Parakalein

With natural calamities all around us and when locally a fire destroys a home and leaves a grandmother in the hospital in critical condition with burns over most of her body it is hard to say "God is good".

Tragedies are not good no matter what they are.  God does not control these events nor can God prevent them.  However God is present to help us through the heartache and body ache.

This woman lays in an ICU hovering between this world and the next.  She raises the issue of keeping her alive which the doctors are committed to do and letting her die without heroic measures to keep her alive in her suffering.   Euthanasia proponents would offer a third alternative, assist her peaceful dying.  Euthanasia is from the greek word for mercy killing.  Agathanasia, is the from the greek word for good death.  Psalm 116:15 says "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints".  Death is good when it ends our suffering and transfers our bodies form a state of pain to a state of eternal pleasure where there is nor crying or pain.  Death is not good as it steals life, grandmothers, loved ones away from us.  The death canal leads to eternal life and that is good.  God did not keep this from happening and that is not good.  It happened and that is not good.  God is present in death as in life and that is good.  God is present for Sharon.  God is present for you.  God is present for all.  God is present to comfort all who mourn. God is also present to pour something good into life and help us to find good in everything.  God does not do things for good.  God helps us to find good in all things.

"And God saw everything he had made and said it is "very good"

Years ago Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".  Who am I to add to or change the brilliant man's idea.  At the same time, an eye for an eye world creates a world of one eye people as you need at lest one eye to see to pluck another's eye out.  So "one eye" produces one way seeing and thinking in the world.  It does not allow for diverse ways of seeing the world it see "one way" its way and no one else's.  This is what is worse than a blind world, a world in which everyone sees in their way and cannot see the way another culture or people views the same thing.

I recall my kids singing in a musical in church as youth, "I trouble", "eye trouble" me myself and I trouble.
We cause most of our own trouble in the world then want God to make it all okay.  Really.  What if we all set aside our ego needs and wants and embraced our responsibility to see with eyes wide open, with eyes that had lost one eye but see with multi-vision from the light side.

An eye for an eye attitude leaves the world in conflict as the eyes do not respect other eyes but want to be done with them . Each eye wants to be the most important part. Each eye must see the other eye, respect its ideas, thoughts and vision.  The "I am who I am" must see and respect the "You are who you are".  Only then, when mutual respect is present will every human beings see their responsibilities as equally important as their rights.

Open eyes, open heart, open ears, open lives lead to "peace" that comes not through military power and dominance but through mature responsibility and mutual respectfulness.

Nicholas D. Kristof wrote in the Berkshire Eagle (March 28, 3011 p. A6), "This may be a first for the Arab world:  An American airman who bailed out of over Libya was rescued form his hiding place in a sheep pen (in which his parachute had landed him) by villages who hugged him, served him juice, and thanked him effusively for bombing their country".  It is one thing to engage in military operations due to your own agenda it is another when you are responding to the cry of the people for help.

When I say I am helping you but you have not asked for my help two things happen:  1) you do not appreciate my help and 2) you are not really helped.  The truth is I am in a pretense of helping helping myself.  When I am asked to be helpful and am helpful in the way the asker needs then appreciation follows.

the villages though a "Thank You Party" because they did appreciate the help.  What a better world it would be if we all learned to listen and help people in the way they want or need to be helped rather than/  You would be served and we would be appreciated.

I said thank you to someone today.
It changed them. It changed me.
It might bring change in your and my world if we all served each other and were therefore appreciative of each others service.  Maybe that is the point of the Golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"

Throw a thank you party somewhere for someone!

This morning I am traveling to CT to share a story at a life long friend's funeral.  For 24 years he has been a friend full of grace and truth.  He spoke truth to me even when I did not want to hear it.  I did the same for him.  He lived grace toward me for all those years.  I can only home I speak truth and grace into some people's lives the way he did to and for me.

I honor him, Forrest Hart.  I have been in the shadow of death myself for 18 months following the sudden death of two people within 10 days of each other, my brother, Phil and my co-presenter, friend and colleague, Karen.  I learned so much in that valley of the shadow of death.  One thing I learned is that the death canal like the birth canal is a transfer from one form of existence to another.  It is dark but it leads to new life because life is already present and is eternal.  The second thing I learned in renewing ways is,  I do not fear , not because I am so strong or confident but because God is "with me".   God is more with us in death and in the move to heaven than ever before.  God is with us all of us no matter what happens no matter where we are and no matter what is happening to us.  God's eternal presence is just that eternally present.

I always believed that, now I know that.

God be "with" you.  (Hopefully your response: and also with you)

I have so much to do and not enough time to do "the much".  This means that I have too much to do and all that business can dilute or pollute the essence of who I am and how I want to live.  What legacy do I want to live to my children and grandchildren.

Taking time "to be" is more important than finding more time "to do".  It is even more important than taking things off the plate of my day.  It is about establishing and living with priority to human relations and human interactions.  I love being with people because I love people because it appreciates them and me at the same time. If people do not feel that it is probably because I am too busy doing things for people so they appreciate me rather than being with people to appreciate their living.

