supremacy (and even Jesus), and who carefully nurture fear.
We have a government that is extremist, controlling, and
determined to grab all the money and power it can, no matter what the cost is
to truth, freedom, compassion, and love.
And there is a side of me that wants to call out what I
see as violating God.
And there is a lot of that. A frightening amount.
But I keep remembering that Jesus chose the path to the
cross.
The path of love and non-violence. And while he called people out, mostly those
who were being oppressive in the name of God, he did not, for the most part,
attack.
Instead he loved.
The dialogued. He provided an
alternative way of thinking, seeing, and yes, living.
Paul picked up on this when he said, “Do not be overcome
by evil, but overcome evil with good.” A
high calling. I feel that all too often
I am indeed overcome by the evil that flows like a never-ending stream. And I respond in kind.
So how do we fight evil?
Perhaps we fight it by constantly putting out there what it looks like
not to be evil. What does it look like
to be good?
To me, we have to be for those things that value each
human being as a child of God
We have to be for those things that give all people a
chance to live out their full potential.
We have to be for those things, then, that create equity,
equality, justice, and people.
We have to be for those things that comfort the afflicted
and set the prisoner free.
Being for those things is not always safe
It is not always beneficial to us. Sometimes there is a cost.
But no cost we can pay would be higher than the cost paid
by Jesus.
“No greater love is there than this, than to lay down
one's life for one's friends.
And so we are called to love those around us, our
neighbors
And who is our neighbor (remember the parable of the Good
Samaritan)
Everyone
So I have to be for the immigrant. The person born LGBTQI+. The person who is poor, mentally ill, and
aged. To those who are vulnerable in any
way. I even have to be for those who
have been programmed to believe that might makes right, and the one who dies
with the most money wins.
So how does this work?
When I read that the administration that is has decided
to dismantle all programs that monitor climate change, I have to respond by
reminding people that creation is sacred.
It is the incarnation of Sacred, and that by encouraging people to
support anything that protects our planet.
When a choice is made to arrest immigrants and put them
in concentration camps, I have to keep bringing up the command of God to
welcome the stranger.
I need to know WHY I am against what ICE is doing, and
why I am against us supporting wars, and why I am against racism, and why I am
against cutting programs that help the vulnerable. I am against those things because they are a
violation of the Sacred.
They are against the way God showed us in Jesus.
The trick is to do that by advocating for good, fighting
for good, without slipping into hate. It
is OK, I think, to be angry, but not to get pulled into the endless cycle of
enmity and violence.
I encourage us all to really think about what Jesus
taught
I want us all to remember how Jesus lived and died
Jesus is an example of how we all should live
He embodies the values we all should have
We cannot abandon the way of good in our attempt to get
rid of what is not good.
I know this sounds foolish. But then the cross was foolish.
I am not saying I can do it, but I am saying I want to
try
Because we know that if we fight fire with fire,
everything is consumed
My beloved English Professor at Whitman, Thomas Howell,
once said to us (this was in the early 70s, so think Vietnam, Civil Rights, et.
al)
“When civilization is working at cross-purposes with
human nature (which he saw as good, we are created in the image of God after
all), you have real problems. Your
generation knows this. What remains to
be seen is if you can keep your tempers long enough to do something about it.”
God, grant me patience and compassion.
Grant me the strength not to rely on the power of the
system, the power of money, the power of power,
But to rely on the power of love
No matter how hard
No matter what it costs