It's unfortunately a sign of a man's defeat when they resort to attacking a woman of intelligence and moral conviction by going after her appearance or calling her that timeless female slur. As truly painful and appalling as this preacher's behavior was, you did succeed in dressing him down and cornering him with your poise, courage and clarity. I don't know that I could have mustered such restraint in that crosswalk. I admire your grace under pressure, Almut. Thank you for sharing this.
There is power in story telling. One dimension of that power is the vulnerability that dissolves barriers, closes distances, draws the teller and the listeners into one shared life. I stand with you, Almut. Thank you for further opening my eyes and my heart. May this day be a beautiful one for you and your family.
Thank you for sharing… it’ll take me a bit to reflect on this yet wanted to acknowledge what you shared here. I’m in awe of your courage and how you quickly looked to Hildegard as an example… “what would Hildegard do?” Probably a phrase I should ask myself more often.
I am truly perplexed by how so many live from a place of fear and justify their actions and way of being with the Bible. Why is it so challenging to live a life filled with compassion and kindness?
Uff, that is a difficult question, Christina. I am also often filled with fear. But apparently it is more of a male think to project your fear outward and become aggressive about it. You are right, this behavior comes from fear. And I think seeing it helped me reconcile with it. Let’s try to live out of compassion and kindness more often 🙏
Ouch. I'm so sorry that happened to you. It's so unsettling to read it, and I can only imagine the pain and chaos for you. I'm thankful for your solid courage (with Hildegarde's help) and clarity, and grateful that you shared this. It's a very ugly side to the U.S. right now.
Dear Almut, Thank you for telling this painful Story . Thank you for your standing in the Situation. So often , I think about it saying something in public. I feel Shame for our Christian Community, when someone preaches in this aggressive way. Even other messages are covered up and it is Not easy to uncover them.
It is very helpful, That you give us a sight of Peace on this Situation. How Can we live with it. How Can the strength of this believe Can made visible and sustaining.
Ingeborg has said it all well, Almut. Such encounters are jarring in numerous ways. Thank you for being willing to write about it and share it with us and others. We join you in the prayers and actions of the More Excellent Way. - Carol Ann
Almut: “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do.” I heard of a Saint who said something to the effect that when we forgive people before it even happens…we will find peace and we will not be disturbed. I’m not sure I’d give him due dignity of labeling him as a preacher man as that leaks into those who do have a holy calling and sorta disturbs the peace by lumping them all together. Just because one holds a Bible and one has taken up a role does not classify him as a preacher…pastor…priest. I am sorry you received the verbal assault. He is not worthy of such a title. I like the words of Sister Laureen. She told me she pretends there is a clear plexiglass type window in front of her. And when people come to her and attack…or stir up with words, she will watch the words hit the glass and she follows them down as they slide off. That man with the megaphone is not a product of the former president. His type have been around since the world began. You didn’t miss anything Almut. You saw a corner pocket of people God created who know not what they do. They are in the early stages of transformation is what I like to think. Vengeance is mine says the Lord. Rest assured, He will chastise and perhaps one day, this confused man will grow up and may apologize for what he already knows what it is he has done. My dad always said that the best way to extinguish a behavior is to ignore it. It’s a distraction is what St. Ignatius teaches that Consolation is from Christ. Be consoled. Sometimes I get concerned that by calling him a preacher man, people roll that over to other preachers who are very Christlike. Don’t let that confused person make you confused. Don’t let him holding his Bible taint all Bible holders placing them into the same realm. It divides. We cannot contribute to division. God bless your heart Almut. It is waaaay too big and gentle and peaceful to take on this man’s confusion. It has way more to do with him than you. Love you sister. kk
Kathleen, thank you for your beautiful and important words. Yes, we cannot let the bad apples sour the whole. Thank you for sharing Sr Laureen's image. I indeed felt just like that, like there was a plexiglass glass between me and the screamer and his assault with which he wanted to hurt me, just fell off the glass and ran into the ditch. What a powerful image. Thank you for your kind words, sister!
