The Shift
And suggestions for ways to pray for it
Hello, and welcome!
Whether you are new or a long time reader it is good to gather and share. And it is good to gather and agitate. It is good to gather and protest. It is good to get out and vote and to encourage others to do the same. Voices are for using and ears are for listening and the more of both of those things happen, the better off we all are.
I am a person who has distinctly leftist views. No surprise. I am a typical mainline pastor though this is not a universal thing. We have right leaning people in the pulpit too. But the most important thing in this area is that (hopefully) all of the clergy in our churches want to proclaim the gospel of Jesus the Christ. That means never backing down on what Jesus taught. “In as much as you did it for the least of these, you did it for me” is pretty clear. When we feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, set free the captives and touch the outcast with love, we are directly blessing, touching, and serving Jesus. We have done those things to him.
And when we oppress, distress, destroy, deport, imprison, starve, bomb, exclude, or bear false witness (that is lie, and prosecute and defame), we do all of those things to Jesus. Not a good look. Not a good idea. Not a Christian action if one is to take literally ANYTHING seriously about Christianity.
But there are people who flip this all on its head, persecute, attack, hate, defame, and pursue genocide “in the name of Jesus.” They do these horrible things while wearing crosses, and taking the name of the homeless first century prophet and healer on their lips, and while saying that those who try to follow his teachings are the betrayers. It is hard to stomach, even hard to imagine, but it is not hard to find.
Sadly.
The twisted cross of the Swastika is an ancient symbol going back thousands of years. It is a simple symbol and had many meanings down through the aeons. But ever since the rise of Nazi Germany it has been co-opted by the shadowy forces of hatred, racism, and evil. And it is being used by white supremacist groups in Canada and in our neighbour to the South. This has always been the case since the Second World War, even beginning before that as the diseased ideology of national socialism began to metastasize within Western nations. Even very prominent figures like Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh bought into the false promises and deceitful ideas of fascism before WW2 broke out.
It never went away. The KKK was operating here in Saskatchewan long before that. Racism is alive and well everywhere. It is just that some of our politics have dragged it out into the open, and the blood stained white sheets of they lynch mobs have begun to be aired openly. Some even brag about their disgusting and violent views and actions.
But bringing this out into the open is good. While it festers in disgusting smoke filled back rooms and in the sleazy stinking corners of 4chan and 8chan, the cesspools of the internet, it grows in obscurity.
Sunlight is a great disinfectant.
When you see neo-nazi groups surface, point them out. Ridicule their ideology. Attack their hateful and divisive rhetoric. Confront their violent methods. Expose the racism and the moral poverty of white supremacy. Declare your dedication to human rights, to the equality of all God’s beloved children, to the goodness of creation and the need to protect all life. We have far right extremists here in Canada. Right here in Saskatchewan. If you see recruiting posters that look a bit off, do just a bit of research. From Atlante, to Diagalon to Yellow Vests Movement, they are here. There are 22 such far right groups on the following webpage, all active here in Canada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_far-right_political_movements
As we walk around the lake here in Regina, we keep our eyes on the bulletin boards. I am not hesitant about taking down posters for hate groups like Diagalon. Cancer responds well to surgical removal in most cases. Don’t feed the trolls. Don’t feed your children or those of any other parents to hate groups. Let’s be a good village where we love one another, lift each other up, and do good.
In the end, that is the solution. Work together with all people of good will. Reach across religious divides. Reach across community fractures. Reach across party lines. Encourage cooperation and mutual aid. Give a hand up to those who are struggling. And declare truth in response to the lies of those who want us to fight and hate. When we stand for the good of one, especially for the “least of these,” the disregarded, the disempowered, the downtrodden, we stand for the good of all.
“In as much as you did it not for the least of these, you failed to do it for me.” (Jesus of Nazareth, homeless 1st century Palestinian Jew.)