This morning, as I sometimes do, I joined our Outreach team on their biweekly early morning outreach. Early morning outreach is an opportunity for the team to collaborate with other local agencies serving the homeless and try to contact people in the community who may not regularly access services anywhere. We provide coffee, doughnuts, sack lunches, water, and other supplies. We gather by 8:00 am and spend about an hour and a half greeting people.
Today was notably beautiful. Sunny, clear sky with a slight breeze out of the west. Just warm enough that you know it's going to be hot later on. Many people wanted water for later. Some were inclined to stop and visit for a while and some wanted to get their coffee and bolt. I try to do coffee and doughnut service so that my Outreach coworkers can get the information they need without trying to juggle clipboards and coffee cups. As an added bonus it gives my awkward self something to do and say which is welcome. A smile, a cup of coffee, and a "have a nice day," is doable.
Of the many encounters this morning, two stand out to me.
The first was a woman who came and got a doughnut and coffee and then seemed to be waiting for someone. This was confirmed as some time later a man in a nicer pickup pulled up and she got into the truck with two other men. We all watched as this woman got into this truck, into this unsafe situation, and knew there was nothing we could do in those circumstances other than what we had already done for her, which was offer kindness along with her coffee and doughnut.
The second was a woman who came up, got her coffee and other stuff, and then I lost track of her, until 15 minutes or so later when she was walking across the far side of the parking lot, having clearly just left the semi-truck parked there and its occupant. The realization of what sort of activity was taking place hit me like a slap.
I'm here, enjoying this beautiful morning, in the relative safety and comfort of my coworkers and colleagues company, and here are these two women having completely different mornings. Did they stop to notice the sun, the breeze, the warmth in the air? Can they stop to notice? What a luxury it is to stop and smell the proverbial roses. Two women this morning placed themselves in remarkable danger, in situations most of us would never even begin to contemplate, just to make it through today. This beautiful day that I don't think they even noticed.
Regardless of your thoughts about their choices, understand that for women the streets are unsafe in a way they aren't for men. Understand that they make incredibly difficult and painful choices, often to trade in the only commodity they have for a chance at food, at shelter, and yes, maybe drugs too. For one second try to imagine that level of desperation. Sometimes I lose sight of what the daily experience for our clients can be like, and today was a sharp reminder.
Remember this, too. For most of us, hope is reflexive. We have learned, through experience, that life is not always unkind and that bad situations often have happy endings. We have learned that on the other side of pain is healing, and so we hope. For many of the people we serve here, hope is a luxury as much as noticing a beautiful day is. Hope is what you get when you aren't focused every second on simply surviving to the next second.
So then, our job becomes to cultivate hope in our clients. We do that in a multitude of ways, but some of the simplest are offering a cup of coffee with a smile, offering service without judgment, offering kindness without strings. My hope is that those things together perhaps remind someone who may feel hopeless, bereft of their humanity, that they are indeed a loved and valued person, at least in this moment. Small kindnesses given in love may be all someone needs to lift their head once more in hope. What a beautiful morning indeed to remind me of the power that I have to instill hope in others.
Friday, May 26, 2017
Friday, November 18, 2016
Don't Panic
It's been a long time since I dusted off my blog and wrote anything. Life has been busy and I have not made the time for writing that I should. However, I have some thoughts about recent events, and as usually happens, I best express them when I write. So here we go.
Right now, there are a lot of people who want us to come together as a country, to unite and move forward. Well, the problem for me is, I do not want to unite behind this man's ideals, his beliefs, or his plans. Some of the things he has said are truly disturbing, and at times absolutely horrifying. The things that people say in his name, that he has not or will not directly disavow, are even worse. I believe that to be united we must all be valued equally. That my white skin should grant me privilege or opportunity beyond what someone else has disgusts me. It infuriates me. As it should for all of us. And yet, and yet...
So if it is not possible to unify behind this man, if we cannot and will not tolerate or stomach the racism, sexism, Islamophobia, homophobia, etc. from some of his supporters, then what hope is there? Well, there's this.
