Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday to Good Friday to Easter

We now find ourselves in Holy Week. Half of John's Gospel take place during this week. Mark, Matthew and Luke all have Jesus' theological "direction" centered around this week (Jesus continues on the road to Jerusalem). We start the week with the crowds cheering the new Messiah and end the week watching with the crowds deriding this Messiah upon the cross - if we haven't been among those shouting for his crucifixion. These powerful gospel stories carry me through the week. Some how, they have me routing for Jesus (even though I know the outcome) while also asking me who I would really stand alongside and support (The crowds? the Jewish aristocratic leadership? The Romans? Who?).

While this is a story about a Jewish man from a backwater town on the edge of an
Empire, it is also about us. In that sense, this story is Archetypal (it applies to us, too). What are we willing to die for? What are our priorities and principles and how do they guide us? How do we continue to open ourselves up to the Divine Mystery's call in our lives? Where do still need to let the Ego die within us to more fully open up to life, to living in a non-dualistic way?

Blessed Be,

Joel

Living - Inside or Outside

Friends of ours (a family) were sharing on Sunday about their trip last summer. In sort, they traveled to the East Coast of the United States from the West Coast and back. They shared how the experienced challenged them to live more fully into ideal notions, how the experience(s) now shape how they see the world around themselves, the ways the trip has inspired them, and how the trip spoke to them indivdually and as a family. It was a great presentation, even though it is limited (due to time, etc. They figured they only showed about 3% of their photos, for example).

During a part of their presentation, they shared the physical dimensions of their RV Trailer by using string and they children to give it shape. Then they used some other string to show how much "floor space" they had. It was a great demonstration that the kids (and I think the adults) could quickly grasp. One of the comments has struck with me, however.

During this process, it was commented "This is the amount of space we lived in."

On the way home, I asked our family if they felt that they lived in a small space. The comments were, "Only when it is pouring rain outside", "Sometimes it feels that way," ... But it seemed like we were in agreement that we don't live "inside" so much as "outside" in the world around us. It continued to be a conversation piece for us. By nightfall, we had decided that the space inside our boat is like one room (OK, so the Head might be another, and one could call the V-berth and quarter-berth other rooms, I suppose) in a very large house, a house in which the sky is the roof, and the sea and shore our floor. In fact, we have often felt that the marina environment is much like a hotel or apartment complex. In an apartment, everyone has their apartment (boat) but meets each other in the hallways or common places (docks or entry way).

We have just finished house/cat-sitting for some friends of ours. We all found the comparison between house and boat life interesting. In the house, we seldom ventured outside unless we were to go someplace. The only exception being playing hoops in the driveway. When we were at the house, I would say that we lived "inside." While on the boat, I would say we live more "outside."

The above discussion reminded me of a questioning conversation: do our bodies hold our souls or do our souls hold our bodies? Which is "outside" and which is "inside", and how does that make a difference in what we experience?

Blessed Be in the midst of Lentan pondering.

Joel

Birthright - Being Who We Are Created To Be

Below is a video that I found very moving. Listen to how our kayaker (Michael?) speaks of his need and experience being out on the water. What activities engage your truest self? How do you find them to be a form of prayer? What keeps you from engaging in more of this type of active prayer?

Blessed Be

Joel

My thanks to Off Center Harbor for bring this video to the attention of it's members.

Awe and Wonder

And what is the Greatest Commandment, but to Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your strength, and all of your mind (See Luke 10:27ff).

How do we tend to teach in the West? What is our "bias" in where we start our intellectual probing? Do we start with a sense of wonder and awe, or do we start with skepticism and doubt?

Take a few moments to ponder this.

In some of my lentan reading I came across an author who suggested that modern western culture starts with skepticism and doubt in its philosophical understanding of proper education. Of course, the author was suggesting that we should be starting with wonder and awe.

I've been pondering this over the last couple of weeks myself. I'm not sure I have an answer yet. I agree in that having a sense of wonder and awe should be where we start our educational process. I agree that in my own life, it has been those times when I have, or am full of, wonder and awe that I learn a lot. It is what drives me deeper into a subject matter. It is what makes what others might call a dull subject matter so interesting to me. I even agree that one can learn a lot from someone else's passionate awe and wonder about a certain subject matter. But I'm not sure if I agree with this author on where the Western culture's philosophical starting point is.

