If anyone needs proof of the essential barbarism of Christianity, one need only consider the Russian invasion of Ukraine: Orthodox Christion versus Orthodox Christian. The ease with which Christians make war upon other Christians, whether with weapons of mass destruction, with AR-15's, or with handguns, only mirrors the vitriol of words: Christians pleading for rescue at the Southern border of the United States with Mexico, receive in response, denial, brutality, more vitriol, and "political" hate from fellow Christians...
President Obama noted on more than one occasion that the most segregated place in America were Churches on Sundays. Instead of the holy "competition" of "see how they love one another", the so-called leaders of the U.S. practice policies of separation and division, amplified by a "Supreme" Court and a rapacious media (which is near-universal, not "mainstream", and entirely motivated by profit). It cannot be said that we are better than that, nor that we deserve better.
We have so completely aligned ourselves with the Unholy Trinity
(Privilege, Profit, and Power) that we cannot even recognize the disgusting faces that look back upon us from our mirrors. The NRA has so successfully intimidated and controlled the Congress and Presidents, one after another, that here we are: drug-lord terrorists can (and do) purchase most of their weapons (legally) right here in the good 'ol USA... meanwhile, Congress and Presidents, one after another, as public policy, sell similar weapons to South-of-the-Border police and militaries, to fight the organized crime that we armed! Approved, of course, by both the "Supreme" Court and the sadly Christian "court" of public opinion.
What does this, any of this, have to do with the "Little Portion"? Bearing only the white man's privilege (which, of course, is no small thing), but with no real money or power, I can only think. I can only pray. And I can only do the small work that is in front of me. I have no significant audience, so I can only write, really, for myself: as a practice of remembrance... In ancient days, Christian mystics would quietly remind one another of the most fundamental of the Christian mysteries... although it now borders upon heresy, it has yet made its way through the centuries to us, right now. Here it is (secretly though): God became human, that humans might become God...
I glance out the window by my desk. The dogwood trees are still small. The ground is still white with snow. I yearn to walk in the garden, to feel the soil in my hands, and to begin again with the placing and spreading of seed that I might see an abundance of growing green, lovely flowers, and the slow ripening vegetables and fruit in the bushes and trees. That brief meander through my hopes for the coming spring, summer, and autumn is now out of reach for thousands of Ukrainians, refugee immigrants, and otherwise suffering sisters and brothers, in Christ...
Christ is being bombed today.
Christ is bleeding and in pain today.
Christ is huddled in bushes hiding from the Border Patrol today.
Christ is hungry and standing in a Soup Kitchen today.
Christ is being raped today.
Christ is losing the right to vote today.
Christ is being told to speak only English today.
Christ is in the desert weeping for the oceans today.
Christ is wandering, homeless, broken, and without hope today.
This is not hyperbole.
Didn't the Master say, "Whatsoever you do to the least person among you, you do to me?"
Didn't he say, "Love one another as I have loved you?"
And didn't he also say, "Go and do likewise?"
Will this be, after all is said and done, the last testament of the Christian: Those who do not know how to make love make war?
Ah, but what do I know? I've never been what anyone would consider "normal". What hair I still have is long gray and turning white. I am a poet with fewer and fewer insights. And now my best prayers are a dark silence...
President Obama noted on more than one occasion that the most segregated place in America were Churches on Sundays. Instead of the holy "competition" of "see how they love one another", the so-called leaders of the U.S. practice policies of separation and division, amplified by a "Supreme" Court and a rapacious media (which is near-universal, not "mainstream", and entirely motivated by profit). It cannot be said that we are better than that, nor that we deserve better.
We have so completely aligned ourselves with the Unholy Trinity
(Privilege, Profit, and Power) that we cannot even recognize the disgusting faces that look back upon us from our mirrors. The NRA has so successfully intimidated and controlled the Congress and Presidents, one after another, that here we are: drug-lord terrorists can (and do) purchase most of their weapons (legally) right here in the good 'ol USA... meanwhile, Congress and Presidents, one after another, as public policy, sell similar weapons to South-of-the-Border police and militaries, to fight the organized crime that we armed! Approved, of course, by both the "Supreme" Court and the sadly Christian "court" of public opinion.
What does this, any of this, have to do with the "Little Portion"? Bearing only the white man's privilege (which, of course, is no small thing), but with no real money or power, I can only think. I can only pray. And I can only do the small work that is in front of me. I have no significant audience, so I can only write, really, for myself: as a practice of remembrance... In ancient days, Christian mystics would quietly remind one another of the most fundamental of the Christian mysteries... although it now borders upon heresy, it has yet made its way through the centuries to us, right now. Here it is (secretly though): God became human, that humans might become God...
I glance out the window by my desk. The dogwood trees are still small. The ground is still white with snow. I yearn to walk in the garden, to feel the soil in my hands, and to begin again with the placing and spreading of seed that I might see an abundance of growing green, lovely flowers, and the slow ripening vegetables and fruit in the bushes and trees. That brief meander through my hopes for the coming spring, summer, and autumn is now out of reach for thousands of Ukrainians, refugee immigrants, and otherwise suffering sisters and brothers, in Christ...
Christ is being bombed today.
Christ is bleeding and in pain today.
Christ is huddled in bushes hiding from the Border Patrol today.
Christ is hungry and standing in a Soup Kitchen today.
Christ is being raped today.
Christ is losing the right to vote today.
Christ is being told to speak only English today.
Christ is in the desert weeping for the oceans today.
Christ is wandering, homeless, broken, and without hope today.
This is not hyperbole.
Didn't the Master say, "Whatsoever you do to the least person among you, you do to me?"
Didn't he say, "Love one another as I have loved you?"
And didn't he also say, "Go and do likewise?"
Will this be, after all is said and done, the last testament of the Christian: Those who do not know how to make love make war?
Ah, but what do I know? I've never been what anyone would consider "normal". What hair I still have is long gray and turning white. I am a poet with fewer and fewer insights. And now my best prayers are a dark silence...
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