Today… I remember
Forty years ago today I raised my right hand and swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic… it was my second year of seminary and I was beginning my journey with the USAF Chaplain Service as a Chaplain Candidate, Second Lieutenant.
I swore that oath again when I was promoted to Chaplain, First Lieutenant and again when I went on Active duty as a Chaplain, Captain. Each time I was promoted I would swear the oath again.
The last time I did was when I was promoted for the last time as a Chaplain, Lieutenant Colonel in 2006. I retired in 2011 after 26 years of service.
I’m not telling this story to seek attention or to seek appreciation for my service. I am telling this story in order to help anyone reading this to understand how deeply I am saddened, angered, frustrated, and furious over what has happened in this nation.
It began on January 6, 2021 as I watched a mob of so-called patriots attack the Capitol and attempt to stop the certification of of the presidential election. The level of violence and hypocrisy was overwhelming. The division between people only grew deeper. I saw that in the churches I served between 2016 and 2020 and beyond. There was no way that I could have imagined the current situation we are in when I retired from active ministry in 2023. I had no idea that we would be where we are as a nation today.
Listening to the protest music of the 1960’s and 70’s I consider the way forward. Walking this Holy Week journey with Jesus from Jerusalem to the Cross takes on a whole new meaning in these times.
As I reflect and plan my own response, I am being challenged to remember some key touchstones from my own faith and life. In the Hebrew Scriptures the prophet Micah told the people what God required from God’s people. We are called to do justice, love kindness/mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus tells us how we should love: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” He also teaches in Matthew 5:44 that we are called to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
These particular verses have been a foundational influence on my ministry for nearly 38 years. They will continue to inform me as I chart my way forward in response to this national crisis. Additionally, I will prayerfully remember that, in the words of Thomas Merton, the God of peace is never glorified by human violence. (No Man Is an Island)
If you have read to the end of this blog, I am deeply grateful for your concern and support. May the God of peace guide us as we seek to be a witness to the light of God’s promise in these difficult times.
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 
Every act of compassion and every act of truth telling are part of our resistance.
I am so glad that you and I, along with Tania and Denise, are walking this journey rougher my friend!
At this late-stage of life, I no longer self-identify with any religion, but I do live a God-centric life. I’d labor to explain that, so i won’t. It’s not germane to my inquiry, anyway… that being… would you be so kind to explain, in Christian terms, that which you refer to as ‘God’s promise’? As i understand it, there have been many. Specifically, herein, I’m interested in how you may relate that idea to our present, shared, secular, circumstance in this country?
Clearly we’ve crossed the threshold of hope for a timely, massive rousing of “love thy neighbor” …spare for those already predisposed to doing so.
Further, can you see God as the animating force behind the leaders, perpetrating (what feels like) atrocities against democracy and innocent peoples? … and if so, can you see the potential of ‘good-intent’ …of ‘God’s love’ that lay hidden beneath what one could only (biblically) describe as “His wrath”?
God’s promise for me is that in the midst of suffering and pain, is that God is present (I cannot always explain how) with me/us. I spent 26 years in the uniform of the USAF Chaplain Corps and spent a lot of time with people of other faiths or those who claimed not to have a faith. They were friends, colleagues, co-workers, and counselees. I met them where they were in their faith journey and respected them. They did the same thing with me. In them I often saw stronger evidence of God’s love and presence than I did in others who claimed to be Christian but their actions were not congruent with that claim. I’m far from perfect. I seek to live out the command to love my neighbors and live into that love. Often in a quite imperfect way.
As for God and perpetrating violence and atrocities, that is one of the reasons that I struggle with the stories found in the Old Testament. Two things help me to wrestle with those stories… first one is that these stories were written by human beings. They were written, so to speak, by the “victors” in the wars of conquest, etc. They used God to justify their actions. Using God to justify genocide is not new and has been used by many major religions to support their own actions.
When I read/study scripture I look at it from a historical/critical perspective. Secondly, I interpret scripture through the lens of Jesus. And that lens is love. Sometimes it is tough love (turning the tables in the temple and challenging the religious authorities), but it is always love.
Finally, back to your question about the present times. There are as many views of what God’s promise is as there are “religions” or belief systems. What I am seeing today in terms of Christian Nationalism and the destructive marriage of “church and state” is completely counter to what Jesus taught. It is also counter to the principles of the US Constitution which I swore to protect and defend from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Specifically the first amendment that enshrines freedom of religion.
I hope this is helpful.
I thank you for your kind, and very thoughtful reply.
To clarify my remark about faith, I’ll quote Mahatma Gandhi, when he famously responded to being asked if he were Christian: “Yes, I am. I am also a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist, and a Jew.”. This response reflected his belief in the fundamental unity of all religions and his profound respect for different faiths.
I interpret religious text, symbolically; I can relate what’s happening in the world to the Christian story of “the new earth” — a transformation is upon us… but I don’t see it as Jesus’s return, in a literal sense.
I also relate to God’s promise of “heaven on earth”. This, I interpret as a matter of elevated consiousness — where one’s “lens if perception” is sufficiently cleansed, so to see the world as it was intended…. purification…”Christ consciousness” (if i may). Some mystics, Jungian enthusiasts, eastern thought protagonists, many philosophers of the ages — even a facet of quantum science, apply other terms, but all are focused on basically the same end game.
Anyway. Enough of that…I’m feeling the love and am hopeful. Out of great chaos, great miracles can be born. I’m wide open to receive ✨️ so be it!
What a beautiful Gandhi quote! Thanks for sharing it and bringing it back into my mind.
Another Gandhi quote helps to keep me aware and humble. “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
yes!
Thank you for this post. You have beautifully expressed what so many of us are feeling. It feels like we have been walking through Holy Week for months now, wondering who will be the next target of hardship and heartache. All the while bewildered at what and who we are becoming.