All Hallow's Eve

On this All Hallows Eve, I give you a reading or two to start the process of thinking about those saints who have touched our lives, to reflect that we are not alone on our journeys (both literal and of the spiritual nature).
Tomorrow (All Saint's Day) will contain another liturgy to celebrate the saints in our lives.

Blessed Be

Rev. Joel

The Larger Circle
~ Wendell Berry

We clasp the hands of those that go before us,
And the hands of those who come after us.
We enter the little circle of each other's arms
And the larger circle of lovers, who hands are joined in a dance,
And the larger circle of all creatures,
Passing in and out of life, who move also in a dance,
To a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it
Except in fragments.

They Are With Us Still
~ Kathleen McTigue

In the struggles we choose for ourselves, in the ways we move forward in our lives and bring our world forward with us,
It is right to remember the names of those who gave us strength in this choice of living. It is right to name the power of hard lives well-lived.
We share a history with those lives. We belong to the same motion.
They too were strengthened by what had gone before. They too were drawn on by the vision of what might come to be.
Those who lived before us, who struggled for justice and suffered injustice before us, have not melted into the dust, and have not disappeared.
They are with us still. The lives they lived hold us steady.
Their words remind us and call us back to ourselves. Their courage and love evoke our own.
We, the living, carry them with us: we are their voices, their hands and their hearts.
We take them with us, and with them choose the deeper path of living.
(Let us name those who lend strength in our lives.)

A Time to Reflect

Lately I have been having a number of conversations with folks about church growth (based on a business model), the rapid pace of "modern" USA/Canadian life, and the pressures the current economic conditions are placing upon families. In the midst of all of these conversations, I continue to reflect upon how peaceful life upon the water is. Sure there are stressors, usually in the way of nature (high winds and seas and contrary currents some times with a complete lack of wind), or in systems breaking down under this harsh environment and the frustrations involved. These stressors are short lived; or they invite ways toward solutions that the above "modern" life stressors don't contain.

In the midst of this life on the water, there is time for reflection. And reflection is important for the spiritual life. In fact, I remain convinced it is an important precursor to the spiritual life. If we don't provide time to reflect upon the spiritual experiences we are having (or not having) how are we to open ourselves for growth?

In light of these conversations, I provide the following quote (below) from Kyriacos Markides. Notice where and how the spread of Christianity happens. When I read between the lines, I notice that this population at this point in history had the time to reflect, to experience.

May we find time in our lives upon the water to be reflective and open for spiritual growth.

Blessed Be

~  Joel

            I remember the reaction of Professor John Rossner after I narrated such stories [about the saints and angels appearing and speaking with the monks] from Mount Athos at a conference in Montreal on the interface between science and religion. As the moderator, he stood up and with a strong and authoritative voice he made some poignant observations:

            “What you said about the miraculous happenings on Mount Athos and other monasteries, of the manifestation of dead saints to the living and so on, is very important,” he stated. “This is the kind of things that early Church and Roman historians, including even the eighteenth-century skeptic Gibbon, have said: That early Christian literature claims that the Christian movement spread not because of teachings and preachings – they were not allowed to do that – but because people had mystical experiences in which the dead saints and martyrs appeared to the living and taught them about the reality of the spiritual world. This of course is not understood by contemporary Christianity very much. These monasteries and places out of the way are like preserves from history, really! And as Kyriacos said, trying to bring forward this spiritual tradition is like bringing up some things that is a lost treasure from the bottom of the ocean. … These kinds of events are indeed still part of the lives and traditions of contemporary monks and hermits of Eastern Christianity. And we don’t know this treasure is there. If you try hard enough you can find it in history books. Our problem is that theologians in the West are not learned enough in history to find it. And they don’t recognize that the origins of the Christian movement were spiritistic and shamanistic. And when they come across things like these in places like Mount Athos or in little village in Russia or Greece, they can’t make sense of them. They are incapable of understanding why an old woman is considered a holy woman and the archbishop comes and sits at her feet in the village because she has had experiences of dead saints and angels and consequently becomes a channel of information. They can’t realize that that is the way Heaven talks to the living.”

