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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Wednesday, July 20, 2016

How do we respond?

How on Earth do we respond, when we are stunned and scared and overwhelmed, to the point of almost disbelieving?”  I wish there was an 800 number we could call to find out, so I could pass this along to my worried Sunday School kids. But no. Yet in the meantime, I know that we MUST respond. We must respond with a show of force equal to the violence and tragedies, with love force. Mercy force. Un-negotiated compassion force. Crazy care-giving to the poor and suffering, including ourselves [force]”
                                                                        Anne Lamott
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In times of trouble, we look for someone to rescue us
For someone to help us make sense of what does not compute.

Some look to people who promise
“many things, great things, the best things”

Many others look to God

“God is in control
God is in charge of every little thing
Everything happens for a reason
I don’t understand it
I may not like it

I may be scared, confused
Angry
Sad
Happy
Hopeful
Hopeless

But God is in control”

But is that the way God works?
Is God a helicopter parent who hovers over creation
(in the person of the Spirit),
protecting those who are in favor,
cursing (perhaps) those who are not in favor?

Is it true that not a sparrow falls to the ground without God being somehow in the event?
Is it true that the very hairs on our heads are numbered by the Divine?
It is comforting to think that God micromanages the universe in such a way.

Or is it true that God leaves much of it up to us (that pesky free will),
and for the most part lets things happen as they will.

After all the rain falls on the just and the unjust
And we certainly know that the wicked flourish
And good people are struck down, untimely

Not so comforting

Perhaps the true answer lies in a different equation
Perhaps the real truth is that God is in all the things that people do
simply because the Sacred is present in all people,

and Sacred Presence (Christians call it the Holy Spirit) is a life line
between ourselves and the Sacred,
creating the connection (remember the parable of the vine and the branches),
between ourselves and the source of life and love

And perhaps it is true that this connection
changes us, and empowers us, and guides us,
in such a way that we live a life that reflects the best wishes
of the Sacred for the world

So God is involved -- through us.
through our minds, our hearts, our souls, and yes,
our actions

not quite as comfortable perhaps,
not quite as secure as a blanket black and white, ‘God’s got this’

after all, we are talking about us
a bunch of cracked pots

but it reminds me, at least,
that I am connected to the Sacred
and even though it feels sometimes
as if I can do nothing,
I can do something

I can respond. “…respond with a show of force equal to the violence and tragedies, with love force. Mercy force. Un-negotiated compassion force. Crazy care-giving to the poor and suffering, including ourselves [force]”

may the Force be with us!

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