Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 66
Thinking about the experiment in democracy that the United States has been in for 250 years now and reading, learning our history, it is apparent to me that, like Israel, we the people have never been united on so many things, ideas, ideals, ways to “form a more perfect Union” AND We the People, up until recently, believed “to form a more perfect Union” was the goal. Today, not so much on either the side of the progressives who have nothing but disdain for moderates and conservatives, seeing moderates as weak, stupid, etc and conservatives as bad, bad, bad, and wrong, wrong, wrong nor on the side of the far right conservatives who call moderates and progressives “communist”, invoking the Red Scare of the late 1940’s/50’s, reminding us of the McCarthy Era, not caring about truth, about justice, only about winning and making names for themselves. While both give lip-service to one of the founding ideas of the framers of the Declaration of Independence, they don’t care about it, they only value their ideas, ideals which boil down to “my way is the only way”! Both do, however, invoke some Holy Text that they say guides them, with many on both extremes claiming the Bible as their guide and place their extremist attitudes in Biblical terms, etc.
This way of being by the progressives who claim the Bible, Jesus tells them to be more progressive, and this way being by the far right who believe that Jesus was the Lion, not the lamb, that the Bible gives them permission to murder people, to be the ruler of the land, etc is ANATHEMA to what the Bible teaches, the ways Jesus spoke and lived and the ideals of the Founding Fathers. As Amos 4:5 relates to us: “Offer a sacrifice(offering) of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, proclaim free will offerings, publish them, for this is what you like to do…” Amos, in God’s name, is castigating the People of Israel for trying look good while doing bad, trying to say ‘look how religious we are’ while going against the spirit of the Commandments, not utilizing the power of change that the Commandments and Blessings afford us. This is happening here and in Israel-both places that began with ideals and ideas, with promises and hope, by people who had been oppressed and abused in their countries of origin and, sadly, are oppressing another(s) in their countries. How sad, how infuriating and how desecrating to God’s name doing it in the ‘name’ of religious fervor!
Watching the celebrations, listening to the lies of the politicians, on both ends of the spectrum, turned my stomach, made me want to throw up. That some MAGA people believed PBS was disrespectful towards President Trump by reading the Declaration of Independence tells us the MAGA’s KNOW that what they are doing goes against the founding documents of our country, that they KNOW we are going backwards in the experiment that is the United States of America. The United States of America have never been completely United! We have been at odds with one another since the writing of the Declaration of Independence about slavery, about the worth of Black people, and the compromises made in the Declaration and the Constitution represent the path to creating a democratic union of people who could have differences and find compromises, solutions to benefit the whole nation. Again, this is no longer true, this seems to be a time like 1860 where the South decided they didn’t want to be part of the experiment anymore and, instead of just leaving, they started a war. I pray this is not repeated. Amos’ words represent what is happening here and in Israel; the use of the Bible to justify lies and deceptions. Yet, just like the people of Ancient Israel, we the people, do not believe we will be found out, that the MAGA’s will not have to face their hypocrisy, their treachery, that the progressives will not have to face their incongruence over hating Jews/Israel, loving the regressive ways of Hamas, Hezbollah, and proclaiming “all people are created equal”.
We the People need to wake up, we need to put on a new pair of glasses as Chuck Chamberlain teaches us in his book by the same name. We the People are being called upon by Amos, by the Bible, by Christ’s ways and words to STAND UP and stop our own hypocrisy. I remember going to Temple for services and stealing the rest of the time, I remember telling my daughter how much I loved her and going to prison and abandoning her, I remember being outraged by immorality and continuing to be immoral, I remember being angry about the thefts by politicians and continuing to lie, cheat and steal from anyone and everyone. No longer being a hypocrite was the beginning of my recovery, no longer needing to hide, no longer needing to watch and wait for an opening to steal is a mainstay of my recovery. Being HUMAN, Loving God, my neighbor, the stranger, the poor, the needy, the widow, the orphan are the foundation for me to “make a more perfect union” within me.
ACTION STEP:
How are you “making a more perfect union” within your self?
GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark