2024.05.05 Well, Well, Welcome Back. Lyn G. Brakeman, Spiritual Lemons, blog post

The above April 15, 2024 New Yorker Magazine cover, "Undercover" by Peter de Seve, an American artist born in NYC in 1958 and a graduate of Parsons, School of Design, feels joyful  My caption is: “Hi, we’re back!”

I used to think that bird-watching was a kind of useless but harmless activity. Now I think it may be saving my life, at this time in my life.

I first celebrated birds when I was bedridden in a rehab center after my legs gave out from under me, thanks to a spinal fracture complicated by osteoporosis. I spent many hours lying on my back, interrupted only only by wonderful staff, running in and out with various meds and my three meals, most of which I ate with my hands because it was how I could reach the food while flat on my back—and save myself from the humiliation of having to be spoon-fed. 

The birds simply re-appeared one day and signaled: “Hi we’re back.”

My favorite chirping champion here is the little yellow one, just to the upper right of center. She is singing her heart out—showing off and feeling inordinately proud of herself.  

To me these birds are more victorious than the battlers of Cinco de Mayo. Birds capture hearts by being quite naturally who they are. 

Do we really have to fight just to be—just to be¿ 

2022.04.03 A Humanitarian Politics. Lyn G. Brakeman, Spiritual Lemons, 4/3/22

 

How sad and defeated I feel when something I prayed for and wanted so much to come about does not. Yet sometimes, I discover that God, or the powers of Mystery alone, or whatever strikes your fancy to call a Power Greater Than Yourself, has a broader vision than mine—a healing vision. 

What all this means is  that I am profoundly disappointed in my political party. I am profoundly disappointed in the other political party in our two-party system, and in the rigidly bipartisan structure of American democracy.  

So I have made a decision to stop believing in politics in its currently polarized condition. Politics is simply the way we the people choose to interact for the sake of sane governance and to legislate laws for the sake of good order. Politics, however, is not God or even godlike. 

I do believe in a political process, but I no longer believe in parties. I call my politics  Humanitarian. I will continue as a registered Democrat, so I can vote in local primaries and preserve the vision of a government that helps the people treat everyone with respect. I will always vote in national elections, because it is my privilege to do so, but I never again will automatically pull a party lever to vote for all the candidates in one party. This means that I will have to educate myself about the people who run for office, rather than  to react to, or assume, anything about their integrity from their party affiliation—one way or another. 

Blue AND red remain my favorite colors; together they make purple or scarlet. I am also proud of how our current president is heroically managing the mess he was handed. I blame no one, not even one party, for this current situation of systemic disorder. 

Because I do believe in systems theory, in which the whole is not simply the sum of its parts, but more— just as a poem is more than the list of the words in it. I seek a vision of the whole. I seek an image for a politics of the human, not the partisan. 

So what does the whole human system look like to me? What is the vision behind the particulars?  Here is one image, called “Motherland” by Spanish artist Ana Juan. It is set against a background of weaponry, soldiers, violence, and flames of war, meant to re-present the 2022 Russian assault of Ukraine. It is female, but not sexist or feminist. Everyone can mother. Mothering matters. Every mothering relationship must include wisdom, encouragement, nurture, and freedom. No one, and nothing, embodies this image perfectly. I see God in this image—God of soul, not denomination. God manifest in all religions, not a single religion. God of love embodied/intimate, not almighty/ascendant. 

I took this photo of  The New Yorker magazine cover, 3/21/22. I wrote to the artist, requesting permission to use her illustration for my blog: “I am an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, and author, retired and living now in Connecticut, USA. I am also a mother of four adult children and grandmother to three boys and three girls. I write to request permission to use your image, Motherland” on my blog of 4/3/22. 

I see it as one of many different possible of the Divine—this one most beautifully female though not feminist, imaging a God of love embodied. My blog appears weekly with the theme that sometimes what the world sees as sour and ugly, God may see as beautiful. I spent a graduate summer (1960) with families in Spain, Madrid and Santander. I’ve forgotten most everything except my great love for this country. Mil gracias. Lyn G. Brakeman”

Ms. Juan responded in this lovely way: “Of course, you have the right of using my image“Motherland” for your Blog of 4/3/22. I wish this image will be like the hug we all need in these dark times.  Warm regards from Spain.  Ana.” 

2015.05.31 Trinitarian Lemmings?

Most Christians make the Christian idea of the Trinity much too complicated even to contemplate.  It’s an interpretation of the nature of divinity. A vivid interpretation full of symbolic meaning and chutzpah, but still an interpretation—of Mystery.

Historically, interpretations get messy and complex as everyone tries to say it better—over and over, for generations. But what is the spirituality of this Mystery we call Trinity?

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Cor. 13:13)

This biblical blessing is Christian code. It’s a refrain by which Christians tap out the simple belief that Godde/God is dynamic Love. That’s what they experienced, and that’s what they cherished, and that’s what they told the world. Theologian Walter Kasper is blunt about it: “Trinity is the Christian form of monotheism.”

The Greeks named it perichoresis (pronounced per-ee-kor ee’-sis) which means that three equally charged yet distinct energies cycle around, always interacting as one.  It’s a spiritual dynamism!

Just for today let’s KISS it, that’s “keep it simple, stupid,” according to twelve-step recovery jargon.

Let’s memorize the Augustinian tongue twister: “each in each, and all in each, and each in all, and all in all, and all are one”—and call it a day.  

Let’s laugh with it. Here’s a cartoon I saw in the June 1 (2015) New Yorker. It was created by artist Julia Suits who graciously gave me permission to use her work to illustrate the simple idea that divinity is dynamic love.

I see a funny amazing grace in the cartoon: the lemmings gleefully taking a leap of faith off a cliff, and the cautious measuring lemming, and his or her wise little friend who suggests she (or he) is "overthinking this" are ALL equally beloved, ALL part of the dynamism of grace.

Do you sometimes say "whee" and leap?  Sometimes measure and take proper precautions? Sometimes explain and try to persuade?  Yes. Yes. Yes.

Thanks to you Julia Suits for your humor and your creativity.