The Greening of the Spirit

Uncle Ralph (Waldo Emerson) reflected, "The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn." And we can see that in the fall and winter times... a single oak can produce thousands of acorns. They're still out there on the ground, even now.

And here's the thing: The oak is not stingy about it. The oak does not try to hoard all those acorns, growing thorns around them so no one can get to them.

The oak is gracious and generous. And IF a squirrel (or hundreds of squirrels) "steals" an acorn for its own nourishment, the oak doesn't take offense. It is generous. It is gracious. It is giving.

Nature is like that. God is like that. The Beloved Community can embrace that, as well.

And to be sure, it can be hard in these cold winter times, when the stingy and graceless try to hoard and hoard, taking for themselves and unwilling or fearful to think about sharing with others. They demand "efficiency," not grace. They push away rather than gather in.

Nonetheless, the way of sharing, abundance and grace is the right way to go. There is a place for wise use of resources and "efficiency," but that really should be as a subset of grace and abundant sharing.

As various biblical writers and wise people have long noted, what happens to the stingy and the hoarders when they push others away and try to take it all for themselves, perhaps in the name of "efficiency" and with false claims about "They're all a bunch of lazy thieves!" ...what happens to these hoarders? They end up with a bunch of rotten, useless acorns. This is because acorns were meant to be shared and spread with careless abandon.

The greedy farmer said, "This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain."

But God replied, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?"

And when the Manna ("what is it?") fell to the ground so that there was enough for everyone... what happened to those who greedily tried to store more than they needed away? It rotted.

And when the rich business people refused to pay their laborers for the work they had done? God lashed out at them...

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

May we embrace grace and grow into abundance and grow into sharing. May the season of the Greening of the Spirit begin soon and take deep roots.

Don't be Used by a User

 

Don't be deceived... anytime an openly hedonistic, openly corrupt, clearly amoral narcissist leader welcomes the religious into his house, he is always only planning on using them for personal gain and power. It's almost biblical, isn't it?

And I know that I've heard some conservatives note that he is a greedy, filthy man, but that maybe GOD can use "such a man" for saving the church. Again, the only one who will be used are the religious people who lend him their support. Corrupt con men have already told you who they are and what they want - power and money. If they're playing nice with you, it's only to use you. A dog returns to its vomit, St Peter also says.

More from 2 Peter 2:

"These false teachers take pleasure in openly doing evil,

so they are like dirty spots and stains among you.

They delight in trickery while eating meals with you.

Every time they look at a woman they want her,

and their desire for sin is never satisfied.

They lead weak people into the trap of sin,

and they have taught their hearts to be greedy...

They brag with words that mean nothing...

These false teachers promise [the duped followers/supporters] freedom,

but they themselves are not free.

They are slaves of things that will be destroyed.

For people are slaves of anything that controls them"

[and there, it might be noted that this is true for the con man AND his marks,

where the con man is controlled by his unbridled greed and lust and his marks

are controlled by the con man]

Truly, WHO does Peter sound like he's talking about... almost as if these were prophetic words from God.

Don't Be Deceived

So, the man who wants to criminalize churches for providing sanctuary to oppressed people - thereby oppressing those churches for practicing their human rights/religious views... and the man (and his followers) who were demanding a Bishop apologize or be fired for following HER religious views... THAT man wants to "criminalize" "anti-Christian actions..."

Understand this: He absolutely does NOT want to stand with Christians and religious liberties... he wants to make ONE particular flavor of ONE particular religion protected, whilst he attacks others. He's wanting to use and abuse you to harm and oppress others.

I'm all for believing in religious liberties (as long as that human religious tradition isn't causing harm to others), but if someone is telling you they want to protect only YOUR religious liberty, that man is a con man out for your money, your support and your loyalty as he denies religious liberty/human rights to others.

Don't be a victim of a conman. Especially when that conman drapes himself in your particular religion but who is also an established vulgar sexual predator and a corrupt felon.

Don't be deceived, God will not be mocked.

I'm so saddened that so many conservative Christians have been deceived by such a corrupt idiot.

Let America Be America Again

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak...

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

~From Langston Hughes, "Let America Be America Again"