Dancing our Faith

Monday, October 31, 2022

A true revolution

Presbyterian Bloggers

I don’t know, but I suspect

That as his ministry progressed and he displayed

that strange compassionate power that feed the hungry, healed the sick and repaired broken hearts

that a lot of people tried to co-opt Jesus

there were the Zealots who wanted violent revolution

the Essenes who wanted to hide in the desert and “be pure”

the Pharisees who wanted to double down on piety and the Law

and the Herodians who wanted to play along with those in political power to stay safe

(and influential, and rich)

But Jesus, who was clearly interested in changing the world

was not interested in any of those approaches

Yes, he came to usher in the Kingdom

a new way of doing life

but his way was far too radical

to fit into any of those existing strategies

the temptations was there, as he meditated those 40 days and 40 nights

to go down the path of dominance, and power

to buy into the political systems of the world

the pull was there, from the religious community

to be drawn into radical piety

(we don’t drink or smoke or chew, and we don’t go with girls that do)

and align with the religious “elite”

but he refused to be “used”

not by the religious system

not by the political system

not by the economic system

and he refused to run and hide

hoping the mess would go away

instead we stayed in the midst

doing his ministry of love and reconciliation

teaching things that seemed naïve and foolish

speaking on behalf of the poor and forgotten

accepting the unacceptable ones

instead he loved, and forgave, and healed

he exposed hypocrisy and evil

he stood, he spoke, and yes, he died

showing us that the way to stage a holy revolution is not by engaging in violence

since violent revolutions are not revolutionary (Thanks Brian McLaren for that insight)

but by feeding the poor

selling what we have and giving to the poor

walking the second mile

being humble

and willing to mourn

and working for peace

How sad it is that much of the church wants to turn Jesus into

a super-Pharisee, super-Herodian, super-Zealot, super-Essene

too bad people try to align Jesus with legalism, politics, and violence

or alternatively walk away from the mess and remain uninvolved (in Jesus’ name)

these are mess times

and if we want the holy revolution

we have to stay in the mix

but we have to stay in the mix the Jesus way

with love and compassion

with eyes that “see” the other

with kindness

and love

and, often, with sacrifice

it is hard

the way of Jesus has always been challenging

some would say it has rarely been tried

we have to stay in the mix

and be revolutionary

and change things

it’s possible!

Jesus said the Kingdom is near

Jesus said the Kingdom is inside us

Jesus said the Kingdom comes

It comes

when the last are first

and the greatest of all shall be the servants

when service trumps dominance

and generosity overwhelms greed

it comes through changed hearts

and changed minds

and advances through reconciliation and peace

it expands through faith love and love

and its agenda is to level things out

as John the Baptist (and Isaiah) said it

“Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.

The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.

And all people will see God’s salvation.”

Its agenda to bring down the mighty

and raise up the poorest, the weakest, the meekest, and the least

its time for a new way of living

are we in, or not?

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Denial

Presbyterian Bloggers

God is the denial of denial

Meister Eckhart

________________________________________

If God is the denial of denial

If God is truth (and fortunately love)

then is the denial of truth a denial of God?

and behaviorally is a failure to love a denial of God?

It has always mystified me how people can claim to be

“on God’s side,” can claim Jesus

and then overtly, persistently lie

I mean we all struggle, sometimes to embrace the truth

We do get sucked into lies, about ourselves and others

It happens

But I think about those

who have embraced the lie that the last election was stolen

who radically throw lies out there about others, who lie about themselves

I think about people who clearly know the truth but speak untruth

People who use lies as a way to manipulate and even harm

As a way to grab power or increase wealth

How can they do that, and then claim to be people who respect Jesus?

who is all about truth?

That gets me thinking about denying truth

I am overwhelmed by the plethora of ways we can deny truth and embrace untruth

and I wonder, what happens when we embrace lies?

what happens when we deny the obvious truth?

very often that denial of truth, that rejection of truth translates into action

it translates into an assault on our capital and our democracy

it translates into people being used as pawns

it translates into violence

it translates into injustice and inequity

it translates into a neglect of the poor

and a failure to welcome the stranger

it translates into the oppression and cruelty

a failure to be truthful translates into a failure to be loving

I understand that some people are just misled and misinformed

they have chosen to trust liars, which is sad

but for some this is willful

and in some cases this willful embrace of lies, this denial of truth

is done while at the same time, they claim to be those who are on God’s side.

and this thought often crosses my mind

“this person, who is so proudly claiming God, touting God, doesn’t really believe in God”

I mean seriously?