For every act of hatred, of intolerance, of bigotry, of discrimination, of violence toward "the other" there must be a greater act of love. For those of us who will not and cannot unite behind the vision that has been cast for our country, we must unite in love, remembering of course that love is an action word. It has no meaning as a platitude or a feeling, it must be acted upon if it is to be of any use. We must reach out into our communities in love, with tangible, real acts of sacrifice, of faith, of hope. If it becomes necessary we must become the shields and the voices for those most likely to be hurt by this administration. Side by side we can form a wall of love that stretches not just around our own country, but around the world, to reject this blatant evil.
Maybe some (if anyone still reads this thing) will be offended by my use of the word "evil" here, but this is evil. Evil that divides us, evil that separates us, evil that will destroy us if it can. And the only way to beat that back, to stop it, is to meet it with overwhelming love. To refuse the vision of fear and hate and self-interest and to reach out with radical love, compassion, empathy, and hope.
I know so many of us (me included) are terrified of what the future holds. It is scary and a little fear is healthy if it propels us to action. But too much leads to the kind of hatred and anger and intolerance that we abhor. So we must be careful that in our fear we do not become what we are fearful of.
In the immediate future, I recommend that we all refuse to engage with the online ugliness. The internet and social media can be a great tool for community, but it can also serve to spread hate and fear. If you find yourself in a conversation online, or even in person, that is unproductive, hateful, and damaging, walk away. Even if it is someone you love, walk away. End it. Refuse to feed that evil. It will do everything it can to draw you in. It will mock you, belittle everything you hold dear, insult you, threaten you, but find the strength to walk away.
For so many of us still reeling, still raw, still hurt, this is hard. How do you reach out with love or compassion toward people with hearts so twisted? We do this through compassion and empathy. We learn to see them as the broken and misguided people they are. We do not have to accept their views to do this. We do not have to tolerate their views or actions to do this. We do not even have to like them to do this. But we must remember to love them. Pray for them.
For anyone reading this who feels directly threatened by the hateful rhetoric flying around, remember this. More of us are with you than are against you. We will stand with you, we will fight for your rights and your lives, and amplify your voices with ours. We will not leave you behind. When you are afraid remember that you are not alone, and you will never be alone in this fight. In the end I believe that love is the light of the world, and no matter how the darkness rages, it cannot put that light out.
Right now, there are a lot of people who want us to come together as a country, to unite and move forward. Well, the problem for me is, I do not want to unite behind this man's ideals, his beliefs, or his plans. Some of the things he has said are truly disturbing, and at times absolutely horrifying. The things that people say in his name, that he has not or will not directly disavow, are even worse. I believe that to be united we must all be valued equally. That my white skin should grant me privilege or opportunity beyond what someone else has disgusts me. It infuriates me. As it should for all of us. And yet, and yet...
So if it is not possible to unify behind this man, if we cannot and will not tolerate or stomach the racism, sexism, Islamophobia, homophobia, etc. from some of his supporters, then what hope is there? Well, there's this.
For every act of hatred, of intolerance, of bigotry, of discrimination, of violence toward "the other" there must be a greater act of love. For those of us who will not and cannot unite behind the vision that has been cast for our country, we must unite in love, remembering of course that love is an action word. It has no meaning as a platitude or a feeling, it must be acted upon if it is to be of any use. We must reach out into our communities in love, with tangible, real acts of sacrifice, of faith, of hope. If it becomes necessary we must become the shields and the voices for those most likely to be hurt by this administration. Side by side we can form a wall of love that stretches not just around our own country, but around the world, to reject this blatant evil.
Maybe some (if anyone still reads this thing) will be offended by my use of the word "evil" here, but this is evil. Evil that divides us, evil that separates us, evil that will destroy us if it can. And the only way to beat that back, to stop it, is to meet it with overwhelming love. To refuse the vision of fear and hate and self-interest and to reach out with radical love, compassion, empathy, and hope.
I know so many of us (me included) are terrified of what the future holds. It is scary and a little fear is healthy if it propels us to action. But too much leads to the kind of hatred and anger and intolerance that we abhor. So we must be careful that in our fear we do not become what we are fearful of.
