Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 41
“Harlotry(lust) and wine must take away the heart”(Hosea 4:11). I love all the prophets, as you know, and these words from Hosea seem especially poignant in this moment, in every moment. The importance of immersing ourselves in the Bible is, of course, to learn how to live and how not to and, I believe, to see the danger that is coming down the pike, to realize the problems that need to be tracked, the people who need to be careful of, and the ways of Pharaoh, the Romans, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, fascists of all stripes that are waiting for their opportunity to pounce, like a cougar, a puma, a lion. It is also to help us realize and assess when we are being like the Israelites who willingly went into slavery in Egypt even though we “are more and mightier than we”(Exodus 1:9) and the Israelites who summoned the courage to walk through the Red Sea and stand at Sinai.
Ivanka and Jared Kushner have been in the news lately for their “deal” with the Albanian Government to ruin a beautiful wildlife preserve and beachfront by developing both into a commercial venue for Kushner to use the money he acquired from Saudi Arabia for his Affinity Partners group-because he was such a great businessman-ha ha. Trump is in the news for whatever his latest grift, theft is,and the lust of the billionaire class and those who believe this class will help them that has our country by the throat is beyond the beyond. Hence, the words of Hosea come to describe this moment with such power and simplicity. The drunkeness on power that has taken over the Republican Party, the addiction to lies and mendacity that good people like Bill Cassidy have succumbed to has also taken over the Republicans and some Democrats in Congress(think John Futterman), the horrific prejudice against Hispanics, against Jews, against Catholics and the Pope, against anyone who is not a ‘good white christian male’ protecting his women and children from “those people” is running rampant. The whoring of themselves, their values, their principles is atrocious and, it seems, has taken away “the heart”, the seat of compassion, wisdom, knowing from them. And, this way of being is ruining the country’s foundational principles, the promise of the words on the Statue of Liberty, the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, the goals of the Declaration of Independence, the reason for the Civil War, the results of winning the 2nd World War, at the cost of millions of lives”-defeating fascism.
It seems like the fascists never were defeated, they surrendered, they raised the white flag and have been chipping away at the freedoms, the recognition that ALL PEOPLE are CREATED EQUAL, with “certain unalienable rights”. The fascists like Lindbergh, Coughlin were replaced by the KKK and the John Birch Society among others who were replaced by Gingrich and his cronies who were replaced by the Tea Party which has morphed into MAGA, have played the long game, they used people and played upon the fears of people about “those people”, “anyone not like us”, and Mitch McConnell, John Thune, et al have aided and abetted the fascists like their ‘daddy’s before them’. Chuck Schumer, AOC, Bernie Sanders with their ridiculous rhetoric and Schumer’s need to ‘obey the proper rules of the Senate’, are “bringing a knife to a gun fight”, hence aiding and abetting the fascists. IT IS TIME TO STOP THEM!
It is WAY PAST TIME for We the People to immerse ourselves in Hosea’s words and the actions they demand of us. We are being called to stop our own lust for power, prestige, money from perverting our knowing what Justice looks like, for knowing how to BE HUMAN, our knowng what is true and what is false, our knowing how to connect to a higher power than our “rational mind”, our knowing how to live with the intention and purpose to serve rather than be served, to understand rather than be understood, to love rather than be loved, paraphrasing St. Francis’ prayer for peace.
I am a terrific example of how lust/harlotry, booze can take the heart away, it happened to me when I was 15-I did not want to feel the powerlessness of being a kid without a father, who’s mother just didn’t get him, and I ran right into the arms of being a whore and stayed there for about 20 years. I lived in both worlds, KNEW what I was doing was terribly wrong, felt powerless to stop until Det. Jim Bashira arrested me, until God intervened on me. I am also a terrific example of what T’Shuvah looks like, an example of doing the next right thing, living by the words of the prophets, doing what I believe necessary in the moment, being wrong and makeing amends, not worrying about another person’s part, just cleaning my side; being pained because I am shunned by ‘polite society’, and not changing my beliefs nor values to ‘get along’. I, like most people, am a BOTH/AND kind of human being!
ACTION STEPS:
What are the lusts that keep you drunk and take away your heart
How can you heal these lusts, live a life of service to another(s)
What will it take for you to leave the fascists and join the God followers
GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi mark