#its literally just a threat. any suggestiveness is in the eye of the beholder. so. it’s up to you.

[floofanflurr]

I have normal feelings about him, OKAY??? NORMAL. I’M SO NORMAL. (FUCK, MY FEELINGS ARE SO FAR FROM NORMAL)

[evolutionsvoid]

Chalice of Oblivion, Keeper of the Forgetful River, Lethe is one of five aquatic beasts that dwell within the rivers of the underworld. Lethe is master of the river that bears the same name, which is known as the river of forgetfulness. Due to her spending most of her time in the depths, many only see Lethe as the stony tower of crowns and cups that may emerge from the river. For newcomers in the underworld, this structure is often mistaken for a natural formation, mainly because she doesn't move all that fast or often. However, she is not restricted to the water, as she can slither into the shallows and even travel across dry land. When not fully submerged, a body of thickened, gooey water is formed. Much like a snail carrying a massive shell, this watery body allows her to crawl onto land and interact with the environment. Tentacles are formed to grab or bat away annoyances, and multiple "heads" are made to aid in navigation and observation. There has been an endless debate over which part is the "true" body of Lethe, as some believe it is the stony spire, while others say it is the slimy form beneath it. Since the gooey body is not seen when she is underwater, some believe this is proof that it is a temporary "appendage" of the main rocky body that is made in times of need. The counter argument is that since Lethe inhabits the waters she dwells in, this gooey body mixes with the surrounding water and is invisible to the mortal eye. Even though it cannot be seen, her consciousness still exists in that watery form. The true fools of this debate are the ones who suggest asking her for the answer, as they apparently are ignorant to what her entire deal is.   As master of the forgetful river, Lethe's power are tied to these infernal waters. The towering structure of her form sucks in vast quantities of water, keeping a portion of the fluid while ejecting the rest. The many "chalices" that emerge from her back carry this water, steeping it with her powers while preserving it for special occasions. Much like the river, Lethe has the ability to empty the minds of those who make contact with her slimy form or tainted fluid. Any water she touches will be given this property, with the potency depending on how long contact was made. To be affected by this forgetfulness, one simply needs to be exposed to this water, no matter the form of method. Physical contact affects the short-term memory of those who are exposed, with a simple splash able to make one forget what they were doing or what had happened minutes before. Any poor soul who is sucked into her body or submerged in this infected water will fall into a comatose state, as their body literally forgets what to do. This is not a permanent state, as one needs to remove the victim from the source and let them dry off for the effects to start waning. However, time of exposure determines how long before they wake, with minutes translating into days before they come to. Those who drink this water will have their long-term memory affected, as the tainted fluid deletes memories and knowledge. It is said that Lethe's water goes after the oldest memories first, moving closer to the present the more one drinks. If one is not careful, they can wipe out all memories of themselves and literally forget who they are. The older a person is, the more water they can ingest before this occurs. Due to Lethe's sluggish nature, many may think themselves safe from her power, but one should know that her abilities are infectious. Any body of water she dwells in will be contaminated with this forgetfulness, the effects growing stronger the longer she sits in it. When she wanders into the mortal realm or other places she shouldn't be, she can easily contaminate water sources for towns and villages, leading to plagues of memory loss and confusion. Thankfully, this contamination is not permanent, as the effects will slowly fade away once she gets out of the water. It is said that the way to tell if the water is infected or not is to watch the fish. If the fish swim in endless circles or float about mindlessly, then the water body is still steeped in her presence.   With her imposing size and mind-wiping abilities, Lethe is a rather intimidating beast to behold and newcomers to the underworld often fear her like the others. Once they learn more about her, they then realize she is the least of their worries. Her titles of forgetfulness and oblivion do not just apply to her powers and home, as she too suffers from memory loss and an empty mind. Lethe is a very slow and sluggish being, content to sit in the depths and do nothing much else. When she moves, it is at a snail's pace and often has no real goal. Turns out that her attention span is incredibly short, and she tends to forget what she is doing. The times when she wanders or leaves the river are usually caused by her deciding to go somewhere but then forgetting the destination. Knowing only that she wanted to be somewhere, but clueless to the place or reason, she will just keep moving and figure the thought will come back to her. It rarely ever does. Due to this slow and absent-minded behavior, Lethe is hardly a threat to the residents of the underworld. The only issues she may cause is when she is close to the surface and has to "sneeze." This act is her clearing out the system that pumps water through her body, be there an obstacle blocking something or a piece of debris causing irritation. To rid herself of this, she will fire a short powerful burst of water to clean things out, which is fine when she is fully submerged. If she is in a shallow part of the river, her towering back will jut from the surface. When she "sneezes," the pressurized water will spray out from her chalices and form a drizzling mist of forgetfulness. This cloud may drift through the underworld, affecting all who are exposed to it. This usually leads to a short outbreak of confusion throughout the underworld, where everyone forgets what they were doing or what was happening for the last ten minutes. Some idiots have suggested that the ruler of this realm talk to Lethe and get her to stop doing that. These dumb suggestions are ignored, as many have already tried to talk with her and have found conversation to be almost impossible. How can she follow such a rule if one cannot even finish a sentence before she nods off?   --------------------------------------- Here is a project I just finished recently that fits perfectly for the month of Kaijune: The Beasts of the Infernal Rivers! Turns out the Greek underworld has more than the river Styx, as there are five rivers in total! And since each river had its own name and characteristics, it felt perfect for a project, so I decided to make sea monsters/river monsters that embodied each! Also a heads up, when I first chose this project, I was going to have each river beast be female. Later I learned some of the rivers were masculine in name and had gods instead of goddesses attributed to it. However, I already committed to all of them being ladies, so I am just kind of ignoring that part. Oops!  

