Ash Wednesday is the start to Lent, and it points to Easter. This is a penitential season – a time to pare down and strip bare. By giving up something we want, we get to take on something we need. The beginning is in darkness and mourning, and the end is in light and rejoicing. It is a time of dying to ourselves and being reborn with Christ.
But how do you observe Ash Wednesday and Lent? How can you participate in a meaningful way that makes it real to you, other than going to a service and getting a cross smudged on your head? One way is to wear black or other dark colors on Ash Wednesday, and to not wear any jewelry. Fast, or eat very sparingly – eat small meals that are simple. It is a day of mourning, so going through the rituals of mourning are appropriate.
Many people give up something in Lent. Chocolate, alcohol, and eating out are all common things that people will sacrifice during this time. It is a reminder of the time when Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the Devil, and he was without food or shelter. Some people take something on during Lent. They will volunteer for some non-profit agency. They will commit to reading the Bible every day. They will raise money to help people in need. Either way, it is a change and a reminder that this is a different time and a chance to refocus your priorities.
Sometimes you have too many things in your life. Sometimes your hands are full, and you aren’t able to hold on to anything new. Sometimes what our hands and lives are full of is just stuff. We carry around the idea that if we only had this new Thing, we’d be happy. How many times have we said that we are looking forward to something, only to forget that we need to be grateful for what we have right now? Who is to say that we aren’t stuck in our own wilderness now, being tempted by the world’s enticements? We are called to be in the world, but not part of the world. Lent is a great time to see where your focus is – is it on the world and all its things, or is it on serving God?
Ash Wednesday is a chance to reset. I’ve heard that sometimes a house fire is a blessing in disguise. Everything is stripped away and reduced to rubble. All our trinkets and talismans. All our decorations and dustcatchers. All of the Stuff that clutters our houses that we keep around us to remind us who we are and where we came from are all reduced to ash. When the house burns down, everything is gone. There is just enough time to escape with your life. When you return to the house you realize that there is nothing there and you have to start again from the beginning. This is Ash Wednesday. Those ashes on your forehead are a reminder to you that all you have right now is your life. The stuff is meaningless. You’ve just escaped with your life. What are you going to do with it now? Are you going to rebuild it exactly the way it is, or are you going to use this as a chance to start again?
Ash Wednesday is a wake-up call. It is a time to resolve to live differently. It is the trip to the emergency room at 3 am thinking you are having a heart attack – only to be told it is anxiety. But what about next time when it is serious? What can you do to make changes in your life so that you can prevent that trip to the doctor? It is a chance to stop and think about what really matters. What is really important? What do you actually need, versus what do you just think you need? When we have that wake-up call at 3 a.m. we often promise everything. “ If you will save me God, I promise to do better. I promise to exercise and eat better. I promise to be a nicer person.” Then when the next day or the next week arrives, we are often back to our old ways because they are easy and familiar. This Lent I invite you to take the step of real change. I invite you to use this time as a way to change everything. You won’t be walking alone. Jesus will be with you every step of the way. He has walked this path before and is cheering you on.
I’d been through several Ash Wednesdays over the years. Something different happened a few years ago. Perhaps it was because I was serving as a lector and had gotten vested in a cassock and a surplice. Perhaps it was because I went up in the first group to get smudged. Perhaps it was because the priest used my name when she smudged me – “Betsy, you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” I don’t know what it was that did it but something cracked open inside me. Something changed. I’d heard those words time and time again, but this time they struck home. This time they were real. I cried a little kneeling there at the altar rail, partly mourning my own mortality, but partly because of the freedom that these words created.
I find it very freeing to be reminded of your mortality. If you know you are going to die, then you know you have to be more intentional about your life. Say you are going to go on a vacation for a week. You have 20 things that you would like to do, but only time for 10. You have to pick those 10 things carefully. What is really important to you? What do you want to do that will really resonate with you? Do you go to the art museum, or spend the day fishing? Do you eat at the fancy restaurant, or do you cook up a simple meal with food you bought at the local farmer’s market? Whatever you choose, do it because it is what is the most meaningful to you at that time. Life is like that – you only have so much time. What is your focus? What must be done?
