ECHO...echo...echo...

 The last few weeks have been different things at different times for me.  See if you can follow my ADD addled train of thought as I attempt to free associate myself through the thoughts and feelings, the fears and convictions that have at times fought with each other for dominance in my mind and heart. 

Back in November there was an election.  Anyone, no matter what side of the political spectrum you sit on knew it was not going to be a normal election, people on the right were pre-conditioned to believe it was rigged if their man lost.  People on the left were pre-conditioned to want to say ha ha ha we told you so if they won.  There was not much hope of any real change, of any real coming together, or of any hope of any type of Bipartisanship.  That ship sailed a long time ago.

December rolled around and while all that political mess was still happening we all were also trying to come to grips with the fact that what was supposed to be the beginning of the end of this whole Pandemic thing looked more like the continuation of a very dense piece of literature.  Years ago I had to write a paper in my college English Lit class.  I had just watched The Last of the Mohicans and thought it would be a good thing to write on as I enjoyed the movie.  Tucking into the book itself I realized something.  The story is amazing and it's all there and I enjoy the story but getting to the story in the book was mentally exhausting, even now as I pull it up and flip through the digital pages my mind swims at once pulled into the story and at the next moment working at keeping my mind on task to find a quote that can adequately convey the denseness of the prose.  I said all that to say this, December rolled around and with it all the things that the Holiday's bring with it along with the realization that it would not look like what most people are used to.  I was one of those people that was so wanting to return to a sense of what things were, and yet that did not happen. All the things that make Christmas, Christmas for most people, were just not there.  Gatherings and church services and family traditions all got mixed up, and through it all was this ribbon of discomfort with what was happening nationally and internationally regrading COVID and the elections and all of it.

Moving into January and things didn't seem to slow down in fact they ramped up.  Then came January 6th and all that went with it.  This whole thing is horrid, you have a bit more than half the country chomping at the bit for January 20th to get here and just under half still not ready to accept the results of what happened all the way back in November with some insisting that on January 20th the current president will be inaugurated.  

Through all of this the different sides of me scream at each other.  The activist side says one thing, the church side says another.  I walk this line regularly, and usually it's not that big of a deal.  It actually brings a bit of debate into my world and I enjoy it.  I always have liked having those kind of discussions that make the people involved think. It really doesn't matter what I'm debating...a good theological debate, a deep historical one, a shallow which star wars movie is better...or a rousing political fight all bring equal happiness, at least they did.  Not so much anymore.  I have just lost the stomach for most of it.  The tight rope that people in my position walk can be precarious and after a while it's easier to not walk it.  To do what I said on January 6th on my Facebook page.  Pray...Pray...Pray.  

The problem lately, as I see it, is the whole echo chamber that everyone seems to find themselves in. The thing about an echo chamber is it's fun at first.  When you call out hello....and a hello that sounds the same as you comes back to you it makes you smile.   We all have done it .."HELLO"...hello..."ECHO"...echo..."I'M AN IDIOT"...you're an idiot...you get the idea we all do. The problem is if the only person you ever have to talk to is yourself there is no real growth, no chance for change.  

Jesus came into the world and pushed people to leave their echo chambers, especially leaders.  How he did this is evident with most of what he would say and most of what he did, think about what he says:

Matthew 5:43–44 (HCSB) — 43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

This wasn't a one time thing with Jesus. 

John 8:5–7 (HCSB) — 5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do You say?” 6 They asked this to trap Him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse Him. Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with His finger. 7 When they persisted in questioning Him, He stood up and said to them, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Jesus consistently pulls people, or tries to pull people out of the echo chambers that they found themselves in.  Wanting them to realize that a real relationship with God must by it's very nature transcend the way things always were.  Pulling and tugging us along into being more and more like Him.  Somehow in the last bunch of years Christ Followers have lost sight of that.  Where once we looked for common ground with other denominations, now we see walls, where once we would reach out to our community we now reach out to the parts that offer the best prospects for whatever our end goal is, and while we know what our end goal is supposed to be...

