I believe it was Jesse Jackson whom I first heard describing generational poverty as “frozen violence.” Herman Hess also described “frozen violence” very well when he wrote, “We kill at every step, not only in wars, riots and executions. We kill when we close our eyes to poverty, suffering and shame. In the same way all disrespect for life, all hard-heartedness, all indifference, all contempt is nothing else than killing.”Perhaps Hess overstated the case a bit but I take his point to be that sometimes the worst violence is institutionalized and therefore invisible to those who live higher up on the food chain. Every hierarchy can be thought of as frozen violence whether that hierarchy is racial, economic or gender based:The movement to interfere in the reproductive decisions of women is violent when it threatens people with prison even if it calls itself “right to life.” For police to be used to protect protect the structures of economic injustice is violence even if it is called “keeping the peace.”When marriage is withheld from same gender couples, when Christian family values makes no safe space for people who live outside its own moralisms, they are not expressing Christian piety but religious violence. Mark Twain bluntly called out the white Christian Church for its role in defending the structures of slavery. Twain said, “There was no place in the land where the seeker could not find some small budding sign of pity for the slave. No place in all the land but one – the pulpit. It yielded last; it always does. It fought a strong and stubborn fight, and then did what it always does, joined the procession – at the tail end. Slavery fell. The slavery texts in the Bible remained; the practice changed; that was all.”The desire to dominate others is a chameleon that can easily pose as patriotism, morality or evangelism. This is a chaotic time when religious people must choose between being popular cheerleaders for the remaining structures of frozen violence or prophetic voices calling humankind from hierarchies of violence to a new dawn where no one must live under the heel of another. And each of us must decide whether we will place our trust in the power that would dominate our human family, or the power that would liberate it.
Religious people are sometimes told they are supposed to believe that Moses parted the waters, that Jesus rose from the dead, or that someone’s scripture is directly dictated by God. But how could we ever know whether such things really happened? Is faith really just pretending that we really know what happened centuries ago? Is faith betting our lives on the possibilty that some ancient miracle “proves” our religion is right? Is faith running the ultimate bluff? I think it is important for Christians to remember how many times Jesus warned against hypocritical religion. The word “hypocrite” did not mean exactly the same thing it does today. Instead, “hypocrite” referred to the mask actors wore in Greek theatre. It seems to me Jesus was warning against religion that pretends to know what it does not really know or to feel what it does not really feel. It seems to me, if our goal is to love, that pretending to know and feel things only gets in the way. The faith that “saves” us is not belief in religion but trust in the life process. When religious people base their lives on things that they are only pretending to know they cannot be reasonable in modern situations. A commitment to yesterday’s understanding can make us enemies of today’s truth. I believe the one true faith that “saves” us is an allegiance to the web of life and an awakening to the fact that our fates are interwoven.I believe the resurrection that saves us does not belong to any one religion but is an acceptance of the cosmic process where beings arise and fall like waves in the ocean but not a drop of water is lost. Faith is trust in that process.I believe the most valuable parables and stories of any great religion awaken us to who we are in the here and now. Such stories and symbols lead us through the dragons of our fears and desires and into the cave of our own depths. We cannot find love while hiding behind a mask. We cannot find truth any other time than now. I believe the religious pilgrimage most needed is one into the depths of the human heart. Mythic stories are not fantastical historical claims but wondrous guided meditations past our hopes and fears and into the human heart. The treasure is hiding right now behind our pretended thoughts and feelings. The journey is always to here.
