Wherever we turn these days, we're confronted by the "wise," the "inventive," the "promoters," who have a better solution for our problems. The bathroom tile, the hurried and harried household, the new answer to life's slow pace. Each of these solutions seem to say "I can clean your tiles so they will sparkle; put me in the oven for 30 seconds, and you will have the meal of your lifetime; drive me off the dealer's lot and you will feel you are equipped with the wings of angel, gravity's laws will be overcome, the winds will in due haste help you meet your schedules." Messages, assurances, advice from every corner of the world.

Who asked you?
Who called for your advice?

We are forever being invaded and bombarded by unwelcome guests. It's in the newspapers, the TV ads, messages that emanate from the grand nobility that calls itself the federal govern`ment. Seldom are these offerings based on truth. Even the so-called "born again" are saying that for the sake of God one can lie, cheat, distort, and sing Hallelujah in one breath. It reminds me of the childhood tales of Fluffy, the mighty dragon, who for popularity's sake, would produce flames where fire didn't exist.

The abandonment of truth as a life-standard has reached critical proportions. We all know the lies, the falsehoods, the distortion of truth and facts, that prompted the invasion of Iraq. We all have seen the reports of the deaths of our young people from Maine and elsewhere just out of high school on Iraqi streets and in Iraqi fields. We all know the machinations of the so-called Iraqi expatriates, who are paid with our taxpayer monies while they were living the two-faced life, frontmen and guides for our troops while sending classified information to Iran.

We're pawns in a game of manipulation and forced idolatry. We are told to worship our leaders. We are told that they have been in communication with God, and He is guiding their hands as they fire missiles into wedding celebrations. God is supposedly saying "Good shot" when another man, woman, and child is sent off to an early, unscheduled visit with their Maker. We've been told that the mark of true patriotism these days is to believe unconditionally in the causes of the national administration. Don't question. Don't protest. Don't at any time have second thoughts about their actions and decisions. We are being told, "in time of war, all liberties and constitutional rights are suspended." We are told that there is now a new revelation that goes beyond the "Thou shalt not covet" of the Ten Commandments. "Thou shalt pre-empt" is the new commandment. Even God is being asked to suspend judgment. After all, they say, we have been born again into the faith; therefore, the old commandment of "Thou shalt not covet" has been superceded by the new command. Pre-emption is a given right. You are convinced, facts notwithstanding, that it is incumbent upon you to stand strong and with a huff and a puff, you must blow down the houses that stand in your way.

Jefferson is no longer our hero, Madison is no longer our guide, and as for the Declaration of Independence, they are saying, "It was influenced by the Europeans, especially the French. They represent the old way," says Secretary Rumsfeld. "Pre-emption is the new way." The President, his advisors, and his entourage agree. To be born again is the entree into Heaven's portals, and the purpose of the born-agains is to rewrite all the sacred documents, all that said "Thou shalt not," all that said "this is what the Lord asks of you," and in its place, this is what the Lord we hear asks of us.

This philosophy even tells God where he has erred, especially in saying that all are equal before His eyes. They are not, say the Washington gurus. We're all sinners, says the President. We're all suspect, says Attorney General Ashcroft.

A few months ago, plainclothesmen entered a Portland bar and roughed up everyone whose skin looked Middle Eastern, and jostled and handcuffed them. No charges were filed; suspicion was the arresting factor. It's true many were released, but it's also true that the fears of anyone unlike ourselves had a heyday. Forget about Emma Lazarus' words on the base of the Statue of Liberty, "give me your tired, your poor, your oppressed, your forgotten." Instead, our officials are saying, "We don't want any cultural contamination. This is a Christian country. All other are here on tolerance."

Many of our national political spokesmen are waxing eloquent with religious, pious rhetoric. "We're doing God's work"; "We're getting ready for the great moment of Armageddon, when 143,000 people will survive and the rest, poof like a mighty dragon. The survivors will be given a heavenly welcome, the others will be consigned to the place Down Under."

We would think, in the twenty-first century, after humankind's extensive experience with these salvation-gestures, the many burnt at the stake, the many drowned in bodies of water surrounding cliffs, the many stoned to death, the many ostracized, left to wander the four corners of the earth, we would be alert and discard these so-called salvation-messages. For the God who is called the God of War never had a dual role. He was for war and not for peace. Mars destroyed. Mars left devastation in its wake.

It is the God of Peace, of shalom, who taught us the meaning of compromise, of dialog, of coming to terms and accepting each other's differences. It is the God of Peace who taught us, "You are all My children. Colors, creeds, institutions are not the mark of you, My human children." Your response to the gift of Me that is within you is crucial. From the beginning of your life-tenure as human beings I have been with you. I have infused a breath, a spirit, a soul, a bit of myself in you, and you became "a living being". A geneticist recently stated, "Genetically speaking, all human beings are 99.9% alike." You're not sinners. You may have strayed. You may have missed the mark that distinguishes, that speaks of your individual uniqueness, but you have not sinned. The word "sin" is a mistranslation of the original word that appeared in the Hebrew text of Genesis. The word is cheyt, or "mark." Everyone has a target that is their own, and sometimes we miss its mark. You can always try again. Every archer does, and so can you. I, the God of shalom, told you that you can always return to Me. I never said, "You are stuck in Purgatory." I've always said there is a way back. I, the God of shalom, am a parent who always welcomes back His child, no matter what road he or she has taken in life. More than that, my love for you, My children, is never held back. My love extends to each and every one of you, no matter how you come to Me, no matter whom you adore.

No matter what your lifestyle may be. I only suggest to you that you love each other as I love you. When I was quoted as saying, "Love your neighbor, your sibling, your parent, as you would yourself," it was a truthful saying. I just don't know where spokesmen for Me found the idea that I only care for some humans and not for others, that I see some roads to Me as direct and others as detours, some as highways, and others as byways. All roads lead to Me. All their prattle about sin and damnation doesn't emanate from Me. Yes, I know, you're not perfect beings. It doesn't surprise Me. I gave you the power to choose, in making choices, some unite and other divide. Some bring You and me closer to each other, others cause distance between us. But that's life. It's not something by which we judge each other. I know some humans deny My existence, says the God of Peace. That's okay. I love them all the same. For My way, the way of shalom, is the way of bringing together, a way that deplores divisions and unnecessary distinctions, a way that urges all of us, Me included, to see where we meet, where we part, and seeks to bridge the two.

It's time to think that way. We're a divided universe. We shun the light of uniqueness and seek to merge all of humankind into one mold. We refuse to see the beauty in variations. It's true, genetically we are one, but it is also true in our respective life journeys, we often seek separate paths to the One who brings us all together.

The time for oneness has arrived. A oneness that accepts uniqueness. The time for shalom, peace and harmony, has arrived, a times that says "your way and my way are part of the highway that is life enduring and everlasting." It's time for trumpeters of hate and fear to mute their discordant sounds and together say, "Each of us in on a road of peace." Let's encourage and not label one another.

Amen.