Enchanted Community

BLOG 12/1/17. WHERE YOU GO, … WHAT YOU DO, … WHAT YOU SAY …

A generation ago Richard Halverson was the pastor of a large congregation in suburban Washington, D.C. I was always taken with his ‘spin’ on the final benediction at the end of Sunday morning worship services: “As you go out into this week, know that where you go, Christ goes, what you say, Christ says, and what you do, Christ does. And, now may the grace of God go with you.” Yes! Such a prayer commissions God’s people to engage in their incarnation as his New Creation people in the midst of the complex and dismaying context that so often surrounds us in this present scene.

Jesus told his followers that it was by their works that people would know that they were his disciples. Thoughtful observers and scholars viewing the present scene are quick to note that people are not impressed with our faith affirmations by some theological system, but more by our practice and behavior. Jesus was the epitome of what he called his followers to be and to do. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, in that you love one another.”

Those who profess to be Christian, and yet engage in racist, misogynist, anti-Semitic, vitriol against other religions, or any of the others who are different, . . . actually deny their ostensible Christian identity. Jesus taught us the we should love our enemies and do good to those who despitefully use us and persecute us. Jesus modelled this, and he prayed for the soldiers who were following out orders to crucify him. Paul would give us the beautiful picture that those who follow Christ are to be the sweet aroma of Christ unto God, and that we are to spread the fragrance of him everywhere.

It is so dismaying that so many of those who sing songs about the return of Christ, or about going to heaven when they die, … seem to miss the point that Jesus has already come and has left us with an unmistakable mandate that we are to be obediently and lovingly carrying out in this present age: to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to welcome strangers, to visit those imprisoned, to heal the sick, to be peacemakers, to be agents of mercy … and to take the consequences. All this praxis in addition to being the heralds of the gospel of grace and forgiveness.

And he makes all of this with the sobering reminder that when he does return that it will be this evidence of our true faith that is the criteria of our welcome by him. Wow! We are to be intentionally counter-cultural, and to be the sweet aroma of Christ in this present confusing and often sordid cultural scene. We cannot ignore the huge humanitarian crises that exist with the sixty-four million refugees, or the attempts at ethnic cleansing abroad, … or the violations of the commands of Christ that are before us in the daily newspapers and in the realities of social and political darkness.

As Dick Halverson knew and practiced, when the people of God gather for worship, authentic church leaders and teachers will know that the purpose of such is to encourage, re-evangelize, equip, and refresh those people to be the presence of Christ in their work-a-day world, i.e., to be very intentional in our awareness that where we go, Christ goes. What we say, Christ says. What we do, Christ does. Jesus would say: “As the Father has sent me, even so do I send you.”

Such a high and holy calling is ours by virtue of our baptismal vows to be the whole-hearted and obedient followers of Jesus Christ.

Got it! Then, go for it.

BLOG 11/28/17. JIMMY CARTER: UNDER-APPRECIATED ROLE MODEL

A few weeks ago here in Atlanta, the ambassador from Argentina bestowed, on former president Jimmy Carter, Argentina’s highest award for his role as a major international voice in opposing the brutal dictatorship of Juan Peron, while Carter was president of the United States. It brought to my mind how the Washington establishment and so many of the pundits still have a difficult appreciating what a remarkable role-model Jimmy Carter was in his one-term presidency. I suppose that I am more than a little biased, living as I do in Atlanta where the Carter Presidential Center is such a dynamic part of this city’s life, and in its very fruitful international ministries of monitoring elections in troubled nations, in eliminating the plague of guinea-worms in under-developed nations, and in Mrs. Carter’s efforts on behalf of mental health. I am more aware of some since my late wife was a docent at the Carter Presidential Center for fourteen years, and on several occasions, with her, I was able to engage President Carter in brief conversations, and found him such a friendly and transparent person.

