When I say I am a Christian
by Unknown Author
(a rearrangement of Carol Wimmer's original poem)
When I say ... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'."
I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven."
When I say ... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.
When I say ... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.
When I say ... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.
When I say ... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.
When I say ... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon [Jesus'] name.
When I say ... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace, somehow
- Author Unknown
BLACK LIVES MATTER ALL THE TIME
by R.E. Slater
June 9, 2020
Healing speaks to Black and White communities alike.
Without love for one another we cannot enter a
Promised Land overflowing with milk and honey.
- re slater
Its disingenuous of people who have actively supported societal injustice to then be mad because the larger portion of us have had enough of their white worlds of God, bible, and politics. When we say, as Americans, we welcome all blended societies of color into all our lands of fullness and beauty we truly mean this. We wish to share but have failed to share.
America is an internationally blended society whose Constitution vouchsafes equality and justice to every man, woman and child under its juris prudence regardless of race. It is why America is considered that City on Hill whose shining beacon beckons home all nations wishing to share in the democratic institutions of liberty for all, justice for all, and opportunities for all.
As that City on a Hill, America assures all foreign refugees fleeing homelands of cruelty and injustice that they are welcomed as they are; respected for who they are; and may find a new homeland which desires equality and liberty to become their reality.
That here is a nation built upon democratic laws of compassion and respect against all other forms of oppressive discrimination and bigotry. America, Land of the Brave, Home of the Free.
Sadly, historically, America has always struggled with its assumed understanding of itself just as it has failed in appreciating the greatly diverse cultures within its democratic structures, banners, and mottos. Instead, it has acted more like a post-colonial institution struggling to recognize the true beauty of its people and the great society they are trying to make together.
When groups like Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrates against racial inequities it presents to white America an uncomfortable option towards becoming more democratic than it thinks it is. Known as White Flight, White populations abandon their school districts, churchs, and communities, as other people groups move in. They call it property valuations, and better schooling and opportunities, greater safety and even reinforced cultural mores.
But the hard facts are these secularized segregations of society have left the incoming masses with poor health care, education, poverty, police brutality and racism, and political corruption. White Flight has comprised the equity and justice expected by all of America's people when assuring itself only of valuation without sharing its hard-earned benefits of wealth and knowledge. Forgetting its generations once despaired and fought in similar systems of betrayal and abandonment.
BLM is the completion, or end-cap, of Martin Luther King's (MLK) rallies of the Civil Rights movement from 1954-1968. Similar to the British American War of 1812-1815 which ultimately ended Britain's festering loss of her Colonies in the Revolutionary War of 1775-1783. Each first movement needed a finishing movement to solidify the completion of what was started. So here we are today, sixty years later, in 2020 massing around foundational human rights, fighting for breath and life as even George Floyd himself breathed out his rights.
BLM's goals is to bluntly create a more perfect union in America which is less subservient to white culture. Infused with blended cultures of all colors. Sharing differing ideas of racial perspectives. Offering racial solutions where none have existed before - or barely hinted at in many communities. To go even further by recognizing the rights of all including gays, transgenders, and alt societal-types. Purposely blending many races and many cultures into one societal admission of fairness and equality for all. Its the completion of the Civil Rights rallies of the 1960s.
For white Christians, reading the bible one way, in a racially white way, says we must live by law and order and to judge one another. But reading the bible in another way, in a non-racially white way, means we embrace and respect one another for our differences. That we learn to love one another, fellowship with one another, care, help, and aide one another.
If God is a God of love then He loves all the way across. Not just some of the way across. Nor in one specifically accepted cultural understanding. The bible says God loves all the world. This means that He loves all races, all people, all nationalities, all genders. In imitation, a blended, open democracy accepts all, works fairly and equally with all, strives to improve human relations with all, including the economic wellbeing and social safety of all.
If I, as a white Christian, am angry, its because I am angry with white Christian hypocrisy. It's because I, and many others, are tired of not seeing America become a better version of itself with each succeeding presidential election, or new generation, or new societal decade. We didn't go through the Vietnam and Civil Race Wars of the 60s only to see them repeated again-and-again in gutless policies of biased betrayal and bigotry.
In truth, our actions have shown we have given lip service to demonstrations of integrity and honesty. It shows we have implemented what we thought were fair policies without giving any personal or community investment of ourselves behind those policies. That when we cry "law and order" what we really mean is that non-white culture submit to our standards of racial insensitivity.
At the last, I'm less concerned about undemocratic and disingenuous white anger and much more concerned about the anger of my brothers and sisters who must deal with white rascism in all its forms every single hour of their lives. Either the white culture lives up to its rants of "Making America Great Again" (MAGA) or, it repents of its fake mottos, repents of its racism, and tries to get its act together.
White American shouts of injustice only sees injustice as defined by their majority group. We live in the 21st century. Its time America, along with all racists nations around the world, grow up to become globally interconnected nations of fairness and equality instead of fighting and hurting one another for cultural icons of servitude and bondage. Amen
R.E. Slater
* * * * * * * *
7x7 Anger
by R.E. Slater
Dealing with Coronavirus.
Staying-at-home. Locked-in.
Scared. Mad. No money.
Kids. Anxieties. Fears.
No diversions. No Outlets.
No sports, bars, groups, work.
Just panicked helplessness.
No leadership.
Lying. Slandering. Blaming.
More lies. More anger. More madness.
What's hidden comes into 20/20.
Climate change not addressed.
Trump making war with the world.
Dividing everybody sane.
Pulling America apart.
Some demented dream of greatness.
A perfect storm forms.
And where's the church?
The real church is out marching.
Not the institutional church.
It's created all the disasters.
Where is America today?
And its white church gospel?
A gospel which victimizes.
Which plays the victim.
Which has harmed so many.
At the Southern border lands.
On the street lands of America?
Unobtainable health care.
Empty pockets. No wages.
I'm told Jesus followers heal.
They bless. They serve. They Aide.
That they bleed for the oppress.
Times of disruption give clarity.
They also give anger at Injustices.
Anger to assess.
Anger to make things right.
Anger of not having.
Anger of living in ruins.
Anger of being left behind.
Untended. Uncared.
Unwanted. Unloved.
I'm told America's Heartlands,
Greenlands, Urban Spaces,
Coastlands, Mountainlands,
Plains States, Hinterlands,
Beats with one heart,
Beats for all together,
When does it start for me?
R.E. Slater
June 9, 2020
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