Letting God outa' the Box

Thursday, June 26, 2003

 
'His [the evil one] gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust'. From Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, page 223.

Interesting theme Rowlings is developing, especially in my thoughts of the divisions and factions not only in the Epsicopal Church, but the Christian Church. Paul seemed to be a big proponent of unity, yet there is the importance of doing what is 'right'. O' the path is narrow and frought with dangers and temptations. Are we to 'cut' off those who seem to be sinning, so that we will not be dragged down with them? Are we that confident in our own righteousness that we will stand alone? Paul also expressed concern for any actions that may lead others to sin...how does that work in with the 'cutting of the hand that causes us sin'?

The idea of individualism floated in to my mind as I read Harry Potter and think about questions of my previous Sex Obsession posting. Heather brought up a good point and future hope in her comment, but I still wonder the effects of our human commodification of sex. As she questions, will the practice of abstinence help today's teens see sex as something other than a commodity to be bought, sold, exchanged, stolen, etc. for our wants and needs?

For that matter, have we tended to commodify salvation? Has salvation become subject to individualization...are we more concerned about securing salvation for ourselves, fearing being tied to a sinner who may pull us down with them? As I wondered in a previous comment...what is the 'fulfillment of the law'? Is it simply trying to follow the law and separating ourselves from those who don't? If Christ sacrificed himself for us, is that not a model...a model that stands in opposition to a selfish individual pursuit of our own salvation...a model that also stands against simply following the law for selfish reasons?

I am grasping to articulate the uncomfortable feelings I have developed for any form of separation or excommuntication of anyone from God's grace through Christ Jesus. We humans are fallible...and for us to judge another with the surety that we know God's will seems absurd to me... some where deep within my soul it just seems wrong.
Fr. Bill 12:17 PM

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Wednesday, June 18, 2003

 
Sex Obsession?

Dangerous territory to venture into, but it rose out of a discussion I was having yesterday concerning the upcoming Convention in the Episcopal Church. The discussion was about the possibility of the ordination of homosexual clergy becoming the dark cloud which may over-shadow this gathering. My mind flashed with the thought that we humans are obsessed with sex...ours and others....through out history.

Just off the top of my head, I can not recall Jesus really addressing the issue of sex directly in the Gospels (yep, I do need to study them more, I am prone to read for an overall thesis and message rather than being detail oriented). Christ's overall message seemed to concern God's love for us, and our need to accept and reflect God's love. Judging each other does not seem to be the message. It sure seems we have made an idol of sex and sexual practices that over-shadows the mystery of God. Can we not make an idol of almost anything...turning anything or any habit into an obsession or addiction that moves our attention away from God because we focus all our attention on our obsession? The mystery of God is often limited in the are of sex to simply procreation, yet as the creator, didn't God create sex? In a previous posting I (we) discussed the fear (awe) of God. Our unknowing and inability seems to be a component of that fear or awe of God. As our images of God become less fear-filled, have we lost the perspective our who is in power...that is the awe or the fear that we are not 'incharge' of our salvation.

Christian sex discussions seem to often move to the Hebrew scriptures and Pauline letters for guidance on the subject. Are they the best guides? They are what we have, but, should they take precedence over Christ's message of love? (Oh, how we do confuse love and sex) Should our sex and/or our sexual practices separate us? Is it just another part of humanity, like skin color, on which we place too much concern and allow it to separate us as a community? I understand Paul's charge the we should not condone or engage practices that may lead others into sin...but we continue to do so. We humans are a very innovative lot, who can turn even Chocolate in to a sin. But, Paul still seems to more emphasize community...we need to hang together. Are we too busy working selfishly in a Pelagian search to secure our own salvation to see the Augustinian gift of grace? Has our world become so human-center that we have forgotten that it is God who grants salvation not something we can attain for ourselves? Has our human arrogance lead us to thing we can actually determine who is saved and who is not?

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'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 the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hand all the law and the prophets." St. Matthew 22:34-40

I pray we can truely follow these commandments and love each other despite the difference we find in each other. Are we not all children of God? Again, I wonder if such squabbles over differences are just shadows of the dark force that separate us from each other and separate us from God.
Fr. Bill 9:01 AM

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Wednesday, June 11, 2003

 
Continued:
Some of the frustration that seems to be in the previous posting may have arisen from my recent reading of All Hallows Eve by Charles Williams. Williams' 'evil' character is a preacher, who has found a way to gain control over people via their wants and needs through magic and mysticism. The heroine of the story finds the understanding of universal love while she is trapped in pergutory. Our human lack of love and our intolerance of others seem to be the dark forces that trap her friend in pergutory. My mind was tickled by the way these forces seem to consume the energy in situations in the book and in 'real life'.