[leviathan-supersystem]

i feel like people need to get a better understanding of how certain reactionary memeplexes, particularly those relating to conspiracy theories, work.

okay, remember how westpal shut up real quick when i mentioned that his avatar was from the cover of Behold a Pale Horse? i suspect that’s because he has some level of self awareness, in spite of it all- here’s a brief summary of the book’s relevant segments, swiped from wikipedia:

In Behold a Pale Horse Cooper proposed that AIDS was the result of a conspiracy to decrease the populations of blacks, Hispanics, and homosexuals.[8] In 2000 South Africa's Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang received criticism for distributing the chapter discussing this theory to senior South African government officials.[13]Nicoli Nattrass, a longtime critic of AIDS denialists, criticized Tshabalala-Msimang for lending legitimacy to Cooper's theories and disseminating them in Africa.[10]

UFOs, aliens and the Illuminati

Cooper caused a sensation in Ufology circles in 1988 when he claimed to have seen secret documents while in the Navy describing governmental dealings with extraterrestrials, a topic on which he expanded in Behold a Pale Horse.[6] (By one account he served as a "low level clerk" in the Navy, and as such would not have had the security clearance needed to access classified documents.[14])  UFOlogists later asserted that some of the material that Cooper claimed to have seen in Naval Intelligence documents was actually plagiarized verbatim from their research, including several items that the UFOlogists had fabricated as pranks.[15] Don Ecker of UFO Magazine ran a series of exposés on Cooper in 1990.[16]

Cooper linked the Illuminati with his beliefs that extraterrestrials were secretly involved with the United States government, but later retracted these claims. He accused Dwight D. Eisenhower of negotiating a treaty with extraterrestrials in 1954, then establishing an inner circle of Illuminati to manage relations with them and keep their presence a secret from the general public. Cooper believed that aliens "manipulated and/or ruled the human race through various secret societies, religions, magic, witchcraft, and the occult", and that even the Illuminati were unknowingly being manipulated by them.[6]

Cooper described the Illuminati as a secret international organization, controlled by the Bilderberg Group, that conspired with the Knights of Columbus, Masons, Skull and Bones, and other organizations. Its ultimate goal, he said, was the establishment of a New World Order. According to Cooper the Illuminati conspirators not only invented alien threats for their own gain, but actively conspired with extraterrestrials to take over the world.[6]  Cooper believed that James Forrestal's fatal fall from a window on the sixteenth floor of Bethesda Hospital was connected to the alleged secret committee Majestic 12, and that JASON advisory group scientists reported to an elite group of Trilateral Commission and Council on Foreign Relations executive committee members who were high-ranking members of the Illuminati.[2][3]

