Few things are as simple as we would wish, or as complex as we make them

Savoring the Journey

We may not always know where we are going, but we do know where it began.  We began to be Church at an empty tomb and in the presence of resurrection, assurances that we were on the right path.  There is then less need to say at each step just where we are headed since we know we will get there.  Over time we might be wandering, and can only hope it is an enjoyable meandering and take from it all of the sights to be seen.  We will arrive, and along the way will arrive at the places in between.  Savor these, too.

As Important As Loving God

Loving God is important and necessary, but loving ourselves and other people means at least as much, even if it can be harder to do.

What Not to Do With Buried Treasure

We hear words like goodness and holiness.  We have been told about faith and belief.  People say words and explain their meaning.  But if the words remain words, if the concepts do not become realities it seems a waste of time.  It is starting with buried treasure and then burying it deeper.

Celebration or Separation

Technology forces some of us to live longer.  It then calls them the senior citizens while accusing them of standing in the way of progress simply by being there.  Maybe that is not what is happening.  Maybe there is no accusation involved, but there seems to be.  By making old people, or anyone, a distinct group we are both celebrating and separating them and in this case there seems more isolation than congratulation.

Unnecessary Laws

Laws that are not needed offer no more than guilt, and life founded on guilt deriving from prohibition is not life at all.

What Humility Is Not

Humility is not weakness.  Nor is power the same as strength.

Taking Up Causes

Bleeding for causes does not make them right.  Nor need it even mean you believe in them.

At the Sanhedrin

They brought him to the Sanhedrin accusing him of many things but could convict him only of being himself.  Only when he acknowledged his identity did they condemn him to death.  Accepting himself, saying yes and allowing himself to be the Christ, was the crime.  It was what cost his life, but it was worth the price.  It was better than the other choice, the denial of his person.  Had he said, "No, that's not me.  I said a lot of things, but not that, and anyone who says it's me has not been paying attention," he could have walked away, right back into obscurity and leaving the message behind.  The Pharisees could have had a press conference and they might have shared the podium, but it wasn't that way.

His friend who had followed was asked a similar question.  He was also accused of his identity, but said no.  He denied himself by denying his relationship with Jesus.  He got to walk away, but had to do so in tears.

Preserving Expectations

We are at times reluctant to hear someone speak of himself, afraid what he might say and of who he might reveal, of who he truly is.  We fear he may be different, that he will not conform to that self we painted upon him.  Lest we have to know, we sometimes keep relations at the periphery.  Maybe we can tolerate only our own realities, being on guard against those of someone else.

Understanding Most of All

Though he can seem to demand a lot, God does not expect to receive anything.  He understands who we are, because he is united with us.  Then maybe "demand" is not the correct word.  Maybe instead he asks.  But whatever he does, God also understands and that he does most of all.

The Reasons for Questions

Had people wanted the same answers they would have stopped asking the questions.  Had what was always said sufficed there would be no reason to question again.

Insincere Apologies

A number of people had become apologetic, saying they were sorry for what they did not really think themselves guilty of.  Fortunately, they did not mean it and soon stopped saying it.

Making Mistakes

I have made no shortage of mistakes.  Hopefully, some were made no more than once.

Of Importance to Church

More important to Church than the ability to organize, protest, or even be "charismatic" are holiness, kindness, and goodness.

In Response to Suffering

He told them they would be made to suffer, that they would be put out of the synagogue and chased from town to town.  He did not say their response to persecution is returning the insult.  Jesus did not say excommunicate those who excommunicate you, and if people hurt you be sure to hurt them in return.  Nor did he tell his friends they should refuse to suffer, or even die.

He seems, instead, to say they should allow others, even their persecutors, to be faithful to their belief; to let them response to God as they must, letting them be wrong even if they will be very wrong.

He also tells them to maintain their own conviction, remaining faithful to God as he has revealed himself to them.  He is asking that they believe in what is and trust in what will be.  That these are the true replies to persecution and denial.

What People Offer

He showed me his flowers.  I offered to weed his garden.  I thought I was helping.  I should instead have seen the flowers.  See what people show, not the setting in which they present it.

Limitations of Salvation

They told him he was saved, but because he doubted he had even been lost he felt no need to be grateful for this gift he never wanted.

