My Greatest Blessings
I have seen Him in the eyes of the first wave of children diagnosed with AIDS. I have seen Him in the eyes of the mother whose child is critically ill and in the eyes of that child as well. I have seen Him in the eyes of the dying. I have seen Him in the eyes of the lonely and forlorn. I have seen Him in the eyes of a young woman who no longer wants to live. I have seen Him in the eyes of orphans. I have seen Him in the eyes of the first refugees who I had contact with after Putin began bombing Eastern Ukraine in 2015. I have seen Him in the eyes of the survivors of Auschwitz and Birkenau as I marched with them from one of those camps to the other being reminded that we can never forget about the evil that man is capable of. Unfortunately, it is becoming ever harder to see Him in our churches where we gather based on our own thoughts of self-righteousness. There is nothing in me that is righteous. God loves me as I am and not as I should be.
When I go to church it is to worship Him and to give Him thanks that He would use even me but I much prefer spending time with Him in those places where He said we would find Him. It is there where I have found the greatest of blessings. It is when we are about His work.
Jesus tells us, "as you have done it unto the least of these you have done it unto me."
Woe be to those who chose the institution, whether it be the church or the state with its political leaders, over Him.
— Woody
The People Have Spoken
THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN AND THEY HAVE SAID ‘GIVE US BARRABBAS’!
In light of that, may those who claim to be true followers of Jesus be about his business of loving and caring for the downtrodden and the oppressed, for those who have been hurt, and those who will be hurt by the actions of others and for those who are naked and thirsty and hungry. As followers of Christ we are called to stand in that gap. For Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40) It is our call to love and not hate and to rise above the division and point to the Jesus who also told us what would mark us as His followers saying, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)
WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE SWEET LOVE!
NO NOT JUST FOR SOME BUT FOR EVERYONE!
('What The World Needs Now' composed by Burt Bacharach)
Who Am I And What Will I Stand For?
Albert Einstein said, “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.” He also said, “If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity.” Well I cannot, and I will not, remain silent any longer.
People who know me know that for over four decades I have attempted to live out my faith in a way that supports and uplifts others who find themselves beaten down by life events. I have simply tried to love others without condition in the same way that I have felt loved through my faith. I wasn’t concerned about anyone’s race, religion, status, sexual orientation or background. I have simply tried to see each and every person as someone who was created in God’s image. Not in the image of the ‘name-calling’ American god or the white Jesus of Christian Nationalism but the God who is the Lord of lords and King of kings; the lover of the down-trodden and the oppressed. Sometimes I have gotten it right.
For decades I also wore a cross around my neck that I had made from used guitar strings. I don’t wear it anymore because people who have been beat up by this wave of Christian Nationalism would see that and peg me as being a part of that. I have decided that I would rather have them know me by my actions. After all it was Jesus who said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you LOVE one another.”
People who know me also know of my visits to, and my love for Ukraine. This, more than anything right now, has shown me that I can no longer be quiet. For a former President of the United States to admire dictators to the point of congratulating Vladimir Putin on the recent exchange of prisoners is just mind boggling to me.
Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine which has led to the deaths of tens of thousand of civilians, and his willingness to target a children’s hospital and other medical facilities, shows that he is a man who is in no way to be congratulated. He is a war criminal responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands and should not be viewed as a good and smart man by anyone, especially by a former US President.
JD Vance added his own spin, saying that concessions to Putin would be in the America’s best interest. That is a statement one would make about allies that you support and Putin is not one that you want as an ally, so it is very telling about Vance’s own loyalties.
You cannot overlook the fact that our former President has also shown his colors by expressing his admiration of Hungarian Authoritarian PM Viktor Orbán while hosting him at Mar A Lago on at least two different occasions. He has shown us his own desire to be a dictator in stating outright that a vote for him means we will never have to vote again. My dad and father-in-law both fought in WWII against just this sort of regime and yet so many just turn their heads now as a former President tries to lead us down that same road as he spews his venom and his constant lies.