I ran across an interesting quote the other day but have been unable to locate its source:“Your nervous system will always choose a familiar hell over an unfamiliar heaven.”That saying seems true to me. I don’t know how many people I have met over the years who repeated the same old patterns that made them unhappy just because they were familiar..I’ve known so many people who repeated the same romantic mistakes over and over because a certain type of lover felt familiar to the person with an unhappy home of origin.Many people choose religion, not to bring new insights, but to reinforce the trance holding their life together. Many people do not even suspect that healthy religion might illumines their world and open them to newly discovered truths. So many people choose their religion because it resembles the safe and familiar childhood memories of dull old hymns and reassuring but mindless cliches. Few people choose a religion that calls them out of their herd and into personal transformation. Should anyone be surprised when a political movement claiming to “make America great again” would defend Confederate flags and care more about the statues of old dead white men than reshuffling the cards so that America might be great to ALL its citizens? The great Zen teacher Suzuki said the secret of Zen is to always be a beginner. When Jesus talked about being “born again” I suspect he was challenging us to reboot our lives and see each moment with new eyes. We cannot reboot our lives from within the safe familiar walls of familiarity.Happiness demands that we let go of truths that have died and embrace the new world being born. We cannot find love so long as we seek people who match the romantic fantasies of our immaturity. We cannot find justice if we will not leave the culturally approved hierarchies of oppression. We cannot discover new paradigms of science if our only measure for truth is whether new ideas fit into what we already know.What a mantra of rebirth: “Your nervous system will always choose a familiar hell over an unfamiliar heaven.” Who would have suspected that the most dangerous place in our spiritual pilgrimage is our comfort zone?
Many Christians in the U.S. saw the opening ceremony of the Olympics, not as an homage to earlier European religions, but as a parody and assault on their own Christian religion. Something bad happens when we look out at the world through the lens of our own sectarian narrative and cannot listen to people in their own terms. When groups are taught that God created the world especially for them they will most likely judge outsiders as inferior versions of themselves. So, instead of being able to understand the opening ceremony as a whimsical panoply of earlier European Gods and Goddesses, many Christians saw the opening ceremony as a sacrilegious depiction of the Last Supper. Sectarian Christians cannot really love those outside their theological bubble. To sectarians, life is always about themselves. Sectarian religion brings division to the world when it does not recognize the figures in its own theology as personifications and analogies of a deeper, common life we share with every other being. Sectarian religion ruptures the ear by which can hear the truths that do not fit in our simplistic Sunday School narratives. Literal belief wounds the eye that would see the humanity of those who do not fit into our religious narrative; but are, none-the less, standing right in front of us.Whatever the symbol “God” means, it must include female as well as male, animals as well as humans, and non-believers as well as believers. If religion is not to be toxic, it must point beyond anyone’s sect and call us into the life we share with everyone, including those who do not believe in our religion at all.If the Holy Spirit is understood as a ghost-like being belonging only to Christians, the symbol will leave believers isolated, selfish, and without roots into the natural world. But, if Holy Spirit is understood as a personification and analogy of the tie that binds us all together the symbol will not only unite Christians to each other, it will unite us to all humankind and to the web of life itself. The symbols of religion are like tiny umbrellas that start with our isolated egos and open us to the common life. They are seeds that open only to the sunlight of honesty and the nurturing rain of compassion. If our religion does not allow us to feel our kinship, even with the most dedicated Atheist, our seeds have not yet opened.
I’m not sure what does more damage- to burn a flag, or to use that flag as a colorful backdrop for a partisan political rally. The American flag is supposed to be a symbol of the common principles or our republic. Think about what happens when partisan politicians hold rallies using the flag to represent their own policies. What happens when partisan politicians address their followers as “patriots” implying that Americans who hold other policy positions may not love the republic as much? Are these politicians not using the flag to divide the one nation for which that flag is supposed to stand?What does it mean to love one’s nation if one considers it “communist” to care for the welfare of its people and “woke” to want to share power fairly with all? What does “E Pluribus Unum” mean after one has condemned diversity, equity and inclusion?And one flag can be the symbol of the principles of a nation, but a stage full of flags can reduce the symbol to a decorative back drop. We might even say that the more flags there are on a stage, the deeper the emotions and the shallower the principles are probably going to be.Democracy can die from traitorous contempt it is true; but a republic can also die from a vacuous, rudderless, narcissistic patriotism that is all symbol and no substance.
