Sermons from Park Hill Congregational UCC Denver, Colorado Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] June 27, 2021 “Can Grace Really Be Amazing” Mark 5: 21-43 – New Revised Standard Version “21When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” 24So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.30Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32He looked all around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 35While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. I want to start today by reminding us of our Park Hill UCC core values.
Today’s gospel text incorporates all of these core values, but there is one in particular I want to focus on: spiritual depth and intellectual integrity. When we were articulating our core values as part of our strategic planning process in 2009, I remember discussing this with one of our beloved saints of the church, Amelia Lawrence. She said, “I want a church where I don’t want to have to check my brains at the door.” Me too! Amen? That’s when we proposed the words intellectual integrity. Although, now that I think about it, “A church where I don’t want to have to check my brains at the door” sounds more compelling. But that’s not enough, she said. Neither do I want a brain that must be constrained to only those things that “make sense.” We talked about the importance of connecting our heads and hearts. So that’s when we added the words spiritual depth, but maybe we should have simply said, “And neither do I want a brain that must be constrained to what can be explained.” New marketing plan, anyone? There’s a lot in the Bible I find hard to believe – especially when it comes to the stories of healing and miracles, including our stories today. To that, the controversial Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong said, “I must reject Jesus’ miracles as not possible and therefore not true in any literal sense.”[1] That may help us avoid brain strain. He added that such rejection doesn’t prevent him from still believing that “Jesus offers me a doorway into the realm of transcendent otherness.” But, still, he said, miracles can’t be considered true in any “literal” sense. One of our Lunch and Lectionary participants on Thursday said we should just sit for a moment and appreciate what the woman might have felt. To be curious about her life. To wonder what a life with a constant flow of blood for 12 long years would have been like. At one time she had enough money to spend on one physician after another, but nothing got better. In fact, it only got worse. And now, she had no more money left. But she heard about Jesus and thought, “if I just touch his clothes I will be made well.” Sit with that for a moment. Not I might be, but I will be made well. Was that hope and faith or delusion and desperation? And would it matter? Does it matter if the only time we pray is when nothing else has worked? When the only option left is to pray for a miracle? It didn’t matter to Jesus. He praised her faith, and very clearly noted, it was her faith that healed her. He hadn’t done anything. Think about the strength of her faith, such that in a crowd of people pressing up on him, he felt her power when she simply touched his clothes. Isn’t that amazing? I mean, think about it: he felt the power of her faith touching him. Who was this amazing woman? After asking us to sit in wonder about the woman, our friend said, “I’ve had experiences like this. Not a miraculous healing in the same way, but experiences where I don’t know what happened, but it was healing. It was wonderful. And I won’t rationalize it and I won’t dismiss it. I put it in the miracle box.” What if she said, “I can’t believe it? It’s not logical and therefore it’s not true.” Because, with all due respect to Bishop Spong, that’s not the only answer for progressive Christians. Bruce Epperly is a progressive Christian theologian. He laments that we have been so scandalized by the antics and bombastic theatrics of TV evangelists that we may feel we have no other option but to reject healing by faith. But he believes that post-modern, progressive Christians need to become more holistic.[2] We need to be more relational, to really listen to one another’s stories – like our friend at Lunch and Lectionary. And if we listened with open hearts and minds, we would hear more of the same from many others who won’t share their experiences for fear of being seen as irrational. We need to be less dismissive and more constructive, more open minded, in our approach to healing and wholeness. Think about how the modern world separates sacred and secular. Do we want that? Think about how we compartmentalize spirituality and social justice. Is that how we want it? A truly holistic progressive theology affirms the relationship of mind, body, and spirit as part of one whole, interdependent reality. Progressive Christians need not reject healing or miracles for the sake of intellectual integrity. Spiritual depth asks, how do we bring it all together? That’s one option for looking at today’s text. Other progressive theologians offer a different perspective on the stories of healing in the Bible. John Dominic Crossan says that these stories were really about transforming society, about Jesus overturning social stigmas.