cairns

Didn’t get a lot of takers on helping flesh out a true pro-life position.  I think the Catholic Church has bragging rights for realizing and proclaiming that the right to life must to extend to the most despicable murderer if we wish to proclaim it as universal.

Two of my daughters see a decidedly “non-Christian practice” Psychiatrist.  He is the best in our area at correct medicinal treatment.  But, he is always politely suspicious of our beliefs and practices.  He was amazed to find out my daughter worked for the O’Bama campaign since so many Christians claim the only issues that matter are pro-life and family definition.  We discussed how little anybody on the ballot had to say about either issue once the campaign propaganda dies out.  And, I got to tell him that for me pro-life has to include the born as well as the unborn, the toddler and teen as well as the fetus, the soldier as well as the Iraqi, and just about the time he thought he understood– I told him that it would also include my brother the wolf in Alaska.  He was still grinning and shaking his head in disbelief when we left.

Skipped church today as the guest preacher is the author of a financial advice book for Christians.  Seems the tithe is twelve percent and still binding on Christians who dont want to steal from God, the local church is the temple and it is improper to put your tithe anywhere but in the hands of the church leadership, all debt is of the devil, but not to worry, those who give tweleve percent to God up front will find God blessing them with wealth beyond their dreams.  I did not want to throw up on the carpet, curse out loud in church, or cancel my decision to stay by getting thrown out.  So I stayed home and played with the leaves in the yard.

I have more yard than I can clean by myself, with friends who live in lands brown and dry without shade.  I was working to beat the rain, with friends who live in places where rain does not come.  I was working to get done before going back to school tomorrow, with friends who work with children who have never been allowed to go to school but have served in the militia.  And I thought again, simple observation should answer the question in the affirmative.  Life is good.  Waking up in each day in a place filled with life is a blessing.  Waking up with a new President who is bringing hope both here and in those other lands, is a blessing.  But waking to another day of life would be blessing if I was in any of those other settings.  Life is, and life is holy.

peace

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I was doing the story of the prodigal and father with a group of young Muslim boys in a discussion format, getting their responses and reactions to each part of the story as it unfolded. They couldn’t imagine a person doing what the son did. They could imagine trying to go home rather than starve. But, they imagined going in fear of death, or at least severe punishment or rejection. I asked why they thought a father would respond that way.

One said, “He disrespected his father,” echoing a theme we had been pursuing the day before about true respect growing from love not fear.

Then E said it. If the father allowed the prodigal’s behavior to go unpunished, “He would be bad too!”

They could scarcely imagine a man acting like the one in the story. To imagine God behaving that way was shocking. Shame requires the restoration of honor for the family, not forgiveness of the wayward member. It was one of the moments when the difference in our world views became clearer to me. I have read about it in good books over the last couple of years. But, here it was– not Islam vs Christianity — but a world view like Jesus’ hearers would have held responding to one of His parables with the emotional response it deserved.

There was no flannel graph blandness to it. I could see the gravity and wonder of it on their faces and in their eyes. This was Jesus making the world changing claim that God will do ANYTHING to welcome us home. I heard the same boy who told me that writing his opinion of Allah would be “against Islam” repeating more than once, “It was a come home party!”

I sit here humbled, relearning my own God’s love for me. Do we know how deeply loved we are?

peace

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Kids are taught to say this phrase like cults teach their children key responses to questions which might break the conditioning.

But this young man was patient and willing to go beyond the phrase and explain to me what he meant.  We had just looked at the stories of “Too many fish for one boat” prepared by a team member for use that day, “Loaves and fishes” told excitedly by one of the youngsters who said, “I know a story about Jesus!”, and “the Prodigal” told by me.  We discussed what these stories say about the nature of God.  Then I asked them to write in their daily journal what they thought God was like.  Two of the older guys quietly sat without writing.  When I pushed for whether they understood, didn’t have an answer, or didn’t want to answer, they told me, “It is against Islam.”

God is God and they have already been taught that it is incorrect for man to even dare to express an opinion about God seeing as how God is so far superior to us.  I thanked them for explaining and assured them that I did not want them to violate their own beliefs.  I explained that I believed what I had been telling them about honoring parents, and I also would not want them to do anything for me that would violate the rules their parents have given them.  Their verbal explanation was enough and we went on to other lighter things.

Now, there is one small part of me that wishes Christians were a little more awestruck on the topic of God and a little less prone to spout opinions as lightly as comparing brands of clothing or events on the evening news.  OK, it is a big part of me.

But, to see them believe that we simply must live out obligations, with no hope of ever knowing the Divine, with no right to wonder, ponder, and share our journeys was very sad to me.  Later in the day, one of the young men who had now been with me two weeks said it would also be OK if I shared with him how I believe God sees him.  I recounted the many positive things I had seen him do,  his concern for the small boys when they joined our games, and the respect that he showed to elders even though he is aware of our different beliefs.   And, I assured him that God already loves him very much.  Perhaps a little too heavy on works vs grace, but for a kid who knows only works with no expectation of grace or love in return, it was enough.  He was grateful.  I left promising them that I will be praying that God  will reveal Himself to them — because I already know Him to be the Father looking down the road and loving them very much as He watches their journey home.

peace

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It was the Dalai Lama (in a presentation at IU) who said in no uncertain terms that the difference between Christianity and Buddhism is that Christians believe there is help from beyond and Buddhists believe we are on our own. As I reflect further on what I have learned of Islam, read more of what they gave me and try to sort it all out, I am sensing a parallel I did not expect. Since Islam speaks of Allah, and in US propaganda equates Allah to the God of the Bible, I did not expect a similarity. And yet, there it is.

What I am finding is a way of life, a respectable (at least within its own logic) way to go about meeting the physical needs of life for oneself, one’s family, and the larger society. God is there, and the basic beliefs include obligations to him. But, I see no presentation of any relationship with God. There is no promise of his aid in life. There is little guarantee of a better after life. And all bad jokes about the virgins in paradise aside, even paradise is NOT presented as including the presence of Allah — except perhaps in the final layers of the seven tiered heaven. I do not know, I do not understand those yet or what hope one has of obtaining them.

It makes sense I suppose for a religion coming out of the unpredictable world of the Arabian peninsula. But, as a way of life with no promise of contact with the divine here or later, I have to say I prefer the Dalai Lama’s teachings or even those of the secular humanists. That is if I did not know Jesus. I feel a great sympathy for the devout in this religion, faithfully meeting all of their religious obligations, doing the best they can for their families and fellow man — with no presence of God to comfort, empower, transform or redeem. It seems to me a very sad difference.

peace

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Buy this book. I would love to have a group of people to sit and discuss each chapter with as Mclaren suggests.

If the Jesus whose eucharist can be celebrated by gun videos no longer makes sense…

If that is the Jesus you have really always been taught, but never understood (at least along side also being taught the Jesus of love)…

If there is something about current western Christianity that just won’t sit no matter how faithful you try to be…

buy this book.

peace

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