In the immediate future, I recommend that we all refuse to engage with the online ugliness. The internet and social media can be a great tool for community, but it can also serve to spread hate and fear. If you find yourself in a conversation online, or even in person, that is unproductive, hateful, and damaging, walk away. Even if it is someone you love, walk away. End it. Refuse to feed that evil. It will do everything it can to draw you in. It will mock you, belittle everything you hold dear, insult you, threaten you, but find the strength to walk away.
For so many of us still reeling, still raw, still hurt, this is hard. How do you reach out with love or compassion toward people with hearts so twisted? We do this through compassion and empathy. We learn to see them as the broken and misguided people they are. We do not have to accept their views to do this. We do not have to tolerate their views or actions to do this. We do not even have to like them to do this. But we must remember to love them. Pray for them.
For anyone reading this who feels directly threatened by the hateful rhetoric flying around, remember this. More of us are with you than are against you. We will stand with you, we will fight for your rights and your lives, and amplify your voices with ours. We will not leave you behind. When you are afraid remember that you are not alone, and you will never be alone in this fight. In the end I believe that love is the light of the world, and no matter how the darkness rages, it cannot put that light out.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Red Letters
So my previous post was a bit of a barn burner. I'll admit, I really had my temper up on that one. I'm going to readdress the issues raised previously, but I am going to try to keep it calm. So, in that spirit, we move forward.
I have in my collection of Bibles, scriptural commentaries, and other assorted religious teachings and writings, what is called a "Red Letter" Bible. In this version, all the words of Jesus are printed in red. It's very handy, especially if you want to know if Jesus really said that. Well, all you have to do is look up the verse in question, and if it is in red, then you know. I'm going to throw this in here-I am not a theologian, a Biblical scholar, a preacher, or anything like it. What I have is a Bible, a desire to connect with God, and to understand the truth of God and the expression of God in this world. Occasionally this desire compels me to write things down, and that's what you get here in this blog. Ok...moving on.
So, I got this version of my Bible and I checked, thoroughly, for ANY reference, made by Jesus himself, to homosexuality being a sin or to homosexual marriage, or really anything at all having to do with homosexuality. Would you like to guess what I found?
Yeah, nothing. I did find references to sexual immorality and adultery. Now, for those of you who might be getting ready to jump all over the "sexual immorality" bit, let's consider what that might mean. Sex outside of marriage, maybe? Sex with multiple partners? Pornography? Pederasty? Prostitution? Rape? It's not particularly clear what that is. Left up to my interpretation, I would say that it is sexual behavior that is not part of a loving, committed (consensual) relationship between two people. The sin would be if someone engaged in sexual acts or behavior that was not consensual, not loving, not committed. It would not be because sex in and of itself is immoral, but because the behavior is destructive.
I have said before, but I'll repeat, sin (in my opinion) is that which separates us from God and prevents us from hearing his call in our lives. If we're tearing around having sex all willy-nilly with whoever happens across, we're not focused on God. We're focused on pleasure and we're focused on ourselves. That is sin.
So, what about Leviticus and Genesis? The story of Lot (talk about a messed up guy...but anyway) does not strike me so much as a story about homosexuals themselves as about a group of men who are behaving in a homosexual way without necessarily being homosexual. Refer back to my comments regarding willy-nilly sex. Of course, Lot offers them his virgin daughters to rape instead (where's the outrage regarding that, by the way?) and they refuse, and then they're blinded by the angels.
In Leviticus we have two verses that people just love to quote to "prove" how wrong homosexuality is. Two comments on this.
First, in my handy-dandy red letter Bible, I find it interesting how not one quote from God is in red. Nothing that is attributed to God directly has been outlined. Not even the 10 Commandments. I don't know what the reason for that is, but here, again, are my thoughts. Ever played a game of telephone? You know, where one person says something, and then the message has to travel around the circle to the person who started it and about 99% of the time it has changed so much that it's not even the same message anymore? I wonder if we don't directly attribute God's words to God because part of us knows that we might have gotten some of the message mixed up in translation. So these two quotes, from Leviticus, although attributed to God could possibly be mixed up. They could also be falsely attributed, but I'll not get into that.