~ Markides, Kyriacos C. The Mountain of Silence: A Search for Orthodox Spirituality. Doubleday: New York, 2001. p. 86.

Coperthwaite, Voluntary Simplicity and Paradise

This morning I was struck by the following question:

Is it possible to have too much material wealth?
And is it possible to have a life with too much leisure -
        as harmful as one with too much toil?

I have been re-reading William (Bill) S. Coperthwaite's book A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2003). In his section on Wealth, Riches, Treasure he asks the above question. Coperthwaite has already stated his opinions on work, or is "labor" a better word?, when writing about "bread labor." "Bread Labor" is the work that needs to be done to survive and make the world better at the same time: washing dishes, cooking, child-care, cutting firewood, teaching and planting gardens are all examples. Coperthwaite mentions how Gandhi thought all of this could be done if everyone pitched in two hours a day. Scott and Helen Nearing thought 4 hours a better estimate. Coperthwaite himself writes that when he goes to cut firewood he takes a book with him and alternates cutting and reading. At the end of the day, he is not sure which was the more rewarding exercise and which the more work.

Living on a boat with our family has reminded us that we can't take it all with us. In fact, I look at the amount of books and resources I have collect for pastoral ministry over the years, and realize that while the books are sitting boxed up in a storage unit, they are not doing anyone any good. Yet, am I willing to part with them? Are they now owning me? Frankly, it is easier to put it on the back burner, 'til the next time I get something out of the storage unit and am confronted with seeing once again these material goods that are starting to own me, or do they? When living in a house, I was not confronted with thinking through the material possessions that surrounded us.

Voluntarily choosing to live simply doesn't mean that we have to only live with cheap goods, that were cheaply made of inferior materials, and traveled long distances. It can mean, that because we are choosing to use/have/deal with less things the material goods we do have can be top quality, excel at some design criteria of our own, and/or feel "right" to us. Because we are choosing to have less, the less we have can be quality products. (By the way, this often leads to individuals spending less money over the long run.)

Listen to Coperthwaite:

THE EXAMPLE OF THE RICH
Imagine a society of a thousand people each having a yearly income of $1,000 and living in poverty. Then imagine that one person in that community has an income ten times the average. If this money were divided evenly, it would mean only $10 more per year for each person. This 1 percent increase would help somewhat, but not a great deal. Although a fairer sharing of the world's wealth is urgently necessary, merely redistributing monetary wealth is minuscule in importance compared with the need for intelligent, cooperative action aimed at improving the quality of life.
     The wealth of the rich would not mean much if it were spread out evenly, but the example of luxurious living spread about is a time bomb.
     The great evil of the rich is the example they set. Yet the power of the rich is very fragile, for their privilege cannot withstand the gaze of an enlightened populace. What good is their accumulated "wealth" if we refused to work for them? If we refused to accept their values and their way of life?
     The trap we are in is that we want to emulate the rich. Their factories produce for us, and we are their buyers, the consumers. If we refused to buy junk, they would have to produce quality. A factory is a liability if its products won't sell. They will produce whatever we demand. We have the control - though we don't know it yet - whenever we decide to take responsibility: that is, when we become mature in our economic thinking and in the use of our purchasing power. The monetary power of the wealthy is a social disease that can be cured, but the remedy needs our help.
     We now have a class of people living according to a consumption pattern that exceeds that of the monarchs of previous centuries and that is rapidly devouring the world's finite resources. It might not matter, physically, if a few thousand people acted in such adolescent fashion, but when millions do, the effect will ultimately be catastrophic, with the added danger that more millions, seeing the example of the rich, will strive for this luxury as well.
     That is our greatest danger now, and the crisis is approaching epidemic proportions. From this vantage point, the "voluntary simplicity" of Richard Gregg becomes more important than every before. Is it possible that we, the people of the industrial nations, the leaders in the race to destroy the earth, could set the pace for a move in a positive direction? Can we meet the challenge?
     Whatever we do is watched closely by the poor of the world. Will we use our economic advantage for the good of humankind or will we continue to rob and to exploit?
     We must search for ways to live that are within the grasp of all people. In this light, redefining wealth and riches becomes a primary challenge (78-9).

