Hate filled blood worshipping monsters

"Never does He call us to welcome rapists, murderers, pedofiles, hate filled blood worshipping monsters into our homes."

This comment was posted regarding my sermon this week, in which I said:

"I am deeply troubled by what is happening at our southern border with regards to the immigrants from Latin America that have come here seeking refuge.

Most troubling of all is that we have adopted the policy of separating children from their parents, placing the children in various make shift facilities while imprisoning the parents as criminals.

The “politics” of this are troubling and divisive, to say the least.  But I’m not going to debate those political issues, at least not from this pulpit.  If you want to talk about that, let’s arrange to do so at another time.

But what I will ask is does being a “Christian Nation” have anything to do with the “Kingdom of God”?  That is a religious question, a question of faith.

What would Jesus do?

How should we, who claim to be Christian, first and foremost, respond to the situation of the immigrants at our border who come here seeking refuge?"

Another individual responded to my sermon by posting directions to our Church so that all manner of people in need could inundate us, and suggested that our congregation would be a good place for heroin addicts to come and shoot up.  When I pointed out all that our church does, she thanked me that our church backed up its words with actions.

Still, yet another, questioned the status of  my health and wondered if hate were my motivation.  In all fairness, I am angry at what is happening, but not yet hateful.

I have written in this blog about my bipolar symptoms often manifesting themselves in a desire to save the world, sometimes through grandiose schemes and dreams.  Perhaps my compulsion to write about this issue is simply that, but I think not.  I'd prefer to think of it as a genuine commitment to be part of national conversation, with an optimistic hope that we can make a difference.

I am deeply disturbed at the insanity that has gripped our nation, so much so that we now justify that which we once would have fought wars to prevent.

One Facebook friend pointed out that whereas many hold views of the immigrants as "rapists, murderers, pedofiles, hate filled blood worshipping monsters", those same people gave Donald Trump a complete "pass" on all his unsavory behavior and elected him to the White House.  Why such a harsh judgment in one case, and elevation in the other?  Race?  Who knows, it's just crazy.

The New Colossus

By Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Has that mighty woman, the Mother of Exiles, been silenced in our land?  Perhaps that is why some of us seek to cry out in her stead.

Has the battle cry of Armageddon been sounded, a final battle for the soul of our nation?  Is the battle we are fighting amongst ourselves not between 'good and evil', but rather regarding the very definition of  'good and evil'?

Trump has alienated our allies, and saluted our enemies.  He heaps praise upon despots, and disdain for, among others, Canadians of all people.  Eh?  That's kind of like kicking "Mr. Rogers" in the groin.  What has happened to us?

And the children.  Separated from their parents as a political bargaining point.  Fifteen billion dollars in funding for a wall will set them free.  Give me your tired, you poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free and I will seize their children, and imprison them all.  All for the sake of one damn wall.  And what will the 'huddled masses yearning to breathe free" do once the wall is constructed?  Go around it.  

Some convictions:

The drug cartels would not be a problem would it not be for our own addictions.  Treat the addictions and the cartels evaporate.

We need the labor force.  It is simple supply and demand.  Provide immigration reform, and an adequate guest worker program, and the problem of undocumented aliens goes away.

And we should embrace the role of refuge for the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, as it is  people such as this that formed the foundation of our nation.  

But we cannot become what we abhor.  Lutherans live with the legacy of acquiescence to the Nazis in Germany.  Good folk, by and large, caught up in a fervor that gripped a nation.  Swastikas in our sanctuaries.  Luther's own words, a justification for the holocaust.  Pardon us for our concern, but we have a history, and never again dare we blindly salute the fuhrer. 

Dare we see Jesus at our border?  That one who once was exiled in Egypt?  'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. "

Dare we embrace the Crucified One, who life was given for all, even those immigrants seeking asylum in our country.  Can we reject help to those Jesus offered his life for?

