Faith Venture

I travel a lot and observe a good many people in a variety of stressful and not-so-stressful situations.

Most people I meet are good people just trying to get along in life.

Many are just lost–or maybe better said, asleep. They are people who seem to be drifting from fad-to-fad or emotion-to-emotion.

I have met just downright devious people. Rather than merely clueless, these people are usually charming but they are always looking for a way to promote themselves at the expense of others. Thankfully, this is a distinct minority. They are they the reason Jesus taught us to be perceptive.

I rather like this proverb that I was taught was Persian, but it also pops up in Sanskrit and Confucius. Many, if not most, of us are asleep trying to awaken.

He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not is a fool; shun him.

He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child; teach him.

He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep; wake him.

He who knows, and knows he knows is wise; follow him.

Yesterday I talked about Jesus’ single piece of work he left us–to love as he has love.

This thought from Thomas Merton popped up the other day:

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can.

Yes, it’s not all about me.

Further, love without qualification. There is no “yes, but…”

Jesus left his followers with one commandment, or practice as we might say, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

The Spiritual Practice is anchored in Jesus–not Abraham, or Moses, or the Law and the Prophets, not the “New Testament” (since it wouldn’t exist for another 300+ years).

This makes commitment to following Jesus a serious business.

I’ve been studying the Enneagram again. I dove into it 25 years or so ago. It is useful for understanding how we can each develop into a more fully integrated personality.

For this topic, I was just studying Enneagram Ones. (Ennea being 9, there are 9 types numbered from 1 to 9.) According to the research, Ones consider doing love as doing things for someone else. They may seldom say anything or touch or similar. But as they do little acts of service, that is their expression of love.

That is surely one of the many things Jesus had in mind when he told us the greatest commandment is to love, since God is love.

Go and do likewise.

The door opened behind me to the room where the small group I lead meets. Then it closed. She was looking for someplace specific–and not us. One of the women in class commented, “She is probably too young for this group.”

I thought, “It would be good for us to have some younger voices.”

Look at our national political scene. Most likely the Republicans will run with someone even older than I. The leading Democrats are also older than me except one who is about the same age. Can’t the Boomers let go and let some younger voices enter? We’ve certainly screwed things up enough over the past 30 years or so.

I had a dream the other night. I was at another engineering conference. There were the usual old white guys–smart, but often set in their ways. The scene flipped to a chorus of kids (like 10 years old in my dream) offering a myriad of new approaches and ideas to problems.

Most likely Jesus was only 30 when his ministry began. Most likely John (the apostle) was still in his teens. The other guys were young guys, too.

They changed the world.

I still learn and have ideas. But it’s refreshing to listen to younger voices and remember the struggles of figuring it all out.

It’s time.

Mad Magazine’s mascot was Alfred E. Neuman. He ran for president in 1968. He got votes. He’s a cartoon character. And you thought today’s politics were goofy.

His motto was, “What? Me worry?”

Actually, that’s not bad advice.

Jesus once said, “Why worry? Will you add a minute to your life by worrying?”

I hear conversations often speculating about one thing or another about heaven or hell. We don’t know. We can parse through all the writings collected as the Bible and only have hints.

Will worrying about all that add anything to your life?

In school, I was told about the medieval Scholastics arguing about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.

Why?

There is enough to do to just live this minute trying to do our best. Worrying won’t help.

Maybe if we just chill.

Jesus just gave the word and people were cured of their demons. He touched them and cured them of physical disease and disability.

But I started to consider that we still refer to many illnesses as being demons. Some mental health issues are chemical and require drugs for healing. Most of us can’t do that. Some are so deep seated that they require a professional.

We can help drive out many demons. Maybe it starts with breakfast and listening. A weekly meet up for coffee. Maybe we just can’t say, “Be healed” and it happens. But I wonder how many people we could help with a little care.

Things our churches could do instead of dividing the sheep from the goats, labeling ourselves the sheep, and declaring the goats bad. Then we herd together every week and celebrate our sheepness.

Or, we could be like Jesus.

I have a thought starter for the day. Actually, it should be a day-starter. How can I change to change the problem?

“It is not because of religion that the world is suffering; it is from a lack of love.”

Just to add fuel–what was Jesus commandment? Love God and love your neighbor (which he defined quite broadly).

(Sorry Willie)

“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceedsc to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at homed and ate their food with glad and generouse hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” — Acts 2

Recently I scanned through some news sources. Yes, I do see political news, but I adamantly shun those media whose method is to raise emotions in order to keep viewers glued to the site/channel in order to sell more advertising. (Hi, Fox, MSNBC, Facebook.)

I had an overwhelming sense of anxiety, fear, loss of belonging among people leaving a hole in the heart that politicians were scrambling to fill.

But, I thought, where are the churches? Compounding the problem?

And I recalled Acts 2. The church was generous and caring and had the goodwill of all the people.

Does that sound like a description of today? What can we do about it?

What if…?

What if we are not meant to be Christians pointing out the demons and flaws of other people implying that we are perfect?

What if we are to be followers of Jesus who, like him, walked alongside people with demons and hurts and concerns helping bring healing and wholeness while still working on ourselves?

The Gospel of Mark uses short stories, almost like snapshots, to show Jesus’ actions. And it moves quickly from scene to scene. If you blink, you miss something.

Where I am teaching, Jesus goes into Gentile territory. The story is filled with things anathema to Jewish people. It doesn’t seem to bother him. He cures a man with many demons. It’s a totally unclean place.

He gets into a boat and immediately (Mark’s favorite word, I think) goes to a Jewish town. Crowds press around. A leading citizen who is named asks for healing for his daughter, but Jesus feels power released. “Who touched me?” His friends say something like “Duh, everyone is touching you. It’s a crowd.”

But a woman comes forward and confesses. She touched him believing she would be healed from a disease that makes her unclean, outcast from the community. Touching Jesus makes him unclean. He doesn’t care. He calls her Daughter meaning she’s accepted back into the family. Tells her she’s healed.

Without doing any purification ritual from the Gentiles to the woman, he proceeds to restore the leader’s daughter to life.

We attended a Dayton Pops Orchestra performance of Rogers and Hammerstein music. The program was constructed and moderated by the grandson of Oscar Hammerstein. He pointed out that, as much as we love the music, we might miss the fact that Hammerstein wrote on many themes long before they were accepted by American society. He put black people and white people on stage together in somewhat equal roles (Carousel); he wrote a play about black people starring black people (Carmen Jones); about how ranchers and farmers (all us people) need to get along together to build a great state (Oklahoma); about speaking up to authority (The King and I); and sticking it to the Nazis (The Sound of Music).

We live in a time of deep divisions, not only America but everywhere. What are we all doing to bring people together and move society into a more compassionate place? How are we crossing boundaries to bring healing?