Denial has always had a few schools located in the God’s Kingdom. I know, because I’ve taken many classes there. It has employed many pastors, politicians and political pundits as its teachers. As fellow graduates of the School of Denial, these teachers are trained to offer rational, philosophical, sociological and theological explanations that are convincing and compelling. A false narrative of innocence is told in light of what we see, especially when it comes to the “isms” of society. Invitations to indifference and apathy are extended.

A diploma of Denial is gladly received upon graduation in to a life of unrealized complicity to the reign of sin and death, from which we were rescued. The poor are politicized; racism is denied; religious certitude is paramount; the two-thirds world goes on mostly ignored; loving enemies is optional and situational; sexual preferences and orientations are threatening; freedom and hope is built upon nationalistic realities and promises that lead down various paths of entitlement.

The truth is I am an alum of the School of Denial. I have the diploma hanging on the wall of my heart. Occasionally I find myself returning for continuing-ed classes. But the longer I live in the reign of God’s Kingdom and allow the Sacred Text that bears witness to King Jesus confront my life, and do so in community, the more my denial turns to awareness and complicity to compassion. When I don’t allow the Sacred Text to confront my life I choose to manage the confrontation based upon my comfort level. Denial schools me once again.