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Friends,

I'm on the train home from New York City after three days of future planning. Will we have a future? It feels odd but we must just keep at the ordinariness of life as we protest, speak out, take a stand.

It's my last trip for a couple months. Hopefully I can get back into a good sleep routine.

Liz

I Have No King but Jesus.

No Kings III is coming up Saturday March 28. I have no King but Jesus. It's interesting because I am (mostly) a law abiding citizen. I don't think the United States should have a King, but if I traveled to a place with royalty, I'd still follow the rules.

I have no King but Jesus. And Jesus doesn't claim kingship in the way a government leader would. He wouldn't be president either. Jesus' way is the way of mutuality.

John 15:15-17 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

That's the gist of it. I want to live in a nation where we love one another, care for one another, create support services so that each person has enough. I do not want a King. I want a government that exists for the good of the governed.

No Kings events are effective in getting people out because they allow a common gathering even though individuals prioritize many different problems with our present leadership. Some will come with signs about immigrants, or about consequences for hanging out with pedophiles, or about not starting wars. People who care about vaccines, or climate change, or abortion rights or their trans family and neighbors can prioritize those issues. What we share is a commitment to democracy, and a belief that democracy would be better at addressing these issues. What we share is a commitment to the common good.

Non-violent marches and protests and rallies are important ways of speaking to our government. They never bring about immediate change, and for the most part leaders will insist they do not influence their actions. But the evidence is that they do matter, to our leaders, to others who see the events, and to the people who participate. They communicate that we are not alone in our concerns about what is going on.

Sometimes it is appropriate to engage in civil disobedience. The point of that is to provoke the powers in charge to show their real intent. When civil rights protestors marched, or sat at food counters, or showed up to register to vote, their hope was that the powers-that-be would be provoked to act. And that their actions would get visibility from the press and from the community. Gandhi's protests in India were never peaceful, its just that the violence came not from the protestors but from the British government. Is revealed the violent behaviors that had been hidden. People who claim neutrality see the violence of the government for what it is and become enraged.

Peaceful protests like No Kings Rallies are not intended to provoke. Our intention is mark our place. We, as a large, dispersed group are communicating to our government that we care about how we are governed. We are declaring that ours is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We gather to proclaim what we wish was true: that the United States has no King.

Our faith gives us very little guidance as to how to address political problems. God was opposed to placing Kings over Israel, but allowed it as it was what the people wanted. While the idea of (limited) democracy existed in the Roman Empire, what Israel experienced in the first century was domination. And Jesus' response to that domination was to encourage us to love God, love neighbor, and to care for the least of these. Let's get out and insist on it.

Tell me how protests in your town went.
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