How
do I move forward with Psalm 23 in my back pocket? How do we bring that
hour of watching TV with your dad to grown-ups? How do we move away from
the always wanting? How do we inspire people (maybe kids, but grown-ups
too) to BE those helpers you talked about in Boston, not necessarily in crises,
but in everyday situations? How do we start to change the normalcy of
fear and encourage people to be open, trusting and charitable? You
mentioned that goodness and mercy were in short supply in Boston this week, but
I disagree. I think in the aftermath of tragedy is where we most easily
find goodness and mercy - in the form of those helpers. People who
respond, despite the personal dangers, inconvenience, fear and revulsion.
But I was at the mall the other day and I came out into a horrible rainstorm to
see about ten people standing around watching an elderly man in a wheelchair
try to push himself slowly toward a Wheeltrans vehicle. Where were the
helpers that day? It shouldn’t take a bomb to motivate people – but how
do we get that message out? It seems like that was part of your message
today – goodness and mercy shall follow me – maybe if we work at it, we can
leave a trail of goodness and mercy in our wake. And you do that.
You are working to get that message out there. But you get to give a
sermon at least once a week. And I get to teach children everyday, so I
have a bit of an audience there too. But how can we pass that message on
to other people and make it grow? How do we take it to heart ourselves in
this media-controlled, narcissistic and materialistic society? We need to
develop language to talk about this stuff in everyday life, not just in
church. We need to develop practical suggestions for “paying it forward”
as it were. And that is a conversation I’d like to be part of.
I wish that I could give a complete
and conclusive answer to the questions you raise… I don’t that I can, but I can
try and at least play my part in the conversation with you.
I hear a few questions:
1.
How do we find ways to free ourselves from
want…
I referenced my “Batman” moment in
my sermon, but it’s not the only moment that I have had. I think that we need to intentionally value
those moments, seek them out and create a context for them to occur. That, to me, is what Sabbath is really about. A time to be free of the pushes and pulls of
the world and to reflect… It’s not a big lavish meal, it’s a simple cold meal…
it’s not out on the town, it’s quietly sitting and talking with loved ones… it’s
not answering the phone and doing “work” it’s quietly examining all that you
have and appreciating it. The people who
intentionally embrace a time of Sabbath are, in my experience, more relaxed and
attuned; less materialistic and often more open. As if they have discovered that they already
have “enough”, they just require the time to embrace it. Now, I appreciate that work and kids and
other responsibilities make a life of “Sabbath” hard to accomplish… but God
gave us one day in seven as a Sabbath… so maybe we could try that… or 2 hours
every day in reflection, meditation, yoga, etc… Or an evening a week without TV or computer
sitting with a partner having dinner and talking.. I think that we can intentionally build these
peaceful moments in our lives and thereby keep the promise and reality of “peace”
nearby. (I say this fully aware that
when my schedule gets full the first thing that I sacrifice is my Sabbath time…
but I’m getting better)
2.
How do we inspire people to be helpers? I think that you’re right when you note that
a major disaster or tragedy inspires people – I know folks who quit jobs or
took a leave of absence to respond to a Tsunami; others how traveled to New
York over a decade ago, and Boston just last week… but they might also have
failed to notice the man in the wheelchair getting soaked in the rain. Some people talk about faith setting them
free… believe in God and be free.
However, that doesn’t really mean that as a person of faith you are free
to do what you want to do… it means that you are free to be “for the other”.
Free to care; free to reach out. No
longer afraid of death or ridicule, no longer feeling limited in love – no
longer needing to be selfish, because your “self” is cared for by the Divine – you
can spend your life on somebody else… and we call that Freedom. So, maybe part of what we do is establish a
sense of security in our children and friends, that they are “free” to be for
somebody else.
I
think that we can invite people into small acts of kindness, allow them to be
for somebody else while we watch their backs… until they discover that the risk
is less than they imagined; and worth it.
Most people who work in Food Banks or Soup Kitchens, were invited there by
a friend… and they were unsure and a little bit afraid of who they would meet…
we can take away their fear, accompany them; assure them, until they are doing
it with less worry and eventually with joy…
I’ve seen it happen. But I think
that we have to meet people where they are – not excpect them to be “Good” as
we imagine “Good”.
I
think that we respond to a media driven, often shallow and narcissistic
society, but gently presenting an alternative and then inviting others to join…
not by guilt and not because it will make them “better” people – but because we
enjoy it and experience benefits. I
think that a great many people want to be more helpful, but they are afraid
and/or just waiting to be invited.
And
you’re right about needing a language… a vocabulary that doesn’t carry all the
baggage of “the church”… but there are
so many good words and concepts that have been carried and honed by the church
over millennia, it would be a shame to just let them go. It’s hard to find another word for Grace… or Presence…
or Faith… but we do need to talk to those outside the church in words that they
will understand. It might be a good idea
for us to simply start talking, however…
Also,
I think that you are right about the abundant Goodness and Mercy in the moments
and days immediately following the bombs going off in Boston. I was responding to some media who were
trying to fill air time and ascribe responsibility before they had anything to
actually say… and my own hurt that made me want to curl up, turn off the tv and
just let the world go away… It was in me
that Goodness and Mercy were initially lacking… I’ve improved since then.
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