But he was never accepted in Washington. First of all, he was a Southerner, which still carries with it some subtle discrimination among many. Jimmy Carter was a South Georgia farmer, a graduate of the Naval Academy, a respected citizen, a state legislator then governor of Georgia. In that role, he looked at what was taking place in the presidency in Washington, and decided that he could do better than that, and so ran for president, and, remarkably, won. But he was an outsider. He exacerbated Washington’s suspicions by taking his own “peanut brigade” with him to be his White House staff. His own Democratic Party (Tip O’Neill, et al) never really accepted or supported him, even though Carter was in every sense a political progressive on social issues, such as the party espoused.

Early on, on being interviewed by the press, he candidly professed to being “a born-again Christian” which designation didn’t compute with the reporters. What he was saying was that he had an inertial-guidance system in himself that came from his relationship with God. These years later that inertial guidance system is still giving him energy to engage in so many fruitful ministries. He obviously made some mistakes and mis-judgements. Every president does. But he pulled off the Camp David Accords between Israeli Prime Minister Begin and Egyptian President Sadat. He reminded the two them, in that intense confrontation, that they were both from religions that traced their roots back to their common ancestor, Abraham. For this accomplishment, President Carter ultimately received the Nobel Peace Award.

Given the dismaying chaos that is currently present in the presidency, it is refreshing to remember what a model of integrity Jimmy Carter was and is. One can point to his failures, but one never doubted his integrity, that he was a person of truth, and a champion of peace, order, and justice. And when he was defeated after one term, he did not pout, but immediately put together the Carter Presidential Center to engage the world problems of peacemaking, reconciliation, and global health. Abroad he is still one of America’s most revered leaders. Add to that, that his involvement in the work of Habitat for Humanity in providing homes for low income people. At 93 years of age, he still participates regularly and physically in these home building projects.

Some presidents are actors, or political personas, or politicians who simply must win at any cost, and leave one wondering what they’re really like—whose integrity is always in question. Not so with Jimmy Carter. He is modest, principled, caring, and still bearing fruit in old age. And yet he is still so under-appreciated as a good role model for leadership. I couldn’t resist writing this blog and celebrating my appreciation for him. The award from the Argentine government reminded me of this. Stay tuned … [And invite your friends to subscribe to this blog. Thanks.]

BLOG 11/24/17. MISSING THE DRAMATIC CONCLUSION, ALAS!

Yes, to be sure, it’s like missing the awesome conclusion of the great drama of human history! What’s missing? Let me bring you back to a piece of church history. Somewhere back in the mists of the church’s life, there emerged something of an annual pattern of reminding itself of the great events of the life and ministry of Jesus, known as the liturgical year. That annual pattern begins with the celebration of Advent and Christmas (the birth of Christ), then on the 12^th day after Christmas begins the celebration of Epiphany (when the star appeared to the oriental wise men). This period is followed by the Season of Lent (which records the passion and death of Jesus).

Then, the great celebration of hope: Easter (in which Jesus triumphs over death and the grave in his resurrection from the dead. Easter is followed by the celebration of Pentecost: the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the infant church. (To insert here, my own sense that this also is a much overlooked and under-rated celebration, and deserves more attention from the church, since the whole Christian enterprise in the world is totally impossible, humanly, apart from the supernatural empowering by the Spirit.)

Pentecost is followed by the months-long observance which is entitled: the liturgical season of Trinity, which ordinarily begins right after Pentecost and ostensibly continues up until the conclusion of the liturgical year. . ..  Now stay-tuned for what should be that awesome conclusion. What should be the consummation of such reminders? It was only in the mid-1920s (according to my sources) that Roman Catholic Pope Pius XI declared that the conclusion of the liturgical year should take place the Sunday before the beginning of Advent, at the conclusion of the liturgical year, and be entitled: The Celebration of Christ the King. It only makes sense. The consummation of our Christian faith is that “Jesus shall reign where ‘ere the sun, doth it’s successive journeys run,” as the hymn so beautifully states it. It celebrates that fulfillment of human history when Jesus “shall have put all his enemies under his feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death . . . that God may be all and in all” (I Corinthians 15: 24-28).

