At a recent gathering of the separated/divorce support group at which I facilitate, instead of meeting at St. Wenceslaus, we thought it might be fun to meet instead at a local restaurant for a little social/lighter conversation. All members of the group had to do was tell me in advance they were coming so I could reserve a table or two. I would pay for the appetizers (the “horses duvers” as my children use to say), and they would pay for their drinks, with the caveat that if they were really hurting for money, I would cover their drinks. We had about 10 participants, with one of them coming late stating, “I knew this was the place, I looked for an Escape that had all the hippie causes on the back.” (see the picture above). One would think I was driving an old Volkswagen bus, with flower decals applied all over its metal surface. I found the analogy fascinating because at the times of the late 60’s early 70’s when the Hippie culture was perhaps having the greatest influence on pop culture and society, I was not necessarily a proponent. However, I have found that with the exception of “free love”, typified by Stephen Still’s catchy song, “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one your with”, and, the drug culture that accompanied some of the Hippie movement, which was very destructive to all concerned, the influence of the Hippies and most of what they were promoting was in the parlance of the time, “right on!”.
There was a Sally Field/James Garner movie from the 80’s entitled “Murphy’s Romance”. It was a nice, family film about a romance between a recently divorced 30 year old woman and a man in his early 60’s. Garner, played the older romantic lead, who was the proprietor of a small town Drug Store. He drove a Model A Ford, with a variety of bumper stickers supporting certain causes. His only rule about the car was to not “cover up his causes.” I suppose his influence from that movie rubbed off on me.
If you look at the “causes” I espouse on the back of my old 2002 Escape, you will find that while some, particularly those who have made political conservatism into a profane image of God, might think them “liberal” (insert sigh), the causes are all Gospel based. The Gospel is a document of progressive faith. It is neither politically conservative not is it politically liberal. The Gospel cannot be defined by either the Republicans nor the Democrats, nor the Libertarians or the Green Party. The Gospel may influence these political movements, but cannot be influenced in return by those same political movements. Let’s take a quick helicopter tour of what is on the back of my old 2002 Escape.
“Do small things with great love.” “Build Bridges Not Walls.” “An Ecological Peace Sign.” Mother Teresa of Calcutta authored the first, Pope Francis 1 said the second, and Pope Francis in his encyclical, “Laudato Si”, gave the theological underpinning of the third. All of these are derived from the words of Jesus in the Gospels. The whole concept of Original Sin is about constructing walls around ourselves, making the individual person, God. In order to break down the self-centeredness and exclusivity of the self, bridges must be built between people so that true community can exist. Jesus IS the bridge between God and humanity. Jesus embodies what Pope Francis stated. One can’t get more Truth than that. Mother Teresa’s saying encapsulates the great commandment of Jesus, the life of Jesus, and what John is teaching in his first letter. Being at peace with one another and especially at peace with the environment in which we live is totally based on scripture (see the first creation story in Genesis) and the teachings of Jesus.
“We were all immigrants once.” This is true statement not only of our ancestors who came to the United States, but of the Holy Family. Jesus and his mother and father were political refugees escaping the murderous tyranny of Herod the Great when they migrated from Palestine to Egypt. Jesus was a political refugee and an immigrant, very much one with many who came to the United States from similar political repression, persecution and danger. To turn a deaf ear to the crises and desperation of refuges from Syria, from Central and South America is contrary to the teaching of the Gospel. This is very biblical.
“Everyone does better when everyone does better.” “Love Thy Enemy implies not killing them.” “Our diversity is our strength.” The first is Jesus’ golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It is also the second part of the great commandment of Jesus, “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” The second is very evident in both Matthew and Luke’s Gospels. Jesus told the crowds that Moses said “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” But Jesus then said, “I give you a new law, love your enemy, pray for those who persecute you.” Loving one’s enemy implies NOT killing them. That was the rule of the early Christian Church. It is absolutely tragic and a sign of being unfaithful to the Gospel that Christians have turned a deaf ear to this law of Jesus. As to the third sign, the strength of the Church has always been in its diversity. Scripture teaches us that we are all made in the image and the likeness of God no matter what color our skin, our culture, our language, our nation, our sex. The separateness that the Tower of Babel came to represent is the antithesis of what God intended at Creation. Diversity is a divine virtue. Racial, cultural, sexual prejudice is a sin.
“When did helping the poor become a sin?” Odd that the mantra of the Republican Party, which purports to be Christian (at least the Democrats acknowledge they are not of any religion), is to persecute the poor (by limiting assistance to the poor by strict limits on unemployment insurance, restricting food stamps, attempts to repeal healthcare, dismantling of Medicade, Medicare, and social security, the list is endless) . In Matthew’s Gospel when Jesus describes the Last Judgment of humanity and divides the sheep from the goats, those who have helped the poor by feeding them, giving them something to drink, clothing them, giving them shelter, welcoming the immigrant, visiting the sick and the imprisoned, to these Heaven is promised. To the goats who closed their ears to the cries of the poor, they are condemned to Hell. Helping the poor is a Gospel mandate. So why has one political party made it mandate to take all help, all hope from the poor? It does not bode well for them at the Last Judgment.
So is this really a Hippie mobile, or is it rather a Gospel mobile? I say everything on the back of the car (with the exception of the Irish flag … my acknowledgment to my Irish ancestry, and the “I love big mutts and I cannot lie”, a sign of affection for our Boxerdore (Lab/Boxer mix mutt), Belle E Button, is Gospel based. If that is being a Hippie, then I guess I am a Hippie. However, I think that it states better that I am a disciple of Jesus who takes what Jesus taught VERY seriously.
