No Kings
It’s been a week since the last No Kings protest… and it’s been a long week. The government shut down is hurting people. SNAP and WIC benefits will not be issued in October nor will money be distributed to help pay for heating bills. Those who are experiencing hardship, job loss, hunger, and cold will only have those issues exacerbated. In the meantime, soybean exports are halted and cattle are being imported from Argentina hurting the American farmers who depend on that revenue.
This is not America first. This is not a Christian policy on how to treat neighbors. This is the work of the rich and powerful to keep people oppressed. Our political system has intentionally pinned us against each other to distract us with in-fighting. If we (all of the non-billionaires) can unite, we can make change. The No Kings protests give me hope.
I was not able to attend last Saturday’s protests because of a previously scheduled Days for Girls event, but I did watch the reports on the events around our country and of course scrolled my facebook page to see how my friends and neighbors were participating.
I am encourage by the number of people calling out that this so called christian right, isn’t Christian at all. It is power, privilege, white supremacy, and wealth hurting the people that Christ told us to care for. In my tradition, tomorrow is Reformation Sunday, where we remember the church reformation over 500 years ago and think about how the PCUSA church is still reforming. I think protesting is one way to reform our world, but more importantly is to actively work towards supporting people who need us by volunteering, donating, and voting. And for Christians, we must do the work that Christ calls us to do, to love our neighbors.
I will be preaching tomorrow, so I’ll post the entire sermon then, but here is my main point: Our role in the new reformation is to continually affirm that Christians live the way Jesus Christ taught us to: feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and visiting the imprisoned. As Presbyterians, reformed and still reforming, we need to dismantle any Christian nationalism in our hearts, on our lips, and in our lives. This is the slow steady work of those who place their hope in God’s steadfast love. This is what it means to watch for the morning during our dark night.
Below is my favorite protest sign (inspiring this post) and links to the article I wrote about the No Kings protest last summer. My husband and I were in Moab UT at the time and the Moab Sun News reprinted the article from The Presbyterian Outlook.
I was honored when I found out that the Presbyterian Outlook received a request to reprint my article about attending the No Kings Protest in Moab from the Moab Sun News.
Period Pastor Pad 