Being

All things are being, in that they "be." As human beings we go a step further by "being human."

Adventures in Faith

We talk in symbols and metaphors hard pressed to withstand the eternal "what and why." When scrutinized they cannot pass beyond their ascribed meaning and so reveal inadequacy. Of course, there are some things which must live in metaphor or sign. By nature they are poetic and delicate, not meant to be probed. They make no claim to finality (though they may have a right to immortality); these are not the current concern.

Rather, of interest are the eternal answers, truths and definitions: the final statements not admitting the prospect of limitation. Once assumed they become final irrevocable points beyond which there is no need to go, or to even want to venture.

But in truth there is always more to be said, and said with reason and conviction, even if still incomplete. Very often all that is offered as a next step is a denial, a negative statement about what went before. That is not in itself enough but it seems to require such vehemence only because opposed to so definitive a formulation.

It is always possible, and desirable, to go beyond, no matter how much uncertainty may prompt or derive from the probing. Some things may have to be left behind to make room for what is new. It is alright to do so, and easier done if we recognize there are no ultimates, no points beyond which we may not go. It is alright if it becomes an endless refinement of belief and thought. In voyages into faith and thought, as in other adventures, there is no need to fear we will fall over the end of the earth and tumble into a terrible pit of despair.

Parenting & Growth

Relationships between people and their parents seem to founder when roles do not grow, when the dependence and giving that characterized its early stages do not give way to a mutuality that acknowledges distinctions while fostering the growth of both parties. It is a process that ought also apply to our relationship with God, allowing each the completeness of ourselves and a mutuality built no longer on need but on a desire to share. There is no freedom in need, no choice about union if without it one may be harmed. It is the child's relationship to parent, not that of an adult.

Futile Searching

He was searching for what had not been hidden so it was no surprise that he never found it.

Being God

People sometimes act as if I were God. They expect me to have his wisdom and make his judgments. They do so because they are afraid to accept the Godness in themselves. I think that is it, but whatever the reason I wish they would stop. I find it hard to be God for them. It is hard enough just being me.

Caution

Peter did not think it necessary to caution Jesus until it came to the issue of dying and rising. He seemed able to permit rejection by the priests and leaders. The prospect of adversity maybe supported his need to be special, but that dying and then the rising. That made no sense. It was not done and Peter needed his life and belief to make sense. Maybe it is the making sense, the trying to introduce reasonableness into what was only open to belief, that prompted Jesus' rebuke. Perhaps that was the Satan to be put behind him.

Part of Life

He told them Lazarus' illness would not end in death, but he would have to pass through it. It was a part of life neither he nor Lazarus would have chosen, but it made possible and made real the raising of them both.

Breaking Bread

Had they not recognized him in the breaking of the bread would Jesus still have left them?

Process of Resurrection

Resurrection is not so much a fact as a process. It is a day-to-day and on-going activity accomplishing itself in the overcoming of the dying in ourselves and of the people and things around us. This refutation of deadness, however, does not permit the mere recycling of old life. Coming to life, beginning to be all over requires an entirely new life, a new way of living, something as new as the new day in which it will be breathed and exhausted, making way for what is to come next.

We don't re-live old days but rather re-vitalize the whole of life, just as the resurrected Jesus was unlike the one who had died.

Pain

She carries so much pain, reluctant to let it go, afraid the alternative is hurting those who caused her sorrow, but if she would choose not to offer them pain neither must she keep it. It is alright if no one hurts.

Carpenter's Son

He was only the carpenter's son. They knew his brothers and sisters, and his family lived just down the street. They thought he had no right to wisdom, and wonders should be beyond him. They just couldn't believe and so what they wanted came to be, and it was over. Nothing happened, just like they knew it would.

The Spirit

If you could grab hold and pin it down, would you still call it the Spirit? Its name implies a lack of definition and form. It is the Spirit who offers possibilities or outlines, not going beyond the suggestion of what might be. At the same time the Spirit is Holy, with the same holiness seen in the Father's creative and the Son's redemptive acts.

Potential

At some point his "I'm going to" became "I could have." The plans became excuses. He kept his potential intact.

Seeing Marriage

They were talking of being married fifty years. One said it would be wonderful, representing a half century of sacrifice, of surviving the suffering and difficulty of life. It made the fifty years sound like a million. Another said it should be seen as a celebration of love and closeness, of a life spent in discovery and fulfillment. It sounded like but a day.

How we see it makes it what it is. How it is lived, what people bring to it or allow it to give makes marriage real for them. And so even though in each marriage there may be sacrifice as well as love, and difficulty beside fulfillment, the dominant factor is what we allow it to be. What we will see is what is.

Loaves

Had they understood what the loaves had meant then his walking on water would not have seemed startling. It would have been dismissed as a lesser event, but they hadn't understood and so responded to the sparkle of it all.