Brian’s Reflection: Sunday, May 20, 2012

God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not

have the Son of God does not have life.

1 John 5 – the Epistle for the Last (7^th) Sunday in

Eastertide, Year B, Revised Common Lectionary

[ The full texts of the Readings can be found at:

http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Easter/BEaster7_RCL.html  ]

Daughter/Son. You, I, are that daughter, that son.

The Gospel, and Jesus, clearly wanted each of us to identify with the designation “Son/Daughter of God”. Phrases come to mind. “May they be one as You and I are one”. “We are heirs in Christ”. “You are Friends”. “You will do things even greater than I”. Christ is the Alter-ego of each and every human being. And no  -  we are not destined to follow the particulars of His “external” life. But we are, I think … in some essential and profound way … destined to follow the inner dynamics of His life. Every human being is so constructed. The Life of the Christ, and of most of the great faith teachers, is the universal Inner Path to Wholeness/Holiness. One does not have to be “religious”. One only has to be human, and a Seeker of the Path.

This last Sunday of Eastertide is a jumping-off point for Christians on a path we follow until next Advent Sunday … when we start over again. Easter told us that that “we shall not die, but live”. It set us on that path of Life … because that’s what it’s all about:  Living. I would say, Forget about the “where” of Living … past, present , future, eternity … it’s not about that. It’s just about Living as fully as we can in each moment given to us. The qualities and characteristics of Living are never different, in whatever dimension. To Live is to Live. That is the powerful message of Resurrection.

The Collect reminds us that that there is a “spirit” in the Universe empowering us on. I believe it is genetically embedded in every one of us. The “spirit” does not “come from without”. It is of the essence of  Us.

Acts, with the election of Matthias to replace Judas as an Apostle, reminds us that we can always count on guides, true guides, to lead us. Jesus promised that we would not be “left comfortless”. Life is such:  it is imbued with the power to Live. (I believe that, from experience!)

The Psalm (1) reinforces the reality that, if we follow the Path, we will find the way to Wholeness. The codeword is “God”.

Finally, the Gospel reading (John 17) reiterates the Oneness we have with the great Mystery and Fount of Life which vibrates at the core of every human being.

All authentic paths to Wholeness say:  Go There. Go within.

May worship tomorrow be Lifegiving.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Friday, May 18, 2012

A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life,

for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live.

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, philosopher,

logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic; he was born  on

this date, 1872, at Ravenscroft, Trellech, Monmouthshire, Wales

Is this an elitist thought … Russell’s, I mean? Something that only a person of privilege can relate to? (I recently had an email from an 80 year old friend who said that one of the reasons she didn’t read my all my Reflections was that some were “elitist” … I haven’t yet written back to ask what she meant by “elitist”. Happily, since I’ve been following as best I can Don Miguel Ruiz’s Four Agreements, trying not to take  anything “personally”, I find myself much freer to appreciate others’ perspectives without feeling defensive or threatened!

I “gaze” about the World and I think, “Who the hell of these people without food and family and education and money etc etc etc can possibly have time for Quiet??” Quiet, it seems to me, is a gift of privilege, essentially. When Religion is being authentically lived out, Quiet is something that one can receive, be taught, regardless of economic or social standing. How I wish that Christian missionary thinking would move from “making new converts for the Church” to gifting people with such inner gifts as Quietness!! What a gift we would be giving to the World! A gift that the Christ would, I think, desire. Jesus was not an Egomanic!

I will try to be quiet today. I invite you to join me. Quiet of spirit, quiet of mind, quiet of emotion, quiet of thought.

I think what Russell meant was that a “quiet life” was a life of Simplicity. I have discovered that Simplicity indeed fosters Freedom … and Freedom fosters Joy.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, May 17, 2012

Day by day

Day by day

Oh Dear Lord

Three things I pray

To see thee more clearly

Love thee more dearly

Follow thee more nearly

Day by day

from “Godspell”; it opened

off-Broadway on this date, 1971

I was in seminary at the General Theological Seminary in NYC from 1971 to 1973. Somewhere in there, Trinity Institute happened. And they “bought out” a night at Godspell. It’s hard for me to imagine it was over 40 years ago! The theatre was sold out that night, with layfolk and huge numbers of priests. I was a monk at the time, and I went in my white habit … which rather made me stand out in all that clerical black.

My absolute favourite moment was the song “Turn back, O Man, forswear thy foolish ways”. In the Hymnal, it is of course one of our staid metrical hymns. But in Godspell it was superbly rewritten as a vamp song. Mary Magdalene appeared from the side of the stage, singing it as a torch song; as she sang, she wandered through the aisles, having a great time plopping herself in the laps of clergy, including Bishop Stephen Bayne, who was Dean of the seminary at the time. It was a great evening! I kept thinking of all the people who were seeing Godspell, and hoping that they saw a whole new side of God and the Gospel.

How we get caught up in the complexities of “Religion”! Doctrine, the Trinity, etc. “Day by Day” goes to the heart of the Gospel … and to the simple heart of all great religious paths. The lyrics come from a prayer written by the 12^th C English Bishop, Richard of Chichester.

Three things I pray:

To see thee more clearly

Love thee more dearly

Follow thee more nearly

“God” is Love … Compassion … Justice … Kindness … Openness to new truths as revealed by Life and Experience … all those things that St. Paul said about Love.

To spend our lives on the Path of seeing God more clearly, Loving God more dearly, Following God more nearly … this would make a wonderful World for us human beings to live in.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, May 15, 2012

AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals;

it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.

Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.

God himself preserved the Bible, and brought it down through the ages.

I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all and I'm going to buy a Suburban next time.

I do not believe we can blame genetics for adultery,

homosexuality, dishonesty and other character flaws.

