As George Burns said to Bob Denver in the last scene of Oh God, “You don’t need anything more, you have it all right here, use it”.  Christmas is a moment of focus, not an end, not a beginning.  It is a moment when we can decide the amount of effort of our stewardship.  It is a moment in the infinite string of moments when we have to choose how to live ‘Emanuel’.

Life is a Pimple           07/26/2017

OK, let’s all admit it, we are fascinated with pimples.  We don’t have to admit it publicly, but we do need to be honest with ourselves.  Whether it is one we can see on ourselves, or the one on your back that your partner insists they can take care of, we all want to heal it in some way.  And that is really what this is about, healing.

We all know that what causes a pimple is not pleasant.  We really don’t want to see what comes out after we open it up, but it’s like a train wreck about to happen, we can’t look away.  So, let’s examine the process.

First, we need to open up the pimple.  The ugly stuff needs to be exposed.  Whether we open it purposefully or as the by-product of an action we engage in that was intended to bring about a completely different kind of healing, the ‘stuff’ is exposed.  Next comes the action of getting all the ‘stuff’ out.  We do that by applying some form of positive pressure.  Once all the ‘stuff’ is out, we wipe it away and apply some form of unction so healing of the exposed area of the body can begin.  Our current political situation is like that pimple.

Some will say they were scratching an itch and had no idea they were going to open up a pimple.  Some will say they saw a pimple and needed to open it so it would not continue to fester.  Either perspective is valid for any political persuasion.  So, what are we to be about in our participation in the pimple process?  Healing!

Some unctions are soothing immediately, and some cause distress in some form before the soothing occurs.  Either way, the goal is to have the area affected by the pimple return to its intended state of being.  There may be a scar, but the area is not inflamed or exposed to pressure from the ‘stuff’.

Before we enter into the pimple process, we need to ask ourselves if what we see is really a pimple.  If it is a pimple, we then need to decide on a way to open it.  We also need to be mindful of actions we take that could open a pimple we don’t see and the result of not being prepared to deal with the consequence of our action.  Positive and purposeful actions that are not about simply ‘winning’, but are ultimately about healing, are our best course.

My advice, be both the positive force that gets the ‘stuff’ out and the healing unction.  Don’t be the pimple.

Control          04/17/17

It has been six months since I contracted the dreaded ‘crud’ and today I can finally breath again and not cough every two minutes.  I am telling you this not to gain sympathy, but to let you know that I have taken the time to examine the moments I was inspired to write a reflection and for many reasons, waited.

Three weeks ago, I was at a conference of Chaplains to Retired Clergy hearing from several speakers who covered subjects from ‘How dementia affects the family, to ‘Don’t answer the phone’.  After an intense day, several of us were relaxing after dinner discussing how different generations respond to the same subject.  One of my colleagues, a grandparent, related what their seven-year-old granddaughter said from the back seat as they were traveling to a camp ground, “Hey grandma, who did you vote for, the idiot or the crook?”  It was not a coincidence that I had just put my drink down, it was my dry-cleaning angel saving me from having to pay for a large cleaning bill.  What ensued for the next hour was a discussion on how to deal with several thousand years of philosophy, psychology, nurture, observation as reality, responsibility, and control under extreme conditions of surprise.

There is a great scene from the TV series ‘Joan of Arcadia’ when Joan says to God, “I want to see it all”.  God politely tells her that she is not ready to see it all.  She insists.  God relents and lets her “see it all”.  Joan is overcome and faints, waking up the next day in the hospital not remembering a thing.  We are Joan.  As we mature, we move from that unfiltered world where idiot and crook are natural labels to being challenged and making decisions about our environment.  Therein lies the crux of the situation.  What decisions do we make and how do we decide those are the decisions we should make?  Do we vote for the idiot or the crook?  Or, do we decide to see a picture that is not an idiot or a crook?

The question always being asked is, do I control my decisions or are they all made for me or only some of them?  Everyone at the table agreed that, “I can’t give you any guarantees as to the answer, but I can tell you what I believe, if you want to hear it”.  I can tell you water boils at different temperatures depending on atmospheric pressure.  I can tell you that some galaxies move perpendicular to others and not along radians from a central point of origin.  I can tell you those are facts, but why they work that way is seen several different ways.  I can tell you that I do not need to know the belief system of the chef at the restaurant that served me dinner.  I can tell you that I have friends who voted for the idiot, and friends who voted for the crook.  Can I tell you I decide?  I can tell you why I decide?

I believe an intrinsic characteristic of our nature as a product of the conscious thought of God is to decide, to make choices.  I also believe God, Source, Unconditional Love, chose to make it so.  And, because I believe that our source is unconditional love, if my choices are not consistent with unconditional love, I am not being responsible with my choice.  And, how do I present my choices to those with no filters so their choice is not reduced to only seeing the idiot or the crook?  I try my best to live the axiom I encountered in seminary, “My up, can’t come at the expense of someone else’s down”, Rosemary Radford Ruther.

I control my choices, I do not control yours.  Choose wisely!

?                      2/25/17

I purposely did not title this reflection because any title, by its nature, limits and directs the reader in ways that the writer may or may not intend.  My intention is for you to be open and come up with your own title after reading the reflection.

The season of Lent in the Christian tradition is one whose observance is more than a bit confusing to both participants and observers.  I can remember back to the first grade when Mardi Gras was pancakes, only pancakes, potato, wheat, fish, and other uneatable substances.  Then and extended period of no chocolate followed.  I took it in stride as I progressed and only during college began to meet other experiences of “Fat Tuesday” that increased knowledge, if not understanding, of religious observances.  Oh, I forgot to mention eggplant pancakes.  The aha moment for me was realizing that everyone around me was going through the same process.  That dark chocolate bar a fraternity brother shared with me on the day after Ash Wednesday was a delicious wake up call.  The ‘wake up’, was to discover that I could ask why do we observe Lent at all and not be struck by lightning.

Along with knowing that asking questions was not akin to holding a lightning rod in your hand, I also felt moved to see Lent from a different perspective.  A period of spiritual discipline is a positive only if the goal is a positive outcome.  If the goal is to say at the finish of a discipline, “Glad that’s over”, my contention is that discipline did not serve the observer well.  That is why after a couple of years of Wednesday soup suppers (only soup), I changed direction.  I presented this to the members of the parish.

Rather than give up something that you know at the end of Lent you are either going to start eating of doing again, take on something that you have not been doing that you will keep doing when Lent is completed.  It could be anything, including ceasing an activity, that by taking on the change will result in a positive outcome.  I know that this may seem to simplistic or easily circumvented, but as I replied to one parishioner who demanded that I give and example of a constant discipline:  Love your neighbor as you Love yourself.

The Seasons of the Christian tradition are guides and reminders, they are not shackles.  If they are experienced as shackles, they should be avoided or repurposed to provide a positive outcome.  That being said, if my Jenny Craig advisor is reading this reflection, I am going to eat a boat load of pancakes (sourdough) on Tuesday!  I am also going to do ten push ups for every pancake.

Make your discipline this Lent one which increases your knowledge of who you are.

Epiphany                   2017

I could say that I have not written a reflection for a while due to illness, but that would be too easy.  I think what actually happened was my muse took off for Auckland for the winter.  However, as with any close acquaintance, they always show up for a quick visit and then take off again.  Last night was my epiphany visit.

 Part of the epiphany I had about Epiphany, was to not get caught in a quagmire of explanation about the myriad explanations for Epiphany as we know it and be as salient as possible in this reflection.  So I won’t go into detail about why the Magi are only mentioned in one Gospel and not even numbered, or why they show up two years after Jesus’ birth, or what the bright light that guided them was.  GOOGLE!

What I am reflecting on is why a group of wise persons (some might have been women), who were not Hebrew, embarked on a not so safe journey for seemingly altruistic reasons.  There is some groundwork however.

The ‘Wise Men’ were most likely Zoroastrians.  This is significant because Zoroastrianism is monotheistic, was established around 1500 BCE and has many points of overlay and commonality with ancient Hebrew.  The  Wise Men were also part of the Persian empire and culture which was well connected through trade with Israel and Egypt.   Whether their route originated in Persepolis or Yemen is not determinate to the story.  The fact that the route was well established did not make it any less treacherous.   So think about this.  What would motivate you to ride a camel for over a thousand miles following a bright light in the sky, carrying expensive merchandise to be given as presents, with no guarantee of success or remuneration?  The last part of the question holds the key to how to see the Magi’s motivation.  They were seeking to not only meet face to face with Divinity, but to also demonstrate to Divinity they understood the lynch pin in all of creation.

The three gifts were the demonstration of the lynch pin.  The Magi were not only mystics, they were practical.  For a family to survive, especially a family that had taken on the responsibility of caring for God Incarnate, they would need a source of energy to operate in the world.  Gold is that source of energy.  They would need help in providing for health of both body and spirit.  Frankincense was not only used for incense in ritual, it is also a strong antibiotic.  Its many uses included cleansing the umbilical cord and keeping the sinuses healthy.  Myrrh was used for both ritual cleansing of the body after death and diaper rash.  It embodied both the Zoroastrian belief that life is a continuum encompassing both sides of a coin at the same time and the Hebrew belief that we are inextricably connected to each other, creation and God.  The gifts themselves were not the demonstration, it is what the Magi did with them.  They gave them back to Divinity not seeking reward or commendation.  They gave them with no condition.  That is the lynch pin, unconditional love.

Source, God brought all we are into being and gave us a choice on how to use the gift of existence.  The Magi believed that Divinity had entered directly into our existence to tangibly demonstrate to us what unconditional love not only looks like, but how it is our goal.  We can experience that same set of circumstances when we present a gift.  We give the gift and may include instructions on how it can be used to fulfill its potential.  But to make it a demonstration of unconditional love, we must let the receiver of the gift choose how to use it.  We may be disappointed or elated in how it is used, but we can only be available to give advice or help as the receiver asks of us.

Did the Magi return to their land happy or sad?  I’d say both.  Happy that they met face to face with Divinity, and sad that they knew their gifts would be both an experience of joy and heartbreak.  That being said however, should not deter us from taking every opportunity to demonstrate unconditional love.  It is our guiding star.

Unique Experience               09/15/2016

On May 10, 1967, I had an experience, but more about that later.  I have not written a reflection for quite a while, much to the dismay of my web master, because I could not distill everything that is going on into a salient piece without coming across as cliché, talking pointyish, or outrageously partisan.  Silence seemed to be the best option.  Then it happened, I had a dream.

Not to get to deep into my bias for Jung, dreams and the collective (un)consciousness, but we have all experienced at least one memorable dream.  Or are they really astral trips?  Whatever they are, they are experienced as so real as not to be easily dismissed or forgotten.  So this is what I dreamt / experienced (because I might have really been there).

I was at a final for a music class.  Not a final where we are seated with blue books and head phones, but around a table.  There were at least six other people plus the instructor.  The final was handed out, a single piece of light blue paper with four or five questions.  My vision of the paper was a little foggy.  The first question / instruction was to present your composition to include these four elements.  I looked down.  I still had my pants on so I knew it wasn’t one of those dreams where you are naked in a familiar setting.  It was one of those where you know you are one half credit short of graduating and now really wish you had shown up for class more than once.

The girl who sat on the opposite side at the other end of the table asked to go first.  She began to sing A Cappella.  I heard words but could not tell you what they were.  The melody was clean.  Her voice was quietly operatic.  Her volume matched the moments of the song perfectly.  When she finished, we all were silent for a moment then each began to clap slowly and quietly until the applause reach a crescendo and we were all standing.  When we stopped, the instructor said it was appropriate to take a break.  During the break, I contemplated not only how I felt physically, but how I should express to her how I experienced what she presented.  I summoned up all my courage, remember I had missed all but one of the class sessions, and asked the instructor if I could respond to her.  I was given permission and this is what I said.

“On May 10th, 1967, I had an experience which has stayed with me since that day.  It was in the afternoon while I was home from school on Spring break.  I walked into the living room and turned on the Bendix black and white TV.  I had not looked at the programing schedule.  It was the Merv Griffin show and he was introducing a young singer who he had not heard before.  Gloria Loring came on stage and sang a version of Going Out of My Head Over You that took my breath away.  I had never been impacted by a performance in that way before or since, until today.  I learned later in listening to an interview with Merv Griffin, which I also tuned into without any planning, that he had not expected what he heard and that as he was listening he moved slowly backwards towards his desk, forgot where he was and when his heels hit the step, he fell to the sitting position and stayed there with his mouth open until she finished.  I remember that experience and have always treated it as a gift and not asked for or expected such a situation again.  That is why I say to you today, Thank You for the gift you have given to all of us at this table.  I can only speak for myself to say I have been gifted one more time with the feeling of complete wonder and joy in an experience that is unique in its feeling if not in its frequency.  Thank You for searing into our being a moment which will live forever”.

As I lay in bed alternating between waking and sleeping, I kept going back to how I felt.  I was, and still am, glad that I had the experience.  And I also kept asking myself, from where did this originate?  Was it strictly my mind that produced this experience?  Was I really in that situation due to astral projection?  Did some other consciousness enter my consciousness to give me the experience?  I have good friends who each would say that all these are possibilities.  But what do you say, they ask.

I, quite frankly, do not worry about the mechanics.  I can accept that they are all possible.  But that is not the issue for me.  My issue is that this experience has put me face to face with the power of consciousness.  It has put me face to face with the inescapable consideration of the power and reach of our consciousness.  It has made me consciously aware that what ever I think, experience or choose to do, has consequences.  It has reinforced for me that everything in this existence, cosmos, creation, is connected.

How would it feel to tangibly meet those people who were at that table and share our experience?  That would be a continuation of this unique experience and if it happens, I’ll let you know.

Endure    05/03/2016

Last week we saw Johnny Mathis in concert, again. We also saw him last year and it was even better this time. Why? Partly because of the seats. This time we were at our season ticket location, six rows back from the orchestra pit and far enough to the side so we could see the stage manager in the wings and close enough to see the creases in the lead guitar’s tux pants. I also sat next to a gentleman who wiped his eyes as much as I did. So what else made this performance so different?

Consider that the only permanent characteristic of our existence is change and change is the one thing we all push back against. We look for what does not change and there is a facet of our existence that is permanent. That facet is endurance. Since we attended last time, a fire totally consumed Johnny Mathis’ home. It was not mentioned during the performance. Obviously it was a change in his life, but it did not lessen his performance. As I got lost in the Twelfth of Never and especially 99 Miles From LA, I was vividly struck by the quality of endurance.

Given the fact that even when we repeat an action in our lives and as much as we want it to be predictable and exactly the same as last time, it never is. There is always something, no matter how small, that is different. So if we know what we repeat will always be different to some degree, why do we go there? I believe it is to participate in endurance.

The performance I attended was one that touched many memories and gave them new life. It was a performance that brought together people who I am sure do not all agree politically or religiously. People who are all across the economic and apparel spectrum. People who shared one desire, to be lifted up and uplifted we were. The standing ovation was not the obligatory, let’s not look like an indifferent audience, it was sincere, you could feel it. We shared a moment of unity.

As contorted as it may seem, unity is the characteristic of endurance that allows endurance to endure. When unity is the perspective, no matter how different people’s actions may be, they are all taking place in one theater. All the world is a stage and we are all actors on that stage, has validity, and I am sure Shakespeare, and many others, felt compelled to express unity. The unity in the audience was an experience of agreement, of feeling good and for that moment, of not being at odds with one another.

To not be at odds with one another is the desire of us all. It starts in our tribe. It continues when we are confronted with a tribe that does not like ours and we have to make a choice. How do we act? Do we act in a way that gives up on the one theater concept or do we act in a way that eliminates the confrontation? Do we strive to treat others they way we want them to treat us? Do we attempt to burn down the theater of creation or stand for an ovation? And here’s the rub, the theater is not going away, it endures. I am going to make every effort to live in a theater that endures. How? Next up, Tony Benet.

