The Difference in a Comma
Topic: coping

Last Sunday, I picked up the church bulletin and brought it home with me.  Because I noted something I thought I really needed to share with you.  The way I noted it, that is--not the way it was actually written.

I still like the way I first saw it.  It fits just as much as the original intention of the writer of the Mohawk prayer.  (Yes, where I worship one is not surprised to see prayers that come from "the heathern," as people of my roots might refer to non-converted Native Americans) 

The original sentence, located in the prayer, read:  "Help us, be kind to us."

My eyes didn't note the comma, so I read it:  "Help us be kind to us." 

The first version, of course, indicated the Great Spirit being kind to us on earth.  My understanding, before I took a second look this morning, was that we needed help to be kind to one another, but also to ourselves.  Whichever works for you today, I hope you find kindness.

All in How You See It
Topic: coping

I've often been impressed with the mood differences of those who have left the Catholic Church or other faith groups.  Those who express the sense of being forced out reflect much more of an angry and defeated victim attitude.  Those who talk about choosing to leave either in protest or because they no longer agreed with the theology seem to have an air of self-confidence.  Generally, there is a mixture of those two moods.  Yet the more one is able to interpret the leaving as a decision based on conviction, the less likely the life of the individual seems to be negatively impacted.

One's faith should always be a matter of choice.  Healthy faith always is.

Bridging the Gap
Topic: coping
As I open my soul and find the courage to share what I find there--my struggles, as well as my joys--I find hope.   As I receive the messages from others who are in that same process, I find even more hope.  Hope for change.  And a reminder that we are all in the process of evolving into what we are intended to become.  If we just keep our souls open, despite the mutual brokenness that we have all experienced.

Expectations and Stakes
Topic: Power

At this crucial time, with the pope's visit, I am reminded of just how much the word "pope," in the Catholic world and even beyond, is equated with "Power."  Rather than comment on the recent events myself, I prefer to again give you the words that have come as a press release from SNAP.  My plan is to resume personally writing this blog again tomorrow.

Dee

 

Shame Is a Good Start
Topic: Power

 

Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in the U.S. for his first visit as Pope. And there is some good news here. Ironically, "good news" and the Church don't often appear in the same sentence these days. So I am always on the lookout for this occurrence.

As he comes to the U.S., the first comments the Pope made to the media had to do with the crisis of sexual abuse of children by priests: "We are deeply ashamed and we will do what is possible that this cannot happen in the future." Shame is the appropriate emotion in response to the shameful actions of individual pedophile priests and subsequent collusion and cover-ups by the institutional church. Shame can be productive in the context of the recognition of moral failure and responsibility; shame can lead to repentance and change. But only if the repentance is authentic and there is a will to actually change the institutional practices which allowed this harmful misconduct to continue for years.

What would be the signs of this will to change? When we see dioceses move away from defending themselves against the legitimate petitions for justice from their people who have been harmed. And, where appropriate, when we see discipline of Bishops who have protected pedophiles and punished victims.

There was one other moment of good news in the Pope's comments that should not be overlooked. Rather than be pulled into the confusion of homosexuality with pedophilia, Pope Benedict said: "I would not speak at this moment about homosexuality, but pedophilia, which is another thing. And we would absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry." This is a huge step forward and counters the earlier Vatican response to the problem of pedophilia which was to eliminate gay priests from the priesthood. Let us pray that the Pope's awareness of the important distinction between homosexuality and pedophilia will inform the future actions of the Vatican and the whole Roman Catholic Church.

Rev. Dr. Marie M. Fortune
Founder and Senior Analyst
FaithTrust Institute

The Problem with the Truth
Topic: Stained Glass

Have you ever noticed?  In families with addictions, just as in churches with perpetrators.  Or maybe we should reverse it and say churches with addictions and families with perpetrators--works the same no matter how you slice it.....

People in denial would prefer to believe the addicts or perpetrators instead of those who want to see change in the institution. 

Those who really shatter the stained glass are the "trusted" ones.  Yet others, by believing the cover stories told for self-protection, manage to not see the shattered glass.  Or to ignore it by not taking a stand.

It's often lonely to be within the system, looking courageously at the broken glass.  Sometimes all you can do is weep.  Before finding ways to create new glass formations that may or may not involve the people in denial.   Whether from a position inside or outside of the broken system in denial.

That's what Parker Palmer would call standing "in the tragic gap."  Which is really the only place that offers hope.  Either for the hopeful.  Or the system.