Part of the meaning of Ash Wednesday is echoed in a quote by Carl Sagan. Sagan told us in his groundbreaking series Cosmos that “Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can. Because the cosmos is also within us. We’re made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” Also, C.S. Lewis tells us that “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. “ This body, full of aches and pains, isn’t the focus.
I find it interesting to note that Sagan was a confirmed atheist, yet his words help me in my Christianity. In a Parade magazine interview he said that he found no evidence that there was life after death and that he felt his mortality to be a impetus to live life more fully. “Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.” His point is that if there is no promise of an afterlife, then you need to appreciate every day you are given. But here’s an interesting part. As a Christian, you get to have your cake and eat it too. You are promised that you will live on through Jesus. You are promised a resurrection and eternal life if you are part of the Body of Christ. But – because of our mindfulness and our intentionality, we can also use this time right now to live more meaningfully.
Live now. Be awake now. Be fully in the moment, whatever it is. I wish you a blessed Lent, where you are prepared to greet the newly-risen Christ on Easter Day.
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Epiphany: or why I think the Magi are the coolest characters in the Christmas story.
Epiphany is my favorite day in the church year. It is the 12th day of Christmas – the one of the 12 drummers drumming. That isn’t the reason I like it, but it doesn’t hurt. It celebrates the day that the Magi arrived in Bethlehem and saw Jesus, Emmanuel, God-With-Us.
The birth of Jesus was unremarkable. It happened to two weary travelers, swept up in the hubbub of a random government mess. There was a census. Everybody had to go to their birth-towns to be registered, without any consideration of ability or inconvenience. Here were these two ordinary people, doing what they had to do. There was no place to stay for them, even though the woman was very noticeably pregnant. Nobody took mercy on them. They weren’t special. They weren’t anybody to look twice at. The child was born without any midwives or even friends around. The story could have ended here, with this tiny new family just doing their duty in a strange town, strangers themselves.
Mary knew something was different, and Joseph, her espoused husband had an idea as well. Both had been told in varying ways that God needed them to do something a little different than the usual. God had a habit of calling people in those days – Hey, Moses! Hey, Samuel! Hey, Isaiah! And the answer was “Here I am.” But for most of those people it made sense. There was a definite sense that this was indeed a call from God. Things clicked into place. Their army won. People listened to them. God was working through them to make His will happen in this world.
But this was different. Bring forth the Messiah? Wow. That was a biggie. There wasn’t a blueprint for that. And what if you were just imagining it? Gosh, wouldn’t you look gullible. I can only imagine the looks Mary got from her friends and neighbors when she became noticeably pregnant and wasn’t married to Joseph yet. Gossip spreads very quickly in small towns. That had to be hard on her. She knew the truth, but it wasn’t exactly something you could tell even your friends about. “That Mary, she’s crazy. Thinks she is pregnant with the Messiah. Right, pull the other leg.”
So there we have this tiny new family, jostled about, uncertain, helpless and clueless. They are going on the word of angels and dreams in the night. They have no proof that anything that they are going through is real. It could all be in their heads. Why would God choose them? Surely if this was the Messiah something better would be happening. Surely the Christ deserves a better place to be born. A dirty, smelly stable, filled with noisy farm animals? You have got to be kidding. This can’t be what we thought it would be. We must have been imagining things.
Then people start arriving. First, it is the shepherds. They were called out of their fields by an angel. They were sent to worship this tiny, helpless child, cared for by his inexperienced parents. When they told Mary and Joseph what the angel had told them, there is a really interesting verse. “But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) This is her first hint to her that maybe she isn’t crazy. Maybe this is really real. Maybe everything she was told and everything she has been taught has finally come to pass, right here, with her at the epicenter of this Earth-changing event.
A little more time goes by, and then the Magi come. The Magi are sometimes known as the Three Kings. They were most likely fortunetellers, magicians, seers. They were good at reading signs and portents. They were learned. And from their studies, they knew that something amazing was about to happen. Magi were priests of the Zoroastrian faith – a faith based out of Persia. They believed that the Divine was about to become incarnate – to take on human form.
