The Land of Gloom

" Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom, where but now there was distress. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shown. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster, you have smashed." -[Isaiah 8: 23- 9:3].

In this Scripture passage, Isaiah warns of conditions where corruption by the rulers has generated weakness, and infighting in its leadership; and where the poor have suffered from class disparity.

But Isaiah also speaks of the time when a great Light will come to dispel the darkness, where the land of gloom will become a place where "anguish has taken wing."

We live today,  in times where political corruption and infighting has made American leadership weak. Too many citizens still live in poverty and hopelessness, whereas our leaders busy themselves with greed or egotism.

This political debate reminds me of when the disciples were arguing with each other over who was the greatest among them? Jesus sternly reminds them that the least among all, and the servant of all, is the greatest.

I remember when I was growing up, and my family would talk disparagingly of the poor or the immigrant. My father had jeering names for them all-- blacks, Latinos, Jews, the Polish, Italians.
My sibling and I would laugh at him, because his name-calling was so extreme; we thought he must be joking.

But my father would say, "Why are you laughing? I am deadly serious!"

I grew up with no allies. Only my grandfather, who died when I was ten. My sibling used to verbally abuse me. My mother would say, "You are too sensitive." So then, his abuse escalated to hitting me. I would hide in my room. My mother gave me scoldings for being "anti-social". So, emboldened, he would round up the neighborhood kids to bully me, and booby trap my room. My dad took his anger out on me.  My mother let the abuse continue. She took to calling me a Failure. She threatened to disown me.

I have learned that Hate readily escalates, if it is not nipped in the bud. When Hate and Fear rule, we become less than human.

Even as a child, I became a collector of people -- a "Fisher of Men." My family ruled people out. I ruled them in. I had to, to survive.

Mrs. Conway used to feed me generous snacks when I went hungry. Mrs. O'Brien let me swim in her above-ground pool with her daughter. My friend Meggie's mom used to give me rides when she saw me walking in the rain.

We have lost the capacity to be Fishers of Men. If a person wears the "wrong" kind of shoes and drives the "wrong" kind of car, we speculate on their political party or their social class. We even dismiss them as "deplorable" or untouchable. Not only do we denigrate them, we refuse to speak to them. We make sure our paths never cross. We shove them into neighborhoods which we never enter.  We render them invisible.

We argue over who is the greatest leader of our time. But we forget who is the Greatest King of all time.

Above all, we forget that we are all connected. We belong to each other.

No matter how divisive our times, I will not stop talking to everyone and anyone. We are all brothers and sisters, inextricably connected.

Before you torch someone who is against abortion, for example, take the time to learn that the Pro-Lifer may have that view because she was almost never born, and faced death many, many times over. Understand that she is not a "religious fanatic" or an ignorant person whose 'backward ideas' must change. It is just that, in a very personal and gut-wrenching way, she learned the abiding Truth that ALL life is precious.

Realize also, before you hate someone who has had an abortion, that perhaps she found herself in a precarious position as a result of prolonged abuse. She was young, distraught, uncounseled.  She is today in constant trauma over the abortion, haunted both awake and asleep, with visions of the child who never came to be. I have known women like this in my life. It is painful to witness.

We must figure out, once again, how to be Fishers of Men; how to sit down, eye-to-eye and soul-to- soul and really communicate. We must begin again, to rule others IN -- not out.

Jesus broke bread with sinners and corrupt officials. There was no one so beneath him, that he could not engage with them.

We  must cast out our nets and pull others towards us, not against us. Our very survival depends upon it.

[Related Postings: "Come After Me", 1/27/11; "Fishers of Men", 1/21/12; "Putting Out in Deep Water", 2/10/13; "Fishing Manual", 1/24/15].

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