Wondering Pilgrim

March in March & Moses

375px-Bacchiacca_002 — from Wikimedia Commons

While we are travelling with Moses it would be interesting to draw some comparisons between this two-man (himself and Aaron) movement and the March in March of the last weekend that saw thousands of the disaffected gather nationwide in protest against Government policies that have been swift and draconian in their implementation.

Both were bids for release – Moses to free his people (good to see Andrew Forrest’s success in picking up the anti-slavery mantle) and March in March to free a range of policy areas from cut-backs and unseemly intervention. There is a difference though – Moses’ was a courageous stance against institutionalised tyranny and….. March in March …. which lens do we look through? One lens sees it as healthy and robust exercise of the democratic right to speak to our government representatives. Another lens might see it as a brave voice of dissent against the real powers that rule over us – namely global corporations that muffle the voices of the people.

It was no surprise that the March in March protests went largely unreported in the mainstream media. The talkback radio I heard the following day seemed to reflect a concerted campaign to malign the protesting crowds by focusing on radical fringe groups that were present, ignoring the majority of ordinary families that had come out for the day. Maybe the peoples’ protests have more in common with Moses than is immediately apparent.

Lent calls us to constant awareness in the struggle to live for the common good. Exodus 17:1-7 sees that even Moses had trouble holding his people together for common purpose. His new found identity as a leader following “I Am Being Who I Am Being” saw him through a series of confrontations and challenges with the Pharaoh, ultimately defeating him. He barely survived the bitterness and quarreling of those he led.

A strange parley

The conversation between an ageing shepherd and the voice of the Holy One manifested in a burning yet unconsumed bush in the desert is not what one might expect.

Moses emerges as our next Lenten guide… and he does not hang back when called to account by the same urge that pulled his ancestor Abraham forth. He had every reason to willfully ignore the glow that drew him to take off his sandals and stand on holy ground, ready to answer the call to …. to what? A refugee of some decades from Egypt’s justice system, a herdsman in the safe sanctuary of the desert, he could have lived his days out in a form of peace. But now here he is, arguing with a shrub!

How long had the seed of Moses’ destiny laid hidden within him, awaiting the day it would sprout with awareness of a particular calling? What prepared Moses for that day of receptivity to a summoning voice announcing the maturation of that calling: “Go to Pharoah and tell him to let my people go!”?

How do we begin to understand that encounter with the Holy One is never static, but always in motion. For Moses learns the true name, the real nature of the Summoner – “I Am Being Who I Am Being…”? And that Moses (and anyone who encounters the true name and nature of the Holy One) can only complete their identity by responding to the call?

No wonder it is traditional in the Judaic traditions not to mention the name of G-d! Moses embarked on a fearful but glorious journey with his people.

Be ready for an interesting ride when a bush calls you to parley!

Falling behind in Lent…

This is a catch up post for three missing days of Lenten reflections. No-one said this would be easy. The gentleman to the left typifies the kind of journey we are contemplating. He can be seen as part of Sculptures by the Sea at Cottesloe. So we quickly pass by the Apostle Paul and his continuing postulations of the nomad Abraham and how merely his “faith was reckoned to put him right.” (Romans 4:18-25) We travel into Psalms 120 and 121 which reveal a turn of phrase – “Faith wasn’t meant to be easy!”

Psalm 120 expresses the woes of those who yearn for peace in the midst of an alien culture of war and aggression.Psalm 121 fixes the focus on the One who guards the well-being of the faithful. “The LORD will keep your going out and coming in from this time on and forevermore.”

Think of the various contexts in which these two psalms vie for the attention of the faithful – a hospital cancer ward, a refugee camp on the borders of Syria, a worker receiving a redundancy package…

Yeah, these circumstances call for the muscular faith of Abraham…

That Born Again Meme

Jesus and Nicodemus, Crijn Hendricksz, 1616–1645. (from Wikimedia Commons)

Today’s Lenten text (and Sunday’s Gospel for those churches on the Revised Common Lectionary) is John 3:1-17

What does being born again really mean?

Maybe Nicodemus knew all along – maybe he was just playing dumb. Jesus says “You’re a teacher of Israel, and you don’t know what I’m talking about?”

