Knees and Fists: Hope Dies Last

The following was inspired by an interview with Malcolm Jenkins that appeared in the May issue of The Atlantic.  Jenkins plays football for the Philadelphia Eagles, and while he hasn't taken a knee during the National Anthem prior to his games, he and other Eagles players have raised their fists.

Players who kneel or raise fists have been characterized as "unpatriotic" and worse by many football fans and observers who do not understand the nature of their protest, or who are threatened by minority voices questioning and challenging the injustices of our society.

Malcolm Jenkins and many other NFL players do not simply protest injustice.  They are raising money and working to address the divisions and inequalities in American society.  Jenkins has started a foundation for such matters and has recruited numerous other players, black and white, and solicited funds, even from the NFL itself.

If you have not seen the May issue of The Atlantic, it is a simple matter to look up Malcolm Jenkins and his foundation online to learn what really is behind the NFL anthem protests and what those protesting are doing in response.

Thoughtlessly criticizing, caricaturing, name-calling, belittling, and condemning people who actively seek a better, more just society is a long-standing American practice.  Thank goodness for Malcolm Jenkins, his cohorts, those who have risked much in the past, and those who will risk in the future that all people may be treated as though they really were "created equal."

Here is what I wrote:

KNEES AND FISTS:  HOPE DIES LAST                                 

All of our nation’s excesses on display

For three hours on Sunday afternoon:

Militaristic glory;

Suffocating Consumerism;

The hunger for Violence;

We’re Good, You’re Evil;

The Vicarious Thrill of Beating, Humiliating, and Ridiculing The Other.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please rise, remove your hats and direct your attention to the 50-yard line and join the great

Country and Western vocal star

As we Honor America by singing our National Anthem!”

But taking a knee as our Civil Religion is practiced

Before millions In the National Television audience?

Raising a fist as we roll out our Icons

For misty-eyed and lumpy-throated worship?

That’s Blasphemy!  That’s Unpatriotic!  That’s Ungrateful! That’s Un-American!

Knees were taken in Southern cities five decades ago as dogs, fire hoses

And hatred bore down.

Fists were raised as Olympic gold was awarded in Mexico City in 1968

As disproportionate ranks of Blacks and other expendables

Fought and died in Vietnam. 

Knees are taken and fists are raised today as Injustice still plagues these United States, As our prisons overflow (don’t worry, we can always build more!),

As those who are sworn to enforce emphasize the Force (deadly, though it is).

Knees are taken and fists are raised

In the Hope that the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave

One day

Will live up to its self-assured and self-proclaimed Identity and Promise.

Hope drives, motivates, comforts, inspires, emboldens. 

Hope, as it is said, “Dies Last.”

But like the glaciers and rivers

That carved Majesty into our landscape, Hope plods and drags,

Tapping the fearful and the paranoid on their shoulders

Rather than slapping their faces.

Those who embrace it wait,

Often suffer,

Find themselves vilified,

And disappear before its fulfillment.

But it moves. 

Hope moves. 

Hope carves. 

Hope transforms.

Although not usually on Sunday afternoon

During those three hours

When our Nation’s Excesses

All are on display.

Enough is enough!

Here is the message I sent to my U.S. Senators and Member of the House of Representatives.  What message did you send?

In the first six weeks of 2018 there have been 18 school shootings.  That’s three per week.  There is no reason anyone needs an assault rifle or smoke grenades or any of the other weapons used in these attacks.

Trading innocent lives for campaign contributions from the NRA is unconscionable.  It is decades past time to stand up to the NRA and the paranoia it foments.

Hunters do not need assault rifles.  The government is not coming to take away peoples’ guns.  The NRA and its interests threaten and destroy the lives of the citizens you supposedly represent.

Enough is enough.  You sought the power to influence the direction of our country.  Use it now to do something good and relegate the NRA to the scrap heap of history.

A Bit of a Head-Scratcher

At times I enjoy the messages that churches put on the signs in their yards.  Some will simply list the sermon title for the following Sunday.  Some give enticements for folks to come inside.  Some use subscription services that provide generic messages.  Some try to be clever.

Frankly, I doubt anyone ever decided to join a church -- much less show up out of the blue on a Sunday morning -- because they were so inspired by the words on the church sign.

In fact, many of the messages are downright off-putting.  I guess those are the ones I enjoy the most, and I will invariably say to Mary, as we drive by the church, "Let's go there this Sunday."  Of course, the notion is forgotten before we are even past the end of the church property.

