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#RevThread #02/14/21
1/ How about a brief homily on this Sunday morning? We’ve just had quite a week of revelations to process, don’t you think?
1/ How about a brief homily on this Sunday morning? We’ve just had quite a week of revelations to process, don’t you think?
2/ Here’s a great, disturbing text: Luke 8:17 ---“For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”
3/ First response:Uh oh. Some of my stuff isn’t anyone else’s business. I suppose in terms of personal problems this text is talking about our relationship with God, to whom, the Book of Common Prayer tells us,“...from whom all desires are known & from whom no secrets are hid.”..
4/... I have come to believe that God is the source of all the vitality that exists, that God’s mercy and love are infinite, and that God’s justice will be both thrilling in its beauty and restorative for our dignity.
5/ Still, the warning in the text is relevant for us today if we shift its focus to the realm of PUBLIC business: “nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor will anything secret not be known and come to light.”
6/ Secrets that are permanently guarded become toxic. Family secrets, national secrets, business secrets mess us up. Family System Theory teaches that secrets in a family function like an avalanche that rolls into a mountain village.
7/ You’re in the same town, but one part of the town is on one side of the avalanche and all the others are on the other side...
8/... Those who are in on the secret are on one side of the family and trust one another, while those who are not in on the secret can’t get why the family feels weird. Lots of shame issues, lots of addiction issues.
9/ So this trial of our former President has revealed what a screwed-up household we had become. Quite suddenly, the weeks from January 6th to February 13th became “national revelation time”. Think of what we’ve revealed, both to ourselves & to the world....
10/... Here are five revelations, all disturbing:
11/ 1. We had a mob boss President, and because he is whiter than white, the GOP was fine with keeping this criminal in the most powerful position in the world.
11/ 1. We had a mob boss President, and because he is whiter than white, the GOP was fine with keeping this criminal in the most powerful position in the world.
12/ 2. Our Constitution is deeply flawed and needs amending, especially the impeachment clauses. (BTW, that’s ok to say. We’ve always had to amend it for the sake of justice. It’s difficult to govern, and it’s difficult to overcome both ethnic prejudices and misogyny.)
13/ 3. The Republican Party has been degraded; the majority of the congressional GOP are revealed as uncommitted to truth or justice. Their vote to support Donald Trump after the case made against him was a display of cowardice.
14/ 4. Our citizenry contains large fascist groups who are both powerful and deluded, and their wanton heartlessness as well as utter folly show us that we need to break up and then regulate Social Media companies.
15/ 5. Our education systems urgently need to restore civic courses that communicate to students both the content and the ethics of democracy.
16/ There have been other revelations as well. We saw once again how resourceful and honorable our police force can be; ...
17/... we saw patriotism and talent and wonderful diversity in the Democratic team that prosecuted this impeachment. Their comportment showed that an inclusive party -- in race, gender, religion -- can be unified, disciplined, and honorable....
18/...They did not fail.
19/ No force-not the Chaplain, not Truth, not the Constitution-was going to move the GOP Senators who stayed with Trump. As with Macbeth they say : “All causes shall give way. I am in blood. Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er.”
20/ Thank God “Nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”
