Making the World Better

I wanted to share something my daughter wrote. This is the daughter that is covering the Iraq war:

Questioning my cynicism
Some small part of me has always thought about doing something to make the world better instead of just writing about the people who do. A friend that I deeply admire is starting law school this week after teaching in an innovative school for low-income boys for a year and then working as a paralegal for a homeless services organization for another year. Unlike many of the people who are going to his top-five law school, he isn't interested in the whopping $200,000 many first-year associates are now earning -- he wants to continue work for disadvantaged people and/or to teach. Being in Iraq, where literally everybody is suffering, makes me feel somewhat guilty that I'm not also making the world better, whether in New York or in Baghdad.
I know that storytellers have an important role in the world too, but to some extent it's that of a middleman -- get the information to the people who will actually do something about it. Supervisors have praised me for my critical eye toward happenings both in DC and Iraq, but there's a fine line between criticism and cynicism -- a line I find myself crossing fairly regularly. It sometimes scares me that I'm jaded at 23, that my mind ascribes political or self-aggrandizing motives to anyone who claims to be making progress in Iraq.It's probably healthy that there's still part of me that wants to run away and join the Peace Corps or something, but I find it difficult to balance the two sides of my personality. I realize that dedicating my life to community service wouldn't put me in a position to solve the big problems of the world, but very often I feel powerless to fix even the small stuff. In the last three days, two close friends -- one in Iraq and one at home -- have, in different ways, lost people close to them, and it drives me crazy that I can't do anything about it. I realize that joining the Peace Corps wouldn't put me in a position to fix my friends' broken hearts, but wouldn't doing something for someone be a step in the right direction?

praying for the will to end poverty

My friend from the organization Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation wrote this in his most recent enewsletter. It got me thinking about how much changing the world involves changing ourselves. To pray that we are changed so that we truly have the will to end poverty is a BIG prayer and involves opening ourselves up to God's radical transformation in our hearts and our lifestyle.

From E4GR:

What would happen if every religious congregation in the world demonstrated a coordinated combined and unyielding will to end extreme poverty? That is the question being asked by countingprayers.org, a new website that will count how many times the following prayer is made:

"The world now has the means to end extreme poverty; we pray we will have the will."

Faith and a Fault line Shift

Define stability, I said to a friend who was challenging me about how we experience change:

(He wrote) "The science class that got me out of college was spent watching tectonic plates. Then I wrote essays about knowing that the Rockies were essentially fluid, and what that meant to my understanding of stability.
Maybe we need a new map of the fault lines, doubt to faith and back again."

A healthy life of faith should be experiencing shifts from doubt to faith and back again. Faith is not static unless it is dead. Shake it!

Blessing of Backpacks

God of Wisdom,

These backpacks remind us that a new school year is beginning. We ask your blessing upon these children and upon all students, young and old, as they begin new grades, new studies and new friendships. We ask your blessing, also, on all teachers and all who work with students or support them in their education. We lift up the families of these students—that they may nourish growth and learning. Let each person before us feel the love and support of this congregation, and grant this congregation the wisdom and means to meet their needs throughout the coming school year.

We know we are called to be part of your work in the world, Lord, and you have given each one of us gifts and strengths to use in that work. Help each of these students to discover and develop their gifts and to know how to use them for your purposes.

We ask this, loving God, knowing that you are present at all times in our lives and that even the most ordinary task, like homework, can become holy when we remember your kingdom. We ask all this in the name of your son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Soul Mates

What is a soul mate? That term is most often used as a moniker for the person who is 'right' for us, the person with whom we will be happiest if we spend the rest of our lives in that person's presence. Then I read this definition:

"A true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you will ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Too painful! Soul mates come into your life just to reveal another layer of your self to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it!" *

I was thinking that this certainly changes the dynamics of our primary relationship with spouse or partner. This relationship is liberated from the burden of having to be all in all.