If they actually believed in the kind of God they are claiming

A God who is demanding and retributive

A God who seems to hate a lot of people and is willing to punish them eternally

Would they dare lie the way they do?

Would they dare act the way they do

In my head, they can’t really believe in God and do and say what they do.

they would not dare violate (which is exactly what they are doing)

the rules of the God they have coopted and appropriated

or perhaps I am way off, perhaps they just don’t have the same God that I do

perhaps it is as simple as this

they do not worship a God who is love

but rather a God who is manipulative, arbitrary, and all about abusive power.

Is it unbelief or a belief in a God of their own making

That is the problem?

I am not sure

But this I know. My relationship with the Sacred

Is hard on denial

I cannot deny the truth

About myself, or my country, or the planet

I cannot deny impending fascism

Or the destruction of the planet

Or injustice

Or the pain of inequity

I cannot deny my own complicity

My own failures

My own need

God is the denial of denial

God demands that I see things as they really are, and see myself as I really am

And respond by letting God heal me, fill me, change me

And teach me to love

Monday, October 17, 2022

our superpower

Presbyterian Bloggers

Ugh, Jesus. He always seems to be showing up when I want him to politely keep out of my business.

Nadia Bolz-Weber

___________________________

Ugh, Love

Yeah, I know, love is cool!

There is the love that shines through

As the sun rises, brilliant, pink, orange, and yellow

God’s grandeur

There is the love that sings in the river that flows

Through the rocks

and in the wind rushing through the trees

There is the love reflected in mountains high

And valleys low

There is the intense love of a mother deer for her fawn

And the love of an aged horse, nuzzling me over a gate

Love is warm, comforting, healing

But love is also intrusive and demanding

Because love, if it is really love

Takes us outside of ourselves

When we love we see

Everything

We see the beauty

But we also see the pain

We feel, everything

The joy, the exultation

The fear, the hate, the anguish

When we love we are not allowed

To think only of ourselves

But also of all those who are placed in our path

All those who inhabit this planet earth

And love impels us

To thus move beyond ourself

Yes, Love fills us

With hope, joy, and peace

but we cannot contain

what we received

it is beyond our understanding

it is more than we can ask or imagine

love overflows

it spills out

when we try to contain it

hold it

keep it

it spoils, it dries up, it dies

it is no longer love

love must be shared, given, expended

love shows up and things change

love shows up, and there goes the hate

love shows up and there goes greed

love shows up and our power and privilege must be redirected

away from ourselves

and used for the benefit of others

(sell all you have and give to the poor)

Love, the Beatles sang, is all we need

Indeed

What would it look like if we took that seriously

If we took Jesus seriously

Love God

Love your neighbor

Love yourself

What would it look like if we voted Love?

Treated the planet with love

Welcomed the stranger with love

Saw those different from with the eyes of love

Used our money with love (not lust)

Responded to hate with love?

It would look like Jesus

It would look like giving, and compassion, and forgiveness

It would look like kindness

And welcome

Inclusion

Ugh!

Hallelujah!

Ouch!

Yay!

Love can hurt

It can cost

But is the most powerful, amazing, rewarding gift

It is our superpower

It is why we are here

To love

Thursday, October 13, 2022

blessed are the meek

Presbyterian Bloggers

there is meekness, and then there is meekness

one form of meekness does not look like meekness.

It looks like (in America) extreme patriotism

but is it meekness because it is a matter of giving up your freedom

in the name of freedom

meekly believing liars

meekly giving over your future to predators

meekly accepting policies that hurt yourself and others

meekly allowing yourself to be controlled and manipulated

the other form of meekness is simply a matter of

being aware of yourself as one of many

a part of a larger whole

knowing that while you are important

so are those around you

knowing that while your needs are important

so are the needs of those around you

knowing that it is not OK for anyone

not even you

to climb their way to the top

on the backs of others

or use others, and abuse others for one's own benefit

or even to simply ignore their pain

The original meaning of the word meek is not submissive as much as it is gentle

The origin of “meek” in English comes from the Old Norse mjukr, meaning “gentle,” though perhaps a fuller understanding comes from the Greek origin, praus, which is translated as “strength under control.”

it is the ability to be strong enough

to focus your strength, not on domination,

but on the common good

Yes, when one is meek in a healthy way one is controlled

but not by people using one for their own purposes

(which is why today's MAGA folk are actually meek, they are radically submissive to a leader and an ideology that is destructive)

it is being controlled by love, and awareness that one is part of a "body"

a common humanity

and being strong enough to keep one's eyes on the Sacred

and on love

and being controlled by love in such a way

that one lives a life of radical love and service

I am proud to be meek (or at least to try being meek)

I am proud to turn my life over to Love and in the strength given me by love

live a life that helps others

that serves the common good

blessed are the meek

for they shall inherit the earth

love

Presbyterian Bloggers

Ugh, Jesus. He always seems to be showing up when I want him to politely keep out of my business.