They have wandered through the desert, at night, following only a star. There was no map. There was no GPS. There was no guidebook. This was a new event. Like the pillar of fire at night that led the Israelites in the desert for 40 years, they had only a God-given phenomenon to follow. They followed it at night, most likely stumbling over rocks and small shrubs. They follow this star, this strange moving star that has led them to the unremarkable, backwoods town. When these strangers show up looking for the incarnation of God, they had to create quite a scene. I suspect their unusual clothing made them stick out. Perhaps they had odd accents. They certainly weren’t from around there. They certainly weren’t Jewish, either. When they arrived, bearing gifts for the Christ-child, they were a sign. They were proof that the visions and dreams pointed to something even bigger than Mary or Joseph could ever imagine. They were Gentiles, non-Jews, here to celebrate that the world had changed.
The Magi are a sign to us that God is real, that He is here with us. God loves us enough to come down to Earth and experience life from our perspective. This is a game-changer. The Creator, the Divine, the Godhead is no longer an impersonal, dictatorial Thing, but a very real, approachable person who loves us unconditionally and unreservedly.
The Magi are also examples of how to follow God. We all have our times of following God like the Magi did. Some dim star, far away, beckons. The only way we can follow it is to go on foot, in the dark. The way is slow and there are no guideposts. We walk in faith, following in trust and hope. We stumble. We get turned around. But again and again we re-align to the star, knowing that it leads us in the right direction.
May your Epiphany be blessed, and may you always follow the Star.
Getting it out.
Originally posted on FB on 12-23-12
When you swallow something that isn’t good for you, your body has a way of dealing with it. Say it is spoiled milk or meat. You may notice that it isn’t quite right when you eat it, and spit it out. Or, it may be mixed up with other things and you don’t figure out early enough that it is a bit off. Fortunately your body knows better and will end up getting that out of you pretty fast one way or another. Generally you will throw it up, and while the throwing up part never feels good, you invariably feel so much better once you have gotten it over with.
So why do we suppress our emotions? When we take in something bad, something difficult to process, why do we in our society do our darnedest to not cry or yell? These are ways of getting out the bad emotions. I’m not saying that it is a good idea to fake being happy all the time – that too can cause problems. In fact, that is part of the problem. We need to experience all emotions, but we also need to know how to deal with the ones that overwhelm us.
It is OK to cry. It isn’t a sign of weakness. It doesn’t lessen your status as a “man” or as an “adult”. It is OK to yell and scream sometimes. I’ve read several books on grief recently and they all say that loudly expressing your grief is really healthy and helps you start to heal faster. Holding it in is exactly like holding in that spoiled milk or meat – you’ll just feel sicker.
I didn’t fully process my parent’s death when they died 6 weeks apart when I was 25. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t feel that I had time to. I had to handle the estate and then take care of myself. I had to get a full-time job. I had to take care of an old, rambling house. I had to figure out how to sell off my father’s car that he just bought. I didn’t have much help from my family on these matters. My aunt gave some money to tide me through for a bit. My brother was less than helpful, and in fact made the situation worse. My priest performed the funeral service, but didn’t tell me anything about grief. The hospice workers also didn’t prepare me. I didn’t know how to handle the pain, and the only model I had was how my family had handled everything big in the past. Sadly, that model was to just endure it quietly. My friends also abandoned me, one even saying that she didn’t know how to help me now – so she just left. This was common. Nobody called, and nobody came by. So my grief was multiplied- my parents had died, and it seemed like my friendships had died as well. Two years later I ended up in the mental hospital because of my grief and inability to process it.
When you are grieving, everything seems far away and not connected. It is as if you are looking at your life from far within yourself, and hearing everything as if it is through a paper tube. There is a lot of distance, both physically and psychologically. You may feel like you are walking through quicksand or molasses. Everything goes very slowly. It is hard to take care of everyday tasks, and so it is almost impossible to take care of unusual tasks like tending to your soul’s needs.
