“It is an unshakable faith with me that a cause suffers exactly to the extent that it is supported by violence.”—Mahatma Gandhi, Young India
“Now I know that true love consists in bearing all my neighbors’ defects, in not being surprised by mistakes but by being encouraged by the smallest of virtues.”—St. Thérèse of Lisieux
The presumed immortality of the empire has a horrid price attached… the death, even of great numbers, even of the innocent, must be rendered plausible, even normal. So the victims are variously demonized or stripped of their very dignity, their very faces. They are abstractions, “the enemy,” “the tyrant,” and so on. They are expendable. To the numbed citizenry, such lethal behavior on the part of authorities becomes a sort of wearisome abstraction… As we have seen it again and again in our lifetime, in our own country: Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, and Iraq. It is really astonishing, that from Babylon to Assyria to Egypt to Rome, the biblical story is the same. The empires rise, the empire does unutterable harm to the world, then the empire declines and falls. — Daniel Berrigan (Testimony: The Word Made Flesh, p. 176)
Last night on All Hallows’ Eve and today on All Saints’ Day, Denise and I have been thinking a lot about our parents. My Mom was the first to cross over the threshold from this world to the next (Nov 2017), followed by Denise’s Mom four months later (Mar 2018). Four years later Denise’s former mother-in-law Betty (loving Grandmother to Denise’s two boys and a dear friend to both of us) crossed over to be followed by her Dad two weeks later (Sep 2021). My Dad was our last parent to cross over the threshold just over a year ago (Jul 2023). There are days when it seems surreal that we would be orphans before either of us hit the age of 63. We miss them so deeply and yet, for them, they have experienced perfect healing and peace.
Perfect healing… I believe that they have, in a sense, experienced what Thomas Merton wrote about as he described his Epiphany on the corner of Fourth and Walnut in the shopping district of Louisville, Kentucky in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (p. 191, Kindle edition). Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed….
May the Saints and our Ancestors continue to shine like the sun and live on in our memories.
“Catering to fear and pessimism is a function of the most dangerous belief: that violence can bring order out of chaos. Healing the world requires recognizing the damage this story has done.”—Gareth Higgins, How Not To Be Afraid
The person who’s in love with their vision of community will destroy community. But the person who loves the people around them will create community everywhere they go. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community)
In the light of the cesspool that was a “rally” in Madison Square Gardens in New York City I offer this excerpt from a speech which Dr. King delivered in New York City. Dr. King’s call for leaders to rise above and actually be leaders is much needed. I am so sick of the incessant lies and am deeply angered by the slanderous comments about the beautiful island of Puerto Rico which is a part of the United States. I have served along side of Puerto Rico’s finest in the United States military and have nothing but respect for my siblings in arms. I have also been honored to work with friends and co-laborers in ministry from Puerto Rico. The hospitality and welcome shown to us when we were in Puerto Rico for a wedding was absolutely stellar. It is not a floating island of refuse!
Dr. King’s message and the sort of leadership he is talking about is sorely needed in this nation and in the world.
May I stress the need for courageous, intelligent, and dedicated leadership… [We need] Leaders who somehow understand the issues. Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause. God give us leaders. [applause] A time like this demands great souls with pure hearts and ready hands. Leaders whom the lust of office does not kill. Leaders whom the spoils of life cannot buy. Leaders who possess opinions and a will. Leaders who will not lie. Leaders who can stand before the demagogue and damn his treacherous flatteries without winking. — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Desegregation and the Future,” Address Delivered at the Annual Luncheon of the National Committee for Rural Schools)
Thus when Christianity becomes subordinated to a practical cult of one’s nation, one’s society or one’s secular way of life, and when religion becomes indissolubly wedded in fact to a totalist social structure (even one that still aspires to be called democratic) it happens that the secular society itself assumes the functions of a Church mediating between God and [people], to such a point they the pastors themselves rebel to look to the state as a font of divine decisions in the practical order. All dissent in the civil sphere thereby automatically becomes a religious betrayal and a spiritual apostasy. — Thomas Merton (Faith and Violence: Christian Teaching and Christian Practice, p. 203)
Continuing with my study and sharing about christian nationalism, the political atmosphere we find ourselves in, along with the horrifying display at Madison Square Gardens yesterday. We are living in dangerous times. And these times cry out for this nation to open its eyes and truly see the horror of nationalism for what it is. A threat to democracy!
If you think that peace and happiness are somewhere else and you run after them, you will never arrive. — Thich Nhat Hanh, Nguyen Anh-Huong (2006). “Walking Meditation”, p.11, Sounds True
Barmen is one of the Confessions of Faith that is affirmed by my Denomination (Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In these times where some churches are aligning themselves with Christian Nationalism and Hate, I believe that the Church needs to reaffirm this Confession.
A portion of the Confession:
We reject the false doctrine, as though the church, over and beyond its special commission, should and could appropriate the characteristics, the tasks, and the dignity of the State, thus itself becoming an organ of the State… The church’s commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ’s stead, and therefore in the ministry of his own Word and work through sermon and sacrament.
As a Presbyterian Minister, I affirm this and say NO to what is arising from other christian churches (lower case is intentional).
Follow this link to an article about the Declaration that includes the actual text. Link
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 