A wise friend commented on my post (7/14/13) about the theology of evolutionary Continuous Creation: “It also calls for an evolving theology that encompasses all humanity regardless of race religion, sexual orientation, occupation, gender and sees all as wonderfully created and held in Godde's hand.” Hail the prophetic call for human justice as profound as earth justice!
Saving Earth means loving all living things that God loves in the way that Godde loves them: EQUALLY.
In 1986 poet Etheridge Knight (1931-1991) wrote this poem entitled: "Rehabilitation and Treatment in the Prisons of America." Published by Yale Divinity School, Reflections, Fall 2013)
The Convict strolled into the prison administration building to
get assistance and counseling for his personal problems. Inside the
main door were several other doors proclaiming: Doctor, Lawyer,
Teacher, Counselor, Therapist, etc. He chose the proper door, and
was confronted by two more doors: Custody and Treatment. He
chose Treatment, went in, and was confronted with two more
doors: First Offender and Previous Offender. Again he chose the
proper door and was confronted with two more doors: Adult and
Juvenile. He was an adult, so he walked through that door and
ran smack into two more doors: Democrat and Republican. He
was democrat, so he rushed through that door and ran smack into
two more doors: Black and White. He was Black, so he rushed—
ran— through that door—and fell nine stories to the street.
Then I came along behind. I was White so I rushed through that door
and ran smack into two more doors: Male and Female. I was a woman,
so I raced through the right door—and flew out into the open air. Before
I looked down at the streets below I stuck out my chest and yanked the
rip cord hidden in my uplift bra. Like an umbrella my chute spread over
me. I looked up and saw no doors.
(addition mine)
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
2013.07.14 Ask the Beasts: Spirituality and the Evolving Earth
“Ask the beasts and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
ask the plants of the earth an they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among those does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing,
and the breath of every human being.” (Job 12:7-10)
Yesterday at Boston College I heard a brilliant talk by Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, professor of theology at Fordham. She used as her biblical text the above passage from the biblical book of Job.
Poor old Job, impatient for a change in traditional theological thought and having to suffer further because of righteous friends who kept insisting that his sufferings and loss must be divine retribution. Just search your soul, confess, repent and be right with God, they said.
NO, NO, NO said Job, you’re full of claptrap. I did NOT cause my misfortunes. I am innocent. Just ask the beasts—and every living thing. (This means plants, animals and people—all)
So how do all these living things answer?
Their science story: We all evolved over 3.5 billion years. We are all connected in a grand molecular/biological schema on a tree of life and continue to modify, branch and diversify in order to grow and multiply. The more diversified we become the more success each species will have in life. One beast has evolved with no diversification—the horseshoe crab. One plant the same—the jingo tree. Some of us, of course, will die out.
Their theology story: We all owe our origins in existence to God. God will transform us into a new creation, a future of life with God who never abandons. Most importantly, God sustains us moment to moment—creatio continua. This is the Tree of Life, home of every living thing.
Johnson's core point was that all living things evolve, thrive in the same intricately connected ecological web, and are in the hand of God/the Lord—now and forever. Divine creativity is active all the time or there would be no world! AND, "pay attention to biology!"
In ancient times science and religion agreed on these convergences. Darwin was a faithful scientist, a beholder of every living thing. Unlike some righteous religionists (like Job's friends) Darwin shined praises on the minutiae of biological life in a way that brought about his theory of evolution.
He wrote "...from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved." He marveled that the bone structure of the human hand (for grasping), the mole’s paw (for digging), the fish’s fin (for paddling), and the bird’s wing (for flying) are all exactly the same skeletally.
So what happened? The history is too much for me to go into here, but you might say the same hubris that motivated the putative apple caper in Eden caused humanity to forget that it was only ONE species among every living thing that God held in hand. We placed ourselves at the top of an ascendancy scale. We're still doing it! Recently the Occupy Movement made witness to such hubris. Johnson's case, however, was that we humans have left every living thing except ourselves behind, discounted, outside of our concern and God's as well.
How will we heal this rending? Ironically, by not paying so much attention to sin and the spiritual state of our own narcissistic souls and looking out the window at the whole order of which we are one part. "LOOK OUT THE WINDOW!!" Johnson said. "We need a robust pneumtology."
It is She, the Holy Spirit who in our Christian Nicene Creed is called "the giver of life." The Latin words mean vivifier. I can't resist commenting here that I would so love it if we could at least stop referring to the Holy Spirit as HE in the creed. Please! Three men on top—too much.
Tears came to my eyes more than once as Johnson talked about the Spirit— the spiritual radiance of plants and animals as well as human beings.
LOOK OUT THE WINDOW. LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF NATURE. GET OVER YOURSELF.
A few irresistible wise tidbits that beg to be heard:
-Creation is a cosmic event.
-Deep Incarnation means that God in the flesh goes beyond Jesus' flesh, even beyond human flesh, and into the flesh of the whole natural living world—every living thing again. Flesh ( Greek sarx) means everything that is vulnerable, perishable, fragile and transitory. That's the whole enchilada.
-The Exultet Christians chant at the Easter Vigil begins with: Rejoice all earth...(not all humanity)
-The extinction of a species means the end of birth (Darwin) 27,000 species are lost each year! We are a species!
-For Christians: Jesus is made of the same molecular dust as we all are. In Christ’s resurrection the earth itself arose. Resurrection redeems from DEATH, not just sin!
- Birds have the power to fly; for the ancients birds went where humans couldn’t reach, so the bird, symbol of the Goddess of Love, became the symbol for the the divine Spirit in both testaments of the Bible.
-There are two bibles: Nature and Scripture
If the Church is too tied into the resources of corporate wealth to divest from fossil fuel investments, then the Church is irrelevant and voiceless, as mostly it has been already. (NB the United Church of Christ has just voted to divest, and so did the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.)
“If you push for such things, you may end up despised,” Johnson said with a compelling grin.
When I went home I rushed to Genesis and back to the Garden of Eden. I knew all about the good and evil morality tree whose fruit was death. But wasn’t there another special tree?
YES.... in Genesis 3:22: the tree of life. The story gives us a glimpse no more of an opportunity for humanity “to reach out his/her hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
We can perpetuate the schema of the great Darwinian/ biblical Tree of All Life. The beasts and all green life ask no less of us than to act now to save the earth, to help God’s creatio continua.
Is NOW the time to reach with all our might and wit and resources for that tree of life and save all earth—and ourselves with it?
IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
ask the plants of the earth an they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among those does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing,
and the breath of every human being.” (Job 12:7-10)
Yesterday at Boston College I heard a brilliant talk by Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, professor of theology at Fordham. She used as her biblical text the above passage from the biblical book of Job.
Poor old Job, impatient for a change in traditional theological thought and having to suffer further because of righteous friends who kept insisting that his sufferings and loss must be divine retribution. Just search your soul, confess, repent and be right with God, they said.
NO, NO, NO said Job, you’re full of claptrap. I did NOT cause my misfortunes. I am innocent. Just ask the beasts—and every living thing. (This means plants, animals and people—all)
So how do all these living things answer?
Their science story: We all evolved over 3.5 billion years. We are all connected in a grand molecular/biological schema on a tree of life and continue to modify, branch and diversify in order to grow and multiply. The more diversified we become the more success each species will have in life. One beast has evolved with no diversification—the horseshoe crab. One plant the same—the jingo tree. Some of us, of course, will die out.
Their theology story: We all owe our origins in existence to God. God will transform us into a new creation, a future of life with God who never abandons. Most importantly, God sustains us moment to moment—creatio continua. This is the Tree of Life, home of every living thing.
Johnson's core point was that all living things evolve, thrive in the same intricately connected ecological web, and are in the hand of God/the Lord—now and forever. Divine creativity is active all the time or there would be no world! AND, "pay attention to biology!"
In ancient times science and religion agreed on these convergences. Darwin was a faithful scientist, a beholder of every living thing. Unlike some righteous religionists (like Job's friends) Darwin shined praises on the minutiae of biological life in a way that brought about his theory of evolution.
