When we look at what the leaders of our various faith communities are saying is important to us we sometimes wish they’d taken a look at what faith is supposed to accomplish. There are extremists, fundamentalists, and ultra orthodox operatives who make us think about our place in the community.  Rushing to leave a faith community is not a priority is some communities.  A wall of negative affect deters many.  In every case, however, leaders are guilty of overstating and understating what the original message was. Many do not even care what the patriarchs wrote or bequeathed.  In the Christian community we have apostles, who are quite literally the foundation of what we are and believe, who wrote the things we cannot afford to ignore or not know.  The lines of communication run straight from from Christ, to them, to us.  Miss that connection and you will end up dabbling in fecal matters and arm yourself with dull blades and malfunctioning weapons.

Jammed and useless weapons

Who would have thought that a religious leader would be proudly incapable of handling the clear, simple and lifegiving words  of the apostles?  Who would trust an imam who has no expertise in the original language of the Qur’an?

Who would have thought that a legislator, supposedly an expert in the law, would devote his energies to circumventing the law.  Isn’t that what “smart” politicians do?

Who would have thought that a head of state and commander in chief could be so cowardly as to sit sheepishly beside an avowed enemy of his and deny the facts of  foreign interference in American politics?

It is not surprising that many standing in places of leadership have no clue about the revolutionary nature of their functions.  We find them “holding the fort”, toeing the line, being radical fundamentalists, gimmick processors, isolationists, merchandisers , and preservers of ancient things. Serving people eludes too many.  They reduce God’s call and care to childish pep talks about what God can do.  The Christian faith is not a lottery of miracles,  because the benefit of faith in God’s son are not  outcomes of what is possible.  Christian faith rests on the fact of what God has done that changes everything. No whataboutism fecal  matter stands a chance.

This is war

Make no mistake.  The spiritual life is drenched in conflict and combat language.  David reported his hands as trained for war (Psalms 144:1-2) saying “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle; My lovingkindness and my fortress, My stronghold and my deliverer, My shield and He in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.

We are certain his bloodletting is neither lovingkindness nor fortress.  We must remember that this dude was gracious to enemies, bold to love and respect his neighbours. When the solutions are always miracles there is little gratitude for God’s design of work and rest. The world is seeing a rash of aborted projects, amid calls for revolutionary solutions, snd we know that God has confounded the wise and the powerful because they have paid little attention to the poor and needy.