Cooper also claimed that the antisemitic conspiracy theory forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was actually an Illuminati work, and instructed readers to substitute "Sion" for "Zion", "Illuminati" for "Jews",  and "cattle" for "Goyim".[3][17][18]

okay so you get the gist here. the usual dumb shit you see in the right-wing conspiracy theory zone.

now, to be clear, i’m not dismissing the idea that people, and the ruling class in particular, might, at times, conspire- indeed, i’m about to go out on a limb here and suggest there may in fact be something to the notion that AIDS was deliberately manufactured, or at least that the government was guilty of severe purposeful neglect.

this is not synonymous with believing in illuminati or UFO crap without evidence- though the purpose of this book, i suspect, is to try to tie those two things indelibly together in people’s minds. not to mention the obvious barely disguised buildup to antisemitism at the end there.

the purpose is twofold- the first to discredit any investigation into there being more of a story behind AIDS, the second to try to lure left-wing leaning people toward right-wing extremism, the mechanism being obvious- first, they’re lured in by wanting to know more about the possibility that AIDS was deliberately engineered to target black and gay communities, something which obviously would have more appeal to those on the left. once lured in, it hits them with the alien bullshit, as well as the inherently reactionary illuminati nonsense, then tops that off by presenting literally the entire text of the protocols of the elders of fucking zion to really start bringing them into the reactionary worldview- but, knowing that the person reading is likely from a left-wing background, an extremely weak effort is made to disguise the antisemitism- “oh, it wasn’t about jewish people, oh no, it was about uhhhhhhhhhhh illuminati” and then if they swallow that, it’s only a short hop from there to “nevermind, it was about jewish people after all.” it’s a tactic used to gradually acclimate people to antisemitism. manipulative “milk before meat” tactics.

you can see the results of this play out in action with Tila Tequila- obviously she didn’t pop out of the womb seig heiling, and there was quite a bit of buildup in the form of new-agey anti-illuminati conspiracy theorism before she became a full-fledged genocidal neonazi.

and the thing is, if there had been an intervention at the right time, she could have been saved from that, before becoming completely conditioned into an ideology which is immensely harmful to so many people.

so, if possible, it’s good to try to ascertain how deep in someone is- have they been completely re-conditioned into a hardline reactionary? or is there still time to help them see what’s happening to them, and stop it?

for example here: [link] this person is clearly deeply in the clutches of reactionary psychological warfare, but it seemed to me like there might still be some hope for them, so i tried to intervene to help them get a better understanding of the nature of the ruling class and so forth.

but, if you’re going to intervene in this way, you need to do some background research first- just going in there and shouting “illuminati fake!” won’t cut it, especially because there was, in fact, an actual historical group called the illuminati, and to effectively grapple with this kind of thing, you’re going to need to have an understanding of what that group’s history was, and how they became such a boogeyman in the reactionary narrative in the first place. to explore this, let’s look at what Behold A Pale Horse has to say about it- which, interestingly, is shockingly little- the name “Weishaupt” (the founder of the actual irl illuminati) appears only 10 times in the whole text:

Adam  Weishaupt,  a  young  professor  of  canon  law  at  Ingolstadt  University  in  Germany,  was  a  Jesuit  priest  and  an  initiate  of  the  Illuminati.  The  branch  of  the  Order  he  founded  in  Germany  in  1776  was  the  same  Illuminati  previously  discussed.

the “branch” in question is actually just. the illuminati. it wasn’t a “branch” of a larger pre-existing movement, as Milton here is claiming, and indeed, he never provides any meaningful evidence of any pre-existing illuminati before weischaupt’s group. in fact, he points to the lack of evidence prior to then as proof of how strong their oath of silence was. of course he does.

Weishaupt  advocated  "abolition  of  all  ordered  national  governments,  abolition  of  inheritance,  abolition  of  private  property,  abolition  of  patriotism,  abolition  of  the  individual  home  and  family  life  as  the  cell  from  which  all  civilizations  have  stemmed,  and  abolition  of  all  religions  established  and  existing  so  that  the  Luciferian  ideology  of  totali-  tarianism may be imposed on mankind."