Double Meanings
Topic: spirituality

Susan Shaw in God Speaks to Us, Too,  her book about women raised as Southern Baptists, points out that the denomination is so huge in the South and so much a part of the culture that it is impossible to simply consider the characteristics of the denomination.  To be southern is to be influenced greatly by the denomination.  To be Baptist in the South, is to be influenced greatly by the southern culture.

The same might be said for other groups, whether or not the name shows an intertwining of two different ideas or cultures.  Roman Catholic, Church of Christ, and Assemblies of God are just some examples.  There is an exclusiveness in many denominations that makes it difficult to separate characteristics that are intertwined so much that the group takes on a combination identity.

What is interesting, in looking further, is that we can see opposite principles converging.  This sets up a collective confusion, and this is much what Shaw is showing in her book.  I have long contended that southern culture is far more influenced by African culture than anyone in the South cares to admit.  Nothing is more African than the enmeshment of the group so that it becomes very taboo, an unspoken taboo, to go against the fused thinking of the village or the rather homogenous group.

Yet nothing could be more Baptist than to be independent in thinking.  At least, this is true in principle throughout the history of Baptists, starting long before Southern Baptists pulled away as the forces of abolition heated up and made leaders in the South more and more uncomfortable--admittedly or not pricking at least the subconscious with serious conviction. 

How a mind-controlling fusion of people occurs with people believe themselves to be so ruggedly independent is beyond me, even though I have experienced the power of this contradiction that has almost blown me apart while coming to the conclusion that leaving was all that would give me peace.   How the denomination continues to attract and hold millions is difficult to capture, as well.  Perhaps it is in the power of convincing so many that the denomination has been so obviously "blessed by God," in a theological "reasoning" that is very closely kin to African religious concepts of fatalism.   "Blessed by God"  because of it's obvious size and wealth (despite the poverty mind-set that is so conveniently resorted to)! 

And how the pope is going to explain away what he has so far wanted the world to see as the American problem of collusion in the Roman Catholic Church will be interesting to watch this week, as well.  Especially since Rome has taken in one of America's prime colluders, the former Archbishop of Boston.  Right into the Vatican!  That's beyond me, too.

Out of the Craziness
Topic: Power
Crisis creates craziness.  Or what we see as the unpredictable, something that doesn't make sense until we look deeper.  Then, we learn to make sense out of the craziness.  And that's where creativity happens!

Re-Defining "the World"
Topic: Aliens

Some people call it "separating the sheep from the goats."  Yet I don't see their application of the concept with biblical origins to apply.  I do see the original meaning to be very useful to what I'm about to say, though.  About the need to separate ideas and behaviors that are congruent with what rings true for me after much soul searching.

Sometimes that will be old ideas that still ring as true as any bell.  Over time, some of those old ideas become like a gong, as I start to understand myself and the world in a different way. 

Or as any good therapist would say, as reality becomes clearer.

As a kid, I was taught to see "the world" as anyone who didn't believe like people in my church and home did, which was the way most people in my family and southern culture had seen things for centuries.  In other words, it was the "wierd people" or the outsiders. 

What I currently understand as sweet and fair, what I see as really caring, what I see as valuable--these are not necessarily the things I was taught to see as good.   The old southern culture and it's accompanying conservative theology, that managed to spread like a virus across our land and globe, didn't/doesn't care much about anyone growing and maturing to the point of finding functional ways to stand up to the status quo.  Yet many of my generation have found ways to develop our own set of cares.  Finding ways to be the exception whenever we find opportunity.

Today, I understand "the world" to be ways of thinking and talking that are not life-affirming.  It's very likely that what I understand as "the world" will have some degree of alteration in the years to come.  Unless I get to be an old lady, too set in my ways to change.  Heaven forbid!

The Old and the New
Topic: spirituality

Last week, as I read Susan Shaw's new book, God Speaks to Us, Too, then went back and re-read parts it, words from 2 Corinthians 5:17 seemed to pop into my head from nowhere.

"Old things are passed away.  Behold, all things are become new." 

That's what has to happen every day in my life, as I embrace the process of being committed to the journey of transformation.  Being transformed by shock and trauma, because it has forced me to re-evaluate all things in such a transforming way that  no longer am I so petrified to think outside the box that had me boxed in for so many years!

Yes, God does speak to us, too.  All of us.  Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to get a new understanding of creation.  And the spiritual process of re-creation.