Nadia Bolz-Weber

___________________________

Ugh, Love

Yeah, I know, love is cool!

There is the love that shines through

As the sun rises, brilliant, pink, orange, and yellow

God’s grandeur

There is the love that sings in the river that flows

Through the rocks

and in the wind rushing through the trees

There is the love reflected in mountains high

And valleys low

There is the intense love of a mother deer for her fawn

And the love of an aged horse, nuzzling me over a gate

Love is warm, comforting, healing

But love is also intrusive and demanding

Because love, if it is really love

Takes us outside of ourselves

When we love we see

Everything

We see the beauty

But we also see the pain

We feel, everything

The joy, the exultation

The fear, the hate, the anguish

When we love we are not allowed

To think only of ourselves

But also of all those who are placed in our path

All those who inhabit this planet earth

And love impels us

To thus move beyond ourself

Yes, Love fills us

With hope, joy, and peace

but we cannot contain

what we received

it is beyond our understanding

it is more than we can ask or imagine

love overflows

it spills out

when we try to contain it

hold it

keep it

it spoils, it dries up, it dies

it is no longer love

love must be shared, given, expended

love shows up and things change

love shows up, and there goes the hate

love shows up and there goes greed

love shows up and our power and privilege must be redirected

away from ourselves

and used for the benefit of others

(sell all you have and give to the poor)

Love, the Beatles sang, is all we need

Indeed

What would it look like if we took that seriously

If we took Jesus seriously

Love God

Love your neighbor

Love yourself

What would it look like if we voted Love?

Treated the planet with love

Welcomed the stranger with love

Saw those different from with the eyes of love

Used our money with love (not lust)

Responded to hate with love?

It would look like Jesus

It would look like giving, and compassion, and forgiveness

It would look like kindness

And welcome

Inclusion

Ugh!

Hallelujah!

Ouch!

Yay!

Love can hurt

It can cost

But is the most powerful, amazing, rewarding gift

It is our superpower

It is why we are here

To love

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Strangers

Presbyterian Bloggers

Sacred is just weird

call that power that creates, enlivens, heals, forgives and loves what you will

God, Love, something bigger than myself, the power that brings all into being

Sacred is just weird

for that which is the source of all true wealth (not the same as money)

and is power personified

calls us to a way of life few if any of us would choose

we are called to die

to self, to old ideas, to self-reliance

we are called to let go of possessions and help the poor

live sacrificially

love our enemies

pray for those who have hurt us

and welcome the stranger

of all the things we are asked to do

sometimes welcome seems the hardest

welcome the stranger

welcome, to put it another way, the one who is not like you

why is it so hard?

perhaps it is because those label those as strangers

those we think God doesn’t like

those who violate (in our minds) all that is Sacred

for some people those who are “in violation” are those

who are gay, or lesbian, or transgender

they are those deemed lazy, or opportunistic

they are people of other creeds, other colors, other languages

they are those who aren’t convenient

the immigrant

the poor

the addicted

the mentally ill

but for some of us (and this would be me)

the stranger is that person who embraces an ideology of power

or is too wealthy

or ignores climate change

the stranger is one who embraces a theology I consider destructive

and votes for politicians who (I think) abuse power and are greedy

we all have a stranger we struggle to welcome

but if I understand God’s love at all

(and I am not sure I can really “get it”)

no one is a “stranger” to God

in the Kingdom of God there are only children

loved, embraced

black children, white too

poor children, rich too

young, vibrant, strong children

twisted, humped, wrinkled children

liberal children, and conservative too (even beyond conservative)

I look around me and I see strangers

people who are alien to me

people whom I deem alien to God

but for God there are no strangers

only children

welcomed and loved

only children

drawn close

and in that closeness

finding the chance to be changed and healed

Monday, October 10, 2022

A new perspective

Presbyterian Bloggers

The word “repent” (metanoia) means a deep and profound shift in perception. It's a turning about in the deepest seat of our consciousness or awareness. It's like the blinders fall off, and we see things as they really are. . .

