Debate

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enemy, forgiveness, friend, grace, gratitude, John Philip Newell, mercy, Praying With the Earth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Everything is quiet this morning. I woke up to a morning with no wind, no rain, no snow – and no cars racing down the road. I was grateful for all that after the tumultuous debate of democratic candidates for President of the United States last night. Most bothersome was the disregard for time limits as people continued to talk while others were chiming in with their opinions and disagreements until it became what I imagine the Tower of Babel was like. I presume this will continue now until the primary races are over and there is a named nominee. And then there will be the more contentious period of run-up to the general election. It will not be a pretty process, but unavoidable for committed citizens. While we don’t need to listen to everything, staying above the fray and listening to nothing is not the way to participate in our democracy so I am grateful for moments like this one and guides like John Philip Newell who grounds me in simplicity with his morning prayers. Won’t you join me today?

We wake to the forgiveness of a new day. We wake to the freedom to begin again. We wake to the mercy of the sun’s redeeming light. Always new, always gift, always blessing. We wake to the forgiveness of this new day.

May our enemy become our friend, O God, that we may share earth’s goodness. May our enemy become our friend, O God, that our children may meet and marry. May our enemy become our friend, O God, that we may remember our shared birth in you. May we grow in grace, may we grow in gratitude, may we grow in wisdom, that our enemy may become our friend. (Praying with the Earth – A Prayerbook for Peace, p. 36)

Heartfelt Prayer

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care, compassion, courage, disaster, enemy, humanity, military personnel, Peace, protect, service, strength, sustain, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Veterans Day

On this Veterans Day I think of my father, proud of his service in World War II while abhorring the thought and the reality of war. I think of those who protect us today from different kinds of enemies and those who keep the peace. I think of those whose work is in disaster areas near and far and all who have given their lives in service to our country. And I think of their loved ones. It is for all those and for the rest of us who are the beneficiaries of their service that I pray this anonymously posted prayer.

God of compassion, we pray for military personnel, offered for the sake of others and separated from family and loved ones. Care for them, meet their needs. Grant them courage, compassion, strength, and all they need for the living of these days. Sustain them through their every trial. Remind them of the humanity they share, even of those who are called “the enemy.” Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

The Power of Prayer

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bad, difficult to love, enemy, good, just, love, love thy neighbor, sensitive, strife, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unjust

Perhaps I am more sensitive these days because of all the strife in my own country and the world, but it seems that Jesus is repeatedly pushing his point about how we are to love. Today, again from the fifth chapter of Matthew’s gospel, I can practically hear the urgency in his voice when he tells us that we are called not just to love those who are easy to love but also those we would name “enemy.” He leaves no space for misinterpretation of the message. God, he says, “makes the sun rise on the bad and the good and causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” Then come his questions:

If you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?…If you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that??

In trying to get a handle on just how serious a challenge this is, I create examples of people I might cross the street to avoid. One might be a man dressed in black pants and a muscle shirt who is covered with tattoos and chains for jewelry, smelling of alcohol and/or cigarettes. I ask myself how I would greet this man. Not knowing anything about him, I would probably jump to the conclusion that he is a gang member and just that designation has taught me to fear him. Then there are those I don’t need to create because I hear about them and their actions on the news at night. Just hearing the name Bashar al-Assad is for me what we used to call a “near occasion of sin.”

So is there a way to “love” those “neighbors?” I can think of two possibilities. The first answer for me is always prayer; I could pray for them. (Noting that I say “I could pray” points out to me that I have not – thus far – taken Jesus seriously on this point.) Then I would have to get serious about how to pray for them. What would I ask for? Their conversion, perhaps? Or my conversion toward them, seeing them as human beings, deserving of my consideration?

As a start, though, perhaps I ought to pray for those people in my daily life who are difficult to love, and treat them as the beloved of God. By practicing on those cases, maybe it would become more possible to approach “my enemy.” Maybe the guy with the chains is part of a very charitable Harley Davidson group – a fact I wouldn’t know unless I approached and greeted him and got him talking…On the other hand, I will likely never meet the world leaders that I find most difficult so everything in that realm is just theory. But there is still my prayer…Do I really believe in the efficacy of it? Might I (at least) be changed by consistent and sincere practice? I will never know, I guess, until I try.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking for Light

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blindness, Bridge of Spies, children of light, Cold War, enemy, Ephesians, goodness, James Donovan, no one is perfect, prodigal son, relationship, righteousness, Russian spy, search for truth, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth

Again this Sunday there are two sets of lectionary readings from which to choose a theme, depending on whether a parish has catechumens or candidates who are being initiated into the Roman Catholic faith. Both gospel texts are good stories – one the Prodigal Son parable and the other about the man born blind where everyone is concerned to find out whose sin caused the blindness. Even the Hebrew Scripture weighs in with the story of how David was chosen as king. Looking at all of this I can only conclude – as I often do – that it’s all about relationship and the search for truth. Oh, yes, and the fact that nobody is perfect.

Last evening we watched the movie, Bridge of Spies at home. A true story about an incident in the Cold War, it was quite engaging in many ways but especially as an indicator of the integrity of attorney James Donovan, chosen to defend a Russian spy. Everyone expected the trial and the spy’s execution to be a “slam-dunk” but Donovan was having none of that. I won’t go further with the plot but would recommend the movie and make one more comment that I see as reflective both of today’s text from the letter to the Ephesians and the theme of relationship mentioned above.

Paul exhorts his listeners to live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Throughout the movie Donovan treated the spy as a human being worthy of respect simply for the fact that he was a human being. Shining a different light on the word “enemy” by coming to know the man – even though he was admittedly guilty of being a spy – calls me to be careful of vilifying an entire population because of the actions of a government or a group of people. This is not as simple as I make it seem, especially when we are seriously threatened as we were by the Soviet Union (and they by us) in 1962. Paul calls us, however, to try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness. In doing so, we may find  relationship in places we could not imagine and outcomes better than we  ever thought possible – even as we still admit that no one is perfect!