Original Participation (Richard Rohr - Reflecting on His Reflections)

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/

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!”

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.

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.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/06/christianity-state-religion_n_3022255.html#.UWFWrBA3Ow8.facebook

.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.)

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.

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/