Just keep walkin’    01/31/2016

- Ambrose

This is the text of an email and attachment from a good friend, The Rev. Hugh Magee, who is currently living in St. Andrews, Scotland. [An aside, Hugh’s brother John, wrote the poem ‘High Flight’.] I am posting it as a reflection because Provost Auld says it better than I could. Please note that his last sentence of the transscript includes the Scottish spelling of his final thought. And for those of you of a certain age, my title for the reflection is from Linda Laurie’s record of 1957 which came to my mind when I heard of the communiqué from the Anglican(‘t) Communion.

Dear friends -

I don’t normally disseminate other people’s sermons, but in this case I am doing so for the benefit of American Episcopalians who may have been dismayed by the outcome of the recent conclave of the Primates of the Anglican Communion held in Canterbury.

You may be aware of the fact that there’s a real sense in which the Anglican Communion itself was created when Scottish bishops consecrated the first American bishop (in 1784). So there is a strong sense of connection between our two Churches expressed, for example, in the fact that the compilers of the first America Prayer Book (1789) were strongly influenced by the Scottish Liturgy of 1637. This connection, amounting to a kind of ’special relationship’, continues today.

As one whose dual nationality has led to my serving in both of these branches of the Anglican Communion, I was delighted, in my role as cathedral canon in Dundee, to hear this sermon by our Provost, Jeremy Auld. It was preached on our Patronal Festival (last Sunday) and I think is worth sharing with American friends.

So, over to you all, with love from your fellow Episcopalians in Scotland!

HUGH

Feast of The Conversion of St. Paul

Acts 26:9-23 Psalm 67 Galatians 1;11-24 Matthew 10:16-22

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together in the sight of God to affirm our union in Christ with St. Paul. Do you take this man -- a man ‘small in stature, bald and bandy-legged, with a long nose and eyebrows meeting’ -- as the only contemporary description puts it, do you take this man to be your lawful wedded patron saint? Do you?

Well it’s a bit of a complex question with Paul. Paul may never have been particularly likeable, even after his conversion to Christianity on the Damascus road from a life as a hard-line pharisaic persecutor of the infant Church. In his own letters he hints that he was always less impressive when actually present. It is from his letters that we can build up our picture of St.Paul. He was the apostle to the gentiles so we owe our faith to him.

Like Bonhoeffer he knew the ‘cost of discipleship’. His missionary endeavours led him into much hardship. He was no stranger to bitter disputes and moral failings within the Christian communities.

But perhaps with the present state of the Anglican Communion, his example might not be a bad one to look at. As most of you will know, just over a week ago, the Primates -- that is, the chief bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and our own Primus, David Chillingworth, Bishop of our neighbouring diocese of St. Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane, spent the best part of the week together discussing, among other things, the issue of equal marriage or same-sex marriage. Everyone knew that it would be a difficult meeting. At one end of the spectrum, most of the Anglican churches on the African continent representing ovwr 30 million Anglicans, are firmly opposed to this and use various passages from the Bible and in particular the Old Testament, to justify their position. And it must be remembered that in many African countries it is very difficult to be a Christian, let alone a liberal one, when surrounded by fundamentalist Islam and in a culture where homosexuality carries the death penalty.

At the other end of the spectrum the Episcopal Church of the U.S. which has been solemnizing marriages between couples of the same gender for some time; Canada, which is well on the way to doing so; and although the mind of the Church has not been tested yet, probably Scotland, which has begun the process towards changing our canon on marriage.

The debate in Scotland has gone on for a long time but with a few notable exceptions, the debate has by and large been one at which people have been prepared to sit around the table and listen to opposing viewpoints, and hear people’s real experience of living with these issues.

The joy wonder of believing or not quite believing are incredibly strong emotions in Paul’s writings after his dramatic conversion. And that big mix of emotions sometimes makes life muddy and difficult. They make it actually very difficult to formulate a doctrine that will exclude, and they make it very hard to tell people what they should believe.

Together, they make a religion whose doctrine, whose creed is as wide as the arms of the God whom we hope in, trust in and who loves all of creation and which lets in the Spirit of freshness and change. No exclusion, no damnation, but only faith and hope and love.

Ours is a faith not based on the necessity of assenting to doctrine, but where we seek only to respond to the spirit of love. That is a religion that I think Jesus would be proud to own. And a religion we can be proud to own. A religion that I am proud to welcome everyone into. Because that produces a love and a hope that is more real than any list of beliefs, and especially ones that exclude, can hold.

Kelvin Holdsworth, the Provost of Glasgow Cathedral, says on his blog that people out there want to hear that message of inclusive love: “Grumpy about the Primates? Tell the world that God is love -- proper love, not mealy-mouthed, compromised institutional bonds of affection but actual love itself.”

What has really upset many people, and when I say “many”, I mean MANY, is that the conclusion of these discussions was to reprimand and sanction the Episcopal Church of the U.S. for having the temerity to proceed to conduct such marriages in accordance with state law notwithstanding that each Province of the Anglican Communion is autonomous -- we do not have a Pope for very good reason and the American Church has prayed, debated and prayed again before going through its own painful and lengthy canonical process to get where it has got.

On the one hand, say the Primates, we are a family of churches bound by common bonds of affection; on the other hand you, the Episcopal Church, have been very naughty and you are on the naughty step and are not allowed to come and sit at table with us. And let that be an example to any of the rest of you – Canada and Scotland take particular notice -- because you try any stunt like the U.S. and you will be joining them on that naughty step whilst we decide what further punishment we can think up.

For Paul, standing up and challenging brought floggings, imprisonment and ultimately, death; but he had much to say before he was finally beheaded in Rome. And let us remember some of the beautiful passages attributed to

Paul:

“If I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

That was of course from his first letter to the Corinthians. And then, in his letter to the Galatians:

“As many of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

So I think Paul might have approved of the Presiding Bishop of the the Episcopal Church of the U.S. when he responded to the Primates’ majority decision, and remember he was one of them -- he was there, and this was his response:

“Our commitment to be an inclusive Church is not on a social theory or capitulation to the ways of our culture, but on our belief that the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross are a sign of the very love of God reaching out to us all. While I understand that many disagree with us, our decision regarding marriage is based on the belief that the words of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians are true for the Church today:

‘All who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, for all are one in Christ.’”

Susan Russell, writing in The Huffington Post in response to the question response to the question of what being sanctioned meant for the Episcopal Church, said it means “we’re willing to pay ‘the cost of discipleship’ as we follow the Jesus who welcomed, blessed, included, empowered and loved absolutely everybody. It means we take seriously our call to be part of the Jesus Movement -- proclaiming the Good News of God’s inclusive love to the world. It means we choose inclusion over exclusion, compassion over condemnation, and justice over judgment.”

And whatever your belief about same-sex marriage in church, I think Susan Russell hits the nail on the head. The moment we begin to exclude on issues of biblical interpretation or doctrine -- I believe and think this is what Paul is saying too in these beautiful passages -- we become unChristlike. Exclusion is what all religions do, and I think Christ hoped that we might be different.

Religions characteristically have beliefs that everyone in that religion agrees with. And therefore it is also characteristic that they come into conflict with other religions or denominations that disagree with those beliefs: Jews against Samaritans, Sunni against Shia, conservative against liberal. Each group convinced that their way is the right way come into conflict with other groups whose creeds and doctrines are different.

And so if we ask what is distinctive about Christianity, and our answer is ”we’re right, and everyone else is wrong’, then in fact. we are just like every other religion, because that is the answer that every other religion would give. And this communique from the primates does this, I think. I really don’t feel that sort of religion is what Jesus envisaged. As long as you have a thing, a doctrine, a belief in your religion that excludes those who hold a different view or don’t or can’t believe an aspect of doctrine, if you have a bottom line, then what you have is an entrance requirement. And there will always be people who don’t meet the criteria.

When you have that, then you are in reality just like every other religion --the only difference is the wording. And Jesus was fighting against an exclusive, doctrinal religion of the Pharisees, opening religion up to the Samaritans and the Gentiles, and the women and those who were previously excluded.

When we trot out a bottom line of belief, however low that bottom line is -- is problematic because it stifles the prophetic; it excludes the radical thinker who might just be a saint in our midst. It excludes many who I would regard as faithful Christians, who feel that they fall beneath that bottom line. Who

feel they can’t go to church because of who they are. And above all, it might just exclude the Holy Spirit, the breath of life. I don’t want to be part of a religion that excludes the Spirit of freedom. I thought we were supposed to be different.

Because at the end of the day, all of the things we are talking about are matters of opinion. Whether you believe the synoptic Gospel resurrection stories to be literally true or wholly metaphorical or all things in between is generally decided in the same way you decide any other opinions -- reason, experience, history, scholarship, prejudices, upbringing. And I really don’t see why a difference of opinion should exclude you from a religion that claims to faithfully represent the God of love.

But of course then the accusation that is always levelled at those of a liberal disposition is levelled right at us. It all becomes a free for all and we don’t stand for anything at all. How can we be a community of believers, if we don’t all believe the same things? Well, as I think we all discover in a year in the life of St. Paul’s Cathedral, there are different ways of believing and most of us are still here. I think one of Jesus’ aims was to break religion of the kind of tight rules and doctrinal statements apart, or rather break it open, so that no one was excluded.

And that’s why we’re going to proclaim a totally inclusive welcome very publicly with a big banner over the front door. As we shall be singing in a few moments, “All are welcome in this place”.

And so I close with a tiny poem from a fridge magnet that I have used before but which bears repeating for our patronal feast; for this us surely what it’s all about.

They drew a circle that shut me out,

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But love and I had the wit to win,

We drew circle that took THEM in.

And it seems to me that if we can draw a circle of the love of Jesus as widely as that, we might even bring in the bigots and the homophobes and one day the Christian community will be as wide as God’s love, as big as the biggest heart in the world.

Brothers and Sisters, draw your cicles asa wiude as Gid’s love.

Amen.

***
The above is a transcript of a sermon delivered at The Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Dundee, on Sunday, the 24th of January, 2016 by The Very Reverend Jeremy Auld, Provost.

Christmas Tide    12/31/2015

I went out yesterday looking for the battlefield scars of the War on Christmas. I did not find any. What I did find were the standard store windows extolling the virtues of inundating your family with more presents than they will ever need. I also found plenty of Red Bucket bell ringers and people standing on corners with cardboard pleas. I did not find any immolated Christmas trees, decapitated Santas, or angels with their wings ripped off. Well, there was this one guy in a bar with his face planted on a table who was wearing a Santa suit, but that really doesn’t count. Here’s what I did find.

I found people going to midnight Christmas Eve service despite 70 MPH wind gusts and trees falling on the road. I found people of all ages gustily belting out Christmas hymns even though you could tell they were suffering from desert cough. I found people smiling and not sleeping during the sermon. I found people taking pictures of all sorts of decorations that I am sure will be on social media somewhere. So why all this and no bullet holes in the church or IEDs in the parking lot? Because hope, goodness, and light win! I know it sounds cliché, but consider what happened 2M years ago. A guy shows up who lives a life that people feel compelled to write about. Three aspects of that life stand out for me; Vulnerable, choice maker, unconditional love.

Vulnerable: The Gospel of John starts with, “In the beginning was the word…” The Greek word used is actually a verb form. The “word” is not a noun, but a state of being, action, and conscious. Why does this make a difference? As the story goes, Source, The One, Creator, God, could have appeared fully grown, but did not. God elected to incarnate as an infant, fully dependent on people for sustenance and protection. First lesson of Christmas, learn the benefits of being vulnerable. Also learn that vulnerable does not equal “door mat”. Vulnerability is an educator.

Choice Maker: God made the choice to incarnate as an infant and by doing so, set us on the path of learning that choices are not an option. You cannot avoid making choices. Saying that you have no choices in life and that what happens, happens, is in fact a choice.

Unconditional Love: “God is love” has become a clichéd salve. The phrase is used to escape from reality. The intention leaves us empty. “God is unconditional love” however, puts us face to face with the reality that love requires effort. To love unconditionally means you have to choose vulnerability and make a choice to let go. A gift is something freely given. You hope it is appreciated and used as intended, but if it is given with unconditional love, you cannot take it back if the receiver chooses to use it in a way other than what you expected. Unconditional love also means you don’t quit giving.

War on Christmas? The war is really an assault on unconditional love, but that is nothing new. If you really feel that there is a war on Christmas, rather than take to social media or write letters to the editor, find someone who is conducting the war and ask them why they feel the need to do it. When I went to Starbucks, I told them my name was Rudolph, ordered a Christmas blend eggnog latte, sat next to a lit wreath, and listened to familiar seasonal music which included several Christmas carols. I sat there reveling in the fact that a swarthy, dark skinned, Jewish guy lived a life that inspired, 200 years later, another dark skinned guy from Turkey to love children and inspire generations continuing to this day to make the effort to love unconditionally. Oh yeah, and decorate like there’s no tomorrow.

P.S. I also joined Opus’s 2 spaces campaign and signed the petition.

Sleeping Dog    12/07/2015

When I was in grade school, I was selected to talk to a person who came to our school to interview students. I can’t remember if everyone in the class was interviewed. I specifically remember two questions from the interview. One was the picture of a glass half filled with water and, of course, I was asked if it was half full or half empty. Being an eighth grader, I wasn’t aware of the psychology of how a question is asked might be leading you to answer one way or the other. I went with half full because it felt right. The next was, “Let sleeping dogs lie, what does that mean”? I can’t remember my exact answer. It was something to the effect of letting things be as they are because you can get bit if you don’t wake the dog properly. I did say that I was in the eighth grade. Then without prompting I said, “What if I don’t agree with that?” Had I lived in England my dad would have said, ‘you’re a cheeky little bugger aren’t you’, rather than, ‘don’t be a smart ass’. I did say that I was in the eighth grade. I did not realize I had stepped onto the life path of “Take no BS”.

I always remember my response to that question when I am presented with a situation that requires I make a decision to walk on by or stop and pay attention. The degree of the situation does not make a difference, the decision I make about it does. I also have to remember that there is a consequence to my decision. The decision I have in front of me is to decide how involved I want to be in a task force about youth suicide. Am I going to listen and comment or am I going to go all in and attack regurgitating education and promote development of critical thinking? Am I going to fully engage how to get “Eighth Graders” to accept that they have worth? Am I going to find a way to get people to ask not ‘what are you afraid of’ but ‘why are you afraid?

Am I going to find a way to get people to understand that these questions are not new and were asked in one form or another by a pretty savvy person around two thousand years ago? GOTTCHA! You expected a Christmas season message in the form of another Santa Clause rant, not a reflection on Jesus not letting dogs sleep (the next reflection is the Santa Claus rant).

I imagine Jesus was kind to actual dogs. The figurative dogs, however, are another story and it wasn’t only the ones sleeping, he got in the faces of the ones who were barking and barked back. His barking may not have been loud, but it was definitely pointed (go ahead, moan, it’s a bad dog pun). And there are some barking dogs today with which I am sure Jesus would converse. He would not ask them why they are barking, but why are they so afraid they feel they need to bark?

Jesus told his audience at every opportunity to ‘not be afraid’. If you ascribe to Jesus’ teaching and are shuddering at the projectile vomit fear that is inundating the media and conversations today, step back, take a deep breath, and decide if you are going to embrace the message of Christmas or join the projectile crowd.

Personally, I’m going with smiling at my two wet dogs and two wet cats sleeping in front of the fireplace and being available to invite anyone to come in and get warm.