Without such a fulfillment, such an awesome conclusion, the celebration of the life and ministry of Christ is like a book without a conclusion, or a mystery without an answer. So, then, following the pope’s declaration, not only Roman Catholics, but Anglicans, and most main-line Protestant traditions adopted the Celebration of Christ the King as the grand conclusion of their liturgical year.

Having said that, however, it needs to be acknowledged that almost no one actually even knows that it exists. It is seldom celebrated, even in communities that otherwise follow the liturgical year. It gets buried in the uninhibited consumer culture, and frenzy of football fever that comes along with and after the Thanksgiving observance. So, allow me to lift my voice in protest.

This coming Sunday, November 26^th, is the Feast Day of Christ the King. I want to rejoice in the reality of my faith that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that given all the chaos of human history, I (and we) are not primarily citizens of any earthly nation, but are primarily citizens of the Kingdom of Our God and of His Christ. We are fellow-citizens with all of those in whom God dwells through Christ. We are those whose great anticipation, by faith, is that day when the heavens open and we behold a white horse! “The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. . .. He is clothed in a robe, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19: 11ff.).

Pull out all the stops. Lift up your voice. This is the consummation of God’s New Creation when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Yes, and Amen!

BLOG 11/21/17. HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY YOUR FAITH COMMITMENT?

Living, as we do, in a post-Christian culture, in which all Christian/religious terminology seems to be a foreign language, we need to take a moment to think how to respond when someone becomes curious about whatever it is that makes us a curiosity to them—like, maybe, something we say or do. Labels can not only be confusing, but the tend to change meaning from time to time, . . . or lose their meaning altogether. Even the designation of Christian can convey very negative implications to many, if they have witnessed or experienced something disturbing by those who wear that label.

For-instance, early in the 20^th century, when philosophical rationalism was in its heyday, and there was an assault on all the supernatural components of the Christian faith, and of the integrity of the Bible as some kind of an inspired document, it was primarily a group of theologians from Princeton who put together a defense of those elements of the Christian faith that were, indeed, supernatural and were critical components of the faith. They termed these components: the fundamentals, and hence the emergence of an honorable designation of those who embraced those orthodox Christian components as fundamentalists. But with the passage of time fundamentalism became identified more by a kind of anti-intellectualism, that probably became publicly ridiculed in the famous Scopes trial over evolution in East Tennessee, when William Jennings Bryan, the eloquent fundamentalist lawyer tried to defend an anti-evolution position, and lost miserably and became  the object of ridicule.

The same distortion of what was, originally, a very descriptive designation of those who were the adherents of the joyous news of Jesus Christ as evangelicals. The four primary documents of the New Testament are known as the evangels, i.e., the thrilling news of Jesus’ life and teachings. But in very recent times the term as been co-opted, or hijacked, or prostituted by those who take an alt-right conservative stance politically, so that the press regularly lumps them together as evangelicals (which they are anything but …).

Where those of questionable or offensive beliefs and behavior designate themselves as Christian, even that label becomes a stumbling-block. Add to that, that the obvious reality that identifying yourself by your denominational affiliation doesn’t register with most in this post-Christian era, when an increasing percentage of the populace are self-satisfied humanists.

At the same time, those with whom we rub shoulders still have lots of unanswered questions lurking in their sub-consciousness (and meta-consciousness) about the meaning of life, about relationships, about the unknown future of their lives—maybe about the possibility of life after death. They may also be curious about us, and our daily behavior, if, indeed, we are living out the teachings of Jesus. And they may sidle-up and ask us about what it is that makes us tick? That’s something we should be prepared for. And our first response should be to listen and to ask questions: Why do you ask? What gives your life meaning? Is there some authority that you look to for decisions and direction? Etc.

