Living in a world gone mad

For the moment, we’ll pretend that it hasn’t been over 7 months since I last wrote.  

Join the ranks of my parents, friends and earliest sweethearts to whom I have often provided the gift of opportunities for forgiveness.   Perhaps, in a later missive, I will explain myself.

For now… let us thank Donald Trump for motivating this current phillipic. 

 (we’ll wait while you google it…)  

Actually, I’m being somewhat misleading.  1.  This blog will not be particularly “fiery”.  

2.  There is NOTHING for which to thank Donald Trump.  

Ever. 

And Ever. (Amen).  

But he has got me thinking.  

What does one do when one discovers that he/she is living in a Reality Television show?  Because that’s how I feel as I watch the surrealist theatre and listen to the rhetoric of the Presidential Primaries in the U.S.    Can I simply swear at Gordon Ramsay and turn in my apron? Refuse to shower and get voted off Big Brother?  Is there any way that I can beg the Tribe to speak or simply dance away from the stars?

It seems not. 

This show will not turn off - like “Two Broke Girls” or “Saved by the Bell” no matter how poor the writing, acting or embarrassing the situations, it’s always on!

Living in a world where public figures re-write history on a whim (Donald Trump’s business acumen; Hillary Clinton’s lionizing of Nancy Reagan and her support for people with Aids; when Bewitched brought in a new Darren) I find myself wondering what to do when the nuts are in charge.  How does one live in the midst of evil, stupidity or just plain wrong-headedness?   I respect democracy and I have bought into the idea that the majority have the right to determine their shared future – but how does one live quietly in the midst of those who have been fooled or hoodwinked; lack the capacity or information to make an informed and just decision?  

Do I just grin and go along with it?

As teenagers, sitting in school cafeterias or basement recrooms we would often profess that, had we the ability to time travel, the first that thing that we would do is go back and assassinate Hitler before his rise to power.  We knew most assuredly that the best way to deal with evil was to kill it before it could spread.  However, with commitments to life, justice, the rule of law and the priority of democracy, I have to confess that I would be unlikely to assassinate anyone.  

(I had always believed that there we only two assassination attempts on Hitler, but having recently been informed that there were as many as 47, I’m beginning to wonder if some or my teen age friends haven’t figured out how to time travel and are simply bad a assassination) 

Of course, I could just bitch, moan and post constantly on Facebook how funny, stupid, useless or disappointing everything is.  But, much like my plans to assassinate Hitler, I would like leave my teenage attitudes and practices behind me.  

(Seriously… how ‘bout we give the new Prime Minister a little more than 6 months to fix everything that needs fixing and stop blaming him for looking good in a suit?)

So, what am I supposed to do?

I’ve ruled out assassination.

I’m trying to let go of whining.

I don’t want to live angry.

I’m not moving to Iceland.

French’s Ketchup aside, I’m not convinced that yelling and screaming at the Parliament Buildings, a Trump Rally or Loblaws is really going to affect much change in me or in the world.  But I can’t do nothing, can I?

This Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, most churches will be commemorating the Palm Sunday parade of Jesus.  And thinking about it, has inspired me and will help to inform how I will live in a Trump World… and you may live in a Trudeau world…. How we can live together in a world where we may not be entirely “at home” living with idiots. 

Historically, it is likely that Jesus' little parade happened on the day of or very close to the time of larger parades.  Parades that celebrated the Roman Empire; a least one parade that would have been notable for horses, chariots, loud noises, big crowds and raucous cheers in the name of Rome.  A reason for celebration, but also a reminder to the local folks as to who was in charge, and how they would deal with unrest and disobedience.  It’s all cheers and balloons, unless you step out of line and then these same horses, chariots and soldiers could be turned on you.  

Having been born and raised in Southern Ontario, I’ve never been to parade that frightened me or carried any undertones of violence in my mind – but go to the Airshow with some Refugees some time and you may see a very different reaction to the spectacle of military jets flying overhead in formation.

In the face of this militaristic, double speak world of violence and Empire, Jesus cannot remain silent.  However, he does not go to the parade and throw tomatoes… he does not scream “Fascist” and speculate as to the size of Pilate’s penis (thank you Republican Presidential hopefuls for raising the bar so high…)  He simply lives and presents an alternative.   He puts on another parade at the other end of the city… one with a donkey (or two) and people throwing clothes and waving palms.  There are no clowns, no banners,  no horses, no chariots or soldiers; there is no military or commercial might on display whatsoever.., instead, a parade of people cheering and crying out “Hosanna”.  An alternative to Empire; an appeal to God and peace, hope and love… a simple act that doesn’t dazzle or manipulate, but provides another way.  Kind of like the first the best of Pride Parades. 

images may appear whiter than likely... or even, possible.

