I find the rhetoric of hate… exhausting.
The endless pages of disinformation
The countless contradictions
The hyper-distortion of facts
And the mountains of untruths
Generated by professional purveyors
Of undocumented and distorted
Non-contextual discourse.
All directed to the ears of a weary people
Attempting to harvest the fruits of belief
In a garden that is overgrown with weeds and thistles.
Black, white, red, brown
Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and greens
Struggling for sunlight and rain
In a garden of forbidden fruit.
Tangled, mangled, bug infested
Rotting, plotting distractions
Of short-sighted inuendo
Based on arbitrary timelines
And hot button issues.
Where spectacle replaces reality
And caution becomes an affliction.
Dark and malignant forces
With a pretense of right
With a pretense of light
Trampling the ground, no quarter given
No thought of the innocents
Tangled in the roots
Of self-serving prognosticators
Innocents that continue their passage
As fodder for the compost heap.
Right, left, right, wrong
Red, white, blue and sometimes green.
It is here that light and dark are truly separated,
No blending to grey
Locked in battle
No give, no take.
The cry of all or nothing
And victory claimed, though the war is lost.
For how can the glory of conquest
Outweigh the cost of human hearts and souls?
Where turmoil reigns and the only thriving fruits
Are the persistence of intolerance
And the rhetoric of hate?
Every vine, limb and leaf poisoned,
Every bush, plant, and tree corrupt.
Surely, Lord,
God of mercy and grace
Surely this is the time to beat
Our swords into plowshares.
Surely It is time to plow the fields of our hearts.
Let us find joy in our neighbor.
Let us celebrate our differences.
Let us find unity through diversity.
Let us build on the rock of common ground.
Let us build up rather than destroy.
Let us speak with respect of persons.
Let us sow grace.
Let us sow mercy.
Let us sow love.
Lead us to repentance.
Turn the soil of our hardened hearts.
Burn the weeds and thistles
That choke our hearts with selfishness.
Cast aside the stones of obstinance
And disobedience.
Replant the fields of our souls
With the seeds of grace and mercy,
So that fruits of your spirit
Can find new purchase in our hearts,
Basking in the glory of your light
And thriving on living water.
Make us instruments of your peace.
Rev Walt