[3] The point wasn’t that Jesus was intervening in the physical world. The point of such stories was his criticism of hard hearted, stiff-necked, purists in the social and religious world. Jesus really meant to cure society’s heart disease: its lack of compassion. Thus, true restoration was the outcast and ritually unclean reunited with society – their families, their religious life. For example, Jesus touched a man with leprosy because if he was healed, then he could go home, go the Temple, go the market. As we sit and wonder about the life of the woman, why was she alone? Was she abandoned? Was she considered dangerous because she was unclean? Crossan would claim that Jesus cured her social location when Jesus called her “daughter.” That means she could be reintegrated and no longer kept from her community of faith. In addition, notice the nod to social justice in the way Jesus stopped for this unknown woman while on his way to the home of a prominent religious leader. He gave equal attention when he resurrected the girl’s unbearably short 12 years of life after he healed a woman with 12 agonizingly long years of misery. Although, again, Jesus didn’t heal the woman. Her faith made her well. Some might say that’s just the placebo effect. If you place your trust in a pill or prayer, you can psychologically heal yourself. But I want to stop for just one minute on the whole “you can heal yourself if you have enough faith.” Be careful of anyone who forces that expectation upon you. It comes with the option to blame you for not having enough faith. Healing and cures are not the same thing. Healing is complex and might mean coming to terms with your disease. It might include learning not to fear death. It doesn’t necessarily mean getting better, whatever that means, because sometimes even death itself is a form of healing. As a progressive Christian, I like the implications of Crossan’s interpretations. For example:
Intellectually, in Jesus I find the ultimate fighter for social justice. Our advocate and activist role model. Does that mean he can’t also be a healer and miracle worker? Because a more holistic approach to theology means not minimizing things like the efficacy of prayer, the power of healing touch, and healing ministry done in the name of Jesus. Every time we share our prayer requests, we are praying for a miracle. We pray for God to comfort the dying and strengthen the weak. We pray for rain to end the drought and wildfires, to spare more misery for those whose homes are threatened. For the remission of cancer. We even pray for civility among politicians – because hey, miracles can happen! We pray to God for a safe journey, but of course, we also know that the biggest factor to bring us home safely is to drive carefully. And unlike believers in a pre-scientific world, we know that germs and viruses cause illness, not sin. But there isn’t just something called intellectual integrity. There is also spiritual integrity, which means, don’t explain away things that can’t be explained. It’s OK. We can let grace really be amazing. And we must have more than spiritual depth, we must explore intellectual depth. To move beyond the modern world’s limiting enlightenment view of an ordered universe to a post-modern understanding of chaos. There is more to this world than the physical plane. We should not play into any false dualism that separates body and spirit, body and mind, belief and unbelief. So, back to the stories today, it’s OK to remain skeptical, to not check our brains at the door. And yet I pray that we do not constrain our brain. That we can embrace the capacity to sit in astonishment. To wonder, have I missed something to put in my miracle box? Without explaining why, can we let grace simply be amazing? [1] John Shelby Spong, Jesus for the Non-Religious, Harper San Francisco, 2007 [2] Bruce Epperly, “Progressive Christianity, Mysticism, and Healing,” at www.progressivechristianity.org [3] John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography
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Sermons from Park Hill Congregational UCC Denver, Colorado Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] June 20, 2021 “After the Storm” Mark 4: 35-41 - New Revised Standard Version “On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? I’m sure all of us have been quickly studying up on the history and meaning of the new federal holiday officially known as the Juneteenth National Independence Day. Among the stories we are learning is that of Ms. Opal Lee, the 94-year-old who has worked for years advocating Juneteenth as a national holiday. She was there on Thursday to watch President Biden sign the bill. In 2016 she wrote to President Obama seeking his support for the holiday. To get his attention, she told him she would walk 1,400 miles from her home in Fort Worth to DC, 2 ½ miles at a time, representing the 2 ½ years it took for word to come to Texas that slavery had ended. And why not walk 1,400 miles? She was merely 89 years old at the time. Interestingly, that’s the same number of years it took before African Americans could claim Independence too – 89 years from 1776 to 1865. As the name of the new holiday means to explain, not merely emancipation or liberation or freedom but Independence. Of course, not exactly. Among other things, slavery morphed into lynching and race massacres like Tulsa, from segregation and Jim Crow into mass incarceration. However, although it wasn’t yet reality, the ideal named in 1776 moved closer: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It took 89 years to get that far (and farther still for women). And yet, as we know all too well, the same war is still being waged. The people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th are still fighting the same war that enslaved human beings. They’re the same people who burned down Ms. Opal’s house when she was 12 years old. Her family moved into a predominantly white neighborhood in Fort Worth in 1939. They only lasted four nights before a mob of 500 people stormed their house and carried all the furniture into the street and burned it. And then the house. By the way, her family’s home was burned down during the city’s Juneteenth festivities. The family escaped but imagine being a 12-year-old enduring that terror. Yet, instead of bitterness, she said, “If they had given us an opportunity to stay there and be their neighbors, they would have found out we didn’t want any more than what they had — a decent place to stay, jobs that paid, [to be] able to go to school in the neighborhood, even if it was a segregated school. We would have made good neighbors, but they didn’t give us an opportunity. And I felt like everybody needs an opportunity.” And so, she became an activist with a mission to make Juneteenth a national holiday. We are becoming more familiar with the broad strokes of the story. Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, word had not yet reached the Black Texans who were enslaved. Union General Gordon Granger issued Order No. 3 announcing their emancipation and “absolute equality.” But it wasn’t just the word of this white man. He was flanked by two transports full of Black soldiers. The enslaved saw the evidence of their freedom in the uniforms of all those Black soldiers, an entire Corp composed of free and formerly enslaved Black men. What a sight to behold that must have been. But here’s a detail I didn’t know. Granger and his soldiers had not been sent to Galveston to spread the news of emancipation. They were en route to secure the Mexican border against Napoleon’s invading army. What? The French were establishing colonies in Mexico. That sort of blew my mind. It was while they were on their way for that assignment that a storm hit, bad enough to cause their ships to seek shelter. The storm forced the transport ships to anchor in Galveston Bay on June 18, 1865. It was the day after the storm that they discovered thousands of enslaved people working in the ports and houses and fields. What if there had been no storm? When would word of emancipation, independence, have reached Texas? August, or maybe April of 1866, 1867… The white enslavers certainly had no incentive to announce the news of freedom. But isn’t that something! A storm sent them to Galveston. Sometimes storms are called acts of God. I’ve never really liked that. But Jayne Marie Smith wondered whether that storm really did constitute an Act of God. Thank God for the storm.[1] On the other hand, in today’s gospel, the disciples cried out in the midst of a storm, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” They were in a boat during that storm because crowds were constantly pushing in on Jesus, desperate for healing, desperate for a word of hope. Imagine the exhaustion of such constant pressure. He said, “let’s go to the other side,” perhaps dreaming of a few moments of peace and quiet. Instead other boats chased alongside too. It’s a sign of how tired he was that Jesus could sleep through a storm so powerful it nearly swamped the boat. He was so tired that when he was awakened, he rebuked the wind. It seems like the kind of irrational outburst I might have when I’m too tired. Haven’t you ever cursed the chair for getting in your way? When the disciples woke Jesus up, they accused him of not caring whether they drowned or not. They obviously expected that Jesus could do something like calm the wind. I mean, they didn’t want to hear him say, “I’m sorry to hear you feel like you’re drowning.” They wanted him to do something. He did and the wind ceased. But that freaked them out even more than the storm and they asked each other, “Who is this!?” The text we read this morning said that after the storm, the disciples were filled with “great awe.” Or as another translation says, “they were overcome with awe.” But that sounds like they were filled with wonder and amazement. Wow! Other translations say, “And they feared exceedingly.” Another said, after the storm, “they were terrified and asked each other, who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”[2] One scholar said the phrase literally means, the disciples were “fearful with a great fear.” What is the meaning of all this? It’s kind of a tricky text to interpret. There are several possibilities: 1)We could dismiss it as an idle tale. Another version of an ancient storm god myth. Or simply a coincidence that the wind stopped just then. 2)We could encourage people to hang on and have faith. “Life’s storms often seem overwhelming, but if we have faith, Jesus will calm the storms of life.” Or, 3)Perhaps the miracle wasn’t that Jesus could calm the storm but that he could calm the disciples in the middle of their storm. 4)We could teach people not to see the storm around us but the faith within us. 5)We could turn it into a happily-ever-after story. “The boaters found themselves in serious trouble, but just in time, Jesus saved the day.” And yet, 6)We could just as easily become angry with this story. Why didn’t Jesus save us when we were in the same boat? A few days after I returned from San Diego there was news of a boat overcrowded with migrants that crashed into Point Loma. A boat overcrowded with people desperate enough to pay smugglers to get them to freedom. Some people lived, some people died – literally perishing on the sea. It’s a cruel joke to suggest that maybe if they had more faith… Where was Jesus that day? Miracle stories and healing stories are always filled with those kinds of tensions. If then, why not now. If them, why not me. Scientific minds want to know did it really happen. And how did it happen. I want to know, how is it true. Where do we find truth in the story? There are many things in this story with which we can relate.
