February 18, 2021

A Response to the Response to the Arrest of Pastor James Coates

"Persecution! We’re being persecuted!"

it's being shouted from everywhere

from roof-tops, from street-corners, from social-media

as though it were some new thing

as though we were the first to ever feel its touch

(however lightly)

as though our brothers and sisters

did not already know more than this

have not been being persecuted

(really persecuted, I mean

not this made up stuff, but actually

ridiculed, and

outcast, and

beaten, and

jailed, and

killed

not just told to stay home, or to

limit their capacity, or to

simply wear a mask, but

actually and deliberately harmed)

as though far worse has not been being done

to our brothers, to our sisters

to the body of Christ

for all the centuries

for all the millennia

since Christ told us that to love God

since Christ told us that to love each other

were the greatest of all God’s commands, and

hanging hooks for the all Law and all the Prophets

sadly

we seem overly concerned for ourselves, and

insufficiently concerned for our neighbour

and worse

much, much worse

we seem overly concerned for ourselves, and

insufficiently concerned for God