The healing work most attributed to Jesus was restoring sight. There is a symbolic significance to this - Jesus knew the necessity of seeing clearly. He once said, "If the eyes are good, the whole body is good." In other words, true liberation is for one's eyes to be opened to see things as they truly are - to see the true nature of reality, to see the true nature of who we are, and to operate within that reality. This is "metanoia".

Jim Palmer

________________________________

Repent

for the Kingdom is at hand

does not mean

you’d better watch out

because a vengeful God is about to hold you accountable

so straighten up!

Repentance may involve

remorse and sorrow

it clearly involves change

but it is not about fear

it is less an “oh $hit!”

and more an “ah ha!”

it is a shifting of perspectives

it is moving from not seeing to seeing

from psychological, moral, and spiritual blindness

to sight

and what it does is open up the pathway to the Kingdom

which is near

as near as your heart

the kingdom is not about apocalyptic disaster

it is the place where Sacred rules

where peace, joy, hope, and love rule

it may, someday, be this earth

but is also within

it is at hand when we let Sacred rule in the deep place

that makes us who we are

when our perspective shifts

and we see God for who and what God really is

when we see the planet and the people on it

through the eyes of love

when we understand, finally, that power and wealth do not bring happiness

and certainly not peace

the grace becomes real

and the kingdom comes

amazing grace, how sweet the sound

that saved the precious child of God that is me

I once was lost but now am found

was blind but now I see

grace is ours

the kingdom is near

the peace, freedom, joy, liberation, wholeness, and harmony

we desire is right at our fingertips!

it cannot be found in earthly leaders

or through political parties

or through the accumulation of wealth

or through the abuse of power

it can only be found when we let the Sacred

open our eyes

and our hearts

to Love

and see people, all people, as they are, precious souls

and see the earth for what it is, a fragile treasure

and see ourselves for what we are, sacred children

then the kingdom will come

and Love’s will be done

on earth

and in our hearts

Sunday, October 9, 2022

Just like me

Presbyterian Bloggers

A Buddhist practice to help us connect with others is, during meditation, to chant “Just like me…”

Brian Miller, Reducing Secondary Traumatic Stress

_______________________

the strategists know

those foul propogandists whose job is it

to secure our alliance to one country, one leader, one party, one ideology

that the best way to do that is to create separation

all they have to do

is create an abyss between us in the other

make us focus on differences

make those differences terminal

all the have to do

is convince us that “those people” are our enemy

and are not like us

while we are good and noble

while our values are appropriate

and our priorities and goals sacrosanct

they are evil and deplorable

with values that will destroy life as we know it

and priorities and goals that are despicable and disgusting

common good, indeed!

Capitalism, indeed!

our ideology is logical, ethical, and even blessed

their ideology violates everything that is good

it is only a small step from there to the idea

that we are superior

not only superior, but indeed different, at a profound level

we are those created in God’s image

endowed with original blessing and saturated with the Sacred

they?

they are creatures, caricatures

dehumanized monsters

beings without faces

objects who don’t count, don’t matter

and thus do not have to treated with respect

they can be used an abused

manipulated and expended on our behalf

women, who are turned into soulless “vessels”

minorities who are nothing more than cheap labor

soldiers who are damaged in many ways, for the sake of profit

the list goes on

and on

and soon these people are so vague

that we can not only hate them, not only use them,

lie to them, manipulate them, send them to their deaths

but we can literally kill them

As Sam Keen suggests in this book Faces of the Enemy

In the beginning we created the enemy

Before the weapon comes the image

We think others to death

Then invent the [weapon] with which to actually kill them

And so it is

As we walk through this world

Dealing with people we love

And people who disgust us

We breath

Breath in and out

Breathing in hate, breathing out love

And muttering under our breath

That person is “just like me”

We are brother and sister

We are part of the human family

We are children of God

That person just wants to feel safe, just like me

That person wants to be valued, just like me

That person wants comfort, just like me

That person is greedy, (sadly) just like me

Fearful, angry, reactive, threatened… just like me

I am a child of God

They are a child of God

They have a face I can see. Eyes I can look into

A soul to which I can connect

Issues for which I can have compassion

They are just like me

Thursday, October 6, 2022

Deficit thinking

Presbyterian Bloggers

Therefore, I have cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses, because they mean a deeper experience of the power of Christ. I can even enjoy weaknesses, suffering, privations, persecutions and difficulties for Christ’s sake. For my very weakness makes me strong in him.

