LOVE WINS - Friday, January 15, 2021

 LOVE WINS - Friday, January 15, 2021

Yes, I/we are fighting an uphill battle.  I want to love - agape love - I want to share love and get others to share love - and to get love to fill the world.  

In the past weeks, American politics have jumped around - and maybe jumped amuck. 

(I’ve contradicted my brain a couple of times on what I’m writing today.  Isn’t it nice to be able to think and to challenge yourself?)

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Nine-day ago, congress met to review the work of the Electoral College.  Seemingly encouraged by the President, a group of people gathered to protest the outcome of the election.  This group got rowdy and stormed the capitol building and five people died.

I wasn’t there (and I’m not sure I would have wanted to be there - but, hey, it might have been ‘nice’ to set in the chair of the speaker of the house, or to get a memento of that day by taking a pen or something!! ??)

Now, the political process looks at the retribution for the event.

I’m using one of my favorite Old Testament Verses, Micah 6:8 (and I’ve added verse 7 for context):

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

    And what does the Lord require of you?

To act JUSTLY and to love MERCY

    and to walk HUMBLY with your God.
 

Let’s break that down - “to act justly”.  What justice should be meted out?  Was a crime committed?  Did the leader of our country incite a riot?  

That is more than I can judge.  Yes, seemingly this leader felt he was denied all the votes he should have had.  That has been discussed for the past two months.  There have been calls to recount the votes (some states were asked to do this a few times).  Seemingly, this leader asked one state official (Georgia), to “find” the necessary votes so he could win.  

To me as an individual, I can’t say there was election fraud (seemingly over 70 million Americans voted for him, and seemingly over 80 million voted for his opponent).  To me, the arguments come off as a poor loser.  Maybe it is Bobby Knight throwing a chair out on the basketball floor because of (his opinion) bad officiating?  Maybe it is a baseball manager going eye-to-eye, face-to-face with an umpire over an officiating call.  (I didn’t officiate much, but I know I made some bad calls - in favor of the home team of course!!).  Taking a line from Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, we have “"The lady doth protest too much, methinks" (or in the case, the man doth protest too much).

Did the leader incite a riot?  That would be hard to prove.  One source said this, The House impeachment effort boils down to Trump’s uttering of “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore”. Some of this relates to my blog of Monday where I got 'stinking drunk' on the night before Obama's election - seeing that "my" country was going to hell. (And, "my" country didn't!!)

Back to Micah 6:8 - what might be justice here?  Well, some justice will be (and already has been) doled out to those who entered the Capitol.  Through technology (facial-recognition), seemingly many of the more flagrant people who entered the Capitol have been identified and are under arrest.  What might be justice for them?  Well, “breaking and entering” is an offense and punishable by law.  They will receive justice from appropriate courts - with possible fines and possible jail time.  

How about that leader?  He may have said words leading to the riot - but he didn’t lead the riot, he didn’t break any windows, he didn’t kill anybody - although his words did get people killed - they acted on their own resolve. I'm drawing the analogy to a riotous crowd that yelled "crucify" some 2000 years ago. That crowd was egged on my its leaders.

But, in a logical sense, yes, he ‘helped’ instigate a riot and an assault on a legislative body meeting in a formal meeting.  Should he pay?  Yes - but let’s go on. I wish his words had not been so strong, and this leader could have understood that in some respects he was attempting a "coup d'etat" -and history can debate that issue for years. Was the intent (hard to prove) attempting to overthrow a 'duly' elected government?

Part two of Micah 6:8 - “to love mercy”.  To the old expression “What would Jesus do?”,  That also is a tough question.  He threw money changers out of the temple or overturned their tables.  He did have mercy on those who asked for it (“Lord have mercy on me, a sinner”).  But, that seems to work on those who were appreciative of the mercy, maybe even those who repented and asked for mercy.  I don’t know (and don’t want to know) the state of this person’s heart and relationship with God.  That is not my business.  From what little I know, I don’t seem to view remorse on this person’s part.

(Aside, I know I make mistakes - and periodically, I review my life to try to admit my mistakes and to avoid them in the future. I don't know this person's heart and intent).

But, mercy implies (at least to me), “unmerited favor”.  I don’t deserve God’s favor (nobody really ‘deserves’ such), but God (as I view Him/Her/Force) has been so merciful to me.  I am not able to judge if this person should get mercy.  I know some that want to ‘crucify’ him.  Some want to disbar him, some want to cut off his funding for the rest of his life.  He has served four years in a very tough situation - but, does that deserve mercy? Depending on your viewpoint, these four years have been very good, or these four years have seen human rights abused.

And, finally part three of Micah 6:8 - “and to walk humbly with God”.  That’s the real reason I don’t want to get on the bandwagon screaming “impeach” (or in a similar context 2000 years ago - screaming “crucify, crucify”.  Humility doesn’t mean I can’t have an opinion, but that I need to verify my opinion.  (Mobs have the tendency to have ‘mob mentality’)

SO - (yea), I get to dodge the whole impeach thing.  To me, this person did act improperly (I’ve acted improperly many times); to me, it seems like this person’s words did indirectly cause five people to die; and a major property to be (at least partially) trashed.  Justice might be that this person personally pays for the damage, personally pays for funeral and burial fees to those that died, and personally to say “Lord, be merciful to me - a sinner”.  As somebody said, “Actions have consequences”.

May wisdom, mercy, love, understanding, and justice prevail in this situation!!!

LOVE DOES WIN - even in tough situations

HUGS!!!

Karen