Summer

After a couple of months of blog silence, I decided to return in the month of August.  Sometimes, I need time and experience to inspire the writing process.  And I needed a break from the daily grind. June included our annual synod assembly, a week of church camp, and time with my parents in central New York.  During that visit, we acquired a new puppy.  She has taken up the last month, like having a baby in the house again.  Church camp provided a week of restorative play, teaching, and rest.  After camp, my family picked up a new labrador retriever puppy.  She has brought joy and puppy mischief back into our house.  I forgot how cathartic it is to walk a dog.  Its one of my favorite daily activities again.  

This summer has been strange.  The American political story is unfolding for 2016 and it becomes more bizarre every day.  The contrast between the two primary political parties cannot be more clear. The leaders of the respective parties cannot be less similar.  One of the presidential candidates is a lifelong public servant and political figure.  She is unpopular, but doggedly determined. Her candidacy includes scandal and concern over her record as Secretary of State and first lady.   One thing we cannot say about Hillary Clinton, however, is that she lack political experience.  She knows how politics work, from the executive and the legislative branch of government. And she has spent time under harsh scrutiny.  She has enemies.  Some people want her to be indicted and imprisoned for what they perceive as treasonous, illegal abuses of power.  She comes with a public record, some of which is unflattering--none of which disqualifies her to be president.  And I have to say, she is the first woman in U.S. history to be nominated by one of the two major parties to become president.  It only took 240 years.  And 100 years since women's suffrage.  She must be commended for her courage in the face of adversity.  She has been defeated and she has fought back.    
The other candidate is Donald Trump.  He has won the Republican nomination amidst bigotry, violence, and a darkly negative almost apocalyptic view of the country.  He has tapped into a dark nationalism fueled by anger and fear.  He believes that he alone can fix all that is wrong with the country, perhaps the world.  He is anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and pro "law and order" (a phrase from the Nixon era of politics that led to the failed war on drugs and the systematic mass incarceration of racial minorities.  His slogan, "Make America Great Again", has a pre-Roe v. Wade, pre- Civil Rights era, male dominating, white privilege nostalgia to it.  He is anti-politics, an outsider hell bent on ignoring the rule of law and the constitution to protect his self interests. Every day he says something that would disqualify other candidates from public office. He's a walking, talking scandal.
The public life has taken on new meaning now, because the nature of discourse has become so uncivil.  Freedom of speech has been misinterpreted as license to verbally abuse, malign, attack, and intimidate those with whom you disagree.  There is little room for conversation or compromise.    

In June, the country was rocked by more gun violence.  A mass shooting in a gay night club in Orlando, perpetrated by a Muslim American, with a variety of semi-automatic weapons opened up the debates about guns and terrorism and the LGBT community.  America's vulnerable underside was revealed again.  Bigotry, violence, and fear attack us and threaten freedom.  I spoke out on social media in opposition to gun violence.  I experienced slander and attack from angry people who do not want their 2nd amendment rights violated because of mass murderers using semi-automatic rifles to kill unarmed people.  White police killed unarmed black men in separate incidents.  Then an angry black man killed five police officers in Dallas.  One cannot help but think that we are in the throes of a national crisis.  Fueled by fear and prejudice (institutional racism), we cannot admit that we have a problem.  Like an addict, we react to gun death by purchasing more guns and ammunition.

The violence, politically and socially, compels us to retreat from public life.  This is a time when courage is essential to face injustice with the power of Christian love.  To that end, I intend to offer commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, the teaching of Jesus, over the course of the next week. If people adhered to the teachings of the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5-8, what would the human community be like?  What would change?

Matthew 5.  

When Jesus^* saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely^* on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Jesus blesses the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for justice, those who show mercy, those with pure hearts, peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for saying and doing what is right before God.  The world may not perceive greatness or power or blessing in those who embody this humble way of life.  But God blesses what the world curses or rejects.  God blesses what the world hates.  God blesses human goodness.  To be blessed is to thrive, to prosper, to live in contentment, to live in the wellbeing of God.