Healing Trauma: Perspectives And Attitudes, 32

Okay, Ducks, I'm going to cut to the chase today. Even though I am fervently and (to some, embarrassingly) Christian, I always try to soft-pedal my faith on these pages, in order to reach a wider audience, and for the very fact that even if the Spirit of the Living God fills, sustains and infuses everything but our own stubborn wills (and even there he has lots of wiggle room, Gentle Reader!), there is still way more to life than religion, even if it happens to be my own precious Christian faith. But from time to time, in order to really make and drive home a point, I have to get so frank, blunt and honest about the Christian faith, that, well, any atheists here could either leave the room for a while, or take an extra PRN. That is a medical abbreviation, by the way, for the Latin words, pro re nata, or in English, as needed, which is to indicate any medication that is taken as needed. And I have to admit that not just atheists while reading some of my nonsense on these pages would likely need an extra PRN while trying to digest my often convoluted reasoning. But in the end, it's all going to make sense, right, Gentle Reader? So, give yourselves a minute or two to reach for your bubble pack, pour a glass of water, and don't forget to swallow. I am going to talk a bit more today about scapegoating, why we do this, why we need to do this, why it is harmful, and how Jesus became for us the Ultimate Scapegoat when he offered his life up for us on the Cross (no, I won't take it personally that you've already clicked onto Facebook and Amazon by now, and likely won't be wanting to read the rest of this.) I was a teenaged Jesus Freak when I first learned about the scapegoat. The ancient priests and elders of Israel would ritually lay their hands on an innocent little goat, thus transferring onto the poor animal their many sins, then send it wandering into the wilderness. I always felt sorry for the goat and wondered what became of it, and how this cosmically-dimensioned abuse must have impacted it. I confess to liking goats, by the way. In a residential neighbourhood in Kitsilano, where I went walking a lot when I was twenty-one (back in the days when the printing press was invented) there was a goat tied to a stake in a front yard. He was so gentle and affectionate, and I would always stop to kneel down to pet and cuddle him. He was like an affectionate cat or dog. But here I digress. We have long had this incredible need to infect others with our stigma and self-hatred, in the hope of absolving ourselves and moving on in life unencumbered. This has always happened in our interactions with one another. It happens every day in the way well-off middle class folk react to people who are poor, street homeless and mentally ill. I remember my blind friend over thirty years ago, when I asked her why so many people seem to have trouble with her being blind bluntly replying, "Because they couldn't cope!" In our weakness, poverty, brokenness and, dare I use this antiquated word, sinfulness, God took on our broken humanity as Jesus and lived with us as one of us as a sacrifice for our brokenness. He became the Ultimate Scapegoat for us, for you and me Gentle Reader. He took on our humiliation, despair and fear, and suffered the wounds of our selfishness, arrogance and greed, from the kiss of betrayal from Judas Iscariot in the Garden of Gethsemane, to the thugs who beat and whipped him, to the Crown of Thorns shoved onto his head, to the nails driven into his hands and feet, to his friends deserting him in his hour of greatest agony, to the spear that was thrust in his side. Christians tend to believe that this was all being done to God, and that God permitted this because only God can carry our human darkness and evil in such a way as to make it redemptive because God is Love. This is why I have called the Gospels the written record of Love In Action. Had those priests and elders of Ancient Israel had love in their hearts then they would not have put their sins on a poor innocent goat, but would have cherished him as the beloved creature of God that he was, and through that act of love they would have made atonement for their own sins and the sins of the people. But they still hadn't received that revelation that God Is Love. Jesus is that revelation, and so as we accept this reality of the Divine Love taking action in our lives and in the way we live so will our lives also become redemptive poems, anthems of the Love that cannot be defeated. Whether or not you can bring yourself to believe this or not, Gentle Reader, is not at issue, but I am glad to have been able to share this with you and regardless of what we believe or how, to challenge us together to live lives that are full of love, joy and gratitude, and this will not only fill our hearts with peace but will empower us as peacemakers in a world that seems always at war with itself. And this alone will bring healing to the ancient trauma that afflicts and hobbles us all.