Who’s Complaining?

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blame, complain, coping, coronavirus, solution, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The first line of the first reading in today’s lectionary texts could have been written about us in our present predicament, i.e. Covid-19, the coronavirus. From the Hebrew Scriptures we read: With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses. (NM 21:48)

When things aren’t going our way, especially if the distress continues for a long time, people usually begin to look around for someone to blame for the trouble. In the Bible passage today, the guilty party is clear. Moses is at fault; he brought them into the desert. He could complain also, however, since he was just doing what God directed.

We’ve now been in this situation for six months – throughout the spring and our summer vacations. Who is the culprit in our predicament? Some say nations in faraway lands. Some blame the president of the United States. Then there are the people who refuse to wear a mask, or those who want to party in large groups. There’s enough blame this time to go around. The big question, however, is not how the virus began and grew to pandemic strength, but rather how we are responding to the situation now at hand.

It’s tricky because ultimately we are fighting something that is invisible and we aren’t good at seeing what cannot be seen. We have to look deep inside ourselves for coping mechanisms that will help rather than harm. Pointing fingers is no remedy. We need to be about silencing complaint and be doing what we are instructed that will help to mitigate the disease until such time as a safe and effective vaccine is found and made available.

Pointing fingers and complaining never did solve anything. It just escalates the problem. It has been said that those who are not part of the solution are usually part of the problem. It’s time to stop complaining and find out how we can help. It may include some uncomfortable or inconvenient practices but it surely beats wandering in the desert for 40 years!

Choose Life

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acceptance, complain, grateful, love, positive, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Everything I have seen this morning has reminded me to choose to be positive rather than finding fault with anything. I could lament the fact that my busy mind kept me awake until after midnight so that I might be tired today. The alternative seems a better decision, however, and any other choice would be embarrassing. For example, how could I complain after reading Alex Trebek’s latest report about the recurrence of his stage 4 recurrence of pancreatic cancer? Or, on the other hand, after looking at glorious photos of some of the most beautiful places to visit in “leaf peeking” season, how could I not be grateful for the abundance of natural beauty and the cycle of seasons. “Tired” is not a good response when I am asked how I feel. Better to respond with one of the messages in my Affirmations Coloring Book, like “I choose to dwell in a world of love and acceptance.'” or “I am a magnet for miracles.” (How can you not smile at that one?)

This all started with Jesus saying to Martha in the gospel this morning, “Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things when only one thing is necessary…” (i.e. sitting at the feet of the Lord and listening to him). Perhaps if we did that a little more often or consciously we would more easily forget the non-essentials and wake up to a better day. So let me start over and tell you that I am feeling just fine today. Thank you very much!

Looking with the Eyes of Love

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complain, Jesus, judgment, letter of james, love, model, motivations, politics, the eyes of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Again today the Letter of James stops me at the first line. Do not complain, brothers and sisters, he says, that you may not be judged. (JAS 5:9). I actually didn’t even need the second half of that dictum to know the importance of the message. I hope I’m past the “God’s gonna get you” motivation and onto the example of Jesus as the model for my speech and actions. But as I think again I realize how automatic judging others is if I see everything from my own perspective, my own frame of reference in looking at the world. It’s hard to get out of our own mind to see through the eyes of others.

Examples abound in society, the clearest one at the moment being the national political campaign in the United States this year. What comes to mind when I hear the name Donald Trump…or Hillary Clinton…or Bernie Sanders? How convinced am I that my ideas on the matter are the correct ones? More to the point, am I willing to allow the ideas of others who do not hold the same point of view? Am I willing to entertain that point of view by really listening to another or am I totally dismissive, convinced that I am correct in my judgment?

More important, perhaps, in my everyday living are the judgments I make about the people I encounter. Am I willing to look beyond words or actions to the depths of the persons about whom I am complaining? Do I know what might be motivating behaviors that I find unacceptable? The rush to judgment is sometimes so automatic that I haven’t even given the person a chance! We judge on looks and manner of speech and level of education and what people do to earn a living instead of what we don’t know of their lives. We complain about the person at home or at work who isn’t as productive as we consider ourselves to be, without having the slightest inkling of the thoughts of their hearts or the depth of their relationship with God.

I sound as if I’m ranting – and, actually, as if I’m complaining about everyone who isn’t like me! Not so! I just find it sad that we miss so much goodness because we are programmed somehow to see things without really seeing them. Today is a day to try looking with the eyes of God – both looking in and looking out in love. A worthy project indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look Deeper

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Baptist, Christ, Christianity, complain, God, Gospel of Matthew, gossip, Jesus, John, John the Baptist, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The gospel for this morning from Matthew, chapter 11, has Jesus comparing the people “of this generation” (which, ironically, could be ours) to children who sit around in a marketplace complaining about each other. His point, it seems, is that nothing seems to satisfy them; they jump to judgment no matter what is presented to them. When John the Baptist came “neither eating nor drinking” they said he was possessed of a demon (“crazy” in our parlance). Then Jesus himself came eating and drinking and they said he was a glutton and a drunkard. So what is it that they wanted? What is it that we want? Most likely it is someone who looks like us, dresses like us, talks like us and acts like us. We’re not anxious to be moved very far from our comfort zone. It’s interesting that just this week, my teacher, Cynthia Bourgeault, said that it’s very difficult to grow if we remain in our comfort zone. Jesus said the same thing in another way this morning:

Wisdom is vindicated by her works. (Mt. 11:19)