NEWS FLASH: GOD HAS NO POWER, ONLY LOVE

         Christians, you can't have it both ways. Either God is one of power or might, or of love. You can't have it both ways. That's what screwing you up so much. One minute you pray for this and that, with the assumption that God will make your dreams come true (If you are worthy? If God wants to? If you pray for it 'hard' enough or long enough?) The next minute you're claiming to follow Jesus who, it seems, didn't even get his wish when he prayed to be shown a different ending than death by the Romans.
        Can't you see that in real love there is no power? How can there be force and control in love? Any parent knows that in raising children in love, you are constantly giving away power until it is all gone. Only love remains. Yet, we continue in word and song to insist on a God that is all-powerful and mighty. It's no surprise that we've not grown in love and churches are dying. They deserve it.
       Let's look again at the Way of Jesus of Nazareth. There was no power there. Time and again he refused power of all kinds. Yet, we make him into our 'Messiah'. We may admit that that was the way of his 'earthly' ministry, but that he is still all powerful up in heaven. How terrible! When we do this, he truly did die in vain.
      Christmas will be in another four weeks, a time when we hear Jesus referred to as our king, messiah, and many more terms of power and might. How terrible. We ignore all the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, stories that try to tell us all of how powerless the Word of God is, of how we must put aside our worship of Power and Control.
     Maybe, just maybe, this year we (Christians) will begin to hear. When we do, perhaps we will begin to find new life. If we don't, we'd better die off as soon as we can and encourage others to find God in the poor and powerless.

Just One Disciple,
Anthony

TRUMP IS RIGHT - SORT OF

    Six more days until the USA election. Trump says everything is wrong and  he will bring back the good old days. Clinton says everything is fine and she will see that it gets even better. Even though Trump scares me and I'd vote for Clinton if I could, Donald is more right in his basic story than is Hilary. There is a truth that very few politicians care to admit: Each of the next generations, taking the world as a whole, will have less material goods than the previous one. "Winter is coming!"
    Having based our worth and value on the amount of material wealth we have accumulated or used, this fact is most difficult for us to accept. Even in The Economist this week, most people in the 'west' know this fact is true. 'Success' for most of us is to beat the odds, to keep accumulating or just to break even in the next decade or two, to retire or die with as much we  as have now, to not have to change our lives or expectations, to not have to share in the general fate of the world and accept the results of the way we and others have lived.
    The success of Donald Trump is dependent upon those who take that path, hoping that using violence and isolation, the inevitable will be delayed for a while. In some ways, they are more honest than are the 'everything's OK' folks.
    Both, as are all leaders who side with either, need to be challenged with a greater reality and vision. Only if we replace our measure of success and 'The Good Life', will we survive. Only a true rebirth, a true renaissance of life and spirituality, will lead us through the crisis in which we are entering. No other path has any hope. Any leader that does not take this into account is not worthy of our support. I seriously doubt that either of the candidates in this election have that depth.
    It is most sad that there are few 'spiritual' leaders that have the depth, courage and love that can meet our needs. Our 'religious' institutions have long ago abandoned their relevance. A new paradigm is needed. Nothing short of a political/spiritual revolution will suffice.
    The fear of those to our south (and so many other nations) will, hopefully, awaken more of us to see the larger picture and to enable us to see that our beliefs and actions simply can not remain separate. Only in having the betterment (and survival) of humanity can be our goal from this day on. All 'would be' leaders who don't know and display this in their actions must be rejected.
    From all faiths, and those without 'religion', this must become our one purpose.  Hilary and Donald, who ever wins, open your eyes wider. Both of you will have to be truly 'reborn' if you are to be any good for the world.
     Still in hope,
     Anthony


     

