Maybe I did. Far as I know freedom of expression is still a thing.
ABOUT COVID, POLITICS & RELIGION…
Yes, Covid-19 is a nasty bug. It can kill you, but statistically it’s unlikely that will. For the record, there are numerous other diseases and critters out there that have a better chance of killing you than Covid-19. On the other hand, if wearing a mask makes you feel safer, I’ve got no problem with you wearing one, and I might even put one on for your sake if you ask me to. Do I believe it protects us from Covid? I figure its about as effective as a chain link fence would be to keep mosquitos out of my yard, but I’ll put one on in your presence out of respect for you if that makes you feel more comfortable.
We are now about a month away from the 2020 Presidential Election, and as has been typical of the past few elections, it’s not pretty. Realistically…it basically hasn’t been pretty for about the last 12 years. It was ugly the way the political right treated President Obama for the eight years he was in office, and for the past four years the political left has tried just about every trick they know to raise the standard of ugliness in how they have treated President Trump. The only difference between the two was that media didn’t lie as much about the Obamas.
What will happen after this election is anyone’s guess. I predict that unless it is an absolutely convincing landslide one way or the other, there will be another four years of claims that it was not legitimately won no matter how it turns out. Despite all that, the world will keep spinning, and the sun will rise on the days after the election just as it has the days before. For most of us life will go on more or less as it has, at least until January 20, 2021. At that point we will either get more of the same that we had in the last four years, or more of the same that we had the eight years prior to that. Either way, it would appear that about half of us are going to be hopeful while the other half wring their hands.
So where does one find hope in all this? That is where religion comes in. Now, if you’re not the religious type, relax…every human practices some form of religion. We all worship something, or someone. Most of us tend to relegate worship to something done in a church or shrine. What we fail to understand is that every one of us worships that which is most important to us. For some it is a bank account, for others a vehicle, or a home, or a hobby, or food, or our family, all of which ultimately are different ways of worshipping ourself. Even many of those of us who go to church and claim to worship God or Jesus, are betrayed by our calendar and checkbook record as to what is truly most important to us.
How does this definition of worship relate to Covid and politics? I’m so glad you asked! If I worship anything other than God Almighty, creator of all things, Covid, politics or any number of other threats can take whatever that thing I worship is away from me, and I will be left devastated and disappointed. Even while I still have possession of the thing I worship, I can’t really enjoy it because I live in fear of losing it. On the other hand, when I choose to make God the one and only object of my worship, He gives me the peace and confidence that nothing can separate me from Him. I can have absolute confidence in the hope that even if I lose my life to Covid, I remain with Him and in Him forever.
Letting go of the things we think we desire, and choosing to desire God first, and to worship only Him, actually allows us to find hope and peace under any circumstance, both in times of hardship as well as in times of ease. It’s one of those ironic, upside-down realities that are hard to understand until one experiences it personally. By letting go of what our mind tells us we want most, and clinging to what the Spirit of God shows us we truly need, we often end up receiving both.
“…For it is in giving that we receive…”
(from the Prayer of St. Francis)
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