Who will we be?

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On Sunday, my faith celebrated the beginning of our holiest week.  The palms dawned the sanctuary, special music was played and the congregation lifted our voices to songs of hosanna.  Over the years my own depth of this story has taken root in a portion of the narrative that we have failed to teach and whitewashed to make us feel better.  Our Palm Sunday isn't just some glorious day that leads to  Jesus coming to save us all, it is a day filled with pledging allegiance, standing alongside a parade route to proclaim our support for a particular candidate that will govern the land. The day is a day where the faith we choose determines the person we choose.  Our shouts and our symbols proclaim the person we believe to be the best candidate for the tasks at hand.  Our shouts, our cries are our call for liberation, freedom, justice for all, protection, and salvation through the embodiment of one individual. 

The day marks the beginning.

The city begins to stir in ways that those along the route cannot see.  The crowd is longing for a revolution, for a leader who will stand for what they stand for. The crowd says they want a leader who doesn't see them as objects but sees the value of who they are as individuals.  So they raise their branches and shout their hosannas.  

But.....

Division unfolds.
Division slides in as a thief in the night.
Division leaves them scattered, looking after their interest and dropping their palms to do what is best for them. 

By the end of the week, the very crowd that gathered together to support their leader has been busted into a million little pieces.  Lines in the sand have been drawn, judgments have been proclaimed,  scattering has left a hole and those who are left standing are alone when the accusations are made and the sentence given.

As we waved our palms, shouting our hosannas proclaiming our allegiance to Jesus, thankful that he came to save us, I am left wondering where we will be by the end of the week.  Yesterday ushered us to ask the deeper and broader questions of who we are, and what kind of leader are we going to stand along the parade route and throw our support behind?  What god are we going to follow and stand for?

Our city is stirring.

The shaking started last Thursday and spilled into yesterday as the leaders of our state whom others have pledged their allegiance to, and who claim to believe in the same loving, grace-filled God that I believe in silenced three leaders who are standing in the gap for those who have no voice, in the trenches with their constituents to find ways to heal the broken systems, and are willing to stand should to shoulder with those who have been swept under the rug in hopes of creating justice and equality where fear has taken root. 

Division has unfolded.
Division came not as a thief in the night but as blatant abuse of power in broad daylight. 
Division scattered the people, looking after their interests and dropping their palms to do what was best for them. 

We want a revolution, a leader who will stand with the least, be the voice for those who have been muzzled, and be the way makers for those who have been bound by endless systems.    

But which crowd will we become a part of?

Are you going to be part of the crowd that disappears, and fades into the background because the work is too difficult?

Are you going to be the crowd that shouts their allegiance to a God who has created all as wholly, sacred, and worthy and then elects leaders who degrade women, children, persons of color, and those within the LGBTQ+ community?

Are you going to be part of the crowd who waves their symbols of faith yet elect leaders whose symbol of freedom/protection is the outline of the very weapon that traverses across 6 football fields within 1 second and shreds every part of the body leaving a gaping hole for blood to come pulsing through?

Or will this day mark the beginning...

Will you be part of the crowd that shouts hosannas and doesn't run away in fear but stands to cover those who are being stoned?

Are you going to be part of the crowd who waves their symbol of faith and bears the weight of responsibility to protect all individuals?

Are you going to be part of the crowd and not just shout hosannas but walk the road making way for love, mercy, and compassion amid adversity?

Are you going to let today be the day that your allegiance elects a leader who cares for each individual, creating laws that protect and redeem?

I am not a politician but I am a believer in One that turns the world upside down and seeks to build one another up instead of rip one another apart.

Who are you?
Who are you pledging your allegiance to?
















 

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