I think that this will be my best way forward should I find myself a minority awash in a sea of idiots… or a morally responsible person in the midst of a world gone mad.  I will live and demonstrate an alternative to corrupt privilege of those who rule. I work diligently at loving the stranger, opening my hands and heart to those in need, I will seek peace rather than victory, I will pray rather than deride, I will keep doing what it right and trust God… and I will have a parade - many parades! I will make visible my choices, so that others may be inspired to come out of the shadows and live authentically, even if it is not endorsed by the majority;  I will live and parade in loving opposition to the “common sense” choices of the masses.   And maybe, just maybe… someone will recognize that “Hosanna” actually means “save us”… and our daring to hold true to what is just and loving will eventually be enough to change "common sense" and save us all.

Or we all move to Iceland. http://www.iceland.is/

Holy, Holy Week!!

After a great Palm Sunday Service, I find my mind wandering as I drive home from church... here's where it wandered.

Holy Week.

Yes, it is… Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, Easter Morning… it’s going to be something.  

But Holy?

Hmmmmmm....

What do we mean by Holy?

Growing up, holy always meant "special"... something you covered in plastic, like a Holy Relic, or Nana's furniture... something you couldn't really explain, you just knew... something that is beyond language… often something that we keep to ourselves.  (Shhhh… it’s Holy!  Don’t talk about it!)

I think of friends who were NOT allowed to read the Bible while going to the bathroom because the Bible is Holy.  (Apparently, this was a big thing for teenagers to do… sneak into the bathroom with a King James and read!!   Bobby, what are you doing in there???  You’d better not be reading Holy Scripture!!) 

I remember parts of churches and temples that the “Public” are not supposed to access (Not, here… it’s Holy!)    

So, Holy is special… but I never thought of my girlfriends as Holy (if we did date decades ago, I did respect you and thought you were special… just not “Holy”  I mean, that really doesn't sound like much fun).  Holy seems to be something that we strive to obscure; even keep away from others.   Ask yourself, why do we call it Good Friday?  Do you know?  If someone asks, do you have an answer?…. Or are you more likely to tell them that if they don’t understand, than they never will?  (yes, Ross Lockhart did explain it in last Month’s United Church Observer, but how many of us are that smart??)   

How about Maundy Thursday?  Do you know we call it that?   Is it really what the Mamas and the Papas were singing about in the 60s? (Maundy, Maundy, so good to me… Maundy, Maundy, it was all I hoped it would be…) 

Holy seems to mean something that we keep to ourselves and something that is confusing to outsiders.

But surely that’s not what Jesus meant by Holy.

This week I’m imagining Holy to mean broken open.  Like Jesus at the Last Supper, breaking open his body – literally, figuratively, metaphorically – and making it Holy.  Breaking open that we might receive, breaking it open that we might understand, breaking it open so that we might be included… the opposite of what we often do with “Holy”.    What if Holy Week was a week of 2 billion Christians being open to each other and the world?  Open to loving who we love, regardless of local customs; open to engaging with others no matter what the community at large might consider “proper”… open to not knowing some things, feeling other things and daring to share our special, secret traditions… open, if it might hurt… open, even if we might look foolish…  Open, like Jesus, not elevated like the Holy of Holies; but broken open to the world, willing to pour ourselves out for others.  

Imagine what kind of Holy Week we could have….

It’d sure be different… and just maybe, what we all need right about now. 

Glad I'm not preaching Palm Sunday

Good thing that I’m not preaching this week…

It’s Palm Sunday.

It happens every year and I've run out of things to say other than, “Hosanna!”

Fascinating discussion evolved in my Tuesday 8am Bible Study.  Now, to be clear, this isn't Bible Study, like you see on TV… it’s not a gathering of dour people who listen to some scripture and then look to the leader who points on an a map where all of these things took place; there are no “flannel boards” and not once have we hugged and sung “Kumbaya”.

The six to 10 people who gather on a given Tuesday have varying political views, differing theological perspectives and life experiences.  Some rush off to jobs, others are retired… (oddly, it’s the currently employed folk who hang around the longest in the morning).  The first 20 minutes are usually reserved for political discussion, world events or things that amuse us…  Pope Francis, Rob Ford, Justin Timberlake share time with Alice in Wonderland and the many creations of Charles Dickens.  We have coffee.  We often get around to talking about the scripture that will be read for the upcoming Sunday.   (note, I didn't say “always”)