Some commentators note the terminology was quite current in post-exilic Judaism and that a “leader of Israel” would certainly be familiar with the terminology Jesus was using. The problem seems as though it was not one of understanding, but volition. Nicodemus did not want to leave the womb of familiarity, respectability and status to go on the risky road of fulfilment with Jesus. The Spirit had led him to this place of readiness for rebirth, but Nicodemus is baulking – he is not ready.

Fair enough – being born can be a long drawn out process for both the birther and the birthed. It doesn’t always go smoothy and is inevitably downright messy. And then there’s the whole process that lies ahead on the journey to maturation – feeding, changing, weaning – indeed many stages of development before one is even walking. This being “born again” business is not for the faint-hearted. Who would want to go through this whole journey from infancy to adulthood over again? No wonder Nicodemus baulks.

The literary devices in John’s gospel employ key characters as representatives of humanity in general. Nicodemus is us, and this is evident in the way Jesus’ particular address to Nicodemus morph’s to a more general address to all hearers. It’s difficult to discern where in the text this actually happens, except in the original language where the singular form of “you” becomes plural (verse 11). In this almost kaleidoscopic shift we are suddenly where Nicodemus is – we understand the question, but do we really want to risk the changes that such understanding implies?

A good Lent question for on the road to Jerusalem and Easter!

Missing woman unwittingly joins search party looking for herself

Sometimes newsfeed headlines grab your attention. This one just did.

Apparently a tourist left her group to change clothes while in the midst of a stop. She was deemed missing and joined the search looking for herself, quite unaware she was the subject, even after hearing the description of herself. No-one from her party recognised her as the missing person either. Here’s the story: Missing woman unwittingly joins search party looking for herself | Weird | News | Toronto Sun.

Today’s Lenten reflection takes us into the Apostle Paul’s efforts for us to “find ourselves” on faith’s journey. Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 simply mirrors the fact that Abrahamic faith, not slavish adherence to the letter of the law, does the job. Paul counts Abraham, even with all his demonstrated human flaws, as the epitome of human aspiration – simply because of what he continually and intuitively risks on trust in the mysterious God who calls him forth. In such he finds his true self. The stumbling, the losses, the humiliation along the way are inseparable from the accomplishments, the gains and exhilaration, and must be owned as part and parcel of our completion.

The messiness of faith and sibling rivalry

Sarai Is Taken to Pharaoh's Palace - by James Tissot. (Wikipedia) — Sarai Is Taken to Pharaoh’s Palace – by James Tissot. (Wikipedia)

Lenten reflections take us a little further into Abram’s epic but troubled journey. Genesis 12:4b-20 – the patriarch eventually finds himself in Egypt and, for cargo and self-preservation, makes his presumably comely wife (Sarai) available to the Pharaoh. Hardly a salubrious beginning for the father of the world’s three major monotheistic faiths!

Stories of faith are inevitably messy affairs. We wonder how its going to end up for Abram (yet to be named Abraham), the great epitome of faith, when he gives in so readily to fear and expediency – especially when anxiety and the desirability of the quick fix are at the source of many of today’s woes, personally and politically.

Today’s Huffington Post nevertheless repeats a story that has been on this blog before – and it points to a legacy of the kind of faith Abraham eventually inspires amongst his “children,” particularly when sibling rivalry has surpassed its most dangerous point. Read it at A pastor and an imam once tried to kill each other — now they work to heal Nigeria | Public Radio International.

Father Abraham: today’s Lenten host and guide

Molnár Ábrahám kiköltözése 1850
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We first meet him in Genesis 12:1-4a, under his old handle, Abram. Already a senior citizen of Ur, he sets out for places unknown at the age of 75. Today, we would probably report him as a missing person, fearing that he had gone wandering off in a haze of dementia.

Abram’s journey, however, is the common touch point for Jewish, Christian and Muslim adherents worldwide. He is our faith ancestor.

If followers of the Way of Jesus are ever looking for for an entry point for conversation with Jewish or Muslim neighbours and co-workers, an invitation to mutual reflection of the journey of Abram and his kith and kin into uncharted lands and encounters could be a promising beginning.

Who knows where it could lead?