I was going to turn away from writing a response; then I realized I would be turning away from sending you love and peace. It took me awhile to really let what happened sink in. My stomach ached and tears flowed as I read your message. I'm sorry you had to experience such an assault. I'm sorry that hurt people hurt people. Thank you for speaking out (to them and to us) with courage and love. Blessings.
Katherine, thank you so much for writing this. It was a sad experience indeed. But then it is probably also a very American experience because what would be the alternative? It would be nice if there were only nice preacher men. But I came to realize after I wrote this piece and read all lovely comments that the screamer guys probably just belong in that display of diversity of that day, too. So that helped me cope. Blessings to you 🙏
Almut, thank you so much for sharing your experience. I was sick to my stomach reading about the way you were treated. It's incredibly frustrating in the United States right now to see hate so openly (or in agreement with others, fear so hatefully) deployed and to feel like there is virtually no recourse for the people targeted.
Thank you for the costly love you showed the young man with the cross whose message had broken your heart open.
Blessings as you continue to process what happened...
Thank you, dear Jill. After writing the piece it became more clear to me that also these screamer men belong into the display of diversity in this country.
I apologize to you for the America we live in where such behavior and speech is acceptable. It should not be so. I find the sign the screamers hold about pride, ironic. Were they not displaying their own pride in their point of view and that they think they speak for God?
The Bible should not be used as a weapon...their actions show how little they know of Christ and his message of love.
It may be too little, too late, but truly and in the full meaning of the phrase, Welcome home.
How beautiful, Kathleen, thank you for your kindness 🙏. Yes, isn’t their sign ironic? I actually never read it until I looked at the photo. Because their behavior was so appealing and the formatting of their sign so aggressive. But well, I do like those quotes against the pride in our hearts. Just the presentation got it all wrong!
I just came to this today. It saddens me so. I am sorry that you, and the little one, and Chuck, had to experience this. I fear such horrors will increase in the near future. I admire your courage in the moment and your reflection then and afterwards. I hope we can all gather courage, give and receive support, and walk the way of the Cross with compassion. Love and healing be with you.
Thank you for your beautiful and consoling words, dear Donna. I came to believe that these screamers also belong to the display on American diversity. still, I wish religion would not be so insulted by them.
Almut, I'm so sorry this happened to you, but I thank you for writing about it. It's horrible and wrong that evil is legal in our country. It has taken me a while to respond because for nearly 30 years we have lived next to a man similar to this preacher who hates us because we are Catholic. The things he has shouted at us and done to us are awful. Our police are useless, sometimes because they are powerless, sometimes because they are as hate filled as our neighbor. So many times over the years I have wondered if we harmed our children by staying here, or if learning to put on the armor of Christ and turn away peacefully is an essential life lesson. So many times I desperately just wanted to move, but for many reasons it never happened. What have I learned? That these shouting men are filled with hate fueled anger and their aim is to pick a fight, which, if you engage, they will twist to blame on their victim. Dialogue is impossible. Support and kind words from others offer us hope. The absence of support at times has taught us to offer hope ourselves when we see a need. Mostly I have learned that my own heart is not immune from flashes of hatred and I have a long way to go.
Eva, thank you for sharing your heart here. I am so sorry to hear that. Having screamers living next door is unbearable. I am so sorry. But who knows what important work you did just by bearing. I have read a beautiful story of a woman who moved next door to a political partisan of the other side. After some strange episodes of passive aggression one walked over asking for help with getting to the hospital. In the car they talked about their lives, not politics. The next week the other came over with some food and so on. Sometimes it is life itself which intervenes. Don't give up. Love to you and your family (and your neighbor) :-)
Thank you, Almut. I have wondered sometimes if the staying put and offerring life the opportunity to intervene is a fruit of the vow of stability. So much to pray about!
Almut, I was so sad to read about your experience with the "preacher man". For him to say such things to such a kind, beautiful, and spiritual person was so tragic. Maybe it was similar to the way Christ was treated by some preacher men in his day. My first response to your story was that the man who accosted you was not acting very Christ-like. People like him are not advancing their cause. They turn people away from Christianity, which is also sad. So often people like him are not focused on the teachings of Jesus. I hope it was helpful to you to share this painful experience with us. Bless you.