Second, we ignore an awful lot of the rules from Leviticus. I mean a LOT. For instance, I myself enjoy shellfish, pork, meat on Fridays, meat and cheese together (helloooo pizza!) and I don't recall ever sequestering myself OR undergoing ritual purification after my monthly time. I also have a tattoo. So yeah, I may not be a homosexual, but I'm already breaking a bunch of laws here.
And the kicker is...I am not one tiny bit concerned about any of them. Ask me why...go on, it's fun. (I'm going to pretend you did.)
I am not concerned because Jesus said this about the law in Matthew 22 37-40: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets. If I trust in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and I strive to love God with everything I have and love my neighbor as myself, then I'm doing alright. I'm not perfect, but I'm doing what I was told as best I can with my flawed human self. I'm not going to worry about what God thinks of my tattoo, or whether I was eating shellfish. I'm also not too worried about my homosexual neighbors. What God thinks of them is between them and God and I have no business interjecting my opinion in there or judging anyone for anything. Not while I myself am so hopelessly flawed and law-breaking.
I do not believe same-sex couples are committing a sin by loving one another or by wanting to declare that love and commitment in a marriage ceremony with their family and friends. I do not believe that their marriages will somehow damage my marriage, or destroy society, or destroy the institution of marriage. I also do not believe that any person's private faith or morality has ANY business determining the legal and civil rights for other people. That's just constitutional.
Equality and love for all. I think God, and Jesus, would approve.
I have in my collection of Bibles, scriptural commentaries, and other assorted religious teachings and writings, what is called a "Red Letter" Bible. In this version, all the words of Jesus are printed in red. It's very handy, especially if you want to know if Jesus really said that. Well, all you have to do is look up the verse in question, and if it is in red, then you know. I'm going to throw this in here-I am not a theologian, a Biblical scholar, a preacher, or anything like it. What I have is a Bible, a desire to connect with God, and to understand the truth of God and the expression of God in this world. Occasionally this desire compels me to write things down, and that's what you get here in this blog. Ok...moving on.
So, I got this version of my Bible and I checked, thoroughly, for ANY reference, made by Jesus himself, to homosexuality being a sin or to homosexual marriage, or really anything at all having to do with homosexuality. Would you like to guess what I found?
Yeah, nothing. I did find references to sexual immorality and adultery. Now, for those of you who might be getting ready to jump all over the "sexual immorality" bit, let's consider what that might mean. Sex outside of marriage, maybe? Sex with multiple partners? Pornography? Pederasty? Prostitution? Rape? It's not particularly clear what that is. Left up to my interpretation, I would say that it is sexual behavior that is not part of a loving, committed (consensual) relationship between two people. The sin would be if someone engaged in sexual acts or behavior that was not consensual, not loving, not committed. It would not be because sex in and of itself is immoral, but because the behavior is destructive.
I have said before, but I'll repeat, sin (in my opinion) is that which separates us from God and prevents us from hearing his call in our lives. If we're tearing around having sex all willy-nilly with whoever happens across, we're not focused on God. We're focused on pleasure and we're focused on ourselves. That is sin.
So, what about Leviticus and Genesis? The story of Lot (talk about a messed up guy...but anyway) does not strike me so much as a story about homosexuals themselves as about a group of men who are behaving in a homosexual way without necessarily being homosexual. Refer back to my comments regarding willy-nilly sex. Of course, Lot offers them his virgin daughters to rape instead (where's the outrage regarding that, by the way?) and they refuse, and then they're blinded by the angels.
In Leviticus we have two verses that people just love to quote to "prove" how wrong homosexuality is. Two comments on this.
First, in my handy-dandy red letter Bible, I find it interesting how not one quote from God is in red. Nothing that is attributed to God directly has been outlined. Not even the 10 Commandments. I don't know what the reason for that is, but here, again, are my thoughts. Ever played a game of telephone? You know, where one person says something, and then the message has to travel around the circle to the person who started it and about 99% of the time it has changed so much that it's not even the same message anymore? I wonder if we don't directly attribute God's words to God because part of us knows that we might have gotten some of the message mixed up in translation. So these two quotes, from Leviticus, although attributed to God could possibly be mixed up. They could also be falsely attributed, but I'll not get into that.