Matthew 28:18–20 (HCSB) — 18 Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

That's the goal, and yet the Church as a whole, and many times myself as an individual have forgotten that.  

If we really believe what we say we believe then this is what we should be about but also it's what we should cling too.  The last part of verse 20 offers us some pretty amazing hope.  "I AM WITH YOU ALLWAYS."  

Jesus pulls us out of our echo chambers, or tries to, so that we can actually do what he told us to do and to remind us that He's with us.  No matter what is going on.  No matter what the virus is doing, or who occupies the halls of government, or how many people we see sitting next to us or notice on the live stream.  He wants us to remember what matters...the fact that we have been rescued from the mess of sin in our lives and are called to throw out the rope of the Gospel to the world around us so that He can in turn rescue them from the mess of sin that is their life.  

2020 was a hard year...2021 seems to be starting off equally hard...or is it.  What if I choose to grip the hand of the son of a carpenter from Galilee and let him pull me from my own echo chamber into the world that he's talking about when he tells me to make disciples.  What if I start worrying more about that than I do about all the stuff that I'm "supposed" to worry about? 

See you next week...

 

 

Sharks and Dolphins

 It's been a bit...June actually not that anyone really is keep track of the months as much as we used too.  2020 seems to have taken time and all that goes with it stuck it in that ride at the carnival, you know the Rock and Roll ride that spins super fast while playing the hardest possible rock that they can get away with but with all the safety's off.  

As a country we lurch from crisis to crisis.  We move from lie to lie, from one hypocritical action to another.  Things that a few years ago would have made everyone say no way, have been normalized.  There is no calming force, coming from our leadership...and when I say leadership I mean from the top down.  It's no secret that I am not a Trump fan.  On the contrary I personally believe he is not just a horrid president, but also a bad person.   

All politicians lie, we know this, and yet the boldness with which this one does so is astounding.  The boldness of using the Justice Department as his own personal law firm is unprecedented.  The race baiting, gas lighting, all of it just, in my mind, reinforces the fact that he's a bad person, a very bad person.

Which makes what I'm about to say, or write probably seem like the strangest thing in the world.  

I feel bad for the man, and I pray for him. I pray for him because the Bible says to, but also because I feel bad for him.  

Here's the thing, as bad as Trump is, and make no mistake I believe he is very bad, his behavior is enabled by a group of people who are supposed to act as a check to him and in this situation are just saying nope lets watch this implode or explode. If we could jump in a DeLorean, take it to 88 mph and come out in 2015 and 2016, we would find a very different group of people, railing against the very man that they now suck up too.  Trump is a shark surrounded by a pod of dolphins that at any moment can turn on him and kill him without a thought.  One only needs to look at what McConnel, Cruz, Graham and others in the GOP said about him all the way up till his unlikely nomination.  You would be hard pressed to find anything positive about the man said by these men, who now seem to be his best buddies,  the difference is, these leaders have been in Washington for years, and years.  They could care less about Trump or his policies, they only care about how far he can take them in their grab for power.  The fact that he too craves power works in their favor at this point as is evidenced by their willingness to just ignore and do whatever he says.  

In Trump you have a picture of the Emperor with no clothes.  A leader that lurches from crisis to crisis, that has given so many alternative facts, that contradict what he has said in the past that is able to be seen and heard because of technology, the worst part about it, is that when it's all over, his new friends will forget all about their golf buddy and move on to the next person that they think will further their power grab.  The dolphins are circling and the shark just cant maneuver fast enough.

In the wild it's all down to design.  A shark is not like a Dolphin.  Sharks, are typically solitary individuals, they have a different type of bone structure to that of dolphins, they have a slower range of mobility as well.  A pod of dolphins will surround the shark and start confusing it, then one will dive deep and swim rapidly up into the underbelly of the shark with it's snout, sometimes repeatedly many times it kills the shark, and even if it doesn't, it will leave the shark with internal damage.  

