People often say that attending a rally or a protest doesn’t change anything. They are wrong.

Corporeal politics is about showing up in the flesh, having our voices heard and our bodies seen. Those of us who claim to follow Jesus are called to be the body of Christ in the world, we are called to be corporeal beings that represent Jesus.

That summer revealed where the body of Christ could be found.

Christianity should not instill within us a spirit of fear or of superiority, but modern evangelicalism has embraced the fundamentalist idea of holiness through separation, which is biblical, but not Christlike.

In a time when so many leaders use their words and actions to dehumanize, let us take every opportunity to humanize, and allow ourselves to be changed for good.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.” -Matthew 7:15-16

When the wolves in sheep’s clothing have been in the herd long enough, they normalize wolflike behavior to such a degree that the sheep begin to take on the characteristics of the wolves.

The wolves are running amok now...

Maybe it’s a story, right at the beginning of the Torah, that says: “the path to freedom begins by developing languages that the oppressors do not understand, so that only those with ears can hear.”

Tyranny triumphs when all the truthtellers are successfully silenced and the lies define reality.

Don’t be silent.

Imagine for a moment, a Christmas Eve service; the people are singing Silent Night, one candle lights another until the room is filled with light.

“…heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!”

Then, with two verses remaining, someone starts blowing out candles. It’s not a child, it’s an adult, walking down the aisle, quietly extinguishing the lights.

The voices soften and begin to quiver, “…with the dawn of redeeming grace…”

Yet, again and again, the sword called to them.

The dual state does not exist accidentally. It is constructed through fear, codified, and protected by “tradition.”

The civil rights movement sought to dismantle the dual state.

Those who advocate for equality are often demonized as leftists, socialists or even communists. Demanding equal application of the Bill of Rights is neither; it is the liberalism on which the United States was founded.

It is also the way of Jesus.

I have felt the pain of what happens when a handful of “well meaning” people forget professional ethics. When a necessary lie is followed by another and another; when self-protection becomes the mission; and when those who ask for transparency and accountability become the problem.