I know we’ve all faced storms and we all have stories of the other side. But I’m most curious this morning about the disciples’ reaction after the storm has passed. They were fearful with a great fear. Why? The storm had passed. It makes me think of the pandemic. I wouldn’t say the storm has passed, but the storm is passing, especially for those who are fully vaccinated. We’ve started to come out of our homes. We’re even gathered live in the sanctuary today for the first time in 15 months, other than staff. And yet, many of us don’t feel free from fear. Anxiety remains high. Some people are ready for big gatherings and some people are not. What is the fear? It’s not wrong, but what is it? And when will it pass? Perhaps like Juneteenth, we have to look at it more like a process than the event, like my second vaccination on April 27, 2021. Because Juneteenth may have been the occasion of June 19, 1865, but it’s not just a moment of jubilee or a day to celebrate. It marks the beginning a long process that is still unfolding. Because Juneteenth must be as much substance as it is symbol:
Fortunately, the proliferation of Juneteenth events is taking place at the same time as the banning of critical race theory and curricula focused on slavery’s lasting effects. You can’t establish a national holiday and simultaneously deny why it exists. You and I have survived many storms. After each one, it may seem like one storm passes only to see another on the horizon. But our ancestors teach us how to survive by a combination of our own skill, the support of communities, and acts of God along the way. Every storm we have survived is testimony of a faith that conquered fear. Sometimes we, too, may say “Thank God for the storm.” [1] Jayne Marie Smith, Sojourners, June 17, 2021 [2] In order, NRSV, CEB, KJV, NIV Sermons from Park Hill Congregational UCC Denver, Colorado Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] June 6, 2021 “Family Drama” Mark 3: 20-35 – Common English Bible Jesus entered a house. A crowd gathered again so that it was impossible for him and his followers even to eat. 21 When his family heard what was happening, they came to take control of him. They were saying, “He’s out of his mind!” 22 The legal experts came down from Jerusalem. Over and over they charged, “He’s possessed by Beelzebul. He throws out demons with the authority of the ruler of demons.” 23 When Jesus called them together he spoke to them in a parable: “How can Satan throw Satan out? 24 A kingdom involved in civil war will collapse. 25 And a house torn apart by divisions will collapse. 26 If Satan rebels against himself and is divided, then he can’t endure. He’s done for. 27 No one gets into the house of a strong person and steals anything without first tying up the strong person. Only then can the house be burglarized. 28 I assure you that human beings will be forgiven for everything, for all sins and insults of every kind. 29 But whoever insults the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. That person is guilty of a sin with consequences that last forever.” 30 He said this because the legal experts were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.” 31 His mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside and sent word to him, calling for him. 32 A crowd was seated around him, and those sent to him said, “Look, your mother, brothers, and sisters are outside looking for you.” 33 He replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 34 Looking around at those seated around him in a circle, he said, “Look, here are my mother and my brothers. 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother, sister, and mother.” Three highlights: 1)The friends and family of Jesus think he has lost his mind 2)The scribes, religious scholars, accuse Jesus of being Satan, but he responds back that Satan can’t bring down Satan, so how could he be Satan? 3)Once again, the family of Jesus thinks he has lost his mind. But when they asked to see him, Jesus instead told the crowd “my brothers and sisters and mother are anyone who does the will of God.” Did you know that if you added up every UCC member, every Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and a few more mainline denominations, the combined number would still be smaller than America’s newest religion? QAnon. That’s the finding in a poll released this week by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Interfaith Youth Core.[1] Fifteen percent of Americans – that’s about 50 million people – say they believe that the levers of power are controlled by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles. 50 million people said they believe that “American patriots may have to resort to violence” to restore the country’s rightful order. And of those respondents, 20 percent said that they thought a “biblical-scale storm would soon sweep away these evil elites.”