In  the  same  year  that  he  founded  the  Illuminati  he  published  Wealth  of  Nations,  the  book  that  provided  the  ideological  foundation  for  capitalism  and  for  the  Industrial  Revolution.  It  is  no  accident  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  written  in  the  same  year.  On  the  obverse  of  the  Great  Seal  of  the  United  States  the  wise  will  recognize  the  all-seeing  eye  and  other  signs of the Brotherhood of the Snake 

this is interesting here because there’s a strange tension between the anti-communism of contemporary reactionism, and the anti-liberalism and anti-republicanism of the earlier reactionary movements, which anti-illuminati ideology is an echo of.

the first anti-illuminati conspiracy theorists was the reactionary monarchist priest Agustin Barruel, and all anti-illuminism traces back particularly to his book Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism. inerestingly, he did not at any point in this book accuse them of ruling the world, or wanting to establish “totalitarian” rule! quite the opposite in fact- the illuminati and other enlightenment movements of the time were accused of  "conspiracy of impiety" against God and Christianity, the "conspiracy of rebellion" against kings and monarchs, and "the conspiracy of anarchy" against society in general. if you understand anything about Augustin Barruel’s politics, you’ll understand that Augustin was if anything, profoundly in favor of “totalitarianism”, particularly that of the king and the church. he wrote angry screeds against the illuminati precisely because they were anti-totalitarian, and espoused democratic values.

but over time, this reactionary social current had to change with the times. thus the strange tension between accusing weishaupt of both wanting to abolish private property and being behind the publication of Wealth of Nations.

for the record, no, i can’t find any evidence that weishaupt published Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations- but that accusation is nonetheless much more in the spirit of Augustin Barruel’s original accusations that the illuminati were behind the spread of enlightenment values, while the accusation he was against private property sits as an obvious later attempt to incongruously graft anti-communist reactionary talking points onto  framework which originated in a reactionary anti-republican pro-monarchist context.

its interesting to see how a rectionary memeplex which was, in it’s origins, overtly pro-ruling class, and overtly anti-populist- as anti-illuminism was in it’s origins in the work of Augustin Barruel- over time get dressed up more and more with the character of a kind of artificial class-consciousness, where a short-lived progressive discussion group has been mythologized into this sort of decoy mirage stand-in for the ruling class, to divert people from developing any real understanding of the actual capitalist ruling class.

at any rate, it’s important to understand the origin an nature of this reactionary social current if you want to effectively help people who are caught up in it- to show them this history so they can see how, in their attempt to oppose the ruling class, they’ve been suckered into a reactionary ideology which is, in both it’s historical origins and contemporary functions, engineered to uphold the ruling class. 

[licorescence]

A State of Duress

Fandom: 終わりのセラフ | Owari no Seraph | Seraph of the End

Rating: T

Pairing: Mikaela Hyakuya x Yuuichirou Hyakuya (MikaYuu)

Notes: Ancient China-setting + Serious!Mika x Playful/Sly!Yuu

Warnings: Cussing/swearing, assassination attempt

A/N: A simple one shot based on the fic, Empire of Scarlet (planned by three amazing people), to celebrate Chinese New Year~ ^_^ If you’re confused with the use of the secondary names included, it’s because it is common practice in Ancient China to have courtesy names and titles to address people in society as a way to show respect. Also, it’s practiced during the Qin dynasty for Emperors to address themselves with the Imperial “We”. With that said, please enjoy~

——————————————————————————————————

"Your Highness, it is time to take your medicine." Scholar Kimizuki Shiho - courtesy name, Kiseki - reminded his king gently as he presented a bowl of liquid bitterness for the Emperor to drink. "The imperial physician told me that the headaches are becoming worse, and suggested to increase the dosage of ginseng root.”

"Ah... Leave it there, Kiseki. We still have work to finish..." Emperor Shindo Mikaela - title, Shikama-dōji - mumbled while he stared down on his study desk with multiple scrolls and maps scattered around. With a brush at hand, he wrote numerous theories and suggestions in neat calligraphy.

Shiho could only look at his Emperor’s back silently and sigh with a small frown. He place the bowl on a nearby table as he said, "Your Highness, this subject is worried for your health. You must not strain your dragon body no matter how much work you want to accomplish. There is still tomorrow; why does your Highness wish to rush things?"

Mikaela's hand pause.

"... Kiseki would not understand how we feel," Mikaela replied, but he put down his brush which brought Shiho some relief. "Every day, we feel danger around us. We would not know when we will die, so it is best that we finish this work as fast as possible. We fear that our time is short..."