I remember negotiating a long commute from Lake Forest, IL to Evanston during my CPE work. Some days, I returned to my apartment on campus exhausted by the crawling traffic on the Chicago expressways. The practice of some drivers to zoom down the emergency lane used to really get to me; expensive SUV's would fly down the side of the expressway kicking up gravel, only to further stall traffic as they reached a point when the right of way forced them back into traffic lanes. Wow!...the energy that this irritation used to consume. Was it their fault...did they suck that energy from me? Nope! I freely chose to let them irritate me and take my energy. Once I accepted the fact that it was and going to take me an hour to an hour and a half to get home, and that the impatient driver who rode the emergency lane were probably just as drained of positive energy from their own frustration...I no long became irritated. I actually felt bad for them...imagining how awful the frustration must be making them feel when they did arrive at their destination.

Such is a simple example of how the lack of love and tolerance becomes a dark force, draining the life force from everyone it touches. How often do these forces find their way into our worship?...into the life of the church? And, hey, it is often our choice to allow such negative forces to breed with in us (yep...very simpified, often it is much more complicated than that...but weeding a garden starts by pulling the ones we can see and reach). And in seminary life as in the "real world", often our minor squabbles and frustration become big black holes that gobble up our energy and leave us spiritually drained.

Awarness seems to be the only (or at least the beginning) way to learn and train ourselves to prevent the dark and negative forces from seemin into our lives and communities. Awareness can lead us to consciously choosing not to ingest and spread this cladesdine form of evil (that is "non-love"). Yep...sounds too simple...it must be more complicated than that...that is bumper sticker philosophy - "practice random acts of kindness" and even movie plots (Pay It Forward). Sounds to easy...so it can be it...such could not deal with the complications of this world. Hmmm...it is so simple that we rarely give something so simple a try...

Fr. Bill 8:51 AM

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Tuesday, June 10, 2003

 
Liturgy

In seminary, we do a lot with liturgy, defined as the work of the people...as in our work or worship of and to God. We seem to strive to find a liturgical form that meets the needs of all people. In our American culture, that seems an almost impossible task...marketers seem to be searching our wants and needs, then attempt to design a product or service to meet our needs. Is that what the Church is doing?
I recently have had several conversations about personal responsibility. I wonder where this fits in Liturgy. Of late, my sensors have been set to pick up when I hear someone say something like "Heather really made me feel uncomfortable at Chapel because of her high Anglo-Catholic piety" or "I just can't go the Chapel if all those people are going the wave their arms in the air when they sing". Yikes! Some days 'the work of the people' seems too focused on the people! Ooops...we forgot it is really about worshiping God.

(sorry to cut short...gotta go to work....more later)

Fr. Bill 8:51 AM

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Thursday, June 05, 2003

 
Thoughts emanating from All Hallows Eve
I am moved to seeing good deeds as acts of love. Following the ideology that life is a gift, good deeds are a way of share our gift of life with each other. Actions that seem to suck the life from others seem not loving and not in line with God's will. An image from the Disney movie, "Hocus Pocus", where the witches try to suck the life force from children for their own use…now that seems the anti-good…basically evil.
I am also moved to see love as needing free will. Love does not seem to be love if it is forced, mandated, manipulated, or done out of fear. Love to seems to be a free gift, which must be given to be true and appreciated. Love is the opposite of sucking life…it is the free out-pouring of life. Love demand no payment or repayment it is a gift. Another movie reference, "Pay It Forward", is a good ideology of the movement of love. Love become a spirit that moves through us...control limits and changes the spirit of love. Is a bird in a cage truely and fully all the bird could be? Or, is it in the birds freedom the flight where it is call an essential for the bird's fullness?
Is God like the bird...needing limitless freedom to truely and fully be God?

Fr. Bill 8:17 AM

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Tuesday, June 03, 2003

 
Long time not blogging.
It has been a long school year and we are fast approaching the end. Lots of little loose ends to tie up and that has kept me busy. Yet, refraining from surfing around reading other's blogs I have found time to do some reading. I blitzed through Devil in the White City by Eric Larson. It was a wonderfully written history of the 1893 Columbian Exposition/Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer who took advantage of the crowds to find his victims. I am currently lost in Charles Williams All Hallow's Eve; it is hard for me to say alot about Charles Williams writing...it seems to be something akin to Jimmy Hendrix...it needs to be experienced.
Evidently I needed a Blog/Theological Argument break...human cannot live by theology alone.
More later....
Fr. Bill 7:06 AM

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