Santa Rant (3rd in the series) 12/07/2015

Yesterday, December 6th is celebrated as Saint Nicholas day in the calendar of saints in the Christian church. One of the Bishops in The Church of England had a young girl wear his miter and carry his crozier in procession. A lot can be said about the symbolism of his choice of not only a child, but also a girl child to represent leadership in the church. Jesus not only told his disciples to not keep the children away, he also told a woman to be the first to let the disciples know he was not dead.

At this point I could go into the rant about material Christmas excess, emotional violence, and theology run amuck, but I won’t. Rather, I remind you of what I mentioned in an earlier Christmas post, about how a Jewish friend rescued me from the Christmas merry-go-round. Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, lasts eight days. A present is given each day starting small and ending with the Jaguar on the eighth day. I don’t know if he was pulling my leg about the Jaguar, but I did get the message about celebrating. We have ‘Unplugged the Christmas Machine’ (great book) and do a present for each of the twelve days of Christmas (Christmas thru January 5th). This approach definitely reduces the angst, although December 24th between the hours of 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM in any store in America is the best time to see collective male humanity go bat s*%& crazy shopping, and gives some perspective.

I cannot but stand in awe of the incarnation of Source choosing to be vulnerable and totally dependent on two people for safety and sustenance. When the tree, the gifts, the music, the people are viewed with this lens, Christmas is a time of wonder and should be embraced with a smile. That being said, I’m still going to put on the red speedo (see rant from last Christmas) and go in the hot tub with some eggnog.

One of Us    10/06/15

The first parish I served was fewer than one hundred members ranging in age from six to ninety-six. The building was appointed with artistic windows made from colored glass formed in chunks that were descriptive of the surrounding landscape of woods and lakes. The altar, pulpit, lectern, and pews were from a parish that had been remodeled and refurnished. The four rank organ was new. The appointments were a contrast with the architecture of the building. The one piece I did not use was the pulpit. I preferred to preach from the center aisle.

After about a year, the Bishop was preaching from the pulpit and leaned forward for emphasis. It was then I realized that not only was the pulpit too close to the ceiling beam for anyone over six feet tall, it was also kept from tipping into the front pew by six carpet tacks, three of which came out during the Bishop’s sermon. I had a choice, either more carpet tacks and padding for the beam, or reconfigure the pulpit.

My neighbor happened to be a fantastic wood worker. She made some of the best furniture and cabinets I have ever seen. I showed her the pulpit. Easy, she said. We take off the pedestal and turn it into an oblations table for the entrance and put the pulpit on a solid base. This was on Monday and by Thursday the project was complete. On Sunday I stepped into the pulpit and gave the sermon without fear of demolishing the front pew. It would have only been the pew because no one ever sat in it unless they were the last people to come to the service. “The first shall be last and the last shall be first” really wasn’t meant to be a seating direction.

When I was greeting people as they left church, the lady who was our oldest member present came up to me and said, “Now you’ve gone too far. You brought God down to our level, and I don’t like it.” I replied that I did not see myself as God. She said, “You’re the priest, not one of us”. Fast forward 21 years to Pope Francis’ trip to America.

A lady was asked by a reporter why she was so ecstatic to see the Pope. “He’s one of us!” she replied. Quite a contrast. And in the contrast is the question of whether God is imminent with or separate from us. If you have read my previous reflections, you know where I stand, but some background first.

When God told Adam and Eve they couldn’t live in the garden anymore, he did not quit talking to them. According to Genesis, he made a covenant of reconciliation with them. Moses and God had face to face conversations. The people knew it because Moses’ face shone with the light of God, shekinah (which by the way is feminine, not male or neuter). Now they did ask him to put a veil over his face, but they also did not put him on a pedestal. The priesthood put them selves on a pedestal and fabricated separation from the people. It took several centuries, but it was effective. It was so effective that Jesus was very pointed in his words to let them know that they built the pedestal, not God. Which leads to the point of this reflection.

If you want to keep God at arm’s length or want to be the ‘god guy’ on a pedestal, it’s your choice. The choice I make to not be on a pedestal, for both safety and theological reasons, is obviously seen by some as a diminution of the sacred and by others as a refreshing approach. Several people have commented they like the center aisle approach because it is, ‘not preaching at us, but with us.’ Every once in a while you throw the spaghetti against the wall and it sticks.

Pope Francis was identified by his community to perform specific functions and he is functioning as he believes Jesus functioned, as a servant. Jesus was very specific in teaching that to have any credibility as a guide, you have to be a servant and you can’t serve if you are separate.

I was disappointed when I was told I was wrong in trying to be ‘one of us’. Disappointed because I had not been more cognizant of the effect of my actions, but also disappointed that I would most likely not be able to get my point across that believing you are separate from God is the only sin.

Jesus understood how far people who believed in separation would go to prove their point and was willing to go along to ultimately show there is no separation.

One of us? One of us.

Joy, Wisdom, THPFFFBT!! (Bill the Cat)    09/07/2015

Three months ago, I began a meditative discipline, HoloSync. If you are also using it, I hope this reflection resonates. If you are not, and curious, go to CenterpointeResearch.com or Google holosync. This reflection is based on thoughts I had during the meditations.

Several people, including my web master who keeps ‘poking’ me, want to know what I think about the current political season and specific events. A reflection format does not allow for the detailed and often rambling discussion that would ensue, so if you need specifics, I would be happy to respond to emails. For this reflection, I offer a broader view.

Joy is. All Wisdom is available to everyone. In the face of unbridled and unfocused angst, THPFFFBT!!! is the best response.

Illusion    06/30/2015

For your consideration, a spiritual pep talk. The events of the last week generated many conversations, the positing of myriad opinions and a whole lot of angst. Angst for those who see the world coming to an end and angst for those who are now riding a skateboard going sixty miles an hour into the future. Either way, it is going to be a wild ride if all that is considered is the ride.

The wild part comes from what I consider to be our greatest weakness, the ideas that we are in control or have no control. To hold the position that you can control events and make outcomes predictable, is an illusion. The idea that we are living in a dream that god is having or that nothing really exists, is an illusion. So where are we, really? I believe we are exactly where we are supposed to be, in a reality where we can live an illusion.

The illusion is really very simple. But before I get to the illusion, please stick with me while I offer for your consideration, what is not illusion. Pick up any object within your reach that has significant weight. That object feels solid, I’m sure. It feels solid because its constituent atoms are vibrating at a frequency which gives it heft. Taken to its sub atomic level, it really is like you and me, mostly empty space. So if it is empty space, it should pass right through your empty space. Go ahead, drop it on your foot. NO, you say, that would really hurt! And you are correct. So much for the “in a dream” position. Accepting that we are not in a dream leaves us with what? It leaves us with the question, how is this reality supposed to work? This is where we confront the illusion.

I believe the Hebrews are correct, there is only one sin, one illusion. The illusion is believing you are separate from God, Source, the One creator. Believe that separation is a real condition and you are entrenched in dualism. Not to make light of the tomes written on the dualistic perspective, either or, good bad, victim perpetrator, suffice it to say, for me, dualism pretty much sucks. Dumping dualism and its source, belief in separation, doesn’t get me off a hook, but does bring to my reality a method on how to approach the concept that everything that is, is connected. I am now confronted with the position that I cannot say it’s all an illusion and what I do doesn’t make any difference. The non-separation position means that I have to accept responsibility for my actions, be they small or large. Everything I do has a consequence. Living non-separation means that I can only best get along by treating everyone the way I want to be treated.

The pronouncements of the world coming to an end because we are going to go broke paying for everyone’s health care or marriage is going to collapse because we have forsaken our morals or that the best thing to do is immolate ourselves in protest, oh wait, he went back on that promise, guess he only had a flare for the dramatic, are mired in the dualistic perspective. Living the axiom, ‘my up can’t come at the expense of anyone’s down’, brings us face to face with the fact that our basic character is cooperative, not competitive. Being cooperative means we can only be completely honest, empathetic and responsible.

In non-separation I can’t blame anyone. I am where I am because ‘it is what it is’ (Jerry Seinfeld, if you are reading this, I couldn’t resist) and the choices I have made and make brought me to this moment. Being a steward (non-separation perspective) rather than a possessor (separation perspective), opens up creation. Being able to partake of the excitement of the tactile and spiritual at the same time seems like a much better way to live than being limited and disappointed that it isn’t working out your way. Knowing I affect my environment with my words and actions is both sobering and exhilarating. I believe in non-separation, not because it easy, but because I am not overcome by the ‘not easy’ and am thoroughly enjoying the non illusion.

Easter Season 2015

We went to a Johnny Mathis performance last week and it was spectacular even though I had some trepidation. Now if you do not know who Johnny Mathis is, go to iTunes, download The Twelfth of Never and Ninety-nine Miles From LA and then come back to the reflection.

My trepidation came from the fact that I do get emotional. I even get choked up at beer commercials. Not just the Budweiser ones that make everyone shed a tear, but also the one from 1984 about the Olympics. Two guys driving tractors in the middle of nowhere, stop, get off and walk to the fence by the road. They look down the road and after a pause begin clapping slowly. As the camera pans down the road, a single runner comes into view carrying the Olympic torch. As the runner passes by, the two men look at each other, turn around and get back on their tractors. Five minutes later I was able to start watching TV again.

We found out about the performance late and when we called the theater, were lucky enough to score box seat tickets that had been turned in. As I sat in the box seat looking out over the theater and watching the very eclectic mix of people being seated, I was hoping they would turn the lights down really low so people wouldn’t see me going for the Kleenex. Then I asked myself, why do I get emotional at the seemingly mundane along with the spectacular? While looking through the program at the pictures of the people who support the theater and all the people being seated, it hit me. The emotion is not from sad, but from happy. Not only ‘Gru’ happy, but also an all inclusive happy that is joyful.

It is easy to bemoan how ‘bad’ things are and profess that the world is in a downward spiral. I don’t see it. I see all the people, chronologically old and young who comprise a myriad of ethnic, cultural, economic, religious and political ideologies coming together to enjoy hearing a seventy-nine year seasoned singer engage them. And enjoy we did; four standing ovations.

Those standing ovations were not a theater of some 1500 people deciding individually to stand, they were born of a collective feeling, a shared recognition of what was being experienced. They were Easter ovations. Not in a theological sense, but in community sense. And for me, that is the hallmark of Easter: Community. When you realize you cannot celebrate Easter as an individual because one of the main tenants is to spread the ‘good news’, the notion that community is pervasive, settles into your psyche. You cannot, not be in community.

Bold statement that! Think about it, however. Even a hermit can only be a hermit because other people allow it by not dragging him back to the village. You only get to ‘go off the grid’ because the community chooses not to follow. If they choose to follow, you are not really ‘off the grid’, you are just one step away from community. It seems to me, then, that the universal characteristic of existence is community.

Seeing the joy of that universal characteristic does make the emotion well up. A broad smile ensues contemplating all the wondrous facets of life. I find it extremely disappointing when any part of the community seeks to take advantage of or attempt to eliminate any other part of the community no matter how large or how small. I am also disappointed with myself when I do the same knowingly or unknowingly. All that being said, I can put the emotion in perspective.

The smile will be broader and the blubbering will be decidedly less, but there will always be joy that community is not only an Easter event, it is an Existence event.

Easter    2015

SAVING JESUS FROM THE CHURCH: How to stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus
By Robin R. Meyers

Chapter Four

Word!!!

Lent 2015

Lent, from the Middle English meaning Spring, is the season in the Christian Church between Epiphany and Easter. So much for what is accepted about Lent by those who do or do not acknowledge it and the rituals and practices associated with it from its ‘color’ to significance. As with any defined time associated with any religious, spiritual or non religious or non spiritual practice, Lent shares common themes. Focus, discipline, and expectation are at the beginning of a long list, which is as many in number as there are people participating. That makes it rather daunting to think that in a short reflection I can make any sense of Lent or come up with a snappy one liner. So I won’t even attempt it. What I will say is that I spend Lent as a time of focus.

It used to be that my focus was on giving up something, chocolate being the easiest to start with, until the second day. As the years progressed and I experienced both extremes from successful denial of something to not even bothering at all, I finally had to ask myself, ‘Why even bother?’ I mean I never got zapped by a lightning bolt for not sticking with it or was awarded a medal that said ‘Forty days without …’ Is that what Lent is about, punishment and reward? And then it hit me, if I am focused on punishment or reward, I miss what Lent can be.

What ever your perspective is about Jesus, one thing has to be acknowledged. Two thousand years ago, something happened that changed the world. Lent is the time I take to more intensively focus on that happening and unlike the ‘happenings’ of the ‘60s, a happening that has staying power. That staying power is the driver of how I ‘celebrate’ Lent. Is it celebration to quit doing something for forty days that I will do for the other 325 days of the year? That question is my guide for what I do now.

If I give up something, am I learning from not having it or learning from the discipline of forgoing that which I gave up? Which leads me to seeing Lent as a time to take on something that I should be doing all the time, or at least for a year. Saint Francis was once asked, ‘If you knew the world was going to end in two weeks, what would you do differently?’ His response was, ‘If I have to do something different, I should have been doing it all along’. Lent is about ‘doing it all along’.

Lent precedes the celebration of a happening that changed the world. It is a time to focus on what you want to do that could change the world. I do not see it as a time to focus on punishment for your action, which there could be coming from those who don’t like what you are doing, or reward, which there might be from those who do like what you are doing, but a time to focus on doing the right thing with no regard for punishment or reward. It is a time to acknowledge your passion. It is a time to find a way to live your passion. It is a time to let your chocolate mustache shine!

Epiphany    2015

I almost wrote this reflection on February 1st at 1900 Hrs. It would have been one word in length. CRAP!!! But, being the Season of Epiphany, I had an epiphany. How appropriate. My epiphany was not how to use the word epiphany in the first paragraph as many times as possible, but to wait. Wait to comment. That’s the thing with epiphanies, they make you pause.

I’m glad I paused because a post on Facebook showed up; Annie Reneau – The 10 things your kids should learn from the Seahawks’ loss.

When I was in the Eighth grade, our basketball team went undefeated and won the city championship. Our reward was to play the championship junior high team, 7th through 9th graders, really big 7th through 9th graders. We lost the game by two points. Not because they were that much better, but because our coach told us to draw as many fouls as we could so we could shoot free throws instead of trying to drive to the basket against those really big 7th through 9th graders. We scored as many field goals as our opponents and had twice as many free throw attempts.

During the season we shot the lights out of free throws and it seemed like a good strategy. That game, however, we couldn’t, as is said in the locker room, hit our ass with the ball on the line. It was like calling a play that had produced multiple first downs on short yardage and touchdowns. And in both instances, same result, CRAP!!!

What my eighth grade classmates and I share with the Seahawks’ players, coaches, and fans is that we did not quit after that loss. We all went on to participate in high school sports as I am sure the Seahawks will continue to put their efforts into going to the Super Bowl in 2016 and will have the support of the 12s. Sometimes good strategies work, sometimes they don’t. That doesn’t mean they were stupid when they didn’t work or that God saw they were stupid and decided to make you pay for them. It simply means that sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.

My Eighth grade classmates and I went on to kick butt in baseball and track the rest of the year and learned a great lesson from that one game. As Annie Reneau says in her blog and as the Seahawks are saying, one game does not define your complete existence. So what does define our existence?

For me, the definition is a compilation of attitude and actions. I will listen to what you say, but if your attitude and actions don’t match what you say, listening is as far as I will go with you. If you don’t want to get back in the saddle or make it possible for someone to get back in the saddle, that’s your choice. And that is what defines our existence, our choices. When and where our ability to choose originated is a matter of interpretation of our circumstances. Is there a ‘choice’ we can make that is consistent with interpretation? I believe there is.

The choice, is any choice which results in you being complete. ‘Complete’ obviously can have many specifics, but the overarching goal seems to include the effort to reduce lack. Lack of passion, opportunities, resources, the list can go on and on, but addressing lack of any kind requires action. It also requires recognition of responsibility. Responsibility has many faces.

