Tuesday, May 25, 2021                      (today’s lectionary)
Where does love go to hide
God is our judge, and the heavens themselves proclaim his justice.
History has mostly been written by and about the victors. As a white guy I’m generally part of the winning crowd. We sing songs about ourselves, about overcoming adversities and claiming victory over other people. We know the dictum in 1 Peter 2:13, “Show proper respect to everyone, honor all people.” But as the victor I tend to become incurious about the losers, and so my “honor” is mostly small, thin and skin-deep, generally unnoticed by those I claim to honor. This, of course, is not OK with God.
Many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.
Remember that story Jesus told about Lazarus and the rich man, and their experiences before and after they died? I’ll bet the rich man either wrote the history books, or the history books were about him. Only occasionally does a researcher dig deeper than records from politics and war, asking what Arthur asked in the musical Camelot, “What do the simple folk do?” What was Lazarus doing in the many years of his life?
The chair of privilege I sit on is sticky. My pants stick to the paint, and when I try to stand the chair comes with me. What the heck? I guess I’ll just sit down again, and stop trying to find another point of view. But after awhile I need to use the bathroom. Help, Lord! Get me out of this chair. Let me see you more clearly, and how you love all your children the same.
Do not appear empty-handed before the Lord. A righteous sacrifice will never be forgotten.
Being a new member of white Texas, I’ve been reading history books. Big Wonderful Thing, Gates of the Alamo, The Captured, Texas, Texas Rising, Dead Man’s Walk, God Save Texas, Letters of a Woman Homesteader, Little House on the Prairie … Texas Monthly, Texas Highways, Austin Chronicle … a deep daily draught of Texas. But I didn’t grow up here, and I wasn’t here in 2003, when the Texas legislature first required the state’s schoolchildren to stand each day, hand over heart, and add to the USA Pledge of Allegiance, “I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.”
Give generously to the Most High as he has given you. The Lord is the one who always repays, even sevenfold.
I keep looking for a quiet place to consider what I’ve been reading, away from the halls of the legislature, away from the progressive conclaves in South Austin, away from opinions about politics and religion, just to have some discussions with God about honoring all people. This seems, for me, to be the order of the day. I won’t be able to change history, or change the color of my skin, or change my gender.
But I can certainly become more curious about the people who have been caught up in our nets. Perhaps the next book I’ll read is The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land, 1820-1875.
I would like to know more.
Give God a sacrifice of praise.
(Sirach 35, Psalm 50, Matthew 11, Mark 10)
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