Thank you, dear friend. It was a tragic experience indeed, but in many ways helped me understand even more the complexity of faith and rage and fear. In the end these preachers add to the diversity of our town square just like everyone else, don’t they? It just took me a while to understand. That does not take from the truth that his heart is misguided and his speech is evil.
This man has none of God. One day he will realize (he will be made to realize) that God loves all. Will he cry out for forgiveness then, or will he shake his fist at heaven and add God to the list of those he hates?
“Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
I do not think it is possible, except in a therapeutic, pragmatic sense (“forgive or your mental health will suffer”), apart from God helping us, from the inside, so to speak. But here is Corrie Ten Boom relating this story, which is as cogent as anything I could relate:
—————————
It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravens-bruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face.
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. "How grateful I am for your mes-sage, Fraulein." he said. "To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!"
His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemen-daal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.
I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.
As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love love itself.
our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.
Thank you, Mary Jo. Always a good lesson in humility. After writing this piece it just occurred to me that the screamer men just belong also into this wide display of American diversity at a pride fest, don’t they?
Thank you for bringing us this lesson on courage, wisdom, and grace. I am appalled that this happened to you, but sadly, I know it would happen to any of us who might care about and express care for the marginalized and unloved in our communities when they are being subjected to scorn and rage by those who profess to be the keepers of a faith I want nothing to do with. Bless you.
Thank you, Sally, for your kind words. Indeed we need a lot of courage and grace to navigate these difficult times. But there is hope. Blessings to you.
It's unfortunately a sign of a man's defeat when they resort to attacking a woman of intelligence and moral conviction by going after her appearance or calling her that timeless female slur. As truly painful and appalling as this preacher's behavior was, you did succeed in dressing him down and cornering him with your poise, courage and clarity. I don't know that I could have mustered such restraint in that crosswalk. I admire your grace under pressure, Almut. Thank you for sharing this.
Becca, thank you for your kind words 🙏. Your analysis is just on point.
There is power in story telling. One dimension of that power is the vulnerability that dissolves barriers, closes distances, draws the teller and the listeners into one shared life. I stand with you, Almut. Thank you for further opening my eyes and my heart. May this day be a beautiful one for you and your family.
Bless you, Sharon, for your kind words. And well wishes to you as well 🙏
Thank you for sharing… it’ll take me a bit to reflect on this yet wanted to acknowledge what you shared here. I’m in awe of your courage and how you quickly looked to Hildegard as an example… “what would Hildegard do?” Probably a phrase I should ask myself more often.
I am truly perplexed by how so many live from a place of fear and justify their actions and way of being with the Bible. Why is it so challenging to live a life filled with compassion and kindness?
Uff, that is a difficult question, Christina. I am also often filled with fear. But apparently it is more of a male think to project your fear outward and become aggressive about it. You are right, this behavior comes from fear. And I think seeing it helped me reconcile with it. Let’s try to live out of compassion and kindness more often 🙏
Ouch. I'm so sorry that happened to you. It's so unsettling to read it, and I can only imagine the pain and chaos for you. I'm thankful for your solid courage (with Hildegarde's help) and clarity, and grateful that you shared this. It's a very ugly side to the U.S. right now.
Yes, ouch. That sums it up quite well, Mary 😎. Thank you for your kindness 🙏
So sorry this happened to you. I’m glad you wrote about it so that others may see. The shadow is alive and running amok
Thank you, James. It also always teaches us about our own shadows.
Dear Almut, Thank you for telling this painful Story . Thank you for your standing in the Situation. So often , I think about it saying something in public. I feel Shame for our Christian Community, when someone preaches in this aggressive way. Even other messages are covered up and it is Not easy to uncover them.
It is very helpful, That you give us a sight of Peace on this Situation. How Can we live with it. How Can the strength of this believe Can made visible and sustaining.
Very important question in our times.