Second, we ignore an awful lot of the rules from Leviticus. I mean a LOT. For instance, I myself enjoy shellfish, pork, meat on Fridays, meat and cheese together (helloooo pizza!) and I don't recall ever sequestering myself OR undergoing ritual purification after my monthly time. I also have a tattoo. So yeah, I may not be a homosexual, but I'm already breaking a bunch of laws here.
And the kicker is...I am not one tiny bit concerned about any of them. Ask me why...go on, it's fun. (I'm going to pretend you did.)
I am not concerned because Jesus said this about the law in Matthew 22 37-40: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets. If I trust in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and I strive to love God with everything I have and love my neighbor as myself, then I'm doing alright. I'm not perfect, but I'm doing what I was told as best I can with my flawed human self. I'm not going to worry about what God thinks of my tattoo, or whether I was eating shellfish. I'm also not too worried about my homosexual neighbors. What God thinks of them is between them and God and I have no business interjecting my opinion in there or judging anyone for anything. Not while I myself am so hopelessly flawed and law-breaking.
I do not believe same-sex couples are committing a sin by loving one another or by wanting to declare that love and commitment in a marriage ceremony with their family and friends. I do not believe that their marriages will somehow damage my marriage, or destroy society, or destroy the institution of marriage. I also do not believe that any person's private faith or morality has ANY business determining the legal and civil rights for other people. That's just constitutional.
Equality and love for all. I think God, and Jesus, would approve.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Variation on a Theme
I was reading back over
a few of my blogs and I noticed that in the last few a theme seems to be
developing. Let's see if you can pick it out by the end of this one.
My husband and I were
having a conversation yesterday (it seems like a lot of my blogs start this
way, but I promise, this isn't the theme...) and somehow or another we got onto
the subject of discrimination. Not in a 1960s, civil rights, Martin Luther King
Jr. kind of a way, but a now, happening, in-your-face kind of way. The
discrimination that comes packaged in religion. Yeah. That.
I got angry. I won't
lie, I got really angry. Angry enough that I started crying because this is one
of many areas where I feel helpless. And like I'm beating my head against a
brick wall every time I speak out against it. I'm going to be really blunt
though. Your religion, whatever it may be, does not give you the right to deny
another person their rights. To anything. Ever.
If you are Christian, and
you don't think homosexual people have a right to be married because it doesn't
uphold a "Biblical" definition of marriage, I've got news for you.
You have no right to deny them. On legal grounds because your private morality
has no business dictating the public policy of this nation. On religious
grounds because Jesus told you to judge not. And to love your neighbor as
yourself. I don't care if you think it's a sin. If you want to be a follower of
Jesus and call yourself a Christian then step right into those sandals and get
your brunch on with those sinners. You are called to love them, not condemn
them.
Do you think you
standing around judging them and calling them sinners and telling them they're
bad and awful is going to make them want to listen to you? To believe in your
God? Let's turn it around...how do you feel when the religious extremists call
you a sinner or an infidel and declare that you are going to hell? Yeah, it's
not so good, is it? So love them. Care for them and their well being. Sin is
not an act that you find unpleasant, or wrong, or judge to be immoral. Sin is
that which separates us from God, that prevents us from hearing His voice and
doing his will. Sin in following our desire and not God's.
Finally, and in the same
vein...I have just about had it with people who call themselves Christian who
can't or won't be bothered to help anyone less fortunate than themselves.
People find all kinds of reasons not to. "It's enabling them and they
won't ever learn how to take care of themselves if we do it for them." or
"They're drug addicts/sinners/bad people and they don't deserve my help.
They'll just abuse it." or "They're just lazy and I don't have to
take care of them." or (and this might be my *favorite* reason) "It's
my money/stuff/time and I earned it, so why should I give it away to those
undeserving poor/shiftless/lazy/good-for-nothing/etc. people?"
Here is the best reason
I know why you not only ought to, but also must help in whatever way you can.