He wrote "...from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved." He marveled that the bone structure of the human hand (for grasping), the mole’s paw (for digging), the fish’s fin (for paddling), and the bird’s wing (for flying) are all exactly the same skeletally.
So what happened? The history is too much for me to go into here, but you might say the same hubris that motivated the putative apple caper in Eden caused humanity to forget that it was only ONE species among every living thing that God held in hand. We placed ourselves at the top of an ascendancy scale. We're still doing it! Recently the Occupy Movement made witness to such hubris. Johnson's case, however, was that we humans have left every living thing except ourselves behind, discounted, outside of our concern and God's as well.
How will we heal this rending? Ironically, by not paying so much attention to sin and the spiritual state of our own narcissistic souls and looking out the window at the whole order of which we are one part. "LOOK OUT THE WINDOW!!" Johnson said. "We need a robust pneumtology."
It is She, the Holy Spirit who in our Christian Nicene Creed is called "the giver of life." The Latin words mean vivifier. I can't resist commenting here that I would so love it if we could at least stop referring to the Holy Spirit as HE in the creed. Please! Three men on top—too much.
Tears came to my eyes more than once as Johnson talked about the Spirit— the spiritual radiance of plants and animals as well as human beings.
LOOK OUT THE WINDOW. LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF NATURE. GET OVER YOURSELF.
A few irresistible wise tidbits that beg to be heard:
-Creation is a cosmic event.
-Deep Incarnation means that God in the flesh goes beyond Jesus' flesh, even beyond human flesh, and into the flesh of the whole natural living world—every living thing again. Flesh ( Greek sarx) means everything that is vulnerable, perishable, fragile and transitory. That's the whole enchilada.
-The Exultet Christians chant at the Easter Vigil begins with: Rejoice all earth...(not all humanity)
-The extinction of a species means the end of birth (Darwin) 27,000 species are lost each year! We are a species!
-For Christians: Jesus is made of the same molecular dust as we all are. In Christ’s resurrection the earth itself arose. Resurrection redeems from DEATH, not just sin!
- Birds have the power to fly; for the ancients birds went where humans couldn’t reach, so the bird, symbol of the Goddess of Love, became the symbol for the the divine Spirit in both testaments of the Bible.
-There are two bibles: Nature and Scripture
If the Church is too tied into the resources of corporate wealth to divest from fossil fuel investments, then the Church is irrelevant and voiceless, as mostly it has been already. (NB the United Church of Christ has just voted to divest, and so did the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.)
“If you push for such things, you may end up despised,” Johnson said with a compelling grin.
When I went home I rushed to Genesis and back to the Garden of Eden. I knew all about the good and evil morality tree whose fruit was death. But wasn’t there another special tree?
YES.... in Genesis 3:22: the tree of life. The story gives us a glimpse no more of an opportunity for humanity “to reach out his/her hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
We can perpetuate the schema of the great Darwinian/ biblical Tree of All Life. The beasts and all green life ask no less of us than to act now to save the earth, to help God’s creatio continua.
Is NOW the time to reach with all our might and wit and resources for that tree of life and save all earth—and ourselves with it?
IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
2013.07.10 Copy Cat Prayers
A little boy mimics his religious elders at prayer, the body language for Muslims of deep respect, awe, and reverence for Allah their Divinity. They pray like this five times a day and are especially aware of the Holy in their high holy season, Ramadan, which is now.
Some things aren’t worth imitating but some things are. And small children usually know the difference and show us adults—if we would but listen and look and follow.
This world right now needs to be on its knees, humble and together in body and spirit.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
2013.07.07 Interpreting Scripture, Necessary But Dangerous Ministry
On May 12, 2013, in Curaçao, the Dutch island off the Venezuela coast, Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preached a sermon on the text Acts 16:16-34 that raised a theological ruckus. (Source: NYTimes news story, June 12, 2013, Mark Oppenheimer.)
Now how often does a theological ruckus make the NYTimes? And from a text in the Acts of the Apostles, a book notable for its joyful exaggerations about the high speed growth of the young Christian Church, read evangelism? Miracle after miracle. And the Holy Spirit Herself notably in charge of this expansion. Who would critique Herself? Who could find controversy? It struck me as very funny.