Learning Alternatives

You might think that what could be learned from pain might be as easily learned in another way.

God's Evolution

For years, God has had to adapt himself to the condition of people.  He has had to be what was needed and he has been it well.  As mankind came to understand itself and its environment, its knowledge of God was modified so he could be for them what was needed in the newly emerging moment.  This is not the same as saying people made God.  It is rather an indication that God is not bound to our formulations, formulations predicated on the human situation rather than on God's nature.  What was said was determined by need, thought and current philosophy; and by acceptance, rejection, modification or incorporation of what had to date been said or believed about the personality of God.

To speak about you as you were a year, two, ten or fifty years ago is not to talk of who you are today.  In like manner, God as he now is, even though he is the same person, is changed and is better known than by what he was once called.  He cannot be sufficiently understood in relation to an older terminology, even when that terminology (and what it sought to convey) still gives indication of part of what we want to express.  We have developed since these notions and formulations were devised, and so has God.  It does not suffice that he be what he used to be, what he was for people in times past.  He is revealing himself now to a new people in a new way.

As the Jewish nation could move away from the prevailing animism and polytheism to an idea of God as one and unique we are moving from some of what used to be said of him.  They may not be false but neither are they essential.  Like the Hebrews, we realize God is capable of what is required by the life situation of his people at any moment in their history.  So he is no longer warrior, or wanderer, or even king.  The terms no longer fit, and because of changes in what the words now convey some may even be contrary to our image and understanding.

He has as well ceased to be mind, idea or something apart.  While they once served to express an aspect, one that a particular culture required, we have no more need of those expressions, nor does God.  The image is changing, as it should. What was so far said sufficed for those who said it, but while while it can be included it is no longer central.  No words will remain adequate, not even our own.  It would be unfair to the dynamism of God were we to try enclosing him in any formula, no matter how time-honored or time-worn.  The mystery is such that we can approach, circle about, and compare it to things we know or believe in other realms.  Each expression is a phase in our finding of God, our naming of his name.

Our Choice

Maybe, at least for a time, we should stop talking and just listen.

Perspectives on a Prophet

He is elusive and mysterious, perhaps without intending to be.  He speaks of Scripture and people become excited.  He is a prophet, a healer, a rabble rouser.  He claims to be no one is quite sure what.  He is a short time with them, but long enough to have confused everything.  Then he goes away.  The people look.  They talk of wonder.  They know there is more.  They yearn for it.

He is that way with us as well, but he comes back.  In the story, he did not stay in Bethany.  Then too he came back, but then it was to die.

Measuring Forever

Every serious commitment is forever, but sometimes forever does not last that long.

Talk Instead of Treatments

They said they could not treat the problem.  There were too many factors involved.  They said it would take time, and money, and a lot more thought to even begin.  Even then the problem might not go away.  They were very apologetic, and kept saying there was a problem here.  We knew that, and had for some time.  We had come for a solution, not another explanation, but again it was ending in talk.

Being Prayed For

When some people offer to pray for me, I wish they wouldn't, especially when they threaten to pray for something important or worthwhile.  Maybe I am afraid their God will answer.  Maybe it is just the words they use.

Who Can Live The Words

We could all say the words and make the gestures, maybe even meaning them, but very few could live them.  They were the ones who got hurt.  They were the ones so few understood.  It was their reality that threatened our complacency, and they were the ones who made it all worthwhile.

An Asset-Based View of Salvation

If salvation is not yet accomplished, there is no assurance that it will be.  Time and energy then must be spent in staying ahead of damnation.  If, instead, we can say salvation is present, that we are saved, then the fear it might not be is unnecessary and we can focus on growth rather than threats of decline.  We can look ahead instead of wonder what may be closing in.

Not New But Still Cherished

They are old men remembering things no longer new, but no less dear for all the years gone by.

Religion's Role

It is not religion's role to make people good.  They are good to begin with.  Instead it is, or should be, to free them from whatever prevents realization of the ability each person has.  It is to tell people of their holiness and value, naming what is rather than what might be.

Two-Way Faith

When we speak of faith, when we say we take a chance on God by believing in him, we should understand that is but half the arrangement.  The other half is God's faith in us, his taking a chance and believing in who we are in ourselves as well as in relation to him.