My psychologist stated his belief that the depression I was feeling didn't come from nowhere, and his belief that it is not just a matter of chemical imbalances.  We spoke of vocation, and my longing to be a self employed woodworker again able to 'create', not just 'produce'.  

But most of all, I find our nation's status to be depressing.  Perhaps most depressing is that it is the stock market, and the status of our retirement funds, that seems to afford us great leniency regarding all other issues.  That dirty little secret.  We don't care about the poor huddled masses at our border, because our portfolios are doing well.  Has our entire conscience as a country boiled down to this, "its the economy, stupid!"

That, and in spite of all the news coverage detailing one issue after another, corruption at the highest level, we simply accept reality as dictated by Trump.  He's the greatest because he says he's the greatest.  

Its depressing to me.  It just is.  I yearn for the Kingdom of God.  For a redemptive moment.  For hope.  And I wait upon the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

Despair and Hope: The Politics of Today

There is not a day that goes by that I don't experience another deep revulsion at the policies of Donald Trump.  He will never be my president.  Not only is he not making America Great Again, he is attacking in a most haphazard way the very fabric of our country.  In the strangest development today, I find myself in agreement with the Koch brothers.  That takes something.

The detention of immigrant children in, among other places, an abandoned Walmart.  And a senator denied access.  I suppose there is something appropriate about that as Walmart parking lots have long attracted the homeless, living out of their cars, who rely on Walmart for bathrooms and a food supply, not to mention a place to get in out of the cold.

But America, really, did you ever think that our Federal Government would warehouse children in an abandoned Walmart?  Republicans, is this the America you embrace, oh you of 'family values'.  You are responsible for electing this monster.  You.  You are responsible for the plight of those children.  This may be worse than the treatment of Native Americans, the Japanese, etc..  And this is 2018.  We know better.  It is past time that we hold our leaders accountable. 

"I have the absolute right to pardon myself."  I doubt that, as do many others.  But even if you have the constitutional authority to pardon yourself, neither you, Donald Trump, nor those who support you, can absolve yourself of the moral implications of your actions.  And make no mistake about it, every American who acquiesces to this type of behavior is complicent in it. 

I don't give a shit about collusion with the Russians, and the dirt that the Donald tried to dig up regarding Hillary.  I don't really care about the many ways the Trump empire appears to be profiting from his policies.  And I could care less about his opinion of the NFL.

I do care deeply about people, and especially the harm being done to innocent children.  I predict that the day will come that everything comes to light and we will be, or should be, aghast at what we've become. 

And then there is hope.

Each day brings us closer to the next election, and candidates are beginning to line up already.  My hope is that not only Democrats, but Republicans will raise up candidates worthy of the presidency to challenge and defeat Trump.  Democrats obviously will try.  I'm not sure about Republicans. 

Could the former CEO of Starbucks mount a successful campaign?  I don't know.  Perhaps someone like Elizabeth Warren?  I could even thoroughly embrace and support a true Republican like Romney or McCain, though obviously McCain's not available anymore.  Kasich, well that would be a big improvement.  Anybody, as long as they have a conscience, and are willing to make a commitment to the best of their ability, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

My biggest fear is that having seen four years of the atrocities of Trump's administration voters will embrace it.  Then the United States will have lost its soul.  This is not what our veterans fought to defend.  This is not the country that was the conscience of the world.  Any Republican who can see pictures of children caged like animals and still support this president has simply strayed from Republican values.  This is my cry, not that Democrats will always win, but that Republicans will at least be true to their own heritage as a party.

Do I want him  impeached?  Maybe, but I'd rather see him overwhelmingly defeated at the ballot box as that would demonstrate in my mind that the United States has not lost its soul.

I struggle to not give in to hate.  This can be difficult when one abhors so much of what is happening.  But somewhere in between acquiescence and hate there is a position of strong resistance to the current state of affairs that will not rest until the soul of our nation is restored.

Loose Cannons

There are days that Canada looks good.  Real good.  Days that test my faith, a faith that holds that God, and God alone, is King of the Universe and in control.