It had to do, of course, with how scripture is interpreted and what scripture means in different contexts. Every generation must interpret scripture for its own time. That’s the point. That’s what keeps it holy—and alive.
So what was the ruckus really about?
Here’s a paraphrase of the biblical account, in brief and with NO interpretation, which is also the point—and the problem. Scripture leaves room for everyone’s take:
Paul is on the move spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Greece with spectacular success, financed by a businesswoman/convert named Lydia. So far so good, but then one day a slave-girl with “a spirit of divination” (seeing beyond the obvious) shouted out,‘These men are slaves of the Most High God who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ ” The girl followed Paul and his disciple Silas around calling out until Paul got annoyed and ordered the spirit to come out of her in the name of Jesus Christ. Which it obediently did causing the girl’s owners distress because they were making mucho money from her fortune telling. Her owners schemed to have Paul and other Christians arrested and thrown in jail for disturbing the peace and preaching the rhetoric of conversion. In prison Paul and Silas sang hymns to God; a violent earthquake shook their chains loose and all prisoners were free to escape but didn’t—in order to protect the jailer from losing his job or worse. The grateful jailer of course converts, is declared “saved”and he AND his entire household are summarily baptized.
Instant Christians and we all go out singing and rejoicing!! There you have it.
You see what I mean about Acts? Just the right amount of too many too happy endings!
In the meantime what happened to the poor slave-girl who, thanks to Paul’s pique, had been relieved of the divination gift that was her livelihood? Perhaps Paul was not really angry at her but at her exploitive owners? Nevertheless, the girl took a hit.
And what happened to Jefferts Schori? She preached about Paul’s failure to value diversity and to see the girl’s “difference.” She noticed, as did I, that the girl proclaimed the basic Christian kerygma: “These men are slaves of the Most High God who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”
Well, duh, I thought to myself. She even used the same slavery rhetoric as Paul used when he preached about Christians being "slaves" to God—and to no other I presume.
But the Presiding Bishop’s interpretation went viral. Angry Episcopalians flew around cyber space, defending Paul—and patriarchy I might add. Objectors denounced the Presiding Bishop for her provocative interpretation, questioning even her standing as a good Christian.
Most of the disgruntled Episcopalians were of a more traditionalist stripe and unhappy with Jefferts Schori’s support of gay and lesbian marriage and her hard line politics and legal stances against dissenting congregations who voted to secede from the Episcopal Church and expected to take their properties with them. NOT.
But is it not equally a NOT to biblical literalists to stay with a Church that has over-ridden biblical prohibitions against same-sex marriage? Again, a matter of interpretation in context.
You get the picture: a similar extremist tension to that which polarizes/paralyzes our government.
Scholars who were consulted agreed that Jefferts-Schori’s interpretation was not what the original biblical writers intended. Another duh—also the point of the ongoing tradition of scriptural interpretation incumbent on the Church. But what does it mean today?
Are you bored? I am. Yet I declare that my vote goes with the slave-girl who: 1) was exploited for her strange gift; 2) turned out to be a proclaimer of the gospel; and 3) was relieved of what the culture of her day thought of as “demonic” but which the text in Acts does not call “evil.” She might have looked on Paul as her abuser not her liberator.
Who, after all, would employ her now? Is there not, from a contemporary point of view, a sexist, possibly ableist, tinge to this text?—and to the extreme reactions to Jefferts Schori’s take? She too is a woman.
Jefferts-Schori said of prior generations of interpreters when asked for comment: “They had a limited view, because none of us is God.”
Jesus, I imagine, might take these two women out for lunch, (or to a quiet place) not for reprimand but to listen to their concerns—graciously, inclusively—and thank them for speaking truth to power, each in her own way.
Now how often does a theological ruckus make the NYTimes? And from a text in the Acts of the Apostles, a book notable for its joyful exaggerations about the high speed growth of the young Christian Church, read evangelism? Miracle after miracle. And the Holy Spirit Herself notably in charge of this expansion. Who would critique Herself? Who could find controversy? It struck me as very funny.
