Hopewit

The burning of the leaves - Binyon In a February 23 meditation by Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr, spiritual development is proposed to happen in three stages: order, disorder, reorder. Although his meaning is often made a bit opaque by his odd use of language (invented phrases like “unitive consciousness” ) I think his stages of spiritual development resonate with my experience. Only, I would have put it like this: Order: It’s where our spiritual journey begins. We understand all things through the screen of our family and community. Challenges to our faith tenets are threatening so are often summarily rejected; the unfamiliar feels dangerous. We are spiritually self-centered; the world revolves around us and our perception of God is highly influenced by our personal needs—a struggle to make the spiritual reality match our life’s realities, alleviate our fears. Disorder: Gradually, broadening experience begins to challenge our belief in the necessity of certainty. We enco...

"When peace like a river attendeth my way . . ." The South Carolina primaries are today. The state is heavy with military training facilities and military personnel so naturally, if you want electoral traction there, you don’t bad-mouth the military. It’s also a “Bible-Belt state” and the combination raises interesting questions about the mindset of some of its residents.      Take the worldview of one John Long: As Columbia resident John Long, who attended [Marco] Rubio's morning rally on Friday, said: Military credentials are one thing; faith credentials are another.      So long as "God and country" are in the mix with the military, he said, he's happy.      "There's not a Christian church anywhere that doesn't preach exactly the same values that we preach in the military," Long said.      "The very fact you have such a strong military presence in the Bible Belt, and that's also where t...

Old Panama City New Panama City I’m a nervous flier at the best of times, and if seated just behind the wings, the perception that they might be bending during turbulence evokes visions of dire consequences . . .  if they should happen to break off. I’ve been assured that their flexibility saves them from breaking, that a rigid wing structure would make safe flight impossible.       That’s my comfort when caught in turbulence.       It may not be a totally apt metaphor for the divisive political situations we find ourselves in, but if it were, it would remind us that when rapid change occurs (political, social, religious “turbulence”), it’s not rigidity that will carry us through to calmer times, it’s flexibility . Furthermore, it’s probably somewhat unfair to equate rigidity with conservatism and flexibility with liberalism , but there’s an element of truth in doing so.       ...

"God is love, therefore love is God." A friend recently disputed this syllogism (actually only 2/3 of a proper syllogism), and rightly so. "Macaroni is pasta, therefore pasta is macaroni" illustrates this logical fallacy; pasta can be penne, linguini, spaghetti, etc. It's not necessarily macaroni even though all macaroni is pasta.       The discussion arose as part of a more general foray into the question of the church's polity regarding same-sex unions. If the assumption is that God is love, therefore love is God , it follows for some that acceptance, inclusion and equality of same-sex-united persons would be a foregone conclusion. How can Love (God) deny anyone an intimate relationship (love) with another person? If God = Love, than love is the whole point of everything and the total meaning of everything God is and desires. So there is no space among God's followers for judgment, for division, because inclusion, equality, forbearance ar...

A light on a hill? The salt on your potatoes? (Photo by Maryvel Friesen) "The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It seems almost absurd to apply Martin Luther King’s words on the futility of violence to current affairs. For instance, could it be possible that bombing ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria is a strategy of futility? A game plan that is patently part of King's “...

Shenk, N. Gerald. Hope Indeed : Remarkable Stories of Peacemakers. Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2008 Peacemaker . It’s an odd word, in a way. A Shoemaker makes shoes. He gathers the necessary leather, rubber, thread, scissors, tacks, etc., and makes . . . a pair of shoes. “Making peace” is obviously not a manufacturing enterprise. If it were, we would know with certainty what “materials” to gather, would have the skills and knowledge to turn the materials into a product of value and when we were done, peace—like a shiny pair of new shoes—would be a reality and we would put down our tools and rest. No one would mistake the product for anything else. But if peace is something that can be imagined, pursued and realized—subjectively, at least—what does it look like? What is it that the peacemakers in Gerald Shenk’s collection of stories are attempting to “make?” In, for instance, “A Franciscan in the Frey,” did Fra Ivo visualize peace when he wal...

“ I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord , as in days gone by, as in former years.” (Malachi 3: 1-4) Advent. The anticipation of Christmas. The waiting for when “the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come.”     For a fabulous rendition of the central parts of this passage, wonderfully recorded, put on your headphones or ear buds, plug them into the computer and hear Emma Kirkby in Handel’s “Bu...