I think Jesus is the ultimate soul mate under the above definition. Jesus liberates us and our human relationships from needing to carry the burden of fulfillment. He offers to be our mirror, the one who smacks us awake and exposes all the self-delusional hubris that gets in the way of us becoming the true self God created us to be.
So what about a soul mate needing to leave us because a soul mate is too painful to live with forever? Jesus promised to be with us even to the end of the age, did he not? Well, yes, but he also gave us the freedom to choose. As our soul mate Jesus is not a daily, in-your-face scold but a gentle advocate for the way that brings health, life and renewal. We can choose to remain asleep. We can choose to build walls or to tear them down. Jesus will be with us regardless, as our mate, in our souls.
* from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Spirit Divine

A friend told me her prayer practice is to read the words of this hymn every day:

Spirit Divine

Open my eyes that I may see
Glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp, and set me free;
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, my God, Thy will to see;
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Open my ears, that I may hear
Voices of truth thou sendest clear;
And while the wave notes fall on my ear,
Everything else will disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, my God, Thy will to see;
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Open my mouth, and let me bear
Gladly the warm truth everywhere;
Open my heart, and let me prepare
Love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, my God, Thy will to see;
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

written by Clara H. Fiske Scott

Summer Reading: Part Two

Grace and Casseroles

Reflections from my reading of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert; Penguin Books, 2006.

Liz is reflecting on the differences between her sister and herself. Her sister is someone she describes as being non-religious. Liz is on a spiritual quest. Liz relates a story that highlights their differences:

"A family in my sister's neighborhood was recently stricken with a double tragedy, when both a young mother and her three-year old son were diagnosed with cancer. When Catherine told me about this, I could only say, shocked, 'Dear God, that family needs grace.' She replied firmly, 'That family needs casseroles!', and then proceeded to organize the entire neighborhood into bringing that family dinner, in shifts, every single night, for an entire year. I do not know if my sister fully recognizes that this is grace."

Is there grace in the practical? I was thinking of all the prayers that are assembled into the layers of casseroles that go our from the kitchens of our congregation, prayers tucked in between the noodles, cheese and mushroom soup. Today when we prayed for W.'s surgery tomorrow, we also asked if we could bring her dinner. She demurred, no trouble on my account, she said. But what if letting someone give to you is also bringing grace to them? That is the beauty of Christian community, when the recipient comes to be the provider of grace by graciously allowing another person to help. A circle of grace, no beginning or end. Liz sees this. I suspect Catherine has yet to experience this.

Summer Reading: Part One

I want to share some passages from the most recent non-fiction book I am reading, a best seller called, Eat, Pray, Love - One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert. Penguin Books, 2006.

Liz is in Italy. Not to study or to work or even to visit friends and family. She begins to wonder what she is doing there. It occurs to her that what she is really trying to do is remember how to experience pleasure and she begins to feel a bit panicked as to how one goes about doing that. It is not her cultural paradigm no more is it for most of us. Americans, she writes, have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. We're good at seeking entertainment but that is a very different quest, one that seeks diversion rather than getting in touch with that which may bring us joy. In addition, our quasi-religious, puritanical guilt kicks in and asks us, "Do I really deserve this pleasure? Have I 'earned' it?"

I can relate. But where does this belong in my theological understanding? Clearly, there are some kinds of pleasure that are life giving and others that are not. But maybe even that is the wrong question to bring to pleasure, a cost/benefit analysis. I certainly reject the idea that good things are earned. Our God is not in the business of measuring our deserved-ness for joy any more than we are sized up as deserving of punishment. If you question that assumption, well, we have other issues to discuss!

I am coming to think that feeling guilty about pleasure for pleasure sake is what we might call 'sin' - sin defined as 'something that distorts our relationship with God, other people, or Creation'. BCP. pg. 848. God has created this world and all that is contained in it for God's pleasure and for ours. If we fail to participate in this delight then we are cut-off from a critical element of relationship with our Creator and all that surrounds us. What if we began an exploration of pleasure by praying:

'God, I seek the things that give you joy. I seek the things that you know will bring me joy. I pray that you may teach my heart not to assume there is some better, less indulgent way to spend my time. Teach my heart to see how pleasure is a part of your plan for me and allow me to see how my relationship with You and others is strengthened by this exploration'.