For Trump there has to be a realization that he can't really trust the people that now are his "best friends, and apologists."  if not then I feel even worse for him.  

So why this post.  What's the point of it.  Am I breaking my political embargo?  

I am writing this post about this man because in truth, we all were and are bad people in some respect.  We all fall we all are messed up we all make mistakes, we all need forgiveness and grace and mercy. We all need to realize that.  We all need to understand that.  It doesn't excuse our bad behavior to admit it, it doesn't take away from the consequences of that behavior, it doesn't even give us an excuse to say well deal with it this is who I am.  What it does is let us all realize that it's okay to feel empathy for a man that is so far out of his depth, that is looking at a very sad and frustrating and lonely life following whatever happens in the next couple months and possibly years.  

Yes we should hold our leaders accountable, yes we should not and can not excuse his behavior. If you are not happy with his performance as president then it's incumbent on you if you can vote to go and vote accordingly to remove him from office. If you are happy then of  course it's your choice and duty to vote for him.  This post is not about that.  It's about the ability to realize that our personal feelings towards him, does not negate the fact that he is a shark swimming with dolphins, and at any moment those dolphins can and will turn on him and destroy him.  Is that destruction deserved?  Probably but it should give all of us pause.  It should make us all stop a moment and understand, because if we can't find empathy, even for the worst among us...are we any better than the shark?

 

Because sometimes you just have to say things...

As someone who talks for a big portion of his vocation, I also like to write a lot.  This post though is different.  This post is not going to be written, I recorded this today and am posting it to my blog.  I have always said that the Blog would be a no holds barred window into what I am processing and thinking and feeling, that is someting that will continue.  I am fully aware that there will be people who do not like this video, that will not watch till the end, that will shake their heads and write me off.  That's okay. Again I am sending what I feel I need to say at this time in life and in history.

Sanitizing Jesus

So here we sit in the middle of a global pandemic.  Many acting like spoiled children watching things blowing apart because enough was finally enough, one more black man was killed in the street by a bad cop....this following a black woman being killed in her own home by a bad cop, which followed the news of two white men hunting down a black man while a third recorded the whole thing on video.  We have seen white people systematically calling the police on people of color for no reason at all, from sleeping in the common room of a dorm that they live in, to going to the pool in the development that they own a home in, to walking through central park in an area set aside as a nature friendly area just for reminding a person that they are supposed to have their dog on a leash.  

We watch as protests turn violent and if we would watch and listen and realize we would understand that they have done so but not always for the reasons that many want us to believe.  The images on the news of people that have been attacked and tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets as they peacefully protest are beyond troubling.  

Last night one of my best friends was undone.  He is an episcopal priest, who happens to have been more than a small encouragement to me.  We worked in the same community in Baltimore.  He watched as the person residing at 1600 PA Ave. Had the police use tear gas, and rubber bullets to clear a group of protestors from the outdoor area in front of St. Johns Episcopal church, some of those individuals were clergy members and people that worked with and in the church.   The purpose for their being in the courtyard area was to offer water, medical attention if things took a violent turn at the protests and give people snacks, and a place of respite from the heat and the stressful situation that they all are finding themselves under.   Once cleared the church was used as a backdrop...a photo op complete with props.  My friend was upset...as was the bishop of the church, as are many other clergy members...myself included.  I am un-done and wonder so many things when it comes to my fellow evangelical pastors. I wonder how this act will be justified and then I realize that it will be, and my heart breaks even more, but that's not what this is about.  

As I have been scrolling through my feed, reading news, watching what people I know and respect are saying when it comes to all that is going on, the protests, the riots, etc.  I am seeing a narrative that is troubling.  There is what seems to be an effort to sanitize Jesus, and if anything this has made me realize how much the Evangelical church by and large has done so.  