Pretty specifically. Don't believe me? Check this out:
Matthew 25:31-46New International Version (NIV)
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fireprepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
Did you catch the "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine?" It's not the people who have just fallen on hard times and need a hand up that we are commanded to feed, and clothe, and shelter, and nurse, and visit. It is the least of these. The worst of the worst. The most wretched. The ones who are taking advantage. The criminals. The drug addicts. The ones who will never recover. Never be whole. Never be productive. Who can never repay you. These are the least. The lowest. The ones who need God's love and God's light the most. And you are the messengers of that light and love. You. And you are not going to get that message across by proclaiming the evilness, wrongness, and otherwise worthlessness of the person you're supposed to be loving.
And I get it, nobody wants to feel taken advantage of. Or that what they've done hasn't made a difference. But if you do these things with love, then you have made a difference. However small it may be. Small acts of love, of grace, of kindness can make a world of difference.
Get outside of your church. Do something for someone who can do nothing for you. Do it with love. Do it with kindness. Do it with grace. Do it without judgment.
I know that God is with me, always and everywhere. But I put a lot of distance there because God asks a lot of me. God asks me to sacrifice, and let go of my own desires and my own will and to do His and I don't like it. It's hard. And that's sin. God continues to work in my life to change this and I will never be perfect. But I will always do my best to help those who need it because I believe that God has called me, has called all of us to do just that.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Tear down the walls
I had a thought this week which I have not been able to shake. As with most thoughts like this, it has grown into an idea large enough for a blog. So, the thought, at its core was this: Most of us spend our entire lives creating distance between ourselves and the world.
In some cases this is a necessary and healthy thing to do. Creating distance between ourselves and damaging or harmful people and situations is important. Knowing the limits of our abilities, our energies, is also important. It prevents us from overextending ourselves and causing harm.
Where I take issue with the distance is when we create unnecessary distance between ourselves and our world because we are afraid of what could happen to us. We're afraid of being hurt, of being judged, of a million other things. We fear the vulnerability that comes with sharing who we truly are because we are afraid that we will be cast out. We are afraid that we will be found wanting. So we create distance. We place restrictions, and barriers, and obstacles between us and everyone and everything else. Should I take a dancing class? No, because I'm not that coordinated and I don't want to look silly. Should I strike up a conversation with that person? No, because what if they don't like me?
Here's the thing...who cares?? If you want to dance, dance. If you feel like talking to someone, do it. If you trip on your feet, or they don't like you, oh well! Do it anyway.
And one place where I think we all create distance, and we're all afraid, is between us and God. We crave the presence of God in our lives but we fear it. We create ritual and rules so that we can keep God at a distance and bring him down to a size we can manage.
Really and truly, deep down in my heart I believe this, God is right here with us. We have only to accept and acknowledge him and open our hearts to his presence. There is no special ritual, no special procedure. Just acceptance and love. Available to us all the time, every day, without price, without question. Complete acceptance, unconditional love. Just imagine. And we flee from it because we are so afraid of our own flaws and inadequacies. We judge ourselves far more harshly than our Creator ever could or would. So we shrink from contact to protect ourselves, to hide our nakedness and our shame.
The world may tell us to be ashamed, and to hide, to build walls, but God never does. God never will. And we should not place limits, and barriers, and walls around ourselves. Reach out in love, accept yourself in all of your flawed glory. Accept others in theirs. Above all love. The greatest of all things is love.
Whoever you are reading this, know that you are loved. Immeasurably, always, infinitely, and for exactly who you are right this moment. Go into the world and love as you are loved. Tear down the walls that keep you apart.
In some cases this is a necessary and healthy thing to do. Creating distance between ourselves and damaging or harmful people and situations is important. Knowing the limits of our abilities, our energies, is also important. It prevents us from overextending ourselves and causing harm.
Where I take issue with the distance is when we create unnecessary distance between ourselves and our world because we are afraid of what could happen to us. We're afraid of being hurt, of being judged, of a million other things. We fear the vulnerability that comes with sharing who we truly are because we are afraid that we will be cast out. We are afraid that we will be found wanting. So we create distance. We place restrictions, and barriers, and obstacles between us and everyone and everything else. Should I take a dancing class? No, because I'm not that coordinated and I don't want to look silly. Should I strike up a conversation with that person? No, because what if they don't like me?
Here's the thing...who cares?? If you want to dance, dance. If you feel like talking to someone, do it. If you trip on your feet, or they don't like you, oh well! Do it anyway.
