Hatuey: 1512 – 2012 – Zinn Education Project
I came across this link earlier this morning, and after reading about this virtually unknown hero on the date of his execution, I got to thinking about a colleague of mine who hates anything related to Christianity. One mention of the word God, Jesus or of a church or person affiliated with Christianity, she launches into a tirade about “What kind of God do you serve?”.
Hatuey’s last statement to the Franciscan friar that attended him right before his public execution, was that he’d rather go to hell than to be in heaven with the Christians that had come to his land to conquer and enslave. Based on his experiences, I don’t blame him for wanting to be in any place where there were no Christians. Indeed, what kind of God do I serve?
When I look around me, watch the news, read an historical accounting, etc…. I have to wonder what kind of God sits back, indifferent, to the cries of the very beings he created? What kind of God allows the self-righteous to rule with the cruel hands of greed, murder, oppression and the ability to deny basic human rights to another (or an entire group) all in his name? Really heavy thoughts on a Saturday morning… I was all geared up to play a game on Facebook, then I saw this post, clicked on the link and now I am here wondering about the God of my choosing.
I honor my ancestors and work with my spirit court daily. It is through interacting with them, that I have learned 3 key things (among others);
#1 The God of my choosing is beyond my very limited understanding. Only God can understand God.
#2 The spirits that I choose to interact with are complex and come with their own sensibilities.
#3 There is the physical and the spiritual. In this physical life, men and women have free will and direct access to the Divine Universal Spirit. It is the choices of men and women that can bring joy or tears to the world. It is the cowardice of these men and women to hide behind the name of God (or whatever deity they subscribe to) instead of coming right out and saying, “I want your shit, I’m taking it and along the way I am going to indulge in my lust for violence.
Is the God of my choosing indifferent? I can’t answer that, because I am not God, nor have I elevated to such a state that I would dare answer that question. On the other hand, whether God is indifferent would depend on whether a person measures God by the chick up the block, by the antics of hate-groups posing as messengers of the Lord or by the daily miracles and blessing that unfold by the actions of Angels, deities, saints, ancestors, spirits and humans who dare to be different by living a life that serves and builds all that is around them.
For me, the God of my choice is an/the Infinite Mystery, not some man or woman.
I don’t know where Hatuey’s spirit ended up, but I hope that wherever he crossed over to, he decided keep fighting for those who are oppressed and marginalized in the name of God. AW/ALC-6/2016