As part of my pondering I share the following:

A first grade boy I know has become fascinated with all things huge and large and big, especially Mountains! As a result, he is reading maps (to find where mountains are, "Did you know that Mountain Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania?"), learning big numbers and facts ("Joel, did you know Mount Baker is 10,778 feet tall?") and causing me to learn what other peaks are in the area ("Do you know what mountain that one over there is called?"). It is his wonder and awe that is causing him to delve deeper into these subject matters.

"Wonder is an act in which the mind confronts the universe." Rabbi Heschel

Revelation comes in two volumes: one written in nature, and one in the Bible - Aquinas, Eckhart, Hildegard and others.

May your Lent be filled with Awe and Wonderment - with Revelation - with Love and Compassion.

Blessed Be,

Joel

An Example of Metanoia

Lent is a time - a season - for metanoia, for changing our minds, conversion, turning around, repentance. How are we open to changing? How are we open to living more just and compassionate lives? In the process, how do we invite others to participate?

In many ways, that is what this post is about - how we invite others?

In finishing up some reading this week, I was reading in E. F. Schumacher's book Small is Beautiful about private versus nationalized corporations. Recall that he is writing prior to 1973 (when the work was published). He notes that one of the issues called forth by those proponents of private corporations is the lack of public accountability for the nationalized corporations. Schmacher finds this absurd, as the nationalized corporations have systems in place to handle and encourage public responses. Rather, Schmacher notes, the private corporations lack any kind of public accountability (see his chapter on "Ownership," esp. pg. 285).

About the same time I received an email from Avaaz saying that public pressure (through a campaign they ran) was able to change the mind of the Benetton Corporation. Benetton was the only corporation who had yet to pay any restitution for the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh. Here is how Avaaz went about changing Benetton's mind, maybe it is better to say, here is how Avaaz presented Benetton with an opportunity to change their mind, to experience metanoia:

Benetton’s announcement spread across media all over the world -- check out just some of the coverage in the BBC, Reuters and The Guardian -- but the story of how our incredible community got there is even more inspiring.

In just 2 weeks we went from launch to victory — here’s how:

• More than a million of us signed a mega-petition asking Benetton to pay up.
• Avaaz members around the world flooded Benetton’s Facebook and Twitter accounts with thousands of comments.
• We hit Benetton at home, driving a mobile billboard around their Italian HQ for days.
• We developed a high-level lobbying strategy to make the case for contribution both directly and working with important influencers.
• And crucially -- recognising that for decades, Benetton has publicly advocated for justice and fairness -- the Avaaz team engaged with them in direct, constructive communications, not as an enemy, but as a potential partner.

Our community can be incredibly proud of this amazing result. Groups have been calling for Benetton to pay for over a year, and with the power of the Avaaz community’s passion, solidarity and strategic action, we did it! (email from 25 Feb 2015, italics mine)

Notice what I've italicized? "Not as an enemy, but as a potential partner."

Isn't that what justice and compassion are all about? Seeing the "other" has a potential partner?

How are you called to partner with "the least of these" this Lent?

Blessed Be,

Joel

Ash Wednesday 2015

The Way of the Prophet by Mike Van, concept by Vivienne Close 

 I found this image in my daily meditation email from Richard Rohr, in which he speaks about prophets and the prophetic tradition. I find it extremely fitting for this season of Lent, especially Ash Wednesday when we come face to face with our own mortality. Sin is not some thing that many of us are comfortable talking about. Well, ok, let's be honest. I should qualify that as Our Own Sin, other people's may be fair game, especially if it is juicy gossip, right? It should not be, but ...

I think that is why prophet's make us (me, at any rate) uncomfortable. They continue to point out where I am operating in such ways that are unjust and/or harmful to others. They continue to show me my "blind spots," as it were. While interrupting the status quo, prophets do offer us a gift. I think they offer us the gift of growth and encourage us to act in such ways that take love of God and love of neighbor into account - pushing us to see our neighbors as ourselves and pushing us to broaden the circle of who our neighbors are.

