#forGodsolovedtheworld
So what you need is liberation.
Everyone need it. Liberation.
The young and old they need liberation.
Lets come together for the liberation.
If you are in bondage. Liberation.
If you are not free you need liberation.
Lets unite for the liberation.
Everyone need it. Liberation.
--Liberation by The Wailers
“Let my people go,” said the Lord to Pharaoh. No doubt the protesters “liberating” Michigan fancy themselves prophets sent by God to an oppressive governor keeping them captive.
Are you kidding me? How did the message of God’s liberating will become so distorted that we cannot understand the difference between being enslaved to sin and death and being quarantined to save lives?
“Let my people go,” said the Lord to Pharaoh. The voice of former prince who returned to his roots and discovered the reality of the common person echoes throughout history, with names like Moses, Esther, Isaiah, Jesus, Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero, the mothers of the disappeared. How dare a bunch of white, armed, free citizens of one of the most powerful countries in the world present themselves as an oppressed people needing liberation!
The chorus of “Liberation” by The Wailers reminds us of our common plight. But the verses point to the visible signs of our captivity, and the ones that bring death out of the shadows and into our view.
For it is not the quarantine that imprisons us. It is not even the virus. It is the racism, classism, and ageism that shackles us. It is greed that eats us alive. It is the other six of the deadly sins that bury us in mass graves together. The protesters manifest this selfish way through their misidentification of oppressor and oppressed. Their brazen show of power behind a gun betrays the prison of death and sin from which we all need liberation.
So yes, join their chorus, “Liberate Michigan. Liberate Wisconsin. Liberate Virginia, and Georgia, and New York, and Germany, and all the peoples in every land! Come, Lord, to save us all.”
But not from the quarantine.
“Free us, Lord, from ourselves. Complete your new covenant by writing your law of love upon our hearts so that all will know the Lord. For you alone have the words of life. Come, Lord, to save us.”
While we await the day of the Lord, stay home. Wash your hands. Protect the lives of all those who cannot stay home because they are caring for our rich and poor, our black and brown and white neighbors, our old ones, and young ones, our brilliant ones, and even the ill-behaved who block their way to work.
“For God so loved the world…” and so they have, and so shall we.
bevfriedlander 