If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being.

Textbooks are Soviet propaganda.

Jerry Fallwell. Enough said. He died on this date, 2007.

Here you are. A guide for your day ahead on how not to be a Christian, or a compassionate Buddhist, or a person whose life is ruled by Love.

Simple. And, if you are a pray-er, you might want to pray for evolution for us all … that human harts may turn from stone to flesh.

To be candid, I am glad that Jerry has “gone on”. I hope he is having an eye-opening Journey!

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Monday, May 14, 2012

                     

Part of the issue of achievement is

to be able to set realistic goals, but that's one of

the hardest things to do because you don't

always know exactly where you're going,

and you shouldn't.

George Lucas, mythologist, film maker;

he was born on this date, 1944

I cannot tell you how many times I have watched “Star Wars”! I could never watch “Saving Private Ryan” and stuff like that. War stuff about real-life wars revolts me … and for the same reason I can’t watch films about the Holocaust or films about real-life lynchings in good ole America.

There is something ontologically different about “fantasy” … which “Star Wars” and “Avatar” and “Star Trek”  and “The Lord of the Rings” are. They are Myths … truth stories addressing human questioning, addressing human experience from a reflective, philosophical, perhaps at its best religious, manner … just in the same way that the stories of Moses and of King David and the vicious extermination of their fellow Palestinians are not “fact” but “mythological teaching”.

I think that George Lucas is “on the money” when he says that “you don’t know where you’re going”. That is a given of human existence. We don’t, though we may think it in the delusions of our false sense of control. We may say that God “has a plan for our lives” … meaning that if we “listen” to God, we will find a way to deeper, more enriching Life. And indeed , Experience has taught me the reality that paying attention to our Path will lead us to deeper humanity.

George is right: we don’t always know “exactly where you’re going”. And, as he intimates, that’s a fact of human existence. He emphasizes how important it is that we understand this by saying, “and you shouldn’t”.

I don’t think that we would be human if we knew exactly where we are going. We would just be controlled automatons. But the Gospel makes it clear we are NOT that. It says that we are made in the “image of God” ... meaning that we have freedom and choice. We are required by our very nature to examine the meaning of our lives, and then to make our choices so that they fulfill our search for our destiny.

By all means, we must set our goals, realistic ones … difficult as that may be. That’s an essential part of being human. But we must do it in the context of not knowing … because if we did know, we wouldn’t be human. God is not a string-pulling puppeteer. God is the model for the radically free being that is you and I.

Jesus chose His path:  to love, and not to count the cost. Kazantzakis explored, brilliantly, the alternatives. I believe that Jesus did not, as the scripted Scriptures present it, know “exactly where He was going”. But when the moment came, He made His free choice for Love.

That’s where Life is found. What “resurrection” means.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Friday, May 11, 2012

You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled,

then something has been lost.

Martha Graham, artist, dancer, teacher, choreographer;

she was born on this date, 1894.

[ She died at age 96 in 1991 in Manhattan ]

An amazing woman! One of those rare people (unique, indeed!) who changed the World in terms of dance. On her death, the New York Times said she was  “ranked with Picasso, Stravinsky and James Joyce for developing a form of expression that broke the traditional mold”. I saw her dance only once; I was 22, and she was 52. I went to a rehearsal, and she demonstrated some steps. What I remember is … Elegant.

Unique. Yep, we each are, like snowflakes (so I’m told about snowflakes), even if we are a twin. And some is lost to the whole human race if we are not permitted to contribute who we are, what we think, fully. Oh, I know; the World is the way it is … but great teachers call us to see and make the contribution in our unique way. Dennis and I were serving dinner last night at WNMU for two professors who were retiring. Students and colleagues stood to say how their lives were changed by these two women … and it was very moving.

People often think that we have to choose between our uniqueness (in American, our “individuality”) and our intrinsic unity with each other and all Being. I don’t see it that way. They are the polar realities of the truth that when we are unique and united, we are more completely whole … individually and as the human community.

I think the reality is:  the more we are our unique selves, the more the human race achieves it’s wholeness.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, May 10, 2012

Distance does not decide who is your brother

and who is not. The church is going to have to

become the conscience of the free market if it's

to have any meaning in this world - and stop

being its apologist.

Bono, singer, World Keeper; he was born

on this date, 1960

[ What! 16 years after I?! ]

The “church” … and, I would think, all religious or faith paths … must re-find their roots as the “conscience of the free market” … and, as a matter of fact, as the conscience of many other aspects of human community Life today.

I ponder a lot about “religion”, about “faith”. It seems to me that they almost all started out as protests against practices and ways of living that were detrimental to the human Spirit, detrimental to the health of the human being. Now, in so many ways, religion and faith have become the handmaidens of capitalist (or any other social or economic) tools of enslavement. In the America of the “Right” today, Jesus has become the Christian equivalent of CEO of BP Oil … with the Pope and rich tele-evangelists and the Koch brothers and entrepreneurial Muslim Arab sheiks as collaborators.

The people to whom I’ve been listening today – on the issue of North Carolina’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and of President Obama’s courageous and principled statement re. same sex marriage, say that this may be a turning point in the character of America. I hope so.

From an enlightened Biblical point of view, all human beings ~ men and women ~ are equal in all ways in “God’s sight”. The American Constitution intimates the same truth. And therefore, all American citizens should have absolutely equal rights. Religions, by their individual quirks, may hold their own views … but as genuine American citizens, they must support unequivocal equality. Is there an Old Testament supporting principle? Yes: “You must treat the stranger with your gate as part of the Family”. Is there a Christian one? Yes: “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek”.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ … you must follow Him on the hard … but Just   … path.

Brian+