I can only share my own response, since I live with people from all over the map, from nature worshipers, to secularists, to those consumed with the present and with careers, and are essentially irreligious. When I get asked that question, I simply respond that “I am an incorrigible follower of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ,” . . . and leave it there. If they want to pick it up they can. The point of my response is to point them to the source, not to adopt some religious label. Hopefully, later, over coffee or beer they may pick up the discussion and we can go into it more deliberately with the focus on them. But I avoid labels.

Happy Thanksgiving.

BLOG 11/17/17. “SEARCH ME, O GOD, AND KNOW MY HEART”

Do you know what? I find Senator Al Franken’s confession of his sexual molesting of a young colleague . . . to be most refreshing (his confession,mind you, not the molestation) . Does that sound crazy? No! Senator Franken, when confronted with that episode did not deny it, did not equivocate, did not dissemble or make excuses, but rather was most forthright and candid in saying essentially: “Yes, I did it. I apologize. It may have been intended to be funny, but it is inexcusable, as are all assaults on women.” And then, he welcomed examination by the senate ethics committee. Wow! Would that all his colleagues were that honest and transparent.

And further, Al Franken is, by heredity, a Jew (though admittedly, not a practicing Jew), and his forthrightness is a compelling testimony to the teachings of the Psalms, like: “Search me, O God … and see if there is any wicked way in me.” It is the questionable motives and self-righteousness of his critics in the press and in congress that are more distressing. If the secret sins, the misdemeanors, and peccadillos of such were made public, it would pretty much leave few standing.

The Biblical records don’t allow for any claims of sinless-ness, but it is full of promises of grace for those who come forward and confess their sins. The Psalms are attributed in large part to the iconic King David of Israel. David seems to have always had an oversupply of testosterone, and was, admittedly, quite sexually active. But an episode in his mature years in which he committed adultery, and then tried to hide it by having Bathsheba’s husband murdered, comes to mind. The prophet Nathan confronted him with the sin, and David’s heartfelt contrition is recorded for us in Psalm 51. That heartbroken candor in acknowledging how his sinfulness separated him from God is poured out: “I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).

That is precisely what Senator Franken has done. That same principle of transparent honesty about our sinfulness is also a New Testament foundation stone: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins …” (I John 1:8 ff.). Every time many traditional Christian communities gather for worship, there is just such a mutual acknowledgement/confession that we are a community of grace, of real bona fide sinners: “We have done those things we ought not to have done and left undone those things we ought to have done. There is no health in us. We are most miserable offenders. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy.”

So, with the members of congress. Who of them would like to have made public the ways they have sought to destroy their political opponents, or accepted pay-offs from PACs, or engaged in dubious sexual encounters? Who has nothing in their past of which they are ashamed? But Senator Franken demonstrated the Jewish-Christian open-ness to confess, and welcomed the judgment of the ethics committee. I do find that most refreshing. May he be an example to the rest. And, if the people of Minnesota are not convinced, they have opportunity to replace him in 2020, but they are unlikely to find one so transparent as he.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer had strong words for those who wanted to be in a Christian community in which there were no real sinners. There is none such. Thomas Merton chided those monks looking for the perfect monastery. We live with reality. We come to God as those who in all kinds of expressions reveal ourselves of those who have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God’s forgiving grace is given to those who begin with such a confession. “Search me, O God!”

BLOG 11/10/17. MOTHER MARY’S FAITH . . . AND MINE

On a neighborhood street that I drive from time to time here in Atlanta, is the impressive campus of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church, and it regularly causes me to chuckle at myself. You see, I was reared as a typical Protestant kid, with the built in anti-Roman Catholic proclivities of that tradition. But somewhere between then and now . . . Mary, the mother of Jesus, has become my model of true faith, and it grows on me as I reflect on who she was and what she demonstrated. When the messenger of God revealed to her that she was to bear the long-awaited messiah, she was incredulous: “How can this be since I have never had sex with a man?” Then the angel informed her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and that which was conceived in her body would be from God.” Her response? “I am your servant, be it unto me according to your word.” There’s true and profound faith.

