Yesterday, we published a poem that truly gushed out of me on Sunday morning. I don’t think of myself as a poet. Yet the disturbing image of the blood of two young people poured out in such a violent and absurd way was working in my mind, and the urge to write about it grew in me, and finally I felt moved to put ink on paper. The whole experience was a veritable example of Creation Spirituality, transitioning from Via Negativa (the awful facts) through the Via Creativa (the poem) and reaching the Via Transformativa (the feeling that their blood/sap is now inside me/us).
The poem that we publish today by permission of its author, Minneapolis artist and chaplain Matt Moberg*, addresses the same topic, with the beginning image of “bleeding in the streets” and consisting of a strong wake-up call to the Christian churches.
Even though I refer to Jesus and his cross in my poem, I have no confidence that such a radical call to the sleeping churches can have any effect. Rather, I see these beautiful verses as an expression of betrayal. The feelings of betrayal of someone who belongs deeply to a society that calls itself “Christian” yet betrays the most fundamental human and Christian values.
The intertwining of Christianity and empire has reached its apex in the USA of the 20th century. We are living through the most violent consequences of such enormity. What will the future hold for the message of Jesus?
If you’re a church posting
prayers for peace and unity today
while my city bleeds in the street,
miss me with that softness you only wear
when it costs you nothing.
Don’t dress avoidance up as holiness.
Don’t call silence “peacemaking.”
Don’t light a candle and think it substitutes
for showing up.
Tonight an ICE agent took a photo of me
next to my car,
looked me in the eye and told me,
“We’ll be seeing you soon.”
Not metaphor.
Not hyperbole.
A threat dressed up in
a badge and a paycheck.
Peace isn’t what you ask for
when the boot is already
on someone’s neck.
Peace is what the powerful ask for
when they don’t want to be interrupted.
Unity isn’t neutral.
Unity that refuses to name violence
is just loyalty to the ones holding the weapons.
Stop using scripture like chloroform.
Stop calling your fear “wisdom.”
Stop pretending Jesus was crucified
because he preached good vibes
and personal growth.
You don’t get to quote scripture
like a lullaby
while injustice stays wide awake.
You don’t get to ask God to
“heal the land”
if you won’t even look at the wound.
There is a kind of peace
that only exists
because it refuses to tell the truth.
That peace is a lie.
And lies don’t grow
anything worth saving.
The scriptures you love weren’t
written to keep things calm.
They were written to set things right.
And sometimes the most faithful thing
you can do is stop praying around the pain
and start standing inside it.
If that makes you uncomfortable – good.
Growth always is.
*Original from Matt Moberg’s Instagram account.
Banner Image: “Love [the stranger among you] as thyself.” A clergywoman carries a quote from Leviticus at a Minneapolis protest. Photo by Lorie Shaull on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Where do you encounter the use of Scripture as chloroform, what is your reaction? Is your reaction helpful? Do you want to change it?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
Prayer: A Radical Response to Life
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation
7 thoughts on “Powerful Statement from a Minneapolis Chaplain”
Sorry GG, I thought it was Matthew that composed yesterday’s beautiful poem expressing our grief and honoring the martyrs Renee and Alex. However, we all share the same Spirit of Love, Peace, Justice, and Healing for All our sisters and brothers suffering war, grief, and social injustices around the world, including Our Sacred Mother Earth and Her living creatures.
“Tonight an ICE agent took a photo of me next to my car, looked me in the eye and told me, ‘We’ll be seeing you soon.’” These words from Matt Moberg’s poem took me right back to Dostoevsky’s The Grand Inquisitor. If Jesus the Palestinian came to Minnesota today, he would be arrested by the agents of those who “quote scripture like a lullaby” from a golden “God Bless the USA Bible” signed by him who makes America smaller and smaller every day.
“You, is it you? No, don’t answer, keep silent. Indeed, what could you say? You know, you have no right to add anything to what you said before. Why have you come to make trouble for us? For you have come to make trouble for us, you know you have. But do you know what will happen tomorrow? I do not know who you are, and I do not want to know: whether it is indeed you or only a semblance, but tomorrow I shall condemn you and burn you with the worst of heretics, and the same crowd of people who today was kissing your feet, tomorrow at a single nod from me will rush to pile up the faggots below your stake, do you know that? Yes, perhaps you do. . .”[https://youtu.be/QxhvTAevdU8]
Jesus was a Jew, not a Palestinian. It’s shameful how so many are trying to strip away his Jewishness.
Thank you GG for sharing such a profound poem by Matt Moberg.
I have a dear friend in Minneapolis, who is a Catholic priest. He and his pastor and church have been totally silent in the midst of what is going on there. It has saddened me deeply. My friend and I are on a totally different political spectrum. And because of this, it is most difficult to have a conversation about anything that goes against tRump and his regime.
I’ve tried to have a dialogue, but it ends in an argument….
So, all I can do is pray that he, the pastor and Catholic Church’s eyes are opened to the moral duty they possess.
I will send this poem to him!
Today’s Canadian Catholic Mass:
Gospel: Mark 4: 21-25 : Jesus to the disciples: Don’t put your light under a bushel….whatever is hidden will be made known.
The lies of the Trump administration are being exposed…. the truth must ultimately triumph…even belatedly
.
Canadian patriot Charlie Angus of Meidas/Canada is daily exposing the silence of Trump’s enablers. Charlie’s closing sentence is always: “keep kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight.”
Putin must be alarmed that thousands upon thousands of US ordinary citizens [and Iranians] as well as some mainstream media are exposing the lies and terror of oligarchs around the world.
Dear Rita,
You might also send him the letter the 3 R.C. Archbishops wrote and what Pope Leo wrote about how taking in the stranger is part of Catholic teaching. Not that it might make a difference, but maybe it would just crack something open. I feel your pain. My family refuses to engage about any of this. As a retired nurse, the murder of Alex Pretti hit me very hard. But I will NOT be silent!
It’s with the help of the Catholic Church that Trump got to be president. For decades it has supported Republicans because of the abortion issue. Any firstgrader can understand if you claim to protect life but also refuse to support health insurance, in fact, take it away from people, you are lying. The Catholic Supremes gave this convicted felon, rapist, and constant lier immunity. The way to fewer abortions is to respect women and to hold men responsible, not to write a law on a piece of paper. Pope Francis declared Trump and Kamala to be equally against life. Kamala is not a saint, but there is no equivalency. . . . for they know not what they do– goes for popes too. TheC. Church likes power.