Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, February 9, 2012

Take everything easy
and quit dreaming and brooding
and you will be well guarded
from a thousand evils.

Amy Lowell, Lecturer, critic, poet;
she was born on this day, 1874, in
Brookline MA.

OK. Yes, I know. One can’t always “take it easy”. Yes: one has to “dream”. Yes: sometimes it’s hard not to brood ….. though actually, brooding can be a form of meditation, I’ve discovered.

But. It is amazing how a “thousand evils” can so easily swamp your Life! If we let it happen. I think what Amy is saying is “Live the present moment”. And I think she is right. Living in the Past or the Future eviscerates the gift which the Present offers us ….. and the Present is really all we have, trite as that might sound.

I have my dreams ….. which I may or may not seek out. I do think about the Past, and what I failed to do that I “should” have done. But I think Madame Lowell is wise. Being vitally present to the Present will indeed “will guard us from a thousand evils”.

Here’s a poem of Ms. Lowell’s. She reminds me of just how much I want to experience the “glory of great suns”!

BLOCKHEAD

Before me lies a mass of shapeless days,
Unseparated atoms, and I must
Sort them apart and live them. Sifted dust
Covers the formless heap. Reprieves, delays,
There are none, ever. As a monk who prays
The sliding beads asunder, so I thrust
Each tasteless particle aside, and just
Begin again the task which never stays.
And I have known a glory of great suns,
When days flashed by, pulsing with joy and fire!
Drunk bubbled wine in goblets of desire,
And felt the whipped blood laughing as it runs!
Spilt is that liquor, my too hasty hand
Threw down the cup, and did not understand.


We could all do with being saved from a thousand evils ….. and knowing the “pulsing with joy and fire”.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The atheist staring from his attic window
is often nearer to God
than the believer caught up in his own false image of God.

Martin Buber, Jewish religious philosopher;
he was born on this date, 1878, in Germany



“Our own false image of God”. That’s our real issue, isn’t it? There many people today who think that they have the “right” image/understanding of God. And I have to confess, I’m one of them. To my heart and mind and learning, I believe I know what/”who” “God” is. Part of it is 40 years of study and thought and meditation; another part of it is my heart and in my personal experience.

Buber is not the first one to raise the question of the nature, the deep mystery, of who “God” is. It has been raised from the beginning of time. As I have gotten older, and as I have thought and pondered more, my own image of “God” has become like the mystery of the Universe: it has expanded and deepened into the vast depths of infinity and of Unknowing ….. just like dear Br. Lawrence entered into his “Cloud of Unknowing”. As that has happened, I have been forced to expand my understanding of the nature of Love, of Compassion, of Divinity, of Humanity, of “being made in the image of God”.

Much of Christianity in America today (and I would say much of Islam in the World today) has been diminishing it’s conception of God. Minds have long since become more and more closed and narrowed. “God” has come under the control of “believers”, who have consistently diminished the nature of God until God is made in the image of their limitations, their bigotry, their prejudice, their fear, their ego-centricity.

For Buber, “the atheist” is a symbol of a more open, approachable mind and heart. “Atheists” represent a person free from preconceptions, and therefore open to being touched by the Ineffable …. by the One that vastly outdistances our sorely besieged capacities for understanding ….. and our tribalism and our fears and our need to dominate.

The newly-consecrated Episcopal bishop of Washington DC , Marianne Budde, recently wrote: “Jesus said, “you will know people by their fruits.” St. Paul wrote: “The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

As I gaze about American popular, highly franchised right-wing, literalistic, evangelical Christianity (which seems to me to demean what “evangelical” means), I see no love, no joy, no peace, no patience, no kindness, no generosity, no faithfulness to the spirit of Jesus, no gentleness, no self-control. What I see is fear and hate and ignorance ….. and in that I see “the sin against the Holy Spirit”.