And one place where I think we all create distance, and we're all afraid, is between us and God. We crave the presence of God in our lives but we fear it. We create ritual and rules so that we can keep God at a distance and bring him down to a size we can manage.
Really and truly, deep down in my heart I believe this, God is right here with us. We have only to accept and acknowledge him and open our hearts to his presence. There is no special ritual, no special procedure. Just acceptance and love. Available to us all the time, every day, without price, without question. Complete acceptance, unconditional love. Just imagine. And we flee from it because we are so afraid of our own flaws and inadequacies. We judge ourselves far more harshly than our Creator ever could or would. So we shrink from contact to protect ourselves, to hide our nakedness and our shame.
The world may tell us to be ashamed, and to hide, to build walls, but God never does. God never will. And we should not place limits, and barriers, and walls around ourselves. Reach out in love, accept yourself in all of your flawed glory. Accept others in theirs. Above all love. The greatest of all things is love.
Whoever you are reading this, know that you are loved. Immeasurably, always, infinitely, and for exactly who you are right this moment. Go into the world and love as you are loved. Tear down the walls that keep you apart.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
This little light of mine...
I, like many others, am
heartbroken over the events that took place this last Friday
in Connecticut. I have a kindergarten age son and I cannot imagine the
heartbreak and horror that this community is feeling right now. I see many,
many people asking "Where was God?" or saying that if we had left God
in our schools, this would never have happened. Dear readers, God *never* left
our schools. Romans 8: 38-39 assures us that there is nothing at all that can
separate us from God's love. Nothing. God was with every teacher, every staff
member, every child, every first responder for every single moment of that
day.
I also see a lot of
despair, a lot of fear, a lot of hopelessness. People are crying out in the
darkness and asking: "Where is the light? What is there to believe
in?" In the first chapter of John, verses 1-5 we find the answer. (From
The Message)
1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
3-5 Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
Every day of our lives the darkness is struggling to put out the light of God in this world. Evil strives to extinguish God's light within each of us. Whenever we are confronted with the kind of tragedy, and horror, and disaster of something like Sandy Hook it is so easy to allow ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking that God has abandoned us. God is with us, always, everywhere. There is nowhere that He is not present with us, no circumstance where His hand is not upon us. His light shines in the world and the darkness, no matter how it tries, cannot and will not overcome that light.
God calls us to be the light of the world, to share His light with
all people. Remember the song, this little light of mine? When you feel
hopeless, and afraid, and anxious, remember that you are to let your light
shine. Don't let Satan blow it out. Let God's love, and grace, and peace fill
you and shine out of you. This tragedy does not change the truth of who God is.
We are the provision God made for the world in times of tragedy. We are called
to be his people, to comfort the wounded, to weep with those who weep. Have
faith. Although my heart breaks in this tragedy for those families who have
lost so much, who would give anything to bring their babies home again, I rejoice
knowing that they are with Jesus and I pray that the comfort, and peace, and
strength of God be with all who are mourning, as we all mourn with them.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Namaste...Recognizing the Divine in All of Us
My mom and I have been taking a yoga class for several weeks which has several benefits, not the least of which is some mother-daughter bonding time. It is a day that I look forward to all week and I enjoy my yoga class very much. It's relaxing, it's fun, and it helps me with this whole being healthy thing I'm doing.
Anybody who has ever taken a yoga class will be familiar with the end-of-class ritual where everyone bows and says "namaste." For anyone who has not taken a yoga class, here's a little bit of background on the ritual and the meaning of the word. Namaste is a word that originates in India and literally means "I bow to you." The bow with the word is the recognition and acknowledgement of the divine spark, or soul, that lives within each of us. In some parts of the world, the bow alone gives this message. It is a beautiful, brief way to acknowledge that we are all the children of the divine, however or whoever we may understand that to be.
I think this is something that we don't take enough time to do. We fail to acknowledge the fact that our fellow human beings are all children of the divine. We all belong to God. It doesn't matter where we live, what we believe, what we wear, what we look like, what gender we are, or anything else.