Owning the decision is a face of responsibility. Getting back on the practice field is a face of responsibility. Renewing season tickets is a face of responsibility. Planning the Super Bowl party for 2016 is a face of responsibility. Going to puppy training class is a face of responsibility. Get your game face on, be responsible.

Santa Claus Rant      12/07/14

Last Christmas reflection, I wrote different lyrics for Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. I did not receive a lot of feed back on my attempt at a ‘not in your face’ approach to counter the coal and carrot Santa we are deluged with in the Holiday Season. So this year, same subject, different approach.

As I was working on this reflection, it came to me that it would work best if delivered by Lewis Black on The Daily Show. I know that I am not Lewis Black and I wasn’t channeling him either, so this is done meaning no offense to him or his style of comedy and delivery. So here goes ----

‘I am always moved at this time of the year to let you know about a situation that really gets my goat, not the one in my yard, the one in my psyche. It moves me so much that I feel I should run down the middle of Main Street with nothing on but a red speedo with bells on it to let people know how much this means to me. It’s Santa Claus, not the person, but the way he is represented.

Oh you better not cry, you better not pout and I’m tellin’ you why, Santa Claus is comin’ to town. Really? You mean I’m supposed to look forward to this even though you started off by telling me that I am emotionally defective and am not happy?

He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, and he works for NSA. That being joyful about this guy is getting to be a real high bar. And it gets better.

You told me not to talk to people I don’t know, and not be lured by old men who offer me candy and now you want me to stand in line when I could be playing and then sit on this guy’s lap, ARE YOU NUTS!

And better than that, now that you’ve scared me into nightmares, you tell me locking the door to my bedroom won’t work because this guy can fit down a chimney. Haven’t you seen the news reports of how many people get stuck in chimneys because they were drunk trying to play this guy or were breaking and entering and had to get rescued by the police? If he can make it down the chimney, THE LOCKED DOOR IS USLESS!

And this naughty or nice thing --- I see an ad of this guy sending out sports cars as Christmas presents. White ones for the “nice” and red ones for the “naughty”. WAIT A MINUTE! I thought a bag of coal went to the naughty ones. Does this mean that a red sports car to a naughty one means there will be more than milk and cookies next to the tree when he comes down the chimney?

I can only conclude from the way Santa is presented in this season, is that he is a fickle, conflicted, dirty old man!

However, I’m pretty sure I can safely say the real Santa is nothing like what we are assaulted with from before Halloween!!! Yes Virginia, there is a Santa and he is a real person.

Nicholas of Myra, in what is now Turkey, was a Bishop in the Christian Church. He saved three daughters of a shopkeeper from a life of destitution by secretly putting three bags of gold through their window for their dowries. He put gold coins in the shoes of children when the shoes were left outside the door. He befriended sailors, students and merchants. He was traditionally pictured in his bishop’s garb, a red cloak over a red, full length tunic. The fur came from the fur coat worn during cold weather. So how did we get to the Coca-Cola, judgmental, multi personality magic man? We are there because you can’t make any money or control people with the image of a selfless person who gives of himself without judgment expecting nothing in return.

Face it folks, if we think the image of Santa we see on TV is real, then all of us should only expect bags of coal and bundles of switches on our door step at Christmas. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Somehow, warm socks, ties, vacations, scholarships, and stuff for your boat show up under the tree. Why is that?

It happens because, despite our rag-a-muffin religiosity, goodness and love shine through. The spirit of Saint Nicholas is real and can affect even the most jaded person. Charles Dickens got it, why don’t you, Madison Avenue?

So (pause), despite my frustration with the status quo, I’m going to kick back, have an eggnog, love my family and my neighbors and listen to some great Christmas music. Back to you Jon. Now where’s my speedo?

Advent Perspective    11/09/14

The season of Advent in the Christian church calendar is the four Sundays before Christmas. Without the long history, Advent became a time of reflection about God becoming incarnate as a person. Jesus had not returned in a manner that many expected. The Emperor Constantine had facilitated Christianity becoming the state religion and the Christian church had supplanted many pagan rituals, the principal among them Saturnalia, which became Christmas. But just saying, “OK, it’s Christmas”, without any preparation for the day, did not feel right. A time for preparation seemed appropriate, and although that time period has been and is characterized by different colors and rituals, there is one central question being contemplated, the mysterious, ineffable, intangible, becoming tangible in our midst.

From the first time that I can remember being in a Christmas pageant at church, it always felt detached, and as I progressed through the pageant years, it did not become any more clear as to what was going on. To add to the fog, I was confronted with an explanation of a woman having a child without a husband, but how women with husbands have children was never explained. And who were the three guys on the camels and why didn’t they just ride in Santa’s sleigh? OK, fast forward 60 years.

I am sure that all the questioning that started at an early age is still continuing, but has a much different character. I, as everyone else, still wonder about the mechanics of this incarnation event. The one thing I have learned, however, is that when we worship the mechanics instead of engaging the mystery, we are left with a hollow space in our spiritual being. From the first moment we ask, “Why”, we are on the quest of filling that spiritual place.

The “Why” question is the start because it is not limited to the recognition that the hand you are sticking in your mouth is detached from the hands that are holding you. The concept of separation is the first basic element of the “Why” question. The next element is “why am I here”? And, oh yeah, how did I get here?

No matter when you heard it or the setting, or if you are encountering this for the first time, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin posited that “we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience”. If you accept that as your faith position, this Advent thing takes on a character that definitely does not fit many Christmas pageants. Please consider that de Chardin’s perspective “is what it is” (apologies to Jerry Seinfeld).

So if I am a spiritual being participating in a human experience, I have some questions. What is the origin of my spiritual being? Why am I now human and not a spirit floating about without physical constraints? Where does consciousness fit into the picture? And for cryin’ out loud, who thought up mosquitos?

In Destiny of Souls (Michael Newton), a participant relates the vision of seeing our souls manifested as spiritual beings, as bright light, almost in the form of a baby, being gently extruded from an even brighter light that is dimensionless. That bright light being is not detached from its source, but stays connected in a way that is not material. I know this sounds fantastic and is a real stretch, but consider for a moment that the connection is consciousness, a connection of knowing. In that “knowing” are the reasons for creation.

Why did Source, God, create? At the moment, I am not in a position to answer the ultimate question, but it is becoming more clear to me that the question God is asking is what happens when I think separation is possible? I am a manifestation of Source, manifested for the purpose of examining the possibility of separation and the question Source is asking of us, which is, “How’s that working out for you”? I would answer, “Not very well”. And this is where Advent comes in.

In the span of human existence, I am sure that imagination was our way of creating symbols and telling stories that attempted to answer the “Why” question. I am also convinced there were moments when the questioner heard an answer in a voice that they did not feel was their own, a voice distinct from their own. In the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Scripture, the relating of what that voice said gives us the first glimpse of Source telling of its plan to effect a reconciliation of our separation quest.

To effect a reconciliation, the reconciler can not be other, but must be of the same character and circumstance of that which is to be reconciled. Herein lies the key for me as to the importance of Advent. I need more than a day to contemplate Source, God, making the decision to incarnate as flesh and blood in the same state of being I find myself. This means that God Incarnate was as vulnerable as any newborn and dependent on all those around who had any influence on the situation. God also had to experience the same limitations of time, space, dimension and insight as does everyone else incarnate on this earth. Then, to be reconciled means that not only God Incarnate, but all of us, experience the capacity to lift the veil, access the knowing of creation, and not be physically limited in our quest to overcome the illusion of separation.

As a reconciled, spiritual being having a human experience, knowing that there is only one illusion (thinking I am separate from Source), Advent is a time to also contemplate and experience the reality of this creation, the sights, the sounds, the eggnog, the weather, the shopping, the guy in the sleigh, who I still don’t understand being placed in the Nativity scenes, and most of all the Nativity scene itself. And let’s stop there for now. To go any further gets us into the life of God Incarnate, the sayings, miracles, and resurrection which all draw us away from what I consider the most majestic and awesome facet of Advent.

That facet, a human couple of no particular standing, of very, very distant royal lineage who would suffer both socially and economically if they answered the call from a spiritual dimension, and simply said yes, blows me away.

So when you see the red nose and the antlers on THE car, please know I am not intentionally demeaning the import of Advent. It’s just a better conversation starter than thumping people over the head with a leather bound book while they stand on a street corner. Happy four candles to you!

Sufferin’ Succotash    07/26/14

I tawt I taw a puddy tat! I did, I did! I taw a puddy tat!

OK, now that I have the attention of those of you over sixty and those who are aficionados of the Cartoon channel, let’s consider suffering.

I haven’t been away from the time of my last reflection, I have been spending a considerable amount of time working on how I can approach the reality of suffering without going on and on or writing a too succinct reflection which only leaves you with the conclusion that suffering exists. I am going to limit this reflection to the consideration of why I believe suffering exists. For an extended discussion as to the character of suffering, an undergraduate degree in Shakespeare is a good start.

How we approach the reason suffering exists will place us on a certain trajectory toward the answer. The fact that different approaches exist is, in and of itself, a cause of suffering to a lesser degree for those who hold fast to a position and see any other as unacceptable. The fact is, there are different approaches, all devoutly believed. I feel it would be both demeaning and condescending to say any of the possible approaches are incorrect. I also feel it is necessary to examine why different approaches exist. Is suffering placed upon us by a superior force either directly or through an agent? Is suffering just a pothole in the road of life that we drive into? Is suffering something we choose because of how we see ourselves and need the suffering to bring about a change, absolution or quickening of character? Is suffering an inescapable characteristic of existence that is neutral in any determination of who suffers? I have held each of these approaches as my belief and struggled with all of them.

Those struggles have brought me to the conclusion that suffering is neutral. As ‘the quality of mercy is not straint, but falls as the gentle rain from heaven …’ [I think that Shakespeare was on to something], so is suffering. I have come to see suffering as a mechanism of learning versus a ‘thing’ used to keep us in line. Of course that begs the question, ‘in line with what and whose line is it anyway?’ If it is neutral, why does it exist? The answer I have does stand starkly outside of logic and current conventional theology of many mainline religious denominations. I believe we are here to learn that the belief we are in any way separate from each other, creation or the consciousness of the creator, is the illusion we choose to see as reality.

When we choose to act on that illusion, suffering ensues to the degree we commit to the illusion as reality. We are also quite adept at defining consequences as suffering which leads us down many rabbit holes [no offense to rabbits]. I have become more adept at not going down the rabbit holes by orienting my life towards unity and away from duality.

Buggs and Elmer lived in duality 99% of the time, even in their Oscar winning cartoon, although it showed a moment of unity. And I am firmly convinced that when we live the unity of consciousness and creation, suffering, which always contains some degree of pain, is both instructive and motivating.

We walk hand in hand with suffering and it is our choice if we see it as friend or foe. I choose to see suffering as the doctor who responds when I say it hurts when I do that, “well, don’t do that”. Also know that if I am smiling and there is a yellow feather in the corner of my mouth, I have not overcome suffering, I am simply a large fur ball of immediate gratification that is living illusion as reality.

Holy Week    04/14/14

OK, I intended to start this reflection with a mind numbing, prodigious explanation of Holy Week in one easy sentence. However, I have spent the last twenty minutes with the Word Tutorial trying to find out how to remove the faint period from the beginning of the page. Turned out, all I had to do was take a piece of Kleenex and wipe the fly spec off the screen. This is going to be one of “those” reflections. I can tell.

You would think that after being the presider for 16 Holy Weeks in two parishes I would have it pretty much figured out. Nothing new to see here, same story, just a different wardrobe each year to keep up the interest. That, however, is not the case. An aha moment creeps into every week. Sometimes small, sometimes large, but always there. This Holy Week is no exception.

A good friend told me of a conversation he had with a person who had several vivid conversations with Jesus, not unlike those Julian of Norwich recounted in her “Showings”. In those conversations, Jesus told him that the nails did not hurt. I was surprised at my reaction which was not, ‘You Have to Be Kidding Me’, but rather, ‘that’s a new take, how could that be possible?’

Julian recounted that Jesus told her death did not hurt. The pain is present in the sickness prior, but the actual moment of death has no pain. So I can visualize that the crown of thorns and the lashes were felt as much as any of us would have felt them as would the trek to Golgotha. So if those were no pain nails, was there a gain, or was it just a spectacular show? Here is where I attempt the prodigious one sentence answer.

Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, Source Incarnate, experienced physical death, and in so doing placed squarely in front of us the ultimate confluence of our fear of death and Jesus’ pronouncement, “I will be with you always.”

What would normally follow is a theological treatise which could weigh in at around eighty pounds of paper. I do not have that treatise in me at this time. What I do have is a belief in our vastness and eternal nature. Jesus did not avoid the events of that week because then we would have been left with, “God can die and rise, we can’t”, rather than, “we have a living example of the truth that we should have no fear of death.”

I also believe Jesus does not do it to us or for us, but rather with us. That belief leads me to understand Holy Week not as something I should stand back and observe, but a time in which I am an active participant as much now as I would have been two thousand years ago. Holy Week and Easter are not separate, and neither are we.

Not Ordinary?   02/17/14

Shortly after I was ordained, I got to be a clergy counselor at a church summer camp. One of the sessions the campers have is called, “Stump the Priest”, a no holds barred question session where everything was fair game. As the most recently ordained priest, I was the session leader (Throw the new guy to the lions). The one question, of the many, that I remember most was asked by the teenage daughter of one of the diocese senior priests. “Why aren’t there any stories in the Bible about people going to the bathroom?”

The answer is really simple and most likely caught her off guard because I am sure her father primed her to expect hemming and hawing. “Sacred scripture tells us about things that are not ordinary and how we can see the extraordinary in what is normal. “The bathroom” was normal and when you are limited to the amount of papyrus or animal skin you have to write on, the limited number of writing supplies, ink, quills, stylus, not to mention time, the amount of times one stopped by the road or went into the bushes wasn’t going to get a lot of ink”. I have remembered that question many times and have given pretty much the same answer and never really thought much about it until recently.

After moving from parish ministry to active ministry without a specific parish, I have concentrated on engaging people and groups who are spiritual in their focus and not associated with any specific denomination. A large part of that engagement has been reading and attending a book club whose specific goal is to challenge and examine previously held belief systems. In my most recent reading (Mary Margret Moore – Reflections of An Elder Brother – the Bartholomew series) I found that the answer I gave to my colleague’s daughter could have been focused differently, leading to what I feel is a clearer understanding of what is normal and ordinary.

What is expressed in this reading is that “ordinary” does not mean “mundane” and that “normal” is anything but, when normal only means what the everyday person does. And yes, the answer is not simple. I think the best way to get to the answer is start at the top of the pyramid and work to the base.

Top of the pyramid: You, me, we, are pure conscious awareness. Pure conscious awareness is LOVE and we are not limited in how vast is our love. We are not separate from Consciousness and Love is THE characteristic of Consciousness. We are inextricably connected to all of creation and can access all that creation is. Moving mountains is not extra ordinary and being able to give unconditional love to everyone and everything is not extra ordinary. Jesus was very pointed in telling us that He is in God, God is in Him, He is in us, we are in Him, God is in us and we are in God and that we will do “things greater than these.” We are already eternal and do not cease to exist. We should “fear not.”

Base of the pyramid: Consciousness decided to bring creation into being. We are the product of the conscious thought of God. We cannot help but to seek the answer to the question that prompted Consciousness to decide to create. Being inextricably connected to and part of all that is, is ordinary. To be extra ordinary would be to not be part of creation.

