Have you ever noticed that some of us need to give ourselves permission to make a change or perhaps practice self-care? Sometimes a person needs to give herself or himself permission to be free and to let go of something. Sometimes we need permission to change the way we think or how we've been 'encouraged' to think -- especially if we're embedded in a particular group of people (okay... I'll say it) like a church or a political party who largely dictates the prevailing thoughts on redemption, salvation, life, liberty, happiness, and everything else under the blazing sun.
Have you ever disagreed with those in your camp? On anything?
Thou mayest, you know.
And if you've never ever questioned or disagreed with those in authority (who greatly impact how you live your life, or examined the rhetoric and practices and edicts of the 'majority' of anything... that's a problem in and of itself. Possibly a whole 'nuther blog post, in fact.
I started a tradition last year on my SATURDAISIES blog in the month of May by writing 'The Timshel Series'. Thou Mayest is a theme found in the story of Cain and Abel which inspired the great John Steinbeck to write East of Eden. So, for the entire month of May, I'm encouraging people to really self-reflect, think for themselves and RE-think of all the ways they've painted themselves into (or have BEEN painted into) those proverbial political and religious corners.
I'm offering you a way to be free of all that this entire month.
Thou mayest... challenge the sentiments (i.e. mandates and proclamations) of your camps -- the ones you're being 'encouraged' (i.e. strong-armed) to swallow whole with precious little in the way of holy water to wash it down. Have you ever questioned or challenged your own camp as to whether or not 'their way' was the right way? Or at least the right way for you?
And how did that work out for ya?
Let me guess... the typical go-to strategies were employed swiftly and surely and your concerns were patently:
DISMISSED
MINIMIZED
DEFLECTED
OPPOSED
IGNORED
RIDICULED
PATRONIZED
BERATED
MALIGNED
REJECTED
Let me guess again. The whole 'come let us reason' was never offered. Because civility and open invitations by the church or politicians to BE questioned or challenged are rarely what we see happening in our world today. We've watched other people who stand up against policies and protocol be roasted like pigs on a spit and we make a mental note to ourselves NOT to question the status currently in quo lest we, too, be vilified and dismissed. We only question the other side -- as we've been programmed like robots to do.
So let's talk brass tacks here:
Just last night a good friend posted this meme on my Facebook page. The first response was from a gentleman who suggested that it was really not the government's job to care for the poor--it was, rather, up to the church.
Two entities that largely dictate what great numbers of people think and how they live, right?
Right.
Here was my response:
Respectfully, I do not ascribe to this way of thinking, although I respect the fact that you and many others do hold to this notion. I fully agree that it is the church's job to help the poor, but it is also, in my humble opinion, the job of the government to act on behalf of its citizens en mass. We have a government right now that acts in the best interest of power-hungry politicians to the detriment of the people--and the poor are suffering the worst of it. The government is not acting as it was intended to do: to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Furthermore, a significant portion of the conservative, American, evangelical 'church' that is so embedded and enmeshed in politics--who seem to be trying to establish some sort of theocracy--are not particularly aligned with the teachings or the 'way' of Christ in terms of bringing good news to the poor, binding up the brokenhearted, bringing freedom to the captives and release from darkness the prisoners... leaving our Christian brothers and sisters around the world scratching their heads and wondering if we're even reading the same Bible. So, what I think we're looking at in this country is a government who is out for itself and a religion that is out for itself and precious few are looking out for the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, and the prisoners. I pray daily that the American church will "hunger for God's ways" and that He will "lead us on the road of sacrifice." Sacrifice... that seems so foreign to us. We are so worried about our "religious freedom" when Christ has set us free--and free indeed.
I questioned BOTH the church and the state in one fell swoop. (I do this often.) And perhaps you are like me -- you DAILY question the church as well as the government. To that I say, HALLELUJAH! and HUZZAH! But if you do, you, like me, do it with a hellluva lotta resistance, am I right?
It's just so disconcerting to me to see that many people do not. Many are so content simply to be part of something that they follow blindly. So let me encourage you... you can question your church, and you can question your political party. You can question all kinds of things, and you can think for yourself.
Believe me... Thou mayest.
If your church and/or political party--often inextricably intertwined these days, to my complete and utter horror--puts the screws to its congregations and/or constituents with papal and political pressure to conform or be shunned...
... then, by God, be shunned.
There are worse things, believe me. And there are better things... like freedom. And clarity.