When we read scripture it's easy to formulate how we would react in any given situation laid out in any of the stories we find there because we have the beginning, middle and end of the story.  It's easy for us to look at all that was going on in Egypt and the Exodus and the wandering in the wilderness and decide to judge the children of Israel for their screw ups because we have the end of that story.  We know that it took 40 years of wandering to get anywhere.  It's nothing to look at the book of Judges and wonder why the people kept screwing up over and over and over and why they had to be judged.  We look at things in the New Testament and we see the works that Jesus did and we see the people he healed and we forget that there was more to it.  American Evangelicals have a hard time with the parts of Jesus that fall into the pattern of the social gospel, because we think that all the ideals that are espoused in socialism are bad, or we see it as a bad word, and yet Jesus in addition to prayer and teaching also talked of and regularly hammered home the importance of the least the lost and the lonely.  

One of the things that really bothers me though is how we read and understand the human aspects of the one that saves us.  Realizing he was fully God and fully man matters, he is so other and yet he is so like.  

Where am I going with this?  People say that there is never a reason for violence, never a reason for that type of anger and angst.  What would Jesus do.  Someone then posted a picture of Jesus turning over tables in the temple and chasing people from it.  His anger and frustration obvious, the destruction of property visible, and I have to pause and re-think even some of what I understand about Jesus.  

John 2:15–16 (HCSB) — 15 After making a whip out of cords, He drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16 He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a marketplace!”

We all do it myself included at times.  Forget that Jesus got angry,  Jesus at times acted in what we would see as irrational.  Cursing a tree that was not even supposed to have fruit on it because well it didn't have fruit on it.  When we find him in the garden before his death we see him asking to not have to deal with or go through this whole thing.  He was so anguished he was sweating blood.  This is what Mark says:

Mark 14:33–34 (HCSB) — 33 He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be deeply distressed and horrified. 34 Then He said to them, “My soul is swallowed up in sorrow —to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.”

Jesus was distressed and horrified.  He did not float he did not just go to his happy place.  

Throughout his time on earth Jesus, the one that we claim to serve, the one that we want to be like, systematically spent time with anyone but the majority.  He not only questioned but called leaders out for their hypocrisy, he touched people that were not whole, he healed people that no one would go near, he forgave people that were supposed to be stoned, He fed people that would later turn on him.  He got angry, he got frustrated he acted in ways that don't fit the picture of gentle Jesus Meek and Mild and yet too many times that's all we want to do is point to gentle Jesus. 

I know some will think that this is my way of saying the violence and looting are someting we need to not just see and attempt to understand but condone.  That is NOT WHAT I AM SAYING. I don't know how Jesus was able to do it. How he was able to be angry and sin not, how he was able to pray the prayer not my will but yours be done and mean it, how he was able to turn the other cheek, or watch a man he loved and knew and spent time with betray him.  I don't know and I don't understand but I do know that to tell people that Jesus never got angry, that he never broke things, is equally wrong. 

So what's this all about.  I guess it's me trying to make sense of how I can best stand with the people I love  and care about.  How to stand with Rachel and her family, or Jim and his church, or Mike a guy I went to school with.  How to pray for Todd and Missy and Keith some of whom I have not seen for ages.  How do I as a white man, a minster, a father, and a god dad/uncle to some that have chosen me to be that uncle. How do I as a recipient of white privilege make a difference?  Is it even possible or do I just sound like some trying to be woke white guy that will never understand?

This is where I would guess a lot of us are.  And maybe that's the point.  Maybe we are starting to see what it feels like to be hopeless and helpless.  Maybe that's what it will take for us all to finally say enough and not just stand in the gap, but stand in front of...to protect to uplift...to show that people are people...and all people should be treated as they were created, equal!

 

Please just stop!

False equivalence is a logical fallacy in which an equivalence is drawn between two subjects based on flawed or false reasoning. This fallacy is categorized as a fallacy of inconsistency.^[1] A colloquial expression of false equivalency is "comparing apples and oranges".