As I age, my vision of “God” expands like the rush of the expanding Universe ….. and with it expands my awe and my joy and my wonder at the vastness yet to be known of who “God” IS. And with that, my awareness of what I do not know deepens my humanity and my own sense of who I am.

“Staring from” our “attic window” is, I think, the most authentic posture of the true seeker after “God”.

We do not determine Who God Is. The Spirit tells us. The Gospel tells us. God waits for us to recognize Her.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I will honor Christmas in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year.

Charles Dickens, author; he was born on
this date, 1812.



In gratitude, we ought all to follow Dickens’ example.

Saturnalia (referencing the Sun); Mithras; Horus; Jesus, and many other deities and worthies ….. all their births are celebrated on Dec 25th.

But. More importantly. “Christmas” celebrates the “descent” of God into the human heart, the moment we become fully Who we Are, are born to Be.

The Christmas carol expresses it beautifully:

Thou didst leave thy throne and Thy kingly crown
When Thou camest to earth for me
but in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room
For Thy holy nativity
O come to my heart Lord Jesus
There is room in my heart for Thee.

Christmas is Everyday. Every day we celebrate our Oneness with God.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Monday, February 6, 2012

I don't stand for the black man's side,
I don' t stand for the white man's side.
I stand for God's side.

Bob Marley, fabulous artist; he was born
on this date, 1945 (a year BEFORE me!)
in St. Ann Parish, Jamaica.


I have no idea what Bob Marley thought represented “God’s side”. But, as I have often said, it really doesn’t matter to me; I use his words as a jumping off point.

The bottom line is: God’s side … if we are talking about God as reflected by Jesus … is “Love one another as I have loved you”. Period. So it follows that the primary life-work of a Christian is to plumb the depths of the meaning of Love. I suggest re-reading the apostle Paul’s word’s about Love; Google it! [1st Corinthians]

Religious folk are at a crux (if I may use the word) of decision today. At least, I personally think so. And I do think so, because for me it speaks to the success or failure of Jesus’ message ….. and to the drawing of all people into the Peaceable Kingdom.

Let me put it simply: either we can continue to think that our “job” as Christians is to lead people to a submission to the person of the Biblical Jesus; or, we can become practitioners of Jesus’ radical Love and, by doing so, draw people to the Path of radical Love and Compassion. [ Our preacher this morning emphasized the demand to be Lovers in the path of Jesus.] My observation is that following the former path has been unsuccessful. We are not called, as Christians, to be recruiters for a religious institution. We are called to be Lovers to the full extent that Jesus was a Lover ….. giving up His life as a witness of God’s Unconditional Love.

My deepest prayer and hope is that the human community can be One, under the umbrella of Divine Love. Jesus prayed passionately for this. I am absolutely convinced – because of my prayerful encounter with Him - that Jesus had NO interest in forcing the human race into one religious sect, dangling the carrot in “salvation” before them. That was the goal of followers who misunderstood Him. All Jesus was interested in was that we should be molded into the Community of Unconditional Love.

“God’s Side” is Compassion. “God’s Side” is to love our neighbour as ourself. “God’s side” is to break down all barriers between ourself and all of God’s children, to love them and to desire for them the fullness of Life He promised … not just to followers of Jesus, but to every single human being.

This is something to which I can give my Life.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Sunday, February 5, 2012

[ The Fifth Sunday of Epiphany in the Christian Calendar ]

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds
that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never
enter the kingdom of heaven." [ Matthew ]

Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of
God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they
are unable to understand them because they are spiritually
discerned. [ 1 Cor 2. ]

"Why do we fast, but you do not see?

Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?"

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,

and oppress all your workers.

Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to strike with a wicked fist.

Such fasting as you do today

will not make your voice heard on high. [ Isaiah 58 ]

From the readings for the 5th Sunday of Epiphany
[ Revised Common Lectionary ]

This Sunday is a Zinger! It’s about Self-deception and Blindness. To my mind, the readings are a window into the fragility and into the mysteriousness of being Human.

