Time is up for religious hypocrites who are complicit with systems of injustice. 2/
Time is up for men who refuse to believe women when they preach Good News. 3/
Time is up for empires that claim ownership over the bodies and souls of human beings. 4/
Time is up for Caesar. 5/
Time is up for those who would exclude others from God's table of hospitality. 6/
Time is up for the rich who think they are superior to the poor. 7/
Time is up for violence. 8/
Time is up for all systems, rulers, dominions that deal in death. 9/
Time is up for suffering. 10/
Time is up for injustice. 11/
Time is up. 12/
But, a new time has arrived. Here. Now. The reign of God's life in this world, embodied, fully alive. 13/
A time for feasts. For a new table set in the wilderness. 14/
A time for abundance. Where the gifts of all creations are enjoyed, shared, cared for, stewarded. 15/
A time for "salvus." Salvation -- healing, wholeness, shalom. For the world. For all. 16/
A time of milk and honey. Of the lion and lamb. Of mercy and justice kissing one another. 17/
A time of love of God, of nature, of neighbor. 18/
Easter marks the end of one time and the beginning of another. The life of the age to come has burst forth into the world. The big bang of God's dream of justice. A new creation. An uprising of love. 19/
Powers of pretense, injustice, violence, and death: Time is up.
But the awaited time has arrived. 20/
Since Friday, I was mostly off-line -- I was leading a retreat at Ghost Ranch, NM. This was the view I woke up to:
I'd make some sort of snarky comment like, "What did I miss?"
But I know what I missed. Just enough wifi to hear some of the news.
It was hard -- knowing that was happening, how important, how much pain my friends and colleagues were feeling, how angering. How I'd been shaking with rage for days before I got to NM.
Well, it is #SundayMorning and the lectionary readings again preach themselves. For those of you who don't know what a lectionary is, it is an assigned 3 yr cycle of readings for churches -- prepped long ago.
The text for this week is the story of Esther.
About a woman -- in this case, the Queen -- who stands up against male authorities and insists on justice.
(Yeah, you can't make these things up.)
The king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.”
There is no ethical position in political theology EVER in church history that supports these words.
It is a clear attack on Jeff Flake -- whose friendship, it is widely reported, with Chris Coons is based (in part) on the belief that quiet faith is an aspect of the moral life of politics.
Dear Sen .@JeffFlake:
I grew up in Scottsdale, graduating from Saguaro HS in 1977. During 1976-77, I was Chairperson of AZ Teenage Republicans and was Teenage Republican of the Year.
I even have a letter from Sen Goldwater thanking me for my energy and passion for the Republican party in Arizona.
A lot of my friends now don't know that, because, quite honestly, it has been a long time since I've voted for the GOP. Because the party hasn't been good to women. A party I once proudly served seemed to betray women like me with a deep commitment to justice.