Upon hearing that Mikaela was being threatened, Shiho became furious.

"---To force your Highness in such a state, who is it that wishes to court death so badly?" Shiho growled as a sense of protectiveness overcame him. "This subject shall tighten the security around the palace at once...!"

"..."

Mikaela watched silently from the corner of his eye as Shiho stomped away from his chambers, leaving him in the quiet, dimly lit room. Once the door to his quarters shut, a thin steel as sharp as a beast’s fang came from within the darkness, and made its way to his neck in an instant, surprising the Emperor a bit.

"Not bad. I didn't think your Highness could act so well despite having a knife on his throat. You have my praise." A playful voice complimented behind Mikaela's ear.

"If it would save any bloodshed, then I'm willing to take risks." Mikaela hissed as he dropped all formalities, but dared not to move as he tightly asked, "What do you want?" 

The assassin chuckled at the boldness of his prey. "You know what I want, your Highness. 

Mikaela frowned a bit at this person's vagueness before he replied curtly, "... My death will not satisfy you. If your goal is to take this empire from me, then you have to be accepted by everyone in the imperial court."

The assassin hummed. "As tempting as having the empire sounds, that is sadly not my goal, your Highness. It is a bit more personal, you see..." 

Personal…? 

Mikaela pondered for moment, combing into his memories on what could possibly be the reason why an assassin would come after his life. He knew that he wasn't terrible in his rule enough for people to rebel. In fact, Mikaela was quite good in handling his imperial duties in spite of his young age as he contributed much to the welfare of his people and formed peaceful relations with his neighboring kingdoms. The citizens felt like he was a literal blessing to them as oppose to his predecessor who was a tyrant that made their lives miserable day by day. 

Does this mean... 

"Are you, perhaps... A former vassal of the previous Emperor?" Mikaela asked while he carefully glanced over to his side to get a glimpse of the predator.

"Close, but not quite. Allow me to correct you." The assassin laughed dryly while he leaned close to whisper on Mikaela's ear. His hot breath tickled against skin to make just the smallest hint of goosebumps to rise on Mikaela’s flesh. "I'm his son." 

Mikaela's eyes widened considerably before he lifted his arm and swatted his assiliant away in blinding speed, causing the other to pull back at a certain distance. However, Mikaela managed to reach out for his shoulder and push him to the ground with a loud slam, earning him a grunt as the impact made the assassin lose his grip on the weapon which clattered to the floor.

"Who are you?" The Emperor demanded once he was out of danger, his eyes examining the intruder's appearance as best as he could against the candle light. 

"Like I said, I'm the son of the previous Emperor. You can call me, hmm... Ah! Asura! How about that?" The assassin answered with a huff, wincing every now and then at the newly blossomed pain on his body. "Why are you surprised, Shikama-dōji? Something like this shouldn't be new to you."

"From what I learned, the imperial records never mentioned that bastard having a son." Mikaela spoke firmly. "If you dare lie to me once more, I will not hesitate to execute you." 

"Such benevolence. However, I'm merely speaking the truth here. May lightning strike me should I ever utter silvery words towards your highness." The assassin, calling himself Asura, swore with a smile forming underneath the black cloth that hid his face. His green eyes shone with defiance. "I'm merely taking back the position that was rightfully mine. What's wrong about that?"

Mikaela scoff, not believing the other’s claim. He thought this man must be delusional if he were to think that he was related to that tyrant of an Emperor. "There's nothing to take back here. I have already rewritten the laws and customs. I made sure that your dynasty is no more within the lives of these people." 

"Ah, it seems your Highness has misunderstood once again." Asura taunted as his eyes stared up to the Emperor’s. "I don't care about dynasties. All I care about is putting fear into you; to haunt you everywhere you go as a reminder that the throne you were sitting on wasn't yours, you thief." 

To hear this unknown man call the Emperor a thief, of all things, made Mikaela's blood boil angrily. His blue eyes constrict with intent. 

“While I’m a patient person, I do have my limits, Asura. You best don’t test it while I’m still being nice, or I’ll rip out that lovely tongue off your mouth.” 