I see a lot of things on TV, on the internet, on the street disparaging groups of people for one reason or another. Things that suggest that Arab mothers aren't "brave" because they strap bombs to their kids while Jewish mothers are brave because they will cover their child's body with their own to protect them. Or things that suggest that homosexuals are less than human. Or that women are less than men and don't deserve to make decisions for themselves because they lack a basic morality. Or that poor people are lazy, shiftless, and morally bankrupt. You get the idea.
Put bluntly, I think all of that is a bunch of crap. If we spend so much time tearing others down just to build ourselves up we cannot acknowledge their spark, their soul. I get really angry when I see anyone professing any viewpoint that says that one group is somehow worth less than another. But sadly, I see more of that from people I love and care about than I would like to admit, and that doesn't just make me angry. It also hurts my heart.
It hurts me because I truly believe that all of the external packaging is superficial. What really matters is our spark, our soul. I acknowledge that everyone, in the whole entire world, has the same soul as I do, and what's more, that their soul carries the same value as mine. None of the external stuff matters in the least. And when I am tempted to forget that, I remember that God loved Hitler. I'm pretty sure that God wasn't a fan of what Hitler was doing, but then, I'm not sure God is a fan of a lot of the stuff we're doing either.
Now, I am not God. My love is not perfect. I screw up and make mistakes and get angry and I judge others. However, I think if we could all be mindful of the fact that we all belong to God, it would be a lot harder to draw these lines and make these distinctions. It would be harder to say that I am better than you. Because I'm not, and you're not.
So what does all of this have to do with yoga? Well, for just a little bit, every Tuesday, I take the time to acknowledge the God-given soul that resides in all of us. From my heart I acknowledge that your soul and mine belong to God and that it is there that we are all truly equal. Namaste.
Anybody who has ever taken a yoga class will be familiar with the end-of-class ritual where everyone bows and says "namaste." For anyone who has not taken a yoga class, here's a little bit of background on the ritual and the meaning of the word. Namaste is a word that originates in India and literally means "I bow to you." The bow with the word is the recognition and acknowledgement of the divine spark, or soul, that lives within each of us. In some parts of the world, the bow alone gives this message. It is a beautiful, brief way to acknowledge that we are all the children of the divine, however or whoever we may understand that to be.
I think this is something that we don't take enough time to do. We fail to acknowledge the fact that our fellow human beings are all children of the divine. We all belong to God. It doesn't matter where we live, what we believe, what we wear, what we look like, what gender we are, or anything else.
I see a lot of things on TV, on the internet, on the street disparaging groups of people for one reason or another. Things that suggest that Arab mothers aren't "brave" because they strap bombs to their kids while Jewish mothers are brave because they will cover their child's body with their own to protect them. Or things that suggest that homosexuals are less than human. Or that women are less than men and don't deserve to make decisions for themselves because they lack a basic morality. Or that poor people are lazy, shiftless, and morally bankrupt. You get the idea.
Put bluntly, I think all of that is a bunch of crap. If we spend so much time tearing others down just to build ourselves up we cannot acknowledge their spark, their soul. I get really angry when I see anyone professing any viewpoint that says that one group is somehow worth less than another. But sadly, I see more of that from people I love and care about than I would like to admit, and that doesn't just make me angry. It also hurts my heart.
It hurts me because I truly believe that all of the external packaging is superficial. What really matters is our spark, our soul. I acknowledge that everyone, in the whole entire world, has the same soul as I do, and what's more, that their soul carries the same value as mine. None of the external stuff matters in the least. And when I am tempted to forget that, I remember that God loved Hitler. I'm pretty sure that God wasn't a fan of what Hitler was doing, but then, I'm not sure God is a fan of a lot of the stuff we're doing either.
Now, I am not God. My love is not perfect. I screw up and make mistakes and get angry and I judge others. However, I think if we could all be mindful of the fact that we all belong to God, it would be a lot harder to draw these lines and make these distinctions. It would be harder to say that I am better than you. Because I'm not, and you're not.
So what does all of this have to do with yoga? Well, for just a little bit, every Tuesday, I take the time to acknowledge the God-given soul that resides in all of us. From my heart I acknowledge that your soul and mine belong to God and that it is there that we are all truly equal. Namaste.
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