Psychology of Forgiveness: Psalm 32

“We don’t do Lent it’s not in our tradition!”

“Why dwell on what is negative in your life – better to shrug off the shadows and enjoy!”

The humanitarian sciences have over time produced, for discussion and peer review, the psychological benefits of the hitherto sacred realm of penitence, forgiveness and absolution. One only has to google “psychology forgiveness therapy” to access thousands of discourses on the topic. With the fine tooth comb of contemporary research techniques, they are able to untangle what the ancients have long known – the health benefits of coming clean in a community context and starting out with a new slate, untroubled and unburdened by burdens of guilt, feelings of inadequacy, and emotional hangups.

Today we are offered Psalm 32, an ancient song of joy at being released from the claim of bad feeling as the result of human failure. It is good to write your own words in contemporary language alongside the old lines.

Psalm 32

¹Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
²Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
³While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
⁴For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

⁶Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.
⁷You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah

⁸I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
⁹Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.
¹⁰Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
¹¹Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

When the easiest way isn’t always the best way…

It’s easier to give a hungry man a fish than to teach him to fish.
It’s far simpler to superficially impress someone than to engage them by putting in some time and the hard yards.
Politically, the quick fix is more successful for one’s grasp of power than the blood, sweat and tears of inspiring long term vision.

The First Sunday in Lent sees Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert to be tested by Satan over 40 days. See Matthew 4:1-11. It is one of the most dramatised and mystified events of the gospels.

At one level the struggle of Jesus in the wilderness is of cosmic proportions. It typifies an eon-long struggle between what is good and what is not as good because ultimately, it is inadequate. This is a more subtle battle than what is often portrayed as the struggle between good and evil, where choices are sharper and easier to take. Such duality has been strong in the popular imagination. To not feed the hungry when one can, to not attract followers with the best PR techniques one can muster, to eschew the ways of kings and emperors to bring about change – speaks of some higher and more beneficial end.

Jesus displays astute and sharp awareness as he answers each of these temptations.

This brings us to the ordinary day to day level. Jesus’ struggle in the wilderness oriented him to his task henceforth as he engaged what would be his life work one day to the next. Clear focus forged during the wilderness experience at the beginning of his public ministry kept him on track without distraction.

Similarly, we are called to clear focus as we live out our life’s purpose. To what extent are my goals, aspirations, projects, and relationships cultivated by a larger cosmic vision? Is it the same vision that inspired Jesus, the one that grounded the realm of shalom – the reign of wholesome other-centred relationship with self, neighbour, environment, universe and Creator? And are we prepared to pay the costs of exercising such vision?

Lent: Wrestling with the notion of Original Sin

Here is the golden text on which the doctrine of original sin is based.

Romans 5:12-19

Paul argues that as sin came into the world through Adam, tainting us all, so this tragic state of affairs is reversed through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus (the second Adam). This is the result of all surrounding grace, the eternally benevolent disposition of an unconditionally loving Creator who is finally revealed in the acts of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.

The problem with the doctrine of original sin is found in the accretions that have grown around Paul’s argument. The taint of sin became our core identity and our focus. It seemed almost impossible to get to an apprehension of grace because of this inherent shame, a distortion of the image of God into which we are called to grow. If we look around, there is certainly enough evidence in a world filled with violence, cruelty and greed to keep us wallowing in a mire of hopelessness.

While Paul’s argument in Romans is one of the most systematic expressions of his thought, I am not sure he was aware that he was writing a textbook in which selected passages would be deemed to be the sum total of the extrapolations that would become dominant Christian theology in the West. The theology of the Eastern churches (the various Byzantine and Oriental orthodox jurisdictions) have a much more balanced focus based on the doctrine of “theosis”, a full hearted embrace of the grace that opens the way to human, indeed the whole of creation’s, fulfillment in appropriating the purpose for which we were created.

This too, is found elsewhere in Paul’s correspondence with the fledgling churches in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean.

So, what is an appropriate response to this text on our Lenten journey, the season of penitence and reflection?

Acknowledge and own our sin (missing the mark), for sure, but don’t exacerbate it by wallowing in it.

Remember to what it is that grace calls us, again from the Apostle Paul: And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)