Okay so we are in a very different time now.  I get that.  A few things to understand before I let this little rant out into the wild. I have and continue to keep a lid on political comments, posts, etc.  To be honest I'm kind of surprised I have a tongue at all to continue biting.  I have and will continue to shake my head and save my rantings about my personal feelings on all things Washington to a select few and my Dog, poor guy does get a lot of that when I am walking him.  

I defined false equivalence on purpose at the beginning of this post, mainly because I am frustrated with the people that share my faith using the pandemic to score points for their particular cause, or to prove that they and the church is being persecuted, or to complain about either side of the abortion issue.  I have watched both sides of this hot button issue use the unfortunate deaths of this whole thing to prove their point.  

When a person uses false equivalencies, they show one of two things to me. 

1.  Ignorance. I said ignorance mainly because I am refraining from using the other couple of words that come to mind.  What I mean is simple.  

2.  Dis-respect.  Specifically disrespect for my own and others intelligence.  It's like a bait and switch to me, telling me the person that is using the tactic think's I'm too stupid to realize the two things have nothing to do with each other.  

The worst part of this to me is when Christ Followers do so it feeds into the perception that some have of Christians being ignorant, and out of touch.

I've watched people use this pandemic and deaths to among other things.

Claim that the governors in states are specifically targeting the local church in their closure of gatherings of 10 or more.  The thing that got me about that one is that reading the executive order there was a clear understanding that ALL venues that contribute to mass gatherings were to be limited or closed, including theaters, and community centers.   Of course the person that was pointing out that the church was closed failed to mention that it was all similar venues that were being watched and closed.  

Equate covid deaths to Abortion.   This hits both sides of this issue, people who are pro life use it as some justification to open churches again, and score points by putting up numbers of death as a comparison.  The two have nothing to do with each other so that should stop.  I'm not telling people they can not be pro life, I am saying the comparison with Covid deaths doesn't work and only, in my opinion, causes you to appear calloused to the people that have died of this thing.  People that are pro-choice on the other hand want to tell pro-life evangelicals that they can't claim to be pro life if they push for the economy to re-open, and while I understand their feelings, that too is in my estimation anyway, a problem.   Again false equivalency. 

There are plenty of arguments that are valid for all sides in this. You do not have to use false equivalence, and yet I see so many people doing so and it is frustrating to say the least.  

I have found myself getting more and more frustrated with what people are doing with this thing.  From the top to the bottom and most of the places in-between.  I want to be back to life as we know it.  I am tired of the whole thing, having said that I look at people that are sick that are getting sick and that are dying from this ACROSS THE AGE GROUPS, and I realize that what we are doing is not for ourselves it's for the person that is our neighbor, and if you have to ask "who is my neighbor?"  well I'm sorry but I just can't with you right now. 

The politics of it all

I recognize that I am dusting off the blog to make a political point.

I also fully understand that it's been a while since I allowed my politics to show, not because I am ashamed of them by any means, but because I am beginning to realize that it is next to impossible to have any sort of a civil discourse when it comes to what's going on in our nations capital.  Whatever side of the aisle you sit on there is really no way to actually get much done.  

I look at what is happening not just in the White House but in the house, the senate and the judiciary and I am truly concerned for the road we seem to be careening down.  

It goes without saying that bipartisanship is very near, if not completely impossible any more.  Evidence does not seem to matter, patience is a virtue that no one seems to want to exercise, as for the system of checks and balances, set up in September of 1787 that seems to have been tossed out the window.  It should give every person pause when the Senate Majority leader refuses to take up any legislation that he fears, and yes I said fears, the president will veto.  Again going back to that system set up way back in 1787 the president can veto a law but if congress has the majority of votes that veto is able to be overturned by the group of elected officials that we the people have sent to capitol hill.  Telling the American people that you won't even debate legislation that could be vetoed by the president sends a message both to my house and the 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.  It tells me that as a governing body the Senate has decided they would rather have a king than a president,  watching the republican's jump through hoops would be comical if it wasn't so terrifying.  Some of these individual's just four years ago decried the President as unfit to serve, and yet today they bend over backwards to keep him happy and to do his bidding.  As a voter I am left with one of two conclusions, they are weak, or they are power hungry.  The more I watch the more I realize it's both, that is also terrifying.  

