Mermaid Wisdom

Seated in a restaurant, across from the golden-haired Mermaid emerging from a red brick wall. A cheeseburger plate placed upon her hands, yet her gaze draws my attention away from what she has been forced to do. Her eyes gaze out the front window where life is happening.

From a child’s imaginings her image first swam forth, free from red brick and red meat. Her hands are separated with palms facing. Her left hand extends outward to say, “Please don’t eat this.”

She is holding something invisible between her palms. She wants me to see what she truly holds. I am too much a man of red meat and red brick, I cannot see. Yet I know, I feel the space between, it invites me. The space is just wide enough for my head between her palms. She wishes to offer a blessing.

A blessing that will send me out into the world to which she gazes, more aware of the air and water that I am, that we share. More alive than the world of steel, concrete, and asphalt I will soon reenter.

I raise my glass of water thanking her for swimming playfully into my psyche and offering her blessing. I will remember.

Feb. 2013: religious musings

February holds the end of Epiphany, Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, not to mention Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day, and the Super Bowl. What an odd mix of open celebration and quiet introspection. Yet, life itself is filled with opportunities for both. We only get into trouble when we lose the balance between the two.

In a nation of extroverts, even in worship styles, open celebration with volume and color is predominant.  If you want to “sell” anything, you do it with all the bells and whistles (literally, at times) at your disposal. And since everyone is using this approach, you need to be louder and flashier than the other guy. Christianity hasn’t escaped this temptation and we, as a faith, spend millions every year trying to get people’s attention. Unfortunately, when such a “come on” becomes the major or only focus, we do a terrible job of follow-up. We continue to supply the easy stimulation that got them in the door with bigger, brighter, more sensually intriguing “events” to draw in the curious. Cynically, as long as you keep the numbers up, there is no real need to spend time holding those attracted long enough to deepen their faith. We Christians have become quite Roman in our efforts to supply “Bread and Circuses” and quite Marxist in supplying a faith that weakens the masses.

Too much party, not enough reflection.

However, don’t get me wrong here. Too much introversion and reflection, too much self-serving pathos does not present the faith in a way that promises hope either. Unfortunately, such self-indulgent practices, totally focused upon one’s own spirituality, often leads to self-righteousness. The suffering servants spend more time making you suffer due to your lack of faith than truly seeing how one-sided and self-centered their faith has become. This temptation is nothing new. I encountered it when reading St. John of the Cross in The Dark Night of the Soul. It’s also seen in Jesus bringing his disciples down off the mount after the Transfiguration.

Too much navel gazing, not enough shared joy.

I believe there is a proper balance of devotional singularity and community service within our faith.
So…where do you stand? Have you found the balance?

Widow's Might

Widow’s Might      

Psalm 146; Mark 12: 38-44

Jesus is in Jerusalem, the center of the chosen people’s power and faith. His own faith. And is he rejoicing? No. He is in agony over the way the people have been manipulated by religious and political leaders throwing around the name of God and administering worship only to gain wealth and power for themselves.

Jesus will soon tell everyone who will listen that the impressively beautiful Temple will be destroyed. Then he will repeat again to those who love him that he will be sacrificed in order to shut him up, he has been rocking the boat of those in power.

And sitting outside the Temple he sees the televangelist pull up in his limo, the Christian network owners flying in on their corporate and private jets, tailor-made suits, imported shoes, sitting at the head table with the rich and famous; asked to offer the opening prayer that goes on too long, displaying his vast theological vocabulary. And how did he get here? By foreclosing on the widow’s property and reselling it. Jesus watches as the rich pour in large sums of money, a public display.

Then Jesus sees the widow, unnoticed among the finery and flourishes, pushing her way to deposit her meager copper coins beside the gold and silver.

Where does the widow find her strength of faith? Not from the imagined trickle down of wealth from those who sit in seats of religious and political power. No. Jesus states clearly what their relationship is to the people like the widow. They exploit the vulnerable to gain more power.

         But, you might say, these people speak for God and say they know God’s will for God’s people. Look how successful they are. Count their many barns. See how comfortably they live. God must favor them. Not so, says Jesus. They will receive not commendation but condemnation from God.

         So why does the widow still bring her all to the Temple? Why does Jesus take note of her? Because she is not giving out of love for the Temple and those who rule within it. She is not giving to keep the Temple building maintained. The widow is giving her all out of love for God.

         What God? Which God? The God of the privileged? No, the God of the Psalm. I believe the widow could have written Psalm 146. For in its verses is where the widow sees God’s presence.

