From Brian: (March 10, 2008)
NOTE: My Reflections are now posted on a new Blog: http://briansalmostdailyreflections.blogspot.com/
(The blog http://brianstakeontheworldfaithandreligion.blogspot.com/ will be used for other thoughts.)
Monday, March 10, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, March 07, 2008
I've never felt a pain that didn't bear a blessing.
- Gene K. Hoffman
Not so fast! I think Hoffman is correct about this in essence. But. I’ve known some people who never got to the Blessing part. This has to become part of the way you look at Life, I think, for it to be a really helpful working principle.
Pain is a given of human existence. Perhaps of the Universe. I’ve gotten hurt, in body, mind, spirit, heart. Often it feels like it won’t go away. But, after just a couple of days of pain after my heart surgery and many other physical insults, the pain subsided; the Blessing was how the body can be quite amazing. (Though it’s interesting how a cold sore can be more aggravating than a 7” incision! Is there a wisdom here?).
I thought I would be a monk all my life. Nope: 15 years. But the Blessing was discovering my innate contemplative soul, to realize we all have one, and how critical it is to nurture it. My mind, over the years, has been pained to come up against hard concepts that challenged my assumptions about “truth”, especially about the Mystery of God, Faith, Happiness. The Blessing has been to understand that change and learning is Life itself. My Spirit has often been assaulted by discouragement and a panic of aloneness. The Blessing has been the gift of Friendship, holding me up in felt and unfelt ways. My heart has often felt rejection. The Blessing has been the knowledge and conviction of the “God of Unconditional Love”, the certainty that I (and all people) am loved and valued and delighted in - from that I learned both independence and generosity.
The Pain and the Blessing roll on. If your way of Life doesn’t support Blessing rising out of Pain, can it. You are worth much, much better!
Brian+
I've never felt a pain that didn't bear a blessing.
- Gene K. Hoffman
Not so fast! I think Hoffman is correct about this in essence. But. I’ve known some people who never got to the Blessing part. This has to become part of the way you look at Life, I think, for it to be a really helpful working principle.
Pain is a given of human existence. Perhaps of the Universe. I’ve gotten hurt, in body, mind, spirit, heart. Often it feels like it won’t go away. But, after just a couple of days of pain after my heart surgery and many other physical insults, the pain subsided; the Blessing was how the body can be quite amazing. (Though it’s interesting how a cold sore can be more aggravating than a 7” incision! Is there a wisdom here?).
I thought I would be a monk all my life. Nope: 15 years. But the Blessing was discovering my innate contemplative soul, to realize we all have one, and how critical it is to nurture it. My mind, over the years, has been pained to come up against hard concepts that challenged my assumptions about “truth”, especially about the Mystery of God, Faith, Happiness. The Blessing has been to understand that change and learning is Life itself. My Spirit has often been assaulted by discouragement and a panic of aloneness. The Blessing has been the gift of Friendship, holding me up in felt and unfelt ways. My heart has often felt rejection. The Blessing has been the knowledge and conviction of the “God of Unconditional Love”, the certainty that I (and all people) am loved and valued and delighted in - from that I learned both independence and generosity.
The Pain and the Blessing roll on. If your way of Life doesn’t support Blessing rising out of Pain, can it. You are worth much, much better!
Brian+
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, March 06, 2008
All is change in the world of the senses,
But changeless is the supreme Lord of Love,
Meditate on him, be absorbed in him,
Wake up from this dream of separateness.
-Shvetashvatara Upanishad (Hindu)
I am with a group of folk from my congregations. We are on a retreat at Mt. Calvary Retreat House in Santa Barbara CA (not too shabby, right! trust monks to grab the best locations). We are sitting on top of a mountain, - the ocean and city lights below us, the flowering mountains around us, the clear star-filled skies above us, healing Silence enveloping us.
Last night, one of the monks gave us a talk on the Heavens. Once a science teacher, he became fascinated with astronomy when he came to live at this house 20 years ago. He reflected on several passages of the Bible that talk about how the Heavens “proclaim the glory of God”. Then he took us outside, where he had set up his 8” telescope. He showed us soft-white Saturn with its sweeping rings, and its moon Titan, 850 million miles from us. He showed us the Orion nebula, giving birth to new stars. He showed us the Andromeda galaxy, 2.5 million light years away but visible to the naked eye from our own Milky Way galaxy.
One has a slight sense, gazing out there, of panic. How tiny and insignificant we seem – and maybe “alone” in this vastness. But not last night. I felt the connection, the “being-part-of”. The Oneness with the change and reshaping and growing. “We” are all in it together.
But we have also “found” the Unchanging Heart of it all. We have intuited, plucked out of the vastness of the Unknown, the Known. Love. Our religion, many peoples’ religions, has made a determination about what the ultimate character of Existence is. It is Unchanging Love, anchoring us all in the wonder of Creation and sustaining without fear us in the constant flow of change.
Such is the “God” we have found. So we step out with a smile and trust. All is well.
Brian+
All is change in the world of the senses,
But changeless is the supreme Lord of Love,
Meditate on him, be absorbed in him,
Wake up from this dream of separateness.
-Shvetashvatara Upanishad (Hindu)
I am with a group of folk from my congregations. We are on a retreat at Mt. Calvary Retreat House in Santa Barbara CA (not too shabby, right! trust monks to grab the best locations). We are sitting on top of a mountain, - the ocean and city lights below us, the flowering mountains around us, the clear star-filled skies above us, healing Silence enveloping us.
Last night, one of the monks gave us a talk on the Heavens. Once a science teacher, he became fascinated with astronomy when he came to live at this house 20 years ago. He reflected on several passages of the Bible that talk about how the Heavens “proclaim the glory of God”. Then he took us outside, where he had set up his 8” telescope. He showed us soft-white Saturn with its sweeping rings, and its moon Titan, 850 million miles from us. He showed us the Orion nebula, giving birth to new stars. He showed us the Andromeda galaxy, 2.5 million light years away but visible to the naked eye from our own Milky Way galaxy.
One has a slight sense, gazing out there, of panic. How tiny and insignificant we seem – and maybe “alone” in this vastness. But not last night. I felt the connection, the “being-part-of”. The Oneness with the change and reshaping and growing. “We” are all in it together.
But we have also “found” the Unchanging Heart of it all. We have intuited, plucked out of the vastness of the Unknown, the Known. Love. Our religion, many peoples’ religions, has made a determination about what the ultimate character of Existence is. It is Unchanging Love, anchoring us all in the wonder of Creation and sustaining without fear us in the constant flow of change.
Such is the “God” we have found. So we step out with a smile and trust. All is well.
Brian+
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Any kind of expectation creates a problem.
We should accept, but not expect. Whatever
comes, accept it. Whatever goes, accept it.
The immediate benefit is that your mind
is always peaceful.
- Sri Satchidananda
As I think about it, “expectation” is a great tyranny. Expectation by nature creates distance between two people, between a person and one’s ability to be open to the World and to Life, between our heart and another. It creates fear. It blocks love. I have always appreciated the story of Jesus talking with the rich young man. Jesus loved him, offered His answer to the young man’s questions about how to attain Eternal Life, but had no expectation that the young man should do what He said. Wise.
I “expect”, but without prejudice or a need to control (when I’m functioning properly!). I expect things, “good” or “bad”, to happen. But I try not to control it. I “accept” – and I think that’s what the author means. “Accept” doesn’t mean we agree or like. It just means we know that Life is going to come at us. It’s best to be agile in our ability to respond. Recently, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I had had the biopsy. While I was waiting for the results, I went through the process of letting my natural expectation of “bad news” be replaced by “acceptance”, so I could be resilient, accept, and not be controlled by fear. It worked! When the doc told me the results, I was ready to “get on with it”.
The swami is right. It helps to have a peaceful mind. Life takes on a deeper wonder, mystery, excitement.
Brian+
Any kind of expectation creates a problem.
We should accept, but not expect. Whatever
comes, accept it. Whatever goes, accept it.
The immediate benefit is that your mind
is always peaceful.
- Sri Satchidananda
As I think about it, “expectation” is a great tyranny. Expectation by nature creates distance between two people, between a person and one’s ability to be open to the World and to Life, between our heart and another. It creates fear. It blocks love. I have always appreciated the story of Jesus talking with the rich young man. Jesus loved him, offered His answer to the young man’s questions about how to attain Eternal Life, but had no expectation that the young man should do what He said. Wise.
I “expect”, but without prejudice or a need to control (when I’m functioning properly!). I expect things, “good” or “bad”, to happen. But I try not to control it. I “accept” – and I think that’s what the author means. “Accept” doesn’t mean we agree or like. It just means we know that Life is going to come at us. It’s best to be agile in our ability to respond. Recently, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I had had the biopsy. While I was waiting for the results, I went through the process of letting my natural expectation of “bad news” be replaced by “acceptance”, so I could be resilient, accept, and not be controlled by fear. It worked! When the doc told me the results, I was ready to “get on with it”.
The swami is right. It helps to have a peaceful mind. Life takes on a deeper wonder, mystery, excitement.
Brian+
Monday, March 3, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, March 3, 2008
I don't want to get to the end of my life
and find that I lived just the length of it.
I want to have lived the width of it as well.
- Diane Ackerman
Work! That’s the problem! Oh, there are a few people (hopefully more than I know of) who absolutely love what they do as work and find that it is part of living the “width” of their lives. I suspect most people don’t have that connection. Now I understand more why the Biblical Creation story has God cursing human beings with having to work hard to eke out a painful existence from an uncooperative land - since the story was written by hard-working people who were worn out with never ending work to stay alive!
However, even putting work aside, my observation is that people choose paths in life that work against living the width of life. I have been “criticized” all my life by friends and parishioners griping about the fact that I travel to fun places and take a lot of opportunities to have fun, whether it’s birding in Madagascar or eating long lunches in Tuscan hill towns. I know that bottom-line they are just expressing the fact that they would like to be doing some version of what I’m doing. But I have gently pointed out that I have made choices that allow me to do these things, including rejecting some possibilities in order to enjoy others. Some people would rather have a $35,000 Lexus; I’m happy with a $10,000 pre-owned car and two trips to Italy!
Anyway: Diane is just nudging us. Think about how we spend our lives. It doesn’t have to be a trudging though the hours and days. There is “width”. We can orchestrate the side-trips out to the various edges, which will be different for each of us. If we’re either lucky of determined, work can be a part of it!
Brian+
I don't want to get to the end of my life
and find that I lived just the length of it.
I want to have lived the width of it as well.
- Diane Ackerman
Work! That’s the problem! Oh, there are a few people (hopefully more than I know of) who absolutely love what they do as work and find that it is part of living the “width” of their lives. I suspect most people don’t have that connection. Now I understand more why the Biblical Creation story has God cursing human beings with having to work hard to eke out a painful existence from an uncooperative land - since the story was written by hard-working people who were worn out with never ending work to stay alive!
However, even putting work aside, my observation is that people choose paths in life that work against living the width of life. I have been “criticized” all my life by friends and parishioners griping about the fact that I travel to fun places and take a lot of opportunities to have fun, whether it’s birding in Madagascar or eating long lunches in Tuscan hill towns. I know that bottom-line they are just expressing the fact that they would like to be doing some version of what I’m doing. But I have gently pointed out that I have made choices that allow me to do these things, including rejecting some possibilities in order to enjoy others. Some people would rather have a $35,000 Lexus; I’m happy with a $10,000 pre-owned car and two trips to Italy!
Anyway: Diane is just nudging us. Think about how we spend our lives. It doesn’t have to be a trudging though the hours and days. There is “width”. We can orchestrate the side-trips out to the various edges, which will be different for each of us. If we’re either lucky of determined, work can be a part of it!
Brian+
Friday, February 29, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, March 1, 2008
God judges persons differently than humans do.
Men and women look at the face;
God looks into the heart.
- from the Book of the Prophet Samuel
“God “is always what we human beings hope we can be. And for every human being who wants to be Hitler, there are incalculably more who want to be ….. insert the name of the loveliest, kindest, most intelligent, most loving person you know of.
The words from Samuel come from the passage where the prophet is sent to find a king for Israel to replace Saul. All of Jesse’s sons are rejected. Then David appears, and we are told that he was very handsome. He’s the “runt” of the litter. But God is looking beyond external handsome - and one can be handsome or ugly (both relative terms, of course), since to God the exterior is irrelevant - to a handsome heart. David is chosen, despite the fact that he committed adultery and treachery and murder. God is interesting, isn’t She!!
One of the things I like about God is that God transcends our petty human categories. Skin colour, place of origin, gender, sexual orientation, etc. This gives me some hope about the human community! We may be capable of wretched discrimination and hate of “the other”, yet we can conceive of an Ideal that transcends all this nonsense - and we admire this!
So, within the human heart there are contending realities. We can look at “the face”, or we can look “into the heart”. Well, despite the sad state of human relations worldwide at the moment, I’m betting on “into the heart” coming out on top, and will try consciously to abet it.
Brian+
God judges persons differently than humans do.
Men and women look at the face;
God looks into the heart.
- from the Book of the Prophet Samuel
“God “is always what we human beings hope we can be. And for every human being who wants to be Hitler, there are incalculably more who want to be ….. insert the name of the loveliest, kindest, most intelligent, most loving person you know of.
The words from Samuel come from the passage where the prophet is sent to find a king for Israel to replace Saul. All of Jesse’s sons are rejected. Then David appears, and we are told that he was very handsome. He’s the “runt” of the litter. But God is looking beyond external handsome - and one can be handsome or ugly (both relative terms, of course), since to God the exterior is irrelevant - to a handsome heart. David is chosen, despite the fact that he committed adultery and treachery and murder. God is interesting, isn’t She!!
One of the things I like about God is that God transcends our petty human categories. Skin colour, place of origin, gender, sexual orientation, etc. This gives me some hope about the human community! We may be capable of wretched discrimination and hate of “the other”, yet we can conceive of an Ideal that transcends all this nonsense - and we admire this!
So, within the human heart there are contending realities. We can look at “the face”, or we can look “into the heart”. Well, despite the sad state of human relations worldwide at the moment, I’m betting on “into the heart” coming out on top, and will try consciously to abet it.
Brian+
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, February 28, 2008
No [person] is exempt from saying silly things;
the mischief is to say them deliberately.
- Michel de Montaigne, philosopher, born
on this day, 1533, in Perigord, Bordeaux
Which gets me to the fascinating subject of Love. I seem to spend my life trying to understand the nature and character of Love - and I suppose that is OK, being in my “line of work”. But I actually think it “should” be everybody’s life-work. Certainly Christianity is essentially about Love/Compassion. I have that sense about Judaism, and Buddhism. Regrettably, through my own inexcusable lack of knowledge of Islam, I don’t know if a Muslim would say that Islam was essentially about Love. Must ask an Imam sometime soon.
I keep distinct Romance and Love. For me, Romance is lovely, but it’s a sub-set to Love. Romance, to me, has primarily to do with feelings - and feelings are notoriously slippery. On again, off again. People tend to bring flowers to their beloved when they feel good; I think it would be better to bring flowers when you don’t feel good about the relationship. You can extrapolate.
I also have come to think that Love is 95% an act of the will. One chooses, makes a conscious choice, to love, regardless of how one feels. In my own religious culture, I take this from Jesus, and other experiences in Life. One does not die for Love because it “feels” good - unless one is warped in some fashion! Chosen willful Love is clear and sharp and brilliant, not flabby and soft. Hence I can live with Dennis; I have no fear that transient feelings will take command of the choice to love.
I am very careful about using the word “love” in conversation or correspondence. As per Montaigne, I do not want to use it in a silly way. I want to be deliberate, to know that when I say “Love”, or “I love you”, or “Love to you”, I mean it.
It would be extremely detrimental not to be deliberate about Love.
Brian+
No [person] is exempt from saying silly things;
the mischief is to say them deliberately.
- Michel de Montaigne, philosopher, born
on this day, 1533, in Perigord, Bordeaux
Which gets me to the fascinating subject of Love. I seem to spend my life trying to understand the nature and character of Love - and I suppose that is OK, being in my “line of work”. But I actually think it “should” be everybody’s life-work. Certainly Christianity is essentially about Love/Compassion. I have that sense about Judaism, and Buddhism. Regrettably, through my own inexcusable lack of knowledge of Islam, I don’t know if a Muslim would say that Islam was essentially about Love. Must ask an Imam sometime soon.
I keep distinct Romance and Love. For me, Romance is lovely, but it’s a sub-set to Love. Romance, to me, has primarily to do with feelings - and feelings are notoriously slippery. On again, off again. People tend to bring flowers to their beloved when they feel good; I think it would be better to bring flowers when you don’t feel good about the relationship. You can extrapolate.
I also have come to think that Love is 95% an act of the will. One chooses, makes a conscious choice, to love, regardless of how one feels. In my own religious culture, I take this from Jesus, and other experiences in Life. One does not die for Love because it “feels” good - unless one is warped in some fashion! Chosen willful Love is clear and sharp and brilliant, not flabby and soft. Hence I can live with Dennis; I have no fear that transient feelings will take command of the choice to love.
I am very careful about using the word “love” in conversation or correspondence. As per Montaigne, I do not want to use it in a silly way. I want to be deliberate, to know that when I say “Love”, or “I love you”, or “Love to you”, I mean it.
It would be extremely detrimental not to be deliberate about Love.
Brian+
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done
what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have
crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow
is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too
high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I wonder, can one do this today?? I know when I get to the end of a day, I’m not at all sure that I have “done what you could”. In fact, I know I usually haven’t. Is this because I am a life-long procrastinator? Or because it’s impossible? Or, perhaps my expectations are too high? And, I find it rather hard to forget the “some absurdities and blunders” that have crept in. I beat myself up about it relentlessly - how in the world could I have forgotten this or that!! And: it’s bad enough to get over one’s own blunders and absurdities, but how can one make amends before the day ends for everyone else who’s been affected?
Or - oh dear - does one just have to work at it! Make it a conscious plan of how to live Life, understanding that it’s sensible and appropriate, knowing you’ll feel better, etc. Would everyone else just go with the flow when I appear at the beginning of the new day serene and in high spirit, unencumbered? Somehow I rather doubt it!
Again, I suppose it’s the “examined life” thing. Barbara Crafton said in a recent eMo about Life, “he builds a self. Then he spends the second half of his life learning how to take it down again, how to take it apart and examine the pieces of it, when to surrender a part of it that no longer makes sense.”
OK. At Compline, we pray for a “perfect end”. I’m now allergic to “perfect”, at least in theory. But I guess we do have to think about what Life will be for us, don’t overdo, try to tie up some loose ends at day’s end (or slightly before), let it go, and meet the new day with a little bit of acceptable amnesia.
About 5pm, have a glass of wine and be glad that things haven’t gone totally awry!
Brian+
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done
what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have
crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow
is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too
high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I wonder, can one do this today?? I know when I get to the end of a day, I’m not at all sure that I have “done what you could”. In fact, I know I usually haven’t. Is this because I am a life-long procrastinator? Or because it’s impossible? Or, perhaps my expectations are too high? And, I find it rather hard to forget the “some absurdities and blunders” that have crept in. I beat myself up about it relentlessly - how in the world could I have forgotten this or that!! And: it’s bad enough to get over one’s own blunders and absurdities, but how can one make amends before the day ends for everyone else who’s been affected?
Or - oh dear - does one just have to work at it! Make it a conscious plan of how to live Life, understanding that it’s sensible and appropriate, knowing you’ll feel better, etc. Would everyone else just go with the flow when I appear at the beginning of the new day serene and in high spirit, unencumbered? Somehow I rather doubt it!
Again, I suppose it’s the “examined life” thing. Barbara Crafton said in a recent eMo about Life, “he builds a self. Then he spends the second half of his life learning how to take it down again, how to take it apart and examine the pieces of it, when to surrender a part of it that no longer makes sense.”
OK. At Compline, we pray for a “perfect end”. I’m now allergic to “perfect”, at least in theory. But I guess we do have to think about what Life will be for us, don’t overdo, try to tie up some loose ends at day’s end (or slightly before), let it go, and meet the new day with a little bit of acceptable amnesia.
About 5pm, have a glass of wine and be glad that things haven’t gone totally awry!
Brian+
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Great compassion is the root of all forms of worship.
- The Dalai Lama
Well, Dennis and I are headed off to the hospital for his back surgery.
What is worship? The root of the word is “acknowledging the worth (and I would say, wonder, loveliness, beauty) of”. When we “go to worship”, we are going to lift up a grand cheer! “Worship” in our modern usage has come to be directed only towards God – and I can understand the desire to want to acknowledge the uniqueness of God. (“You shall have no other God besides me” – worshipping only God avoids idolatry.)
But remember the Elizabethan English marriage rite? One phrase in it was, “With my body I thee worship”, the husband speaking to the wife. That rite didn’t think it was bordering on idolatry to “worship” another human being, if I haven’t misunderstood the intent.
And at the bottom of worship? The Dalai Lama is right, I believe. Great Compassion. We can – must – only worship that which has Great Compassion at it’s heart. And the God we know in Jesus Christ (at least as I understand it) is definitely such Heart of Compassion. Great Compassion is what shines forth from the Cross. It defines Christianity.
We cannot authentically worship unless it rises from the Great Compassion in our hearts.
Brian+
Great compassion is the root of all forms of worship.
- The Dalai Lama
Well, Dennis and I are headed off to the hospital for his back surgery.
What is worship? The root of the word is “acknowledging the worth (and I would say, wonder, loveliness, beauty) of”. When we “go to worship”, we are going to lift up a grand cheer! “Worship” in our modern usage has come to be directed only towards God – and I can understand the desire to want to acknowledge the uniqueness of God. (“You shall have no other God besides me” – worshipping only God avoids idolatry.)
But remember the Elizabethan English marriage rite? One phrase in it was, “With my body I thee worship”, the husband speaking to the wife. That rite didn’t think it was bordering on idolatry to “worship” another human being, if I haven’t misunderstood the intent.
And at the bottom of worship? The Dalai Lama is right, I believe. Great Compassion. We can – must – only worship that which has Great Compassion at it’s heart. And the God we know in Jesus Christ (at least as I understand it) is definitely such Heart of Compassion. Great Compassion is what shines forth from the Cross. It defines Christianity.
We cannot authentically worship unless it rises from the Great Compassion in our hearts.
Brian+
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, February 23, 2008
To Sleep
O SOFT embalmer of the still midnight!
Shutting with careful fingers and benign
Our gloom-pleased eyes, embower'd from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine;
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close,
In midst of this thine hymn, my willing eyes,
Or wait the amen, ere thy poppy throws
Around my bed its lulling charities;
Then save me, or the passèd day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes;
Save me from curious conscience, that still lords
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;
Turn the key deftly in the oilèd wards,
And seal the hushèd casket of my soul.
- John Keats, poet, who died on this day, 1821, in Rome
I didn’t sleep through the night for a week after my latest surgery. Woke up after a couple of hours, then awake for five, before a bit of restless dozing. So I know what Keats is talking about. How healing Sleep is.
I know now, when I wake up in the night and can sense that I’m not going to return to sleep, to reach for a book. Two nights ago it was “Love in the Time of Cholera”; last night, “Birds of North America”. Informative, entertaining.
But I do often remember what Fr. Huntington, OHC said, “When you awake in the middle of the night, assume that God wishes to speak with you”. (I may be paraphrasing a bit.) A “curious conscience” is usually part of the “still midnight”. I have found that it’s a good time for scattering fantasy and resting in Reality, getting comfortable with it. And I find that Reality is a good antidote for anxiety. “Resting in God” is another way to put it since, for me, God is the Healer and Friend, Who often indeed does away with “many woes”.
Brian+
To Sleep
O SOFT embalmer of the still midnight!
Shutting with careful fingers and benign
Our gloom-pleased eyes, embower'd from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine;
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close,
In midst of this thine hymn, my willing eyes,
Or wait the amen, ere thy poppy throws
Around my bed its lulling charities;
Then save me, or the passèd day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes;
Save me from curious conscience, that still lords
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;
Turn the key deftly in the oilèd wards,
And seal the hushèd casket of my soul.
- John Keats, poet, who died on this day, 1821, in Rome
I didn’t sleep through the night for a week after my latest surgery. Woke up after a couple of hours, then awake for five, before a bit of restless dozing. So I know what Keats is talking about. How healing Sleep is.
I know now, when I wake up in the night and can sense that I’m not going to return to sleep, to reach for a book. Two nights ago it was “Love in the Time of Cholera”; last night, “Birds of North America”. Informative, entertaining.
But I do often remember what Fr. Huntington, OHC said, “When you awake in the middle of the night, assume that God wishes to speak with you”. (I may be paraphrasing a bit.) A “curious conscience” is usually part of the “still midnight”. I have found that it’s a good time for scattering fantasy and resting in Reality, getting comfortable with it. And I find that Reality is a good antidote for anxiety. “Resting in God” is another way to put it since, for me, God is the Healer and Friend, Who often indeed does away with “many woes”.
Brian+
Friday, February 22, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, February 22, 2008
I had forgotten how the frogs must sound
After a year of silence, else I think
I should not so have ventured forth alone
At dusk upon this unfrequented road.
I am waylaid by Beauty. Who will walk
Between me and the crying of the frogs?
Oh, savage Beauty, suffer me to pass,
That am a timid woman, on her way
From one house to another!
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet, born on this day,
1892, in Rockville, Maine
“I am waylaid by Beauty”. For me, whatever else “God” is, It is a kind of irresistible Beauty that is at the heart of Life which has the seductive power to draw us out of our symbolic “years” of Silence. It seems to me that we human beings spend a great deal of time in the Silences. Maybe this is “normal”? We get to one “house”, and there we stay for whatever time, short or long. Life goes on, at different levels of contentment or discontent.
But Life is, I think, always a growing, a becoming. That process can be gentle or tumultuous or somewhere in between. We are always a becoming-human-being - that’s what makes Life so fascinating and that’s what makes Death so intriguing. What’s to be found when we move “from one house to another”?
I’ve lived with the frogs of dusk on and off again in different parts of the World. Especially Liberia and the Caribbean, where they are loud. They can be scary and ominous – until you know what it is making all that racket.
The “savage Beauty” of discovering Life - Self, Others, Mystery - is necessary. What or who one loves is the best companion to walk between us and the “crying of the frogs”. When another house beckons, take Love’s arm and set out.
Brian+
I had forgotten how the frogs must sound
After a year of silence, else I think
I should not so have ventured forth alone
At dusk upon this unfrequented road.
I am waylaid by Beauty. Who will walk
Between me and the crying of the frogs?
Oh, savage Beauty, suffer me to pass,
That am a timid woman, on her way
From one house to another!
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet, born on this day,
1892, in Rockville, Maine
“I am waylaid by Beauty”. For me, whatever else “God” is, It is a kind of irresistible Beauty that is at the heart of Life which has the seductive power to draw us out of our symbolic “years” of Silence. It seems to me that we human beings spend a great deal of time in the Silences. Maybe this is “normal”? We get to one “house”, and there we stay for whatever time, short or long. Life goes on, at different levels of contentment or discontent.
But Life is, I think, always a growing, a becoming. That process can be gentle or tumultuous or somewhere in between. We are always a becoming-human-being - that’s what makes Life so fascinating and that’s what makes Death so intriguing. What’s to be found when we move “from one house to another”?
I’ve lived with the frogs of dusk on and off again in different parts of the World. Especially Liberia and the Caribbean, where they are loud. They can be scary and ominous – until you know what it is making all that racket.
The “savage Beauty” of discovering Life - Self, Others, Mystery - is necessary. What or who one loves is the best companion to walk between us and the “crying of the frogs”. When another house beckons, take Love’s arm and set out.
Brian+
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Each contact with a human being is so rare,
so precious, one should preserve it.
- Anais Nin, author, poet, born on this day, 1903
I confess that I am not a very helpful priest when people ask me how to “do” certain liturgical rituals. Should the corporal be placed on the altar with the cross to the front or back? Should the candles be put out left to right, or right to left? When and where and how should one bow or genuflect at the altar, or at the Blessed Sacrament? What should one do if wine is spilled on the altarcloth, or the Host drops to the floor? There are a thousand such questions. And every parish, probably every priest or acolyte mistress, has a different way of doing things.
I guess it irritates me that people think there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way to do things, mechanically speaking. My experience has taught me that when you start thinking that way, the heart or core has been lost. As an example, I remember a brother in religion who did not believe in the “Real Presence” in the Sacrament. So, when it came time to deal with the crumbs on the corporal (my apologies, you non-religious types!), he would ostentatiously pick it up at two ends and flap it in the air, rather than simply fold it or carefully funnel the crumbs to the paten.
My standard answer is, “Whatever you do, do it quietly, unfussily, and above all reverently”. My assumption is that people know what this is. I seem to be wrong. This may indicate a problem in the World!
We Catholic Christians treat the Blessed Sacrament, and “holy places” and things, reverently. We believe that the Sacrament is a vivid sign of God’s Presence among us.
Reverence to “holy things” in worship is, however, a pointer. A pointer to what Nin alludes to. God is in each of us, in every human being. Or, every human being is an icon of God. Or, every human being is god(ess)-like. The encounter is rare and precious. Think how different interpersonal relationships would be if every person saw the Holy in the other - always!
Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious. What a superb way to approach life together.
Brian+
Each contact with a human being is so rare,
so precious, one should preserve it.
- Anais Nin, author, poet, born on this day, 1903
I confess that I am not a very helpful priest when people ask me how to “do” certain liturgical rituals. Should the corporal be placed on the altar with the cross to the front or back? Should the candles be put out left to right, or right to left? When and where and how should one bow or genuflect at the altar, or at the Blessed Sacrament? What should one do if wine is spilled on the altarcloth, or the Host drops to the floor? There are a thousand such questions. And every parish, probably every priest or acolyte mistress, has a different way of doing things.
I guess it irritates me that people think there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way to do things, mechanically speaking. My experience has taught me that when you start thinking that way, the heart or core has been lost. As an example, I remember a brother in religion who did not believe in the “Real Presence” in the Sacrament. So, when it came time to deal with the crumbs on the corporal (my apologies, you non-religious types!), he would ostentatiously pick it up at two ends and flap it in the air, rather than simply fold it or carefully funnel the crumbs to the paten.
My standard answer is, “Whatever you do, do it quietly, unfussily, and above all reverently”. My assumption is that people know what this is. I seem to be wrong. This may indicate a problem in the World!
We Catholic Christians treat the Blessed Sacrament, and “holy places” and things, reverently. We believe that the Sacrament is a vivid sign of God’s Presence among us.
Reverence to “holy things” in worship is, however, a pointer. A pointer to what Nin alludes to. God is in each of us, in every human being. Or, every human being is an icon of God. Or, every human being is god(ess)-like. The encounter is rare and precious. Think how different interpersonal relationships would be if every person saw the Holy in the other - always!
Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious. What a superb way to approach life together.
Brian+
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
[ Picture of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, died 1790 ]
- Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II,
died on this day, 1790
Who would have thought that a Holy Roman Empire existed in 1790!!! The only Holy Roman Emperor I am “familiar” with is Charles V (1519-56). He was the uncle (have I got this right?) of Catherine of Aragon, who was married to Henry VIII of England. Henry wanted to divorce her, but the Pope – who normally granted annulments to royals - refused. Why? The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was at that time besieging Rome (I’m not sure why) - and the Pope knew that if he granted the annulment, Rome and he would be destroyed. So goes History. And so goes the eventual “founding” of the Anglican Church and the Anglican Communion. To me, it’s more hilarious than anything else!
What a dude is Joseph II! Look at that outfit. Can you imagine any American man dressing like that? Well you should because they did at that time. Powdered wigs, silk, etc. Sometimes I think it would be fun if we could get “there” again. However, they can keep the wigs. I have always loved the idea of things on my head (hats), but I can’t stand it practically.
So. Am I going to say anything useful?
No. Today is Useless Day. A moment to contemplate the silliness of Life and History. Is it not amazing how things develop??!! It is said of Joseph II: “He was a friend to religious toleration, anxious to reduce the power of the church, to relieve the peasantry of feudal burdens, and to remove restrictions on trade and knowledge”. Alas. Good ideas, but failure. Too many other men (yes, men) who had other ideas.
Joseph II was the titular King of Jerusalem. Whoa!
I remember words that end, something about “wind, signifying nothing”.
We need “signifying nothing” every now and then.
Brian+
Monday, February 18, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, February 19, 2008
It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life.
- Amy Tan, author, born on this day, 1952
Well, I have two basic reactions to this. One: I wish I could have been a writer of the Great Myths of Life. OK, ok, so it sounds pretentious, but I would like to have had my chance at shaping the human community. I have thought about what Life is for decades. I’ve chosen a faith path ….. well, only in part, since I was born into a Christian ethos, I was somewhat indoctrinated, but I did make a choice along the way for a style of Christianity I hoped would pattern my hopes. That has only been so only in very disappointing part.
Two: I am willing to accept that the “people” who ended up writing, or shaping as editors, the great myths of humanity, were originally thinking about Life. I have come to see that even such minds are, like everyone’s, easily seduced by self-interest. “Death”, in all of its symbolic power, intervenes.
When I “retire”, and before I die, I am going to write my own Myth. I should be kept busy, but I think it will be exciting!
I have preached for 40 years as a Christian priest. I have been a “writer” in a sense. I’m not at all sure that I’ve been faithful to Life. I have always thought the Gospel, as I understand it, was about Life. It has been deeply deeply depressing to me that the Gospel has been used as an instrument of death and of demeaning and of debasement and of discrimination and of oppression and of violence and of lies and of cruelty. Particularly in the American ethos as I have experienced it.
I recently, when I decided to “retire in protest”, made a decision to be a “writer” who thinks of Life. I intend to make my life a witness to Life as I have come to understand it in the God I came to know in Jesus, and in the superb charity of Jesus that I have experienced in many many fine people and faiths. These are the paths and people I intend to spend my life with and in support of.
“All you ever think about is Life.” Would that were so in the World today. What a sad dark place we are in. I take hope in John’s vision that the Dark cannot overcome.
Brian+
It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life.
- Amy Tan, author, born on this day, 1952
Well, I have two basic reactions to this. One: I wish I could have been a writer of the Great Myths of Life. OK, ok, so it sounds pretentious, but I would like to have had my chance at shaping the human community. I have thought about what Life is for decades. I’ve chosen a faith path ….. well, only in part, since I was born into a Christian ethos, I was somewhat indoctrinated, but I did make a choice along the way for a style of Christianity I hoped would pattern my hopes. That has only been so only in very disappointing part.
Two: I am willing to accept that the “people” who ended up writing, or shaping as editors, the great myths of humanity, were originally thinking about Life. I have come to see that even such minds are, like everyone’s, easily seduced by self-interest. “Death”, in all of its symbolic power, intervenes.
When I “retire”, and before I die, I am going to write my own Myth. I should be kept busy, but I think it will be exciting!
I have preached for 40 years as a Christian priest. I have been a “writer” in a sense. I’m not at all sure that I’ve been faithful to Life. I have always thought the Gospel, as I understand it, was about Life. It has been deeply deeply depressing to me that the Gospel has been used as an instrument of death and of demeaning and of debasement and of discrimination and of oppression and of violence and of lies and of cruelty. Particularly in the American ethos as I have experienced it.
I recently, when I decided to “retire in protest”, made a decision to be a “writer” who thinks of Life. I intend to make my life a witness to Life as I have come to understand it in the God I came to know in Jesus, and in the superb charity of Jesus that I have experienced in many many fine people and faiths. These are the paths and people I intend to spend my life with and in support of.
“All you ever think about is Life.” Would that were so in the World today. What a sad dark place we are in. I take hope in John’s vision that the Dark cannot overcome.
Brian+
Friday, February 15, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, February 16, 2008
You cannot be too gentle, too kind.
Shun even to appear harsh in your
treatment of each other. Joy, radiant
joy, streams from the face of one who
gives and kindles joy in the heart of
one who receives.
- St. Seraphim of Sarov
I have begun to be able to see that harshness does indeed come from an unhappiness within the human heart. Most of us would like to think it comes from righteousness, or from an awareness of the misfortune or mistreatment of others. But really it comes from our own sense of mistreatment.
Gentleness and kindness are the gifts of at least two things. Of someone who has let go, even in the face of mistreatment. And of a gift received of self-acceptance and self-worth. The latter we must grant ourselves, even if it is held out to us by Another.
I am wondering. Can behaving gently, and being kind, be a “sacrament”? In their visibility, will they bring about their invisible grace? I think so – as long as one is being genuine. And how does one get there? Can it be by an act of the will? Someone, I think not.
I think one has to be surprised by Joy. It is a gift that we human beings give to each other.
Brian+
You cannot be too gentle, too kind.
Shun even to appear harsh in your
treatment of each other. Joy, radiant
joy, streams from the face of one who
gives and kindles joy in the heart of
one who receives.
- St. Seraphim of Sarov
I have begun to be able to see that harshness does indeed come from an unhappiness within the human heart. Most of us would like to think it comes from righteousness, or from an awareness of the misfortune or mistreatment of others. But really it comes from our own sense of mistreatment.
Gentleness and kindness are the gifts of at least two things. Of someone who has let go, even in the face of mistreatment. And of a gift received of self-acceptance and self-worth. The latter we must grant ourselves, even if it is held out to us by Another.
I am wondering. Can behaving gently, and being kind, be a “sacrament”? In their visibility, will they bring about their invisible grace? I think so – as long as one is being genuine. And how does one get there? Can it be by an act of the will? Someone, I think not.
I think one has to be surprised by Joy. It is a gift that we human beings give to each other.
Brian+
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, February 15, 2008
Every law is an infraction of liberty.
- Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher.
born on this day, 1748
Short and sweet today. Bentham must have got this from contemplating many things, including Jesus and Paul of Tarsus. The words probably make Americans shudder. We hear our politicians going on these days about our needing to be a people of “Law and Order”. Not just for “us”, but for the World.
But it doesn’t work, clearly. Not unless “law” rests on Charity. On Honour. On Respect. On Humility.
This is, I think, why Jesus said simply, “Love one another as I have loved you”. A “new” commandment. But of course it isn’t “new”. Every now and then in history we human beings have the “aha” moment. “Ordering” doesn’t produce what we desire. You can’t order anyone to love or care, including yourself. There has to be a deep understanding of the human heart, and of our connection with one another.
Bentham, bottom line, is absolutely correct. Liberty is a gift. It cannot be “ordered”. It is why the Christian life is all about Grace – the freely offered, unconditional acceptance of each other, based on the nature of God. Only from there can we reject revenge and embrace the glory of human transformation which rests on gratitude.
Remember: I just start the process. It’s up to you to think it through.
Brian+
Every law is an infraction of liberty.
- Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher.
born on this day, 1748
Short and sweet today. Bentham must have got this from contemplating many things, including Jesus and Paul of Tarsus. The words probably make Americans shudder. We hear our politicians going on these days about our needing to be a people of “Law and Order”. Not just for “us”, but for the World.
But it doesn’t work, clearly. Not unless “law” rests on Charity. On Honour. On Respect. On Humility.
This is, I think, why Jesus said simply, “Love one another as I have loved you”. A “new” commandment. But of course it isn’t “new”. Every now and then in history we human beings have the “aha” moment. “Ordering” doesn’t produce what we desire. You can’t order anyone to love or care, including yourself. There has to be a deep understanding of the human heart, and of our connection with one another.
Bentham, bottom line, is absolutely correct. Liberty is a gift. It cannot be “ordered”. It is why the Christian life is all about Grace – the freely offered, unconditional acceptance of each other, based on the nature of God. Only from there can we reject revenge and embrace the glory of human transformation which rests on gratitude.
Remember: I just start the process. It’s up to you to think it through.
Brian+
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, February 13, 2008
When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating
and realized what she would get out of it—she'd know everything!
—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband,
and he ate. Immediately the two of them did "see what's really
going on"—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together
as makeshift clothes for themselves.
- from Genesis 2 (a reading for Lent 1)
Well gang. I’m off to the hospital very early. The surgeon took one look at my abdominal hernia(s) and said, “Bad; repair ASAP. How about Wednesday morning?” So, what’s a guy to do. Go with the flow, right!
So: just a comment on this portion of Gen 2. What wretched prude, at whatever stage of things, decided that the sewed-together-fig-leaves had to do with Sex???? Utter nonsense. This is a perfect example of human avoidance getting a hold on things. Think of all the ridiculous – and anti-human – clap-trap that has been perpetrated by hypocritical males interpreting this Myth!
God thinks Sex is a very good thing or She wouldn’t have organized us they way She did. Like everything, Sex can be demeaned by us crazy humans. But. Bottom line, Sex is one of the loveliest “tools” that can be used to enhance human relationships. Yes we have a lot to learn, but hey, we humans are intelligent!
The Myth has NOTHING to do with sex, good or bad. Fig Leaves are a metaphor for “a cover-up”. In the Myth, recognition of nakedness is a metaphor for the dawning awareness that we are cowards who refuse to accept our capacity for unhuman , unholy behaviour. Clothes have practical value, of course. But symbolically, they represent our unease at our inability to face the truth of who we are - great lovers or failed lovers.
Perhaps we might think about the “fig leaves” we could wear to express our courage to be our true selves?
Brian+
When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating
and realized what she would get out of it—she'd know everything!
—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband,
and he ate. Immediately the two of them did "see what's really
going on"—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together
as makeshift clothes for themselves.
- from Genesis 2 (a reading for Lent 1)
Well gang. I’m off to the hospital very early. The surgeon took one look at my abdominal hernia(s) and said, “Bad; repair ASAP. How about Wednesday morning?” So, what’s a guy to do. Go with the flow, right!
So: just a comment on this portion of Gen 2. What wretched prude, at whatever stage of things, decided that the sewed-together-fig-leaves had to do with Sex???? Utter nonsense. This is a perfect example of human avoidance getting a hold on things. Think of all the ridiculous – and anti-human – clap-trap that has been perpetrated by hypocritical males interpreting this Myth!
God thinks Sex is a very good thing or She wouldn’t have organized us they way She did. Like everything, Sex can be demeaned by us crazy humans. But. Bottom line, Sex is one of the loveliest “tools” that can be used to enhance human relationships. Yes we have a lot to learn, but hey, we humans are intelligent!
The Myth has NOTHING to do with sex, good or bad. Fig Leaves are a metaphor for “a cover-up”. In the Myth, recognition of nakedness is a metaphor for the dawning awareness that we are cowards who refuse to accept our capacity for unhuman , unholy behaviour. Clothes have practical value, of course. But symbolically, they represent our unease at our inability to face the truth of who we are - great lovers or failed lovers.
Perhaps we might think about the “fig leaves” we could wear to express our courage to be our true selves?
Brian+
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, February 11, 2008
……………. as in many other things connected with the
formation of character, people in general begin outside,
when they should begin inside; instead of beginning
with the heart, and trusting that to form the manners, they
begin with the manners, and trust the heart to chance influences.
- Lydia Maria Child, author, poet, born on this day, 1802, in Medford (?) MA
Yes, you do know Lydia Maria Child! She wrote the words to a song that even we Verdun Quebec kids knew (or I did anyway) - “Over the river and through the woods to grandfather’s house we go / the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh / through the white and drifted snow” - though I remember “grandmother, not father. And, if you lived in Massachusetts, as I did for a bit, you might know her family because of Medford Crackers – her father made them. She was one of the first women to make a living by writing.
Mrs. Child’s words make me wonder - what would a person turn out like if there were no other influences, and they were left alone to let the heart form their character? Interesting thought. I think it would be OK! Despite all the other influences in my life, I know what my heart really wants. To be respected, cared about, appreciated, treated gently, valued for myself. Have I just come to this after 60-odd years, or is the human heart indeed created in loveliness and to be trusted? I don’t know about other faiths, but Christian mystical theology has always felt that the heart was the home of God.
These days, I don’t think that we are careful enough about the human heart. Anywhere in the world. In any religion. Certainly not in any educational system. Religion has become a system of controlling behaviour from the “outside” - and manifestly it doesn’t work, in my opinion. And education [from the Latin “e ducare”, to lead out] has become not something that leads to the development of the human character (alas!) but vocational training – much to the detriment of the human community. What education gives us these days is soulless malcontents.
Well, enough of my “old man” bitching. I’m rooting for the heart. I intend to pay attention to not trusting the heart to “chance influences”. I intend to feed my heart with “good things”. Positive people and friends. Beauty. Laughter. Generosity. Wonder. Delight. Appreciation.
Come to think of it, “Grandfather’s house” is a metaphor for the heart’s abode.
Brian+
……………. as in many other things connected with the
formation of character, people in general begin outside,
when they should begin inside; instead of beginning
with the heart, and trusting that to form the manners, they
begin with the manners, and trust the heart to chance influences.
- Lydia Maria Child, author, poet, born on this day, 1802, in Medford (?) MA
Yes, you do know Lydia Maria Child! She wrote the words to a song that even we Verdun Quebec kids knew (or I did anyway) - “Over the river and through the woods to grandfather’s house we go / the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh / through the white and drifted snow” - though I remember “grandmother, not father. And, if you lived in Massachusetts, as I did for a bit, you might know her family because of Medford Crackers – her father made them. She was one of the first women to make a living by writing.
Mrs. Child’s words make me wonder - what would a person turn out like if there were no other influences, and they were left alone to let the heart form their character? Interesting thought. I think it would be OK! Despite all the other influences in my life, I know what my heart really wants. To be respected, cared about, appreciated, treated gently, valued for myself. Have I just come to this after 60-odd years, or is the human heart indeed created in loveliness and to be trusted? I don’t know about other faiths, but Christian mystical theology has always felt that the heart was the home of God.
These days, I don’t think that we are careful enough about the human heart. Anywhere in the world. In any religion. Certainly not in any educational system. Religion has become a system of controlling behaviour from the “outside” - and manifestly it doesn’t work, in my opinion. And education [from the Latin “e ducare”, to lead out] has become not something that leads to the development of the human character (alas!) but vocational training – much to the detriment of the human community. What education gives us these days is soulless malcontents.
Well, enough of my “old man” bitching. I’m rooting for the heart. I intend to pay attention to not trusting the heart to “chance influences”. I intend to feed my heart with “good things”. Positive people and friends. Beauty. Laughter. Generosity. Wonder. Delight. Appreciation.
Come to think of it, “Grandfather’s house” is a metaphor for the heart’s abode.
Brian+
Sermon for: Feb 10, 2008_Lent I_A_RCL Brian McHugh, priest & vicar
[Gen 2:15-17; 3:1-7][Ps 32][Rom 5:12-19][Matt 4:1-11]
Some musings on the Genesis Myth:
We human beings are “afraid” of Mortality – often called Death. Or we are affronted by it. It is not an accident that the holy season of Lent begins by starkly confronting us with the reality that we “are dust”, and to dust” we shall return. We wonder why we die – were we once immortal, and did we do something that brought on Death? Death has been interpreted by some as being the consequence of sin, or of whatever we did to insult God.
We wonder what’s beyond that boundary called Death. Is it “good”or “bad”, delightful or horrible? We wonder, is there anything we can do to avoid punishment? This has often led to the demeaning of religion to a legalistic keeping of rules rather than a path to becoming fully human. It has often made religion a system of controlling others, of having power over their lives.
We wonder if it’s worth striving for things – material, spiritual, emotional – if it all gets taken away from us sooner or later, but inevitably. We wonder if we can avoid it, and how: freeze-drying, or making a Faustian pact with “the Devil” or with some being who holds out the possibility of escape. We listen metaphorically to “serpents” who tell us, No, you won’t die! Note the serpent in the Genesis story today, who promises Adam and Adama that they can be like God. Or the Devil in the Matthew story who promises Jesus escape from death from a fall that would kill anyone.
This story from Genesis is an age-old attempt to understand ourselves. Every human culture has equivalent stories, equivalent “myths” – what I call “truth tales”, though I wish I could think of a classier name! Our Jewish ancestors developed this story over centuries, rethinking and refining, different generations adding to the inquiry. It tackles the profound questions every human being has. Where did we “come from”? Is our human nature essentially good or essentially bad? Why do we live with the conflict of good and evil in our lives, which causes us such suffering and confusion? Where can we find the answers to these nagging questions we have? Do we have the courage to look at our selves honestly and accept responsibility, or do we have to blame someone else? We still live in a patriarchal culture where women are blamed for much of the world’s problems, and blamed for mens’ “problems”, removing responsibility from men and permitting them to indulge their often selfish desires - all this justified on a male interpretation of the Genesis story.
And of course, the age-old question/hope: Is there an “Eden”? “Eden” is not a physical place; it is an emotional or spiritual or philosophical “place” where we can find peace and understanding and where we can be in harmony with one another and with the creative forces of the Universe. Are we going to learn how to create it, or do we live in the fantasy that God is going to hand it to us on a silver platter? I’m glad that the myth has us being expelled from Eden. It seems wisely to indicate that we understand our predicament, and know we have work to do.
Many interpret the Genesis myth to say that we human beings were once sinless and then “fell” into sin. I don’t believe in the widespread particular interpretation of what is called “The Fall” I believe it is and always has been human nature to be capable of Good and of Evil. “Eden” is a metaphor, a symbol, for the human longing and hope that we can choose love, be happy, overcome our penchant for fouling our own nest. In my view, if we are spiritually and emotionally healthy, the being we call God is an ally - one who will help us and lift us up. The God who punishes is the creation of a spiritually and intellectually unhealthy mind. The Christian God is essentially a God of Grace, as is the God of the Jews. The overlaying of an angry or condemning God is of human origin, and more specifically, the creation of a human mind which does not believe in humanity’s own essential glory and worth. I do. So does Jesus.
So. What does the Gospel for this first Sunday in the holy season of Lent ask us to confront if we would place our feet on the path of “return to Eden”? Jesus is baptized. He is immediately “led by the Spirit” into the wilderness, where he fasts for 40 days and 40 nights in preparation. This, like all such undertakings, is to help Him to see with the inner eye more clearly. At this moment of extreme hunger and weakness, He is tempted by Satan, known as the “father of lies”.
We all remember what happens. First, Satan offers Jesus life on the basis of His own power and physical needs; Jesus says No; that Life is infinitely more than that. Second: Satan offers Jesus the tempting thought that Life can be maintained by manipulating God. Jesus says No; God and we are One; we find Life together. Third: Satan offers Jesus personal power from worldly riches and glory. Jesus says No; Life is found in the godly path of loving service, compassion, mercy, justice.
My colleague Barbara Crafton put it beautifully: “Jesus sits in the wilderness and wants the things we all want. He sits there until he knows he can live life without any of them, because he knows, as we all must know, that we all will lose everything. And then he arises and returns to his world, as we return daily to ours. But we know more about what we can do with the power we have been given than we knew when we began.”
I said that the theme of this Lent was going to be Finding the Glory. Whatever we do this Lent, it will be helpful if we learn that we can receive the power to tell ourselves “No”sometimes. We need to have the power to say “No” to the many lies we are told or that we tell yourselves. To say No to things we are tempted to think will bring us joy and peace but which we know to be lies.
In the Collect today we pray: as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save. This is the true nature of the God we know in the Christ: She is there with us, in us, every step of the way on the path of transfiguration as a child of God.
[Gen 2:15-17; 3:1-7][Ps 32][Rom 5:12-19][Matt 4:1-11]
Some musings on the Genesis Myth:
We human beings are “afraid” of Mortality – often called Death. Or we are affronted by it. It is not an accident that the holy season of Lent begins by starkly confronting us with the reality that we “are dust”, and to dust” we shall return. We wonder why we die – were we once immortal, and did we do something that brought on Death? Death has been interpreted by some as being the consequence of sin, or of whatever we did to insult God.
We wonder what’s beyond that boundary called Death. Is it “good”or “bad”, delightful or horrible? We wonder, is there anything we can do to avoid punishment? This has often led to the demeaning of religion to a legalistic keeping of rules rather than a path to becoming fully human. It has often made religion a system of controlling others, of having power over their lives.
We wonder if it’s worth striving for things – material, spiritual, emotional – if it all gets taken away from us sooner or later, but inevitably. We wonder if we can avoid it, and how: freeze-drying, or making a Faustian pact with “the Devil” or with some being who holds out the possibility of escape. We listen metaphorically to “serpents” who tell us, No, you won’t die! Note the serpent in the Genesis story today, who promises Adam and Adama that they can be like God. Or the Devil in the Matthew story who promises Jesus escape from death from a fall that would kill anyone.
This story from Genesis is an age-old attempt to understand ourselves. Every human culture has equivalent stories, equivalent “myths” – what I call “truth tales”, though I wish I could think of a classier name! Our Jewish ancestors developed this story over centuries, rethinking and refining, different generations adding to the inquiry. It tackles the profound questions every human being has. Where did we “come from”? Is our human nature essentially good or essentially bad? Why do we live with the conflict of good and evil in our lives, which causes us such suffering and confusion? Where can we find the answers to these nagging questions we have? Do we have the courage to look at our selves honestly and accept responsibility, or do we have to blame someone else? We still live in a patriarchal culture where women are blamed for much of the world’s problems, and blamed for mens’ “problems”, removing responsibility from men and permitting them to indulge their often selfish desires - all this justified on a male interpretation of the Genesis story.
And of course, the age-old question/hope: Is there an “Eden”? “Eden” is not a physical place; it is an emotional or spiritual or philosophical “place” where we can find peace and understanding and where we can be in harmony with one another and with the creative forces of the Universe. Are we going to learn how to create it, or do we live in the fantasy that God is going to hand it to us on a silver platter? I’m glad that the myth has us being expelled from Eden. It seems wisely to indicate that we understand our predicament, and know we have work to do.
Many interpret the Genesis myth to say that we human beings were once sinless and then “fell” into sin. I don’t believe in the widespread particular interpretation of what is called “The Fall” I believe it is and always has been human nature to be capable of Good and of Evil. “Eden” is a metaphor, a symbol, for the human longing and hope that we can choose love, be happy, overcome our penchant for fouling our own nest. In my view, if we are spiritually and emotionally healthy, the being we call God is an ally - one who will help us and lift us up. The God who punishes is the creation of a spiritually and intellectually unhealthy mind. The Christian God is essentially a God of Grace, as is the God of the Jews. The overlaying of an angry or condemning God is of human origin, and more specifically, the creation of a human mind which does not believe in humanity’s own essential glory and worth. I do. So does Jesus.
So. What does the Gospel for this first Sunday in the holy season of Lent ask us to confront if we would place our feet on the path of “return to Eden”? Jesus is baptized. He is immediately “led by the Spirit” into the wilderness, where he fasts for 40 days and 40 nights in preparation. This, like all such undertakings, is to help Him to see with the inner eye more clearly. At this moment of extreme hunger and weakness, He is tempted by Satan, known as the “father of lies”.
We all remember what happens. First, Satan offers Jesus life on the basis of His own power and physical needs; Jesus says No; that Life is infinitely more than that. Second: Satan offers Jesus the tempting thought that Life can be maintained by manipulating God. Jesus says No; God and we are One; we find Life together. Third: Satan offers Jesus personal power from worldly riches and glory. Jesus says No; Life is found in the godly path of loving service, compassion, mercy, justice.
My colleague Barbara Crafton put it beautifully: “Jesus sits in the wilderness and wants the things we all want. He sits there until he knows he can live life without any of them, because he knows, as we all must know, that we all will lose everything. And then he arises and returns to his world, as we return daily to ours. But we know more about what we can do with the power we have been given than we knew when we began.”
I said that the theme of this Lent was going to be Finding the Glory. Whatever we do this Lent, it will be helpful if we learn that we can receive the power to tell ourselves “No”sometimes. We need to have the power to say “No” to the many lies we are told or that we tell yourselves. To say No to things we are tempted to think will bring us joy and peace but which we know to be lies.
In the Collect today we pray: as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save. This is the true nature of the God we know in the Christ: She is there with us, in us, every step of the way on the path of transfiguration as a child of God.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, February 09, 2008
Whoever does not see God in every place
does not see God in any place.
- Rabbi Elimelech (of Lizhensk, I assume –
1717-86)
I can be pretty questioning and, well, often “weird” in my inquiry. (I don’t think I’m weird; I’m just giving you a chance to nod your heads knowingly. And by the way: whatever happened to “i before e except after c”?? Why is weird weird??) I find it helps me grow to “think outside the box”, as is said these days. I have a passion for appreciating that so much is hidden, that so much is a Mystery, that really we “know” so little. And the older I get, the more true this is. Anyway, I figure that if my Reflections were too disturbing, you’ve unsubscribed by now!
The good rabbi’s thought is challenging! For example, I believe that “God”, whether “God” exists existentially or because the human mind has created God for very good reasons, is Good. Period. I don’t believe in a God who does evil. It makes no sense. I don’t believe, therefore, in a God who punishes, in this earthly life or in Eternity. Life has its own natural consequences in terms of our behaviour and what we suffer.
So here is this morning’s take on Elimelech. “God” is always on our side, on everyone’s “side”. Which is not to say, of course, that God can be co-opted for our own personal manipulation. As an example, God loves the soldiers of all armies or the members of all football teams or all politicians equally. God only desires ( re the Bible) that we “should repent and be saved”, meaning that we be transfigured into Love. God wants us to be happy - and we won’t be as long as we wander from the path of Transfiguration. To be transfigured is our destiny.
God is never absent. So the Psalmist (and the good rabbi) understood. Remember the lovely phrases of Psalm 139: “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand hold me fast.” If we don’t believe that God and we are inseparable, journeying together in power and grace towards the wonder of Being, through both the suffering and the ecstasy, then God will be seen in no place.
Which is why Jesus said, “Love your enemy”. If we can’t see God there, there is no God to be seen.
Brian+
Whoever does not see God in every place
does not see God in any place.
- Rabbi Elimelech (of Lizhensk, I assume –
1717-86)
I can be pretty questioning and, well, often “weird” in my inquiry. (I don’t think I’m weird; I’m just giving you a chance to nod your heads knowingly. And by the way: whatever happened to “i before e except after c”?? Why is weird weird??) I find it helps me grow to “think outside the box”, as is said these days. I have a passion for appreciating that so much is hidden, that so much is a Mystery, that really we “know” so little. And the older I get, the more true this is. Anyway, I figure that if my Reflections were too disturbing, you’ve unsubscribed by now!
The good rabbi’s thought is challenging! For example, I believe that “God”, whether “God” exists existentially or because the human mind has created God for very good reasons, is Good. Period. I don’t believe in a God who does evil. It makes no sense. I don’t believe, therefore, in a God who punishes, in this earthly life or in Eternity. Life has its own natural consequences in terms of our behaviour and what we suffer.
So here is this morning’s take on Elimelech. “God” is always on our side, on everyone’s “side”. Which is not to say, of course, that God can be co-opted for our own personal manipulation. As an example, God loves the soldiers of all armies or the members of all football teams or all politicians equally. God only desires ( re the Bible) that we “should repent and be saved”, meaning that we be transfigured into Love. God wants us to be happy - and we won’t be as long as we wander from the path of Transfiguration. To be transfigured is our destiny.
God is never absent. So the Psalmist (and the good rabbi) understood. Remember the lovely phrases of Psalm 139: “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand hold me fast.” If we don’t believe that God and we are inseparable, journeying together in power and grace towards the wonder of Being, through both the suffering and the ecstasy, then God will be seen in no place.
Which is why Jesus said, “Love your enemy”. If we can’t see God there, there is no God to be seen.
Brian+
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