This morning in our Youth Sunday School class someone raised the issue of a poster that had these word, "Jesus is coming get busy, look busy".  It led to a discussion of how Christian living can be pretense.  Acting one way when someone is looking or to get benefit rather than become the person who lives in authentic ways before people.  It is not about business it is about being about the business of prioritize our lives around being rather than doing.  Our doing will then come out of our being rather than trying to impress by our pretense we will impress because of our loving care expresses in authentic and genuine ways.

I was up late last night watching March Madness Basketball.....so now I am awake in a new day and know it is not just about basketball.

I saw a quote from Alice Walker who has walked through and I do mean through "the hell of her abuse an pain at the hand of supposed care givers".  She said, "wake up and smell the possibilities".   I wake up to the possibilities of a new day because I have found rest for my soul.  Rest is so good.  When God created us and saw that it was all good (Genesis 1:31).  And God saw everything that he had made and saw that it was very good".

Honestly, it is hard for me to see everything that happens or that is as "very good".   But that is not what I now in my "awake state of possibilities" see.  It is that whatever is fits and flows with whatever else is.  I see good in it and I work to pour good into it.  To do that I need to find "rest for my soul".  I need to wake up and see the world differently because I have rested my "thoughts about what should be" into God's thoughts of the wonder of possibilities.  I can smell them because God has given me a fresh sense.

Now that makes sense.  I rest in the possibilities when I smell them.  I get my nose out of other smells and smell the fragrance of God's presence that  changes all things.  It is not that all things are very good it is that all things become very good for and in me!

I rest.  I smell.  I live. I love. I am.

Imagine if God gave up all control and involvement in the creation.   WE would be left to fend for ourselves without any involvement of any kind.  Some would say that this is the deist position that God created the world and then left it to its own devices.  How divisive and derisive that would be.   We would suffer abandonment so would have an inability to attach to anyone as we would feel "unworthy".  At the same time if God took over control and dictated or directed all things then we would be only "puppets on a string".   God chose the middle and healthy and holy position to be involved but not absent nor controlling.

After seeking after as a "seeker" God, GOd provided a covering for their nakedness so that they could feel cared for and prepared for their new journey into.

I thank God for the covering of presence in all situations regardless of anything for God is love! I am loved. I am to be loving.

The wonder of love is wonderful.

Humanity thinks it is all about mastery.  It feeds our egos to control.

When God created the world and gave the created beings freedom of choice, God let go of the power of controlling the world in favor of inviting the world to choose to let go of their desire to control and fear of being controlled and embrace the God of Mystery.  Mastery gives way to mystery which his the mastery of the inner world not the outer world.

In Genesis 3 when humanity used their freedom of choice to begin a downward spin God remained the "I am who I am".  While Adam and Eve were effected and infected by their own actions, God was remained the same.  Adam and Eve proceeded to blame and shame each other, to go into hiding, and to separate themselves from God.  They tried to control their world and only made matters worse.   God, alternately, came into the garden as God had done so many times before with calmness, and the same love, care, and compassion.  He asked in a curious way, "Adam where are you".  God asked this not because God did not know where Adam was but because Adam did not know where he was or how he got there.  He was scared so he hid.  God was calm and compassionate so God came seeking to help.

Imagine what would have happened if Adam and Eve stayed at their home and when God came into the grade they were there saying to God, "God are we glad to see you,  We think we blew it yesterday as we ate of the tree you told us to not eat of and as you said we feel different not so sure way but knew that you would come to help us figure it out.  So we are glad to see you!"  To do this they would have had to give up their fear, their desire to control, and open their hearts to know and experience true love.

As Dr. Gerald Jamboski, in a book with the same title, said, "Love Is Letting Go of Fear".  Let go of the desire to master others or outside things and invite yourself  to walk in the mystery of letting go.  Living in love and peace requires you to let go of control and embrace love and peace.

Is this God speaking or me, I am not sure:

I know that if God was in control he would create amore just, fair and equitable society and I also believe that one day in a new heaven and earth God will be in control.  So ultimately God is in control.  But for now and here on earth God is not in control.

God is in "self control" as reflected in that, that is one aspect of the collective fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). He is not in control nor does God desire to be in control of the physical universe.  God is however responsive to and involved in the created physical world.  Ultimately God is in control.  But here and now God is not in control as God has given control of this world over to its own choice. The will that is done in heaven will one day be done on earth, but it is in the now, not so much.

God is not in control of events that occur but God is in control of being involved in and not intrusively controlling.  God controls involvement in the events but does not direct the events.