Grief isn’t just over a physical death. You can grieve over any loss or change. Changing a job, whether voluntarily or involuntarily can bring on grief. Divorce, whether you wanted it or not can do the same. Any change – moving to a different town or a house, having a baby, getting a new health diagnosis, can cause big emotions. It is important to recognize this and process this.
Bottle these feelings up and it is the same as swallowing your own sickness. It will only make you feel worse. Get it out! Yell, cry, wail. Complain to a trusted friend who can handle it. Seek therapy. I’ve heard something I like that I’ll share with you. There is a Jewish saying that it is important to have friends, and if you don’t have friends, it is OK to buy them – and this is the source of why it is OK to have a therapist. A therapist or a counselor is a paid friend.
So, my suggestion to you is to first recognize you are sick with grief and pain from a loss, and then to get it out. Don’t bottle it in. Crying is excellent medicine. If you don’t start to feel like your regular self in about a month, or if your grief is just too much for you, please seek professional help. Seeking this help isn’t a sign of weakness – to NOT seek help is. Self-medicating also isn’t the answer – it just puts a Band-Aid over a severed artery.
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On “Apostolic Succession” and ordained leaders
Originally posted on FB 11-21-12
The Episcopal church and the Catholic church have something called “apostolic succession”. This means that we can trace our roots back to the apostles. This means that when somebody gets confirmed or received into these churches, they have hands laid on them by somebody who had hands laid on them, by somebody who had hands laid on them, all the way back to Jesus. This is pretty overwhelming to think about. It really connects you with the “then” – it becomes the “now”.
I was telling a co-worker about this and he said they were apostolic at his church too. I felt like explaining that his little church that his grandfather started, this little church that has self-appointed ministers and no oversight, is not part of this story. But I didn’t, and I’m glad.
It is. All churches are. All Christians are.
The touch doesn’t matter – it is the message. And the only way you are going to hear the message of who Jesus is and what he did for you and what he continues to do for you is going to be from another Christian. Either it is by them talking to you personally, or from reading in a book. This stuff doesn’t spring up out of the ground. Yes, we are told that even if there is nobody to preach the Gospel, even the rocks will proclaim it, but I think there is no need for that. There are plenty of people around who can and will tell their story of who Jesus is and what he has done for them without having rocks start talking.
Each person heard the story from someone who heard the story from someone who heard the story who was there with Jesus (except for Paul, but he is a special case). So the whole idea of how special it is that these churches have apostolic succession is bunk. We all have apostolic succession.
This also ties into the idea of ordained ministers. Not every organized religion has leaders who are set apart and specially trained. The Sikhs are the first example that comes to my mind. Then there are also Quakers and the Baha’i. Some have leaders who are respected as leaders because they have through their lives shown especial piety and reverence, so they are trusted and looked to. However, the moment they start veering from the path, their fellow members of the congregation will call them on it.
Now – the only way they can call them on it is if they themselves know the path. The only way they can know the path is if they too practice piety and study. I’ve heard in the Eastern Orthodox church that each member is expected to read the Bible for themselves and to study and pray just as much as their Pope does. Their Pope also considers himself to be an equal with them – he is not infallible, he is not above question. In fact, the idea that he can be questioned and challenged is part of what keeps him forever accountable. That accountability is what keeps him humble and honest and not grabbing for power. That power isn’t ours to grab. That power is received by us to then be distributed by us. We are not called to hoard power.
I think the moment you give away your own power, your own religious learning and study, and you expect a religious leader to do it all for you, you have become lost. Yes, it is good to have people you trust, people who have studied. It is good for each member of the community to be accountable to each other member. But it is also good for each member of the community to build each other up with their own skills and knowledge. Each person has unique skills and experience. Each person’s viewpoint is helpful. Remember the Sufi story of the blind men and the elephant? It is only through them talking together and sharing their perception of what they were dealing with that they were able to understand the whole.