Then, you must fill in the blanks. With all the miraculous components of Jesus’ birth, the exile into Egypt, and then the many years back in the village of Nazareth, Mary was the most formative person in Jesus’ youth, and the remarkable evidence of that was that when they took the boy Jesus to the temple when he was twelve years old, . . . the priests were amazed at his knowledge of scriptures. Fill in the blanks. What you come up with was the faith of Mary and the depth of her understanding of Jewish writings, and the implications for what she was called to be and to do. Is it any wonder that those within the Roman Catholic tradition give to Mary high praise: Hail Mary, full of grace? Our Lord is with you.

Are you still with me? OK. But, if I read the teachings of the New Testament apostles correctly, there is a counterpart to that in Christ’s calling of me/us—don’t rush past that reality. His promise is that in our embracing him through faith, we also become born of God, that we become the dwelling-place of God by the Holy Spirit, that we become the possessors of the divine nature–as humanly impossible as the virgin birth! We become, by true faith, those who also receive Jesus’ commission: As the Father has sent me, even so do I send you. Connect the dots. As one theologian put it (I think it was Karl Barth), we are the continuing incarnation of Jesus. What is created in and through us are to be those persons, and that community (the church) that is to demonstrate in our daily contexts Mary’s faith: I am your servant. Be it unto me according to your word.

I reflect on that each morning as I begin my day, and especially when I am gathered with others of those who profess Jesus in our weekly times of worship and reflection. I have to ask myself: Why am I doing this? What does this moment, my life, this gathering have to do with my calling to be the dwelling-place of God by the Spirit?

Focusing particularly on our (ostensible) ‘worship services,’ it is so easy to slide into an empty traditionalism and become immunized and indifferent to our divine calling to live out the radical teachings of Jesus’ new creation in the vicissitudes of our 24/7 lives. I am persuaded that if ‘worship services’ are to have viability, they must be that regular occasion in which I and the others are re-evangelized, equipped, encouraged, and sent-out afresh each week. I and we need to express Mary’s faith which acknowledges that what we are called to be and to do is humanly impossible, and yet that for which God comes into our lives as the Creator Spirit, so that what is expressed in thoughts and intents, in the behavior, and mission-focus of our lives is only explainable by God’s divine working in us.

So, I add my praises: Hail Mary!  You are an encouraging model for my faith.

[If these Blogs are provocative and stimulating for you, recommend their subscription to your friends. Thanks. And let me hear your comments.]

BLOG 11/7/17. TRUE EVANGELISM: CONTAGIOUS UNDER THE HOOD

I’ve had a long career teaching, and seeking to practice, faithfulness to Christ’s command to make disciples/evangelism, . . . but one of my all-time favorite models was a guy named Charles, and I need to tell you about him. My wife and I were on a short-term mission to teach evangelism to the pastors in a small, and destitute, country in southern Africa. In many ways, it was a discouraging mission because the traditional church institution, its membership, and its pastors, and the missionary community were quite too indifferent to anything smacking of gospel obedience. They were essentially a sterile and non-productive bunch and it didn’t seem to bother them. They were content to go through the motions, and were missionally passive.

But then there was Charles. Charles was a big, gentle African-American guy, who was a master-mechanic and had been sent by the missionary agency to maintain the motor pool owned by the church. His wife, Betty, was white and an energetic mother home-schooling their children. Add to that, they were both Southern Baptist, but in reality, were card-carrying Pentecostals. They were an episode of freshness, life, love and contagious Christian folk to whom my wife and I often turned for prayer.

