One size may NOT fit all... Something that I'm thinking about on Easter Saturday.

Like many Christian clerics on Easter Saturday, I am reviewing tomorrow’s sermon.  What do I say to the folks on Easter Sunday?  What challenge, what comfort, what truth do I strive to lay bare… what inspiration to Transformation dare I offer to the faithful who come every Sunday (or 3 Sundays a month, anyway) and how do I combine it with a message to those who will be there under duress  (you promised that you’d come to church with me this Easter!     

No Easter Egg hunt until after church!       

Maybe, I should go just to be safe…)?

Old School? New School? Out of School? 

This year, as with many years, I have some media features trying to shape my narrative – a national magazine wondering if Jesus really existed and another colleague featured in interviews decrying the stupidity of the “Old Man in the Sky” and professing to know that most clergy are in agreement with her position, just lacking in courage and support.

Allow me this confession – I am progressive.  I am personally persuaded by what most would call Process Theology.  I am in agreement with Gretta Vosper on many many points.  Not all – but many.  One might say that I am in “Essential Agreement” with her, but still end up in another place entirely.  (United Church clergy inside joke).  I have no reservation seeking personal wisdom or relying on the compassion of many of my Non-Theist and Atheist friends in a time of crisis.   But, I still want my Jesus.

I still adhere to a discreet Divine presence in the universe (throughout the universes, even) that inspires me toward justice and beauty, that loves me and persuades me in all aspects of my life.  I pray and I think that it matters; I hurt and I believe that I am not alone, even when nobody knows about my pain.  That’s me.  I also find that the teachings and the event of Jesus connect to me on all levels of my being: Intellectual, Spiritual, Emotional and even, Physical.   That’s me.  

Enough about me. 

   (egad! I barely know how to type that sentence)

Here are the two things that struck me today, as I was reviewing my notes for tomorrow.

1.      My Great Grandmother has a framed picture on her wall declaring that: “God couldn’t be everywhere, so He created mothers”.     It was likely a gift from one of her many children, but it also matched her theology:  A theology that wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes in seminary.  She was the kind of woman who sang “In the Garden” quite happily and had no doubt that Jesus walked with her, talked with her and called her his own…. Rather like a boyfriend.

How arrogant would I need to be to run back from Seminary and tell her that her faith was wrong… that it couldn’t stand up to real critical thinking and that it would not be sufficient to carry her through her life? A life in which she raised 7 children and even more grandchildren; buried loved ones, both adult and child; created a life with her husband and community that touched more people than I have touched in 25 years of Easter Sermons.  Hers was a faith inspired her to be kind and compassionate, understanding of the failures of others and unafraid to live even to the very end of her life (and beyond). 

I read Tillich and Moltmann; reveled in Whitehead and Cobb; worked through Calvin and found light and joy in De Chardin, discovered Von Balthazar and rarely put down Hall… I could enumerate most (if not all) of the things that were wrong with her silly hymns and ridiculous wall hanging..  

And I haven’t lived a life half as loving or nearly as authentic as was hers.  

Faith is meant to embrace us, it fits us and inspires us… it is not a “once size fits all” reality and just because you may wear a size 2 is no reason to insist that my size 14 is unhealthy or wrong.   It just fits me better.

2.      Back in the late 18^th century, Residential Schools for “Indians” were opened in Canada.  We closed the last one in the late 20^th century.  For two centuries it was our policy to give these Native people what they needed to live in the world as we imagined the world.  We knew that their ideas were silly and not realistic (imagine living on the back of a Turtle)… we knew that their language would never say anything meaningful in world dominated by English and French. We knew that their faith wouldn’t be enough for the real challenges of the “modern” world… so, we insisted that they learn English or French for their own good;  that they accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour and come to know the God of Abraham, the one true God, for their own peace and salvation.   And because we were so convinced that this was the right thing to do, we took away their language and rituals, we forbid any talk of their out-dated faith… we insisted that they talk and believe as we did, we wrested them from their families so that there would be no going back – after all, they were wrong and in our superior thinking we were so very right.