[2] That’s 10 million people. It would be easy to say, “these people are out of their minds!” Or as the legal experts said of Jesus, they’re “possessed by an evil spirit.” Except that, “these people” are our brothers and sisters, aunt, uncles, cousins, mothers and fathers, neighbors and fellow citizens. Rachel said that she and her mother were once close, especially right before the pandemic. Now they are completely estranged. Rachel said it’s easier to be angry than to think about how much she misses her mom. Her mom is a caring and compassionate person, a cancer nurse. But, Rachel said, she’s been tricked into believing things that contradict her core values. I told her that. She doesn’t trust me anymore. I wish I had been more patient, but my mom now thinks I think she’s stupid. I wish I had been slower to react. I wish I had been less frustrated. Virginia said that she and her dad used to be very close. We did everything together. But in the past year, he’s just changed into a different person. It’s like he’s been indoctrinated into a cult. He drank the Kool-Aid. And it’s really scary. I tried to share facts with him, but it blew up in my face. It confirmed his conspiracy theories. All I can do is wait for him, hope that one day he calls me or texts me or shows up on my door and says, “I was wrong.” Until then I hate that I have to wait. But it’s for my dad, so I will. Angie lost her sister, her best friend, down the QAnon rabbit hole. She said, “I pray for her every day to come to a realization that this is nonsense. I can’t do much more than that, because, if I do, if I discuss it with her, it’ll only break us further apart.”[3] It is indeed heartbreaking. Many of us were hopeful that after the failed insurrection, disillusioned QAnon supporters would return to their normal lives, as the man suspected to be Q himself told them to do.[4] But like preachers predicting the date of the end of the world, when it doesn’t happen, they just pick another date. So now, for example, after inauguration day passed, and the “original” inauguration day on March 4 had passed, now the defeated former president will somehow be re-installed in August. It’s lunacy. Embraced by 50 million people, seven percent of whom are Democrats. It’s heartbreaking. And frightening. And like Jesus warned, “a house torn apart by divisions will collapse.” So, why did Jesus’ family think he had lost his mind? Why did the religion scholars and legal experts say Jesus was possessed by Beelzebul? As with all scripture, we have to look at the context. It’s only chapter 3 in Mark but Jesus has already been very busy:
All of these things upset and alarmed the religious authorities. That’s understandable. But why would that upset his family? Is it because Jesus was challenging their core beliefs too? Were they upset because he was calling into question their long-standing traditions? Were they afraid of guilt by association; of being targeted by the religious authorities? You know, at first, the families of Congressman John Lewis and other young civil rights activists were not supportive of their activities either, because it would likely bring retaliatory violence against them. It caused a temporary rift early in his career.[5] But like Congressman Lewis, why didn’t Jesus’ family completely support him early in his “career?” I honestly don’t know and couldn’t find any scholar who proposed a satisfactory answer. What we do know is that his family thought, “He’s out of his mind.” And Jesus proclaimed that family doesn’t necessarily mean one’s biological family but whoever does “the will of God.” So, when I first started thinking about preaching on this text, I thought, what a great way to start Pride month. This is a story that really resonates. LGBTQ people know a lot about families who think they’re possessed or lost their mind. Despite being 7 percent of the population, 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ.[6] And, sadly, often because of religion. LGBTQ people understand and appreciate what Jesus says in this text, whether they’ve run away as a result of family rejection and abuse or they’ve been literally thrown out of their homes, because Jesus affirms the families of choice we create for true experiences of belonging and love. We may have brothers and sisters and parents in our family of origin, but in this text, Jesus blesses the families we create. If you haven’t seen the TV series Pose, you’re missing something important and groundbreaking.