It had to do, of course, with how scripture is interpreted and what scripture means in different contexts. Every generation must interpret scripture for its own time. That’s the point. That’s what keeps it holy—and alive.
So what was the ruckus really about?
Here’s a paraphrase of the biblical account, in brief and with NO interpretation, which is also the point—and the problem. Scripture leaves room for everyone’s take:
Paul is on the move spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Greece with spectacular success, financed by a businesswoman/convert named Lydia. So far so good, but then one day a slave-girl with “a spirit of divination” (seeing beyond the obvious) shouted out,‘These men are slaves of the Most High God who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ ” The girl followed Paul and his disciple Silas around calling out until Paul got annoyed and ordered the spirit to come out of her in the name of Jesus Christ. Which it obediently did causing the girl’s owners distress because they were making mucho money from her fortune telling. Her owners schemed to have Paul and other Christians arrested and thrown in jail for disturbing the peace and preaching the rhetoric of conversion. In prison Paul and Silas sang hymns to God; a violent earthquake shook their chains loose and all prisoners were free to escape but didn’t—in order to protect the jailer from losing his job or worse. The grateful jailer of course converts, is declared “saved”and he AND his entire household are summarily baptized.
Instant Christians and we all go out singing and rejoicing!! There you have it.
You see what I mean about Acts? Just the right amount of too many too happy endings!
In the meantime what happened to the poor slave-girl who, thanks to Paul’s pique, had been relieved of the divination gift that was her livelihood? Perhaps Paul was not really angry at her but at her exploitive owners? Nevertheless, the girl took a hit.
And what happened to Jefferts Schori? She preached about Paul’s failure to value diversity and to see the girl’s “difference.” She noticed, as did I, that the girl proclaimed the basic Christian kerygma: “These men are slaves of the Most High God who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”
Well, duh, I thought to myself. She even used the same slavery rhetoric as Paul used when he preached about Christians being "slaves" to God—and to no other I presume.
But the Presiding Bishop’s interpretation went viral. Angry Episcopalians flew around cyber space, defending Paul—and patriarchy I might add. Objectors denounced the Presiding Bishop for her provocative interpretation, questioning even her standing as a good Christian.
Most of the disgruntled Episcopalians were of a more traditionalist stripe and unhappy with Jefferts Schori’s support of gay and lesbian marriage and her hard line politics and legal stances against dissenting congregations who voted to secede from the Episcopal Church and expected to take their properties with them. NOT.
But is it not equally a NOT to biblical literalists to stay with a Church that has over-ridden biblical prohibitions against same-sex marriage? Again, a matter of interpretation in context.
You get the picture: a similar extremist tension to that which polarizes/paralyzes our government.
Scholars who were consulted agreed that Jefferts-Schori’s interpretation was not what the original biblical writers intended. Another duh—also the point of the ongoing tradition of scriptural interpretation incumbent on the Church. But what does it mean today?
Are you bored? I am. Yet I declare that my vote goes with the slave-girl who: 1) was exploited for her strange gift; 2) turned out to be a proclaimer of the gospel; and 3) was relieved of what the culture of her day thought of as “demonic” but which the text in Acts does not call “evil.” She might have looked on Paul as her abuser not her liberator.
Who, after all, would employ her now? Is there not, from a contemporary point of view, a sexist, possibly ableist, tinge to this text?—and to the extreme reactions to Jefferts Schori’s take? She too is a woman.
Jefferts-Schori said of prior generations of interpreters when asked for comment: “They had a limited view, because none of us is God.”
Jesus, I imagine, might take these two women out for lunch, (or to a quiet place) not for reprimand but to listen to their concerns—graciously, inclusively—and thank them for speaking truth to power, each in her own way.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
2013.07.04 Happy 4th in the Home of the Free
Why do I tear up when the piccolos toodle “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and the cannons boom to the mighty 1812 Overture?
I suppose it’s this thing of aging—a salubrious combination of sentimentality and gradual letting go of fretting over girth or acting goofy-happy.
