Mike’s Friday Rumblings 07-05-24

Faith Conversations

This is an audio version of Mike Murphy‘s Friday rumblings. This is a regular post on Facebook that I’ve turned into a podcast. I decided Mike’s words needed a wider audience. You may agree or disagree with what he says, but there is certainly much food for thought contained here. You can friend Mike on Facebook for the printed version or read it below

1. Independence Day was tough this year. Ever since the debate and then the unimaginable rulings by the Supreme Court, I find myself a bit lost and deeply worried about the state of our union.

I feel as if I’m in a boat, adrift during a horrible storm. The country I knew and loved is feeling like a stranger.

So the debate was pretty much a disaster.

Biden was off his game. Way off. It was a dismal performance. He looked dazed and confused. However, the next day he spoke clearly and cogently at a rally in NC, admitting his debate performance was sub par and that he’s learned over time that ‘when you get knocked down, you get back up.” I suspect that will be a campaign slogan.

Trump lied during the debate. Bigly, he lied. Over and over and over again he brazenly ignored the truth and refused to answer uncomfortable questions. It’s what he does. It’s what he’s been doing all his life. The next day he too was back on the campaign stump peddling disinformation. He proved and keeps proving once again that he is an integrity avoidant man.

So, where does that lead us? Octavia E. Butler wisely shows us a way forward.

“Choose your leaders

with wisdom and forethought.

To be led by a coward

is to be controlled

by all that the coward fears.

To be led by a fool

is to be led

by the opportunists

who control the fool.

To be led by a thief

is to offer up

your most precious treasures

to be stolen.

To be led by a liar

is to ask

to be told lies.

To be led by a tyrant

is to sell yourself

and those you love

into slavery.”

I’ll use her words as my compass heading. Maybe you should too unless of course, you find cowards, fools, thieves, tyrants and liars to be acceptable leaders.

If the debate was a disaster, what happened at the Supreme Court was an epic fail. In effect, the conservative justices declared that a President is above the law, immune from prosecution. They effectively handed him/her a forever ‘get out of jail free card’.

In a blistering dissent Justice Sonia Sotomayer wrote: “The relationship between the president and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably …In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law.” Ouch.

Wannabe kings and tyrants are licking their chops. And guess what? Such a person is on the ballot in November.

All this gives me the shivers. I can see, feel, and taste the raging storm surrounding me. I know I need to find a safe harbor. I need God and the faith that sustains me.

I have to remind myself that I am first and foremost a citizen in the Kingdom of God. In that Kingdom, the way of Jesus is not the way of the proud, the narcissist, or the liar. The way of Jesus is the way of humility and honesty. It is the way of those who admit to others that they fail and have weaknesses and those who, when knocked down, dare to stand up again.

The way of Jesus is certainly not the way of christian nationalists, who are led by people who deliberately distort, politicize, and weaponize the Gospel. They appear obsessed with making sure The Handmaid’s Tale becomes tomorrow’s reality. If you choose to be on that team, so be it, but don’t be surprised if others begin to distance themselves from you.

Friends, we’re in the middle of a big storm and the boat we’re on is taking on water. What do we do? Let’s go back to square one, praying for God to show up and for us to show up for Him.

This week God showed up for me in the words of Bishop Robert Barron. He’s responding to the story of the calming of the sea in Matthew 8.

“Friends, in this wonderful story …we witness some of the spiritual dynamics of fear and trust. The disciples stand symbolically for all of us journeying through life within the narrow confines of the fearful ego.

When they confront the storm and the mighty waves, they are immediately filled with terror. Similarly, when the trials and anxieties of life confront the ego, the first reaction is fear, since there is no power beyond itself upon which it can rely. In the midst of this terrible storm, this inner and outer tension, Jesus symbolizes that divine energy that remains unaffected by the fear-storms generated by the grasping ego.

Continuing to read the story at a spiritual level, we see that it is none other than this divine power that successfully calms the waves: he “rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm.” This beautiful narrative seems to suggest that if we but awaken to the presence of God within us, if we learn to live and to see at a deeper level, if we live in basic trust rather than fear, then we can withstand even the most frightening storms.”

“… if we learn to trust, rather than fear, then we can withstand even the most frightening storms.” That’s a big ‘if’. I’m choosing to trust cuz fear has never worked well for me. We live in turbulent times and the weather outside is frightful. But in the unshakable, unbreakable Kingdom of God there is always hope, comfort and the resolve to stand against great evil.

That’s all I got for this week. It’s the best I could do.

Blessings

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