A poem inspired my worship at New Spirit Community Church on 5/29/2011.
She stares into my soul. Her eyes that of divinity. Caring, compassionate, loving. She knows me, this Mary, not for who I pretend to be, but for who I am. In the moment, Mother God with us.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Reflection on the End of the World That Was Not
May 21 came and went and we are all still here (no surprise here) and I find myself wanting to be snarky. I find myself wanting to say I told you so, and to make jokes at the expense of those who thought the Judgment was upon us. The truth is, though, if I fall to these urges I miss an opportunity to learn from what we have just seen, I miss to opportunity to practice compassion for those who must be reeling from this experience.
Before I begin my thoughts on the subject I want to give credit to one of the most intelligent and thoughtful people I know Jay Johnson for helping me to recontextualize this event in his blog post "Apocalypse Now or Later."
Now to my thoughts; if we just become snarky about this event I believe we miss the point. The fact that so many people were willing to see and wish for the end of the world revels something about the brokenness experienced in our world today. When people see the only hope as the end, something has failed them, it is not a new phenomenon but it is one to pay attention to. What if we who saw this prediction of the end of the world for what it was had been better able to express a sense of hope to those who had been unable to find it? What if I had been able to speak of hope instead of simply making fun of the prediction as I did? I find myself feeling I missed an opportunity to engage brokenness and instead engaged in brokenness.
I also find myself with anger at Harold Camping himself. I think that some of that anger is rightful. This man has done a great deal of damage to thousands of people, and has in the name of Christianity once again hurt the world rather than done anything to better it. So I’m not saying my anger is not justified but if I stay only at anger I miss a lesson here. We who are religious leaders need to see again just how much sway we hold in people lives. There is a lesson for us here to once again examine our beliefs and make sure that we are not through what we do and say leading people to a place that is destructive for them. While we may not predicting the end of the world like Harold Camping, we need to take the time to ask ourselves if our theologies are really furthering the betterment of human kind or are we holding onto dogmas that divide, encourage hate, rob people of hope, or leave them feeling that the only hope is in the end. It would be ashamed to let this pass without reflection.
Lastly, we are left with a great opportunity for compassion. There are a great number of people in a great need for that compassion. Yes, it is true that they themselves chose to quit their jobs uproot their lives to follow Camping. This does not make these people any less worthy of compassion. In the end what one of us can look back at our lives and say we have not at one time or another made some kind of massively bad decision? In the end these people are people and they are people who are hurting. We have an opportunity to provide hope and to heal some of the brokenness in the world. Are we going to fight the brokenness of this world or again add to it, in the end it is our choice.
Before I begin my thoughts on the subject I want to give credit to one of the most intelligent and thoughtful people I know Jay Johnson for helping me to recontextualize this event in his blog post "Apocalypse Now or Later."
Now to my thoughts; if we just become snarky about this event I believe we miss the point. The fact that so many people were willing to see and wish for the end of the world revels something about the brokenness experienced in our world today. When people see the only hope as the end, something has failed them, it is not a new phenomenon but it is one to pay attention to. What if we who saw this prediction of the end of the world for what it was had been better able to express a sense of hope to those who had been unable to find it? What if I had been able to speak of hope instead of simply making fun of the prediction as I did? I find myself feeling I missed an opportunity to engage brokenness and instead engaged in brokenness.
I also find myself with anger at Harold Camping himself. I think that some of that anger is rightful. This man has done a great deal of damage to thousands of people, and has in the name of Christianity once again hurt the world rather than done anything to better it. So I’m not saying my anger is not justified but if I stay only at anger I miss a lesson here. We who are religious leaders need to see again just how much sway we hold in people lives. There is a lesson for us here to once again examine our beliefs and make sure that we are not through what we do and say leading people to a place that is destructive for them. While we may not predicting the end of the world like Harold Camping, we need to take the time to ask ourselves if our theologies are really furthering the betterment of human kind or are we holding onto dogmas that divide, encourage hate, rob people of hope, or leave them feeling that the only hope is in the end. It would be ashamed to let this pass without reflection.
Lastly, we are left with a great opportunity for compassion. There are a great number of people in a great need for that compassion. Yes, it is true that they themselves chose to quit their jobs uproot their lives to follow Camping. This does not make these people any less worthy of compassion. In the end what one of us can look back at our lives and say we have not at one time or another made some kind of massively bad decision? In the end these people are people and they are people who are hurting. We have an opportunity to provide hope and to heal some of the brokenness in the world. Are we going to fight the brokenness of this world or again add to it, in the end it is our choice.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Open Letter to Sojourners
What follows is an open letter I wrote to Sojourners in regard to them rejecting an ad from Believe Out Loud a United Methodist group working for full inclusion in the church.
Dear Sojourners,
As a long time reader of Sojourners, I have gained a lot from your insightful take on issues of faith. I am deeply troubled however by your rejection of the ad from Believe Out Loud. You have been a consistent voice for the oppressed and marginalized and this decision is simply out of character for your organization. I understand that not everyone in your organization is of the same mind on the issue but you do not foster honest dialogue on the issue by by excluding the voice if faithful Christians who are attempting to promote said honest dialogue as Believe Out Loud is. I fear that this decision has less to do with the mission of your organization and more to do with dollars and cents, fear of losing readers/ sponsors. I pray that you will reconsider the issue and live up to your call to be the prophetic voice I have known you to be.
Chris Hockley
Dear Sojourners,
As a long time reader of Sojourners, I have gained a lot from your insightful take on issues of faith. I am deeply troubled however by your rejection of the ad from Believe Out Loud. You have been a consistent voice for the oppressed and marginalized and this decision is simply out of character for your organization. I understand that not everyone in your organization is of the same mind on the issue but you do not foster honest dialogue on the issue by by excluding the voice if faithful Christians who are attempting to promote said honest dialogue as Believe Out Loud is. I fear that this decision has less to do with the mission of your organization and more to do with dollars and cents, fear of losing readers/ sponsors. I pray that you will reconsider the issue and live up to your call to be the prophetic voice I have known you to be.
Chris Hockley
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