02/07/2024 0 Comments
From the Associate Vicar: "Go without Hate, but not without Rage"
From the Associate Vicar: "Go without Hate, but not without Rage"
# From The... - Letters to the Congregation
From the Associate Vicar: "Go without Hate, but not without Rage"
Dear One's of St. C's,
This week I have been thinking about the Bible and words. I have been thinking about the words in the Bible, the words that get turned around on us, the oppressive words given to us that cause an impact that was never our intent. I have been thinking about the way our Bible’s words have been used to harm. I have pondered how all words can be misused this way and how everything has an opportunity for redemption. This potential for redemption includes our laws, our hurtful words, and the harmful interpretations of the Bible. That is why I find St. Augustine’s rule for reading scripture so helpful. St. Augustine asks, does your interpretation lead you to love yourself, your neighbor, and God more or less? If the answer is less you need to go back and sit with the scripture longer. For, Jesus tells us, this is what God is about. Everything that is of God hangs on doing those three things.
I think this question is helpful for us in all the words we read, say, hear, write, and ponder. Is your interpretation of these words leading you to love yourself, your neighbor, and your God more or less? If the answer is less then maybe you need to sit with your interpretation a little longer. What would it mean to genuinely and honestly interpret the situation in such way that you are able to love yourself, your neighbor, and God more?
If our anger, disappointment, sadness, and fear lead us to hate our neighbor, we need a new interpretation. Do not get me wrong. Anger, disappointment, sadness, and fear are important emotions that help us understand and stand up to injustice in our world. But hate will not save us. Hate will not draw us closer to God and one another. One of my favorite quotes is by Paul Monette, “Go without hate, but not without rage. Heal the world.” If you feel rage right now, I hear you and I am with you. There is so much to rage about in our world, even just this week. Somehow our laws allowed Breonna Taylor to be legally murdered when all she was doing was sleeping in her own bed. The west coast is burning. As a country we are questioning if we can trust a vaccine for COVID or the election results. Our prison system is corrupt, children are still being separated from their parents at the border, the warming of our planet continues and on and on.
How can we sit with our interpretations of the world right now and move towards loving ourselves, our neighbors, and our God in a deeper way? How in our anger and our fear can we hold onto our compassion and our grace? This does not mean to accept injustice, hold on to your anger, but how can your anger ignite more love and justice? As Martin Luther King Jr so famously said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Let us go without hate, but not without rage and work together to heal our world.
with hope,
Meghan
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