I am not suggesting that Non-Theists, Atheists or A-Theists are running residential schools – that would be an incredible disservice to those whose lives were lost and devastated; whose culture was almost murdered… but I would remind myself and other progressive thinkers and preachers that our arrogance can sometimes takes us down paths that we may not have intended, or certainly would not have chosen had we the privilege of foresight, or the wisdom of hindsight. 

  Your faith might be perfect for you… it might even be objectively “right”; so, too, might your culture and language be perfect, even “right”… but before you insist that others abandon their rituals, language and beliefs; give up their comfort and familiarity... think about my Great Grandmother and consider he truth of the Residential Schools with which we now struggle to reconcile. 

Please, be ready for the questions and the growth as it comes to be – allow people to let go and hold on as they choose, strive to find a common language or at least a way that we can speak together without insisting that either side stop talking their native tongue... but don’t for a moment imagine that you’ve got it all figured out…because one day, you might realize that a size 8 is a way better fit than you imagined. 

At a loss with a Prophet....

I love the prophets.  I love the stories… I love the passion… I love the wild beards.   I love the license to speak and say what must be said.   I had lunch with a prophet today.  Well, he looked like a prophet.  He’s older than me.  Jewish.  Wild greying beard… and he has a gruff voice that can make you smile, even as it commands your attention.  The kind of voice meant to echo off of walls or from the bottom of cisterns  (look it up).

We sat in a lovely restaurant beside Lake Ontario, he ate mussels, I drank wine… and we talked.  We talked as old friends do; we said things that should never be blogged and we laughed at things we would never admit to laughing at. I imagine that lunch with Elisha might have been much the same, although an all you can eat salad bar would likely replace the bottomless soup pot  (again, look it up).   Some might see a difference in that my friend does not believe in God.  He comes from a long line of very devout men and women; he learned his lessons well… but as he feels his age; continues to grieve the loss of his wonderful wife and partner almost 16 months ago and watches the insanity of the world on his TV, he has given up. God has let him down or, at least, left him with no purpose.  I was at a loss as to how to respond.

What.. I’m supposed to tell him to get over his grief and enjoy his life?  What kind of pisher do you think me?  (Can’t help it – spend time with the man, you want to speak Yiddish).  Normally, we know what to do with people like this:  Smile at them, speak loudly and slowly... and pretend you can’t hear them as you walk away.  After all, you can’t make them happy, so why try?

My friend misses his wife.  He hurts for the mishegas of the world (warned you…).  He is dispirited by political gamesmanship, blatant dishonesty, stupidity on the part of the public and the never-ending pursuit of more war, more hatred and little effort made to increase  respect or humanity.   He remembers a time when honour and morality were valued and celebrated in society, religious groups didn’t sell out for money and parents valued their children more than themselves.   He longs for a time when people would listen to each other.

Like I said, there’s nothing you can do to make him happy.  So, best to leave him alone:  His loss of joy in life doesn't have to be mine.  You know what I mean... I can't fix him, so best to get my distance in case he brings me down. 

But, remember I also said that he was a prophet.  And as I recall, prophets didn't really want to be cheered up or fixed.  Jeremiah wasn’t hoping that someone would show him that things were actually better than he thought; he wasn't asking to be shown a sunny sky and told that all was right with the world.  He knew that things were a mess and what he wanted was for others to hear him… to listen… and take action to make things better for themselves.  Same as my friend… he’s not asking me to cheer him up, he wants me to listen... he wants me to learn.  So, I'm listening.    Here’s what I heard today: *

I should be very aware that I am in a good place in my life and I should enjoy it and be thankful, not take for granted my supportive, loving wife… my kids… my friends… my health.   Nothing lasts forever and it would be shame to only realize after things have changed, how great they really were.

I should be aware that real faith in God does not come from a book or someone telling you what to believe… it comes from within.  It is nurtured and celebrated in a feeling of purpose. Call it God; don’t call it God… but feel it and act on it.

I should do all that I can to support and highlight those who make the “right” choices, even when the wisdom of the world would have them do something else: Those who give up votes, power or money because there is a higher calling than being rich, powerful or elected. 

I should listen…   That was his very explicit message to me: People should listen.  It is in listening, really listening, that ideas get in and take root… that strangers become friends… the respect is born and hope is possible.  If we don’t listen than we live in our own little worlds… alone and lonely.