So when you look at the night sky, realize that is you. When your dog paws on the bed in the morning to wake you up, that is you. When the cat sleeps on your face and purrs, that is you. When you are adjacent to another person, that is you. When you come face to face with the limitless, that is you. Ain’t it great to be ordinary!

Lux Sit 11/01/13

The motto for my alma mater is “Lux Sit”, Let there be light. For the Latin scholars there are several articles at www.uw.edu which delve into whether this is correct or incorrect Latin. The correctness, for me, is not so much the issue as to how the motto leads to an ambiguity of the source of light. Is it created or is it just in existence without creation?

At the conclusion of reading Chapter 5 of Peter Russell’s book From Science to God I had two thoughts: Where was this guy when I needed him in high school physics, and maybe light is not something that is made, it just is. Could it be that when we turn on a light bulb or light a match, we are not creating light, we are in fact altering the vibrations of existence that allow us to perceive light? And, if Consciousness is the source of all that is, and therefore pervades all that is, when Lux Sit was spoken, light is also that all pervading characteristic of Consciousness and there is no light barrier of speed or darkness. Could it be that light is darkness waiting for its vibration to be changed so it will be visible and because it is in all, no matter how “fast” you travel, you can’t out run what continually surrounds you? Maybe Frank Herbert was right in his novel Dune: “We fold space to travel great distances.”

Since I had my epiphany that “Light IS” (and it felt like an original thought) I have read more and am gratified to know that this concept, in one form or another, has been around for centuries expressed in both spiritual and scientific terms. I shall always enjoy the feeling of having an original thought even if it wasn’t the first time someone expressed it. So what do I do with it now?

Maybe this is the concept that is the lynch pin for the Unified Field Theory and if I was fluent in math, I could complete it. Einstein was leery of completing it and Stephen Hawking stated that if we do, we will know the mind of God. In my first interview for a parish position I said Hawking is wrong, we can’t know the mind of God. From a duality perspective, that’s correct. However, from a unity perspective, because consciousness is all pervading, why shouldn’t I want to know what I am thinking? God’s consciousness is in me and my consciousness is in God and we are not separate. For me, that is the basis for Jesus’ proclamation that we have nothing to fear because nothing is lost, nothing is destroyed, God, Consciousness, IS.

My metaphor for our existence has been that we are all in one big pot of chicken soup. I am going to change the metaphor to say that we are in a bowl of consciousness soup. A soup which needs no bowl. A soup which is not made up of pieces and parts, fused (who knew that ad had theological implications!). A soup in which you will not drown, but always swim. A soup that does not limit how you will swim and allows you to swim anywhere.

A soup that is Light.

Lick the Bowl 09/08/13

Which appeared first, the chicken or the egg? That is one of those seemingly ridiculous questions at the heart of who gets to write text books on science or religion for elementary and secondary schools. How you answer will put you into a camp that is viewed as wrong by the camp of the opposite answer. Well, duh you say, that’s just the way it is, so what’s the big deal? The big deal for me, is how I see that you don’t have to be in the chicken camp or egg camp and still answer the question.

Until recently, although it was staring me in the face for a long time, I had not felt it necessary to deal with the question of the source of God. God Is, it’s a holy mystery and all I need to deal with is why am I here? However, as I hear more and more about the knowledge we have and don’t have about the universe, one characteristic keeps being mentioned. What holds it all together? If we are expanding faster and faster, eventually everything will float off into nothingness, and if gravity is constant we should not be expanding and eventually collapse into a singularity (scientific term for it all gets smooshed together). And in either case, what intelligence would create something that would cease to exist (pretty damn fickle and uncaring if you ask me) or continually collapse only to bang back into what we have now which just keeps going and repeats the questions, pain, discoveries we have experienced never getting to the final answer (pretty damn fickle and uncaring if you ask me)? The scientific community took a deep breath and answered, Dark Matter!

OK, fine, what is Dark Matter?

Well, we really don’t know. It could be pure energy or have some characteristic that creates mass.

Or it could be (spoken in a quiet voice from the back of the room) neither. It may be something that is neither mass or energy, which we could define as consciousness.

So as I am about to drink the kool aid, I remember my Spirituality professor in seminary saying that we are the product of the conscious thought of God. So is my existence the product of a supreme being who woke up one day, threw back the covers and said, I want to know who I am and what I can do, or, was consciousness already existing and is our source which we have cleverly personified? Either way, we are back to the chicken and the egg and it doesn’t matter, or does it? Or maybe the chicken and the egg are the same, totally unified. Which gets me closer to my answer.

Consciousness exists. If it didn’t, then the life after death, resurrection, multiple incarnation and this is all there is, theologies don’t work. Whether you believe what is, is tangible reality or illusion, macroscopic or microscopic, it is conscious in some form. And that consciousness is in everything and is everything which means you and I are, if not the same, at the very least, comfortably or uncomfortably inseparably connected.

Consciousness existed so the words, Let there be light, could be expressed. And light, by the way, is either energy or matter or both, depending on your scientific perspective, which says to me that conscious unity is the founding characteristic of our existence. Which means (hang in there) the consciousness that is Source is also my consciousness which is also yours which means you, I and Source are not only inextricably connected, we are all the same. So what’s the practical application for this other than the obvious stop killing, live in peace, enjoy each manifestation of Source, put flowers in your hair? Try this.

The next time you are dining out, order a bowl of your favorite ice cream. When you have finished, pick up the bowl, lick it clean and then look directly into the eyes of your appalled, flabbergasted, befuddled, outraged, embarrassed (you pick an adjective) diner partner, friend, spouse, and say with conviction, Thank you God!

Survivor Guilt 07/22/2013

I have experienced survivor guilt. My experiences have been in events that encompass both what might be considered dramatic and some almost mundane because of their frequency among many people.

Without going into excruciating detail, while in the Air Force, I was part of a flight of two aircraft on this particular day when we experienced a lightning strike. While returning to the airfield, one airplane lost control and the crew ejected. Their system malfunctioned and they died in the resulting impact. When our plane was inspected, the same situation existed with our ejection system, and had we used it, we would have also died.

I have also been that driver of a car at the intersection who thought they were paying attention and either slammed on the brakes to avoid or drove past the people crossing the street.

In both situations, survivor guilt was part and parcel of my retrospection. Why didn’t I call for the flight to do a controllability check? Why didn’t I look to the right one more time? In one situation, others might have been saved, in the other, all were unhurt except for the adrenaline withdrawal which is not something you want to go through voluntarily.

No matter the situation, be it the person who was next to the shooting victim or in the surviving house next door to the one swept away in the tornado or the last person off the escalator before it stopped running, we all ask at some level, why them and not me?

There is a plethora of cliché answers which we have all heard ad nauseum and they all have one common characteristic. THEY DON’T WORK. Why?

They don’t work because they all try to make the mysterious and intangible responsible and avoid dealing with even the possibility that we had a tangible part in the sequence of events.

My take on it, for your consideration, is do not ascribe to the mysterious and intangible a persona of any degree because then you become subject to the fickle proclivities of a force you consider to be more powerful than you and survivor guilt will be with you forever. Rather, consider that the consciousness which holds this (this being all that we experience and know) all together, is not fickle, we are all treated equally and what happens, happens because of our choices and we are not only allowed, but have as an integral part of our being the necessity to choose.

We are all survivors of something, so rather than wipe the sweat off our brow and declare I’m glad it wasn’t me, lets wipe the sweat off our brow and say, because it wasn’t me, what am I going to do with that?

Survive productively!

Welcome Back? 03/08/2013

In conversation with colleagues about the Bible readings for this Sunday in Lent, we concentrated on the familiar parable of the prodigal son. What was new for me was the take on this that one of the group relayed from a book one of his professors wrote.

When the question was asked, “What is the presenting issue in this parable?”, the answer given by a majority in America was, “He squandered all his money”. The answer given by a majority in Africa was, “He was hungry and no one gave him food”. The answer given by a majority in Russia was, “There was a famine”. Each answer is factually correct and obviously different. It seems that not only the context of the story matters, but as equally valid is the context of the culture that hears the story. I submit, however, that they all missed the point of the story and missing the point is the real presenting problem.

The point of the story is that the father treated both of his sons with unconditional love, even though they were coming from opposite approaches as to how to use their inheritance. For me, this is the big take away, unconditional love trumps selfish stewardship, winning and losing competition and not thinking outside of ourselves.

There really isn’t any blame to go around in this story. Each sons’ situation resulted from choices. A choice to be self-centered and a choice to make assumptions and not realize that famine, like mercy, happens.

If you don’t know the parable of the prodigal son, Bing or Google it and read the several Bible translations and commentaries which will be presented. We are all one big pot of chicken soup.

Easter 2013

This reflection is before Easter because I feel it is more advantageous to focus on Easter during Lent than on how to make yourself miserable for forty days. Do I have a bias about Lent? Yes, and I’ll own it, so on to Easter.

I am writing this in the form of a homily/sermon, so read it as if you were speaking it or hearing it.

We come to our places of sanctuary on Easter for many reasons. Those reasons cannot be categorized because we can’t really be categorized. Even if this is your first time for spending time with Easter, no matter your age, I am offering to you today, for your consideration, a way to approach Easter that could seem strange or resonate with your feelings. Either way, as with any sermon, you have a choice to either blow it off or spend time considering what I say. And being true to my background in English Lit., I am going to start, as any good epic does, in media res, in the middle of the story.

I am now in the moment, after many years of hearing the Easter story, of embracing that who I am, as a product of the conscious thought of God, is consciousness. That is, when everything is stripped away, what is left is a consciousness that is me that does not cease to exist. I also embrace that as a product of the conscious though of God, I am inextricably connected to God and cannot be lost or destroyed. Take a moment to think and feel what this does to you when you hear it. To destroy you, to cast you into the lake of fire, God would have to destroy a part of God’s self. Do you feel that this is possible, for the God of unconditional love to eliminate from existence any part of creation which exists because God had a thought and brought it into being? On a recent segment of Fresh Air on NPR, they examined an answer to this question.

Now, a friendly note. If you believe NPR to be either evil, deleterious to society, or both, stop reading now, change to another web site, get a beer or if you are imagining yourself listening, zone out and save yourself some time, otherwise you will just hear stuff that will get you agitated and I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.

Fresh Air interviewed a doctor who is working with the concept of resurrection medicine. His approach is to examine not only actual people but also cases of people who have been clinically dead for up to several hours and have been revived. What interested me was what these people had to say about their experience. They had conscious experiences from traveling, to watching and hearing everything that was going on with the doctors. They could repeat conversations word for word, discuss procedures that only a person with medical training would know, talk of concepts that would have interested Einstein, and even tell where to find shoes that had been lost. The bottom line for the doctor being interviewed was that he feels there is an unquantifiable, intangible, not recordable part of us that does not cease to exist even when our body quits functioning. The Hebrew word for this is nephish. It cannot be translated in one word into any other language and carries with it the multivalent concept of being. Which gets us to Easter.

Jesus of Nazareth was a Hebrew rabbi, healer and mystic. I embrace him as Creator, Source, the One, incarnated as a human who had several important things to say to us. The most salient of those sayings for me is, fear not, you are not lost. So if we are not lost, what are we to be saved from? I offer for your consideration, the answer to that question is your self. Jesus went to great lengths to get his listeners to be about getting in right relationship with themselves and their fellow conscious beings. Jesus, as a good Hebrew, would have embraced the belief that there is only one sin, turning away from God. When you turn away, separate yourself from that to which you are inextricably connected, then you are in the most dire state of being possible and that is what Hebrew hell is, acting as if you and God are separate. So how do you get saved? Simple, turn around and face God, or as John the Baptist would say, repent! Coming face to face with God is more than staring at a cross or an empty tomb.

Jesus understood when people embrace that they have nothing to fear, those who would control them get unsettled, unsettled to the point that they see the only way to regain control is to eliminate the persons who do not fear and anyone who is espousing that approach to living. Jesus also understood that to demonstrate there is nothing to fear he would have to encounter the most fearful way those in control had at their disposal to enforce control, fear and it’s attendant visual aid, crucifixion.

What I “see” when I look at the cross is not someone who came to do it to us or do it for us, but to do it with us and that “it” is live life. God doesn’t grab you by the collar and drag you into heaven nor does God surround you in protective Jell-O so you will get into heaven without effort. God, as exampled in incarnation, does it with us so we will live in the way God intended, as one unified creation existing in unconditional love. I know that may sound really sappy, but when you unpack it, I believe you will get to the heart of Easter. We do not cease to exist. Our being, our conscious entity continues no matter what. Even if that “what” is physically dying on a cross. And that gets us to the consideration of Easter and eternity.

If you feel the need to say that Jesus died so we can live in eternity, I can agree. Please note that taken literally that phrase does not say “wait” to live in eternity. If I don’t cease to exist, I am eternal and don’t have to wait for it. And that gets me to what I feel is most important about Easter. Jesus let us see transition, not death.

When a person physically ceases, we mourn. When we believe that the person continues to exist we can cry for happy. It may seem to some as callous for a person to smile when someone dies, but consider that if that person believes the deceased’s consciousness is still “alive”, why shouldn’t they smile?

So if this Easter be for you tears, smiles, music, poetry, the smell of fresh cut grass dotted with golf balls, snow blowing in your face from the tip of skis, salt water on a surf board, squealing tires on a race track, flowers in a sanctuary, or any of the other multitude of smells and pictures of life, know that you are eternal and have nothing to fear.

No Judgment Santa 12/22/2012

I actually started working on this reflection in the Fall. I did not wait until today just to prove that the Myan calendar WAS really about a change of ages and not the end of existence. And as the miracle of procrastination would have it, a way appeared to get across the point that we are all connected and not separate from God and that we create our own anxiety and paranoia from childhood.

I love Christmas carols and songs. The tunes range from catchy to exotic and are for the most part memorable if not infuriating ear worms. One tune that always gets into my head is Santa Claus is Coming to Town. When I was humming it yesterday, it hit me! This is the root of my angst with the religion I was being brought up in. I need to be scared of Santa so I will be rewarded which was the same attitude I needed to have about God or I was in trouble. Note to those who think they can ultimately control people to be fearful of a loving God: Really?

I am the first to admit I am not a lyricist by nature, so my attempt to write a modified lyric to the song may not become a best seller, but is a sincere effort to raise awareness about how easy and innocuous it is to warp ourselves from our earliest days. So here is my lyric.


Oh, when you look out
Joy is about
There’s no need to cry
I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is comin’ to town

He’s making a list
He’s checking it twice
He’s gonna find out
Where your house is tonight

Santa Claus is comin’ to town

He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows when you’ve been sad and good
So smile for goodness’ sake

So when you look out
Joy’s still about
No need to cry
I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is comin’ to town

The kids in girl and boy land
Will have a jubilee
They’re gonna build a toy land town
All around the Christmas tree

So when you look out
Your joy’s still about
No need to cry
I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is comin’ to town

Along with doing the Twelve Days of Christmas instead of the 0800 Christmas morning present orgy, I am more keenly aware of how proactive we can be in presenting the uplifting music of this season and counter the confusing carrot and stick theology that pervades many of the lyrics. Christmas IS about joy and unconditional love.

And by the way, in The Next Best Thing segment of TRMS last night, we learned that one strain of reindeer actually do get red noses when they run (or fly). I can sleep well knowing that Gene Autry was right.

It's the tires, stupid! 06/30/2012

With apologies to James Carville; I am going to get most of the tire clichés out of the way; what goes around comes around; low pressure equals low mileage; where the rubber meets the road; and the most applicable for this reflection, GET A GRIP!

Why tires for this reflection? I watch Formula 1 every chance I get. I have been a fan of car racing as early as I can remember and with the first minute of Grand Prix, I was hooked. The current season is building on using the tire they used last year and tire use strategy has come to the fore. The drivers always comment that the tires are the one factor that keeps them and the engineers up at night.

