Hopewit

A Catholic Charitable organization sends me a rosary every year. This time, I'm determined to find out what it means and how it's used. I’ve two Good Friday services to go to today; I’ve decided not to go to either. I find the ritualistic retelling of the execution of Jesus and the story of the resurrection unsettling, not because it’s not worth telling, but because experience has suggested that its repetition year after year, in the same manner as the year before, produces little outward consequence and so seems more of a self-indulgence than a renewed “call to arms.”       But that’s me.       Not that the content of the message is completely trouble-free for me either. In the hymns we sing, in the sermons we hear, the core message is roughly this: we are all sinners (“would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I”) and Jesus’ suffering and death was substitutionary; that is to say, God allowing his own son to be...

Oh Sing to me, Brother Crow! (On second thought . . .) I like birds. Their singing lifts my spirits (except for crows and magpies; both species are in dire need of voice training) and their appearance here in the sub-arctic in Spring is a reawakening of optimism.       I think we should avoid endangering species of birds wherever possible; likewise, we should preserve habitat for them.       That’s my considered (a little bit) opinion.       It’s a broad consciousness, but there are many who have refined the sentimental opinions on the wonder of birds and have sought out the finer points of the joy in—and the preservation of—our feathered friends.       For instance, An analysis of Midwestern breeding bird population trends: 1966-1993 is the title of a research paper that narrows down the discussion scientifically . Puts a finer point on it. It’s the modus operan...

The Land of Living Skies Funny how events that coincide sometimes suggest that they’re connected.       The two weekend events that had “coincidental” components for me were a delegate assembly of my Mennonite area church and the reading of a number of pro-UFO articles to which I’d been referred. Apparently former Canadian defense minister Paul Hellyer has become convinced through what he has seen and heard that an alien presence on earth is an indisputable fact . In connection with this, he believes that the star leading the magi to Bethlehem, for instance, may in fact have been an alien presence directing them.       The other event—the assembly—was extremely sensory: robust singing, near continuous talking, dramatic reading, smells of coffee and roast chicken and repeated reference to an invisible presence in the room, the spirit of Christ: the Holy Spirit.       What’s the suggested “coin...

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...