Freed On the 4th from Politics & Religion

Last updated on: July 3, 2019 at 11:25 am by Dwight Lee Wolter

Freed On the 4th from Politics & Religion 2019-07-03T11:25:20-04:00 Dwight Lee Wolter

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Having never once been taken to a church or other house of faith until I was 34, I was tremendously attracted to this tradition of walking on water; surviving in the wilderness against all odds; finding a way out of no-way-out; discovering a God who could do for us what we could not do for ourselves; seeing presumably dead people come back to life ~ all while leaving stories in our sacred texts about what horrors we can sometimes be when we turn away from God and opt to follow our own devices. I was baptized at age 43 first by fire and then by immersion in water.

That is part of what the fireworks of July 4th means to me. Planes and tanks in D.C. or not; divas and celebrities on the Capitol steps or not; warring factions of religious and political encampments or not ~ I celebrate freedom and independence from addictive and dysfunctional systems of all persuasions.
I stand with many people, including those who believe July 4th is best exemplified in a hot dog, a slice of watermelon; and a patriotic parade. I also stand in solidarity with the political and religious equivalent of anti-vaxers who find poison in this holiday. My spirit will be held prisoner by none of them. And all of them are invited to take a scoop of my joy.
With the guidance of the Christ who loves me more than I love myself ~ and in the company of friends, relatives and strangers ~ I live in the tradition that proclaims that walking on water is the expectation and that sinking is the exception. That is the truth and good news I am pleased to know and to hear proclaimed.
I thank God, the Christ, and everyone who has stood and knelt outside the tomb, softly chanting my name, until I emerged from the domain of the dead. I am no longer dead, and I will not be deadened by rhetoric or rage.
I do not have hope. Hope has me. So it has always been, and forever shall be, for eternity.

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