I’m going to be bold here and say that I think that is also true of world religions. I think God has called to His creation time and time again. I think God has constantly tried to get us to hear and know that He loves us and wants us to work with Him to make this a better world. I think we short-change ourselves when we only hear one voice and one perspective. Look at the Gospels. Those are four different viewpoints of the same story. They could have been woven together and created into one story, but they weren’t. Sure, you can buy something called a Parallel Gospel and that will put them all together for you. But that is extra. If you buy a Bible with a New Testament, you are going to get four different yet the same stories all telling you who Jesus was. Some stress different parts. Some have the same parables repeated. Some have parts that only are in that one Gospel. Where’s the truth? I say the truth is in all of them, all together. I tell you that it is up to us to winnow through and separate the wheat from the chaff, but we have to go out into the field.
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Pray like Jonah
I really like Jonah. He seems so real to me. There are so many people in the Old Testament who when God calls to them they say right away “Here I am” and get right to what God is asking them to do. This is so not like me, and I suspect a lot of people. Many people might think “Oh no! I’m hearing a voice in my head! I must be crazy!” Or if they do realize it is the voice of God, they think “Really? Now? I’m really getting comfortable here, God. Can’t this wait until after the game/my children have grown up/ I’ve retired?” We are forever putting off what we are called to do. Yet we forget that is why we are here – we are part of God’s plan. We are part of creation, and we are co-creators with God. He works through and with us to bring about His will.
Jonah is like us. He hears the voice of God, telling him to go to Ninevah and tell them they are screwing up and to repent. Did he go to Ninevah? Oh gosh no. He heads off in completely the opposite direction. A lot of other cool things happen – a storm, lots are cast and it is discovered Jonah is the reason for the storm, Jonah fesses up, the shipmates are impressed by how powerful the God of the Jews is. Jonah asks to be thrown overboard. He has no idea that God has arranged for a huge whale to swallow him up. He just knows that he has messed up and it is time to pay for his error. Perhaps he hopes he can finally get out of having to go to Ninevah.
But God rescues him. He is in the belly of the whale for three days. I can’t even imagine liking being in a whale’s gut for three minutes, much less three days. It had to be dark. It had to be smelly. No sound other than the gurgle of the whale’s organs and the sea outside. Fish bits floating around. Warmth? I doubt it.
Yet here is the amazing thing. Jonah didn’t raise his fist against God in that time. He praised God. Praised Him! How many of us have the fortitude to say “Thanks! You are an awesome God!” while in the middle of our own personal whales? We all get swallowed up by whales – divorce, disease, disaster. All those huge life events that can either make us turn away from God (How dare you do this to me…) or turn towards God (Hey, can you do me a favor…) No. Jonah sang God’s praises.
In the middle of tragedy, there are still things to be thankful for. Look for those things. Give thanks for them. And, like Jonah, may you be delivered safely upon the shore after you give thanks.
(Originally posted on FB on 11-13-12)
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At the Chattanooga Choo-Choo
Originally posted on FB 11-2-12
When I worked at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, I had a really cool experience.
I worked at a craft store that faced the gardens. The trolley was across the way, and was a cherished part of my childhood. It was from New Orleans, ran on electricity, and was over 100 years old. For 50 cents you could take a ride in it around the complex and seemingly through time.
I stepped out of my store on afternoon and saw a young boy who was about 5, with his Mom close behind. I wanted to share the trolley with him – I wanted him to experience how fun and amazing it was. I said in a bright cheery voice – “Have you ridden the trolley?” and I pointed to it. He turned, looked, and turned back. Nothing. No light, no recognition. Wait – all boys love trains and trolleys. How could he not light up at the sight of this one?
I decided to get down on his level. I came down from the step at the threshold of my store, and went down to my knees near the same area where he was standing. I wanted to see things from his perspective. I looked. Of course he didn’t see it – there was a huge mass of pampas grass in the way! I’d been taller than it, so I’d not seen it as an obstruction. I got up, moved over, got down again, and looked. There was the trolley in clear view. I called out again – “Look, the trolley!” and I pointed again. He came over, saw it, and lit up. He went running for it, filled with delight and joy.