I Corinthians 12:9,10 (JB Phillips)

The experience of powerlessness is where we must all begin

Richard Rohr (Daily Meditations 9/27/2022

______________________________

Strength

Dominance

Power

Wealth!

We love it!

It is as American as apple pie

Or lunatic fringe politicians

It is so very human

Alas, we human creatures

We have gotten it so very wrong

We think somehow it is bad to fail

That pain and struggle are bad things

We equate power and success with blessing

And weakness and failure with sin

What do we then do

With the cross?

I grew up with at least a stainless steel spoon in my mouth

I was moderately gifted with intelligence

A functioning body

And a fair degree of comeliness

Affluence and comfort marked my life

And things were for the most part, easy

And then I screw up

I allowed anxiety and other human quirks

To push me into patterns that hurt me and others

I failed

Miserably

And that is when I started to understand

Grace

Forgiveness

Love

And yes, God

And yes, the cross

My facades ripped away

my power eroded

I learned humility

And dependence

I learned how to accept love (and help)

And how to give it (at least better than before)

Perhaps the word I am looking for here is

Surrender

I had to surrender to grace

Surrender to love

I had to let go of power and prestige

And my need to be powerful and rich and “big”

Would I still love to be “relevant”

Yes

To have people admire me?

Yes

To have enough money to play?

Yes

But it has been my moments of despair

My moments of abject failure

My times when I looked in the mirror

And realized I needed help

That have made me a deeper

Better

Kinder

More generous person

I am sorry for those people

Who must have power, must have the limelight

Must have their 3 seconds of fame

Who have not learned that lesson (we know who they are)

I am sorry because they will always be haunted

Always be striving

Always be defensive and angry and insecure

Pushing themselves in front of the cameras

Promoting themselves

And always always, always, finding themselves

Deficit

And that is no way to live

Saturday, September 24, 2022

slightly wrinkled

Presbyterian Bloggers

It is early fall, late September

I should have Advent on my mind, but instead, I find myself thinking about resurrection

It is Easter morning, and Jesus stands there in the garden

Not glowing

Not an angel without wings

But a scruffy dude with dirt under his nails

Who looks more like a migrant worker than the King of Kings

It is later, in the upper room,

and Jesus enters, not with magnificent wholeness

but will pierced hands a feet

and hole in his side so big you could stick your hand in it.

Later still there he is

Trudging down a dusty road

And later still, smelling like smoke and fish

Cooking breakfast

What does it mean to be raised to new life?

That is the question that lingers as we move from

The vibrant energy of summer into fall

And creep our way toward the cold death of winter

I would like to think it means we

emerge from the tombs of our own making

without spot or wrinkle,

whiter than snow,

new

fresh

but I suspect that when we are born from above

we emerge from the tomb (like Lazarus)

slightly wrinkled

with our resurrected selves in rough shape

Jesus was raised with his scars

and the dirt of the garden (or tomb) under his fingernails

we are raised to newness

but the old clings to the fabric of our beings

this does not mean

that we are not new

it does not mean Love has not claimed us and transformed it

It means that the Sacred (God)

does not remove us from our messy lives

but joins us in those lives

and loves us through them

even as we stumble forward

carrying, sometimes, ugly pasts

carrying our wounds

even as we put one foot in front of another

awkwardly

still making mistakes

sometimes tripping

sometimes falling flat on our faces

sometimes doubting

sometimes wondering

sometimes being stunned into the silence

by the wonder of it all

Thursday, September 22, 2022

pass it on

Presbyterian Bloggers

People will do almost anything to not feel pain, including causing pain and abusing power;

Brene Brown

________________________

pain is part of life

we all hurt in one way or another

in this age of my decrepitude

everything hurts

and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work

shoulders, back, knees

and yes, even toes

twinge and throb as I wander through the mundane motions of life

my mind hurts

struggling to remember appointments and names

fumbling facts and concepts

clumsy

my heart and soul hurt too

those deep places that have become

a dump in which all kinds of garbage junk and debris have been tossed

by a negligent and uncaring world

hate and greed

lies, repeated and repeated again

fraud

abuse of power

violence

we run from pain

running we get lost

and wander through the days

as disembodied souls

unable to connect with our own self

and with others

unable to find our way back

to original blessing

to Sacred childhood

unable to find out way back to community

this is a place we cannot abide

the very fabric of our being cries out in protest

helpless we rage

sometimes we strike out

futilely grasping for power in a vain attempt to stop the pain

creating pain to avoid pain

sometimes we seek only to numb

wandering into the coldness of detachment

we become destructive or hopeless

this is no way to live

this is not living

this is not reflecting the imago Dei

our Sacred nature

There is more to us than our pain

Woven into the fabric of our being are love, hope, joy, and peace

how then do we live?

we live aware, noticing and accepting the pain

(and all our other emotions)

we live expressing, naming and claiming the pain

(and the love)

we chose rather than react

overtly creating meaning, and sculpting our responses

choosing what we live out, what we pass on

Jesus faced pain

The pain of rejection

The pain of watching those he had taught forget everything

The pain of physical torture and torturous death

He chose his response

Abba, forgive them

He chose to pass on his love, not his pain

This is how we find our way back

This is how we rise

This is how the kingdom comes

This is how we live as carriers of the image

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

forgiveness

Presbyterian Bloggers

Forgiveness

I heard somewhere that there are three types of forgiveness

exoneration,

forbearance and release

when we exonerate another we wipe the slate clean

and start over

perhaps we see the person truly just made a mistake,

or perhaps was too young to understand

or, perhaps, we sense true repentance

and so we wipe the slate clean and start over

with forbearance, there is still caution

we “forgive” but don’t “forget”

we don’t quite trust?

Perhaps the other hasn’t really acknowledged the pain they have created

or excuses it

we stay in the relationship, and we function “normally” with this person

but…

and then there is release

Release does not exonerate the offender.

Nor does it require forbearance.

It doesn’t even

demand that we continue the relationship.

But it does ask that we stop defining our life in terms of the hurt done

We let go of our preoccupation with the hurt, with the event, the person

Release does something is that is critically important:

it allows us to let go of a painful, heavy burden

that keeps us from joy, hope, that keeps us from moving forward

It is a refusal to let those who have hurt us live rent-free in our minds

I struggle with forgiveness

I struggle to forgive those I think are truly (for lack of a better word) evil

To forgive those who abuse, and harm others

To forgive those who are predators, and abusers

What do I do with those people who beat up their children?

Or pack a gun into a school and kill innocent people, including little ones?

Or fly a plane into a building?

Or lie about elections and destroy our democracy?

(I struggle to forgive myself too, but that is another story for another day)

It doesn’t matter if the harm is to one or many

I struggle to forgive such people

In part because forgiveness of such people feels like enabling

Like I am simply say, treat us like $hit and we’ll totally forgive you…

So keep doing it!

I don’t really want to be a holy doormat

and yet there it is

in this faith system I embrace

forgive

forgive 70 X 7

turn the other cheek

love your enemy pray for those who persecute you

and then there are those haunting words from the cross

Father forgive them

the problem is that retaliation doesn’t work

not really

you attack me, I attack you

you hurt me, I hurt you

there might be a certain satisfaction in retaliation and retribution

but the sad reality is there

hate leads to hate, violence to violence

and in the end, if we can’t really harm those who harmed us

we harm ourselves, and those we love

in the end, without forgiveness

we become what we hate, we become like the one who harmed us

Jesus went around cutting people loose from their pasts

Their sins

In doing so he offered them the freedom to step away from whatever it was

That was hurting them and others

He was giving them a chance to live life a new way.

We can’t bind people to their pasts with unforgiveness

We can’t bind ourselves to evil with unforgiveness

Or hate and bitterness will metastasize in our souls

we have to let go

how we do that without enabling?

that is when it gets complicated

Jesus did it by putting himself, his body, his life on the line

he stood between us and evil

between us and hell

and he stands between us and the hells of our own making

what does it mean to offer forgiveness

and yet stand in the gap between evil and those evil would harm?

it means, I suspect to protect

perhaps to help the abused spouse to leave and find safety

and to face the abuser with firmness (you will not do this again)

but also with love (I believe you can be better than this)

I have no complete answer

Some will think these words mere drivel

Some will see them as foolish accommodation

Some will be affronted and will quickly point out that one has “do something”

Ah, the foolishness of the cross

Jesus has given us a model of how to combat evil

It is a rough road, asking us to stand up against evil

While at the same time not giving evil power within ourselves

Asking us to reject harm, without rejecting the “other”

I can’t do it (at least not well)

Perhaps I can only echo the words of Jesus

“God, Sacred One, you forgive them”

(and I’ll do my best to follow along)

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

named and claimed

Presbyterian Bloggers

I have always found the beginning of Jesus’s ministry

Enlightening

I love, love, love how he is affirmed by Sacred

how the heavens part

and a voice proclaims

‘This is my child’

how the Sacred external

and the Sacred internal dance and Jesus understands

unmistakably

that he is loved

and that he is enough

but then he gets led into temptation

he is tempted not to trust the voice of love

tempted not to trust himself

tempted to grab power and misuse it

named and claimed by Love

he is tempted to depart from love and move to

something not loving

to move from sacrifice and service

to self-promotion and domination

I sometimes wonder how many times that story played out

in his lifetime

how many times this beloved child

was tempted to distrust his identity

his relationship to Love

and seek to affirm himself through the use of power

on others, rather than for others?

no wonder he often wandered off

needing to remember

needing to hear that inner voice

“This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased”

is not Jesus’s story our story?

are we too not named and claimed?

“This is my child

my child

and I am pleased”

in us too does the Sacred not dance?

are we too not sent out

to love the world?

and do other voices not whisper in our ears

seeking to pull us away from the path of love?

the ability of things dark and malignant

to worm their way into our lives

and make us doubt our identity as Sacred children

is profound

but so too is the power of love

that Love which comes down and

stays

rooted in our hearts

whispering

over and over and over again

“child of God

child of God

with you, I am well pleased!

and do the work of Love”

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

downright apocalyptic

Presbyterian Bloggers

I miss the old days

Those days, 45 years ago when I left

the moldy halls of Princeton Theological Seminary

and inflicted myself on an unsuspecting congregation

Perhaps my memory is clouded

And I am glorifying the past

But it seemed as if things were different then.

People saw “the ministry” differently then

The church had a different place in the life of the community

The pews were fuller

The faces were younger

Christmas Eve was a “big deal”

And Easter too

People were, perhaps more confident, and perhaps more unified

in terms of what they believed

it was the best of times

it was the worst of times

for underneath the surface

there was pain

a lot of pain

women were minimized

LGBTQI+ people were defined as outcasts and sinners

(unless they denied who they were, or denied themselves a love relationship)

racism was ignored

and our way of thinking about God?

God was for most people

A rather cranky, older, white, man

Who was, truth be told, pretty retributive

And had to be placated as best as possible

So we went to church

Put together our Sunday school programs

And had our crazed and hyperactive youth programs

And tried not to think too seriously about the looming, niggling problems

Lurking under the surface of it all!

As long as “it worked”

And people showed up

Now here we are

The pews are relatively empty (no problem with social distancing)

The young families are staying away in droves

Young people look at the church and wonder WTH?

As they watch those who claim to follow Jesus embrace values and priorities Jesus would hate

Now people ask questions

Like “How can you say God is love and say God will torment most of humanity for all eternity?”

Or “If we know people are born LGBTQI+, how can you claim that makes them a sinner?”

Or “If God loves all and welcomes all, why don’t you?”

Now we struggle to define, and redefine what we believe

We struggle with racism, and restitution

We struggle with gender issues

And we struggle with social issues

And we find ourselves caught up in the middle of radically radical political divisions

And we find ourselves watching as the darkness of authoritarianism grows

And truth is abandoned for lies

It is downright apocalyptic!

And it is great!

Because we are always called by this God we Love

And who is love

Into newness

And newness means letting go of what is old (yes, I know, blasphemous)

And moving on!

We have let go of a lot over the last 45 years

We have more to let go of

We need to let go of some of what we believe about God

And a lot of what we believe about each other

We have to let go of our old ideas about what success looks like

And what ministry looks like

And what the church looks like

But this I believe

God is always doing a new thing

And God is always asking us to go with them into a new,

scary, unknown place

this is the story of God and God’s people

Abraham was called to leave and go

Moses, and the people

The disciples

Paul

You

Let go and follow

People have not always let go easily, or well

Oh no!

Abram/Abraham doubted and took things into his own hands

The people of Israel wanted to go back to Egypt

The disciples ended up where they started, fishing

Paul created a lot of chaos before he finally got it

And we?

We too struggle to let go and move on

But if we can

If we can let go of what is old and grab hold of what is new

Even if it is scary

Even if it is difficult

Perhaps painful

Even if it feels as if we are failing

And are lost

Wandering in the desert

If we let go

And follow?

There is something new

Something powerful

Something lifechanging

And perhaps world-changing out there

Which is why we pray

Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done

On earth

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

a case ffor humility

Presbyterian Bloggers

Sometimes I say to myself

Quite smugly I’m afraid

That I am inclusive

That I am a welcoming person who

Includes all in the circle of grace

Yay for me!

And then I think about it!

And humility sets in

Problem one is the very idea that

“I” and including “them” in “my” community of faith

Really?

Since when did the church belong to me?

Since when is it the Body of Stephen?

Is it not the Body of Christ?

How can I be so arrogant as to congratulate myself

for “allowing” people like “them” (whomever my “them” might be)

into my fellowship.

And who are these mythical people I am welcoming?

LGBTQI+?

The poor?

The addicted?

Perhaps the question should not be “who am I welcoming”

It should be “who am I NOT welcoming”

For while I might welcome some others would not welcome

There are still (sadly) those I probably

Would gladly kick out of the tent of grace

Those who have bought into right-wing authoritarianism (for example)

People who lie for power

Or pollute for profit

Out! Out with thee

Those who follow the cultish Trump

Out, out, those who believe the “big lie”

I would most certainly exclude those who exclude

Just as I hate people who hate

We can be such silly creatures

I think of Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch

(who was clearly “out” of the circle, the tent)

Who learned the most for their encounter

The Eunuch or Philip?

Sure, God through Philip in the Eunuch’s (non-binary that he was) path

But the Eunuch asked the questions and brought forth the answer

That no person can stand between another and God

There are no gatekeepers

No watchers at the flap of the tent

It is not our tent

It is God’s

I fear the reality is I cannot be inclusive

I can only be included

Along with all other saints and sinners

Thanks be to God

(And thanks to Nadia Bolz-Weber for her insight on Philip and the Eunuch in Cranky Beautiful Faith)

Monday, September 5, 2022

Presbyterian Bloggers

Contemporary Italian philosopher and psychologist (and ex-priest) Vito Mancuso, wrote a very rich Introduction to [Matthew Fox’s] book Original Blessing when it was translated into Italian. In Italian the title was changed to, In principio era la gioia, “In the Beginning there was Joy” because, as the translator explained to, the word “blessing” in Italian has come to mean something very ecclesiastical, a priest’s blessing or a pope’s blessing, so the word has lost its primary meaning.

Mancuso talks about the journey from fall redemption religion to creation spirituality that includes a Via Positiva this way:

In putting the good and not the bad at the center, the bene-diction and not the male-diction (or the sin), the joy and not the sorrow, almost automatically brings forth a new pedagogy for which our society, so closed and depressed, has an indescribable need.

Adapted (slightly) from Matthew Fox, Daily Meditations 9/5/22

_____________________________________________

In the beginning there was joy

God spoke a bene-diction

Over the chaos

A creative word of blessing and the world came to be

And it was good

God spoke a benediction

Over we human creatures

And it was very good

What do we lose when we lose the joy

When we make faith

A painful response to malediction

To self-imposed curse

What do we lose when instead of seeing ourselves

As blessed, as those who are good to the core,

we see ourselves as rotten to the core?

If one lingers around

The fringes of our steepled citadels

And listens, carefully

We can hear the sounds of lament and fear

We can see that lament and fear

Transformed into a need to dominate and control

Translated into a lust for political power

And we see the ekklesia align itself

With the malevolent

With anger, and hate

Even with cruelty and lies

When Jesus was born

The angels did not sing

“you’d better watch out!”

The angels sang “glory to God in the highest

And on earth peace to human creatures,

Whom God favors”

Original blessing frees us

Frees us, through love (and grace) to offer love

To “be not afraid”

I believe that God “rejoices over us with singing” (Zephaniah 3)

I believe that Jesus came so “our joy might be complete) John 15

In the beginning, was joy

In Jesus came joy

In the Spirit is joy

And I believe that when we live out of blessing

Rather than curse

We can be people who let go of all our old fears

and out subsequent securities

and freely move with God

away from the old

and into the new

into Kingdom living

and the way of common good

when we live from blessing not curse

we “shall go out in joy and be led back in peace;

the mountains and the hills before us shall burst into song,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55)