My husband and I spent the morning at the White House, at a spiritually uplifting event: a Christian social exorcism. Apparently, someone did a similar event during the Nixon years, and look what happened, so...We felt the moment was important; it felt sweet and compelling and indicative of changes to come. Please take note:
We co-wrote about it at the Democracy Cell Project here: http://www.democracycellproject.net/.... Excerpts follow:
I'm here to watch a small group of United Methodist pastors who've come together to conduct a "Ritual of Social Exorcism" service to rid the White House of the demons that George Bush and his cronies have unleashed: deception, white male ego, greed, arrogance, fear, hubris, hegemony, and ignorance. (That's a good list, although I'm sure every one of us could add a couple more; casting out these devils would be a great start.)
The pastors invoked several passages from the Bible, including Luke 21:15, Ephesians 6: 10-17, Colossians 1:15-16, and I John 4:1-4. The 5 pastors alternated ordering the "ungodly spirits to depart."
"Spirit of (name of devil), in the name and power of Jesus Christ we order you to depart from the Bush administration and surrender before God."
***
The Christian Peacemakers have been fasting and praying for over 24 hours. They are hoping for a meeting with President Bush. Here is a copy of the note they sent to him:
Dear President George Bush,
This letter is a request for a meeting with you and your staff by a delegation from the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). CPT will gather with fasting and prayer in Lafayette Park across from the White House January 6-8 to undergird this request. This season of Epiphany is a time when the Christian church remembers wise men from the east who followed a star light to worship a tiny baby. The CPT delegation desires to share from the rich wealth of experience CPT has gathered in Iraq.
Christian Peacemaker Teams brings creative peacemaking experience from conflict zones around the world. It is peacemaking rooted in deep spirituality and the life of church communities scattered across the globe. For the past three years CPT has had an almost continuous presence in Iraq. That presence has allowed us to work closely with Iraqis from varied perspectives. We wish to share those stories and words of wisdom as support and encouragement to the wise decisions you need to make as the President of the United States of America.
With prayers for this meeting,
Carol Rose and Doug Pritchard
This group is the one that has had four of its members kidnapped in Iraq (http://www.cpt.org/). There is still no word on the fate of the four: Tom Fox, Norman Kember, James Loney, and Hameet Singh Sooden.
Today the two groups joined together for the small ceremony Dick described above.
Something may be afoot here. The forces of prayer uniting for peaceful insightful change were potent. The call to action, to truth, to justice and disarmament rang loudly in the winter sun as it bounced off the white walls of George Bush's occupation.
Is this Jericho? We don't know yet. All we know is that the sound of hymns rang clearly this morning, the prayers were heartfelt and committed, and the mighty are falling.
The fast will continue through Sunday. Cliff Kindy of CPT is speaking at today's Out-of-Iraq Town Meeting in DC. The Methodist ministers will keep going as well. Stay tuned.
Photos at the DCP site as well.