The Year D Project: December 2021

Friday, December 31, 2021

Anyone who follows this blog will have noticed long since that this mild-mannered, unassuming platform devoted to preaching and liturgy has lately given a great deal of attention to the new social division between the vaccinated and unvaccinated. The end times are kind of distracting that way.

But just in case you find yourself wondering who is more deluded than whom these days, watch this video from Germany and notice how peaceful demonstrators are characterized from the very first frame, how they are repeatedly described as radical, extreme, right-wing, and violent (huh?) by the professor interviewed in the middle section, and then — I know, I know: Comments! Ugh. — take a look at the comments and note just how many hateful, snarky, judgmental comments are directed at those Germans who have chosen to emigrate to Paraguay in hopes of reclaiming some quality of life.

A loved one took me to task recently for suggesting this new social division evokes memories of yellow stars. [I thought: never mind that a rather prominent Jewish doctor has been doing so for some time; never mind that actual badges (some yellow) are being used in various hospital settings, and barriers in European markets, to distinguish the vaccinated from the unvaccinated; never mind that quarantine camps are in use in Australia and were recently drafted into proposed legislation in NY, legislation that was withdrawn because so many "conspiracy theorists" raised the alarm. You are welcome.] So, I switched tactics and said, if the analogy to yellow stars is "beneath me" (as I was told), then think of the Indian caste system, or recall Dr. Seuss's story, The Sneetches, in which one profiteer (I think I used more colorful language than that; Lord, forgive me.) made money from both those who bought stars for their bellies and those who paid to have them removed once they realized the fashion had been espoused by those they considered beneath their own class of Sneetches. The figure-eight path the Sneetches beat to and from this huckster in the middle—sorry if this offends you—resembles the race course built around the CDC and certain prominent vaccine marketeers who every day trot out fresh recommendations for keeping their status current. No, it is not a perfect analogy. But there is sufficient correspondence to give one pause.

Here's a recommendation: Use your pastoral training in family systems theory to exit, to detriangulate, from this (globally) dysfunctional system. The PCR tests that are only this very day being discontinued, after two years of misapplication and triggering false positives around the world, were never meant to diagnose whether someone is sick. Let that sink in. Two years worth of diagnoses have been done by a non-diagnostic test, wrongly calibrated (with CT settings set way too high to be meaningful), and unable to detect the difference between seasonal flu and corona virus. But don't worry, CDC now assures us, the new tests will do that! And by the way, headlines now declare: The flu is making a comeback! You don't say.

But back to the video. Time and again, those on the left tell us that "language is violence," but violence is (the legitimate) language (of the oppressed). So, if language is violence, then the professor in this video is more of a radical terrorist than anyone depicted strolling calmly down the street carrying a placard. Then again, I expect he, as a salesman for the psy-op, knows this and is well paid to spew his propagandistic projections.

All of which causes one to ask: Does anyone know the language of peace anymore? Does anyone ever preach or hear the Gospel of peace? (Eph 6:15) Is there anyone left who recognizes that all the militaristic armor and equipment for preaching the Gospel of peace (Eph 6:10-14) is paradoxical, spiritual, and protective, not offensive or "violent"? Have you ever wondered why the Gospel of peace is associated with shoes or whatever a soldier wears on his feet? Perhaps the shoes of the Gospel of peace are "made for walking," i.e., exiting a dysfunctional system when working to reform it from within no longer holds any promise of change?

God has given us the "ministry of reconciliation" (2Cor 5:18), but the task of issuing words of warning and awakening that constitute an essential, even prophetic, part of the ministry of the Word is not easy; neither is the decision to quit the game when you have been told that "everything," "getting back to normal," "the common good," "the health and safety of human society," "saving the world for future generations", etc., all of it depends on your participation. Such self-differentiating responses have been met with violence — whether verbal or physical, but almost always spiritual — on many occasions. But first they meet with: disgust at the differentiation.

May God go before us and be our rear guard as we preach the Gospel of peace; yes, may he guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:79)

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Preaching with a functional sense of From/To

Some of the paraphrases of my remarks here sound a tad unorthodox, but this summary gets the main points across. If the signs of the times are any indication, I think it is time for baptismal preaching (with various rites of initiation and reaffirmation) to make a comeback after a long season in the wilderness.