After Trump was elected one of my parishioners said that he believed "Trump would be good for the country."  My response was "That I hoped so, but feared that instead he is a loose cannon, and that nobody, even within the Republican Party, really knows what he will do and is capable of doing, or the harm that will be done." 

I no longer fear that Trump is a loose cannon, it is blatantly obvious.

As a bipolar person I know something about being a loose cannon.  One need only look back upon a  manic episode to observe that "I didn't see that coming."  When one is in a manic phase the mind races out of control and reasonable critiques simply don't resonate.  Ask my wife.  The end justifies the means.  Grandiose visions dominate.  No risk is to great to take.  My father-in-law used to say "hit where you look, don't look where you hit."  The problem for a bipolar person is that you tend to fire first, and then survey the consequences later.

Thankfully, my own tendencies to be a loose cannon were not played out on a global stage.  There was a significant personal cost.  The $50,000 CNC I bought to jumpstart my business is $50,000 that is no longer in my pension account.  Maybe one day it will prove to have been a solid business decision.  But more likely the most it will offer is an outside chance of 'making the best of it'.  It is a massive luxury, and didn't result in the highly profitable business I envisioned.  But you couldn't have stopped me then.  And I'm hesitant to unload it now, still hoping that I can redeem the choice.

One of the things I learned in the process is that reason plays no part, even though the person who is in the manic phase may actually be able to make a convincing case for the course of action.  I mean, hey, I convinced a lot of people over the years to follow my lead when I was in a manic episode.  Having said that though, 'reason' was a means to an end, but not the primary factor in my motivation.  I now understand that as a bipolar person I am, when in a manic phase, hardwired for certain types of activities.  It's hard to accept that my fantastic plans and visions are the result of chemical interactions in my brain, and unpredictable.

Karla has always been the cautious one in our marriage.  Even today, knowing everything I know about my condition, submitting to her caution is difficult, in fact, extremely difficult.  She's not totally opposed to my endeavors.  She just has the desire to secure the cannon before firing it. 

Trump needs a Karla. 

Like a bipolar person in a manic phase Trump has his grand vision of how to "Make America Great Again".  Great presidents, though, all have the capacity to surround themselves with people smarter than they are, and follow their advisor's collective advice.  Visions need to be grounded in reality. 

In the maritime world, captains of ships surrender the control of their vessels to local pilots when they must negotiate hazardous waters and dock in harbors.  One simply cannot be an expert navigating every passage way around the globe.  Trust those with the specific knowledge needed.

The Ego gets in the way.  One of the most  difficult things for me  to admit, as I seek to restructure my life in light of my diagnosis, is that I need a pilot.  The Ego says that I've been a pastor for thirty years, I need no help.  Yet I do.  Caution is warranted, albeit, such caution is most difficult to implement when every fiber in one's being says "Go for it."

I have those who are looking out for me.  Their job is to minimize the damage that I might do were I to make spontaneous decisions that look good in the moment but which may have disastrous long term consequences. 

That is what Trump is lacking.  Fire now, and review the damage later.  Play the lute while Rome burns, and worry about rebuilding later, hoping that reconstruction can improve on what was but is no more. 

I do see one positive outcome of Trump's propensity for being the ultimate 'loose cannon'.  And that is that the world will no longer allow the United States to be the uncontested leader it has been for the last few decades.  This is no different than the potential in my own marriage that we will now make decisions that are more mutual than before.  Our partnership is taking on new dimensions.

The unpredictable nature of our national diplomacy on issues such as Iran and North Korea may end up opening the door for others to solve the problems, apart from us.  Our failure to act definitively on global issues such as the environment may lead other nations to eclipse us.  I'm actually hopeful in that regard.  The collective wisdom of the nations of the world is probably much better than simply following the shifting winds of American political perspectives.

I can see this.  But then, I'm the crazy one.  Perhaps being 'crazy' merely means that we will not conform to the insanity of the world around us.