Monday, April 11, 2011

Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, April 12, 2011


Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on
the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection
and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.


FDR; President Roosevelt died on this date, 1945, of a
cerebral hemorrhage, at Warm Springs GA, age 63


Nor can any relationship with the great Mystery we call “God”. Relationship and Faith thrive on all the same things as Confidence. Without them they cannot live. And alas – while I in one sense regret to harp on it - in the World today we have little honesty, honour, sacredness of obligations, faithful protection, or unselfish performance, especially on the political and often religious end of things. How have we come to this? Do we just go relentlessly through cycles? Is Life an endless repetition of gerbils running in their endless circular tracks? Do we learn nothing?

Well, according to Diana Butler Bass, some Christian congregations are learning. (See her book, “Christianity for the Rest of Us”) They are learning what it takes to thrive, as human beings and as Christians. Just those things that FDR spoke of. Those principles have been lost from American education – not because of some misguided “political correctness”, but because it has become crucial to insist on the separation of “church and state” to prevent morality and ethics becoming victims of perverted power-mad religionists.

The living of Gospel Christianity depends on all the things FDR so clearly enunciated. And on a few other things. Ms. Bass states a few: Transformation, No exclusion. No intolerance. No coercion. No fear-mongering. No division. I would add: the Acceptance of things the Spirit of God has taught us post-Bible. Because the Incarnate One lives, Truth deepens.

As I try to live by these principles, my relationship with the Mystery we call “God” grows. Yours will too.

Brian+

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