Cross in Movement, Tattooing an Ancient Practice

A few years ago I was seriously thinking about getting myself tattooed.
Tattooing is an ancient practice and has been around for thousands of years. I recently saw a short documentary where a discovery of a frozen body was found near Italy. The body was fully intact with fingers, toes, organs and skin. The man is the oldest human ever to be found, allegedly 5300 years old. What is interesting is that the corps was covered with 59 tattoos.
So just to say - the art of tattooing is very old.

A few years ago after considering the possible pain of being tattooed (I hate pain, and faint easily at the sight of blood!) - I decided that tattoos were not for me.

Recently I started thinking once more about having a tattoo. A tattoo is for life (don't thy say that about getting a dog for Christmas???), so you have to be sure that you like what gets put on your skin.
Tattooing is an art and like any other art there are different reasons for doing it. It can express beauty, symbolism, or a truth (and much more).

So after much reflection and a little impulsion I decided to go visit my tattooist with a drawing that I liked. He seemed nice (I've got an inbuilt radar that detects the nice and the not so nice), and this guy seemed nice. I showed him the motif and explained the concept behind it.
He told me that he could do it - so I made an appointment to have it done 4 days later. So I'd actually plucked up courage. The courage to conquer my fear of physical pain, but also the courage to do something that I believe in, knowing that some people are appalled by tattoos - and may think less of me because of that.

So I did it!

Here it is...

The concept is simple. A celtic style cross. The cross: a reminder that my Lord had to suffer on one in order to reconcile us to Father and to break the cycle of violence...
The motif is in movement - the movement of the trinity; Father, Son, Holy Spirit, in constant flow, within herself and connecting and flowing down to us and through us. The Presence of God.

A New, But Really Old Software

The early but learned pattern of dualistic thinking can get us only so far; so all religions at the more mature levels have discovered “software” for processing the really big questions, such as death, love, infinity, suffering, and God. Many of us call this access “contemplation.” It is a non-dualistic way of seeing the moment.  Originally, the word was simply “prayer.”

It is living in the naked now, the “sacrament of the present moment,” that will teach us how to actually experience our experiences, whether good, bad, or ugly, and how to let them transform us. Words by themselves invariably divide the moment; pure presence lets it be what it is, as it is.

When you can be present, you will know the Real Presence. I promise you this is true.

And it is almost that simple.

Richard Rohr

Churning and Turning...discipleship...

Like a plough that's been churning up damp soil, my mind has been turning over the thoughts of discipleship, spiritual authority and church leaders. These themes may be unfamiliar to some of you, but if you grew up as I did in the Evangelical charismatic wing of the church, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Discipleship was seen (and still is by many) as those who have spiritual authority (basically the leaders of the local church) 'forming' those who are new in the faith. The leaders transmit 'orthodoxy' and his or her particular spin on the Christian faith. The new believer has to adhere to that which those in 'authority' tell him to adhere to. That being the rules and the dogmas of the leader's particular brand of Christianity.

Maybe, just maybe some people are comfortable with being told what to do. But I feel that there just  may be some real dangers in this form of 'discipleship'.
I've seen cases where people blindly follow the leader and this has led to dependence and also manipulation. So often, the person with spiritual authority has to play the 'I'm holier and more sanctified than you game' - this can lead to down right lying. The leader can not show his weaknesses and has to put on a show of being right in all things. i'm not exaggerating. I remember a distinct case where the leaders had to 'cover up' their weakness and  failings.

I believe that we are all messed up. In different degrees of course - but we are all basically in a mess. We all have times of doubt, anger, frustration and failure. We can put our foot in it. We can say hurtful words like knives that lacerate at the souls of the receivers.

I don't believe that discipleship is about the spiritual expert forming the novice. I see it as a mutual encouragement, setting our sights and our lives towards Jesus. I need the humility to be open to guidance and to advice from the unlikely even the stranger.
Discipleship is not about a course that we have to follow, and adhere to, and at the end signing the commitment card.

Discipleship is more about following a person, a living presence who's with us every day even if we fail to perceive her. Discipleship is about being open - allowing God to surprise us - and reveling in his love. In fact it's becoming aware that God loves us no matter what - even if we mess it up - He loves us.
So if we fall, we get up. Again and again. He takes our hand and picks us up ( often with a little help from our friends).

So all this has been turning in my mind, churning and turning...