Lent is often a time of giving things up: chocolate, beer, fat ... (we won't mention coffee). It is often portrayed as a time of sacrifice. I would challenge you to think in different terms this Lent. Just as fasting invites us to spend time in prayer, so, too, it calls us forth to remember those who go without enough to eat. May our Lentan Disciplines be activities/sacrifices that call us forth to better relations with God, others, the earth.

Blessed Be,

Joel

Below is my Ash Wednesday Service for those of you apart from a church community this Ash Wednesday.

GREETING:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.
God’s mercy endures forever.

OPENING PRAYER   (from the United Methodist Hymnal #353)

O God,

maker of every thing and judge of all that you have made,

from the dust of the earth you have formed us 

and from the dust of death you would raise us up.

By the redemptive power of the cross, 

create in us clean hearts

and put within us a new spirit,

that we may repent of our sins

and lead lives worthy of your calling;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SCRIPTURE:
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Psalm 51 (#785 in the UMC Hymnal)
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

INVITATION TO THE OBSERVANCE OF LENTEN DISCIPLINE
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

the early Christians observed with great devotion 

the day of our Lord's passion and resurrection, 

and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration 

there should be a forty-day season of spiritual preparation.

During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.

It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins 

and had separated themselves from the community of faith 

were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, 

and restored to participation in the life of the Church.

In this way the whole congregation was reminded 

of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ 

and the need we all have to renew our faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, 

to observe a holy Lent: 

by self-examination and repentance; 

by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; 

and by reading and meditation on God's Holy  Word.

To make a right beginning of repentance, 

and as a mark of our mortal nature, 

let us now kneel (or bow) before our Creator and Redeemer.

(a brief silence is kept)

THANKSGIVING OVER THE ASHES
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth. 

Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence,

so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift

are we given everlasting life;

through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

IMPOSITIONS OF THE ASHES
(as people come forward, a leader dips a thumb in the ashes and makes 

a cross on the forehead of each person saying:
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

DISMISSAL WITH A BLESSING

Creation Stories Shape How to Be Creative

Everyone once in a while I am struck by reading various individual pieces all talking about very similar things. This past week such an event took place. First I was reading from E.F. Schumaker's Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered (1973, 2010) in which he speaks of the human need to be creative, to use both the mind and our hands. Here's the quote:

The question of what technology actually does for us is therefore worthy of investigation. It obviously greatly reduces some kinds of work while it increases other kinds. The type of work which modern technology is most successful in reducing or even eliminating is skilful, productive work of human hands, in touch with real materials of one kind it another. In advanced industrial society, such work has become exceedingly rare, and to make a decent living by doing such has become virtually impossible. A great part of the modern neurosis may be due to this very fact; for the human being, defined by Thomas Aquinas as a being with brains and hands, enjoys nothing more than to be creatively, usefully, productively engaged with both his hands and his brains. Today, a person has to be wealthy to be able to enjoy this simple thing, this very great luxury: he has to be lucky enough to find a good teacher and plenty of free time to learn and practice. He really had to be rich enough not to need a job; for the number of jobs that would be satisfactory in these respects is very small indeed (pg. 158, italics are my addition).

Where do we look for chances to be creative? What does our creativity look like?

Then, Friday's meditation by Richard Rohr was regarding creation. In this meditation he spoke of how Rob Bell shared with a gathering the Babylonian creation story. This story is one of violence, carnage and destruction. In all likelihood, the Genesis Creation stories (there are at least two) were written down from their oral traditions during the Babylonian captivity. As such, they would have been exposed to the Babylonian creation story, and used them to shape their own theological understanding of how Yahweh was/is at work. In the process, Bell invited the continuing education participates to see how the Genesis creation story in built upon love, joy and creativity. It is built upon non-violence and loving relationship.

Being created in God's image, how do we create? How do we engage others, ourselves, and the world? 

Fairly soon (if not already) the projects commence on our boats. How will we be actively engaged?

Here's to creativity springing forth from love and joy,

Blessed be

Joel