Don't get me wrong, we didn't get here over night.  As much as feel the Affordable Care Act was needed, as much as I support it, the Democrats, of which I am one, started this ball rolling when they decided to change long standing rules to get it passed, and this is where, to me, the problem sits. 

Government is like a pendulum, it swings back and forth, when one party is in control they would all do well to realize that the things that they do can and will be used when the other party is in control.  The issue is not just party it's governance and as of now what we have is two parties held hostage by someone that would be king.  

This thing has been happening for years, and it's growing worse.  The real problem is that many of these individuals in power are easily caught in their web of self preservation and need to maintain power.  

No one better epitomizes a willingness to bend over backwards to stay in power than Lindsey Graham.   Lets look back at his own words for a moment.

“If Donald Trump is the nominee, that’s the end of the Republican Party.”
“He’s shallow. He’s ill-prepared to be commander in chief."
“He’s a complete idiot when it comes to Mideast policy.”

That's just a small sample there are more but Graham has lost his willingness to be a voice of anything more than what the president wants him to say.  I find it hard to understand how he will win re-election and yet I don't hold out hope that he won't.  

Democrats have just as many issues though.  Yes they need to work to hold the executive branch accountable, but they also need to stop acting like children that got their ball taken away.   There is a reason that they lost the election, there is a reason that people decided to vote the way they did, to act like that is not the case, is dangerous.  Watching Pelosi rip up the speech she was given made me think she needed a time out.  I think they all need a time out to be honest, at the very least they all need a refresher course in the Constitution and what they are supposed to be doing.  They need to be reminded of the system of checks and balances, of the fact that they are there to represent THE PEOPLE, not their own self interests, and yet that seems to be what they are all, and I mean all are keen on doing.  

I can and do get frustrated with my Republican friends and family members that seem so willing to just turn a blind eye to the obvious lies, abuse of power, misogyny and bigotry the comes out of our president's mouth.  

I get equally frustrated at my fellow Democrats that are also friends, when they cry and whine and moan the fact that things are as they are, that the electoral college is a broken system, that this is not my president, that, that, that.  

Each side sees the government as broken, each side sees themselves as the people that can fix it, but the more I look at things the more I realize, it's not our system of government that's broken.  The principles and documents that frame our foundation as a country are still there, they are not broken, their principles are not broken at their core.  Yes they need to be interpreted in light of an ever changing world but the foundation principles are not what gets changed, on the contrary those principles are what enables us to reinterpret through the eyes of a changing world even as we hold to the tenants that they espouse.  

We don't need to "fix" the government, we do need the officials that we elect to all take a refresher course though.  

It is incumbent on congress to hold the executive branch accountable.  It is their job to make and pass laws regardless of what the person sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania avenue says about those laws.  If he or she uses the power of the pen to veto then there is an impetus to over ride that veto.  

When Obama began the use of executive order to make an end run around Congress, I was worried, it gave me pause even though I understood why.  Now all these years later Democrats want to cry foul when Trump uses executive orders.  Is it a different scenario, in my view yes, do I understand why Obama did it, yes did I even agree that he had little choice?  Yes but still it gave me pause because any  time you remove a branch of the government from the equation you set a precedent that will be used again. 

When one party changes the rules the other will inhabit that space when the pendulum swings and will push the changes further, and when the inevitable happens and the pendulum swings back those powers given away or taken will be at the disposal of people that look and see things differently, and so the eroding away of compromise and bi partisan governance evaporates, and in each instance the other side cries foul when the party now in charge just does what they were shown not a few months before they came to power.

