From a Pastor- thougths on this?

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A statement from Pastor Chris:
What else can I say? America, the Beautiful, the Pretty, the Good, how very far you have fallen.
Forgive my verbosity. There are many things rattling around in my brain, and I have done my best to condense them here. The first is this: let me say, in no uncertain terms (if I have not yet already), that I unequivocally condemn this present administration.

I have never been a supporter of the Republican party, nor the Democratic party. I vote my conscience, but I am, in general, not a fan of the two-party system. I will give praise where praise is due (a rarity, indeed), and critique any and all violence, corruption, or ineptitude that comes from those in power, as is my constitutional right. Yet, at the very least I have trusted each administration in my lifetime to lead this nation as best they could and to safeguard the very ideals and principles which undergird it.
But from the moment the man who currently resides in the White House made an appearance in my memory (long before he ever entered politics), I knew he was not a man who could be trusted. It seems clear to me, and has been clear since the beginning, according to my own moral judgment as someone who was raised by Republican parents in a Conservative Christian town surrounded by Conservative Christian peers and mentors, that this is a man who has only ever cared about himself, who only does things to benefit himself, and who will, without hesitation, circumvent all decency, morality, and legality to do so.


This man has now successfully converted the Republican party, not to mention a number of my fellow Americans, into following this very same way of being in the world. It is the religion of Trumpism, which wears Christianity as a mask and follows an entirely different set of teachings from the teachings of Jesus that I know. Teachings such as "do unto others before they do unto you," and, "if anyone curses or reviles you, shoot them."


As a Pastor and a lifelong Christian, I have dedicated my life to the Way of that humble Teacher. It is a Way that could not be more opposed to Trumpism. It is an ethic defined by humility, service, self-sacrifice, and a commitment to upholding the rights and dignity of the poor, the oppressed, and the outcast. One should not have to tell others you follow Jesus; it should be immediately apparent to those around you by the way you live.
The pain in my heart that, by and large, Christians not only supported this man but have fully embraced him and even turned him into the proverbial golden calf - this is a pain that cannot be measured. My heart has broken over and over again as I have watched those who claim to follow Christ excuse and justify every lie, every crime, every abuse, every act of blatant violence that this man and his subordinates continue to promulgate and perpetrate against made-in-the-image-of-God human beings day after day after day. I have been frozen by this heartbreak - paralyzed - but that does not mean I have lost my voice.


And now, it seems, I am not the only one. A growing number of voices are joining the chorus which has been from the beginning of all of this chanting "DANGER! Turn back now!" It is shameful that it has taken the extrajudicial execution of a white man to bring out some of these voices, while black and brown bodies have this whole time endured so many more and much worse abuses. Yet we are glad your voices are now with us. For the good of the country and its people, keep them raised.
For those who still are unable to see what we see, let me just say this: these people are lying to you. They are blatantly, without shame, and with irrefutable proof that they are doing so, lying to you. They are incapable of telling the truth. If you claim to follow the Truth, as I do, you will not listen to them.


This is why we are filming them: because they lie. This is why we are doing what we can to stop them. Because what they are doing is not only illegal, it is immoral; it is sinful; it is evil. And if we did not at least try to stop them, we would be complicit. To paraphrase a personal hero of mine: silence in the face of such evil is no less damning of our souls than participating in it.


And now - should I say more than ever? No, because this time is not unprecedented, even though it may feel like it. The machinations of sin and evil have always manipulated themselves into power wherever power was available for the taking, even in systems (like ours) once thought perfectly immune to such corruption. Jesus himself was born into such a time. Now, as then, we need heroes to step forward. Not the heroes from the comic books and blockbuster movies that dominate our imaginations - superheroes - those with immense, unnatural power and practical immunity to harm - no, for these, in reality, do not exist.


Now we need those real heroes. Those ordinary, everyday heroes who are willing to lead with love, integrity, and respect for the dignity of all people. We need heroes who are willing to stand, perhaps with fear but not without courage, in the way of evil, knowing that they are vulnerable to harm but standing anyway. We need heroes like Alex Pretti and the millions of others who have endured violence and abuse at the hands of a government gone rogue; a government that has failed, like so many before it, to avoid slipping into tyranny.


And I, for one, have not forgotten that they tried to label my Lord a criminal, too. A domestic terrorist, in modern day equivalent terms. Did not Peter violently assault the good Roman officers who came to arrest Him? Did He not enter a house of worship and disrupt its activities with a protest of whips? Was He not unjustly killed for putting His body on the line, standing squarely between all the evil of the world and all the beloved children of God?


Not a superhero. Just an ordinary man, leading with love, integrity, and respect for the dignity of all people.
My God.
And they could not keep Him dead.

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