When people say preachers shouldn’t condemn Christian Nationalism, When they say we should be spiritual but not political, When they say we should support the church right or wrong, I know they have never understood the liberating message of Jesus, or Moses, or a cloud of prophetic witnesses who aren’t even religious.Our message is one of a love that grows into justice. It is spiritual, yes; but if religion does not break chains as well as heal wounds it is a prison chaplain for the poor and oppressed, not a prophetic call for their liberation. Our time is particularly bleak because religious leaders serve justice within the context of their nation, their sect, and a capitalist worldview, not from the context of universal love and justice. Like every ideal, these goals are unreachable, but they are pole stars of spiritual and political sanity.I’m so glad Moses “got political” about workers’ rights. I’m so glad Moses actually changed people’s conditions and didn’t just pray for a better day. I’m so glad Moses went directly to Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go.” Just as Pharaoh was the “decider” in his day, so are citizens the “deciders” in a democratic republic. Religious leaders who do not challenge citizens to seek justice for all humankind are no leaders at all.I’m so glad Jesus knocked over the tables of exclusion and didn’t simply offer thoughts and prayers. I’m so glad Jesus didn’t tell his followers about a pie in the sky heaven, but told his followers to make it on earth as they imagined it might be in heaven.Finally, I’m glad the Atheist Robert Ingersoll said, “Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.” In so doing he demonstrated that the tie that binds us together as a species is not sectarian religion, but love. And love without justice cannot be.
The more we love nature and humankind the more we feel the wounds around us. It is important for kind people to protect their hearts when they find themselves living in cruel times.It can be stunning to hear the cruelty and dishonesty that have become common place in our nation. It is important to treat our external conditions like a storm on the ocean and to keep our inner vessel dry of such hatred so that we do not ourselves sink into the storm.The branches of a tree cannot grow larger or stronger than the roots will support. Even as our “branches” strive sunward toward justice, so must our “roots” be nurtured in the dark rich soil of peace and compassion. It is not betrayal to the resistance to make time for rest and joy. One can face the perils of our day and still make time for community with other wonderful souls struggling to keep human sanity alive. It is not indifference to human suffering to make time to celebrate the wonder of being alive.
I was very happy to hear that two people from our little church will be honored at the Gay Pride parade in August. Rev. Babs Miller will be a “Lavender Legend” and Morgan Davis will be one of the Grand Marshalls. While Babs was in seminary she realized that she had always been attracted to other women. Being lesbian meant she couldn’t be ordained in the Presbyterian Church. Babs eventually came to serve at Saint Andrews because we were willing to violate church law to honor the dignity of every human being. Babs has been much more than an associate pastor. If you come to one our monthly leadership meetings Babs is usually moderating the meeting because she does that better than me. Babs is indeed a champion of the struggle who should be honored. When the vote came to determine whether Babs could be ordained, instead of hiding who she was, Babs “came out” before the Presbyterian Churches of Central Texas. At first there was a gasp, but then people realized we were voting on the same ol’ Babs who had served many of them faithfully for decades. As I remember it, the vote was unanimous. Morgan Davis is another champion of justice. Morgan had driven by the social justice messages of our church for sometime. As a transgender man, Morgan was understandably cautious about actually attending our church. For some time he just kept driving by. When I eventually met Morgan for coffee I didn’t realize he was the transgender man. I had been reading about him in The Washington Post. Morgan resigned his job with the state because he saw the trauma Texas was inflicting on families trying to keep their transgender teens from killing themselves. Morgan has become a beacon of hope, compassion and even joy for these families. He, too, deserves every accolade he gets. So, why have so many churches been on the wrong side of human rights struggles through the ages? Many churches do not realize there is a difference between the Hebrew word for “righteousness” (tzedek) and their word for ”justice (mishpat). They think they are supposed to be righteous, but not necessarily just.The word “righteous” means to be a good person within one’s value system. “Justice” means basing ones value system on what is good for all. The word “righteous” means working hard and giving charity to the poor. The word “justice” means changing the system so it will be fair for all. Many southern Christians saw “righteousness” as honoring their traditions and being kind to their slaves. If they had heard their bible’s call to justice they would have ended slavery in a heartbeat. The prophet Amos believed that God is not satisfied with our piety and worship, but also calls us to justice for all. Amos heard God saying, “Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice (mishpat) roll down like waters, and righteousness (tzedek) like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:23-24)Today, some Christians believe “righteousness” means playing out gender roles based on first century morals and science. Jesus and the other Jewish prophets did not come to teach such etiquette. They came to tell us we are members of one another. It is a good thing to be righteous, but in order to seek justice we must listen to who people are and to what they need. Yes, we need to have righteousness of character, but we also need to develop a love that grows into justice for the people of our own day.
