Loyalty Oafs
Loyalty oafs
Would halve you
Believe
In idol vanity
Sowing their wiled oaths
AWOL keeping us a part
With litmus tests
In a whirled of acid
And base
Brands that burn
And scar us
In too submission
Not with standing
Be sides
Withal there is
An incalculably better weigh
Yes is yes
No is no
Each making us stronger
And unafraid
Of know boundaries
In a world with multiple, overlapping allegiances, loyalty can seem a highly partisan and intensely tribal battle for alleged hearts and minds. Commingle this with the purported virtue of compromise in the professed art of politics, and such “things” as values, boundaries and even ultimate concerns can easily be lost in the melee.
I am struck by the directness and simplicity of the biblical precept: “Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no. Anything more than this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37) Given the contemporary situation of senators, specifically Republic senators, and more specifically, Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell, in the swearing in as jurors in an impeachment trial where you can confess that you aren’t impartial and then take an oath that you will be impartial. The above biblical precept is part of Jesus’ sermon on the mount concerning the law of solemn pledges: “Again you have heard that it was said to those who lived long ago: Don’t make a false solemn pledge, but you should follow through on what you have pledged to the Lord. But I say to you that you must not pledge at all. You must not pledge by heaven, because it’s God’s throne. You must not pledge by the earth, because it’s God’s footstool. You must not pledge by Jerusalem, because it’s the city of the great king. And you must not pledge by your head, because you can’t turn one hair white or black. Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no. Anything more than this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:33-37) Of course, farcical Christians in a farcical Christian nation are well suited by swearing on a Bible that instructs them to forgo pledges.
May our values, boundaries and ultimate concerns be evidenced by our actions.
