Turning Consumers Into Citizens

Reading Jim Wallas' book On God's Side (what religion and politics hasn't learned about serving the common good). Saw Jim Wallas at Greenbelt last year, an inspirational speaker, who teaches with authenticity because he practices what he preaches...

In the book i came across this phrase: 'turning consumers into citizens'.
We live and breath in an acute consumer society - i'd be the first to confess to being brutally influenced by the need to spend, consume, spend, consume, spend, consume...and the contented feeling after buying the stuff. The albeit short-lived contented feeling.

So the vision of being transformed from a 'consumer' into a 'citizen' is a vision that I cling to with clutching hands that seem to be forever slipping...never seem to hold on to with much success.
I persistently refuse to be defined by the things I buy. I'm made in the image of the Creator. The free, all -Loving-Gracious Spirit who breathes Her love upon us, revealing to us that we have worth, we are valued for who we are and not for what we possess.

Refuse the consumer identity and take hold of our true identity of citizens - citizens of the Grace-filled Realm, citizens of the All-embracing, all-inclusive Grace Realm.

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

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

Great Love and Great Suffering

Here's another meditation by Richard Rohr:

We must learn to be able to think and behave like Jesus, who is the archetypal human being. This becomes a journey of great love and great suffering. These are the two normal and primary paths of transformation into God, preceding all organized religion. This journey leads us to a universal love where we don’t love just those who love us. We must learn to participate in a larger love—divine love.

In this, God utterly leveled the playing field and made grace available from the first moment of creation when “God's Spirit overshadowed the chaos” (Genesis 1:2). Surely the God who created all things was thus available to all creation, starting with the so-called Stone Age people and the natives of all continents, and yes, even the barbarians. I can only assume that they loved and suffered too and thus met God, “who is love” (1 John 4:7-8).

Any journey of great love or great suffering makes us go deeper into our faith and eventually into what can only be called universal truth. Love and suffering are finally the same, because those who love deeply are committing themselves to eventual suffering, as we see in Jesus. And those who suffer often become the greatest lovers.

The Prodigal Father

Here's an interesting thought provoking spin on one of Jesus' most well-known parables, brought to us by Nadia Bolz Weber.

What does prodigal mean? Wastefully extravagant.
Nadia suggests we regard our Father God in this way.

Our relationship to God is not determined by being nice or good.
Our relationship to God is determined by the wastefully extravagant love of God.

"All that is mine is yours"

Now that's good news!

http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber/files/2013/03/2013-03-10-NBW-Sermon.mp3

Moving On

There are times in our life when we need to move on. This could be a geographical location, a new job or a new relationship. In these moments of change we have to let go of that which we have known and adventure out into unfamiliar places.

My wife and I have moved on.
We've left an organization, WEC International, that we'd been with for 25 years. (That's a long time!)

My identity, and my security were once found in this organization, what I did and the recognition I received from others.

A singer once sang 'Life is full of moving on...' it's easier to sing about than it is to do it.

My God is a large God, not the god of a particular tribe or religion, but the creator God who holds the universe in his hands. A God who is LOVE and lavishes us with his GRACE.

My desire is to continue to journey with Him. The road may get difficult, with many twists and turns and unexpected encounters with angels and demons, friends and foes. I may find myself in strange places and roads less travelled.
I think in all our journeying it's important not to get too complacent, too comfortable with our experiences and achievements. The very essence of journeying is movement. It may be inward journeying which then proceeds to outward journeying. (As is our own personal case).

When we move on there is a sense of peace and freedom; but these feelings are often mixed with fear and anguish as we gaze towards an uncertain future.

None of us know what the future holds, we can only trust, and move on...

Ash Wednesday Sermon; The Crap...

Here's a stimulating Ash Wednesday sermon from Nadia Bolz Weber:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber/2013/02/ash-wednesday-sermon-the-crap-we-give-our-hearts-to/


Hope you like it !