Now, the older I get, the more I see this as a story of how God interacts with us. The boy represents us. The trolley is Heaven on Earth, the Kingdom of God. It is life, and life in abundance. When I stood on the step, I was God of the Old Testament. “Look – there’s where happiness is!” But many of us can’t get there that way. We can’t trust that voice. We can’t see it, so we don’t get what we are supposed to be excited about. We don’t know how to get there. Some of us can – and that is awesome. But some of us are slower, less trusting in our Creator. We need a little extra help.
Then God changes Himself. He so wants us to have joy, to be happy, that He came down to be like us. He came down to our level to see things from our perspective. “Oh, that’s why you couldn’t get it! There was stuff in the way!” And he showed us a new way. A way stripped of all the rules, and just boiled down to two. Love God, and in a similar manner, love everyone else. Love. Just love. Show kindness. Be forgiving. Serve. Love.
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Selfishness and self-less-ness
Originally posted on FB 4-11-2012
I’m wary and weary of the new trends in spirituality that I’m seeing. I’m concerned and saddened that the current trend seems to be self-centered. Yes – you are important. Yes, you need to have a good sense of yourself. Yes – you are valued and loved by your Creator.
But so is everybody else. Every other person on this Earth was created by the same Creator. Every other person on this Earth deserves love and honor. I’m concerned that this current trend of self-centered spirituality will result in self-service only. It is fine if it is a start. It is fine if it is a seed that then grows into love and service of others.
I find that the “name it and claim it” trend is part of this. Wishful thinking. Magical thinking. Whether it is cloaked as New Age or spun into Christianity by Joel Osteen, it still feels like object-worship. It is materialism gussied up into religion. Don’t have time to be spiritual? Don’t think it is for you? But you want stuff – right? Well, here’s a religion for you! This way you can want stuff and feel good about it.
But stuff only leads you away. Things, material possessions, are a quick fix. Get what you want by praying for it, wishing for it, and you have more stuff. But then I feel you will still be empty. And then you’ll need to pray for a bigger house to hold all your stuff.
I think our Creator made us to be bigger than that. We are not born alone. When we are born, we are born into a community. At a minimum our Mom is there. In some cases it seems like the entire family is there – Dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings – where there is barely room for nurses and a doctor (if necessary). Our religions have prayers for welcoming new children among us. Why should our lives be any different?
I remember telling a lady about how Jesus stripped things down for us, because the Ten Commandments were just too hard for us to figure out. Love God, and love your neighbor. Easy. Everything else falls from that – you can’t steal, covet, or murder if you are showing love. How simple is that? Yet we’ve twisted it. It is becoming solely “love yourself” – and that love isn’t spreading outward.
I believe that God created every single one of us exactly the way we are because that is exactly the way we are needed. Variety is good. Eccentricity is good. We all have different talents and gifts. A garden doesn’t look nearly as interesting if it has only roses blooming in it. Add some zinnias and hyacinth and phlox and we’ve got something really cool. The same is true with a symphony. The trumpet may be a really important instrument, but it needs a tuba to round out the bottom notes, and there needs to be a drum section to keep the pace.
I believe that the best way to know God is to seek Him in his creation – and for some, that is in the wilderness. Some find insight and growth by working with plants and animals. I find however, that the most challenge comes in seeking God in people. Mother Teresa said that it was her privilege to serve other people. She felt that each person she served was Jesus in disguise. That the leper’s wounds were Christ’s wounds. That the baby dying in her arms was Christ himself. I think this is a powerful meditation.
About two years ago I started trying this at the library. I’m not doing earth-changing things. I’m creating library cards. I’m solving problems. But I decided to try this. To try to see each person as if they are Jesus, as if they are God made Flesh, in front of me. To my happiness, it resulted in profound experiences. Almost every person caught that vibe. They responded differently to me – more smiles, more open. Each transaction was easier. This doesn’t mean that everybody was happy. Sometimes you can’t make that happen in a five minute encounter. But the old, crotchety, smelly, snaggle-toothed characters that populate the library became my favorites. I now look forward to meeting with them and helping them. The weirder they are, the more I have to look for God hiding within them. The more I look – the more they see my interest in them. The more they soften up and reveal themselves to me. It is beautiful.