And he sets out some examples. But my point is to get us to think through our own myths about how the "world/realty" operates.

You, dear reader, my be wondering why this is here ... what it has to do with faith and with boating? To me it has everything to do with it. One cannot help but live a simpler life by living on a boat (some of us choose to live simpler than others, those who seek out a way of life distinctly different from that on shore verses those who may want more shore-life-type conveniences), but it is still simpler. And I strongly believe that the biological or carbon footprints are smaller.

But I also strongly believe that the reason we don't recognize (nor can find) the two rivers flowing out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:10-14) is because we are not meant too. Rather, these two rivers are to remind us that the Garden of Eden is just around the corner. Today, they can remind us that we belong in the Garden, and the ways we impact the earth around us, are directly impacting the Garden (which is here, now, around us now).*

The Kingdom/Kindom of God is near - in fact, right around us.
May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, let alone touch, smell, and taste it.

Blessed Be

*For a fuller discussion of this idea, see Brock and Parker's Saving Paradise

Reflections on the Wall Street "Strike"

As AVAAZ.org has "hosted" the protest movement on Wall Street and other places around the world calling for social justice and real democracy (maybe you, too, have received an invitation from a friend to sign a petition?); as European leaders wonders what to do with countries like Greece, Iceland, et. al. who have followed the United States' capitalism methodology and are now bankrupt; and as "green" and "sustainability" have been co-opted by the corporations, one may wonder what an individual's actions can accomplish in what appears to be an on going international financial crisis.
Living simply is one action that any of us can do.
Purposefully living on the margins of society makes a political statement.
Notice, that I said purposefully living on the margins of society. I want to be clear that there is a difference between choosing to living this way, and being forced to live this way due to larger societal forces. Gandhi choose to live amongst the poor, he didn't have to do so. Maybe I should say, his conscience and believe system lead him down this road, perhaps he had to in order to be true to himself.
If your conscience, your spirit, the Spirit, continues to nag you about how the world could be a better place, and this leads you into action - be it on a international-national level, or a local level - does this also involve how you choose to live out your ideals?
The way we live, the things we purchase, our outlook on life makes a difference, and others do notice.
Of course, I am merely highlighting a theme of this blog from the beginning. But I do think it is important that our actions back up our belief systems. Corporations do have a significant amount of power because we give it to them in how, in what, and in where we shop. Our desire for cheap products and our willingness to overlook where they come from have lead in part to our current international economic system. I also realize that this development has happened over a long period of time. It is one of the reasons I mention the "margins" as I'm not sure one can cut one's self off from the economic realities of our times. It is too much a part of the air we breathe. But there are other choices.
I think it also important to remember that local markets (be they financial, food, or what not) are often where our true security lies. 
And no matter how we might vote, or who's petition we might sign, are we willing to live our lives in ways that match our ideals?
How is the Spirit leading you?

Blessings,

Joel

Live Abundantly

 This past week, I have been pondering life amidst death.

Sunday evening, I officiated at a funeral service for a 26 year old man who died in a car accident in Colorado. The car he was riding in hydro-planned off the road. When I shared what was happening with others on the dock other stories emerged of family and friends who were/are struggling with sudden changes in life: a diagnosis with a terminal illness, what does it mean to survive a near drowning.

To summarize the liturgy: In the midst of life, we are in death. And in the midst of death we are in life.

But do we live as if we are full of life?

This 26 year old man lived his life. He lived it to the full, embracing life and friends and family. He lived. I have officiated at other funerals for 96 year olds who lived this long life, but never lived.

Jesus says "I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).

The choice is ours, to be fully and compassionately alive as we live.

For me, it is one of the reasons I like living aboard. I feel more alive. I feel more present in the wonders of the world. And I recognize the abundance that is here, surrounding us.

Know that you are God's Beloved, and live life abundantly.

Blessings,

Joel