When the current tires “go off” they don't go slowly, they “fall off the cliff.” They also lose their grip quickly, which obviously makes holding your line difficult if not impossible. So what has this got to do with a spiritual reflection?

Several of my colleagues are dealing with declining membership and issues that are seemingly sending congregations spinning off the track. Now Paul had a great analogy when he used body parts to get his point across, but I feel an updated example is needed and a Formula 1 car fits the bill. All the components of the car have to work together if there is going to be any chance of finishing the race.

The aero package has to work, the engine, obviously, the innovations such as the KERS, kinetic energy recovery system, the gear train, the fuel and electrical. None of them mean anything, however, if the tires don't function properly. And it's not just one or two sets of tires. You need tires for testing, practice, qualifying and racing and that's a lot of tires! And then there are the people who make up the team. If any one of them does not perform as necessary, it doesn't work. So where are we going with this analogy?

Current Christian institutions can be likened to a Formula 1 car. They have an engine that works, mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and aero systems that are reliable, a team that is well drilled, so what's the problem? They are driving on 1300 year old tires! IT'S TIME FOR A PIT STOP and tires that will race. Please note I did not call for something to replace tires, only a new set of tires that have a grip.

I hear all the time that church attendance is down because people, especially young people, don't believe in God or have any faith for (you name the reason). Well race fans, I respectfully and in my best non-judgmental effort have to say that attitude is crap. In fact, the latest Pew research results show the vast majority of people are spiritual, just not aligned with a religious institution because they don't want to race in a car whose tires have no grip. So what kind of tires should the team put on?

Well, first, size does matter. Formula 1 tires won't work at La Mans which won't work on Rolex GT which won't on NASCAR, which won't work on Indy Cars which won't work on your car. However, if the tires are made of a compound, which has, the components of do to others as you want them to do to you, love your neighbor as yourself, trust God with all your being and unity of all as the standard; then your car will race.

The only questions remainingi are you going to listen to the people who say racing isn't worth it or are you going to get in your car and drive?

And remember, it's not the stupid tires, it's the tires, stupid!

WARNING Will Robinson, Danger Danger, BIBLE ALERT, BIBLE ALERT 05/28/12

So for those of you who watched Lost in Space when it was first on TV and are now having a flashback, I sort of apologize. And for those of you who are still watching it on TV Land Channel, I am working on a reflection on how you can get a grip. For now, however, I opened this way to take you back to that time when you were first told stories from the Bible and how they would make a difference in your life. I am not going to talk about whether the stories are factual or not, but about a new movement that, if you participate in it, will definitely affect how you view those stories now.

This “new” movement is a, well, I don’t really know what word I could use to describe it, but its goal is for you to read the Bible,cover to cover, in a year. Now reading the Bible is not a good or bad thing to do. But if you are going to read it completely, I have some thoughts for you to consider.

First, do not do this alone. Have someone to talk to at least once a week who you can share with about what you read and what you think and feel about it.

Second, get a good commentary. I recommend the 12 volume, New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary. OK, it’s a little over twelve thousand pages total, but trust me, you’ll be glad you read it.

Third, wear a crash helmet.

Why the recommendations? Let’s go over a few of the things you will encounter in your journey through the Bible. Two stories of creation (one wasn’t enough?), a creator who says, “let us…” (more than one creator or the one couldn’t do it alone?), a murdering son, who is banished from the original four people on earth to, wait for it, a city where he meets his wife! (you figure it out), a guy who gets swallowed by a whale (and we know for a fact that whales don’t ingest anything larger than shrimp, just ALOT of them at one time), talking pillars of dust and fire, a guy who can dry up a sea to say nothing of talking to a burning bush, groups of people who annihilate whole cities down to the last adult and child in the name of their god, a talking donkey, people who summon and talk to dead people, a lady who has sex with a guy and then pounds a nail through his head, poisonous snakes who bite people who are then cured by looking at two poisonous snakes on a pole, not to mention the basis for 691 laws that you need to follow every day, and we’re not even finished reading the Hebrew Scripture!

And the best one in the Hebrew Scripture, Angels that can have intercourse with mortal women and have children! And you thought Marvel Comics is the only place you can find super heroes. And I would be remiss if I did not tell you that the angels who have six wings do not use the last two to cover their feet. Now on to the Christian Scripture.

A woman who bears a child with out intercourse, astrologers who find the child, a father who listens to voices and relocates his family, an uneducated child who knows the sacred texts better than the most educated teachers, mortals who are taught how to cure illness, cast out demons (did I mention that there are spirits who do not have bodies that can think and talk to the living?), resuscitate the dead, walk on water, love everybody (including themselves), and oh yea, hear angels tell them to not be afraid of anything.

I am not telling you not to read the complete Bible, in fact I think everyone should, but which one? The New King James Version (watch out for the words in italics, theywere added by the translators and are not in the Hebrew or Greek texts, but you wouldn’t know this if you don’t have a commentary), the New Revised Standard Version, the Peshita (translated from Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke), a version without the Apocrypha, The Good News Bible, or any one of at least ten more versions, and why all the versions? Isn’t there just one Bible?

I am sure that if you embark on this effort your life will change. I am also sure that if you read it alone and/or without a commentary, chances are you will be really screwed up when you finish.

I am not worried about which choice you make because as the angels always say first when they speak to people, Fear Not!

From Lent to Easter to Pentecost 04/09/12

I have always had trouble with “Commandments”. Not because I don’t believe in rules, but because it never felt right that God loves you and will turn you into toastwhen he doesn’t and that you can’t earn God’s love but if you don’t do it right, AAHHGGGG!

When I read an article written by several Rabbis on the Ten Commandments, the world opened up and the AAHHGGG became an ahg. The article’s purpose was to provide a look at the 10 not as commandments but as consequences of action. It goes like this.

If you choose to love me then you won’t want to have any other gods. If your choice is to trust me in all things then you will set time aside to not be busy and be with me. If you love what you see then you will not only honor your family, you won’t want to willingly end the life of anyone in your family or any other family. If you feel my unconditional love you will not want to take your neighbor’s goods, family members or their good name from them.

If you choose not to love then your life will follow adifferent path, and even though I will be saddened by your choice, I will honor your choice.

What could follow here is a 1500 page theological treatise, but I will attempt to put it into a much shorter version.

God does not want us to separate our self from any one or any thing. And God makes it clear that when we want to go it alone, we do not encounter the joy of being in community. The irony being, that we can not not be in community. So Jesus took us off the 10 hook and put us on the 2 hook. Love God with all your heart, strength, being and love your neighbor as yourself, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Commandments or actions that have consequences? I’m going with actions that have consequences and the consequences come with degrees of joy, some very joyful and some not so much.

So, we’ve been through Lent when we beat ourselves up for being bad, into Easter where we say we are saved from the bad, into Pentecost where we will be inspired to live in joy, until next Lent where we will give up on the joy and beat ourselves up. Does this seem a bit conflicted to you? It does to me, and in my working through this, I am now of the position that to hold on to any idea or feeling that I am in any way, no matter how minute, separate from God, is the root of any problem I have. Oh!, wait a minute, Jesus said in his high priestly prayer that he is in God as God is in him as he is in us as we are in him so we can’t be separate from God, or Jesus, or Holy Spirit, or each other.

I’m convinced that God speaks loud and clear about unity, balance and unconditional love as the pillars of how it all fits together and that any form of coercion or exclusion is not of God.

So now during Lent, I reflect on those times when I have accepted separateness as a reality, even if I was unaware at the time of the acceptance, to Easter when Jesus does his Henny Youngman, “Did it hurt when you made separate real? Why, yes it did. “Then don’t do that!”, to Pentecost where Holy Spirit says, “Here’s your towel.” (If you have not seen The Hitch hikers Guide to the Galaxy, do so before next Lent)

Happy Easter and Dark Chocolate forever!

It’s Been A While - 02/01/2012

My Web Master keeps sending me emails asking “Are you still there”? I am, and I have been reading a lot. That is not a good reason to not keep up on the reflections, but I also am not into writing just for the sake of writing. Having said that, I don’t want to inflict on you, the gentle reader, a stream of consciousness essay that may end sometime tomorrow. Sooooo … , what comes to mind is a thought from the daily devotions Barb has been reading, Idle or Idol?

To paraphrase the thought, “You can not not do something, even not taking action is a decision, an action, to not do something”. This seemingly arcane or ridiculous statement, depending on your view, does get to the heart of the matter as you tease out all the possibilities. Even if you are a person who believes that no matter what you do, itdoesn’t make a difference, your seeming indifference allows things to happen that my not have happened if you had taken some action.

All this brings me to the point that when your position is to remain in “Idle”, you have made an “Idol” of changing nothing and keeping everything the same. It is my contention that this position is an exercise in futility. The moment that is “now” is not exactly the same as it was a moment ago and is not going to be exactly the same in the moment that does not yet exist. So even when you stay in idle, there are people surrounding you who are not idle and what they dochanges your situation which means that what you think has not changed really has changed, Bummer!! And the point of me telling you this is?

The point is, don’t waste your abilities. Everyone has the ability to do something. The only difference between people is the degree of their abilities. Because you have read this far, here comes the cheerleading. Say out loud to yourself, “My passion is to …. No matter what the obstacles, and if I even think I can not do it alone, I will find someone to help me”.

Now you have your action plan and know that there is no “idle”.

Reflection on ‘Still Alice’ by Lisa Genova - 06/27/2011

A good friend and food purveyor encouraged me to read this book. OK, she really promised me a smoothie and muffin if I would let her know what I thought about it. Food; encouragement; they go together. Anyway...

If you have not had any one in your family, a friend, acquaintance, or some one you know of who is experiencing Alzheimer’s, read this book so you will be prepared when you do meet Alzheimer’s face to face. The beauty of this book is the way the disease and its effects on patient and family are presented.

In total opposition to a clinical presentation of this subject, you will experience knowing moments, tears, and laughter ending up with an appreciation for and ability to encounter Alzheimer’s and all that goes with it. It would have been nice if this book would have been available before I encountered my first Alzheimer’s hospice client and came across as a complete idiot. At least I kept my hands warm while I sat on them.

This book is a pair of warm gloves for your hands, hot tea for your heart and new neurons for your head.

P.S. I’m not getting anything from Lisa for this reflection unless she gets to Sandpoint and Barb and I get to take her to dinner.

They said what? On second thought, maybe... 06/12/2011

Earlier this year, a very good friend died. I was privileged, honored and humbled to officiate at the funeral and celebration of life with the family. But, as with any momentous time in life when we want every detail to go perfectly, something always creeps in to bring you up short.

A good friend of the family went to great lengths to write an obituary which would relate the essence of an extraordinary life. My friend requested to be scattered on the family property and this is where the “something” starts to creep in. The obit was emailed to the local paper and published on the day of the funeral. The sentence, “The ashes will be scattered on the family property” was printed as “The ashes will be scatted on the family property”.

Now for those of you unfamiliar with wild life terms and do not have bear, elk and moose walking across your front yard or down the main street of town ala Northern Exposure, “scat” is the polite company word for wild animal poo. I admit that my first reaction was to wonder why the publisher and editor of the paper are not walking the main street of town in sack cloth and ashes with bags over their heads wearing sandwich boards which read; “We don’t know what we are doing”, however, upon further reflection...

If, after the ashes are appropriately committed, eventually consumed and recycled by one of God’s wild creatures, I have to ask myself, is that really something to worry about? That thought leads me to reflect on the one phrase which I alter for Ash Wednesday and one of the prayers in the funeral service, “dust to dust”. I do not alter it because of theological hubris or an extraordinary esoteric argument, I alter it because of what a four year old sage said during an Ash Wednesday service.

During the service there is the “Imposition of ashes” when the priest dips their finger in a bowl of ashes which come from burning the previous year’s palms from Palm Sunday and says, as they make the sign of the cross on peoples’ foreheads with the ashes, “you are dust and to dust you shall return”. At this particular service, I came to the four year old only to have him pull away and give me “the look”. His mother brought him to me after the service to have him explain why he did not want the ashes on his forehead. He looked me right in the eyes and said defiantly, “I’m no dust bunny!” Back to the metaphor and symbol board.

So if we are not dust bunnies, what are we and where did we come from? Now if you are a dyed in the wool creationist and obviously have read this far, I hope you continue, but if you quit after the next sentence, I understand. After a lot of reading, conversation, contemplation and prayer, I believe that we come from star dust and to star dust we will return.

I believe we are the product of the conscious thought of God, as is the universe in which we exist, and there is no separation. As to the mechanics of how we were formed, whether it was from mud or mind, let it be. The first particles that appeared formed stars and all that surrounds them. The planets formed from the cooling material. And God decided to play in the mud puddles. Mud puddles that came from star dust. Some of my most fun memories are of playing in mud puddles and walking away with only one shoe arm in arm with my best friend laughing all the way home.

So, whether you decide to be buried in a concrete vault, buried at sea, cremated and have your ashes spread, sent out to sea in a flaming boat, laid on a platform exposed to the elements and consumed by God’s wild creatures, or sent into space to eventually crash into the sun, you are from star dust and to star dust you shall return, except for your conscious being, and that’s another reflection. As for my friend, being “scatted” fits into the Cycle of Life. Hey, I think there is a musical somewhere in there!

Ritual: Icon or Idol? 05/09/2011

During my first trip to The Gambia, while climbing to the top of a hill to watch the sunrise, one of the group, who is a travel reporter and has seen many, many slides said,”If you’ve seen one sunrise, you’ve seen them all”.

On the way back to the boat I heard, “about the comment I made earlier about sunrise, I may not have been entirely correct”. I responded, “Yea, it’s the same when people say to me, ‘When you’ve seen one church, you’ve seen them all’, which led us into a discussion about the rituals we all have in life.

All of life is based on ritual, from the minuscule to the majestic. Not sure? Do you brush your teeth before or after you shower, and why do you repeat the order day after day? Is your spiritual practice free form or rigid? Does the last question make you feel uncomfortable? Rituals, and how we conduct them, especially spiritual rituals, go to the core of our being.

In my first theology class in seminary, we read “The Myth of the Eternal Return” by Mircae Eliade. One chapter about rituals and how exact they need to be for some, gave the example of the shaman conducting a ceremony which had been handed down for generations. All the words, movements and paraphernalia had to be exact. In this particular instance, the lighting of the open fire was the culmination of a days long ritual intended to bring fertility to the land. At the moment of the lighting of the fire and the incantation of the words, a frog appears from nowhere and leaps over the fire to the chagrin of all attending. Oh well, back to the beginning or it won’t work!

The afternoon of that class session, I was shopping at the local wine merchant and came across a bottle of “Frog’s Leap” wine, an obvious competitor to Stags Leap. I bought the bottle, gave it to my professor and heard he put it on a shelf in his private library and never opened it.

And for those of you who say that is exactly why you left a regimented church for a non liturgical setting, consider this. What would happen if the moderator of your non liturgical church arbitrarily changed the order of events at your gathering?

We need ritual, elaborate or not, we need ritual. The object of the exercise is to maintain the ritual as authentic to the spiritual quest. When the ritual, and not the quest, becomes the object of adoration or veneration, I propose that the ritual has become an idol that cannot withstand frogs. And why does that happen?

When we think we have got it all right. When the ritual is exactly correct and the meal that comes with it is just right...

God jumps on the chair next to us at our meal and asks ... Would you like monkey poo with that?

The Door of No Return - Easter 2011

I made my first trip to Africa last February, Senegal and Gambia, with the main part of the trip up the Gambia River to the last British outpost during the slave trade which is now the Governor’s seat for that province. Although the main purpose of the trip was to see the wildlife of the Rivers of West Africa, (Trans. take lots of bird pictures), we did go to Goreé Island and see one of the slave houses. There are actually seven slave houses on the island, but not all of them are shown to tourists. Walking the short hallway to the “door of no return” is an experience. For some, they get a sense of the spirits of those who passed through, I, however, did not get a sense of the spirits, but got the feeling of what must have been going through the minds of those who walked through the door. Some back ground first.