Perfectionism

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane all your life...I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they are doing it. - Anne Lamott

I was only thinking of the subject of perfectionism the other day while singing along to a worship song at church.
I read the quote from Anne Lamott today which reminded me of my thoughts and conversation on perfectionism.
To be honest I wasn't blessed (or cursed???) with perfectionism, at least it's not an obsession. I admit that I like to do thinks right and correct to the best of my ability and I've sometimes been disappointed with some of the things I've done and delighted at others.
I can  echo the idea that if you are too much of a perfectionist you're going to miss out on the FUN that's found in LIFE...

Back to the worship song. I just couldn't sing the line 'His (God's) works are perfect...' My thoughts raced back to the creation story in Genesis where God looked at his creation and concluded that it was VERY GOOD. His creation/works are very good. He didn't use the word 'perfect'. Behind the word 'Perfection/perfect' is the idea of something that can't be bettered, it's come to its completion...
You see, I don't think that God's works, his creation (including humanity) have come to their completion - we're 'works in progress' ...

This understanding frees us. Liberates us to take risks and to press on...
if we fall flat on our face, we can pick ourselves up and start again...
It's better to accomplish something (however little it may be) than to be paralyzed with fear of failure.

I don't think God is looking for perfection. I think he's rather looking for progress.
He'd prefer that we simply try and to trust in his grace.
Remembering that we are works in progress!

Grace in the World

Here's a great quote from Richard Rohr which follows on the theme from my last post:

"Grace is not something you invite into the world but something you discover already in the world"

The Divine Embrace

Ordinary Christianity has emphasized that we should love God.
That makes sense, but do we really know how to do that?
What I find in the mystics is an overwhelming experience of how God has loved us!
... God is forever the initiator, God is the doer, God is the one who seduces me in my
unworthiness. It's all about God's initiative! Then the mystics try desperately to give
back, to offer their lives, to the world and thus back to God.
Mystics are not trying to earn God's love by doing good things or going to church services.
That question is already and profoundly resolved. The mystics overwhelming experience
is full body blow of divine embrace, a radical acceptance by God even in their state of
fragmentation and poverty. That's what makes it "amazing" and "grace".

Richard Rohr

JESUS A HUMAN BEING

"Jesus came as a human being: he didn't come to teach us how to go to heaven but to be simple, loving human beings here on this earth;" Richard Rohr

This understanding of Jesus is both simple and yet pertinent. The life and teachings of Jesus reveal a new way of being human, of becoming a real authentic human being as we were meant to be from the beginning. His teachings are hard and go against the current flow - peace, nonviolence, forgiveness, love, reconciliation, grace, justice...
He once prayed that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven...

So he calls us to be loving human beings here on earth.

Blessing for the journey

Here's a beautiful blessing written by Gerard Kelly found on his spoken worship site
http://spokenworship.tumblr.com/post/4181292339/blessing 

May God, in whose furnace faith is forged; in whose being beauty breathes; at whose dawning darkness flees, shine on you.

May the Father, whose love for you beats with a rhythm time itself can’t stop; whose presence in your exile is the promise of home; whose certainties are deeper than the cellars of your city; whose breath is life, breathe on you.

May the son, whose story is a mirror of your own; who has journeyed into darkness to find a key to your prison; who has dived the deepest oceans to find pearls for your wisdom; who has looked into your heart and found a beauty worth the battle; who has written your name on a white stone carved in secret, hold you.

May the Spirit, who has waited millennia to fill you; who shaped the word that moved the wind of the morning that conceived you; who holds the earth on which you stand as an artist holds a candle; who fully knows you, wholly own you

So may God the faithful father, God the scarred son, God the sculpting spirit journey with you

HEAVEN BREAKING THROUGH

William Law, an eighteenth-century English cleric, wrote, “All that is sweet, delightful, and amiable in this world, in the serenity of the air, the fineness of seasons, the joy of light, the melody of sounds, the beauty of colors, the fragrancy of smells, the splendor of precious stones, is nothing else but Heaven breaking through the veil of this world.”


This quote reminds us that God is present in his world. 
May he give us the grace to see with the eye of our heart, the wonders of his presence.
And in return may we worship.

GRACE THAT DEFIES LOGIC

 Bono of Irish rock band U2 (you knew that anyway) has said, “Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.”

He also sung:

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything
Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

GOD, MY DANCING PARTNER

“God, you were here all along, and I never knew it” (Genesis 28:16), says Jacob on awakening from his stone pillow.


