Monday Morning Musing: Beauty and the Beast

Yesterday, as I was shaking hands coming out of worship, a woman grasped my hand in hers and asked, "Is Trump the Anti-Christ?" I laughed to, you know, lighten the moment and responded sincerely that I didn't think he was smart enough to fill that role. Until the person behind me followed up, saying that they thought that evil exists in many forms and he is one such form. It's a hard thing to lighten the mood for long these days.

That was followed almost immediately by my cell phone blowing up with the news that Elon Musk and DOGE are coming after the Lutherans, saying that we are laundering money through our agency work.

I want to be clear: Lutheran social service agencies have, for years and years and decades upon decades taken care of the most vulnerable among us. Immigrants, the hungry, orphans, and those impacted by natural and human made disasters. We have done this work only and entirely because it is central to our faith. Because the Gospel compels us. Funding is provided privately by the good folks who sit in our pews and sing the hymns and pray and gather and believe AND by government loans and grants. Government money is granted because they know we can provide a social safety net in a way the government cannot. And this is important in a civilized society.

Only this is where it becomes questionable, here in the third week of this administration. Are we still a civilized society? Or does MAGA mean going back to an entirely uncivilized and unfaithful time? When women and dark skinned people and the queer community didn't have rights. When we, in fact, didn't acknowledge, recognize or affirm anything other than the straight white man.

Perhaps you've read/heard that the pace at which basic rights are being erased (among other ill conceived policy changes) is intended to overwhelm us. That's the point. This administration must know, even if the current president isn't smart enough to realize, that not everything they throw at the wall will stick. States and churches and agencies and nations and people will take it to court. (You GO Quakers!)

The question I'm being asked most often is: What Do We Do Now? or some form of it. And I do try to listen more deeply to determine whether it's really directed at what we do as a society or a sane people or a Church or is the 'we' really more of an 'I'? About half the time, this question is about how 'we' as individual I's are going to make it through this. Some of us have more to lose than others. Some of us are sitting in our homes this morning, looking at the snow on the rooftops and hoping that our bank accounts and IRS records are boring enough to the teenagers working with Elon Musk that they'll move on to something else. But not all of us have the luxury of being able to pause for this long. Some of us must determine whether our basic rights are about to be taken away. (Okay, only straight white men don't have this worry).

If you know me well, you know that I'm a list-maker. I don't think I could get through a day without at least one list to guide me. Making lists at the end of the day, for tomorrow's tasks, helps me rest at night. It lets my mind turn off toward sleep.

So, to answer the question as best as I can on this particular morning, I'm going to share my two lists for Getting Through It.

List One: How We Live for the Common Good

1. Figure out one way to stand up for what is right every day. Some suggestions: call your senator or representative. Take food to the food pantry. Send a donation to a refugee resettlement agency or an LGTBQIA+ agency.

2. Decide ahead of time who and what you are willing to listen to. Can your spirit hear the news or do you need a podcast about growing old? (I recommend Julie Louise Dreyfus' "Wiser Than Me") Can you hear out your crazy uncle/neighbor/classmate or do you need to kindly stop the conversation for the sake of the relationship?

3. Practice extra kindness along the way: to the store clerk or the receptionist or the person who cut you off in traffic.

4. Review how and where you spend your money and time. This is a particularly difficult one for me, as I love the convenience of the 'zon and Target has long been my place to buy whatever I need. But I'm going to pledge to shop more locally and whenever possible to support businesses owned by minorities and the queer community. (Looking at you Sweetlees' Ice Cream! Hooray!)

5. Find community. Maybe this is at the gym or walking through your neighborhood or in a book group or at church. But find your people and together, work for what is right.

   
   

   List Two: How To Care For Your Soul

   1. Every morning, read and/or listen to something that fills you. Poetry, beautiful writing, a podcast, music, holy texts. Start the day that way. (So much to recommend but check out Carrie Newcomer's song "You Can Do This Hard Thing")

   2. Light a candle to remind yourself that the light still shines. (Doing 1 & 2 together is wondrous.)

   3. Note the beautiful things around you - even the smallest beautiful thing. Fill your home or workspace with something beautiful - flowers, art, or whatever you love to look at. Mary Oliver said: "We need beauty because it makes us ache to be worthy of it."

   4. Walk, if you can, preferably outdoors. It's good for body and spirit.

   5. Write a note of gratitude to someone every week. Tell them why you are thankful for their presence in the world. This can be someone you love, or someone you don't know, or even, and especially, beloveds, to yourself.

   
   
   
   

   

   delicate flowers backlit by the sun in the window