History tells us that somewhere between 15 to 20 million people were put on slave ships from Goreé Island. What I learned from our guide was that in addition to those who got on the ships, six million killed themselves by jumping off the gangway into the sea. And although Alex Haley may have embellished some of the facts in Roots, the most moving moment was passing by James Island, just renamed Kunta Kinte Island by Gambia, near the mouth of the Gambia River. What made it moving was the realization that Kunta Kinte could see his village, where he had been captured, from the slave house on James Island, knowing that he most likely would never get back to the village again. Slaves were offered their freedom if they could swim the four miles to shore. None of those who tried made it, crocodiles!

Once on Goreé, a slave spent around two weeks sitting naked on a dirt floor chained to twenty-four other men and moved out once a day to pee and crap on a designated plot of ground. When the ship arrived, you got moved from the dark room to the bright light of the small courtyard into the dark hallway with the arched doorway at the end which is so bright that you cannot see any features, just a bright white light. As you pass through the archway, this is it, either a walk on the wooden pier to the ship, or the plunge into the surf breaking on the rocks where the sharks have grown in population because of the new food source. Which brings me to Jesus’ penultimate words from the cross.

I have been trying to write this reflection since February, but could never break through the “get ‘er done” barrier. When I went to an Easter Eve service, I found out why. The service was a presentation of the words of Jesus from the cross. The second to last words, the penultimate for you ANGLOPHILES, are, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me”? These words manifest fear and trembling in preachers who have to condense the theological discourse of years into ten minutes for a sermon given to people who only show up twice a year and really don’t want to consider the possibility that Jesus had any doubts. However, ...

This was when I got the connection between Jesus and the slave walking through the door. For the slave who plunged from the pier into the sea, I imagine the emotions could have ranged from, “the pain of death is more acceptable than the unknown pain waiting on the ship” to “I am not going to let anyone use me for less than I am, you don’t get to take me!” Likewise, “My God...” can be seen as the ultimate expression of confusion and/or doubt, or the ultimate fist pump of defiance, but only if you leave it there. Read ALL of Psalm 22.

For the slaves that got on the ship I imagine the emotions ranged from one of hope that whatever lay ahead, it would be better than the sharks, to one of defiance that I will do whatever it takes to not let these people make me less than I am. Was Jesus calling on Elijah or letting us know that no matter how strong your faith may be, we are all subject to the possibility of experiencing that moment when it all seems to be no more than a plot of ground outside a slave house? For me, the answer comes at the end of the psalm. God does not leave us. God did not abandon the slave who plunged into the sea, God did not abandon the slave who got on the ship, and God does not abandon us when we voice despair. Why?

I believe we are products of the conscious thought of God, and as such, are inextricably connected to God. We cannot break that bond and neither can God. We can try to separate ourselves from God, which doesn’t really work out too well, or we can, like Jesus, allow ourselves to acknowledge moments of despair and in that acknowledgment, end up praising God for not abandoning us. Easter is about God letting us know that we have nothing to fear. Easter is about knowing that even while experiencing the most gruesome of moments, they are not the end.

I may yet encounter my ancestors in spirit or visions as I continue on my spiritual journey or I may get to hold the hand of a slave walking on that pier. Whatever needs to come my way will as it will be for you and because of Easter, it won’t be and end.

Response to a Request 01/21/2011

A friend who is working on a book asked several people to submit their thoughts on passing on wisdom to people younger than they are. The form of the submission is a letter to your children. This presents a situation because we do not have children. However, I have, on occasion, actually carried on conversations with people younger than eighteen and would say it this way in a letter.

Dear (enter name here),

Thank you for asking. I find it a daunting prospect to “pass on wisdom” in a letter short enough to be readable and not filled with clichés and also not come across as a “how to” checklist. I can also foresee my response could come across as to esoteric, enigmatic or obtuse. Be that as it may, here goes!

I see wisdom as an ongoing process. Gaining wisdom or discovering it is what life is. The best approach I have found is to always be open. You will not always agree with or understand what you hear or discover, but that does not mean that what you encounter is not valid. Deciding what you do with the information is gaining wisdom.

I believe we all live by our choices. I also believe if our choices are going to lead us into wisdom, we need to be consistent in how we live. The two guidelines I use are the stuff of cliché. “Do to others as you would have them do to you” is a guideline I do not restrict to only people. Do to Spirit, Earth, animals, parents (and mothers-in-law) as you would have them do to you. Continually engage your spiritual component.

When you begin to unpack the possibilities of those two guidelines, I am sure you will discover that the unpacking is never ending, like my garage, but is how you live into wisdom.

Also, no matter what, there is always something to smile about in what you discover.

Smile a lot.

Epiphany 01/06/2011

On the second Sunday of Christmas this year, I listened to a sermon in which the preacher bemoaned those who take twelve days to celebrate Christmas. It was a great sermon, but caused me to leave immediately after the service to redirect the truck delivering the eight Belted Galway Guernseys and the van with the eight maids and their buckets. So much for that Christmas present! However, what was said about Epiphany is well worth repeating.

Well before Christmas became the norm for holiday celebration, Epiphany was celebrated as the day next to Easter considered most holy for those who believe in Jesus. It was a recognition of that “Aha” moment when the visitation of the Magi spoke to the world of a complete change of relationship with God. I also believe, as the preacher I mentioned does, God incarnating as Jesus of Nazareth was not a “coming down” but a “drawing to” of humanity. God, Consciousness, Source, however you want to term the concept, added a new dimension to the Creation. “I feel your pain” (said with a slight southern drawl and raspy voice) has become a cliche, but does accurately describe what God now feels that God did not experience prior (apologies to Brian) to incarnating as a human. So what has this got to do with celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas?

Several years ago, I became frustrated with Christmas ending with the 25 minute present orgy. It seemed so anti climactic after the joyous build up to have it end so quickly. I was relating my feelings one day in a clergy gathering and the Rabbi told how Chanukah is celebrated. You start with a small gift on the first day, a successively larger gift on the following days and on the eighth day you get the Jaguar. Haven’t got the Jaguar yet, but Barb and I did start a new tradition the next Christmas. We give one gift each day for the twelve days. They aren’t always larger, but it does lessen the post 25 DEC let down. AND, the unexpected benefit was over the years we realized we were building the anticipation of celebrating Epiphany. I can imagine the early Christians began to celebrate the time between the Winter Solstice as a time of anticipation culminating in a celebration of God’s incarnation.

Added to Epiphany is also the celebration that it is only three months till the boat goes in the water for the Summer. Happy Epiphany!

The Inevitable Christmas Reflection 12/22/2010

I have been asked more than once since my last reflection; What are you going to say for say Christmas? Well I actually have been composing this reflection over several weeks with one overriding issue, APPREHENSION! I have written a Christmas piece for every newsletter for the past fifteen years and, after rereading them, they seem worthy of being left on the snowbank of history. I mean, not only after fifteen years, but after two thousand, what can you say about Christmas that has not already been said? It is a task akin to kicking a football being held by Lucy. Then it hit me: there is something different about the way I see Christmas this year.

Being able to stand back and not be responsible for orchestrating the activities of Advent and Christmas allow for time to hear how others from many different perspectives experience this Season of Joy What leapt out at me after many conversations and several books, was what I see as the common factor in all the celebrations: FEAR.

Fear? That's a real downer, you can't really mean that. Look at all the joy in the celebrations, the happy people around the tree, the presents, the egg nog, the parties. Christmas is fun, right?

Yes it is, but what I see underlying all of it is fear of not getting what you want, not having the party work out exactly as you planned it, fear of not having your loved one love the present you gave them because they should because you love it, right? And here is the irony, we have Christmas because of the fear.

I believe God became incarnate to show us we do not have to fear. I believe God, incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth, reconciled creation and calls us all to be in balance with it and not fear anything. Now that may sound Pollyannish but ask yourself this. Why, at this time of year, do people, even non Christians and some dedicated atheists, participate in putting up a tree, buying presents, dressing up as Santa for their kids and wearing costumes to parties that were never meant to be worn in climates of less than 75ºF? We do all these things because at the heart of it all is the reason for the season.

The reason is simple. Light dispels darkness, joy replaces sadness, faith replaces fear. Consider that despite all the distasteful, i.e., crap, stuff we have to deal with, even between the trenches of WWI, the light shines. We will go to extremes to replace sadness and disappointment with joy even in the face of the fear that we may not be able to, with only the faith that we can.

I believe this happens because God showed us in human form and taught us that we are more than we give ourselves credit for. We have the ability to do things more than these and do not have to be bound by fear. We can care for the least of these, the widows, the orphans (which includes all of us whose parents have died) and those who deserve justice. The Joy of Christmas is meant for the whole year.

So cook the Christmas goose, raise a glass of wassail, and repeat after me: "God bless us everyone."

I Would or Wood Eye 8/11/10

So for those of you who know the joke the title refers to, yes, it is most likely inappropriate if not merely in bad taste but it does get in a round about way to a reflection on a spoken phrase which drives this English Language and Literature major nuts. “I would like to ...” And I am glad that you “would like to ...” so are you going to?

I would like to introduce ... That's nice, are you going to? I want to have X come forward. What if X doesn't want to come forward? “I would” or “I want” are appropriate when we are expressing a desire. They are not appropriate as requests for permission. So why does this seemingly innocuous phrase attract my ire? Everybody does it, right? I hear it all the time from local to national newscasters, so what's the big deal? The big deal is, at least for me, that use of this phrase belies a condition which is eating away at our ability to function as a community.

I don't like conflict any more than the next person and I enjoy it when people agree with me. I am sure I am not alone in these perspectives. However, not everyone is going to like me and conflict is always present. “I would like to ...” and “I want to ...” have crept into our syntax over centuries in an effort to ameliorate our confronting conflict and dislike. The problem is, they only exacerbate the situation rather than tone it down or eliminate it. So what is a person to do? How about this, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no”. When you have a desire, express it. When you need permission, ask for it. When you need to state an imperative, do it!

Try this exercise for a week. Whether you are giving a presentation at work or praying, do not use either “I would like to” or “I want to”, e.g., “my next slide shows...”; “please direct your attention to...”; “join me in welcoming our next speaker to the podium”. I am sure you will experience at least two things.

One, people will pay attention and take notice of what you are saying because you won't sound like everyone else. Two, you will become more certain in not only your communicating, you will also become more aware of your authentic desires and feelings.

I believe the long term effect, when more and more people take this approach, will be community in balance. Conflict will still exist, and not everyone will like you, but there will be less angst. “I'd like to get the world to sing, in perfect harmony”. It is the real thing.

Next reflection, do not use the word “just” when you pray.

Just Do It, Just Say No
(With apologies to Nancy and Nike)

I always have to ask myself why some words and phrases set me on edge, viscerally affect me, or simply make me sigh. Is it simply my seeing things differently from the speaker or is it a feeling that what I am hearing is actually affecting my being?

There could be a LONG list of phrases for this reflection, I shall, however, deal with only one word. Just.

When the Hebrews put their revelation of God into words, the one aspect they were pointed in defining was God as personal, immanent and intimate. In the King James translation, this close relationship was kept because the words "thee" and "thou" were the same as "you" and "your" are today. Through the years we have elevated thee and thou to royal status and created a gulf between us and God. AND, we have exacerbated that gulf with the use of a four letter word when we pray, JUST.

When we use "just" we reinforce our concept of a gulf between us and God despite, even for the literalists, the many times God has been quoted in scripture saying that I am with you always and will never leave your side. We then can use that gulf as an excuse or justification for why God does not answer our prayers the way we want them answered.

So what's a person to do? Do not use the word JUST when you pray.

Think I'm way off? Try it for a week and just see how different your relationship to God becomes.

Where in the M are we? 7/25/10

I have been watching Through The Worm Hole with Morgan Freeman on The Science Channel, but this is not a critique of the series. This is a reflection on eternity and how the series has filled in some critical pieces in my personal quest to articulate how I can continue to exist after the Universe does not. But first, let me go back in my life to ground why this question is important for me.

My first recollection of any kind of spirituality was my baptism. I was four months old and I remember the white lacy whaterveritwas I wore, the green and white tile floor and the water on my head. Can't remember any of the words, just that I had to pee after the water. Then there was the first story about Jesus when I started Sunday School at age four. Easter was a mystery until I had it all figured out by second grade. I did not know my mother's parents even though there is a picture of her mother holding me before I was one year old. I got to know my father's parents very well and then in the fourth grade, Grandpa died. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Jesus loves us and this isn't supposed to happen. I was not mad at God, I just knew I did not like this dying thing. One night I woke up and yelled to my mother that I did not want to die. She told me I wouldn't. Confusion reigns and the easiest way to deal with it is to not dwell on dying, just move on. When two friends my age died, it was, “Oh crap, pause, OK, let’s move on.”

In high school I began to engage what Easter meant to me and what happened after physical death. I was able to do this because a good friend said, “I can’t tell you for a fact what happens when we die, but I can tell you what I believe if you want to hear it.” Honesty and Mark Twain’s, Captain Stormfield’s Trip to Heaven were watershed moments in my spiritual evolution. Then in college some geek TA in an introductory astronomy class talked about entropy and the collapse of the Universe. “Wait just a freekin’ minute here, if the universe collapses, what happens to my eternal ass” (I was in college, we talked like that)? Graduation and twenty years in the Air Force flying at 600 miles an hour a hundred feet off the ground takes your mind off the question.

After the Air Force I found myself going to Seabury-Western Episcopal Seminary. I graduated and was ordained to the Priesthood in July 1994 on Bastille Day (still have not found an organist who will play the Marseillaise for the procession). Now I can not dodge the “what happens when” question. As it turns out, St. Anselm, many conversations with my classmates, teachers and colleagues and a healthy dose of process theology have been instrumental in the development of how I answer the question.

No matter what position you take, whether we are the products of the conscious thought of God, or that we are the result of a beautiful accident, what existed before the thought or the accident? Enter the Science Channel, Through the Worm Hole and the miracle of CGI (computer graphic images). Some of us have evolved in our spirituality where journeys in astral planes allow for a really big picture observation, e.g., Paul in the third heaven, the Buddha, and the disciple beaming from a conversation with a Nubian in Egypt to Lebanon between sentences. Most of us haven’t evolved that much however, and the graphics in Through the Worm Hole were my AHA! moment. Specifically the episode on M theory. What caught me was not the mechanics of membranes touching thereby causing many big bangs, or the possibility of this universe not being the first or last iteration of what we label as our existence. What caught me was being in the position of an observer and not ceasing to exist when the ‘branes touched. I truly felt at that moment, and do now, that we are the products of the conscious thought of a creator, inextricably a part of that creator as that creator is part of us and that the mechanics of how it all works are part of the marvelous quest of discovery in which we get to participate. I can’t tell you for a fact what happens when we die physically, but I will tell you what I believe if you want to hear it.

Mechanics Theology 7/5/10

The hardest part of this reflection was coming up with a title. This is not a reflection about people who are mechanics or a theology they might profess. It is a reflection of what people seem to be really worried about. I am sure that some of you will wonder why I came to this thought late in life when it might seem so obvious. Well, some are slower than others.

In my latest spate of reading, I was able to express that what sets people apart in their spiritual quest is not their beliefs as much as it is how their beliefs are implemented or the explanation of how those beliefs work. For this discussion, I am going to limit myself to that with which I am most familiar, Christianity.