Negative messages are even posted by some congregations on their signs:  "What part of 'Thou Shalt Not' don't you understand? -- God."  There is a whole series of those.  I'm sure they are especially effective.

Currently, there is a message on the sign of a church near where we live.  The church is a small independent fundamentalist church of some variety or other, and their sign, right in plain view for everyone to see as they drive by, proclaims, "There are no Atheists in Hell."

Huh?

Does that mean Atheists don't go to Hell?  Does it mean once an Atheist arrives in Hell he or she suddenly becomes a believer?  And doesn't that mean they wouldn't go to or stay in Hell?

What is "Hell," anyway?  Is it a place?  Is it just a bad word we're not supposed to say, or we might end up there?  Is it the place Jesus referred to as "Sheol," which as I understand it was some sort of continuously-smouldering garbage dump on the outskirts of town?

And why would an Atheist be frightened of Hell?  If they don't believe in God, there is no reason to think God's "judgment" is real, and that one might end up in whatever Hell might be.

So, I guess I just don't understand the point of the message on the sign.

Maybe I'm over-thinking this.  Or maybe whoever approved and posted the message was doing some under-thinking.

Whatever the case, it occurs to me that many churches with changeable-message signs are wasting that opportunity.  Why not use the sign to give witness to some of the meaningful, life-building, love-promoting tenets of the teachings of Jesus?

Are those tenets too boring or irrelevant that whoever is responsible for coming up with the messages has to think of "clever" ways to get the attention of the people who pass by their church buildings?

Or maybe churches are just too afraid of not fitting in with the dominant societal culture, norms and expectations.

To me, that's one of the biggest struggles facing the church today.  The church is so reflective of the world around it that it has slid into the realm of the irrelevant.  Why be a part of the church -- and by extension, the faith -- if it's just more of the same soul-deadening nonsense associated with what one of my accounting teachers in college always called "chasing that dollar bill."

It seems to me that churches should be offering an alternative, something that lifts people out of the anxiety, fear, angst, dread, alienation, and everything else that closes in around us all the time.

I don't think Jesus died so that his "followers" would do everything they can to conform to the world and its ways.

Yet, it continues, and the church suffers, the world suffers, and people suffer as a result.

Why the church doesn't see that, to me, is a real head-scratcher.

Oh, by the way, the best sign I ever saw associated with a place of worship actually was a banner instead of a sign.  It hung on a fence outside the Friends Meeting of Washington, and was placed there immediately following the 9/11 attacks.  As far as I know, it still hangs there today.

The banner read, "War is not the answer."  Too counter-cultural for you?  Perhaps Christianity makes some demands that you are not willing to meet.

Does that make you an Atheist?  I hope not, because we know where Atheists, uh, well, don't end up.  Or something.  I think.  I'm not sure...

A Door? A Stairway?

Two unrelated incidents from my years in the church recently came to mind.  The first was when I worked for the Quakers and was not active as a congregational pastor.  The church we attended at the time had a "young adults" Sunday morning class (these young adults were all in their late 30's, but who was counting? -- I guess the group had been together as a class since they truly were young adults), and I was asked to lead it.  I forget now what the topic or book study was to be at the time (I did several with them), but a week or two before I was to begin as their "teacher," a couple from the group came up to me and expressed their appreciation that I was going to step into the role, saying, "so you can help us know how to get into heaven."

The second incident occurred a number of years later.  A young couple in the church where I was the pastor at the time celebrated the birth of their first child.  Visiting them in the hospital, I saw their joy first-hand.  The mother made a reference to having the newborn baptized.  This surprised me because both she and her husband were active members in the church, and the whole movement that eventuated in our denomination, dating back to the American frontier, included two straight-forward tenets regarding its practice:  Communion (the Lord's Supper, or as some traditions refer to it, the Eucharist) was a part of every worship service; and, baptism took the form of immersion for those who made a confession of faith that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God."  In other words, we practice "believer's baptism."  Both tenets were intended to demonstrate a "restoration" of the New Testament faith and practice of the first followers of Jesus.

Well, the new mom in this case wasn't entirely on board.  Maybe we should baptize the infant "just to be sure."  It didn't happen, unless they took him to another church that did practice infant baptism.

It has been a very long time since I considered the Christian faith as a means to "go to heaven."  (Those who have/had the misfortune of attending years worth of church meetings might, in fact, hold an alternate view of what it's all about!)

