Allegories - Here and Now
To every victim of racial and social injustice in this broken land we love.
I’m sorry for not believing you when you said you experienced prejudice and bigotry.
I’m sorry for selfishly judging America’s “greatness” in terms of my own prosperity and privilege.
I’m sorry for pretending everyone has the same opportunities in America after 400+ years of slavery, forcible removals, genocide, segregation, red-lining, rapes and lynchings.
I’m sorry for caring about the safety of my home and investments more than I cared for you.
I’m sorry for believing false facts about the “gay agenda,” “welfare queens,” the “lazy poor” and “greedy” asylum-seekers.
I’m sorry for breaking the commandment to “not bear false witness against my neighbor” by broadcasting these lies daily, as a producer for the most-listened to Christian radio broadcast in America.
I’m sorry for saying that marginalized people don’t deserve food, affordable housing or decent healthcare.
I’m sorry for my arrogance as I judged myself to be superior to you.
I’m sorry for how unfettered gun rights have decimated your communities, not mine.
I’m sorry for the hatred and fear that caused us to cage so many of you like animals in inhumane prisons, while pretending these institutions are for your “correction.”
I’m sorry for the fear and moral superiority that prevented me from loving you and being loved in return by you.
I’m sorry for seeing you as a problem to be fixed.
I’m sorry for being blind to the harms of Christian nationalism, which I promoted in Christian media.
I’m sorry to all Americans for inventing conspiracies and agendas that undermined credible news sources. I’m sorry for helping to elevate false media that supported our own unloving agenda.
I’m sorry for how this process has corrupted our democracy, making it possible for politicians and civic leaders to trample truth and circumvent the due process of law.
I’m sorry for putting my agenda above the greatest law of all, which is love.
I’m sorry for being such a know-it-all, being quick to speak and slow to listen and learn.
I’m sorry it took me so long to find my place among other despised, broken and beautiful people.
But now that I’m here — now that I’ve found my place among all the brothers and sisters I formerly called “enemies” …
… God, it feels good to be home.
With regrets, your friend and brother.
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For more on this topic, see:
The One Fundamental of the Faith
Paul’s Epistle to the Church in America
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Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. — James 1:27
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? — 1 John 3:17
All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along. — Galatians 2:10
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” — Acts 20:35
“Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” — Matthew 5:42
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth … for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also … You cannot serve both God and money.” — Matthew 6:19-24
Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. — Romans 12:16
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. — Hebrews 13:2
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. — 1 Timothy 6:17-18
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” — 2 Corinthians 8:13-15
All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. — Acts 2:44-45
He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. — Psalm 146:7-9
What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. — Micah 6:8
Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the Lord delivers them in times of trouble. — Psalm 41:1
For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save their lives from those who would condemn them. — Psalm 109:31
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. — Proverbs 14:31
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done. — Proverbs 19:17
He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their maker. — Proverbs 17:5
The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. — Proverbs 29:7
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. — Isaiah 1:17
This is the kind of fasting I have chosen: Loosen the chains of wickedness, untie the straps of the yoke, let the oppressed go free and break every yoke. Share your food with the hungry, take the poor and homeless into your house, and cover them with clothes when you see them naked. — Isaiah 58:6-8
Image by Daniel Reche, Pixabay.
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