Growing up where I did and in the little church I did, I had no idea that people like me – White, Straight, Protestant, Male – had any advantages over people who did not fit into those categories. I didn’t see systemic biases and, as far as I could understand, I didn’t get any breaks for being in the majority. As I learned about the world – as I grew up and got educated – I began to see the micro- and macro-aggressions that are lived out every day against certain groups. From my self-centered perspective, I was just trying to survive, like so many other people. The God I learned about in Sunday school and church wasn’t a God that was used to control or injure others. As I listened to many of the stories in Scripture, however, I learned that God, in fact, was often used by people in power to control or injure others. It was a turning point in my theological growth.
I remember when the first bank in my county opened on a Sunday. The owners were Jewish, but a lot of voices were raised in anger at the very idea of a business being open on Sunday. I was pretty young, but aware enough to know that most businesses were open on Friday night and Saturday when my Jewish friends and neighbors were supposed to be at their “church” (yes – I joke). I saw the inherent bias and hypocrisy of these protests when most of the adults in my church did not. They tried to use their power to force the owners of the bank to close but were unsuccessful. It was my first taste of people attempting to use their God – their religion – to force others to do their bidding. When your God is power, you do things like that.
Now, we see it everywhere, and it has been happening for a long time. Passing laws to favor your religion is unconstitutional, and yet it is being done all over America. Claiming Christians or Christmas or Jesus are under attack while, in fact, it is quite the opposite. Using money and political power to buy elections, like Elon Musk is doing, so your version of God wins. Meanwhile, I worship a weak God, murdered by a government that was not too different from our own. When your god is power, you don’t need a God who had no power; you choose a god of money and bias and control. In fact, you don’t need God at all. Which seems to have won the day in America. It is not about faith, and God isn’t fooled. You have chosen your god.
Prayer – Holy God, forgive us when we choose other gods over You. And have mercy on our souls. Amen.
Today’s art is “Control” by Laura Barbosa.