Mama Monday #34

 

This week has felt like a hundred years. As a wonderful salve, I was with Tyler Merritt on his book tour for This Changes Everything with beautiful people full of love.

In between those rooms, we kept vigil for our neighbors and country. As expected, we are all immediately carrying the weight of chaos.

A quick reminder to those of us trying to recognize our faith in this distorted mirror:

Protecting vulnerable, innocent people is always the right thing. Jesus was unflinching on this. Bishop Budde asking for mercy was not "hateful," "ungracious," "nasty," "not compelling or smart," "inappropriate," "boring," or "uninspiring." Nor is it cause for apology. Mercy only offends the unmerciful.

The only adjective Trump used that I am forced to agree with is "radical." Jesus was too. He spoke truth to power exactly like this, and political and religious leaders hated him for it, this "so called" Son of God. Mercy for vulnerable people has always been radical to power, so this response from a man with no concept of mercy should not surprise us.

So to the disoriented Jesus folk, go to those red words in your Bible and stay the course. Mercy, goodness, compassion, being a good neighbor - these old ideas are still the ones. We need to live them out with ferocity these next four years. Mercy isn't soft. It is gritty and courageous. It means leveraging our voices, influence, money, homes, privilege, and power to protect one another.

If it is not clear, no one is coming. There are no heroes about to save the day. There are no secret restraints protecting us from the worst, lowest impulses now emboldened by unchecked power.

It's just us. The way of Jesus has always lived on the margins, and it will win no powerful fans. Don't be surprised. This is an old story, our iteration of an oft repeated pattern. The template is predictable.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness. Jesus was such a wild guy. "Not compelling or smart" to leaders but good news to the poor in every generation.

-Jenn Hatmaker 

a perfect word below for my first week of chaplaincy 

and for so much that we are all facing in our country: 

The world now is too dangerous

and too beautiful for anything but love.

May your eyes be so blessed you see God in everyone.

Your ears, so you hear the cry of the poor.

May your hands be so blessed

that everything you touch is a sacrament.

Your lips, so you speak nothing but the truth with love.

May your feet be so blessed you run

to those who need you.

And may your heart be so opened,

so set on fire, that your love,

your love, changes everything.

-benediction from Black Rock Prayer Book 

May the Word and my words strengthen you for the week ahead. Hard things await. Together, we can rise in love. -Diana Butler Bass