One reason I don't think of the faith as a path to heaven is that there is an implication that God can be manipulated.  Sprinkling water on a baby doesn't convince God that if the baby should meet an early, tragic end, he/she "goes to heaven."  Baptism is symbolic of giving one's life to following Jesus.  In my mind, part of that is trusting God to do the right thing -- in all circumstances.  This is important for parents of newborns to keep in mind, especially if they have been baptized, themselves. The water comes from a faucet in the church building, supplied by a well, or the city.

Similarly, believing an accepted list of doctrines, or not saying bad words, consuming alcohol,  dancing, playing cards, or (name someone else's sin) doesn't force God's hand when the time of transition comes about.  "You're stuck, God.  I played by the rules.  You have to let me in."  (I would dare say that most folks who claim they live by the Ten Commandments, or that the commandments make or break one's ability to get their heavenly ticket punched, can't even list all ten of them.)

The fact is, there is NOTHING we can do to "earn" God's grace.

This all came up because last Sunday at the church we now attend, the text for the day was the story of the woman with the 12-year hemorrhage who approached Jesus, touched "the hem of his cloak," and was healed.  Jesus felt power going out from himself when the woman touched him, asked who did it, and when she confessed, he said, "Your faith has made you well (or whole, or healed you)."

The temptation in preaching from this text is to make it strictly an example of Jesus' ability to give physical healing, or a "cure," for some malady or disease.  It's also possible to take it a step further to say something along the lines of "Jesus can help you when you're feeling low, or things don't go your way, or when you're confused about something."

OK, if that's what you want to do.

To me the story gets at the heart of what the Christian faith really is all about.  While the woman was bleeding all those years, with no relief, her very life was slipping away.  She turned to Jesus to get her life back, and she got it.

Now, the notion of "life" has many dimensions, it seems to me.  Simply breathing and having a heartbeat may provide a definition of life, but likely most people would not trade places with someone on a ventilator.  The person on the ventilator is "alive," but is hardly experiencing life.

Jesus spoke of the "realm of God," or the "realm of heaven."  OK, his words are translated as "kingdom," but let's not limit Jesus only to male-dominant images.  The "realm of God/heaven"
was described by Jesus as being "at hand."  Or, he sometimes said it "is like..."  In other words, the realm is now.  It's here.  You can live in it, you can embrace it, you can be defined by it.

This is what the story of the bleeding woman teaches:  grabbing hold of Jesus and what he taught/stood for/exemplified gives one the life found in the realm of God/heaven.  Indeed, it gives life as God intended -- abundant and everlasting for all of Creation.

Assuming one's place in heaven while doubting the same place for others does not fit in God's realm.
Assuming scarcity of the earth's blessings and the need to accumulate them at the expense of others is not a heavenly realm virtue.
Assuming religious postures and affecting religious jargon while embracing cultural norms that separate, alienate, and encourage an attitude of "me first," isn't "touching the hem of Jesus' garment."

The values of agape love, seeking what is best for others, generosity and sharing, compassion (not just feeling "sorry," but entering into the situation of those who suffer), and yes, sacrifice, are life-giving.  They are realm living.  They heal us. They make us whole.  They introduce "salvation" into our very being.

Again, I don't worry about what happens next, after death, because:

a.  I can't do anything about it;
b.  I trust God to do what's right;
c.  What God does in all circumstances is right.

What I can concern myself with, and what I can do, is seek to grab hold of Jesus and be made whole by his touch, stepping into the realm of God, the realm of heaven, the realm of LIFE.

Huh?

While it was a little difficult to follow what the writer was saying in the opening paragraph, the guest column “Doesn’t freedom of speech extend to everyone?” (Asheville Citizen-Times, September 10) was not only “déjà vu all over again,” but it was ironic, as well.  (The article appears below)

When I read the article I realized it simply was an updated version, with local references, of an article I read some years ago, probably during the last election cycle.  I forget the name of the “Christian” organization that put out the same word before, but the message was unchanged:  the government is waging war on Christianity, 100,000 pastors aren’t speaking up, the same non-speaking pastors should tell their people how to vote, etc.  This group encouraged pastors to tell their flocks to vote for Republican candidates.  The IRS was on notice!

Perhaps the writer did not choose the title of the current article, but that’s where the irony took flight.  It seems he was wringing his hands over the notion that people hold different views, and express them, regarding Islam and other unnamed matters that are leading the United States to “a very terrible future.”  The sense was that those views need to be tamped down while the “fast-disappearing freedoms and liberties of everything Christian in our United States of America” should be promoted by Christian leaders who are “sitting back in their safe church safety zones and saying nothing.”  His views are to take precedence over all others.

He compares this imagined “war” against his version of Christianity to Nazi Germany of World War II.  There are no examples in the article of how this is played out.  It sounds serious, but there is nothing to back up the scare-tactic illusion.

As a seminary-educated clergyperson with over thirty-five years of experience in church pastoral leadership and in heading a national ministry devoted to social justice, I regret that the church can produce individuals who cherish exclusion, prejudice, a false idea that the United States was established as a “Christian nation,” and even hatred of those who are different from themselves.

The example of great Christian leaders such as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and so many others, such as Rev. William Barber right here now in North Carolina, who may or may not be public figures, but who dedicate their lives and ministries to raising awareness of human oppression, suffering, and other forms of injustice inspire people like me and many others not only to become pastors, but to also work diligently to come to terms with the deep meaning of scripture, and as Christians, to embrace the challenging teachings and example of Jesus.

The sad reality is that in many instances when pastors attempt to tap into the prophetic word of scripture it is so challenging to those who hear it – largely top-of-the-heap dominant culture folks – that they are ignored, mocked, derided as unpatriotic, or even removed from their position.  I guess some things haven’t changed since the days of Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. 

The only “war” on Christianity seems to be from within.  And I must assert that it is not a “right” to reduce, refuse, or regret the humanity of another person. It is scandalous in a country founded on freedom and liberty that it takes hundreds of years of struggle to move society in a direction to recognize and even codify the value of equality for all.

The writer of the guest column suggests that Franklin Graham “has the answer from the great physician, the creator God of all creation, the God of Israel and the God of our Founding Fathers,” but that answer is not shared in the article.

So, we are to conclude, it appears, that freedom of speech is disappearing from those who are victims of a war against their faith; the United States parallels Nazi Germany; 100,000 pastors are afraid to say anything, but they should tell us for whom to vote; the Founding Fathers engaged in daily prayer; and Franklin Graham holds a secret answer that will make our country Christian again.  There also is this curious statement, “Only God knows how our presidential election is going to go and what it is going to bring and it is not going to bring what either of them is promising.”

All of this feeds the dismissal of, mocking of, and disdain for Christianity and the church that taints all people of faith – even those who take seriously the command of Jesus to love God with all of one’s heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love one’s neighbor as one’s self.

---

Doesn't freedom of speech extend to everyone?

Regarding the Aug. 11Asheville Citizen-Times front page story titled “Trooper: Amen to antiMuslim video post”: It appears the AC-T doesn’t appreciate what Trooper Dowdle had to comment on the statements made by the pastor of his church. Doesn’t Trooper Dowdle have freedom of speech also? Sounds like you’re wanting the trooper to catch trouble from his higher-ups over freedom of speech if not spoken by your standards and the standards expressed by the so-called professor at UNC Chapel Hill, Carl Ernst, a professor of religious studies who described the pastor’s video as a diatribe riddled with inaccuracies and falsehoods.

I challenge the professor to point out the inaccuracies and falsehoods (which most liberal statements today are based on).

In the Asheville Tribune weekly newspaper, a very talented, educated writer named Mike Scruggs has written close to 14 articles on the detailed
life and beliefs of the Muslim people plus their Islamic beliefs.

It would be a patriotic endeavor to all the citizens for the Asheville Citizen-Times to get Scruggs’ permission to print his series on Islamic religion and the Muslim people. It could save our U.S. from a very terrible future. What truly surprises many of us Christians is the lack of Christian leadership, sitting back in their safe church safety zones and saying nothing of the fast-disappearing freedoms and liberties of everything Christian in our United States of America.

I was told there are more than 100,000 church pastors of the Christian faith throughout the U.S. and, if this is so, where is their voice condemning all this evil that is spreading across our nation?

Do they even know or care that the God of all creation said they are to be the salt and light of the world? Do they even know the salt is to be the preservative of a society and the light is the truth of Jesus Christ? Their actions do indeed speak their apathy as our nation deteriorates into the septic tank of human history.

This war against Christianity by our own government is coming to be like the war Adolf Hitler did wage against the Jews before and during World War II, a war that brought forth some 90 million dead and untold trillions of dollars in damage. That subject isn’t taught in schools, so the people do not know what a falling apart society can come upon itself.

Look in the paper at the so-called entertainment section, all crime, guns, killing, drug wars, etc. And the church leaders are silent but a few, like Pastor Dennis Love, are trying to wake up a society who is nearly sound asleep in their apathy. So they jump on those who are trying to wake them up with truth. Look how our nation forgot 9/11, nearly 4,000 killed in one swipe and basically nothing done about it. The ones who promoted it, we shake their hand. Wow.

What’s left? In my opinion, our Founding Fathers brought forth the greatest freedom and liberty nation in all of human history by daily prayer power. They even held church service in our nation’s capital. Now we are throwing that nation away.

What’s going to replace what we are now losing? A living hell time. We can change it back to good by what Franklin Graham is preaching in every state. Notice the liberal media is not even covering it because they don’t want to know about what Franklin Graham is preaching to our once-great USA. He has the answer from the great physician, the creator God of all creation, the God of Israel and the God of our Founding Fathers.

Now if this was something else, someone else, talking about how the moon was going to fall out of outer space and crash into the earth, you can bet the media would report on it every day.

Only God knows how our presidential election is going to go and what it is going to bring and it is not going to bring what either of them is promising.

Where are the voices of those 100,000 church pastors? Where are all their billboards and newspaper ads, advising all of us Christian voters how to vote? Yes, the preachers have the right to tell the sheep how to vote but they have no backbone. So folks, put prayer time and power of prayer to work daily. God does hear and answer prayer time.

Jerome Peters lives in Marion.

Put Your Hands Together

In a recent worship service I attended we reached the moment during which folks were invited to share their "Concerns and Celebrations," i.e. prayer requests.  There were the usual mentions of illnesses and surgeries, family issues, etc.  One woman reported that her adult children were traveling somewhere, and she wanted prayers for "a safe journey, and that they will have a good time."

"Have a good time?"  Next weekend I'm planning to attend a performance of Dvorak's "New World Symphony."  Maybe I should pray that the musicians play a flawless interpretation of the piece, that the weather will be nice (it's an open-air venue), and that post-concert traffic isn't too bad on the way out of the parking lot onto the highway!

Thinking about this brought to mind someone from one of my congregations along the way.  She stated more than once in my presence that she "and the Guy Upstairs have an understanding."  Things would be OK between them "as long as I have a roof over my head and two meals a day."  How reasonable of her not to demand three meals a day!

One wonders what vengeance she would wreak on God if a twister came through town and blew the roof off of her bungalow.  Perhaps she would stop attending church!!! (This was, of course, the same person who didn't care for something I brought up in a sermon in one known instance.  When I pointed out that, well, according to the text for the sermon, Jesus said that, she replied, "I don't care what he said!")

There is no question that I have offered my share of inane, selfish, useless prayers over the years.  I also have been asked to make prayers on behalf of others that were similar in their level of validity.  Some were so specific and detailed as to what God was supposed to do that I privately hoped God would be taking notes in order to keep track of all the assignments coming God's way.

I suppose there is some value to the corporate prayer time in worship:  people given the opportunity to help share each other's burdens; reminding the folks of the Source of the many blessings everyone enjoys; and, a bit of community-building.

I'm not convinced, however, that God is persuaded by our supplications to do anything .

It seems to me the main issue at play here is freedom:  God's and our own.

One aspect of God that seems undeniable is that God is a completely free agent, unencumbered by our promises ("if you do this, God, I will..."), pleadings ("please, God, after all, I am using the biblical formula of tacking on 'in Jesus' name' at the end of my prayer"), and threats, which are too ridiculous even to characterize.

Another point about God is that God's love provides utter freedom to human existence.  God is not a Grand Manipulator of Events, making things turn out to anyone's liking.  (I do not presume, however, to suggest that God cannot or never will intervene in human events.  That is up to the completely free God.)

The older I get, and the more I experience life and think about spiritual matters, the more comfortable I become with the notion of God less as a "being" than a "presence."  It is difficult for me to envision a physical entity existing somewhere "out there" or "in heaven."  It seems that a spirit moving among, around, and even through people is a more relevant and forceful reality than an All-Seeing, All-Knowing, All-Hearing Person of Either Both or Neither Gender.  Certainly, a "god" that creates but hates Those Different From Me is completely out of the question.

Perhaps it always has been easier to personify "good" and "evil," but an eternally-alive devil or "Satan" seems patently ridiculous, and a "god" always looking over our shoulders, deciding somewhat capriciously whether to grant our individual requests just doesn't make much sense, either.

