Lady of Shalott
By Waterhouse
The Lady of Shalott is a ballad by Tennyson that tells the story of Elaine of Astolat, a young noble woman kept prisoner in a tower on an island near Camelot. She is the victim of some curse that forces her to watch life pass her by in the glass of a mirror because if she looks at it directly, she will die. At some point, she sees the exceedingly handsome Lancelot in that mirror, falls in love and decides to leave her prison tower. She finds a boat and commandeers it, but she is dead by the time she reaches shore.
This is how I feel about the admirers of the current administration. They cannot look at it directly, with the clarity of direct vision. Instead, they have to view it from a magically altered mirror. If they admitted how deadly was their Lancelot, they wouldn't get in the boat.
It takes a remarkable number of mental machinations to quell the obvious cognitive dissonance inherent in the problems of our current administration. What must it be like to hold diametrically opposed realities in one's consciousness at the same time! On the one hand, supporters claim he is "Christian" and that "it's nice to have a Christian in the White House, for a change" (Despite having MANY Christians in the White House over the years!) On the other hand, Trump and his entourage are obviously and specifically behaving like people who are HOSTILE to Christian values. One only has to measure the various bills and campaigns against the expectations of Christ.
From the moment he started campaigning, Trump has demonstrated hostility toward minorities, immigrants, the disabled, the poor, the old, and basically anyone who is vulnerable and disadvantaged, by kicking them while they're down. From the Muslim ban of his first year in office, to the ancient-style great wall (for which he swore Mexico was paying!), to saying that the Nazis of Charlottesville were "fine people," he has been unrelentingly blatant and obvious in his hatred of "the stranger." While he is unapologetic about his cruelty, I actually consider him just a figurehead. He did not start this trend. He is only benefiting from it, financially and psychologically.
The name "Trump" has become synonymous with fascism, misogyny, xenophobia, prejudice, gay bashing, cruelty toward the poor, the aged and the infirm, but there is a foul wind blowing all over the world just now. Every country has its version of Trump and the Trump party. I can hardly be expected to really do it justice in my little blog, but I just want to encourage my Christian brothers and sisters to continue to choose Christ. If you stop choosing Christ and start choosing against him, you are choosing Satan. It is as simple as that, because you cannot be, at the same time, a Christian as well as an advocate for policies that contradict Christian values. You would need a magic mirror to keep from keeling over in a dead faint from the hypocrisy.
Take one topic at a time and compare it to our faith. Decide your opinion based on your faith, and not on what some political party tells you.
On the topic of the treatment of immigrants, all I am going to do is to offer you a few quotes from the Bible. Let them sit with you for a while, and then decide how you feel about DACA or Trump's wall or the Muslim ban. Meditate on it for a while. Seek God's guidance.
"You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and
for the sojourners who reside among you and have had
children among you. They shall be to you as native-born
children of Israel. In whatever tribe the sojourner resides,
there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord
God."
~ Ezekiel 47:22-23 ~
Now, think for a moment about the DACA program for the children who were brought here by their parents.
"Show hospitality to one another without grumbling."
~ 1 Peter 4:9 ~
Here's another, along those lines:
"Let strangers feast on your wealth and your toil
enrich the house of another."
~Proverbs 5:10~
Still thinking about immigrants, what's your take on this quote:
"But no stranger had to spend the night in the
street, for my door was always open to the
traveler."
~ Job 31:32
How about that pesky Leviticus that so many "Christians" are keen to use against the gays?
"You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for
the native, for I am the Lord your God."
` Leviticus 24:22 ~
I hasten to point out, especially with this next quote, that the Biblical writers are encouraging us to be as kind to the sojourner as we are to ourselves. The purpose is egalitarianism - not an admonishment to make sure that strangers obey earthly laws. God doesn't care if the immigrant's papers are in order. He cares that we treat them equally among us, as evidenced by the other quotes.
"There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger
who sojourns among you."
~ Exodus 12:49 ~
Notice in the next quote that God expects us to welcome the stranger:
"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty
and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed
me."
~ Matthew 25:35 ~
I could provide many more quotes in support of what I have provided here. From the Old Testament to the New, it has been made clear to us that the Lord expects us to be kind to the strangers among us. We are to help them and welcome them.
Does this comport with ripping children out of the arms of their mothers and storing them in cages, where they sleep on the floor and may never see their parents again? Does this match the vision of a wall from one end of our country to the other? Does it anticipate anti-immigrant activists dumping out the containers of water left in the desert for the thirsty stranger?
The Trump campaign mechanism continues to make claims that he is Christian and that his policies are Christian, and there are plenty of Christian radio show hosts, pastors, priests and the like singing his praises, though God alone knows why.
I hope YOU are clear on why.
God bless us all.
Silver Rose
(Sannyasini Kaliprana)
Silver Cottage Ashram Hermitage
Albuquerque, New Mexico
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