We walk in darkness most of our lives and

fear lifting the veil that shields us from doubt, from fear;

Nowhere is there help that we can see when

walking the path by the afflicted ; we lose our

empathy for those in need;

we turn our blindness to the sun,

saying all will be well,

when in fact, we are stumbling over our own

prejudices and our own failures,

ignoring the open graves of those we hate.

 

We turn to our churches and often find

derision and exclusion; go away we don’t want you here.

To those we look down upon we say,

“good riddance, you are different, we don’t need you infiltrating our church.” 

You are too dirty, living on our streets

You are too brazen flaunting your gaudy

homosexuality in our faces.

Why do you think you belong here?

Go away, return to the camps of the lepers

To the barrios on the edge of the cities.

This is where you belong; not here!

 

We learn from our history and see that our forebearers

held the same contempt of those

we also persecute. We know we are correct;

our history tells us so; our white fathers tells us so!

Those not conforming should be shunned;

perhaps as in olden times they should be beaten;

forced to re-conform to society’s norms.

And, who sets these norms?

We do of course, we are the power; we are society.

 

Go away you leper; be gone you dark-skinned thief.

Crawl back in your hole you queer; we don’t want to catch what you have.

You are no linger worthy of our love; you are not worthy of our aid.

You chose your life; we didn’t, so why should we pay for

your sinful living when you choose to go against the norm?

It is not our fault you are gay, or you are black,

or you have the slanted eyes of the foreigner, the snake.

Get away you heathens of the devil; you are not wanted here.

 

 

But wait . . .

I read my Bible; I study what God has said to us;

What God has done for us.

 

What is it He is saying?

Why is it God that has chosen a poor shepherd boy to lead Israel?

What is the meaning of an outcast woman being the first to see

that the sacred body of our lord is missing?

 

Why is God choosing people who mean nothing to society?

Why does Jesus care for women so much,

heal the lepers and those who are outcasts of society?

Those in power told Jesus “good riddance, we don’t need you infiltrating our Temples, our Churches.” 

Why does Jesus tell us whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave;

just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve?

If Jesus walked the earth today, He would love the leper;

He would love the homosexual; He would love the black man.

 

We have built our society on a premise that is wrong;

We are as wrong as those who hung my Lord on a cross

to suffer and die because he too was an outcast.

He too chose to go against society and its rigid ungodly rules.

Jesus loves those forgotten; if I love Jesus I must also love the oppressed;

those murdered in the streets by the guns that government has allowed to proliferate.

Jesus loves the little children of color, who are denied a proper education.

Our society is built on a big lie, but we ignore this big lie

and build more oppression and hate.

What is wrong; how far have we strayed?

We have to find housing for the homeless;

we have to clear the barrios and bring

our brothers and sisters to better homes.

We must turn our guns into plowshares

and build the earth to feed all people.

And we cannot forget about the greed of our large banks -

and even larger corporations that underpay our slave laborers

to pad the coffers of the fat rich men on the top of society

 

We are all different, but we are all one family -

the family of man.

It is not impossible to bring the dream of God’s abundant creation

To satisfy all - fulfill all people!

What Jesus did with five loaves and two fishes is truly a miracle;

we can recreate that miracle on our own shores,

by turning our faces toward the oppressed, not away;

we cannot ignore our petty dislikes;

nor can we ignore our innate hating of those who are not us

those that our society turns from.

It is time to fulfill the two commandments given to us.

To love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.