Richard Rohr<\/p>\n
Radical Politics\nThursday, July 12, 2018\n<\/iframe><br \/>\nThere is a lot of talk today about \u201cradical\u201d politics on both sides. The politicians and party on the far side often look \u201cextreme\u201d and so the very word \u201cradical\u201d now has a somewhat negative connotation. \u201cRadical\u201d just comes from the Latin word radix, meaning \u201croot.\u201d For something to be \u201cradical\u201d it should cut to the root of the issue and deal with causes, not just symptoms, which politics rarely does on either the Left or the Right.<br \/>\nAuthentic religion alone is radical\u2014and that is not an overstatement\u2014because it has the power to transplant our Imperial \u201cI\u201d into the Largest Field. At its best, spirituality moves us far beyond our \u201cprivate I\u201d and into the Fullest Reality (although I admit this only happens in a small minority of believers). In his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus directly says that our inner attitudes and states are the real sources of our problems, preceding our outward behaviors. Most religion is obsessed with a small number of outer behaviors, and we clergy think it is our job to enforce these outer behaviors. This is largely a waste of God\u2019s time\u2014and ours. Jesus says not only that you must not kill, but that you must not even harbor hateful thoughts and feelings (see Matthew 5:21-22). He clearly begins with the necessity of a \u201cpure heart\u201d (Matthew 5:8), knowing that the outer behavior will follow. Too often we force the outer, and the inner remains fully operative within us like a cancer. Note how many Christians are still racist and classist!<br \/>\nIf you walk around with hatred and prejudice in your heart and mind all day, morally you\u2019re just as much a killer as the one who pulls out the gun. That seems to be what Jesus is saying. The evil and genocide of World War II was the final result of decades of negative and paranoid thinking among good German Christians, Catholic and Lutheran. The tragic fascism of Nazi Germany was fomenting in people\u2019s hearts long before a political leader came to catalyze their hate and resentment. Now it seems we are seeing the same in the United States.<br \/>\nJesus tells us to not harbor hateful anger or call people names even in our hearts like \u201cfool\u201d or \u201cworthless person\u201d (Matthew 5:22). If we\u2019re walking around all day thinking, \u201cWhat an idiot he is,\u201d we are already in the state of sin. Sin is more a state of separation and superiority than any concrete action\u2014which is only the symptom. How we live in our hearts is our real truth.<br \/>\nJesus insists that we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). For Jesus, prayer seems to be a matter of waiting in love, returning to love, trusting that love is the unceasing stream of reality. Prayer isn\u2019t primarily words; it\u2019s an attitude, a stance, a state that precedes \u201csaying\u201d any individual prayers. That\u2019s why Paul could say, \u201cPray unceasingly\u201d (1 Thessalonians 5:17). If we think of prayer as requiring words, it is surely impossible to pray always. Whatever we do in conscious, loving union with the Reality right in front of us is prayer. As Leonard Cohen sang, we have had far too much of \u201ckillers in high places [who] say their prayers out loud.\u201d [1] You know this is true.<br \/>\nIf we continue to fail to address the underlying matters of the heart, mind, and soul, then we will only cut off one head of the Hydra\u2014and then watch it grow many more.<\/p>\n<p>__________________________________________________________Sarah Sarah Young<\/p>\n<p>Jesus Calling<\/p>\n<p>WHENEVER YOU FEEL DISTANT from Me, whisper My Name in loving trust. This simple prayer can restore your awareness of My Presence. My Name is constantly abused in the world, where people use it as a curse word. This verbal assault reaches all the way to heaven; every word is heard and recorded. When you trustingly whisper My Name, My aching ears are soothed. The grating rancor of the world\u2019s blasphemies cannot compete with a trusting child\u2019s utterance: \u201cJesus.\u201d The power of My Name to bless both you and Me is beyond your understanding.<\/p>\n<p>PROVERBS 18:10; The name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.<\/p>\n<p>ACTS 4:12; Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>JOHN 16:24:\u00a0Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.<\/p>\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling Morning and Evening Devotional (Jesus Calling\u00ae) (p. 400). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Rohr Radical Politics Thursday, July 12, 2018 There is a lot of talk today about \u201cradical\u201d politics on both sides. The politicians and party on the far side often look \u201cextreme\u201d and so the very word \u201cradical\u201d now has a somewhat negative connotation. \u201cRadical\u201d just comes from the Latin word radix, meaning \u201croot.\u201d For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17009"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17009"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17012,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17009\/revisions\/17012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}