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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, April 22, 2020

it will be faith


Catholic theologian James Allison describes faith not as intellectually ascending to a set of theological propositions, but he describes faith as relaxing. Relaxing in the love and presence of God in the way we relax in the presence of someone we are certain is fond of us.  When we are in the presence of someone we are certain is fond of us, we are funnier, more spontaneous, softer and less defended.  If I know for sure someone likes and loves me there is no reason to pretend anything. Allison says faith is relaxing.
                                                                        Nadia Bolz-Weber
__________________

These are anxious times
Covid-19 makes it inexorable march 
Across the globe

it is, in some ways
the end of the world as we know it

for we will be forever changed
by this event

not because of how many will get sick
or die
but because of what we will learn about ourselves

for good, or for ill

we have learned so much already

we have learned how fragile we are
we have learned that no matter how much money we have
no matter how sophisticated our technology
everything can be brought to full stop
by a virus

we have learned the impotence of power and wealth
and we have learned that you can’t gaslight or bullshit a virus

We have learned that fear and anxiety cause us to do
Crazy things
Like horde toilet paper
And kind things
Like watching after elderly neighbors

We have learned that some will panic
And some will deny

We have learned that some get shitty fast
And others get kind, fast

We have learned about social distancing
And live streaming

We have learned that we get sick together
When we deny and gather and infect

And we get well together
When as a community we do the needed things
The right things
And protect one another

I don’t know what the next months will bring

But what I do know is this
Faith will be important
for it will be faith that will allow me to sleep at night
(obviously something I did not do this night)

For faith will allow me to relax
to settle into the Sacred
and into love

It will be faith that will calm my heart
It will be faith that will keep me soft
And loving
And kind
And generous

It will be faith
That will get me through this time
With my empathy and compassion intact
With my mind and heart
And hands
Open



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