This week we started to talk about Palm Sunday and whether or not Jesus staged the whole thing and if he did, was it a political statement or was it a conscious decision to “fulfill” the written prophecies.  Of course, it was agreed that no one believed in pre-destination… the idea that everything is already decided, set in motion inevitably by God.   Pre-destination seems to be come from a need or desire to see God so completely in charge; so powerful, that nothing happens that God has already ordained will happen.   If you’ve read my earlier blog on the Omni-God, you know that I have a problem with such an understanding.  It was stated with some confidence that if you went out into the streets, work places and educational institutions in and around Toronto and asked people if they believed in pre-destination, the vast, vast, almost beyond vast, majority would say “No”.  (except for a few extreme Calvinists, who knew that you were going to ask that question….).    This was a rare moment when we all seemed to be in agreement….. UNTIL

“What if you asked the question another way… what if you asked people if they really had much choice in life… or any choice…  I’ll bet a lot of people would tell you that they/we don’t really have much choice… most of what happens to us in life is inevitable”

So, we may not believe in Pre-Destiny, but many of us live our lives as if we are co-opted by fate, routine or the powers that be.   I’m not making a case here for pre-destination, but I wonder if maybe Jesus was when he arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and made his way to the cross.  

Personally, I do think that Jesus made choices that lead him inevitably to the cross: He could have avoided Jerusalem at Passover, stayed in the country and stayed off the radar (perhaps those who go away for Easter Weekend do so as a religious observance, ritually saying “if only Jesus had done this); he could have slipped into town unobtrusively, he could have avoided Judas’ kiss (PDAs will get you every time), he could have engaged Pilate in a conversation, he could have pointed out that Barabbas was not such a great guy… but he went to the cross.  So that he could be resurrected? Possibly… although again, I think that he was as surprised as anyone at his resurrection that weekend.  So why go so obediently to the cross?

This is where I think that our classic depiction of the three crosses on the hill can be misleading.   Contemplating this image we can sometimes think that what happened to Jesus was remarkable or “special”.  The record suggests that it was anything but….whether the suggestions that the roads outside Jerusalem were lined with the crucified are accurate or not, it is agreed that Pilate was not reluctant to put down civil unrest by crucifixion.   Is it possible that Jesus’ foray into Jerusalem, confrontation with  and execution by the State, is meant to reveal and “unspoken” truth that if we are to be governed by an Empire based on war and the threat of war, then the death of innocents is inevitable or pre-determined?   Jesus goes obediently to the cross to be in solidarity with the tens, hundreds, even thousands put to death on crosses, to reveal the truth about such a state and our choice…

Let’s remember that Rome was not particularly bad for Judaism.  Rome allowed the Temple to stand and function, Pax Judea was a decent deal… and the economy was good under Rome… the roads were good, sanitation was good… I don’t want to sound like a scene from Monty Python’s Life of Brian, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Brought Peace?

Oh, peace... shut up!! 

But it all comes at a cost… If you want peace the comes from the threat  of force; of war and/or death – the cost is that political dissenters will be executed.  Innocents will inevitably be killed…. There’s nothing you can do about it.

Or you might decide that instead of that kind of state being in charge of your destiny… God is in charge.  Jesus presents the choice quite powerfully: Rome’s way… God’s way.  God’s way is revealed in his way of Jesus’ life, his parables that invite radical hospitality; question the hoarding of resources; invite us to trust and rely on one another – all very scary prospects.  And the cost?  Your life… but your life poured out willingly by you, not a life taken by the state.

I don’t know… maybe Jesus is not so political.

And I’m not preaching this Sunday, so maybe I’m going to let it go for now… but I do wonder sometimes.

The horrific rape case is Stuebenville and coverage that seems to focus on the lament the damage done to rapists’ futures as young athletes and scholars over the “actual” victim’s pain and loss.   Dare we say that in a culture that objectifies women, celebrates power and commodifies sex, it is inevitable that woman are going to be raped and rapists protected?

In a culture that demands “lower prices”  and puts the consumer’s rights above all others, could we say that it is inevitable that workers will be exploited somewhere… even if it’s our of our view?

As I consider the plight of miners and those who live near mines in South America, I am moved. But when I consider what part of my pension might be invested in those mining stocks and the economic impact my family might experience if we divest… I focus my gaze on the three crosses on the hill on Good Friday and try not to look at the hundreds of crosses lining the roads.   Could we say that in a culture that focuses on profit and economic security for some without regard for the rest; in a system that says more is better than less and that it is the responsibility of financial institutions to make the most money for their clients… it is inevitable that innocent people will suffer and die, as the fund managers say “I was just following orders… I had no choice”?

Today, I think that Jesus goes to the cross to be in solidarity with all those who die needlessly and unfairly… all those who are made to pay the price for the security and luxury of others… and I think that he does so trusting us to look around and realize that we can choose our destinies… we can follow the ways that lead to death, or the ways that lead to life… but whatever we choose, there will always be a cost.  So, spend your life… or spend somebody else’s… your choice is not pre-determined, it’s up to you.

Then again, I’m not preaching this week… 

   (God must have planned it that way)