Back when I was in seminary and, like my fellow students, full of indignation at a world teeming with injustice and inequity – way back when the consequences of fighting every battle that crossed my path seemed unimportant in the face of so many urgent causes – a very wise professor said these words to me: “You must choose the hill you die on.”
I’m still angry about it. There are times where I get to thinking about him, what he accomplished, what he had yet to accomplish, and I just want to tear my clothes, punch a wall. Question whatever higher power there is about why take him, what was the point. It feels senseless and cruel.
I tell myself there’s a reason behind it. Some sort of grand plan. But there are those moments where “There is a reason” shifts into “There better be a reason, and a damn good one.”
Overall, I just don’t understand. And maybe I never will…..
In the musical, Les Miserables, Fantine sings “I Dreamed a Dream.” The song is the story of how her life went astray, how her path became so muddled that she lost her way.
It is an evil day when you must choose between life and death, and the lesser of the two evils is death. There was once a time when I believed that death was, in some instances, a good thing. I believed that it was a release, a letting-go, rest for the weary. I retract that belief.
I see two churches. I see a church fresh and new – a honeymoon between God and God’s people. Healing and wonders and signs are everywhere around them. It’s as if everyday, every moment together is a blessing. They hear the voice of God in everything they do, reminding them that they are chosen, beloved, important. They give to each other with abandon, trusting that their resources are going to the greater good. They pray together, eat together, study together, party together. They are excited about the future, inviting everyone around them to be a part of this amazing thing that’s happening to them – this great purpose to serve God and serve the world. This is a church with a mission.
Sarah Palin. Again. No matter how much rope we give her to hang herself or how often she uses it, she keeps coming back to get more rope. She’s like Jed Cooper in “Hang ‘Em High.” She just won’t go away. Clint would be proud.
“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:16-18
Mark Twain said “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
Dorothy Day, journalist and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement said, “Love is a harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us, but it is the only answer.” I’ll say it again: “Love is a harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us, but it is the only answer.”
As my father was want to say when I wanted something, “I know where people want ice water.” He was referring to the cavernous nether-regions below our reality. But he has a point.