So many folk think they understand themselves. This is one of the great deceptions of being Human. Let me give you a contemporary political example: the United States Republican party today sincerely believes that their politics would please God. This is the height of self-deception. The truth is: we are indeed our “sister’s keeper”. Jesus made this very clear. Every time he blasted the Pharisees, it was because they – the popular icon of adherence to the Law - did not live up to their calling.

I would call this “Self-Awareness Sunday”. The readings are reminding us how easily we deceive ourselves. Many contemporary “Christians” are very good at appearing pious - just listen to all the self-righteous pap that is flooding the airways these days, without a resemblance to Christ’s beautiful and Godly Compassion!


“You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.” Most serious Christians think they know the truth about themselves. We do not. Just like the apostles did not. To know the truth requires a surrender minute by minute to the throne of God … a surrender to the sweet Gospel Message.

Fast … and SEE! Humble yourself and NOTICE! Serve and DO NOT OPPRESS!

“Give us the liberty of that abundant Life”. It’s the Life of Compassion, of self-confidence and self-oblation. It’s the Life that is accessible when you know that God made you perfect-in-fallibility, and only asks that you agree to be transfigured day by day by Her compelling Grace.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Friday, February 3, 2012

For this is the journey that men and women make, to find themselves.
If they fail in this, it doesn't matter much else what they find.

James Michener, author; he was born on this date, 1907.



Oh, I read them all, ravenously: The Source; Hawaii; Chesapeake; Texas; The Covenant; Caribbean; Tales of the South Pacific; Caravans. His evocation of the topic was spellbinding. As a youth I spent many nights reading until the book fell on my chest as I fell asleep.

I guess I am in synch with what Michener says, theologically and philosophically. And I believe that what he says is correct: unless we find ourselves, and until we find ourselves, everything that we attempt to add to the World will be skewed in some way. If we have not “found ourselves”, whatever flows from us will not be a sharing of our unique gifts or charism ….. just a rehash of stuff we have “learned”. But God wants us to “find ourselves”, and make our unique contribution ….. that’s ’s what it means to be a “child of God”.

Alas, we seem to live in a time when this Journey is laughed at. Everyone must conform. Everyone must meet others’ expectations. And even more Alas, children are encouraged in this, lest they be bullied and singled out, and, in American culture, hounded and driven often to suicide. I can only feel that we have sunk to the lowest level of what it means to be human.

Why is it that people feel so threatened by what/who is different? It has to be a fault in our upbringing on all levels.

Michener is on the money. First we must know/discover that we are an expression of “the Divine” ….. which simply means that we are the offspring of the great and mysterious power from which drives all Life.

We must find out Who We Are. It is at that moment that we can then add our gift to the Universe.

And of course: we need to have a World which acknowledges and affirms our calling as a messenger of Blessing.

I hope that this will evolve soon!

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, February 2, 2012

Better pass boldly into that other world,
in the full glory of some passion,
than fade and wither dismally with age.

James Joyce, Irish Author; he was born
on this date, 1882, in Dublin.


[ Today is 02022012: I love configurations like that!]

Well I remember having to read both “Ulysses” and “Finnegan’s Wake” at university. Hopeless. I didn’t “get” a bit of it! It really annoyed me, as I thought of myself as a perfectly intelligent person. Good for the humility though! And I have to chuckle that when I decided a few years ago to re-read Finnegan’s Wake, I still couldn’t understand it! But, I have to say the same thing about most of the poems in the New Yorker!

I think that most of the great spiritual leaders had a passion. Jesus passed “boldly into that other world” refusing to deny the centrality of Love and compromise. The Buddha did the same, holding steadfastly to the passion of Enlightenment and simplicity. Martin Luther King changes America, living his passion for freedom in the knowledge that he might die for it. There have been countless such people in history, and they have blessed and enriched human existence ….. and shown us the way to Live.

I guess the message is: Each of us is given to gift of a Passion, which, if we embrace it, will bless the World.

What a superb thought!

Brian+