“Oh, you better not forget those words, your Highness. I will be disappointed if you do.” Asura teased in delight at the thought of being killed by Mikaela, and he placed a forefinger in between them, where their lips were just inches away from each other. “However, I still want to play, so please entertain me for a bit more.”

“Who in the heavens would want to play with---Mmph…?!”

Mikaela’s mouth was sealed with a kiss against a black cloth. It took him a moment to realize that the assassin was kissing him, and Mikaela fiercely brushed the other off of him with a gasp. Asura used the momentum to free himself from Mikaela’s grasp and jump up to an open window.

“As much as I want to stay, I have to bid your Highness farewell.” Asura grinned with a tap of his finger on his lips. “This little thing will serve as a seal to our small promise~”

Mikaela coughed and wiped his lips ferociously on his sleeve, still tasting fiber cloth on his mouth while he attempted to catch Asura. “You--! Stop right there!”

Asura chuckled before he disappeared into the night. The damn man was too quick on his feet, and it made Mikaela’s temper snap on the fact that his first kiss was stolen by a lowly scum like him. How dare he?!

“---GUARDS!”

The spectacle of an angry Emperor was truly a sight to behold, especially if said Emperor was the pacifist Mikaela. To see his calm and composed expression fall apart by not only being threatened, but also having his first kiss stolen brought a gleeful smile on Yuichiro’s lips. Who knew that it was easy to provoke the Emperor with just the right actions and words?

“I just fooled around for a bit, and then he cracks just like that. How fun~” Young master, Hyakuya Yuichiro – courtesy name, Asura – gloated as he watched on a tree at how Mikaela was fuming and yelling at his guards frantically to search out for him, lighting up the dark palace in the late hours of the evening.

“You’re being careless, young master.” Saotome Yoichi – courtesy name, Gekkouin – murmured beside Yuichiro as he lowered the cloth on his mouth. He held up a couple of manuals towards his companion. “I got the books you ask for. I know it’s not my place to say this but… I think young master’s martial arts is already perfect. Why must you resort to steal knowledge from the royal palace?”

“Well, Gekkouin… If I am to give some balance in our game, then it’s only fair of me to know everything that his Highness is knowledgeable of.” Yuichiro smirked as he took the books from Yoichi, pleased. “That way, I can match him in his wits. His Highness will surely be shaken up that he has a competitor after years of having no rival to stand before him.”

That, and along with my threat from before, the Emperor will have to sleep with one eye open every night~♪

Oh, the look of a visibly tired Mikaela brought a triumphant grin on his face. Yuichiro could only anticipate the Emperor’s next move from here on out as he returned home soundlessly like the wind.

[johnhardinsawyer]

Where is Your Heart Right Now?

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

8 / 11 / 19

Luke 12:32-40

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

“Where is Your Heart Right Now?”

(Living in the Future – Present Tense)

I was sad to hear of the passing of Toni Morrison this past week.  She was one of America’s greatest authors.  In the “Afterword” of her powerful book, The Bluest Eye– a book about race and identity and self-image – she wrote that, as a young person, she came to the realization that “Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was something one could do.”[1]  In other words, beauty can be an action – something we do – not simply something that we can see with our eyes.  You and I have a choice as to whether we want to be passive or active participants in making the world more beautiful or not.

There are some deeply spiritual overtones to this idea. As people who follow Jesus Christ and pray the prayer he taught us, that God’s will would be done “on earth as it is in heaven,” you and I have the choice as to whether or not we want to be willing participants in God’s will – to work to make things on earth as beautiful, or as heavenly as they are in heaven.  Pastor Karen preached about this last week in her sermon, and as she was preaching, I couldn’t help but remember a conversation I had a long time ago with my freshman year college roommate.  We’ll call him Jeremy, because that was his name.  One night, I watched Jeremy throw an empty Coke can into the trash and I asked him, “Hey, aren’t you going to recycle that?”  “Nope,” he said.  “Why not?” I asked.  Jeremy then told me, “I believe that Jesus is going to come back before the earth gets too polluted for us to live on it.”

Now, while I admired Jeremy’s faith in Jesus, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if you took this concept to its natural conclusion:  why should we do anything to make the world better, or cleaner, or more beautiful, when Jesus is coming sometime in the future – maybe soon – to a more superior job than we could ever do?  If this is the case, then do we have any personal responsibility to do anything, or do we just sit back and wait for Jesus to come and take us to heaven?

