{"id":1730,"date":"2024-03-09T10:53:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T15:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/?p=1730"},"modified":"2024-03-09T10:53:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-09T15:53:40","slug":"between-despair-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/between-despair-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Between Despair and Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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 As we wander through the tangled landscape of the coming election, if you are anything like me, you totter between despair and hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I dare not let go of hope because the possibility of a Trump presidency, a clear turn to autocracy, demagoguery, and authoritarianism, terrify me. All I hold dear: freedom, an arc bending toward justice, kindness, diversity, inclusion, equality and so much more, stand threatened by others\u2019 fears and hatred. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I know is that when people are afraid of me, for whatever reason, the feeling easily and readily, transmutes to anger and then to hate. And while I think I\u2019m immune to internalizing self-hatred I fear for the many who will be vulnerable to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then I remember Paul saying that \u2018love casts out fear\u2019 (1 John 4:18a\u00a018\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear;)

How in the hell am I supposed to love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have come to believe that first, and perhaps most important, we must love ourselves and claim ourselves. to be beloved children of Godde. It is an immutable truth from which we must internalize our infinite value. Loving oneself and claiming Godde\u2019s love secures our sense of self in the face of the hatred, vitriol, and self-righteous prejudice of others. 

Second, is that we love one another. As we join in resistance from disparate places by shared oppression, exclusion, rights denied,  and resistance to fascism, we must never collude with those in power referring to \u2018good negroes\u2019 or \u2018good gays\u2019 or \u2018good women\u2019 ad infinitum. Instead, we must challenge the threat of a dystopian future by embracing one another in the entirety of our spectrum. We all matter. We are all children of Godde. Not just those deemed acceptable or agreeable to those in power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will know Sophia active in us as we live into a world where we embrace\u00a0<\/em>each one as a child of Godde. Regardless of age, race, culture, class, gender, religion, or expressed sexuality. Regardless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally there\u2019s the love your enemy bit. The one I resist most. But I know hate dehumanizes not only my \u2018enemy\u2019 but hatred dehumanizes me. We cannot, must not,  participate in dehumanizing either ourselves or others and still be able to bring a different reality into being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how in the hell do I love my enemy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m certain love of my \u2018enemy\u2019 is NOT a warm, fuzzy feeling. Loving my enemy means that I must be willing to invite mutuality and refuse power differentials. We must be willing to acknowledge that both the oppressed and the oppressor need to be freed to a new reality. I am also certain that my hatred will only demean me and preclude any chance of systemic change.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us march through the tangled landscape of the coming election and lean into hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us lean into the difficult tasks of loving ourselves, loving others, loving our enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me close sharing this song of hope \u2013 please take a moment to listen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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