The "H" word

Isaiah 64:8  

 Reflecting on my life and holy Scripture I have had several visions rolling around in my head recently. One is from Isaiah ( God as potter ) and the other is the hate that is surrounding the politics of the United States.

     First of all, I so dislike the word hate. The word should be banished from civilized use as much as the "N" or the "C" word. There is no need for any of them. They are just wrong.  But I have found myself in the realm of that "H" word so frequently. I presume that it is not unlike how so many of the 'rabid' Republicans felt while President Obama was in office.  Sadly, hate is something that drives us to blind and irrational actions.  The 'haters' of Obama now are running around Washington, if not the entire country, trying to undo every single thing he tried to accomplish even if really was in fact something very good. It is as if the haters wish to deny his very existence. No thought, analysis or reason involved, undo every last thing that "Obama" had his hands in or on.  The hate is irrational and ruinous.  Is that where I want to be? Is that what I want to become? It seems a pretty easy choice to hate in the face of rational reviews of the mindless decisions being made by our President. His anti-American, pro-business cronies seem hellbent on ruining the country and placing it in the hands of Russian Oligarchs. It is quite possible to even rise to the level of treason. Is this a reason to hate? I mean, HATE? Is it? What does that say for our faith? Is hate now considered faith in action?

     I once wrote a reflection on this blog about allowing ourselves to be malleable in the potters hands, that is God's hands. When we become too dry, too unworkable or simply refuse to be molded we become hard and brittle, easily broken. Then we become shards of useless pots. In my case, the actual shards were the base for a path on a labyrinth I had been walking. Seems pretty ironic or appropriate.

       It would seem pretty sad if we cannot find a way to integrate our outrage at the politics with our faith. Can we avoid hate, remain faithful and try to love and fight for change?  It may seem a difficult line to walk but since when was being faithful and loving an easy task? Hate is the easy route but it is self consuming, destructive. How can we get the haters to not hate?

        Not hating ourselves is the best start. Listening and loving and standing firm in love is our best recourse.