Which brings us to where we are.  We the people need to hold our officials accountable, all of them accountable, not to make sure they do things the way we would do them, but we need them to represent their constituents first, they need to serve the people by upholding the ideals that were laid out when our nation was founded.  That's what we have a constitution for, that's what we have amendments for, that's what bills are for and yes that's what Checks and Balances are for.  Give away your right to check any one branch of government you are giving away one of the cores of our founding.  

Rant over.  

See you next week..I promise.

Please Just STOP!

Recently a friend on Facebook posted this picture...

I was sad.  I can not for the life of me understand evangelical Christians willingness to sweep under the rug issues that for any other leader in recent history would be a call to arms.  From all that has been observed during his tenure and his time out of office, President Obama was and remains the husband of one wife.  He brought dignity to the office that should be there.  Watching him and listening to him gave me and many others a sense of pride even if we did not agree with all the policies set forth.

His predecessor was also the husband of one wife, and while his verbal communication skills were lacking, and while I did not like many of the things that He did and said, He also brought a sense of stability and competence to the White House, and when his children messed up people attacked including evangelical supporters, dinging him for his past, his drinking all of it.

Going back to Clinton we find the same people that seem to just give our current president a pass, railing against his personal life, nothing was off the table if it served the right wing evangelical narrative. 

The problem that I have with what this picture is saying, is that there is zero factual basis for it's creation.  When I look at the fruit that is on the tree that is our current president, it doesn't fit this picture at all. 

It  goes without saying that this administration is one of the most chaotic opaque and divisive in recent history.  Never has it been more important for Christians to pray for our leaders, all of our leaders.   I will be the first to admit it's hard to pray for someone I don't agree with, but that isn't really the point is it.

Timothy says this...

I have to pray for leaders, all leaders, the ones I like and the ones I don't like.  I don't get to choose based on how they vote, if they appoint who I want to a position.  I am supposed to pray for them when they claim Christianity and when they don't.  I'm supposed to pray for them if they are liberal or conservative, racist or inclusive, misogynistic or equal opportunity.  You get what I'm saying, and it's not an easy thing to say or do. 

As Christians we should stop posting dumb memes like the one at the top of the page, because it's simply not true, it doesn't serve any purpose but to be divisive. 

If you go back and read my blogs, and if you are one of the few that is actually on my Facebook you will probably notice that in the last few months things have changed.   Apart from not blogging as much, something that is going to be changing there will be more content on a weekly basis here dear reader, I have also stepped away from politics by and large, not because I am ashamed of my political point of view, and not because I don't enjoy the back and forth that can come when two people disagree but can debate in civil ways, but because it seems no one really can any more.  Politics has become a line in the sand for many in the church today, with right wing evangelicals falling in line to anoint the president and left wing progressives taking out a hammer and nails and setting up a cross,  both are wrong. 

There is so much for us to do in the world as followers of Christ.  So much work to give food, and drink and clothing, hospitality, encouragement, you know all that Matthew 25 stuff, or Micah 6 stuff, or great commission stuff.  Sometimes we do those things with whoever is in power and sometimes we do them in spite of who is in power, and yes sometimes we do them because of who is in power, the bottom line is that we do them, because that's what we are supposed to do.  Because we are supposed to be more like Christ, not more like our church. 

The meme that was created about Trump and Obama and Jesus is not true.  I don't believe for a second that either man actually invited Jesus into or kicked Jesus out of the White house.  I don't even know if or how often either of them prays.  That's not the point, what is the point is that I pray and seek Gods will and then follow it wherever it leads.  What's important is that even though I don't like him, even though I don't believe anything he says, even though I think he is not good for our country and not a good man.  I will pray for him, that God will open his eyes, bless him and use him as He sees fit. 

It's also why I don't pop off at the fingers on Facebook any more.   It's time to go to work Christ follower, liberal or conservative, right wing or left, evangelical or not.   It's time to pray, and then to do.