Here’s my point: while I was trying to teach evangelism to pastors who were anything but contagious Christians (if, indeed, they were even articulate Christians at all), there was Charles, under the hood of a Toyota repairing engines and carrying on quiet conversations with the locals who would inquire about how he got there, and what motivated him to do so. Nothing dramatic. Just a contagious Christian under the hood sharing his hope and joy in Jesus with the locals who were living a pretty joyless and hopeless existence. One by one they would want to know more, and Charles and Betty’s home became a place of loving mentoring. A Christian community began to form, and after our stay there it grew to be a large Pentecostal community because all those whom Charles brought to faith and mentored, like Charles, became contagious Christians, i.e., truly evangelistic in the best sense of that word. Then, a few years after we returned to the States, I learned that they had planted another church in the capitol city that also grew into a very large assembly. Evangelism: contagious under the hood. I love it.

I read an essay on human sexuality a few years ago by a gifted secular scholar, who described the reason that human sexuality is such a strong drive for those years after puberty is that there is built in to our human nature the need to reproduce our gene-pool into the next generation. Chew on that for a minute. If one generation doesn’t reproduce itself, then there is no next generation. This is equally true of the church.

But, like Charles, when one comes to true faith in Jesus and embraces him in obedient faith, then Christ comes and takes up his abode in us, . . . or as Peter would state it, we become partakers of the divine nature and are given all things that pertain to life and god-likeness. And an integral part of that divine nature, that genome of Christ, is his own passion to contagiously seek and to save those we meet under the hood, those living joyless, hopeless, meaningless lives, . . .  and are looking for some authentic answer. Jesus, as he dwells in us, imbues us with his on mission to reproduce a next generation. And, to be brutally candid: if that is not true in our lives then we need to examine ourselves to see if we are truly in the faith (II Cor. 13:5).

Who are your spiritual children? Who have you met ‘under the hood’ and introduced to our hope and joy in Christ? What are you contributing to assuring that there is a next generation? This is a high joy for those engaged in it. I’d love to hear from you.

BLOG 11/3/17. GREATNESS: IT DEPENDS ON YOUR DEFINITION

This present administration rode into power under the motto: Make America Great Again, … but they did it with the overwhelming support of a vast number of faux evangelicals, who claimed to be followers of Jesus, … but who had, evidently, never read his teachings. These faux evangelicals were, first off, primarily white nationalists aligned with all kinds of male dominated, and Islam-o-phobic folk who were, seemingly indifferent to human need, to the homeless, poor, and the helpless of our society. So, in their minds, what would it mean for America to be great again?

A whole lot rides on one’s definition of the word great. Jesus never equivocated on this. He taught: But whoever would be great must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all (Mark 10:43-44). He taught: For he who is least among you is the one who is great (Luke 9:48). As if that were not enough, it is interesting to look at those who are defined as the arrogant wicked as defined in Psalm 10, and those who are the helpless victims of their arrogance, to understand the heart of God as exhibited in Christ. Governmental policies of those seeking ‘American greatness’ are unquestionably controlled by those who control the wealth, and are indifferent to the desperate need of the helpless and poor.

Jesus, again, taught it graphically: Woe to you rich, blessed are you poor. By that teaching, faux evangelicals flunk a basic test of being formed by the teachings of Jesus. Jesus inaugurated his public ministry declaring that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him to preach good news to the helpless poor. By that criterion (to stretch our boundaries a bit) the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ populist movement of a few years ago, which sought to expose and limit the arrogance of the wealthy, was more truly evangelical, more truly in accord with the teachings of Jesus, than all the pulpit expostulations of the wealthy mega-church ‘evangelical’ preachers on television, alas!

Jesus came to inaugurate a new creation, a holy nation, which would incarnate the image of God in its ethics and relationships. We receive a glimpse of its character in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew) and the Sermon on the Plain (Luke). It is radically upside-down, or as author Donald Kraybill designates it: The Upside-down Kingdom. That, accordingly, means that Jesus redefines greatness, so that if this nation were to truly express an affinity for the teachings of Jesus, then it would become a servant nation, using its vast potential to meet human need in all its devastating expressions (rather than tax-breaks to the wealthy, and unholy amounts spent on armaments).