Last evening we watched a 1985 documentary about the erection (well not really but a fun thought nonetheless!) of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. Ms Liberty was a gift from France to celebrate the centennial of American independence. The gift is significant, in part because the French knew how difficult it was to maintain the spirit of liberté egalité, fraternité against the pull of monarchy and other ills of control politics.
I grew up in NYC in the shadow of Lady Liberty, besides the Empire State Building. We used to go on Circle Line cruises and wave to her. What moves me most is that the statue is not a symbol or power, or even success, but rather a symbol of promise. America values independence, and freedom even more. The great statue’s torch, held so high and with such somber-faced dignity, reminds us not to forget our reason to be. Perhaps this is a bit like the sanctuary lamp that burns in churches remembers to us the promise of divine grace.
Boston strong turned into Boston nasty over the refusal to bury one of the Marathon bomber terrorists. Will Boston turn scared now as we face another mass celebration, ripe for bombs? I doubt it. We are patriotic, in spite of the Patriot Act.
Boston’s annual July 4th celebration this year will go on in its own spectacular way. The security will be tight,very. Some Bostonians will remember the pain and fear of bombings at another of Boston’s great traditions, the Boston Marathon on Patriots Day. Certain behaviors and items will not be permitted, including styrofoam coolers on wheels, non-transparent drink containers, trash cans, any homegrown fireworks, propane tanks for grills and NO BACKPACKS. That's a lot of lifestyle change. I hope they let the kids have sparklers.
I’m proud to be an American and proud to be a Christian. I weep for the joy and privilege of it.
I suppose it’s this thing of aging—a salubrious combination of sentimentality and gradual letting go of fretting over girth or acting goofy-happy.
Last evening we watched a 1985 documentary about the erection (well not really but a fun thought nonetheless!) of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. Ms Liberty was a gift from France to celebrate the centennial of American independence. The gift is significant, in part because the French knew how difficult it was to maintain the spirit of liberté egalité, fraternité against the pull of monarchy and other ills of control politics.
I grew up in NYC in the shadow of Lady Liberty, besides the Empire State Building. We used to go on Circle Line cruises and wave to her. What moves me most is that the statue is not a symbol or power, or even success, but rather a symbol of promise. America values independence, and freedom even more. The great statue’s torch, held so high and with such somber-faced dignity, reminds us not to forget our reason to be. Perhaps this is a bit like the sanctuary lamp that burns in churches remembers to us the promise of divine grace.
Boston strong turned into Boston nasty over the refusal to bury one of the Marathon bomber terrorists. Will Boston turn scared now as we face another mass celebration, ripe for bombs? I doubt it. We are patriotic, in spite of the Patriot Act.
Boston’s annual July 4th celebration this year will go on in its own spectacular way. The security will be tight,very. Some Bostonians will remember the pain and fear of bombings at another of Boston’s great traditions, the Boston Marathon on Patriots Day. Certain behaviors and items will not be permitted, including styrofoam coolers on wheels, non-transparent drink containers, trash cans, any homegrown fireworks, propane tanks for grills and NO BACKPACKS. That's a lot of lifestyle change. I hope they let the kids have sparklers.
I’m proud to be an American and proud to be a Christian. I weep for the joy and privilege of it.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
2013.06.30 Writing In The Dark
"The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis, and we'd have a mighty dull literature if all the writers that came along were a bunch of happy chuckleheads." William Styron
Don’t be afraid of the dark spots in your life. Let them be visible. The author of the above quote, William Styron, suffered from clinical depression for years. Out of its depths he wrote with profound empathy for human flawedness and human grandeur, even in himself when he wrote his book on his own depression, called Darkness Visible.
Most famous for Sophie’s Choice Styron wrote from the interstices of what classical theology called experimentum crucis, the experience of the cross, the matter of hideous choices.
We all have such times of despair and loneliness and fear that now, and ultimately, there is nothing. It is often the very place where we find something more, something mysterious, something impossible that allow us to enter the paradox of hope against hope.
One of my own such moments came when I’d been rejected twice for ordination. Delusionally, I thought I was nothing, God was nothing, and the Church was definitely nothing. And from somewhere deep inside me or outside me, I couldn’t tell which and it could have been both, I heard something: No one can take this away from you. Truth.