The irony is that this Atheist Jew revealed more God to me in our lunch than a semester of studying the prophets in Seminary.  He opened up his life; his heart…and he showed me God’s message inside.  I hope that I remember… not only what he said, but also that he HAS something to say.  The next that I’m tempted to grin and think about about something else as another un-cheerful person wants to talk… I hope that I remember to listen and discover the wisdom that they are offering; I hope that I treat them with the respect that a prophet deserves – even if I don’t know them or love them as much as I do this guy. 

If I can, then maybe… just maybe, I learn;  the world gets better; God’s presence becomes more clear; and I get to be half the mentsh my friend has always been… (look it up, I can’t do everything for you)

If you have a chance... grab lunch with a prophet, you'll be glad that you did.

* I should be honest -  he may have said very different things, and I could be mis-representing him completely…but that's his tsuris!)

Struggles with an Omni god

I struggle with an Omni-god.

Not a god that reads a defunct Sci-Fi magazine; or one that drives around in a vintage 70s Dodge automobile.   My problem is with a god who is Omnipotent.  I think that I can embrace a god who embraces all possibility and novelty; who is “already there” in the reality that my decisions create (already there in the alternatives, too)-  but still leaves the decisions to me, making me a co-creator in reality.  Perhaps that is a kind of Omniscience – all knowing… but it is in my choices; and choices of the others that the knowledge becomes evident and/or relevant.  God simply knows everything, because that is God’s nature.  Big Deal.

I suppose that’s more of an Omnipresence.  God is already “there”; always “there”… there is no “there” without God.   Again, it would seem to be a feature of God’s nature; or the nature of reality… so, again: Big Deal.

But, when I get to Omnipotent, I get into trouble.  Not simply because I am become very disappointed in a god who hasn’t fixed the things that vex me; hurt the world; make lives tragic.   But because the construct creates an untenable reality.

In trying to come to grips with the God that inspires “awe” and wanting this “awe” to be extreme, we decided that God was the smartest, lovingest, bestest, fastest, strongest thing in reality  (for brevity let’s go with the acronym SLBFS).  In fact, God is not a thing (as a thing exist within something else), but God IS reality.  And we live in God.  Except that we don’t, because we can sin and wander away from God… so, how can we wander away from that in which we live…   so, as a working hypothesis, God is IN reality, but is the smartest, lovingest, bestest, fastest, strongest for all time  (which doesn’t exist for God either).  Cross our hearts and hope to die.  (which can’t happen to God either).  Do you see how hard this all becomes??? So we settle for an Onmipotent God.  At least that we can understand.  The strongest that there can ever be!  No matter what you think the ultimate power may be – God is bigger and more powerful.

So, living with this God who is so powerful and all-knowing… when bad things happen, it must be part of God’s plan.   When thousands die in an earthquake, it must be God’s plan.  Surely, God could have save them… but as God did not, there must be a reason.  God is not cruel… (refer back to the SLBFS god), God knows it all, sees it all, controls it all… So, those that perished did so because they either deserved to die or because their deaths provided a greater benefit to the rest of us.   Sucks to be an object lesson.

With this god, there is no chaos in the universe; no random occurrence; no “real” novelty (already known by God)… but, instead, a whole lot of seemingly wanton and capricious acts of cruelty.  

And along comes Jesus and reminds his disciples that the blind man is not the result of his parents’ sin; that those who died when the towers fell were no different than those who survived or lived nowhere near… in other words, Jesus would seem to indicate that there is a random element in the universe: Shit does happen.   And there is God.

God who is revealed in Love, not in power.  The great thing about Love is that it will out… love always find a way.   Strength and power fade, it is in their nature; but Love need never fade… We can be distracted from love, waylaid and pre-occupied, but when we return, when we discover the limits of power, love comes back to life.  Again and again… and will do so always. 

I don’t know… my thoughts are half baked, as I emerge from the cocoon of my bed… there may be an Easter sermon here… at the very least there is a sense, for me, that Jesus struggled with an Omnipotent god, too – which is why he always seems to point to a different God, one of compassion and love.