It seems that an active tension between what is life-giving and life-defeating surrounds and influences us in ways subtle and perhaps, at times, overt.  Just as the spark of what we term "life" or the "human soul" remains primarily mysterious, so does the "presence" that I sense as God.  But mystery and reality are not mutually exclusive.

But, enough of that.  At least, I hope it's enough to give a context for how "prayer" begins to make sense to me.

I think the Quakers and mystics of other stripes are on to something meaningful.  Meditation is, I believe, a way to tap into the presence that I think of as God.  Meditation, of course, takes many forms.  There was a little book written by Brother Somebody-or-Other who described finding God in menial tasks, such as washing dishes.  Some people practice particular postures and/or mantras in meditation.  When I was a young person, still living with my birth family, I often went into the backyard with a plastic baseball bat and ball, flipping the ball into the air, hitting it, walking to pick it up, and doing the same thing again.  Over and over.  I was doing a repetitive activity, lost in my thoughts, or even lack of thoughts.  To me, I realized many years later, it was a form of meditation, a time alone, away from others and distractions, to be renewed and refreshed.

When Quakers speak of praying for others, it is often in terms of "holding in the Light" the other person and their concern.  For un-programmed Quakers, worship consists of gathering the community into a period of silence, waiting, seeking the Spirit, or the "presence" of which I am writing.

To me, seeking -- and finding -- that presence is to draw nearer to its power, its influence, its consolation, and its comfort in a way that can have an effect on me, my life, my interactions with others, my attitude and outlook, and even my insight as I deal with the world around me.  It is not an attempt by me to manipulate, change, or control events.  Rather it is a fount of strength or wisdom or other resource useful in facing the realities of life.

Fear Itself

During a live interview this morning on national television a pastor who organized the protest rally in Dallas that ended up with snipers shooting at police, killing at least five and wounding twice as many, was asked a question along the lines of, "What message do you have for people in light of what happened here?"

His response was that he would tell people to "stop shooting each other."  Then he added a few words about the importance of love.

Frankly, I don't know what I would have said in that moment if I were the one being asked the question.  But, I have the advantage of time to think about it without TV cameras in my face and millions of people watching, with a frenzied police investigation unfolding behind me.

His two thoughts are pertinent and valid, of course.  As a clergyperson, I have no disagreement with what he said.  I also believe some other points should be made.

In scripture -- both "testaments" -- one can find numerous examples of a message that comes through when God is blatantly present and when Jesus displays signs of God's presence.  That message is "do not fear," or in some instances of translation into English, "do not be afraid."

It occurs to me that we are living in a season of fear.  There is, of course, fear of terrorism both in the United States and abroad.  I would argue that terrorism is a direct product of fear.   There also is a fear of change, especially among those who see themselves as being in society's dominant position.  Longing for "the good old days,"  having a desire to "take back our country," or to "make America great again," all express that fear:  those who have enjoyed privilege and unfair advantages see it crumbling away, and that makes them very afraid.

It is especially distressing when "people of faith" give in to and express such fears.  Many "Christians" and "churches" express hatred of homosexuals and/or Muslims; a hatred rooted in fear.  There is a fear of those who are different, those we do not understand, those who do not embrace our specific values or ways of living.

Yet, scripture conveys the message that God created all of humanity, that God desires abundant life for everyone.  God envisions the world and its inhabitants as an expression of God's love.  When circumstances put us in position to encounter someone who is not exactly like us, or to live through times that are a-changing, or that challenge us even to question our own ways, thoughts, desires, priorities, and understanding of the world, the message from God is, "Do not be afraid."

We are seeing what happens when we submit to fear:  hatred, division, bitterness, and violence.  We are not holders of The Truth.  We are not the center of the universe.  We are not God.

God's Word exists through eternity -- that's before and after our few moments in this life.  As I interpret God's Word, the main thing I see is God's desire for life, abundant and everlasting.  And even after all the shooting is done; even after the bodies are laid to rest by broken-hearted loved ones; even after oppression and exclusion and stigmas do their damage, life keeps happening.  Life springs up in the midst of death.  Life brings new awareness and blessings.  Life presents different and better possibilities. 

It has happened down through the ages.  It will happen as far ahead of us as our minds can imagine.

Why do we keep looking for ways to interfere with that?  Why do we keep resisting God's will and desire for us and for all of Creation?