I personally think a Woman of Color is the perfect person to bring this country together. Let me explain:Why is a Woman of Color the perfect person to heal this wounded nation? Part of what is tearing this nation apart is that different groups sometimes use the same words to mean different things. We try to communicate, but it can feel like the other side is being disingenuous or evasive. Most people do not realize that human groups develop “codes” of meaning outsiders cannot necessarily hear. For example, when Ronald Reagan spoke of “welfare mothers” many white people would conjure mental images of a black woman taking advantage of the system although Reagan never really came out and said it.Without even mentioning skin color, Rush Limbaugh used phrases like “inner city” or “thug” to trigger negative images of People of Color in his white listeners. Countless people fell into the tar pits of Limbaugh’s circular arguments without even consciously realizing they were being ethically gutted.Minority populations have to navigate both the coded language of the dominant group and that of their own group. People of Color are very familiar with the coded language of white culture, but most white people are at a loss when it comes to understanding various racial and ethnic groups. Who better to build a bridge across the racial divide than someone who knows both sides?Women navigate the patriarchy on a regular basis. Many, if not most men, are at a loss when it comes to grasping what pregnancy means in someone’s else’s life. Asking a person who cannot get pregnant to understand the importance of reproductive choice is like asking a fish to fly. That is why no one without a womb should be making decisions about the reproductive lives of those who do.Not to nominate a Woman of Color because our image of an electable president has been an old white guy is a terrible mistake. A nation is held together by its universal principles, not its partisan majorities. It is a losing game to steer our course by the passing clouds of political expedience instead of the pole star of our highest values. I don’t know whether Kamala Harris will get the presidential nomination or if Democrats will move to an open process. I just want to go on record saying that a Woman of Color is the best candidate for bringing this nation together. If we are choosing someone to build a bridge across our racial and gender divides, why not choose someone who knows both sides of the abyss?
I was raised to be a Republican. My parents and most of my teachers were Republican. Somehow, through the fog of my political ignorance, I sensed that Goldwater and Nixon were both race baiting in their own way. Though I left that party, in my heart of hearts, I am not partisan. The two political issues that draw me to political action are universal human rights and environmental sustainability. To me these are the two issues that AREN’T partisan. I wondered this week what historical Republicans like Lincoln and Eisenhower would have thought about the Republican Convention. How has the party of Lincoln fallen to where the only test for truth or ethics is whether one agrees with Donald Trump?I was saddened, of course, at the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. I do not wish suffering on any human being (or animal for that matter). Still, I wondered what it meant when he said,, “In a certain way I felt very safe because I had God on my side.” I then heard a number of MAGA Republicans who claimed that God had intervened and steered the bullet away from Donald Trump. I wondered what kind of God would steer the bullet away from a messianic leader into an innocent crowd. I wonder how that claim of divine intervention felt to the parents of school children who experienced no such divine intervention. I thought how different the theology of Donald Trump is from that of Abraham Lincoln. I may be remembering the setting wrong but it seems that Lincoln was in church when the preacher asked everyone to stand who believed that God was on their side. Lincoln famously responded, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”Lincoln realized the humanity of his enemies. He lamented, “Both [sides] read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes (God’s) aid against the other.” (Lincoln’s Second Inaugural)Republican president Dwight Eisenhower received a letter from a dying veteran who asked him to speak with more certainty and clarity. Eisenhower responded that that kind of unity of thought was appropriate for the military but would be deadly for a free society.Eisenhower said, “I doubt that citizens like yourself could ever, under our democratic system, be provided with the universal degree of certainty, the confidence in their understanding of our problems, and the clear guidance from higher authority that you believe needed.” The former general then referred the dying veteran to Eric Hoffer’s assertion that strong authoritarian leaders and dogmatic certainty are an attempt to“Escape from Freedom.” Eisenhower continued, “…dictatorial systems make one contribution to their people which leads them to tend to support such systems freedom from the necessity of informing themselves and making up their own minds concerning these tremendous complex and difficult questions.”To be clear traditional Republicans are not villains and traditional Democrats are not heroes. But something has happened to the Republican Party when any who question Donald Trump are humiliated into conformity or driven out of power.I have always been haunted by the fact that Nazi soldiers had belt buckles with the words “God is with us.” To claim that God is on our side is the rhetoric of Crusaders and Inquisitors, not of any who would be public servants in a free society. There is a world of difference between those who believe God is on their side and those who seek to be on the side of justice, which ultimately means UNIVERSAL human rights.