Just so you know, I don’t think that this is what Jesus meant, even though he did talk about coming back someday.  As part of today’s first reading from Luke’s gospel, Jesus is talking with his disciples about being ready for the big event and he does talk about heaven, but first, he says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  (Luke 12:32)  For Jesus, there seems to be a difference between “the kingdom” and “heaven.”  So, what’s the difference between the two?  Well, as one commentator writes,

. . . “kingdom” does not simply mean eternal life in the sweet by-and-by.  Here “kingdom” refers to God’s active reign over heaven. . .  It involves God’s lordship over human hearts, minds, values, and actions.  God has delightedly decided to include us in this royal rule so that our identity and activity are totally transformed.[2]

In other words, God has given us the delightful invitation to actively participate in God’s beautiful activity in the world – in God’s kingdom.  Right here. Right now.  We don’t have to wait until Jesus comes – sometime in the future – because Jesus has already come and is calling us to follow with lives of faithfulness and love and healing and wholeness and peace.

Now, even though we know – as all good Presbyterians know – that there is nothing we can do to earn God’s grace, this does not free us from the responsibility we have to respond to the grace we have received from God – and to let that grace work through us, to allow God to use us for good in the world.  If God is Lord of our lives then God wants us to have skin in the game.  God led the way in this in the person of Jesus Christ who, through his incarnation literally had skin (and so much more) in the game, but, if you go back into the time before Jesus, you can see that this has always been part of God’s great hope for us.  Today’s second reading from the prophet Isaiah gives us a powerful example of this.

Isaiah, the prophet, lived in a time that was filled with gloom and doom.  The kingdom of Judah and the people of Jerusalem were under threat from invasion. Foreign influence from some of the world’s superpowers was making the kingdom unstable.  And the kings and people of Judah did not always do the right thing.  Into this uncertain time stepped Isaiah, but instead of offering the people words of hope, at first, he started off by telling them what they were doing wrong. When the people would offer sacrifices to the Lord, and burn incense, and gather together for worship, it was clear to God that the people were just going through the motions.  Their hearts were not in the right place and, according to today’s reading, they were forgetting to take care of the most vulnerable people in their community.  So, Isaiah told the people just what God was thinking:

“How much do I think all of your sacrifices are worth?  Absolutely nothing.  Bringing offerings to me is futile; your incense is insincere and I hate it.  I can’t stand your empty words.  When you ask me for help, I’m not going to help you.  Even if you make a lot of prayers, I won’t listen to them.  Why? Because you have blood on your hands. Yes, you heard me.  Blood. On your hands.”[3]

If you and I had heard these words so long ago, I’m sure many of us might have thought, “Ouch, Isaiah!  Does God need to be so harsh?  I’m trying to do right and live right.  I don’t have any blood on my hands. . . do I?”  Just so you know, Isaiah is coming from a different perspective than those of us who hear these words in the 21stCentury.  There are lots of laws in the Old Testament that have to do with individual sin.  But there are also instances of the entire community – the entire nation – needing to come together to tell God they are sorry, to repent, and start over.[4]  In today’s reading, Isaiah knows that the kingdom of Judah is so divided that it is nowhere near to coming together to do such a thing.  Some things haven’t changed. . . But Isaiah also knows that the national sin of Judean society, as a whole, has made everyone guilty.  The most vulnerable people in the country have been mistreated. And, we don’t know exactly how, but blood has been shed and it’s on everybody’s hands.  And if the most vulnerable people in society have been mistreated, or abused, or forgotten, it’s everybody’s responsibility to make it right. And, apparently, just going to worship, making some offerings, and praying some prayers might make people feel like they are doing something. . . but it isn’t really accomplishing anything.  According to Isaiah, thoughts and prayers just aren’t enough. The people are praising God in their solemn assemblies, while forgetting God’s command to love – and God is having none of it.  The people might be good at seeing the beauty of worship but they are falling short on being beauty to the world.  For Isaiah and for us, we can’t just shrug our shoulders, and go through the motions, and sit back and wait for Jesus while the world burns.  We’ve got to do something.