POST-SUNDAY SADNESS

    In the summer months Jude and I often 'church hop' to share in Sunday worship with congregations that are new to us. In our Kingston area there are plenty from which to choose. There's always a chance, however small, that we will find one that will feel like home. We left the island on the nine o'clock ferry so we had lots of time.
    The first two we tried, the Unitarians and Quakers, apparently had closed for the summer, without putting anything about it on their web-sites. (Isn't it interesting that what-ever is offered in most places of public worship, somehow decreases in importance with the onset of warm weather?) We still had time to swing by a United Church that we had some connection with through their  music staff.
     I'm sorry to say that the experience was too predictable. They are 'modern'; there's a screen up front so the worship bulletin and hymn book(s) are redundant. The sound system, even assuming that many of the people have some hearing troubles, was WAY to loud.(The gentleman sitting in front of us took out his hearing aid.) The sixty or so seniors were very friendly in the 'greeting' part of the service. Everything was well planned and professional. The 'skin' of the experience was so very acceptable. And, for me, so very lacking in any deep spirituality.
    But what is needed in community worship? It is obvious that the people there, who have been coming there for generations, are getting what they need, at least, in some very important ways. But what do I need? Obviously, something very different. What might others need who are coming for the first time? I need a place to give and to receive, a place to share, a place where I see others sharing, being close enough with others to risk even a bit of close and personal stuff. Did I see any indication of that being even a small possibility? No.
    As is to be assumed in any clergy-driven church, all was directed from the top down. The music was hired help as well. There was no time for any inter-action. Not even coffee-time afterwards. You came, were entertained, and left.
    This 'church' style is hurting our spirituality. It gives us the impression that this shallowness is all that Christianity offers. If this is indeed the case, it needs to die. What we all long for is a place/time/community in which to share, question, be quiet, yell, laugh and cry. We need to live.
    At least, I need it. Most of us, I suspect, don't know we need it because we haven't experienced anything even close to the possibility of a loving community. We have no idea of what power and joy is available in real shared spirituality. And by this I certainly don't mean a group of people who are identical in their beliefs, but who, instead, can share their different realities and questions with each other, learning and growing in the process.
   In leaving that United Church congregation, the thought that remained most with me was that of all the gifts, knowledge, experiences, hopes and dreams of all those people. And of how all that pure WONDER was being lost by not being shared. How the very structure of the church, especially the assumptions of the need of control by the ordained clergy, was limiting and killing God's Spirit of Love and Life.
    Viewing the average age of the congregants, it was obvious that in another six or eight years, the church would die. Good. Maybe then, by then, there will be  enough wisdom and need for something new to be born. I hope I see that day.
    I need that day. For I know that there are mighty things that can only happen when people join together in love. We believe on our own. We need times of solitude and reflections. But the important things happen when we are together. We only grow when we are with others. That's how God and love work. "When two or more are gathered...." is fundamentally true. In leaving ourselves alone and isolated in our spirituality, we are limiting our growth and our futures. A real shame.
   So I'll keep searching. Maybe I'll have the nerve, some day, to try again and invite others to just join with me in sharing. Anyone interested?

A Watered-Down Mother's Day

      I love Mother's Day, don't get me wrong. It's great to have a time that smartens us up and encourages us to give thanks and attention where it's due. The perspective of mothers is the best and most whole and holy thing we have. The world would be much better if women ran it and men just did the heavy lifting, doing what they were told.
     Mother's Day has a great history, but I doubt if many know of it. It had nothing to do with flowers or having breakfast made. After the Thirty-Years War in Europe, over two hundred years ago, thousands of women of all backgrounds organized in the first women's movement of its kind. It was an anti-war movement in hopes that men in the future would not make war on each other. The women were sick and tired of losing their husbands, brothers and sons over the whims of other men. It shook the establishment but obviously had little long-term affect.
    After the Civil War in the U.S. a similar movement was attempted. Nothing happened. But finally, fifty years or so later, a Mothers' Day was recognized by the federal government, watered down, of course, to lack any resemblance to the meaning of the original wish of mothers.
   But it sells a lot of flowers and cards, a great way of gathering in our most loved grouping. It is, however, a shame that we've been bought off by the 'powers-that-be' as we most often due, allowing our deepest needs ( peace and understanding) to be supplanted by the cute and nice.
   Mothers, we so need you to again put the truth before us. No one else is, not churches and certainly, not the governments. The wealthy in all nations is against real justice and peace and we men are just too easily brain-dead and led astray. We need you to find your  mother instinct and lead, to not be bought-off by the mundane. Don't let us get away with it.
   Thanks.

The Earth: I Fear We Are Doomed

Earth Day was this last week. As I have written, I have all but given up on the validity and future of present Christianity. Is doesn't make sense and is doing nothing. This week brings up a  major example. A main belief of the churches, supposedly, is that the earth is holy, made by God, given to us to protect. Are any churches doing anything about our habit of killing and disrespecting the earth? Where are there churches that are leading the way in life-styles that attempt at faithfulness in this regard? If churches are not being honest and faithful in this most pressing need, why should they be given any respect? They are obviously not about life and the doing of God's will. We are better off without them.
   Apart from them, does the Earth have a chance. Not from our culture. In our present way of thinking, dirty, or anything from dirt or the earth, is bad. How many children, urban or rural, in the last two generations, have enjoyed and have been encouraged to play in dirt? "Don't get dirty!" "Get out of that mud!" "Look at your clothes!"
  We've all heard it so often. What children learn is that the earth is bad. And we are paying dearly for it. We now know that many of our diseases are caused by children not getting the anti-bodies from the soil that are so needed in our system.
  We are truly from the dirt and need it. Yet we are rejecting anything that is 'from the earth' that hasn't been re-formed into our limited image.
  If we don't learn, and change (repent) we are doomed. This will be nothing short of a transformation on our part, something that can only be called Spiritual. Will this happen? I hope so. I doubt it, for there is just too much money and power going the other way. I doubt if we will have the collective wisdom to choose another path.
  The path, however, is there for us. In all the old understandings, from the Jewish path to the many others, the way of wholeness and love is there. This current ignorance is leading us to an unnecessary crisis. I hope others will start to challenge it, to band together enough to become active and lead toward a tomorrow of hope and joy.

