HOPE

"Christianity is about looking at other people's point of view. ...it means you have to dethrone yourself from the center of your world and put others there."

- Karen Armstrong

"As people who are joyfully and unapologetically Christian, we pledge ourselves to the way of Love. We work to express our love, as Jesus teaches us, in three ways: by loving God, neighbor and self.
1. Christian love of God includes walking fully in the path of Jesus, without denying the legitimacy of other paths that God may provide for humanity."

- The Phoenix Affirmations (Introduction and #1 of 12)

On Sunday Jody will start a 6-week sermon series (including 2 breaks) on the twelve Phoenix Affirmations. We talked about it, and them, this morning; we talked about how they are a response to the volume and intensity of voices from the Religious Right (like Falwell, Robertson, and Dobson, who are presented as speaking for all Christians). And I was reminded of Karen Armstrong's "The Battle For God," in which she describes religious fundamentalism of all types as primarily a reaction against the remarkable progress of ever-widening circles of inclusion.

For those of us who affirm the truths described by the quotations above, it's very tempting to be discouraged. But we humans have been on quite an amazing journey. Viewed through the lens of dethroning our individual selves and putting others there, history is a story of slow and steady progress. And we remind ourselves that the goal is not to put AN other, or SOME others, but ALL others (and ALL creation) at the center of our lives.

"So, chin up, roll out of bed and do a little something," I tell myself. I feel a bit beaten-down but I will work to live another step towards the Way of Love that includes Everyone.

Buoyed by the thought that our current struggles with the economic+religious elite that have brought down or corrupted every society in human history may not be just a rehash. We may be witnesses to a desperate attempt by those who love exclusivity and privilege to hang on to what We of the Wider Circle wish to crack open for Everyone to share.

----

It's been kind of heavy here at the St. Peter's [blog] for a few weeks. There are fun and interesting things I want to write about, like Common's album Be and some of the music we're doing here. I need time to compose those, and not just riff, so stay tuned (and check out the Philosophy over Coffee blog on the UCC Blog Ring if you haven't, I've been visiting multiple times/week since I discovered it. They're watching Buffy over there!).

-howie

Jesus de Montreal

Welcome to readers finding us through the UCC Blog Network.

Last Sunday's Insight! Event was seeing the film "Jesus of Montreal" at the Westport Presbyterian Church and coffee afterward. Katy, Tim, Jill, Melanie, Jody, Jimmie, Ann, and I attended. It's the story of a group of community theater actors hired to jazz up the local Passion play; their version attracts attention, and the actors' lives begin to mirror the Passion story.

I can't write too much, because I recommend the film highly to anyone who is interested. But it's no surprise that as the actors delve into Jesus' story (literally "living it out"), they get into some trouble.

Never for trouble's sake, but for love's. Love for each other, and love for the story. Do I have that love? The actors find their love in the context of art and creative expression. I found a note from our discussion of Insight! #2 (KC Symphony String Quartet); Jody said that aesthetic experiences require us to open ourselves to the art - and holy experiences are the same. A posture of openness and receptivity is essential. We lower our boundaries, becoming less mindful of our individual selves and paying more attention to everyone and everything around us. I'm starting to sound new-agey, but this is really important! The actors lowered their defenses, invested themselves in Jesus' story, and suddenly found themselves filled with a Christ-like disruptive love.

What I'm saying is, it's no accident. We're called to do the same.

To lower our defenses against new people, new experiences, new art - especially when they seem threatening. When we notice our own boundaries flashing up, that's precisely the signal to proceed ahead (carefully, if prudent, but still ahead). To invest ourselves in Jesus' story in Scripture, Christian discipline, study, and art.

To practice the love we seek to have, until we have it. -h

Martin Marty & the Future of Civility

Ann and I attended Martin Marty's Cleaver Lecture at the Saint Paul School of Theology last Thursday. Marty is a noted teacher, author, theologian, and small-town Nebraska boy; see the previous post for a link to an archive of his "M.E.M.O." columns for the Christian Century magazine.

The talk was a reflection on this paraphrased text from Harold Isaacs: "Around the world there is a massive, convulsive ingathering of peoples into their separateness and over-against-ness, to protect their pride and power and place from others who are doing the same."

Let that sink in for a minute.

Marty's thoughts strode deftly among many fields (history, anthropology, theology, psychology). He was eloquent, clear, and witty in person; everyone's favorite professor, small in stature, eager to challenge his students but never confrontational. Out of a very rich lecture, one of his questions struck me as a key: "Hasn't this always been the human condition?"

I think most of us do feel that as a nation, and as a world, we're being split apart; diced into tribes of ideology or political party or religious belief. Tribalism has deep roots in human nature. A cohesive group of people can always acquire or generate amazing benefits by working with each other, over-and-against outsiders. Making the assumption that we are all self-interested*, there is a basic progression from a person's exclusive, individual self-interested-ness --> to working in small groups or "tribes" for members' mutual benefit --> to the ideal of universal concern, care, or interest. I'm condensing a huge amount of thought and material into the previous sentence, but I think the core insight persists.

What do tribes look like today? Big ones: nation-states, corporations, religions. Local tribes: sports teams (see our recent ballot initiatives in KC), churches, families. Privileged elites of any kind (power, economic, occupational) often act out of tribal interests, consciously or not. Again - the basic drive to create tribes (communities!) can be good - it expands our exclusive self-interest to include others - but in today's world self-interest must be expanded to include all humanity, and all Creation. Ever-widening circles. Tribal over-against-ness causes problems we, as a human family, cannot abide; I call it a moral evil.

Returning to Isaacs' thought, in the midst of a seemingly resurgent tribalism, we also can find wonderful progress! On a smaller (more easily seen) level, consider the work done with technology at WorldChanging, our own StillSpeaking initiative with the UCC, and the amazing data on global conflict since WWII (must-read! You wouldn't know from our mainstream news media, but since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Earth has steadily become a more peaceful place! Check out the graphs at least!). For the big picture, take the Brin test; stand on a city street corner and turn in a circle slowly, counting the miracles. If you don't find 100, repeat.

To answer Marty's question, yes, tribalism is part of the human condition. Fortunately, so is the possibility of defining our "tribe" as all of humanity, and all Creation. May Christ's story inspire us towards universal love and care.

-howie

*Well-supported by scientific evidence, human experience, folk wisdom, and your own antecdotes I'm sure.

Thursday

Dearest Readers; I had created a nice, long post for you about this morning's lecture by Martin Marty at St. Paul's School of Theology. Unfortunately, Blogger was finicky and it has been lost in digital Neverland, forever a "Draft" and never growing up into a published post.

It is very late on Thursday (which is Friday for us here) and I cannot re-write the whole post. You can read Marty's latest (and more!) M.E.M.O. columns for Christian Century; we'll discuss the lecture next week. -howie