Something before everything

What we’re doing in contemplation is learning, quite simply, how to be present. That is the only way to encounter any other presence, including God in prayer, Jesus in the Eucharist, and Jesus in others. The change is all and always on our side. God is present everywhere all the time. There really is not much point in arguing about IF and HOW Jesus is present in the bread and wine; simply be present yourself and you will know all that you need to know. It is an exercise in surrender and presence from your side alone.

We know that God is always given from God’s side, but we have to learn how to receive such total givenness, which is a very vulnerable position for humans. So Jesus said “Eat it” and did not say “think about it,” which is our defensive control tower. The Christian strategy seems to be this: struggle with divine presence in one focused, determined, and assured place (bread and wine, which is just about as universal a symbol as you can get)—and from that moment of space and time move to all space and all time. That is the final and full goal.

Richard Rohr

The Money Moguls

In the 1990s Mario Draghi was the director of the Italian Treasury where he worked with private investment banks to arrange derivative contracts designed to sneak Italy into the Eurozone. After lying about the magnitude of Italy's debt to the EU authorities, he obtained a position at Goldman Sachs in 2002. After three years there, he had a sure foot in any door. By 2006, Draghi was the governor of the Bank of Italy. In that position, he was the one responsible for the massive cover-up of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s loss of 367 million euros, a financial disaster that was fixed by a taxpayer-funded bailout. With all these experiences on his résumé, Draghi was the top choice for governor of the European Central Bank, a position he took up in 2011.

Draghi’s American correlate—Ben Bernanke,
the current chairman of the Federal Reserve—
is famous for bailing out Wall Street and, after the financial crash, which he failed to foresee, dumping a trillion dollars into a corrupt banking system. Before that he was a career academic with positions at Stanford, NYU and Princeton.

The trouble with these two guys is that all they ever talk about is interest rates, stimulus, quantitative easing and GDP growth, in other words money ... but at a time when ecosystems are crashing all around the world and climate change looms as the biggest market failure the world has ever seen,

we need people at the helm of the global economy who understand that the economy and ecology are inextricably intertwined and that it's crazy to keep pumping money into the capitalist corpse just to keep it twitching.

Tell President Obama to forget about Lawrence Summers, Janet Yellen and all the other Big Finance insiders, and appoint instead an economist with ecological tendencies as the next chairman of the Fed? Wouldn't that be something?

Taken from AdBusters Magazine

Walking the Earth

The miracle is not to walk on water but to walk on the earth.
- Thich Nhat Hanb

The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
Like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
True from start to finish.
- St Jean (speaking about Jesus)

System Failure

We've fouled up our planetary nest and now we're saying, fuck it! I don't feel like cleaning up this mess. Let the oceans rise, the fish vanish, the glaciers melt

. . . I'm plunging into virtual reality where everything is just fine and rather exciting . . . hot new shit happening everyday!

But there's a price to pay. You feel

stressed and anxious a lot of the time, your moods sink and soar without warning and you wake up feeling lousy almost every day. And all the while you find yourself becoming more detached, less empathetic, emptied of joy and unable to decide upon anything . . . one way or another.

If a huge chunk of humanity suffers from mood disorders and constantly feels sad

. . . if a substantial percentage of us lose our collective zest and crispness of mind— then how will we ever be able to deal with climate change, collapsing ecosystems and all of the other social, political, military and financial crises looming on the horizon?

Strategic insight: Psycho collapse is a much more serious threat to our long term Survival than eco collapse . . . Without clarity of mind, nothing we do will ever work.

Kalle Lasn

TRICKY

Tricky the ex-member of Bristol based Massive Attack was in concert at Lille last night.
The venue, Le Spendid, was full. The crowd were a mixed age group, which is often the case at concerts in France (at least the ones that i go to.

Tricky, the Knowle Wester, gave a great 1 1/2 show. he was backed by a tight talented band.

see link to a live show (not Lille) with same band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh8f4EH4DS4

His recent album - False Idols is worth a listen
:)

Prayer and the freedom of not knowing

Prayer is largely just being silent: holding the tension instead of even talking it through, offering the moment instead of fixing it by words and ideas, loving reality as it is instead of understanding it fully. Prayer is commonly a willingness to say “I don’t know.” We must not push the river, we must just trust that we are already in the river, and God is the certain flow and current.