I invite you to look outside yourself.
I invite you to know that you are loved, and to then know that everyone else is loved in exactly that same way.
I invite you, that if you are a seeker of God – if you desire to know your Creator better, you can do no better than to serve your fellow humans. Each one is a facet into the beauty and mystery of the Eternal, the Divine, the Truth.
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God in a styrofoam cup.
I used to think that I needed to go to an all-natural diet. Raw, organic, locally sourced – I was sold on this idea. Even better – go ahead and dig up my front yard and put in some beets and carrots. Train some beans to grow up the maple tree. What a great idea! I could feel connected to the Earth and know where my food is coming from. Plenty of people are getting “homesteading” books these days. Folks are either afraid of pesticides or genetically modified foods. The terrors are there – they are real. Lab rats prove to us that you shouldn’t mess with Mother Nature. Or they want to grow their own food to help out with the grocery bill. It is always cheaper to do it yourself, you know.
But I’m a terrible gardener. I don’t know what to feed my plants. I over water or under water. I don’t know what plants need shade, and what parts of my yard have shade all day. I also work all day long – by the time I have time to work on the yard it is dark outside. And even though I was raised by a Mom who loved to garden, she didn’t teach me a single thing about it. Sure, I could look things up – I have a library and I know how to use it. Sure, I could ask friends to show me how.
But I don’t think that is the point. I don’t have to do it all. I don’t have to grow my own food. I don’t have to sew my own clothes. I don’t have to repair my own car. I think that we all benefit when we are interdependent. It is through our common efforts that we are able to live the life that we have. Not growing my own food gives me the time to create jewelry. Not sewing my own clothes gives me time to write. Not repairing my own car gives me time to read books that inspire me.
Then I started to think that all-natural was closer to the way God intended it. No artificial stuff for me. The more mankind gets involved in something , the further away from real it gets. So wear cotton or linen, no rayon. Eat sugar and butter, not aspartame or margarine. If you can’t pronounce the ingredients on the label, don’t eat it. In general, this is a good plan. Michael Pollan says in his book Food Rules this basic truth. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” By “food” he means non-processed. Eat foods your grandmother would recognize as food. Cheese is better than Cheese-Wiz. Eat foods that are plants, not foods that came from a (manufacturing) plant.
So now I’m back to the beginning.
Then one day I went to visit a friend. I had been running late, so I hadn’t had my coffee. My friend offered me tea and I happily accepted. But she served it to me in a Styrofoam cup. My “all-natural” side raised an eyebrow. My “recycling” side raised the other eyebrow. I was a little freaked out.
And then I remembered some things.
Buddhist monks don’t eat meat – but if they go to visit someone at their home and are served a meal with meat, they will eat it. They eat it out of respect for the fact that it is a gift that is given to them. They eat it because no good will be done by not eating it. The animal is already dead. Refusing to eat this meal will not restore the animal.
And I remembered something from Madeline L’Engle. She wrote a book called “Walking on Water”. It is about what it means to be a Christian artist. She says that it is essential to be a co-creator with God. She says that God created humankind as participants. We are His hands and His feet – we are created, and we are creators. I’ve heard similar ideas in a Jewish podcast that I enjoy listening to. It is called “Spiritual Tools for an Outrageous World” and it is by David Sacks.
Perhaps the biggest thing that came to mind was something I read in a pamphlet on Eucharistic adoration by Daniel Connors. He said in one of the prayers that it is amazing that Jesus chooses to reveal Himself to us in bread and wine. “…they do not exist without God and human beings./Even the wheat and grapes they come from/ do not occur naturally,/ but are the product of human cultivation.” He goes on to say “You are fully God and fully human./ How wise you were to choose to be present to us in a form that cannot exist/ without God and human beings/ both doing their part.”
So I sat and drank my tea in the Styrofoam cup, comforted by the teachings of my Buddhist and Episcopal and Jewish and Catholic friends in spirit. It was good.
betsybeadhead 