Unthinkable & Shlach Lecha

I had a plan.

I was going to write about how courageous Republican Arizona Speaker of the House was, to put himself and his family at risk—how deep his trust and faith.

I was going to compare his to my own lack of courage, trust and faith—to do something as simple as give feedback to the mohel who’s forgotten his sacred duty to connect with baby and family with humility and awe.

The mohel even invited me to give him feedback; is it not my sacred duty to give it to him, just as Rusty Bowers believes it his sacred duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution?

I was going to compare all this to the spies in this week’s parsha—those sent to scout out the Promised Land.

I was going to ask, was it their lack of courage, faith and trust that led them to see giants too big to overcome, even with “God’s” help?

I was going to tell you about adrienne maree brown, her interview with Krista Tippet, and her vision for the future.

Brown asks: How can we on the left claim moral high ground when the idea of activism these days is to “cancel” those who slip up, not meeting our moral standards; how can we talk about love without giving each other a chance to grow? Weren’t we all trans-phobic just last week? Can we “skip the steps of unlearning oppressive systems by just punishing anyone who missteps”?

Where is our faith and trust, and our courage to be patient with each other?

With this morning’s unthinkable news that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, and my utter shock and dismay, can I still talk about courage, faith and trust?

Am I allowed to ask, do we need another “Summer of Rage,” as the Women’s March is calling for? Aren’t there enough wars going on?

Can I still end with a quote from Brown’s book, We Will Not Cancel Us?

Whether you approve or not, I’m going to, because I have no words of my own to give me courage:

“We cannot change. We do not believe we can create compelling pathways from being harm-doers to being healed, and to growing. We do not believe we can hold the complexity of a gray situation. We do not believe in our own complexity. We do not believe we can navigate conflict and struggle in principled ways. We can only handle binary thinking: good/bad, innocent/guilty, angel/abuser, black/white, etc.

“Cancer attacks one part of the body at a time. I’ve seen it. Oh, it’s in the throat; now it’s in the lungs; now it’s in the bones.

“When we engage in knee-jerk call-outs as a conflict resolution device, or issue instant consequences with no process, we become a cancer unto ourselves, unto movements, and communities. We become the toxicity we long to heal. We become a tool of harm when we were trying to be, and I think meant to be, a balm.

“Oh, unthinkable thoughts. Now that I have thought of you, it becomes clear to me that you are all rooted in a single longing; I want us to live, I want us to want to live, in this world, in this time, together.”

Maybe Rusty Bowers sees his missteps now in supporting Trump? Do we give him the chance to grow?

If Rusty Bowers could stand up with such courage, trust and faith, then can we?

Can we have the courage to hold the complexity of who we are, as Bowers did and does? Can we be what he modeled for us as a Republican who also refused to be a part of the "club”?

Can we have the courage to think the unthinkable, and refuse to be the toxicity that pervades our political discourse so that we may live, in this time, together?

Can we have enough faith and trust that we can overcome giants that seem too big to overcome?

And can we say Amen?