That may be impractical, but the way of faith is not the way of efficiency. So much of life is just a matter of listening and waiting, and enjoying the expansiveness that comes from such willingness to hold. It is like carrying and growing a baby: women wait and trust and hopefully eat good food, and the baby is born.

Spiritual Awakening

"The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw - and knew I saw - All things in God and God in all things."
Mechtild of Magdeburg

Cranky, Beautiful Faith

I've just finished reading Cranky, Beautiful Faith by Nadia Bolz-Weber. It's an autobiography packed with stories of faith, hope and honesty. Honesty,  being real is what undergirds this book and makes it so interesting and challenging. Nadia bears her soul and much more.

The book imparts  spiritual truths and insights that reflect the love and grace of our Savior.

Here are a few quotes:

"God's grace is a gift freely given to us. We don't earn a thing when it comes to God's love, and we only try to live in response to the gift."

"Grace is not God being forgiving to us  even though we sin. Grace is when God is a source of wholeness, which makes up for my failings. My failings hurt me and others and even the planet, God's grace to me is that my brokenness is not the final word...instead God makes beautiful things out of even my shit".

"Grace is not God creating humans as flawed beings and then acting all hurt when we inevitably fail and then stepping in like a hero to grant us grace- like saying 'it's ok, I'll be a good guy and forgive you'. Grace is God saying 'I love the world too much to let your sin  define you and be the final word. I am a God who makes all things new".

Nadia stresses that the Christian message is one of death and resurrection. We need to die to our selves, our addictions, our selfish desires and rise to a new life in Christ.

She also numerates the Lutheran ethos in which she is grounded.

- No one is climbing the spiritual ladder. We don't continually improve until we are so spiritual we no longer need God. We die and are made new, but that's different from spiritual self-improvement.

- We are simultaneously sinner and saint, 100% both, all the time.

- The Bible is not God. The Bible is simply the cradle that holds Christ. Anything in the Bible that does not hold up to the Gospel  of Jesus Christ simply does not have the same authority?

- The movement in our relationship with God is always from God to us. Always. We can't, through our piety or goodness move closer to God. God is always coming near to us. Most especially in the Eucharist and in the stranger.


Here's her take on preaching:

"The job of the preacher: to find some good news for people. Good news about who God is, and how God works, and what God has done and what God will do. What passes for preaching in many cases is more ' here's the problem, and here's what you can do about it' - this is not good news."

On suffering:

"There is no knowable answer to the question of why there is suffering. But there is meaning. And that
meaning is related to Jesus - Emmanuel 'God with us'. We want to go to God for answers, but sometimes what we get is God's presence."

On repentance:

"Repentance, 'thinking differently afterward', is what happens to me when the truth of who I am and the truth of who God is scatter the darkness of competing ideas".

I highly recommend Cranky, Beautiful Faith - it's down to earth full of stories that recount the lives of ordinary ( and not so ordinary) people who are on a journey of faith, like us they haven't yet made it, but they often limp their way through life by the grace of God. This book is packed with beautiful poignant gems that could and possibly will change your life.

Accepting the Mercy

Yet in facing the contradictions that we ourselves are, we become living icons of Yes/And. Once we can accept mercy, it is almost natural to hand it on to others. You become a conduit of what you yourself have received
Richar Rohr

Pleasure, Joy and Life

You will show me the path of life; *
     in your presence there is fullness of joy,
     and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

Psalm 16: 11

A wonderful verse found in today's psalm in the Book of Common Prayer...

I love the idea that God is kind enough to reveal to us the path of life...abundant life, real life...

God isn't some sort of old mean guy who looks down at us ready to pounce at any wrong move 

that we may make. Thank God he's not like that.

He wants to give us pleasure, joy and life!

TRINITY

A few interesting thoughts on the Trinty by Richard Rohr:

Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist who was a major contributor to quantum physics and nuclear fission, said the universe is “not only stranger than we think, but stranger than we can think.” Our supposed logic has to break down before we can comprehend the nature of the universe and the bare beginnings of the nature of God. I think the doctrine of the Trinity is saying the same thing. The “principle of three” breaks down all dualistic either-or thinking and sets us on a dynamic course of ongoing experience.

God is not only stranger than we think, but stranger than the logical mind can think. Perhaps much of the weakness of the first two thousand years of reflection on the Trinity, and many of our doctrines and dogmas, is that we’ve tried to do it with a logical mind instead of with prayer. The belief in God as a Trinity is saying God is more an active verb than a stable noun. You know it in the flow of life itself.