January 20-B, 2023

Coming to Jesus
is coming to ourselves,
is coming to.

Jesus had to come to Jesus
by coming to himself,
by coming to.

In the wilderness,
in the lonely vigils at night,
in Gethsemane,
on Golgotha.

We all have to follow the same path,
in coming to terms with the discrepancy
between how things are
and how we want them to be,
and what we can do about the disparity.

That will grow us up--
and that's the last thing 
we want to be--
as a quick glance 
at the political framework
currently trying to destroy
life as we know it
(Every despot ever has been fascist
to the core,
has taxed the poor 
to benefit the rich,
and has called Social Security/
Medicare "Entitlement Programs,"
and equated them with "Socialism,"
terms that create heavy smoke
where there is no fire
to divert/sidetrack the conversation
into the wilderness of noise,
drama
and complexity
to hide their own corruption
and deceit,
and coverup their own wrongdoings).

Deception and denial keep us safely
away from the truth of how things are,
which is what growing up requires of everyone.

This is not a grown up culture,
or one that has any chance ever of growing up,
which makes the true counter-culture
one that understands growing up to be
the price of admission
to life as it must be lived--
what coming to Jesus is all about!

Jesus saw what was what
and what needed to be done about it,
and turned over the money-changers tables,
setting up the Sanhedrin/Pilate scheme
to rid the world of just another trouble-maker,
via a cross on a Friday called "Good."

The truth is "a harsh task-master,"
requiring grown-ups for the task
that is always at hand.
And we do not come to that task
without going through ourselves
and how it is with us,
not-wanting as we do,
anything to do with it--
with the truth,
with the task,
with the work at hand.

Coming to Jesus is coming to the truth
of ourselves
and what needs to be done about it
in order to be who the situation calls
us to be,
in each situation as it arises,
all our life long.

The fascists won't have anything to do
with that.

How about us?

Where do we stand? 

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