Sound track

Yesterday K.'s last Christmas present arrived. It was a CD of various selections of film music composed and conducted by John Williams. K. loves it as much as I thought he would. What this means is that since yesterday afternoon, much of our life has been lived to the accompaniment of The Imperial March. Sometimes we also get to hear the main Star Wars theme and Luke and Leia's them. Very infrequently there is a brief bit of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but more often than not it is The Imperial March played on repeat as K. builds block spaceships and plays with his (bottle cap) storm troopers. Y. was awaken this morning because K. was playing The Imperial March so loudly. She is a child who enjoys sleeping in, so this did not fill her with joy. 

With the toy loft right outside my studio, I spent my afternoon working on a quilt with The Imperial March in the background. 

(I'm making progress. Want to see? 

I'm still playing around with it, but I'm pretty happy with this. The spaces are where sashing is going to go. Across the bottom will be the same size square, but made out of four tiny pinwheels in each, so I still have a ways to go. What I particularly like is that I will have completely used up the leftover fabric and leftover quilt squares from my first quilt. It was expensive fabric, so getting two quilts out of it feels good.)

But back to The Imperial March. As you would expect it is a very martial and threatening sort of piece; it's not terribly relaxing. This turned out to be okay because my thoughts were not very calm as I worked. I am still shaken and angry over what happened last Wednesday. It was ugly and evil and wrong.There is no way to give a pass to this event or to the people involved. This was an attempt to overthrow the government by people who are unhappy that their guy didn't win. They are unhappy because they do not want people of color to have any rights or equality. They are unhappy because with their instigator in charge leaving office that their hate-filled way of life is going to be curtailed. 

There was a noose hung outside the Capitol. People carried confederate flags, an emblem of a traitorous, racist government, inside the Capitol. One terrorist was photographed with a "Camp Auschwitz" t-shirt on. Every single one of these things screams hatred. Hatred towards people who are not white. If you align yourself with Trump, who publicly said he loves these people and called them very special, you align yourself with this hatred. It doesn't matter if you are unhappy because you think the election was stolen. (It wasn't. This was proved in court dozens of times. You're being lied to.) It doesn't matter if you are unhappy because you believe that our government is going to sink into socialism and are already preparing for all social media to be censored by the government. (Do some research. The socialism bugaboo has been spread for nearly a hundred years now. The powerful and wealthy are pitting you against "them" to keep you upset so you don't pay attention to what's really going on. You are being played.) It really doesn't matter if you are unhappy for other reasons, this is who you are aligning yourself with: terrorists who have publicly stated how they want to kill anyone who doesn't agree with them. Who say horrible and vile things about people or color. Who makes jokes about genocide. If you think you can separate yourselves from them, you cannot. This is who you are by not speaking out. 

Now, I want to be very clear. I believe that we are called to love our enemies. But loving your enemies does not mean that you do not speak out against evil. Loving your enemies does not mean you stand-by while others are threatened. Loving your enemies does not mean that people are suddenly not called to account for their actions. Loving your enemies does not mean you become a carpet to be walked on. 

We are also called to be peacemakers. Being a peacemaker is not the same thing as appeasement. Peace comes from two places... knowing Jesus and working on the roots of injustice. It is hard and messy work. Not wanting to hurt feelings or create conflict is not being a peacemaker. Instead appeasement just wants everyone to stay quiet and happy, to not rock the boat, it wants to keep the status quo because that is easier than working for justice. I'll also add that only the comfortable confuse peace and appeasement, and this is because they have confused comfort with peace.

If you call yourself a Christian, I am telling you right now that there is no way you can follow Christ and also defend the evil that happened last Wednesday. Actions filled with hate have no part of Jesus. The one and only reaction (and I'm talking to the White Christian church right now) should be massive repentance on our knees. We have let so much hatred towards our fellow humans pass by on our watch and we have said nothing. If we had spoken out sooner, as a body, that all humans regardless of their color or sex or religion, matter; that they should all be treated with respect and honor and dignity. Think of the lives and misery that could have been saved. We are hugely culpable for our silence and our indifference. We must not be silent, but first we need to acknowledge our sin both towards God and everyone who doesn't fit in our neat and tidy white Christian categories, and then we need to stand up for what is right and speak out against evil. Now is not the time for worrying about hurting someone's feelings. Now is not the time for playing nice. Now is not the time for worrying about losing friends or popularity. Now is the time to do what is right, to stand with our fellow human beings and say that we will not let evil win.