As someone who wears black robes regularly I can tell you I attract all sorts of people to talk with me. The most interesting effect is that the robes become a projection screen of the speaker’s own assumptions. Some approach me and automatically assume that I am a defender of “traditional family values”, others assume that I live an “alternative lifestyle” and thus am a defender of experimentation.
I could tell that something quite wonderful was going on, even though nothing appeared to be happening. There was a look on people’s upturned faces I had never seen before. They were paying attention to something I couldn’t see that made them serious and calm. I was thrilled. I was told this was a church.
He had been ordained as a Deacon in Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church the previous Wednesday evening. Ordained for less than a week, all knew that his death was imminent on the night of his ordination. At some level this makes no sense at all.
Some time back as I drove to work, I noticed a dead squirrel in the middle of the opposite lane. Two other squirrels were trying to rouse him, shaking his body to and fro without success. A third was chattering from the bank on the side of the road, clearly agitated. They were all running back and across the road. Should I stop? Keep going?
Haiti is not a clean place … we have dirt, we have dust, we have all the pollution from cars and trucks. It’s hot, and I sweat a lot. All that combines to make my clothes pretty dirty, sometimes after just one wearing. As I pour out the now-dirty water and watch it swirl down the drain, I think of how washing the dirt from my clothes is rather like washing the dirt from my spiritual life.
How to pray? When the New York Times asked that question last week, a raft of insights into the American spiritual condition appeared.
You can always tell when Jesus says something truly sensational and scandalous because people respond by searching for rocks to fling at his head. The eighth chapter of the Gospel According to John contains four instances of Jesus saying, “I am,” which is one way Jesus imparts his divine identity to his listeners.
A Christian music and arts festival – established in 1973 and first held in 1974, Greenbelt festival is in its 33rd year, and, at the last festival, attracted around 19,000 festival-goers.
In the yard of the abandoned house next door (awaiting new construction), grass and shrubs have grown up, and a family of deer has taken up residence there. There’s now so much growing next door that they don’t even come into my yard any more. The rabbits, on the other hand, have eaten down just about whatever will grow – and yet there is something lovely, peaceful about them.
Imagine and pretend for a moment that you are not and will not be scandalized by others. That their atrocious behavior will not bother you in the least. And, perhaps harder, that you will also not be impressed by their apparently flawless behavior either. Hold on to this image. See how easy it is to know in your heart of hearts that they are all going into the Kingdom?