[7] This series is about transgender women of color and queer men who form families of choice within New York City’s ball culture in the 1980s and ’90s. There’s never been a cast anything like it on TV. Two of the main characters, Blanca and Electra, act as the mothers of several queer and trans street kids who often survived as sex workers. Despite stories of how these kids were abused or rejected by their families, and the ravages of AIDS during that period, the show is ultimately one of the most redemptive things on TV, because it portrays the extraordinary love and sacrifice by these families of choice, in stark contrast to their, often religious, families of origin. Blanca and Electra were truly doing the will of God. Now, that’s a loaded phrase. Jane Vennard suggests that instead of God’s will, we think of it as God’s yearning, for example, that we create a world of compassion and justice, as opposed to the traditional understanding that God has a specific set of expectations, rules, and demands for human behavior. That’s a sermon for another day. Families who discard their children often think they’re doing the “will of God,” but if you ask me “what is God’s will,” I will direct you to the teachings of Jesus. Jesus said, all the law and prophets are summed up as the command to love – to love your neighbor as yourself. What more could the will of God mean than to love unconditionally? And that’s what Jesus showed us. Remember that among the things that really upset the religious authorities was that Jesus ate with “sinners” and tax collectors. But do you know what’s even more remarkable? That people who had to survive as prostitutes and people labeled “sinners” would even want to hang out with him! What should that say to the church? But back to the religion of 50 million QAnon followers and our loved ones who some might say have gone “out of their minds.” We were actually discussing this during our Zoom coffee hour a few months ago. One of our members said of his brother, I just keep telling him I love him, I love him, I love him. I don’t engage in debate. I just tell him I love him. One day it may sink in. The founder of a Reddit group called QAnonCasualties lamented about his mom, “I’m always torn between stopping communication with her because it only seems to make me feel terrible, and feeling like it’s my responsibility to lead her back to reality.”[8] I wish I had more answers, but it’s like today’s text from Mark – much better at describing the situation than prescribing answers. So, I consulted some experts who recommend empathy and engagement on a personal level with QAnon believers as a way to rebuild trust and restart communication. Focus on the person’s personal relationship to QAnon, rather than trying to unpack the latest twist and turn of any conspiracy theory. Ask how they first learned about it, what made sense to them, and also what didn't make sense to them, and ask questions about how their beliefs have shifted, especially if they've been involved over time, because QAnon keeps morphing.[9] But maybe the most important thing to remember is that any effort made is the beginning of a process that will take a long time to succeed. Throughout it all, family and friends need to remember that the person they knew is still in there, just hiding behind that QAnon personality. And yet, there’s a reason Jesus said family was anyone who did the will of God. One the implications of that is freedom from abuse. Because in the end, regardless of what our families of origin may do or say, Jesus also blesses families of choice that promote true love and unconditional acceptance. Meaning, it is Mothers Blanca and Electra, two trans women of color, who represent the real will of God. At least, the God I believe in. Yours too? [1] https://www.prri.org/research/qanon-conspiracy-american-politics-report/ [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/us/politics/qanon-republicans-trump.html [3] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/their-loved-ones-are-obsessed-with-qanon-conspiracies-its-tearing-their-families-apart - these stories are condensed [4] https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-03-28/qanon-docuseries-hbo-who-is-q [5] https://www.ajc.com/news/john-lewis-the-boy-from-troy/FPQXUXXHMZEUVCX3HORKOHCYHM/ Jon Meachum discusses this in his book His Truth is Marching On [6] https://truecolorsunited.org/our-issue/ [7] https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/pose [8] https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/conspiracy-theories-qanon-family-members/ [9] https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7v3nx/how-to-talk-to-your-qanon-family-during-the-holidays |
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