I am always so encouraged and horrified and centered and inspired by the words of Frederick Douglass in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass--An American Slave: He writes:
I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels. Never was there a clearer case of “stealing the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in.” I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible inconsistencies, which every where surround me. We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a classleader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the God who made me. He who is the religious advocate of marriage robs whole millions of its sacred influence, and leaves them to the ravages of wholesale pollution. The warm defender of the sacredness of the family relation is the same that scatters whole families,— sundering husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and brothers,—leaving the hut vacant, and the hearth desolate. We see the thief preaching against theft, and the adulterer against adultery. We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen! all for the glory of God and the good of souls! The slave auctioneer’s bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master.
This from a guy for whom, in his day, it was illegal for him to learn to read or write. He certainly overcame that obstacle and doesn't mince words about American Christianity:
The Christianity of America is a Christianity, of whose votaries it may be as truly said, as it was of the ancient scribes and Pharisees, “They bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. All their works they do for to be seen of men.—They love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, . . . . . . and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.—But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation...
You say, "Oh, Daisy, those were the days of slavery. That was a different time and a different church."
Really? You don't think this next section resonates today?
Dark and terrible as is this picture, I hold it to be strictly true of the overwhelming mass of professed Christians in America. They strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Could any thing be more true of our churches? They would be shocked at the proposition of fellowshipping a sheep-stealer; and at the same time they hug to their communion a man-stealer, and brand me with being an infidel, if I find fault with them for it. They attend with Pharisaical strictness to the outward forms of religion, and at the same time neglect the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. They are always ready to sacrifice, but seldom to show mercy. They are they who are represented as professing to love God whom they have not seen, whilst they hate their brother whom they have seen. They love the heathen on the other side of the globe. They can pray for him, pay money to have the Bible put into his hand, and missionaries to instruct him; while they despise and totally neglect the heathen at their own doors.
Was this really written in 1845? Because it sounds a lot like what's going on right here in 2017 to me.
And you can extract yourself from this whole messy business and simply follow the teachings and the way of Christ. You can follow His example:
Bring GOOD news to the poor. Bind up the brokenhearted. Bring freedom to the captives and release from darkness the prisoners. Feed the hungry. Give water to those who are thirsty. Visit the sick and the imprisoned. Take the stranger in. Care for the widows and the orphans.
Thou mayest.
You can stand against policies and systems that marginalize entire groups of people whom God loves... and wants.
Thou mayest.
You can question authority--and you should when it's corrupt--and love justice, show mercy, and walk humbly.
Thou mayest.
You can walk away from your political party--and you should if it professes to be the way to Heaven or claims to be the conduit that will bring Heaven to this earth. That is a lie, and you can extricate yourself from that whole Tower of Babel. Nothing on this planet could be more futile than supporting this effort.
Thou mayest.
You can question those in authority at your church--although you'll very likely get kicked out. But you can find a church (there are plenty of others) or start a church that DOES follow Christ's teachings and encourages and equips their congregations to live the way Christ lived and sacrifice the way Christ sacrificed. In fact, I question my pastor all the time, and he doesn't even blink. He's so chill. And he has all kinds of questions himself. There are places like that where you can spend a Sunday morning if that's your thing.
Speaking of sacrifice... now there's a word that's totally underused and evidently under-practiced by many. Much of what we see and hear from certain camps are how we need to do the opposite of that--we need to rise up and fight to protect our 'religious freedoms'!
Except... either Christ has already set us free or He hasn't. But I believe we are already free--and free indeed. You can be free too.
Thou mayest...
For more of the 'Thou Mayest' series, stay tuned for the entire month of May, folks. And if this resonates with you then, by all means, feel free to share this out on your social media.
Numbers 6:
24“The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
Daisy Rain Martin is an author, speaker, advocate, and educator as well as a founding member of The Flying M-Inklings Writing Group. She lives with her husband, Sean-Martin, in the beautiful state of Idaho and teaches English and Literature during the school year to the best 7th graders the world over. Daisy spends her summers writing, speaking, researching, creating, gardening, and canning.
Hope Givers: Hope is Here, is the sequel, of sorts, to her comedic, spiritual memoir, Juxtaposed: Finding Sanctuary on the Outside, which was her publisher's (Christopher Matthews) #1 top selling book in 2012. She has also written a free e-book for anyone who has or is currently being sexually abused called, If It’s Happened to You, which appears in its entirety in Hope Givers. Please follow her weekly blog, SATURDAISIES, which addresses a plethora of current issues including child advocacy, all things hilarious, and matters of the heart. She would love for you to join the Rainy Dais Community by friending her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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