Wounded

And there is no healing on the horizon
Normalcy is a state that can’t be found
Searching, seeking

Lost

And adrift with no peace within reach
Comfort is an emotion that is elusive
Wandering, wondering

Afraid

And alone with no anchor to hold fast
Strength comes in fleeting moments
Running, racing

Know

And accept wounds as painfully present
A new normal to be faithfully charted
Stopping, starting

Believe

And open fully to an unexplored space
Wrap warmly in a blanket of family
Embracing, entering

Hope

And trust that somewhere in the darkness
A lightness will come to a weary soul
Lifting, loving

Not random
But purposeful
This isn’t an accident
It’s a mindset

Not for gain
But being better
This isn’t self help
It’s a way of life

Not a goal
But a path
This isn’t for show
It’s who you are

In opening a door
And waiting in peace
At giving grace
And showing patience
Of self control
And self sacrifice
For humble winning
And affable losing
To live with intent
And die with enough

Acts of Kindness
Gives meaning
Make us whole
Being kind is life

We’ve got this all wrong

Politics is a competition
To be won or lost
The victor, the vanquished
The winner, the loser

The focus is on the wrong people

Instead of choosing the best
We bet with our votes
On unbending ideologies
And ancient dogma

The noise of marketing is deafening

We should be focused us
We the people
A perfect union
Of all of us

Different, but united in peace

There is no peace
When we’re driven to win
Regardless of the cost
A union divided is weak

Where is the common ground?

Life versus choice on the right
Poor versus rich on the left
Religious morality on the right
Liberal equality on the left

A chasm in-between

A mother of six, no money for seven
The seventh born in the wrong zip code
A belief system outdated and tired
The huddling masses decrying difference

There are no absolutes beyond

Justice
Truth
Mercy
Love

Ignoring these, the chasm grows

In the beginning of modern faith
It was all about love.

In the early days love ruled
Love over hate
Greater than faith or hope
Both internal qualities, but love is
The collective over the individual
“They will know we are christians by our love”

How do people see christians today?
Fighting for the christian right
Fighting the libs
Fighting for pro-life
Fighting against LGBTQ+
Fighting wokeness

As with any group
You can’t lump them all together
But as a community
Christians were about love
Until the hate came
And then there was a cult

A version of christians
Focused on hell
“Sinners in the hand of an angry god”
Hate the sin, love the sinner
Reduced simply to
Hate the sinner

Many embraced this version
Though some never retreated into it
But settled in to help where they could
Now a new uglier version appears
Red-hatted zealots, foaming at the mouth
For revenge and to reclaim lost glory

Not the glory of Jesus
But the glory of religious freedom
That early christians didn’t seek
And Jesus never experienced
And yet he never gave up on love
To bring love’s kingdom to earth

I’m not in the cult of evangelicalism
I don’t believe in hell or heaven
A finite life of love is enough
And so I believe in love
Its power to heal
Even in the darkest of times

Right now it’s a fight for humanity
To dare to feed the hungry
Care for the poor, the sick, the immigrant
To seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly
And even in this red-hat, deep-hate world
The true way hasn’t changed

There is no path to love
Love is the path

There is a problem with the premise
that the original sin is passed
to everyone who ever lived.
Even though millennia have passed,
an angry god seeks retribution
and still holds a young earth grudge.

The problem of the premise
is that that blood is required
to appease this feuding god.
The worst of ancient religion’s practice,
shunned by civilization,
is worshipped by faith communities.

The problem is in the premise
that genocide is the answer
to build utopian societies.
Yet millions hold out for the end of days
and a god’s torturous massacre to
bring a new heaven and earth.

The problem throughout this premise,
is that god is not better
than the best of us.
The worst of mankind breeds
blood-lust and revenge.
A god should be greater than, not less than.

There is a promise with a new premise,
not about bloody retribution,
but individual and societal recalibration
to align with ancient-future greater ideals
of peace that compounds
and love that surrounds.

The promise of this premise
is that peace and love are not postponed,
but active in the actions of those who
live out justice by leveraging peace
and work out that peace by mentoring love
as their legacy for this world’s future.

The promise in this premise,
is that together we can
reclaim the world to what it could be and
recalibrate society to how it should be;
reclaiming peace, restoring justice
and redeeming everything through love.

The promise through this premise
is that as others have,
we can live in self-changing peace
and live out world-changing love,
nurturing justice through our commitment
to walk this path and redeem this world.

Pops 2014