When the earthquake hit Japan, God was not controlling that moment in time nor sending devastation into the lives and families of Japan.  God is good not that he sends good things our way and bad when he sends bad things our way.  I am not bad when God sends bad things my way or good when God things come my way.. Things good and bad come my way because it is the nature of good things and bad things to come my way.  My only choices are to be thankful for the good things and not take them for granted and to be creative in the bad things looking for ways to creative find good in the bad things.  Making the best of the worst of times and never taking the best of times for granted is a discipline of life and faith.  God, Romans 8 tells us, is in the business of drawing and designing creative ways of pour goodness into whatever happens and drawing goodness our of whatever happens.  Those who love God and live according to the purposes of God know that God's purpose is to nurture goodness in whatever happens in the world.  It is not good that people die in tragedy but God enters the tragedy and creatively a helps us find good in it or draw good out of it. The discipline of "self-control" is a quality of God that every event challenges us to embrace.  When good things happen we can think it is God's affirmation, and when bad things happen we can imagine it is displeasure but truly it is neither.  It is a call for us to remain humble and thankful for the good things.  It is a call to be humble and disciplined when bad things happen.

When I give up trying to control others and learn to control my temptation to judge others I am learning the discipline of self-control.  Who is in control of you?  You are.  Who is in control of the events that happen, no one.  You are in control of how you respond to whatever happens.

I wise young man passed on to me something that he learned along the road of living.  The simp[lest and most profound truth i snot made up of big words or complex ideas.  It is a series of 10, two letter words that empower people to see that they are in control of their now and their future:  "If it is to be it is up to me".  God is at you side to help and nurture your growth not to do things against you or for you.

Let God be God and learn to be you!

With natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis, and human disasters like political protests and violence all over the globe who is in control.

Control is a major issue of humanity.  People like to be in control and no one likes being controlled.  No wonder the world is on a collision course.  Some believe that God is in control and so they say things like: It is God's will?  Really?  Do we seriously believe that it is God;s will for human tragedy to occur daily, for families to be ravaged by war or earthquakes?  What kind of a God would do that or even allow that.

I know that people for centuries have believed and lots of religions have taught that God is in control.  I also know it is risky to take a different position than the masses.  My bet is that people not theologians secretly know that there is something wrong with theology that teaches that God is in control.  If they are wrong it has set us all up.  If they are right they have set God up to be either an unconcerned diplomat or a calculating and obsessed control monger.

I am part of a denomination that believes God is still speaking in our day.  I do not think God is speaking anything new but I do think God is speaking through people who honesty assess and are open to truth.  Not new truth but a new perspective on old truths that creates clarity, clarifications, and more sensible teachings for a sound mind in our chaotic times.

We project as Freud suggested a God is in control father image so we can feel less threatened and less anxious only to find ourselves in a depressive anxious state. But if God is not in control who is?

How would you answer that.  I will control myself and hold my thoughts until tomorrows blog entry.  For now give it some thought yourself?

I will speak on this tomorrow!

Yesterday we went to see Crowns at a local reparatory theater.  The theme was that hats are like crowns that we wear on our heads that tell people something about us or protect us in some way.  "Hats are like people sometimes they Reveal and sometimes they Conceal".    Scripture tells us that all who love God receive a crown that reveals our love relationship with God.  The play had a young woman whose brother was shot finding a way to reveal her pain and connect with her brother and her ancestors through a hat that did not conceal her pain but healed her heart.  The same hat revealed a deep connection beyond this world to her brother.

I thought, how do we know when we are using our hats to conceal our pain and our feelings and when we are using hats to connect and reveal deeper truths of our heart and soul.  I realized that sometimes I put a hat on to conceal my pain and sometimes I put a hat on to connect and reveal my heart. A hat can be anything and can represents many things.

I will look at people and hats differently starting today.

Hats off to a great performance and a great show!  Thank you. Hats on to go out into the cold world today.

Tragedies happen every day that are out of our control, like the earthquake in Japan.  Other atrocities are humanity doing violence to other members of humanity.
While President Mubarak was being removed form power in Egypt two young people were dating.  One happened to be a Christian the other a Muslim.  The Muslin girl's father was told by the priest in the village of Sohl, Egypt said that he should kill his daughter for such sacrilege.  The next day the priest's church was torched.  Violence produces violence.  When point and counter point cycle dominates the point that everyone gets is a sharp destructive. point.  If we could tip the arrow on its down side,  the > (arrow) becomes a "V" chalice of surrender.  This is at the heart of the Christian transformation message.  The only thing that will ever transform a violent world into a world of peace is when each of us see the evil inside of us and as forgiveness for that evil "defend attack" part.  When we see and heal the axis of evil inside of us we will never see clearly that it is not about the axis of evil in our enemy but in us.   Yet  the defend attack part in us is just human not evil.  What is evil is to be blind to our part in securing peace.  To naively and blindly see the problem in :them not us".

Additionally we need to see that the system of religion that fosters an over and against, win-lose, orientation is "systemically sick".  The chalice of surrender suggests that when we surrender the goal to change the other person but shift to challenging the system to shift dynamically we are on the road to peace.  It is not about conquest.  It is about surrender.