And that kind of truth is what we write about—always and repeatedly. It’s not the drama of the dilemma nor the triumph of new life, but the in between process of bearing up no matter what until your inner eyes can actually see luminosity in the darkness itself.
And that is what we write—over and over, this theme with endless individual variations.
Don’t be afraid of the dark spots in your life. Let them be visible. The author of the above quote, William Styron, suffered from clinical depression for years. Out of its depths he wrote with profound empathy for human flawedness and human grandeur, even in himself when he wrote his book on his own depression, called Darkness Visible.
Most famous for Sophie’s Choice Styron wrote from the interstices of what classical theology called experimentum crucis, the experience of the cross, the matter of hideous choices.
We all have such times of despair and loneliness and fear that now, and ultimately, there is nothing. It is often the very place where we find something more, something mysterious, something impossible that allow us to enter the paradox of hope against hope.
One of my own such moments came when I’d been rejected twice for ordination. Delusionally, I thought I was nothing, God was nothing, and the Church was definitely nothing. And from somewhere deep inside me or outside me, I couldn’t tell which and it could have been both, I heard something: No one can take this away from you. Truth.
And that kind of truth is what we write about—always and repeatedly. It’s not the drama of the dilemma nor the triumph of new life, but the in between process of bearing up no matter what until your inner eyes can actually see luminosity in the darkness itself.
And that is what we write—over and over, this theme with endless individual variations.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
2013.06.26 There's Nothing Like a Neighbor
There’s probably nothing more precious than a real neighbor, by which I mean someone who literally lives next door, not the figurative far-off neighbor we are all invited to love, but secretly fear.
I grew up on biblical food, the most frequently served up was: Love your neighbor as yourself, that is, in the same way you love yourself—an obviously specious commandment—deceptively easy, and taking a lifetime to get half right.
Still, try it out.
Our literal neighbor recently bought a basil plant for herself. It needed some sun that day so she put it over on our stoop. When we came home there it was. But was it ours? Did we forget we bought it? Or maybe it was hers and she forgot it? Or perhaps she bought it for us as a gift? What do do with a lost basil?
We claimed it; Dick, while I cheered from the sidelines, repotted it and put it back on our stoop. The next day it was gone.
After a flurry of emails filled with: “I thought you...” “And then we...” “If you love it keep it...” and “Oh we couldn’t do that, it’s yours...”, a conclusion was reached, and a mystery solved.
Resolution happened in person over the hose. Our neighbor watered and Dick pressed for details and facts like the good lawyer he’s become. Laughter sealed the deal: it was her plant repotted by her neighbor...therefore..............
We will share the basil and its savory gifts.
There’s nothing more precious than a neighbor even if you seldom speak or see each other. Because when you do, it feels as if you’ve always known each other well simply because you live next door and provide a mutual neighborly cushion of care.
I grew up on biblical food, the most frequently served up was: Love your neighbor as yourself, that is, in the same way you love yourself—an obviously specious commandment—deceptively easy, and taking a lifetime to get half right.
Still, try it out.
Our literal neighbor recently bought a basil plant for herself. It needed some sun that day so she put it over on our stoop. When we came home there it was. But was it ours? Did we forget we bought it? Or maybe it was hers and she forgot it? Or perhaps she bought it for us as a gift? What do do with a lost basil?
We claimed it; Dick, while I cheered from the sidelines, repotted it and put it back on our stoop. The next day it was gone.
After a flurry of emails filled with: “I thought you...” “And then we...” “If you love it keep it...” and “Oh we couldn’t do that, it’s yours...”, a conclusion was reached, and a mystery solved.
Resolution happened in person over the hose. Our neighbor watered and Dick pressed for details and facts like the good lawyer he’s become. Laughter sealed the deal: it was her plant repotted by her neighbor...therefore..............
We will share the basil and its savory gifts.
There’s nothing more precious than a neighbor even if you seldom speak or see each other. Because when you do, it feels as if you’ve always known each other well simply because you live next door and provide a mutual neighborly cushion of care.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
