Through My Spectacles: February 2012

Thursday, February 23, 2012

I've been lucky

As I was driving today I was listening to an NPR program about people who have been unemployed and looking for work. Some of them have found part time jobs, some full time, but without benefits. There were sad stories of frustration as people tried their best to find employment--sending out hundreds of resumes and going for dozens of interviews.

I began to thank God that I have been so fortunate. Since I began my first full time pastorate in 1974 I have not been out of work. There was a two year period when I served a 3/4 time pastorate (which paid as much as my previous full time stint). And I was very lucky to never have a gap without work during the ten years of interim pastor service.

I got a college degree, then a seminary degree. I was 'in the system.' At that time it was the Southern Baptist system. Then I transferred into the Presbyterian system. I worked hard, accepted calls to smaller churches; I played by the rules--was a team player. I did a good job--most of my pastorates had slow, small growth. In my later years when I thought I couldn't hang on any longer, I grit my teeth and kept going. I reached the Promised Land of early retirement, willing to take less money. And here I am at the end of a career.

We have down-sized and stream-lined our lives. We live in a small house, but one we got to design. We live frugally, but we are near our family.

I'm a lucky dog. My parents gave me a stable home and good values to live by. They supported me as I entered the realm of higher education. Because of my religious upbringing I slid naturally into a stable system of employment--denominational religion. Pat had a similar experience. She got a degree in Elementary Education; then in Library Science; and we both enjoyed regular employment.

I say it again: I am lucky. I feel sorry for the millions of people out of work. I'm glad that part of my taxes goes to support the unemployed.

So much of life is luck. Randomness. Where on earth we are born, who are parents are, what genes we inherit, what period of history we show up in, who the people are who influence us--there are so many random factors that come together to form our destinies. It should humble all of us. If we are one of the lucky ones, we should see what we can do to help the unlucky ones.

I'm not discounting a person's individual responsibility or creativity. Each of us plays our own role in our personal development. But some people start the race with a head start; and some begin the race with heavy weights bound to their legs.

You'll note that I haven't mentioned God's providence or anything like that. The problem I have with that approach is this: If I claim God's providence for my good life, what do I say about God in regard to all of those who have tragic lives? I don't believe there is a God who plays favorites.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The duck

Sometimes you just have

to stand up and

make waves.

(i took this photo in Ohio)

Monday, February 20, 2012

When God Was a Rabbit

It was the title that caught me: WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT. I had never heard of the author, Sarah Winman. I read on the cover that she is a British actor, and this is her first novel. I checked it out. As soon as began reading I experienced lively language, compelling characters, and sparkling humor.

The voice is that of a little girl, Elly. She and her brother are tight. Her dad is filled with guilt. Sexuality is a constant theme is this novel, but it's dealt with non-judgmentally, and simply as part of life.

This is a character driven book. And I found myself rooting for them. Surprises are around every corner. The story begins as Elly is around six years old and ends when she is a young adult. There are lost-and-found relationships; people deal with sadness and self-doubt. Winman's narrative celebrates life. Elly is so open to whatever happens. She and her family welcome all kinds of people into their circle. The feeling of the story is one of openness. Love wins out over judgment.

I think this book shares the emphasis of the Jesus tradition in that it refuses to traffic in moralisms, and instead emphasizes the fact that genuine relationships are what matter most.

Now, I haven't mentioned the rabbit. Well, there is a real rabbit in this story. It has a supporting role. I'll say no more.

(There is a lot of profanity in this book; and a lot of sex [homo and hetero]. If that's unacceptable to you, then don't read it. But if big, bad sinners like King David and Moses don't bother you, you might be blessed by Sarah Winman's first novel.)

Cain

Recently I read Jose Saramago's book CAIN. It was Saramago's last book. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. In CAIN he retells Biblical stories with great imagination and embellishment. Cain, who killed his brother Abel (Am I my brother's keeper?), is able to travel to the future and have conversations with other Biblical characters.

