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