Many are experiencing a cautious relief. Jacqui and I attended a "Count Every Vote" Rally yesterday that turned into a Victory Celebration as the announcement came through the crowd. We cried and laughed and drove to do our errands, beeping our horn and yelling, fists raised in solidarity with people all up and down Germantown Ave. Then we went home and talked throughout the day about what this means and what it does not.
It means that the people have said, "NO" to Fascism, at least for now. The colluders and sympathizers with Fascism will still do all they can to ignore, refute and reverse this, but a majority of the people have spoken in this "Relative" Democracy.
It means that they are still out there, now angered and determined to win, even as their mouthpiece continues to claim fraud and the stealing of this election, something he and his cronies tried to do themselves, but failed.
It means that the nation is deeply divided. It will remain so because of our national sin of giving our devotion to Greed, Hatred, Lust for Power and Desire for Status. Some will be people of love and grace and others of empire, always. For right now, the majority of people (Dems, some Republicans and many Independents) have come together to thwart this threat to our Democracy and decency in our nation. To think that maybe 31 million Independents and around 7 million or so Republicans helped do this is heartening and frightening at the same time. With perhaps 37 million Democrats, this coalition of folk who were not thrilled with Joe Biden did what they did because of the extreme threat of Donald Trump and his colluders in the Republican Party to our very Democracy. We are not going to be holding hands and singing "Kum Ba Yah" with each other, which is sad but true. We did come together to avoid a repeat of 1933-39 and its aftermath in Germany and across the world.
We have a long road ahead of us. This was not a great victory for the Agape Love and Grace in Kingdom Values, but a repudiation of the extreme ignorance, arrogance and hatefulness of empire, for now. Those folk are still out there, still angry and now more determined than ever. Those more moderate but still destructive of others are still there also. So must we be determined, strategic and focused on what is best for ALL of God's children in this nation and around the world.
Our work is just beginning. If we as followers of Jesus want to see the day when God's Kingdom is come and God's Will is done on earth as in heaven, then we must take back the Word and the Flag. We must stand for the Good News of Jesus, live it and proclaim it as a better way for the world. We must fight for a REAL Democracy of, by and for the people - ALL the people, equally. We must strive for the Shalom of ALL, putting in place the things that make for Shalom for All, or truly none of us will have it.
We must learn the lessons of how close we have come to the brink of destruction, truly something that is still possible in the days and weeks ahead, and repent - change our thinking so that our direction changes - to avoid similar pitfalls in the future. They will come.
We must be willing to face the consequences of being people who follow Jesus in the face of empire. We must go to the Cross, as did Jesus, in order to follow Jesus. We also must live and teach what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, as we have that in the Gospels, as the better, indeed, only sustainable way to be together in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now.
We must fight the beautiful fight of the faith. We must keep doing it.
I love Jesus and Jesus' Good News of Agape Love, Grace and Justice through liberation from empire for ALL of God's children.
I love Democracy, REAL Democracy, equality, equitable treatment for all and equal justice for ALL.
Do you?
If so, please know that this has been a good and necessary start, but our work has just begun.
Pastor Jamie
No comments:
Post a Comment