You know, sometimes the suggested lectionary passages that were chosen years ago for a given week – such as this week – really serve up a doozy. But that is often how the Holy Spirit works – to push us out of what is comfortable and push us into the kingdom of God.

I know. . . nobody likes getting pushed and prodded out of their comfort zone.  I like being comfortable, too – especially at church.  I don’t really like scripture or a sermon that has me looking in the mirror and asking, “John, you might not have blood on your own hands, but what are you doing to stop gun violence?  What are you doing to stop the racism that we just can’t seem to shake?  What are you doing to care for the people who often get forgotten and shoved aside?  What are you doing in this age of children living in squalid conditions – along the border and right down the road?  What are you doing about opioids, and depression, and loneliness, and fear, and hatred?  What are you doing to make things on earth as they are in heaven?  What beauty are you doing in the world – John?  People?  Church? America?”

I know. . . I don’t like hearing it, either – even from my own lips, but the more I read the Bible, the more I am convinced that the kingdom of God might be a blessed place, but it won’t be a comfortable place for us until everyone is comfortable.  God’s call for action is not just for us as individuals, but for everyone – for a whole society, for whole countries, for all of humankind.  There are tremendous problems in this world and so many ways to work through these problems and so many people who fight and argue about these problems.

But God wants to be part of the argument, too.  “Come,” God says through the prophet Isaiah, “let us argue it out. . .” (Isaiah 1:18)  Just so you know, if you try to argue it out with God or “reason together”[5]with God, as the original language reads, God is going to win.  And God has a convincing and simple and moral argument:  “Hey!  People! Stop doing evil, learn to do good. Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. . .”  (1:16b-17)  Care for the people who can’t care for themselves.  Love and help the people who can’t repay you for your love and help.  This is the stuff of the kingdom of God.  Or, as Jesus puts it, “Sell your possessions, and give alms.  [Care for the poor, the marginalized, those who have nothing.  And, in doing so. . .] make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven. . .  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Luke 12:32-34)  If your heart is set on heaven, then show it by what you are doing right now.

Look, I know that the whole “love your neighbor” thing might sound trite or naïve or just plain played-out.  It’s definitely not fashionable these days – maybe it never has been.  As someone said to me this past week with utter sincerity, “Compassion will only get you so far. . .”  I know. I’ve heard that argument.  I’ve been tempted by it on occasion.  But, in the end, if compassion gets me or anyone else any closer to the kingdom of God, then that’s all that matters.

Friends, where is your heart right now?  Are you living for some future promise of Jesus or are you seeing and experiencing Jesus right now in the faces of those who need the most help in this world – in our country, our community, in our neighborhood?  Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. . .  not just in some heavenly future, but in the heaven-on-earth that God’s kingdom is creating right now – the beauty that God is creating right now, amidst all of the ugliness that can be seen in this world.  Because even though there is ugliness in the world, there is beauty that can still be seen, especially when that beauty is embodied, enfleshed, incarnate by each and every one of us, with God’s help – beauty that we can be, whenever the Spirit works through us.

I’ll close with this. . .

When Jesus talks about the coming of the Son of Man, he says that we should “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit. . .” (12:35)  When I used to hear this, it made me think about someone, sitting in their home behind locked doors, waiting up at night with their shoes on, trying to stay awake while trying to keep a small flame from getting blown out, as if tending that flame were their only job.  But the more I think about it, the purpose of the light is not to be carefully tended or protected.  The purpose of the light is to shine – to be a beacon, leading others to it – to shed light on the darkest places in the world and in our own lives.  

The light that we carry might fizzle from time to time. It might even get blown completely out from time to time.  But God has a way of lighting a fire within us:  the fire and flame of the Holy Spirit – a passion for love and hope and healing and justice.  May it burn – always.  May it shine – beautifully shine, through us – so that we can see the way forward, so that we can see something of the Holy in every moment, so that we can see the kingdom of God whenever it comes.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

----------

[1]Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye(New York: PLUME/Penguin Books, 1993) 209.

[2]David Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, ed. Feasting on the Word – Year C, Vol. 3. (Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2010) 337.  Richard P. Carlson, “Exegetical Perspective.”

[3]Isaiah 1:11-15, paraphrased, JHS.

[4]See 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 and Nehemiah 9:1-3, among others.

[5]F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs.  The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon(Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997) 407.