Ingeborg
Ingeborg has said it all well, Almut. Such encounters are jarring in numerous ways. Thank you for being willing to write about it and share it with us and others. We join you in the prayers and actions of the More Excellent Way. - Carol Ann
Thank you, Carol Ann, for joining the prayer.
Thank you, liebe Ingeborg. All important questions to ponder.
Almut: “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do.” I heard of a Saint who said something to the effect that when we forgive people before it even happens…we will find peace and we will not be disturbed. I’m not sure I’d give him due dignity of labeling him as a preacher man as that leaks into those who do have a holy calling and sorta disturbs the peace by lumping them all together. Just because one holds a Bible and one has taken up a role does not classify him as a preacher…pastor…priest. I am sorry you received the verbal assault. He is not worthy of such a title. I like the words of Sister Laureen. She told me she pretends there is a clear plexiglass type window in front of her. And when people come to her and attack…or stir up with words, she will watch the words hit the glass and she follows them down as they slide off. That man with the megaphone is not a product of the former president. His type have been around since the world began. You didn’t miss anything Almut. You saw a corner pocket of people God created who know not what they do. They are in the early stages of transformation is what I like to think. Vengeance is mine says the Lord. Rest assured, He will chastise and perhaps one day, this confused man will grow up and may apologize for what he already knows what it is he has done. My dad always said that the best way to extinguish a behavior is to ignore it. It’s a distraction is what St. Ignatius teaches that Consolation is from Christ. Be consoled. Sometimes I get concerned that by calling him a preacher man, people roll that over to other preachers who are very Christlike. Don’t let that confused person make you confused. Don’t let him holding his Bible taint all Bible holders placing them into the same realm. It divides. We cannot contribute to division. God bless your heart Almut. It is waaaay too big and gentle and peaceful to take on this man’s confusion. It has way more to do with him than you. Love you sister. kk
Kathleen, thank you for your beautiful and important words. Yes, we cannot let the bad apples sour the whole. Thank you for sharing Sr Laureen's image. I indeed felt just like that, like there was a plexiglass glass between me and the screamer and his assault with which he wanted to hurt me, just fell off the glass and ran into the ditch. What a powerful image. Thank you for your kind words, sister!
I was going to turn away from writing a response; then I realized I would be turning away from sending you love and peace. It took me awhile to really let what happened sink in. My stomach ached and tears flowed as I read your message. I'm sorry you had to experience such an assault. I'm sorry that hurt people hurt people. Thank you for speaking out (to them and to us) with courage and love. Blessings.
Katherine, thank you so much for writing this. It was a sad experience indeed. But then it is probably also a very American experience because what would be the alternative? It would be nice if there were only nice preacher men. But I came to realize after I wrote this piece and read all lovely comments that the screamer guys probably just belong in that display of diversity of that day, too. So that helped me cope. Blessings to you 🙏
Almut, thank you so much for sharing your experience. I was sick to my stomach reading about the way you were treated. It's incredibly frustrating in the United States right now to see hate so openly (or in agreement with others, fear so hatefully) deployed and to feel like there is virtually no recourse for the people targeted.
Thank you for the costly love you showed the young man with the cross whose message had broken your heart open.
Blessings as you continue to process what happened...
Thank you, dear Jill. After writing the piece it became more clear to me that also these screamer men belong into the display of diversity in this country.
I apologize to you for the America we live in where such behavior and speech is acceptable. It should not be so. I find the sign the screamers hold about pride, ironic. Were they not displaying their own pride in their point of view and that they think they speak for God?
The Bible should not be used as a weapon...their actions show how little they know of Christ and his message of love.
It may be too little, too late, but truly and in the full meaning of the phrase, Welcome home.
How beautiful, Kathleen, thank you for your kindness 🙏. Yes, isn’t their sign ironic? I actually never read it until I looked at the photo. Because their behavior was so appealing and the formatting of their sign so aggressive. But well, I do like those quotes against the pride in our hearts. Just the presentation got it all wrong!
I just came to this today. It saddens me so. I am sorry that you, and the little one, and Chuck, had to experience this. I fear such horrors will increase in the near future. I admire your courage in the moment and your reflection then and afterwards. I hope we can all gather courage, give and receive support, and walk the way of the Cross with compassion. Love and healing be with you.
