July 4th—The Revolution is Far from Over…

You might find this picture of this wounded flag offensive. I display the painting as a symbol of a very divided country. We have been here before. Hopefully the madness and divisions will pass and we can recover the flag as it should be. All the fireworks and all the political posturing cannot hide the fact that we are a people in trouble.

I leave you with the words of Ursula Solek. She was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1933 as Hitler came to power she grew up in that terrible time in Germany. Her family hid in the woods a long time to escape the Nazis. I first heard Dr. Ernest Campbell then Pastor of the Riverside Church in New York share this poem during another time in our history. 

July 4th should make us touch again the rock of patriotism. I share this poem with you because it speaks to our time, too.

What, finally, shall we say 

In the last moment

When we will be confronted

By the Unimaginable,

The One

Who could not be measured

or contained

In space or time

Who was Love

Unlimited?

What shall we answer

When the question is asked

About our undeeds

Committed

In his name—

In the name of him

For whose sake we promised

To have courage

To abandon everything?

Shall we say

That we didn’t know—

That we couldn’t hear the clatter

Of hearts breakin—

Millions of them—

In lonely rooms, in alleys

     and prisons

And in bars?

Shall we explain

That we thought it mattered

That buildings were constructed

And maintained

In his honor—

That we were occupied

With the arrangements

Of hymns and prayers

And the proper, responsible way

Of doing things?

Shall we tell him

That we had to take care

Of the orderly definition

     of dogmas

So that there was no time

To listen to the

     sobbing

Of the little ones

Huddled in corners

Or the silent despair

Of those already beyond

     sobbing?

Or, shall we say this, too:

That we were afraid—

That we were keeping busy

     with all this

To avoid confrontation

With the reality of his

     meaning

Which would lead us to

     repentance—-

That it was fear that

     kept us

Hiding in church pews

And in important boards

     and committees

When he went by?

                     —Ursula Solek

"There never was a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope."

                                                                                                     --Bill Coffin

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com