Colo-Rectal Theology Redux

“To be engrossed by something outside ourselves is a powerful antidote for the rational mind, the mind that so frequently has its head up its own ass - seeing things in such a narrow and darkly narcissistic way that it presents a colo-rectal theology, offering hope to no one.”

― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

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I wandered down the road

this lovely September morning

feeling the sun slowly warming the well chilled air

smelling new mown hair

and end of summer dust

watching the deer eat piles of grass clippings at the place

where yard debris go to die

and my mind was consumed with

the fact that gravel always ends up in my shoe

and my irritation with the young punk (my description)

who regularly roads down the road in his jacked up pickup

pedal to the metal (it is still metal isn’t it?) diesel roaring

as if the speed and noise somehow enhances………..

see?

Its silly isn’t it

around me is beauty

around me the day is wakening

around me the world is unraveling

children are being killed

and I’m thinking about gravel

and brash young men

and the fact that Tim Tebow is now going to offer sage opinions on morning TV

(which I don’t even watch)

I am suffering from cranial-anal inversion

And probably (I love this term)

from colo-rectal theology

and there it is, I fear

much of what is wrong with the world

the church

the country

and, ah yes, me

this is what causes us to let fear rule

and keeps us from compassion

this is why people vote for leaders who cater to the 1%

and pass laws that actually hurt them and their children

I make everything about me

it is all about the small piece of gravel in the shoe

it is all about what I think I need and want for me

about what I think might hurt me

even my faith is all about me

and what I want my valet/servant God to do for me

deliver us O Lord

from seeing the world in “a narrow and darkly narcissistic way”

help us to see

the beauty

help us to see the needs of others

help us to see the world

with your amazing

attentive

compassionate eyes