Today I unburied my original “If My People” poem, revealing its date: November 4, 2006. George W. Bush was President. Many Christians were enthusiastic to have him, but nonetheless making complaints, some petty like the marriage tax, while ignoring much greater inequalities. They were crying out for the Ten Commandments to be posted in many public places and in schools. Meanwhile, on a popular site for Christian prophesies, the creator and administrator of the site reported that he had been receiving many stories of “strange” dreams about the White House that “no one” could understand. In one dream, Christians were coming to the White House, where their shoes were taken off and thrown out onto the White House Lawn. In another, Christians were coming into the White House, at first welcomed, then brought into a back room where they were beaten up. The administrator noted one more of specifics I can’t recall but also at the White House with Christians unwelcomed. The administrator asked all of his followers to “pray for the President” and that many were concerned for his safety.
How, I wondered, could “no one”
understand dreams as clear as these?
“Get out of her, My people,” I thought, then, shortly after, wrote this
poem. I hadn’t yet started this blog, so
it was later shared as one of my first posts, which you can read here, along
with its comments. After this repost of
the poem, I offer some thoughts for today, including the hope of the
phoenix. From its own ashes it is born,
a new creation, a finer one.
If My People
who are called by My
Name
will humble
themselves and pray
and seek My face
and turn from their
wicked ways,
then I will hear from
heaven,
will forgive their
sin,
and will heal their
land
But if My People
who are called by My
Name proclaim,
“Our Kingdom is not
of this world,”
yet they weep and
wail
when their kingdom of
the world
goes the way of the
world
and, for this, they
trust not in My Kingdom,
then My people have
not heard My voice
But if My People
who are called by My
Name cry out,
”Change their hearts
and minds!”
and cry not, “Change my heart and mind!”
and pound their fist
in prayer,
“Cleanse their heart, Oh Lord”
and not, “Cleanse my heart, Oh Lord,”
then My people have
not heard My voice
And if My people
who are called by My
Name say
“If the sinners stop
killing babies,
if the men stop
marrying men,
if the movie makers
dawn modesty,
if Caesar cuts taxes,
if the schools
discipline,
and if these people
and those people ad nauseum,”
and, for this, if My
People think
their marriages will
be saved,
their children will
follow Me,
and their land will
be healed
because those I seek
to save
have repented of
their ways,
and been rescued by a
political party
before I have saved
them,
then My people have
not heard My voice
If only My people
who are called by My
Name
will loosen the bonds
of wickedness
let the oppressed go
free,
bring the homeless
into their home,
clothe the naked,
and feed the hungry,
then I will hear from
heaven
and will heal their
land
But if My people
who are called by My
Name say
“We are sons of
David,
we are sons of
Abraham,
we are children of
great fathers,
so God is with us,”
and they honor Me
with their lips
and claim Me in their
hearts,
but they have set up
their high places,
and turned My gift
into a god
and cry for the right
to pledge allegiance to their god,
then My people have
not heard My voice
And if My people
who are called by My
Name
render more unto
Caesar
than the taxes and
votes that are Caesar’s
and render less unto
Me
than the humility and
trust that is Mine,
and with Caesar
commit adultery,
and if My shepherds
preach from the pulpit a political party
for salvation to the
nation,
and garner power for
themselves
through their flock
as a voting block
to bully those they
claim will save the nation,
then My people have
not heard My voice
If only My People
who are called by My
Name
will seek and save
the lost
not by Caesar,
but by My Power,
Cross and Blood,
and show compassion
to victims of calamity
and conservation to
My Creation,
then I will hear from
heaven
and will heal their
land
But if My People
proclaim My Law
upon those I seek to
save
and petition My Law
become a shrine,
and if My people do
not themselves follow My Law,
and if they weep,
wail and whine
when those I seek to
save
grumble against a
shrine for My Law,
then My people have
not heard My voice
And if My people
who are called by My
Name cry
cry out in fear,
“Touch not the wine
or the oil!”
and cry out in fear,
“We suffer the
hundred dollar marriage penalty!”
and worry not only
for their daily bread, but luxuries too,
and trust not in Me
or My promise to
clothe them
more than the birds
of the air
and the lilies of the
field,
then My people have
not heard My voice
If only My people
who are called by My
Name
will humble
themselves
and return to Me,
and trust in Me for
all their needs,
and trust they can do
all things through Me,
even grow in
obedience to My Law they seek to enshrine,
then I will hear from
heaven
and will heal their
land
But if My people
who are called by My
Name
see not with their
eyes,
and hear not with
their ears
the dreams I send
them
warning them to flee
adultery
and tell them in
dreams
the deceiver has
tricked them
and tell them in
dreams,
“Get out of her, My
People,”
and if they ask
instead
whether Babble-on is
okay
and receive only a
blank stare,
and send to thousands
an urgent message
to pray for him and
not for themselves,
then My people have
not heard My voice
And if My people
who are called by My
name
forsake My prophets
who cry out, “Wake
up!”
and behead My
prophets,
who proclaim to them, My people,
“Repent!
For the Kingdom
of God
by keeping for
themselves
the body of the
prophesy,
and cutting off for
themselves
the head of the
prophesy,
and instead display
the head
on a silver platter
for those I seek to save,
then My people have
not heard My voice
If only My people
who are called by My
Name
will love Me with all
their heart,
all their soul, mind
and strength,
and love their
neighbor as themselves,
then they will hear
My voice,
and I will hear from
heaven
and will heal their
land
11/4/06
We humans are given two main methods to heal our land. The first is to soften our feet, learn to walk gently, and begin to nurture the gift of Creation. This road is less traveled by because, although in the long term it is easier, it also calls for discipline and humility. The second method is to grind our feet even deeper into the dirt and so hard the land is destroyed, then, after a time, it is reborn, fresh and new. This second method is the common road, the one most traveled by. At first, it looks easier – until the day of the destruction. Then, it is the hard road. The good news is that the hard road can build something even better. It fully destroys, then fully rebuilds.
We stand at the door of our downfall. Unlike in 2006, when I first wrote the poem, or even in 2010, when I first posted it to this blog, I see the easier but disciplined and humble first road to be no longer possible. Each of us individually, of course, can humble ourselves and turn from our own ways, as we should, for that is how real change happens. For me, it means recognizing in humility my own petty worries over my retirement savings during this appropriate “Sell America” trade. In light of such severe injustices to a great many throughout the world, I must face how small this is of me. I am also to show love and mercy to my fellow countrymen, no matter their sight or lack thereof, while persistently and peacefully calling for justice and freedom for all people. I go down with the ship too, so my own calling is to do so gently, without anger.
One way I can do so is to hold onto
the hope of the phoenix. The downfall is
coming, but so is the new creation, the new Earth, the one that will uplift all
of humanity, where all of our resources will be shared one with another, where
each creation on our planet is dignified and celebrated. What comes between now and then will not be
easy. May we fall gently.
