Thank You, Leonard!

Last night I saw Bernstein's Mass. Peter Bay and friends pulled out all the stops to mount this massive (pun intended) production. I was amazed and awed that Austin would have gotten behind this deep look at faith and hope. Because Austin seems more comfortable with being cool than being introspective. At least, that's my impression.

As the scenes devolved into chaos and anarchy, even the altar wasn't reserved for the sacred. Leonard was pushing our boundaries. Pushing, pushing, pushing to make us say how much is enough. What is of man, and what is of God? How much grief can a human take and still turn to hope, turn to God, turn to truth, turn to good? One thing I liked is that Bernstein stripped away all the props of religion, yelled at and cried out to God, and in the end was left with only the silence, and the small voice of hope singing a new song. A Psalm. Really quiet music from the throat of God.

What struck me again last night is that these times we live in forty some years later are part of the same picture, part of the same journey that America has been on since Kennedy was shot. And way before that. Like to the time of Cain and Able. We had a few years in there that made us think (some of us, because for some this is never the case) that we had come out of the social schisms and tears in the fabric of our society's identity, and that we had healed as a nation. But this grief we experience today at the hatred of one for another isn't new. Our clothes are different, but that's about it.

I know this is a theme I keep coming back to. And I'm not saying, "It's okay, it's been this bad before so we don't need to worry." I'm saying, we are still on this hard road of grief, and we still have choices to make about who we will be in the end. Thanks for the reminder, Leonard.

Little Feathers: An Unpopular Word in Unpopular Times

Little Feathers: An Unpopular Word in Unpopular Times: We live in unpopular times. How often have we heard the word "unprecedented" in regard to some news item? And it's never good....

An Unpopular Word in Unpopular Times

We live in unpopular times. How often have we heard the word "unprecedented" in regard to some news item? And it's never good. Never unprecedentedly good. The momentum of the bad news/terrible state of humanity is like a freight train. So I was really surprised this morning to hear words of hope echo into that chamber of horrors. And I'm going to try hard to articulate what my brain did with those words of hope.

The unpopular word is one that has been used to abuse people for centuries. To pound them, to beat them, to bloody their poor heads and hearts. Ironically, it has been wielded as a weapon by the very people who should know best that it is a word of hope. I can't put it off any longer, I have to write the word. Sin. I know, you hate that word (if you are in my generation or younger, for sure). It made me blanch when I heard it this morning. Because it's been used by people who are later arrested for doing it. By Christians!! Holy mackerel. Not just priests and pastors and teachers in the church, but by the entire priesthood of believers. By me.

How can it be hopeful to talk about sin? To think about sin? It has almost become a four letter word. But here's the kicker...it is the bottom line of all hope. I'm not talking about worrying about sin and everlasting hell (there are so many people living in hell in this world right now that the whole Dante version is meaningless to me). I'm not talking about demanding that people accept a certain religion, or call God by a certain name to get the benefit of the hope. 

Sin is hardening my heart against another human being. Because one way God still creates, still works in this world, is through us. God never left. God didn't die and rise again and go to heaven and leave us alone. God is here. God is living in that one that we can't stand. The one who believes some crazy religion, or no religion, or belongs to the "other" political party. You know the one, the person who clearly isn't as smart/compassionate/hard working as we are. God is living in that reporter on the other channel that I just can't stand. In the politician I detest. God is living in that person who keeps begging on the corner when I suspect they are just mooching. God is even living in that driver who clearly doesn't know how to drive and will slow our journey by minutes at least. God is living in the addict who has lost themselves in drugs/alcohol/sex/gambling/work/food, or just plain self-centered-ness. Which is, more often than not, you and me.

Wait, I'm coming to the hopeful part. If sin is the hardening of our hearts against God in others, then we have the power to change that. We can even pray for help to change it. Because, honestly, can you imagine that God would rather we be haters? Can you think for one second that God would not jump at the chance to help us be better humans?

Hate somebody? Stop it. Resent somebody? Let it go. Demand that someone think the same in order to be loved? Get over it! Choose to love the God in them even if I can't bring myself to like them. I predict it will cause an unprecedented improvement in human history. If I think it doesn't matter how I talk about people, I'm part of the downward spiral of moral courage. If I think it doesn't matter if I spread gossip, if I can't wait to defame someone, I'm part of the illness that is blocking the sun. Anger breeds contempt. Contempt is a blight. Oh I know, everyone thinks they have righteous anger. Know any truly righteous people?

Unpopular times- they are upon us. But people who commit to love justice and do mercy will shine the light that is so lacking. Sin, it's the old, old story. The Old Adam sitting around in his underwear waiting for others to bring him a beer. BUT it's not the final answer. Thank God, the chance to choose truth is as available to us as ever. And that is just plain hopeful.

Little Feathers: True North

Little Feathers: True North: Apologies to real navigators. Disclaimer- novice in action. In high school, decades ago, I learned that a compass doesn't really po...

True North

Apologies to real navigators. Disclaimer- novice in action.

In high school, decades ago, I learned that a compass doesn't really point to the North Pole. It points to magnetic north, a variable magnetic field that is not fixed in relation to the earth's axis. You have to make adjustments in order to travel North. And don't even think about Astronomical True North, or grid north. Those tidbits of information have wiggled around in my brain all these years. Kind of like when you discover that no one is really in charge.

There are lots of distractions from the truth, and that is my analogy. There are lot of distractions from keeping true to my authentic self. Sorry if that phrase has become hackneyed. It works really well to describe my goal, so I'm risking some rolling of the eyes when I use it.

I used to be so sure of things. I didn't question anything, or any authority. My compass was pointed North, and that's all that mattered. That may be the way with most young people, especially those who have been given a sheltered and easy childhood. Or, it may be peculiar to me. Regardless, that surety was blown away, for me, on 9/11. I was young and immature during the Vietnam protests, or it would have happened then, I imagine.

My childhood was filled with heroes. Roy Rogers in his white hat. John Wayne. Zorro. Then there were the real ones: Rosa Parks, Amelia Erhart, MLK, John Glenn. And John Glenn again. Heroes were good people traveling due North. Toward truth and justice.

Then the black and white picture faded to shades of gray. Good people made huge mistakes. Including me. And nothing was quite as simple anymore.

If I'm honest, which authenticity demands, I can't glide along with the crowd, taking up trends here and there that fit the moment but not the journey. But I do. That pesky magnetic field has a strong pull, and sometimes I find myself spending long periods of time following some mixed bag or another. Uh-oh, more mixed metaphors.

Most people I know want to belong. They want to be in the know, savvy, etc. Because we get laughed at when we show our naivete or inexperience. But striving to live in a way that shows I'm cool is a diversion from my path. Plus, I'm not able to pull it off. My true self manages to peek through. So what I really, really want is to not listen to that siren call of the faux north. To listen only to the instincts that tell me who I really am. It's a goal. Like traveling True North.