I came across this verse last week and I was blow away by the fact that God is here, right now in our world, culture, city, home, skin,...and we so easily forget this wonderful reality...
maybe it's because we are unable to 'see'...
maybe it's because we only expect to meet with God in the 'holy' place of Church...
maybe it's because we're so busy that we no longer take the time to be still and actively 'wait' for Him...


Here's Richard Rohr's take on this verse:

The essential religious experience is that you are being “known through” more than knowing anything in particular yourself. Yet despite this difference, it will feel like true knowing. This new way of knowing can be called contemplation, nondualistic thinking, or “third-eye” seeing. Such prayer, such seeing, takes away your anxiety about figuring it all out fully for yourself, or needing to be right about your formulations.

At this point, God becomes more a verb than a noun, more a process than a conclusion, more an experience than a dogma, more a personal relationship than an idea. There is Someone dancing with you, and you are not so afraid of making mistakes. You know even those will be used in your favor. At that point you also have awakened from your stone pillow, and you know with a new clarity what you partly knew all along!

I love the idea of God being more that a static noun or dogma or conclusion...

God is so much more, and the relational aspect of His nature is marvelous...

I can't dance to save my life...

so the image of God as my dancing partner who doesn't scold me when I take the wrong step or tread on his toes is comforting...

We cannot unscramble an egg...

A passage from Forgotten among the Lilies by Ronald Rolheiser:

"We need a theology of brokenness. We need a theology which teaches us that even though we cannot unscramble an egg, God’s grace lets us live happily and with renewed innocence far beyond any egg we may have scrambled. We need a theology that teaches us that God does not just give us one chance, but that every time we close a door, he opens another one for us.”

The license of Grace

Here's a parabole from PeterRollins, in his book Insurrection (believe is human; to doubt, divine), which so poignantly illustrates grace:

There was once a young man called Caleb who was obsessed with gathering up possessions and gaining status. He was so driven by the desire to succeed that, from an early age, he managed to become one of the most prominent and influential figures in the city. Yet he was unhappy with his lot. he worked long hours, was rarely his children, and often became irritable at the slightest problem. But more than this, he knew his lifestyle met his father's disapproval.

His father had himself been a wealthy and influential man in his youth, but he had found such a life shallow and unsatisfactory. As a result, he had turned away from it in an endeavor to embrace a life of simplicity, fellowship and meditation.

...he had warned Caleb in the strongest possible way to embrace a life that delves deeply into the beauty of creation, the warmth of fellowship, and the inspiration derived from deep and sustained reflection.

Caleb's father was an inspiring man, well loved by all, and Caleb could see that his father, while living in a modest way, was at peace with himself and the world in a manner that his friends and colleagues were not. Because of this, Caleb often looked longing at his father's lifestyle and frequently detested the path that he had personally chosen. Yet, despite this, he was still driven to pursue wealth and power.

It was true that his father was a happy and contented man, but he was concerned about his son, and on any occasion when they spent time together, he would criticize Caleb for the life he had chosen.

But one day while Caleb's father was reflecting upon his son's life, a voice from heaven interrupted him, saying, "Caleb is also my son, and I love him just the way he is."

Caleb's father began to weep as he realized that all these years he had been hurting his son through his disapproval and criticism. So he immediately visited his son's house and offered a heartfelt apology, saying, "Please never feel that you need to change what you do or who you are. I love you without limit and condition just as you are".

After that day, the father began to take interest in his son's life again, asking questions about what he was doing and how his work was progressing. But, increasingly, Caleb found that he was no longer so interested in working the long hours. Soon he started to skip work in order to spend more time with his family and began to take less interest in what others thought of him.

Eventually, Caleb gave up his work entirely and followed in his father's footsteps, realizing that it was only after his father had accepted him unconditionally for who he was that he was able to change and become who he always wanted to be.

Rollins goes on to say; this is nothing less than a description of grace. In grace we are able to accept that we are accepted and, in this very act of knowing we do not have to change, we discover the ability to change. It is in experiencing the license of grace rather than the legalism of prohibition that real transformation becomes possible.