Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (Genesis 11: 4-7)

 

The boys are fighting.

Yes, I am talking about Trump and Musk, the two adolescents that moved into our basement apartment without Canada really understanding what terrible Earth Tenants they are.  I mean, it looked for a long time like it was “roommates” and “best bros”.  They got cool red matching ball caps.  They slapped each other on the back and gave each other more and more permission to do ‘whatever’ needed to be done to ensure they were climbing to the top as fast as possible.  Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, and Donald Trump, the unhinged narcissist that is turning himself into a demi-god ruling one of the worlds superpowers, seemed to be the pair who would ultimately control all of the world’s resources and would ensure that those who were the richest would get richer, and those who were poor and marginalized were eradicated.

All along, there have been protests of this relationship and the sweeping changes they have made.  Children are now leaving school to protest the work of ICE and the detention of other children.  Arts organizations are publicly denouncing the cuts to their entire programming implemented by DOGE.  People with disabilities and those who support people with disabilities have publicly despaired about their imposed marginalization.  Those who identify as 2SLGBTQ+ are having to go underground because they are worried about their lives.  Humans have stood up for human rights but have run scattered and scared because their voices weren’t heard.

And yet, Trump and Musk continued their quest for power and dominance with single minded determination.  A duo building their own metaphorical tower of Babel; questing to be their own Gods.

Until this week, when the language got confused, and they were no longer speaking with a single understanding of what  their objectives were.

And the fall of the tower is pretty epic, right!  Musk has been accused of uncontrolled drug use, in particular, ketamine.  I had to look up ketamine to find out why someone would use it.  Apparently its an anesthetic, and is also used for pain relief for severe pain, or a treatment for severe depression.  I frankly don’t know if Musk has severe pain or severe depression, so I don’t know if he’s using ketamine to treat either of those conditions, but I do know that if there’s a warning on a label that suggests you shouldn’t operate heavy machinery, than likely you shouldn’t be operating a very powerful government office like DOGE.  Meanwhile, Musk has accused of Trump colluding and participating in the Epstein scandal.  That, honestly, has not surprised me at all.  I’m not sure why people thought that Trump was moral and ethical.  After all, he has been recorded publicly saying really shameful and derogatory things about women, women’s bodies, and the violence he would chose to inflict on women.

And so, as we watch the Tower of Babel play out in front of our eyes, I’m going to encourage all of you to take a hard look at yourselves and what things you collude in or tacitly participate in.  After all, the Tower of Babel didn’t happen in a vacuum – it happened because a whole tribe, or a whole community adopted a social outlook that suggested that the more powerful you are, the more you build bigger and better, the more prosperous you are, then you have ‘made a name for yourself’.  A name that makes you like God.

And that’s not o.k.

It really is time for us as people of faith to stand up hard against the social endorsement of power and control; and instead remember that we are following Jesus.  Jesus who repeatedly said “all are welcome” and “the last shall be first”.  Jesus who told the disciples at his ascension that their only job was to tell the Good News to everyone, “To the ends of the earth”.  Jesus who promised the Holy Spirit to everyone who believed – the Holy Spirit who’s sole purpose was to advocate and comfort us as people.

We need to remember our Sacred Stories.  We need to remember that the Tower of Babel was felled.  We need to be a different people, who hear and respect the diversity and multiplicity of voices.  Not only hear and respect, but understand.

Blessings today my friends, and Remember you are Loved.

~Rev. Lynne