Thank you for your beautiful and consoling words, dear Donna. I came to believe that these screamers also belong to the display on American diversity. still, I wish religion would not be so insulted by them.
Almut, I'm so sorry this happened to you, but I thank you for writing about it. It's horrible and wrong that evil is legal in our country. It has taken me a while to respond because for nearly 30 years we have lived next to a man similar to this preacher who hates us because we are Catholic. The things he has shouted at us and done to us are awful. Our police are useless, sometimes because they are powerless, sometimes because they are as hate filled as our neighbor. So many times over the years I have wondered if we harmed our children by staying here, or if learning to put on the armor of Christ and turn away peacefully is an essential life lesson. So many times I desperately just wanted to move, but for many reasons it never happened. What have I learned? That these shouting men are filled with hate fueled anger and their aim is to pick a fight, which, if you engage, they will twist to blame on their victim. Dialogue is impossible. Support and kind words from others offer us hope. The absence of support at times has taught us to offer hope ourselves when we see a need. Mostly I have learned that my own heart is not immune from flashes of hatred and I have a long way to go.
Eva, thank you for sharing your heart here. I am so sorry to hear that. Having screamers living next door is unbearable. I am so sorry. But who knows what important work you did just by bearing. I have read a beautiful story of a woman who moved next door to a political partisan of the other side. After some strange episodes of passive aggression one walked over asking for help with getting to the hospital. In the car they talked about their lives, not politics. The next week the other came over with some food and so on. Sometimes it is life itself which intervenes. Don't give up. Love to you and your family (and your neighbor) :-)
Thank you, Almut. I have wondered sometimes if the staying put and offerring life the opportunity to intervene is a fruit of the vow of stability. So much to pray about!
Almut, I was so sad to read about your experience with the "preacher man". For him to say such things to such a kind, beautiful, and spiritual person was so tragic. Maybe it was similar to the way Christ was treated by some preacher men in his day. My first response to your story was that the man who accosted you was not acting very Christ-like. People like him are not advancing their cause. They turn people away from Christianity, which is also sad. So often people like him are not focused on the teachings of Jesus. I hope it was helpful to you to share this painful experience with us. Bless you.
Thank you, dear friend. It was a tragic experience indeed, but in many ways helped me understand even more the complexity of faith and rage and fear. In the end these preachers add to the diversity of our town square just like everyone else, don’t they? It just took me a while to understand. That does not take from the truth that his heart is misguided and his speech is evil.
This man has none of God. One day he will realize (he will be made to realize) that God loves all. Will he cry out for forgiveness then, or will he shake his fist at heaven and add God to the list of those he hates?
“Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
1 John 4:7–9
Thank you, Kevin, I so often think about this command of neighborly love. Jut how do we apply it on those who do us harm?
I do not think it is possible, except in a therapeutic, pragmatic sense (“forgive or your mental health will suffer”), apart from God helping us, from the inside, so to speak. But here is Corrie Ten Boom relating this story, which is as cogent as anything I could relate:
—————————
It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravens-bruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face.
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. "How grateful I am for your mes-sage, Fraulein." he said. "To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!"
His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemen-daal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.
I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.
As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love love itself.
our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.
Corrie Ten Boom,
The Hiding Place
Thank you for bringing Corrie ten Boom to mind. I read her books, too. Remarkable.
I am so sorry you experienced this hatred.
Thank you, Mary Jo. Always a good lesson in humility. After writing this piece it just occurred to me that the screamer men just belong also into this wide display of American diversity at a pride fest, don’t they?
Thank you for bringing us this lesson on courage, wisdom, and grace. I am appalled that this happened to you, but sadly, I know it would happen to any of us who might care about and express care for the marginalized and unloved in our communities when they are being subjected to scorn and rage by those who profess to be the keepers of a faith I want nothing to do with. Bless you.
Thank you, Sally, for your kind words. Indeed we need a lot of courage and grace to navigate these difficult times. But there is hope. Blessings to you.