God does what?

A blogging pal posted this, because these over-the-top fanatics protested in her community on the date shown. (You know, it hurts my heart to post the link here, this group's activities are so offensive to me.)

They protested outside my seminary, too. This seminary is liberal and Christian, (disclaimer - I am unabashedly liberal, but I don't call myself Christian) and teaches us to discern for ourselves rather than force-feeding ill-considered dogma. On its faculty are many well-respected scholars and writers among its faculty and staff, including the author of The Man Jesus Loved. The protest prompted a couple of folks I know to comment, "If Fred Phelps is picketing your seminary, the seminary must be doing something right." Perhaps they're right. I must say that the picketers brought out some creative expressions of support from the fraternity members next door that were greatly appreciated by many of my fellow seminarians...

What I still fail to understand is: how can such a profound disconnect occur? How can so many read the Christian scriptures and come to the sentiment expressed here in the graphic, and others come to the opposite - that god would "hate" a group of people, a nation, the world? Please don't point out the proclamations of the prophets to me - I've read them. The question remains, how can these people call themselves "Christian" and take the position that god hates anyone? "For god so loved the world..." Sound familiar? Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to (1) love god and (2) love your neighbor. He didn't say "love your straight neighbor, and hate the gay ones."

The folks at my seminary get that human sexuality is important - and not anti-god... Check out the video here.



Sorry the blogging is infrequent right now. My cup is full to overflowing...

Noonday Prayer - Brokenness

After lighting the candle with this gatha from Thich Nhat Hanh,

In the garbage, I see a rose.
In the rose, I see the garbage.
Everything is in transformation.
Even permanence is impermanent.

I shared the first reading.

Reading 1 (Deena Metzger, “Leavings” for Sister Cao ngor Phuong):
From Prayers for Healing, edited by Maggie Oman, 1997

I want what is left:
The tea leaves, the soiled images on cards,
The gasp of words as meaning slips away,
The rinds of the alphabet,
The chewed poems of prisoners,
The bones and the skeletons,
The secretions, …
The spilled blood,
…, the phlegm and the cough.

It has always been women’s work to prepare the corpse.

But, I will not make a corpse from these elements,
I will make a child.
I will make you such a rose of a child,
A rose of a child held in the crook
Of the dark hand of a dead branch,
I will make you a child shining
Like an angel from these elements of dark,
And the child will sing.

This is what we have
This is what we have to work with.

So give them to me,
First, your dead, moldering
In the dreadful heat of your deserted cities,
Then, give me the iron birds in the sky,
With their demented warbling,
Last, I want your radiant soil
With its eternal shimmer,
Give me everything mangled and bruised,
And I will make a light of it to make you weep,
And we will have rain,
And begin again.

***
Then I said that this reading raised questions for me, coming from a book of prayers for healing. How do we view the marginalized? What does it mean to be broken? What is broken that needs healing? What does brokenness – or healing – look like? What do we do with “what is left,” after the “good stuff” is gone?

There was quiet reflection and sharing, some of it quite poignant. Then, one of the participants asked to hear the reading again.

Then, we prayed.

“Spirit of Life, God of our many understandings, we ask to be lead toward healing and toward better understanding of brokenness. We ask to know how what is broken can be healed – and we lift up the following people and situations that need healing. (pause for a few to speak) For these spoken concerns and for those we hold in our hearts, we pray for healing and understanding. Amen.”

And I closed with the following reading:

Reading 2 (W.E.B. Du Bois):
From Prayers for Healing, edited by Maggie Oman, 1997

It is the wind and the rain, [O God,] the cold and the storm that make this earth [of Thine] to blossom and bear its fruit. So in our lives it is storm and stress and hurt and suffering that make real men and women bring the world’s work to its highest perfection. Let us learn then in these growing years to respect the harder sterner aspects of life together with its joy and laughter, and to weave them all into the great sacred web [which hangs holy to the Lord.].

** Note: bracketed words were deleted; italicized word was added

Blogging - why?

March 16, 2009
Ms. Kitty posted at her blog about the joys of blogging. I started to comment there, but realized quickly that it was just too long. That was awhile ago, which tells you how busy my life is right now! But, I've been thinking a lot about blogging lately - mostly because I don't have much time to actually blog - and wondering whether it's worth the effort.

Well. There are people I correspond with who I've "met" through blogging. Other bloggers, out there in the blogosphere, sharing their thoughts on any number of topics - but mostly related to faith. There are people I know IRL, who I keep up with through their blogs. There are some bloggers I often disagree with - I rarely comment at their blogs - but they still get me thinking.

Lots of times I've blogged because I'm working out my thinking on some issue, and writing it out helps me clarify the process. A lot of this never gets into the blog. Some old "working it out" blog entries have gotten recycled into newsletter columns!

I also blog because I have come to care about many fellow bloggers through this strange medium (and sometimes strange names: Ms. Kitty, Lizard Eater, UUMomma, Byzigenous Buddhapalian...). OK, so the names are actually fun. But, I was checking LE's blog frequently during LW's illnesses... and following Maxie's adventures... It's community, and there's a real possibility that we'll all meet someday.

But there are more serious threads on other blogs. One blogging acquaintance has a relative who recently gave birth to twins, very prematurely. He's kept us updated, asking for prayers & good thoughts, as he does for other blogger friends in his regular "Heart Thread" posts. Reading such posts at his blog and others has taught me a lot about the significance of prayer for many people, and in turn, opened me up to more uses of prayer in my own work. Isn't it odd that such transformation happens via long-distance, when it can be so difficult to have the meaningful conversations face-to-face? Something else to ponder...

So, I blog "just because" - and because it's one of the things I do for myself that is (usually) fun! And because I care about the people in this blogging community.