Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 65
Listening to the Rhetoric coming from Trump and his allies(?) or sycophants in the Republican Party, hearing from the progressives both of whom are dismissive of religious life, anyone who doesn’t think like them, got me wondering:
WAS CHRIST A COMMUNIST?
After all, he believed that all people are created equal, all human beings, including women, deserve respect, to have their inner dignity to be acknowledged and for no one to think they are “better than” anyone else. He preached about LOVING THE STRANGER, FEEDING THE POOR, and “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ SAKE” and so much more of the things that are being called out for being communist propaganda by the Trumpists and ultra conservative rhetoric by the progressives!
So, the only conclusion I can come to is: CHRIST WAS A COMMUNIST according to today’s ‘leaders’ of the right and the left. Ergo: all of We the People that believe in kindness, decency, loving the stranger, feeding the poor, caring for the needy, respecting the dignity of ALL people, appreciating the gifts and talents of our every human being, being responsible for our imperfections and repairing the damage they wrought instead of denying there is anything imperfect about is: MUST BE COMMUNISTS TOO! This is a common ground for Pope Leo and his followers in Catholicism and Jews who live in these ways towards ALL people, and Muslims who seek the peace that Islam guides them to and the Eastern Spiritual disciplines to forge new alliances, to stand together against the charlatans, the idolators, the money-changes in the Churches, Temples, and Government of the USA and Israel, to name two.
Of course I am mocking the current bullshit of Trump et al and I am also mocking the ridiculous of the progressives. I am being outrageous to make a point: every time we are going along for the ride on the pendulum swings, we are denying the Truths Christ spoke, the Blessings that he gave, the warnings he delivered and the mercy he showed. “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do” as he is being crucified is not just a wonderful spiritual message of forgiveness, it is a call to action for all of us, Jew and Gentile, Christian and Muslim to “lift up our eyes and see” as God tells Abraham, as we are being called to do by Christ, and by the moment we are living in. Most of all, I am being outrageous to get the Clergy who are promoting this bullshit, the Clergy who are co-signing, urging on Trump and his ass-kissers and Netanyahu and his ‘religious’ allies who spread hatred and spew lies about Arabs, about what God wants, etc.
What is wrong with we the people that we have fallen so far away from the teachings of Christ, that we have co-opted the words of Sermon on the Mount to mean the exact opposite of what Christ said. Being merciful is an attribute, not a weakness, being meek is what will remind us that God is God and we the people are not! It is so important to re-capture the essence of what Christ preached; kindness, truth, mercy, righteousness, forgiveness, love because our world is so empty of these actions we may be on the precipice of spiritual and moral extinction. Our bodies may continue and we the people will walk around shell-shocked, empty and as bewildered as people on thorazine. This is the fate for all those who continue to believe and preach: CHRIST WAS A COMMUNIST!
It is HIGH TIME that We the People re-capture the Spirit of 1776, that We the People and the path to compromise with people who we disagree with re: paths to achieve a “more perfect union” and who we agree with that a “more perfect union” is what we seek. It is HIGH TIME for We the People to come to grips with the ways in which we have not practiced what Christ preached: love, kindness, truth, mercy, forgiveness, righteousness and REPAIR the damage we have wrought while admonishing those around us who are not even willing to acknowledge their errors. It is HIGH TIME for We the People to appreciate, and pat ourselves on the back for the myriad of times and experiences when love, kindness, truth, mercy, forgiveness, righteousness were on full display in our actions towards God, towards every human being. It is important to acknowledge the ways in which each of us, as individuals, have are the peacemakers by standing for and with God and God’s ways. It is a hard life, this examined, accountable way of living and it is the most exquisite, joyful, meaningful, purposeful, loving way of life.
ACTION STEPS:
How are you ‘going along to get along’ with the groups that believe Christ was a Communist?
What are the ways you live into and promote being loving, forgiving, etc?
How are you living “this examined life” each and every day?
GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark