http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Daily-Meditation--Original-Participation----Frame----April-21--2013.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=_PmS5zE8giY
An apt observation on the 175th birthday of John Muir.
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/people/historical/muir/
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Do You Believe in Mom?
Our priest told this story at church today. I was trying to recount it when it occurred to me that it must be on the internet. I found it and modified it a bit. I suffered the pretense of thinking I'd be able to word it a little better. Fortunately for me (and you) I'm a flippin' genius wordsmith. Anyway, here it is:
In
the belly of a pregnant woman, there were two babies. One of them
said to the other:
“So
you believe in life after birth, eh?”
“Of
course I do. There must be something after birth. Maybe
we're here to prepare for what'll happen later.”
“Oh,
right! There's no life after birth! What do you propose that
life would be like?”
“I
don't know. Maybe it's a place with more light. Why else would we
have eyes?”
“Don't
be ridiculous! And how would we move around in this “afterlife”
you talk about? I mean, how far could we go? The umbilical cord
only stretches so far. And we need the umbilical cord.
That's how we get our food. We'd starve to death in your afterlife.”
“Maybe
in the afterlife, we'll be able to feed ourselves.”
“Ha!
I suppose we'd put food in our mouths or something!”
“Why
not? Didn't you ever suppose that maybe our mouths were for more
than just sucking our thumbs? We may be talking about an
entirely new dimension! Who knows what life will be like out there?”
“I'll
tell you what it'll be like. Short! In two minutes we'll
dry up and die outside of this life-giving fluid we're floating
around in.”
“Maybe
we won't need the fluid. Maybe that's just a temporary situation.
Maybe we'll be able to lose the umbilical cord and walk around out
there.”
“On
our legs, I suppose. That's a good one!”
“I
happen to think they must be good for something more than
kicking these walls – satisfying as that may be.”
“It
is satisfying! When I get pissed off at the meaninglessness
of our life floating around in the darkness, that sometimes feels
like the only satisfaction I'll ever have. Don't take that away from
me!”
“Maybe
we're here for something better than just kicking walls. I believe
there's gotta be more than just this. Maybe life will be different
than what we're used to in here.”
“Look.
No one has ever returned from the afterlife. Eventually, we get
pushed out and that's it. You die and it's all over. Birth is the
end of life. And ultimately, life is nothing but a distressing
existence in the dark that leads us nowhere.”
“Well,
I don't know exactly how it'll be after birth, but surely we'll see
Mom and she'll take care of us.”
“MOM?
You believe in MOM? And where is she now?”
“She's
all around us! We're inside her and it's thanks to her that we're
alive. Without her, this whole world wouldn't exist.”
Well, I've
never seen Mom. And the reason I've never seen her is that she
doesn't exist.”
“Okay,
but sometimes, when we're silent, you can hear her or feel that she's
caressing our world, y'know? I think there's a real life out there
and that we're only just preparing for it now.”
“Okay,
smart guy. Move over. Why don't you go out there first when the
time comes? I'll take the extra couple of minutes of life, thank you
very much. That may not sound like alot, but it'll seem like forever
when you're getting forced out of this place.”
“Fine!
Get out of my way. I'm not afraid of birth!”
Friday, April 12, 2013
Reflections on a Richard Rohr Meditation (and Perhaps Going a Bit Off-Topic)
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Daily-Meditation--Jesus-Lived-in-Darkness-and-Faith--Just-As-We-Do----Foundation----April-7--2013.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=ez0dW_2X1w4
My
friend posted the above link to Facebook recently and I've read it
several times since. I knew I wanted to share it here, but wasn't
sure for some time what to say about it. The portion that struck me
with the most impact was the following:
“We
like to imagine that Jesus did not flinch, doubt or ever question
God’s love. The much greater message is that in his humanity
he did flinch,
have doubts, and ask questions—and still remained faithful.”
I
suppose it's more accurate to say that my thoughts below flowed from
this link – or were inspired by it – rather than to say that they
directly addressed it. To wit:
I
wonder if it's distinctly American to imagine Jesus as the baddest
motherfucker in the Valley of the Shadow of Death; a mashup of George
Washington, G.I. Joe and Elvis – kicking ass, taking names and
writing them on one side or the other of the Book of Heaven. I don't
doubt that that's how many Americans see him and find him worthy of
worship, but I don't know how distinctly that's unique to our
country. Not being a world traveler, I can hardly know.
But in
light of America's aggressive, acquisitive character, it seems
distinctly un-American to understand that his great power is not in
battling evil on its own jingoistic terms. Rather, it's in
understanding that evil can't possibly contend with his true power
where it lies: in vulnerability and the willingness to be exposed to
it. In the utter surrender to the cross that -- because of that
surrender -- sprouts roots and returns to its proper being as the
tree from which it was hewn.
It
seems that it's the mad proposition of Christian faith to surrender ourselves
in the same way that Jesus did and to believe that therein lies our
release from mean mortal coils. To, indeed, carry our cross -- and
all the way to the time and place where we, ourselves, will be nailed
upon it. To believe that this really is
where we'll be subsumed and freed by the power of God. To accept the
terror that claims that love is
stronger then hatred; that Good really is
more powerful than Evil. It's not enough to merely turn the other
cheek. We have to accept that it'll be struck and even still,
respond only with love.
I
have no pretensions that I'm good enough, or strong enough, to have
that in me, but so help me God, I hope to have the courage to try.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Some Republicans Propose Christianity as the State Religion in NC
My
friend, Addison Hart, posted the link below on Facebook and I could
hardly have said it better myself. I will add, however, that the morons who propose that their state can utterly defy the U.S. Constitution are likely the same sort of people who demand that we "take our Constitution back!" Never mind that pesky First Amendment and its injunction that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." I guess state legislatures get a pass on that one, eh?
There's been alot of talk about secession in this country recently. Guns, abortion, legalization of marijuana, gay marriage . . . Civil War II can't be far behind.
I wish I was joking about that. And oh, yeah; be forewarned: the assholes have the guns.
Addison Hodges Hart
I believe in the separation of church and state, mostly for the sake of the church than for the state. Further, I wouldn't trust any form of "Americanized" Christianity, whether right or left. It would be, without doubt, a civil religion. It would bless America's worst impulses towards imperialism, militarization, excessive moralism (whether leftist or rightist) with penal consequences, policing of citizens, corporation-protecting, bankster-pardoning, and war-mongering. It would remake Jesus into a flag-waving, grinning, all-American, platitude-spouting, gun-toting, war-condoning, "liberal" or "neocon" (take your pick), legislation-minded, and sports-loving cowboy type. We would drone-murder "towel-heads" "in Jesus' name", promote Capitalism and "pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps" morality "in Jesus' name", and have churches following "the corporate model" of authority "in Jesus' name". I can't think of a kitschier image than a blow-dried and stupefied "American Jesus" or a more repellent religion than an "American" civil "Christianity". God save his people from that ugliest of all possible Constantinianisms.
Monday, March 18, 2013
.St. Cyril: Not Trying to Take it All In
Today
is the feast day of St. Cyril, a fourth century orthodox bishop who
fought the Arian heresy. I came across a quote of his that I find
appealing. He was asked why he bothered trying to write about a God
he, admittedly, couldn't fathom.
"But
some one will say,
If the Divine substance is
incomprehensible, why then do you discourse of these things? So then,
because I cannot drink up all the river, am I not even to take in
moderation what is expedient for me? Because with eyes so constituted
as mine I cannot take in all the sun, am I not even to look upon it
enough to satisfy my wants? Or again, because I have entered into a
great garden, and cannot eat all the supply of fruits, would you have
me go away altogether hungry?.. I am attempting now to glorify the
Lord, but not to describe him, knowing nevertheless that I shall fall
short of glorifying God worthily,
yet deeming it a work of piety even to attempt it at all."
(The words in red are hyperlinks from the piece on the website from which I took this. I was unaware that they would remain red when I published this and don't know how to change them. So please know that as hyperlinks on this site, you might think of them as eunuchs -- contributing to prayerful thought, but themselves unfertile.)
(The words in red are hyperlinks from the piece on the website from which I took this. I was unaware that they would remain red when I published this and don't know how to change them. So please know that as hyperlinks on this site, you might think of them as eunuchs -- contributing to prayerful thought, but themselves unfertile.)
Friday, March 15, 2013
Bienvenidos al Papa! (We've much work to do)
On
Wednesday, the Catholic Cardinals elected the first pope ever from
the Western Hemisphere – Francis I. Let's hope that this new world
pope can spearhead a new type of vision for a church that very much
needs one. It's time to address a church culture that has allowed
drift, corruption and the horrors of the sex abuse scandal that's
rocked the faithful for the last ten years and its victims for
decades – and presumably, much longer.
Several
years ago, I expressed to a good Protestant friend my horror, anger
and reflected shame at the scandal. He counseled me that perhaps
this would be an occasion for the Church to examine it fearlessly and
come to grips with it through a collective penance and purging of its
soul. I certainly hope he's right, though I've yet to see that to my
satisfaction.
I
continue to pray for the victims – primarily those who suffered the
abuse directly – but also the Catholic faithful (especially good
and innocent priests who are left to suffer the consequences; my
former pastor once told me that the collar has been made to sometimes
feel like a target) and the wider world. Non-believers whom the
Church seeks to evangelize are only left less prone to receive Jesus
as a result of this monstrously counter-productive activity. This,
of course, is just a polite euphemism for what it really is –
perhaps the gravest of sins.
I'm
left to constantly remind myself that the Church is made up of very
imperfect people who continue to betray the truth of the Christian
message of love and forgiveness that promises salvation to the world.
Here's hoping that that message, and the Church, can somehow rise
above and beyond the sins of her children.
St.
Francis of Assisi, our new pontiff's patron, pray for us.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Young Man v. Young Earth
As a
Christian, I wish that everyone would come to know Jesus Christ, but
evangelization is not a function of our public schools. And
the myopic, stupid notion that a literal reading of the Bible can be
seen as a scientific text or the basis thereof – or that a literal
reading is even a valid interpretation of sacred Scripture in the
first place – is not only childish but dangerous.
I have
no truck with atheism but am in agreement with its proponents that
religious instruction has no place in the public classroom. And the
dumbass brand of Christianity that promotes fundamentalist,
Creationist, so-called “scientific” theories is an embarrassment
to the faith that I know and believe in.
Jesus
loves us all. He loves the fundamentalists and, as with everyone
else, wants to save their souls. But when they claim that the
universe is 6,000 years old and that, therefore, man and dinosaurs
must have co-existed, I think he must roll his eyes at the idiocy his
saving presence has inadvertently spawned.
All of
this is not to say that the young man in this interview is an
atheist; the interview doesn't address his belief in God or lack
thereof. And frankly, I'd never heard of the kid before seeing this
interview. But whatever his spiritual convictions (or again, lack
thereof) I'd be proud as hell if my kid was doing at his age what
this young man is doing.
http://billmoyers.com/segment/zack-kopplin-on-keeping-creationism-out-of-public-classrooms/
Friday, March 1, 2013
Lord of the Starfields
As a
catholic, I'm very proud of the fact that there's an astronomical
observatory on the grounds of the Vatican. We find no cowardly and
anti-logical fear of the spectacular findings of science in the holy
city-state. People criticize the Church for that very thing in its
suppression of Galileo in the seventeenth century.
But
the Catholic Church has recanted of its treatment of Galileo and,
unlike much of Protestant Christianity today, has embraced the
universe he proposed. As this article states, it was a Catholic
priest/scientist who first proposed the theory of the Big Bang.
Today, another catholic priest -- the just-retired Pope Benedict XVI
-- recently established an institution which seeks to resolve the
perceived conflicts between science and religion – the Vatican's
Science and Faith Foundation.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Ben Folds XVI (or The Pope Throws in the Alb)
A few
minutes before I left for work yesterday, as I was waiting for the
morning weather forecast, the bombshell hit. Pope Benedict had
announced he was resigning. At that time, I only heard the basics
they gave: the Pope had determined that, at age 85, he was no longer
fit to administer the See of Peter, the “Holy Bark” that is the
Church. They said the last time a pope resigned was over six-hundred
years ago. (Actually, 700 years since a precedent for Monday's
announcement – see the attached link.)
As I
walked to work a few minutes later, I knew that the rumor mill and
the late night comedy writers' rooms were already in a state of
hyperdrive. And in all fairness, could you expect them not to be?
This screams to be talked about, criticized, praised, dumbfounded by
– and yes, laughed at. After all, old popes don't retire, they
just slowly process away . . .
As
many of us know, priests retire, bishops retire, but popes don't.
Not normally anyway. Without knowing the history, I can only assume
that other pontiffs have struggled to keep it together through
illness and old age – perhaps even senility, I suppose.
It
should go without saying that many people – even reasonable types
that don't routinely sport aluminum pie plates as headwear – will
ask the question that begs: Why? And the one hot on its heels: Is
there some scandal beneath the surface that we don't know about?
Perhaps something to do with the ongoing child abuse crisis that's
rocked the Church in recent years? What good reason could there be?
a reasonable mind might ask. After all, if he really is retiring
merely because of age and growing infirmity, we need only look at his
predecessor to see how that can be graciously endured.
I
don't blame people for waiting for the other shoe of the fisherman to
drop – or even actively looking for it. You can bet that TMZ is
fervently on the case as we speak. I can also already hear the true
believers excoriating the cynical secular hordes for their accusatory
suspicions.
You
can count me as one of the true believers, though unless they really
take it too far, I won't get pissy on the nefarious agnostic nabobs
of negativity. Inquiring – and not necessarily unreasonable –
minds want to know, after all. In the words of one believer, “He
was hired by God. He can't quit!” I can't say I'm in total
agreement with the Pope or the Church on all things, but I do buy
into the See of Peter pretty much as advertised. And that's the very
reason that Benedict's announcement not only perplexes, but troubles
me.
I can
sympathize with his assessment of his own physical and mental
incapacity to do one of the hardest jobs on the planet. I concur
with panel members in the attached link in respecting his humility
for admitting it and admiring his generosity in thinking for
speculating that a new pope might better serve the Church. But
whatever the Holy Father's good motives may be, I do have to wonder
at the impact of this extraordinary act. It seems to me that it
gives the world plausible reason to speculate on the possibility
of a darker meaning behind it.
As of
this writing, I haven't had much chance to follow developments. Of
course, it was all over the news yesterday (Monday the 11th;
it's Tuesday evening now and I doubt I'll get this in before the
timestamp moves to Wednesday.) Besides the initial report, I've
since found that the Pope really has apparently gone downhill
physically in recent months. And today they reported that he'll live
his remaining days in a monk-like existence, praying and writing, in
a refurbished former convent on Vatican grounds.
I can
only join the rest of the faithful in praying that this is the right
decision for Pope Benedict (soon again, I might suppose, Father
Ratzinger) and the Church he's led for nearly the last eight years.
TJTM
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Prof. Conor Cunningham -- "Why Study Nature and Grace?"
My
friend and former associate pastor, Fr. Addison Hart, is a veritable
volcano of interesting and thought-provoking posts on Facebook. The
other day he posted a couple of links to a video series by Nottingham
University in England. It's called the "Why Study? Series". The two links he shared are “Why Study Nature and Grace?”
and “Why Study Evolution?”, both with Professor Conor Cunningham.
Through these, I found the "Why Study? Series", including
more with Prof. Cunningham. There's a lot to be explored here and
I've decided to start doing so. I find them worth sharing and begin
with “Why Study Nature and Grace?”
“God
sent his son into (nature) to perfect it. Not to destroy it, not to
subsume it, not to moralize it, not to spiritualize it, but to make
it more physical.”
- Professor Conor Cunningham
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8jbytgfMjU
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Awakened by Infinite Sons
Saturday,
Jan 12, 2013
6:20am
My
sons woke me up this morning.
A
short while ago, I was dreaming that I was asleep and in the dream of that sleep,
there was a knock at my bedroom door. Annoyed, I roused myself into
recriminating wakefulness and got up to open it. It was my son Eric.
In real life, he's nearly twenty years old but in my dream, he was a three or four year-old boy. “I remember,” he said in his
little three or four-year old voice, which had the hint of a lisp,
“that I used to sometimes come sleep with you when I woke up
scared, and it's been awhile so I thought I should come do it again.”
It was puzzling to me that this little boy spoke as if he wasn't
scared at all and that he seemed to be recounting this from as many
years ago as it now really is. It gave the whole thing the surreal
quality of the infinite. I said, “Sure, monkey. It's always okay
for you to do that.” I picked him up and, holding his tiny body
next to mine, started to bring him into bed – and that was when I
woke up in real life.
I
lay there for a few minutes, remembering the days when, not long
after his mom and I split up and he was about that same age, he used
to sometimes wake up crying in the middle of the night. Even after
he was well awake, he could sometimes not be comforted for at least
ten or fifteen minutes. It was as if he refused to let go of the
dream that terrified him.
Then,
still lying in bed, I remembered a picture he drew at around that
time. It was a picture of him and me as a child's stick figures,
holding hands and walking under a big, round shining sun. Above us
he'd drawn a large red and white heart. I still have it. You don't
throw something like that away. If I wasn't so computer-illiterate,
I'd post it here. I suppose, next time he's here, I'll have him show
me again. (Yes, he showed me before how to post pictures to my
computer, but, being the aforementioned computer-illiterate, I don't
remember the simple steps. I think I have them written down
somewhere, but I haven't used my camera in years and the batteries
need re-charging anyway.
As
it often is when woken from a powerful dream, my immediate thought
was to sit down and write about it. My computer was still on from a
few hours before (I didn't go to sleep until four) because I did
something that left my monitor with the wallpaper still there, but
all the icons missing. In that state, there was no shutdown button
and I didn't know how to rectify it without shutting the computer
down improperly. I knew that isn't good (or can't be anything other
than neutral or bad) for it and I was too tired to fuck with it, so I
just turned the monitor off and went to bed.
I
remembered this when I came back to my desk just now. Pissed off
that I might not be able to record this astonishing dream, I turned
the monitor back on. I knew that if the compy didn't bounce back
after the inevitably necessary improper shutdown, I'd have to call my
other (and older) son Steve. Steve's even more of a computer whiz
than his younger brother (who's also very computer-savvy) plus,
unlike Eric, Steve lives just a few blocks away.
I
stared at my monitor's wallpaper – again, the only thing that
remained on the screen. It's a picture of the Black Knight from
Monty Python and the Holy Grail,
a family favorite of ours. Steve had installed it when (as a
surprise when I was away) he revamped my entire PC and loaded it with
a new browser and programs, including the Open Office Writer word
processing program that I'm using right now. Over the years, Steve
has done probably thousands of dollars worth of IT work for me and my
dad.
Looking
at the one-armed Black Knight (if you don't know what I'm talking
about, rent the film; I regard it as the single funniest movie ever
made.) I thought of Steve and considered the wonderful gift he had
graced me with in the new setup.
Sitting
there, I instinctively knew that in all of this, he was as much a
part of my waking after less than three hours as was Eric. This
entire episode was about my being father to them both.
It
was then that it occurred to me, and seeming very much as if it was
Steve who was reminding me,“when in doubt, hit Ctrl/Alt/Delete.”
I did, and was suddenly a couple of keystrokes away from full
restoration of my unit. It may not sound like much because I suppose
even a ninety year-old chimp knows that old trick, but you're seeing
this right now because of it. I'd like to think that Steve had
something to do with it and, on some level, it's evident to me at
least, that he did.
Last
night (really, in the wee hours of this morning) someone posted to
Facebook the picture of a fifteen year old girl who went missing a
couple of weeks ago. Though I didn't know her from Eve, I knew that
her parents must be in agony right now, not to mention, possibly her.
Her name is Samantha and she's sometimes known as “Sammi Jo.”
As I said in the post, “Don't know her, but it seems we gotta
spread this far and wide. God bless you, Sammi Jo. I'm praying for
you.”
I
cried this morning when my little boy woke me from the dream I had
where he woke me from my dreaming sleep. It was touching and a
little sad to remember that he and his brother aren't little boys
anymore but I'll see them soon and things will be like they always
are.
Sammi
Jo's parents don't have that right now and are going through what I
don't even want to imagine, much less live. There's nothing more I
can do than pray for her and hope that the simple act of sharing her
picture on Facebook can contribute to a cloud of activity that'll
bring her home. Again, God bless you, Sammi Jo.
Finally,
my friend and my former parish priest, Father Addison Hart, posted a
remarkable video last night. The video itself is actually less
remarkable than cool -- computer-animated psychedelia of the sort
we've all probably seen many times before, though above average for
its ilk, I'd say. The remarkable part is the music. It's Bjork
(formerly the singer with Iceland's band, the Sugarcubes, singing a
beautiful version of “The Jesus Prayer.” I don't have reason to
think she's a believer, but if not, she's certainly a talented voice
actress.
I
listened to it repeatedly as I composed this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lEhq3rkbVr8#!
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