VENGEANCE AS POLITICS

From Diana Butler Bass on Facebook:

Dear Friends,

It is important that we remember the actions of these days and learn.

This is what it looks like when angry white people use a "democratic" process to wipe the memory and achievement of an honorable and successful black man from history. The drive to do away with him is so powerful that the "base" is willing to sacrifice their own to a life of no access to health care and potentially destroy the entire planet.

This is what it looks like when vengeance is the primary purpose of politics.

Do not forget these days. Because they are, for many, the opportunity to see what they never saw. The evil of the days can serve to awaken. Even after "he" is no longer president. Because until we deal with the depth of race and hierarchies and violence, this will continue.

Today, take a moment and be grateful for those who see clearly, who work with heart and passion for renewed practices of inclusion and true democracy in this, our national home.

I invite you to name some of those people here. Those who embody joy and justice in the midst of all of this.

Yours, Diana

Bass speaks truth with eloquence. The first names that come to mind are Desmond Tutu, Malala Yousafzai, Barack Obama, and Michelle Obama. The inclusion of "joy" makes it more difficult to think of others, but the word belongs. Gratitude is quite often difficult for me, but Bass is right to include the word "grateful" in her letter.

'GO OUT IN THE STREETS...'

H/T to Andrew Gerns, who posted the video at The Lead.

I agree with Diana Butler Bass, and I have placed her book, Christianity After Religion, on my wish list. People are hungry for God, hungry for fellowship, but in this uncertain age, the church will need to work out ways of going out to where people are, rather than placing the entire focus on getting people to come into our places of worship. I'm not at all suggesting that the church abandon services in the buildings. I see going out to the people with Ashes to Go, prayer services, and perhaps even eucharistic services as an addition to in-church services. Who knows but that some of the folks out there might one day come into the building, but the goal should be to serve folks outside the buildings by providing worship and proclamation of the Gospel for them in a community, however temporary the gathering may be.