He feeds on the cries and moans of so many about inflation and the cost of living. How selfish we have become because the majority of Americans, even though we’ve had to tighten our belts, are so much better off than the majority of people in this world. On a trip to the United Kingdom last year we heard people speak of the difficulties they were facing based on the inflation which was seen as a result of the effects of Putin’ s invasion of Ukraine and the games that he plays with oil supplies and shipments of grain and other commodities out of Ukraine.
How different in our country where we now look to lay blame on fellow Americans because of our differences of opinion. To become the best that we can be, we need to face the fact that there are evil people in this world and we must become the people who will do something about it. We must stand for what is true and just and right. We must stand up against dictators and wannabe dictators! This cannot be accomplished in silence!
So, yes, I write this from my own faith perspective. I am not asking you to believe as I believe. That is between you and your Creator. But as a follower of Christ, I have tried to respond to Jesus’ command to love others as He has loved us in the way that I have treated others. We are also told in scripture to ‘FEAR NOT’. With the rampant fear mongering around us, these are also good words to take to heart.
As I stated in the opening paragraph, ‘I cannot, and I will not, remain silent any longer.’ I realize that I stand to lose support, possibly some who I thought of as friends and probably requests to play, but I accept that. It is more important to me that I am true to myself and that I haven’t sold my soul. I am who I am and who I believe I was created to be. I suppose that is the question that we each need to ask ourselves. Who are we and what will we stand for!
There Is A God!
There is God! As I may know this and you may know this, there are many in this world who do not. They look around them at what the world presents as Christianity and reject it without ever hearing the actual Gospel. The stumbling block for many is how we seem to live in a time when we allow politicians to set the bar of righteousness, and that bar is at a point where it couldn’t get much lower. So many within the church today seem to have chosen some form of Christian Nationalism and many have chosen a path of hatred rather than love. So many live in fear of others and extol their need for automatic weapons for protection, all the while professing to follow Jesus who taught, ‘do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.’ (Matthew 10:28 NASB) They promote a pro-life stance for the unborn while ignoring the plight of refugees, aliens and strangers. to which Jesus says, ‘I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ (Matthew 25:43 NASB) Christian Nationalism sways between an Old Testament belief of ‘an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth’ when it suits their purpose, but a complete reversal when it comes to their pro-life stance because after all Jesus was born into an Old Testament world where a woman pregnant out of wedlock would be stoned ending the life of both mother and child. The late Christian singer-songwriter Rich Mullins once said “[The Bible] says a lot of things in there! Proof-texting is a very, very dangerous thing. I think if we were given the scriptures it was not so that we could prove that we are right about everything. If we were given the scriptures it was to humble us into realizing that God is right and the rest of us are just guessing.” Those in the Christian Nationalism movement have become the masters of proof-texting to sell their message regardless of whether it aligns with the overall teachings of Christ or not.
We are not a Christian or Godly nation because of the laws of morality that we support or enact. We become a Godly nation when our morality is visible in the lives we live as individuals. We become a Christian nation when we have the heart of Christ within us and the heart of Christ is one that identifies with the poor and the marginalized; the downtrodden and the oppressed; the orphan and the widow. We will be known by our love for others who are not even capable of loving us in return. This cannot happen by the laws enacted by man but only through the changing of our hearts in a relationship with our Creator!
We would do well to remain grounded in the actual word of God rather than in the ramblings of man. The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Galatians, ‘But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit as well. Let’s not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.’ (Galatians 5:16-26) May we take heed of these words as we weigh the choices that the world places before us and make our choices based on the teachings of the One who loved us so much that He gave His life for us.
I will continue to do what I do out of love for my fellow man, founded in the unconditional love that my Creator has shown to me. I will do my best to love others regardless of their beliefs and choices. We are called to love and not judge which is so difficult but our call none the less. May God grant us the strength to heed that call on our lives.