         Whenever and wherever the oppressed see justice, whenever and wherever the hungry are fed, the unjustly imprisoned are set free, the blind see again, the bowed down are lifted up, the stranger knows s/he is protected, the widow and orphan are supported; there she sees God’s presence. It is to this God that the widow gives her all.

         Why do we give? To keep our established pews warm, to have the largest church in the area, to keep our beloved choir meeting and singing, to support our school, our farmers’ market, the building, the staff to serve our needs? No. We give out of love for God. We return God’s gifts to us so that others may be comforted by the words of Christ and the supportive presence of the Holy Spirit.

This is the widow’s faith, the widow’s might, the widow’s God….and ours.

I Am Voting for...

The conventions are over and we can get some sleep – or maybe not!

I’ve been gently probed to comment on who I will vote for and why and I have resisted such questions in the past, but today I’m going to tell you both who I am voting for and why. I am voting for God, who showed us the way and truth and righteous life in Jesus the Christ and who continues to guide us in the way, truth, and righteous life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I was brought up to not talk about religion and politics in polite company, though, to my parents’ credit, these topics were welcome at the dinner table. Sadly “separation of church and state” has been so twisted that people now seem to read it “separation of faith and society,” not that this has stopped both political parties from using religion when it suits a political agenda.

Any Christian knows that separating faith from political decisions that affect our society cannot be done. Let me briefly try to clear this up a bit, if I can. Freedom of religion meant that the government cannot dictate our religious beliefs. What it does NOT mean is that government can limit the free expression of our beliefs, our faith, although a secular, financial “religion” has been growing over the past years – but that’s for another time.

Can we agree that no Christian should push his/her faith aside to vote? Can we agree with the Psalmist that we are to put our trust in God over our trust in any political party or candidate?

I especially like the Psalmist verse (146). “When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that day their plans perish.” If that verse was written today it would read, “When their speech is over, they return to the polls; in that moment their plans perish.”

Can we agree that often Christ himself stated that our faith is to be chosen over our funds, our friends, even our families?

But why trust in God most of all? God made the heavens, earth, seas, and is faithful forever. Now I know the candidates want you to believe they make the sun rise and that they hung the moon and stars, but we know better.

James helps in the discernment of the relationship between faith and politics. He writes that there is an incompatibility between faith and favoritism, especially favoritism shown to the rich and powerful, and an incompatibility between faith and indifference.

As to the incompatibility of faith and favoritism especially toward the rich, James gives three clear reasons:

1) First, God has assigned the poor to be rich in faith. Now I’m going to show my skepticism but listen to these two stories and tell me which speaks most clearly about the power of faith. A multi-millionaire stands to give thanks to God for all that God has done for him. A poor woman places the few coins she possesses on the altar to express her faith. Your choice.
2) Second, James asks if we are favoring the rich because we think we might grab a few crumbs that drop from their tables. James points out that the rich and powerful are only concerned about protecting their wealth and the systems that keep them rich.
3) Third, and most poignantly, favoritism is a sin. We are to see with the eyes of God, seeing all persons as equals and worthy of God’s grace.

As to the incompatibility between faith and indifference, let’s look at what the Psalmist writes as God’s concern, God’s platform, if you will.

1) Practice justice for the oppressed.Those intentionally knocked down and held down will have justice.
2) Offer food for the hungry. No way to make that any clearer.
3) Set the prisoner free. Those who are imprisoned by a narrow faith and unjust laws based upon prejudices of racism, ageism, poverty, and political beliefs.
4) Open the eyes of the blind. The blindness of ignorance will receive education. The light of God will be easily available to those spiritually blind. And, if we are able, the physical and mental healing of those blinded by pain due only due to their poverty.
5) Lift up those who are bowed down. Rich or poor, life often burdens us with challenges that seem beyond our individual efforts.
6) Watch over the strangers. Protect and defend the foreigner and those who look, speak, and live differently than others.
7) Uphold the orphans and widows. These two groups represented all those who have no voice in society, no support, lost and living in the shadows.

And every platform must hold out a promise and God, through the Psalmist, gives us one.
A promise of God’s unfailing love, and ruin for the wicked (in God’s own way and time)

So, how do you bring your faith and politics together? Here is my plan.

I’m going to put my Bible in the center of the table and open it to the Gospels. Then I’m going to place the two party platforms to the left and right of the Scriptures and, no, I’m not saying which side is which!

I won’t expect either platform to follow God’s platform exactly BUT I will see which political platform follows most closely God’s platform to:

Provide justice for the oppressed, food for the hungry, freedom for the prisoner, sight for the blind, hope for the downtrodden, watchfulness over the stranger, and support for the orphans and widows.

Then, with much prayer, I will vote for God’s platform as I vote for my candidate.