Only such radical (and, frankly, unimaginable politically) priorities that express the sweet aroma of Christ can be called truly evangelical. But the faux-evangelicals have so misinterpreted and bastardized the word that it has taken on the reverse meaning. Within this larger nation (and in most nations of the world) there exists, however, a holy nation which is the church, which in its integrity is not determined by the kingdoms of this world, but which is the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. And in that holy nation is the continual quest to faithfully and obediently to incarnate the life and teachings of Jesus, . . . and so bring hope to the poor, the homeless, the stranger (immigrant), and the sick. Rivers of living water bring life as it flows from that holy nation. Again, a lot rides on one’s definition of greatness.

“In haunts of wretchedness and need … we catch the vision of Thy tears.”

BLOG 10/31/17. OF POLITICAL ELVES AND ORCS

Those who are not aficionados of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy may find this blog a bit obscure, but hang in there and see if it makes some sense. That very popular fable is set in the context of Middle Earth, which is another age and place than ours, and is the setting for a great cosmic conflict in which the two prominent and opposing forces would be that of the elves, who are a race of creative, beauty-loving, benevolent, bold and just creatures who bring positive results wherever they abide. Their good wizard was Gandalf. Those kingdoms in Middle Earth who shared their character (such as Rohan and Gondor) became co-belligerents with them in the cosmic battle with the dehumanizing forces of evil of Mordor under the supernatural and evil dark lord Sauron. Sauron’s malevolent agents were known as orcs, and orcs were destructive, they were intent on befouling everything they touched—and they stunk.

Here’s the point: even when orcs tried to disguise themselves as agents of their opposition, they still smelled like orcs, and so were discernable whenever and wherever they appeared. The forces of Sauron were on a quest to reclaim a ring of power that Sauron had created by which to control everything in middle earth, and had lost it. The elven forces were on a quest to destroy that ring which had been discovered accidently by a hapless little creature, called a hobbit, and hobbits were a peace-loving, pipe-smoking, fun loving race who lived in their own peace-loving community. But it was one of them, named Frodo, that the elven lords drafted to take that destructive ring of power back to its source and destroy it. And that’s my attempt, perhaps, confusing, at spelling out the story line, and giving something of a description of orcs and elves.

Here’s the point: we are living in a very dangerous and confusing time also defined by the quest for power in all its negative economic, judicial, humanitarian, etc. dimensions. And we have those who are the very real political agents of that destructive quest: power, greed, unethical, untruthful, inhumane, and unjust behavior of darkness on center stage.

Ah! but those political orcs so often seek to cloak themselves in the identity as those, who should be the epitome of benevolence, justice, peacemaking, humane sensitivities. To do this they co-opt and totally distort for their alt-right agenda the noble designation of evangelical Christians—they try to pass themselves off as elves. This is not a matter of being democrat or republican, but of political elves and orcs. And the political orcs, just as those in middle-earth, always smell like orcs. Their behavior betrays them. They become the agents of those dehumanizing forces that ignore those who are helplessly poor and struggling to survive on an inadequate minimum wage, they mount major attempts to keep health-care from all citizens, they do not welcome strangers/immigrants, they turn a blind eye to tens of thousands of those imprisoned for minor offenses, they are willing to spend trillions on the military and to deploy them around the world, while there are 64 million refugees abroad in the world  (more than any time in human history) and yet let hunger and disease go unaided in those other nations.

My point: there is that need for those of good will, those who seek government programs that seek peace and order and justice, those who are political elves no matter what their party affiliation, to stand forth in the costly battle. We need to discern what politicians and people of public influence ‘smell like’, and reject the orcs and become co-belligerents with those who are the caring and benevolent agents of the light, i.e., political elves. Have I confused you? I hope that you discern the message. It is a dangerous moment in our history. The orcs are too much on display.

[Apropos: Tom Steyer and www.needtoimpeach.com.]