He goes with Abraham and Isaac up the mountain where Abraham has been commanded to kill his son. Just in the nick of time Cain stays Abraham's hand and saves Isaac. (The angel that was supposed to step in and save Isaac was late because he got lost.) Cain travels with Abraham to the city of Sodom and helps the angels escape from the wicked men who are trying to beat down the door and rape them.

As they leave Sodom, they look back to see God destroy the city, burning everything and everyone to the ground. Cain never gets over this great injustice. Why did God kill the innocent children? he asks.

At the end of the book Cain is on the Ark with Noah and his family and all the animals. During the forty days and forty nights Cain sleeps with all of Noah's daughter-in-laws, and with Mrs. Noah. Over time he throws everyone overboard except Noah, whom he convinces to jump off the boat and drown himself.

When God comes along and finds out what Cain has done, he is mad. Cain has messed up God's project of re-populating the world. Cain and God argue about who is responsible for this tragic turn of events, as well as all of the injustices in the world. As the book ends they are still arguing.

Jose Saramago has written a long meditation on the theologically unjustifiable dilemma of unjust suffering in the world. It's a question that bugs all of us. If God is so powerful, and if he really cares about us, why do these things happen? Conservative religious thinkers always have ready answers to these kinds of questions. One of which is not to question. But all the answers fall short.

Saramago entertains us with humorous takes on Biblical stories while he pulls the rug out from under us at the same time. I appreciate the author's way of wrestling with the unanswerable questions. Rilke said something about just living the questions instead of trying to answer them.

Terrorists from any religious or secular tradition are always afraid of facing the fact that there are no satisfying answers. What did I just say? Terrorists are afraid? Yep. They try to strike terror in us because they are terrified by liberal traditions that accept the unanswerable.

Fundamentalists have all the answers. They believe in Certainty more than they believe in God. Certainty becomes their idol. I know--I've been there. It seems to me that the real meaning of 'faith' is the willingness to live without answers. To trust. To trust something or someone that 'holds' us despite our limited understanding.

Faith affirms that life has an 'Ark' that floats on the waters of Being in spite of the injustices of life. Faith means looking at a rainbow and appreciating the beauty that comes through the prism of Goodness. Nihilism means looking at the rainbow and deciding to stay in the prison of a closed universe. That's our choice: the Prism or the Prison.

The novel CAIN helped me reflect on our world and on life. It's conclusion that the debate goes on and on without conclusion is true enough. The God in this novel is pretty clumsy--a Chaplinesque character. Saramago has us laughing at God and laughing at ourselves. I would say that his narrative is a service well rendered. When we create God in our image it's always funny.

Fiction

I'm not much of a fiction reader. My temperament is so analytical and philosophical that I'm attracted to books that deal in big concepts or rational arguments. But I've come a long way over the years in trying to broaden my receptivity to non-linear ways of thinking and receiving knowledge. The easiest avenue for me is poetry. Poetic images and metaphors excite my brain.

Lately I've begun to read more novels. Perhaps I've gotten to the point where I am weary of 'thinking' in the tiresome rationalistic mode. The siren of the more pleasant narrative form has called out to me, and I have answered. This may be only a temporary vacation from excessive nonfiction reading. But maybe not.

No one has to convince me that story-telling is an extremely important form of discovering truth. One of the turning points in my human journey was back in the 80s when I took a course on the parables of Jesus. I began to realize how potent inventive stories and figurative language is when it comes to conveying The Truth about life. And that The Truth is found in small truths hidden in ordinary things.

Humans could not be human without stories. We love stories because we are all living out stories. If I am to understand you and get to know you, I have to know your story. Not just what you think or believe, but what has happened to you. The events of your life--what you have experienced--seen, touched, smelled, etc. We read stories or watch them on stage in order to understand ourselves. Personal stories are revelations.

So, I'm reading more fiction these days. I don't intend to do actual reviews of these books; but I do want to reflect on them. Read my next blog.