I was engaged in a conversation with two other clergy, each from a different denomination. The specific point was Baptism and what constituted an “appropriate” and “authentic” baptism. We all agreed to the premise that the Holy Spirit is involved. We all agreed that there is a change in our spiritual approach when baptized and then the conversation proceeded to move into the “appropriate and authentic” discussion.

What I found amazing was one clergy saying to another that although he believed they were both good Christians, one was not correct. OK, I should not have been amazed, but like I said, some of us are slow to see the intellectual become tangible. It did not hit so much as a brick but like a pie thrown in slow motion. You both believe in God. You both believe in Jesus. You both believe in heaven. But you both believe the other is incorrect. You can’t have it both ways, or can you?

What my two colleagues are worried about, deep down, is not God, but how God is interpreted. Yes, my literalist friends, literalism is an interpretation. The way out, the way to have it both ways, however, comes at a price. That price is giving up your ego interpretation and living the position that I don’t agree with you, but that doesn’t mean you should change. It does mean that we need to consider how it would benefit us both to allow each other to live our belief and not force our interpretation on the other.

I worship in a way that makes sense to me and I realize it may not make sense to others, and that’s OK. I am not troubled about the mechanics of how, in fact I find the many “how” possibilities exciting. I do wonder though, if my two colleagues will still be arguing about Baptism when they both arrive in heaven.

Keynote Address to Sandpoint Memorial for Idaho Peace Officers May 14, 2010

We are gathered today to honor those who died in the line of duty and those who have died after completing their careers. In the reading of their names and remembrance of their accomplishments, we are also keenly aware of those who are serving beside us and for us.

There are no words that can remove the pain and heart felt disappointment which accompany any death. In the time of our grieving, we may hear someone tell us, it’s OK, you’ll get over it. My admonishment to you is to not “get over it”. Those we honor today are threads in the fabric of our lives. To “get over it” means we are willing to remove that thread which will diminish both the person who served and ourselves. Rather, we should always remember and be glad that thread is part of the ever increasing fabric of our lives. What makes a thread worth remembering?

I do not have a definitive answer, rather, two observations. My first observation is there is an added dimension to those who willingly serve in positions of known higher risk. We see it most clearly in law enforcement and fire protection. This is not to say that other professions do not share the same characteristics, but I have yet to have an F-16 land on the road in front of me and issue someone a ticket for speeding or a naval fire boat sail up Lincoln to put out the fireworks sparks on the roof of my house which were so graciously donated by my neighbors on the 4th. What we do see in our everyday lives are the police cruiser and the fire truck. What we also need to see are the people inside those vehicles. What are the characteristics of a person who is willing to meet a situation that can be benign or a mortal confrontation? Acknowledging those characteristics leads me to my second observation.

I believe there are at least six characteristics. Acceptance, compassion, forgiveness, humility, understanding and valor. Acceptance of the complete situation in which you find yourself. This does not mean agreeing with everything you see, but seeing everything which allows for the best decision. Compassion for the people you encounter. Compassion in the truest sense leads to authentic, ethical action which best serves all involved. Forgiveness does not equal doormat. Forgiveness means not attempting to control another’s destiny, but rather to be part of allowing a situation to find its conclusion. Humility means completeness. To be truly humble means you know yourself and are able to act rather than simply react. Understanding is more than knowledge. Understanding leads to integration of the characteristics I have mentioned so far and brings a person to be able to “do” valor. Valor is not a thing you can posses and it is not an act you can script. Valor can be demonstrated by an act as simple as putting on your socks when you would rather stay in bed or placing yourself in harm’s way to serve and protect.

So for those of us who serve those who serve, let us be ever mindful of the threads in our lives that have reached their length and those which continue to increase in length. Let us treat this memorial as a time of celebration of life and commitment. God bless this assembly and those we honor and may God keep us from speeding and playing with matches.

Easter (4/4/10)

The First word is the hardest
It Comes
Found on the precipice
Of an abyss that begs entrance
To trap that is freedom
- JP Carver, Seabury-Western, 1993

I waited for Easter to write my next reflection, not by design, but through divine procrastination. Come on, you know procrastination is divine, because if it wasn’t, then we would have to own the responsibility for it and who among us wants to do that? As it has worked out however, I was asked to give the Easter address, not at an Episcopal parish, but at a local, non denominational, spiritual center and my reflection is the talk I gave.

First let me say I felt honored and humbled to be asked to talk on Easter to a group which is varied in spiritual paths and holds as its guiding principle, respect for each person’s spiritual expression.

My remarks are based on The Last Week by Marcus Borg and John Crossan, Alan Jones’ February 27 reflection in Praying Day by Day from Forward Movement Publications, Sr. Joan Chittister’s 4 April 2010 interview on NPR, and Destiny of Souls by Michael Newton and my continuing encounter with the Divine.

Easter is about Resurrection and salvation. We have to ask ourselves what we mean by resurrection and salvation because, as unique individuals, none of us can see them exactly the same as another person will. In 1998 when I was traveling home to move my mother into an assisted living facility, I wore my clerics on the plane. The young man who sat next to me in the center seat (the one that we all hope will be left empty when we travel) turned to me and said,”I see you are a minister, when were you saved”? I responded, “On a Sunday morning at sunrise about two thousand years ago”. The rest of the flight was very quiet. I tell this, not to make fun of the difference in our view of salvation, but to point out the most difficult facet of any encounter with another when the discussion is about faith. The young man mentioned and I see salvation differently and the hard part is to be OK with the difference. I am sure he holds his belief as passionately as I do mine. The question is, are we willing to live with the difference and still treat each other as a child of Creation? How we approach each other on the subject of resurrection also brings to the forefront our passionate beliefs.

There is one thread about the Resurrection story which, I believe, makes it extremely difficult. The majority of people who you may ask, conflate the stories from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John into one tableau which tends to softball the message. Combine that with the non questioning approach to anything theological, and I feel you have a recipe for a large glob of pizza dough which, if you tried to spin it into a pie, would end up covering you from head to toe. In Mark, the women went to the tomb, found it empty, and ran away scarred and did not tell anyone, OOPS! Of course the question has to be asked, if they did not tell anyone, how do we know? In the other three Gospels, the story is fleshed out and we are able to engage looking for an expression of truth in the story. Joan Chittister said in her interview that doubt is the beginning of faith. I agree. I find it impossible to tell the Resurrection story and not have at least one person ask, “but what about...?”, which leads me to Alan Jones’ reflection on Orthodoxy.

To paraphrase his reflection, Orthodoxy, right thinking, is actually the approach which acknowledges the ambiguity of belief and the differences which exist because we are unique persons and that heresy is actually the position that the Divine can be defined in concrete, one for all, absolute terms which everyone can accept. Orthodoxy, according to Jones, actually allows for engagement with the complex, infinite character of the Creator. This brings me to the questions of what is resurrection and when does it occur?

There are those who believe that our life, even though it be eternal from birth, is a one time physical shot and that after death we are with God forever, as spirit and that resurrection occurs for all at that moment of transition. There are those who believe that we are eternal and incarnate multiple times into physical bodies on this earth to learn lessons which bring us closer to the nature God intends for us. Personally, I don’t believe in re-incarnation, because that means I will have to live life again in the same body. If I do incarnate again, I don’t mind being bald, but I’m going to be in a skinny body with a high metabolism. That being said, resurrection for me is not about time, but is that moment when, no matter what our path, we move into that “new creation” which was made possible through God’s incarnating as Jesus of Nazareth and effecting our reconciliation.

Barb and I heard a plea on TV last week from an organization which was sponsoring an Easter egg hunt. They did not have enough Easter baskets which they wanted filled with chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs. My acculturated reaction was, “Tough, Easter is not about chocolate!”, but wait, if that is a person’s path for entry into the dialogue about what Easter is, I should sponsor a basket. As good as dark chocolate is for you (OK that’s why I’m healthy but not skinny), it only provides a small part of what I really need at Easter, a HUG! Hugging a bunny, my dog or my cat is great, but the hug of a loved one, a friend, or even a person you are meeting for the first time, is hugging God. Resurrection is the hug God gives us. Resurrection brings us into the balance God intends for Creation. That balance which allows us to move through time, dimensions, into locked rooms and eat with friends; to be one with Unconditional Love (which by the way is also embodied in a bunny, my dog and my cat).

I end this reflection with the position I hold for all I have said. I believe it to be true, I do not intend or have to prove it to be true, because, I can’t prove it, I can only believe it. And I do not ask any one else to prove what they believe to be true, I only ask them to tell me what they believe.

May this Easter be the continuation of your eternal dialogue and a hug with God.

Deflecting Attack (2/27/2010)

I have been reading a lot since the last reflection (check the latest entries to the Readings). The amount of material and the concepts I am engaging for the first time seem overwhelming. As I stepped back and looked for a theme which might pervade all that I was reading, two concepts settled out, balance and deflecting attack.

The visual I got for deflecting attack came from The Karate Kid. Alan Rickman even used it as the Metatron in the movie Dogma. Wax on, wax off. If you have not seen either of these movies, please do. Wax on; move your left hand in a counter clockwise motion as you apply wax to your car. Wax off; move your right hand in a clockwise motion as you remove the wax. Use both motions to polish the car. Why is this important? One of the first principals in martial arts is to deflect a blow rather than meet it head on with equal force. Visualize a hand coming directly towards you. Move either your left or right hand in the appropriate motion and deflect the blow away from you. When done correctly, the attack won’t hit you and you will even use the force of the attacker to move them farther away from you. This works best when you are balanced in your movement, which gets me to the second theme that is consistent in everything I have been reading.

I believe there is an ultimate goal, an ultimate truth of creation. For me, that ultimate is balance. When all is in balance, any force will be used to create rather than remove. One of my seminary professors said it best, “My up can not result in any body else’s down”. Every action has a consequence. A balanced action results in a balanced consequence.

I had a driver cut me off at the gas station yesterday. Rather than waiting for 30 more seconds for me to move through the pumps after the person in front of me left, this person pulled around to the pump in front at an angle that kept me from moving forward. The look they gave me was also one of anger. My first reaction was consideration of displaying an undiplomatic gesture, rolling down the window and telling them that although I knew they were trying their best, their best sucked. A milii second later, I realized that to regain balance, the best I could do was to back out of my spot and exit the station through an open isle. Wax on, wax off.

This incident is obviously not the most serious in degree compared to the many others that come into our lives, but they can all be approached in like manner. Jesus’ second commandment is so simply stated we can easily miss its complexity, dismiss it as a cliché or justify it can’t be real because nothing so profound can be said in seven words. However, when I learn to love my self and show that same love to my neighbors, I will be balanced and not have to use more force than necessary to deflect an attack of any size.

Winter Solstice (12/21/09)

I used to not pay much attention to the passing of either solstice other than to be disappointed in the loss of sunshine or the amount of darkness. I really did not care why it happened, only that I might be inconvenienced. This Winter solstice, however, paying closer attention to what is happening is proving to be enjoyable rather than disappointing.

Some of the enjoyment comes from thinking about the people past who determined the need to mark the event. I really would like to meet, not the person who determined the need to mark the event, but the person who was sent out to align the markers. Think about that person. At the very best, it would have taken only a year. I suspect, however, that it took much longer. How many cycles occurred before the placement of the markers was not questioned? How many times did the weather affect the observation? If you have ever been in England, the sun is blocked by weather at the most inopportune times. My imagination also leads me to wonder how did the person placing the markers keep competitors from either moving or removing them. Once the markers were established, I wonder how they were used.

Were they used simply to make an observation, or were they used for a spectrum of reasons. That spectrum could extend from those who used the marker to designate the time for a ritual in which they pleaded with nature to not leave them in darkness to those who marked the day as a time of celebration that nature’s cycles repeated in a pattern which provided for their sustenance.

Although it took me several years past my exposure to astronomy in school to be able to visualize the tilted earth revolving around the sun and the reason for the seasons, I never felt the impulse to perform a blood sacrifice to get the sun to rise and the winter to end. I also, until recently, did not feel a compulsion to mark this astronomical moment with any extended celebration. My position has changed.

Thanking God for this creation and marveling at its complexity in awe filled silence definitely has its place. In addition, I have also experienced that a lively, community expression of joy for the beautiful complexity of creation is also as necessary. The Celtic based observance I experienced this solstice fused the tactile, transcendent, primal, intellectual, scientific, and theological into a focus on embracing the night because it brings the day and embracing the light that fills both day and night.

I did not get to check to see if the marker I placed in my yard was correct because the sun has not shone this day on my yard for the past three years. I did however, quietly note internally that I will enjoy the next Winter Solstice as much as I will enjoy the warmth of the next Summer Solstice. Listen for the drums, cymbals and didgeridoo so you can enjoy it too.

JP+

Beautiful Darkness (11/13/09)

From the Green of the Season of Pentecost to the White of Christ the King to the Blue of Advent, the start of the journey into beautiful darkness. Beautiful darkness? Are you kidding? There’s nothing beautiful about darkness, ever been on Hiway 95 after dark trying to get home? Well, yes, but that is not the darkness I am talking about. Without putting yourself at risk, find time to go out when it is dark to a place with as few lights as possible. This seems to work the best in Winter.

There is something about the dark and cold of the night which puts you in a very contemplative frame of mind. There is also something about that crystal clear darkness which allows you to see farther. It’s not oppressive, but actually freeing. You get a sense of the majesty and wonder of Creation and the anticipation of not only the coming morning, but an anticipation of a wondrous change. I believe it is that anticipation of change which the early Christians wanted to incorporate into their worship of Jesus as much as anything. True, it made sense to give a different meaning to the already established pagan rituals which accompanied the change of the season. However, whether it was articulated or not, there was that age old experience of change which permeated any celebration associated with this time of year in the Northern climes.

Most of us do not spend a month talking about our birthday to come. If we celebrate it at all, it’s most likely a one day event. The Christian community, however, developed a liturgical season for the anticipation of Jesus’ birth. How that liturgical season is celebrated speaks to the theology of the community. That may seem obvious, but the striking differences speak to the diverse ways God is worshiped; with passion. But I am firmly convinced that underneath all the varied expressions is a primal need to engage the change of the season. A need to make sense of what is happening. A need to be more than a passenger on a rock watching the stars move and the sky change. A need to find out what is unique about the birth of Jesus.

Advent, literally “coming to”, gives us a time to focus on the prophetic message of God’s entrance into our physical lives. A time to contemplate the end of the world as we know it and the change brought about by Jesus’ reconciling transition. A time to be immersed in that vibrant darkness and say, Wow!!!

JP+

Beginning (10/29/09)

The first snow of the season came to Sandpoint today, the start of Winter. I know it is viewed by many as an end and not a beginning. But as we begin a new phase of our ministry, I see it as a beginning. Snow is cleansing. Even as it goes back and forth between rain and snow, the ground [and the crawl space in my house] is being prepared to accept the water it will hold until Spring. The streets are being washed by nature as is our furniture when the dog gets past us at the door and comes in to shake off the rain. Time seems to settle.

What does not settle, however, is the effort it takes to move forward into the not yet known. I am struck by the starkness of meeting people as the first followers of Jesus did; no church building, no pews, no membership rolls, no limits. It is even more stark when this effort is compared to how church has operated for the last 1700 years. For us, it is back to Jesus’ method; no coercion, live your belief.

Winter is a good time to embark on this mission. It is a good time because the movement into the dark days is like moving into a warm bed and crawling under the big down comforter knowing sleep refreshes and you always wake to a new day. It is also a good time, because I am an unabashed cheerleader for Saint Nicholas. Not the Coca-Cola version, but the Saint Nicholas whose spirit of giving has fueled our imagination and spirit for centuries.

God bless us all who are moving into Winter’s embrace as well as those who are now being warmed by lengthening days. May we be ever mindful to respect the dignity of every human being and all of creation as we live into God’s blessing.

JP+