What the hell do I do now?

Friday a misogynistic, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, odious bigot will be sworn into the same office as Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Obama (and yes I add Barack Obama to that list, willingly).  I have resolved to not look at any media that day so I don't have to see his face, hear his name or ponder the future of the world. 

It's too much to contemplate;  too much fear in one place.

And like many others I wonder, what the hell do I do now?

I have thought much since election day.   And I have actually figured out what the hell I'm going to do now:

--I will pray more-pray for my grandchildren and children, for the poor and disenfranchised who are about to become more disenfranchised

--resist the bigot's and his cohorts in congress'  agenda (he shall be the one who won't be named in this blog)

--register as a Muslim when he calls for the registry

--work with both of the churches I serve as a lay pastoral associate to encourage them to offer sanctuary if it comes to that

--with one of the parishes that has a substantial undocumented congregation I will stand with them, I will provide personal sanctuary if I have to, I will shelter the DACA kids that are at William & Mary, Harvard and George Washington,  I will sit with the mothers of those kids and tell them they aren't alone

--go to jail if I have to, something I never thought I would have to do again

And after much prayer and too much thinking (I found myself waking up at 3am for weeks in a row thinking about Bannon and Priebus and Conaway in the White House; the cold sweats were hard to shake), I have decided to do the one thing I know I can control and I know I don’t need to ask permission or approval to do:  I can follow Jesus of Nazareth and do what he told me to do.  I can love (including those I could easily hate), I can have compassion for those in need, the poor, the immigrant.  I can continue my work with Community Table of Loudoun, a feeding program for anyone who needs it, and my work with the nonprofits I provide counsel to for free.  And more importantly I can continue to pray to ask that Jesus give me the strength not only to withstand what I fear is going to be a terrible four years but more importantly to help others withstand it…by loving them, by being there for them, by comforting them…as Jesus did.

Yes after all the angst and all the back and forth, the one thing I can control is me, how I behave, how I treat others.  And for that my guide, Jesus, is unequivocal and unrelenting: he tells me, if I want to say I am his disciple, I must love.

So my action plan becomes simple:  I will read Matthew 25 daily and try to do it:

For I was hungry and you gave me food

I was thirsty and you gave me drink

I was an alien and you welcomed me

I was naked and you gave me clothing

I was sick and you took care of me

I was in prison and you visited me.

All comes down to this in times of trouble:  when you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.  That’s what the hell I can do now.