WHY CAN'T THE MEANING OF WORDS STAY THE SAME? 'Spiritual' but not 'Religious'?

          Remember when we had 'problems' and not 'issues', when an 'issue' was the topic to be discussed, some item on the agenda?  Luckily for me, most of the younger people in my life use the 'older' usage for words when in mixed company. I have this self-image of one who is not threatened by change. But keeping up with the new meanings for old words is tiresome. Why don't they make up new words and leave the old ones as they were?
         Take the word religious. It used to mean someone who was spiritual, who had motives for action and life that were beyond themselves, someone who was deeply connected to a philosophy and/or belief that involved other people, someone whose actions were apart from the norms or values of much of society, in a good way.  These were thoughtful people, and the word was generally a positive one. Now, for many of  my friends, and no doubt, much of our society, religious has come to be a bad word, synonymous with being close minded, argumentative, judgmental and un-fun.
         The sad truth is that we can see several of the world's religions shifting toward this kind of fundamentalism, or worst. If we know our history, (sorry to say, few of us have given this any time), we know that Classical Christianity was created (in the 300's and 400's) in precisely this non-thinking, believe-what-you-are-told understanding. At last, many of us are questioning this concept of our past religion and rejecting it wholeheartedly. I certainly agree in that I am not a Christian in that doctrinal way. I call myself a Post-Christian Disciple. I know that God was and is in the teachings and life of Jesus of Nazareth, but I in no way limit the Holy, however named, to this one expression. But, am I among the growing multitude that claim to be 'spiritual but not religious'? No.
         Sadly, in relegating all 'religious' to the negative, we are literally "throwing out the baby with the  bathwater." It's similar to allowing ourselves to be against being healthy because of obvious bad experiences and needs for improvements in our 'health system'. Are you then, 'spiritual' but not 'religious'? Of course, all people are 'spiritual'. We're born with this aspect of our humanity. This 'being spiritual' is a singular thing, an awareness with which we can do as we please. There's no need to brag about it. It's a given. This is the very thing that so long ago started to separate us from other animals.
        Now that you've become aware of your humanness, what are you/we doing with this awareness? This ability to question, to think, to see ourselves alone but part of the whole, and to question about that 'whole', 'beyond' or Holy?  How we answer those questions determines if we are 'religious' or not. If we choose to remain alone, as many of us are, we are limited to ourselves and will grow very little, limited by our need to be safe and to not risk anything meaningful. Being aware of our spirituality and choosing to remain alone and stingy, may be something to publicly acclaim, but I fail to see what good it does. It's like a person shouting to the world how much they have to give others and yet who decide to keep it all to themselves.  When we chose to share our questions/answers/lives with others, that is where 'religion' is born. 'Religion' is a risky thing, all right. Growth and change is always a risk.
        Certainly, many of us have been hurt and turned-off by the narrowness of Classical Christianity, but does that mean that any and all shared spiritual sharing/growth/community is evil or unwanted? Why can't 'religion' be based on understandings that are open and accepting? Why can't debate and real giving/receiving be known as expressions of the Holy and that actions be even more important than words? Why can't an understanding be that the opinion of some, no matter their education, are of no more importance than others, that there be no 'clergy' class to dictate and limit others?
       The above was the way the Jesus Movement started. Only due to the lack of (oppression of) education in churches, do we not know this. People coming together, in their variety of thinking as well as their common experiences, is the basis of what we are. Let us all urge and help each other to share our thoughts, taking each other seriously, no matter if we agree or not.
       Words change. Even more, then, we need to listen, for the words, even when they change, tell of things that never change. We are all spiritual, but called to become 'religious,' able to share and to grow. We may need to let a lot of the traditionally 'Religious' die for this to happen, to let the 'churches' die a well-deserved end, but let's not let the needed 'death' to hinder new life. Let's  praise the new 'religious', the need for real communication/life/love on this earth that so desperately needs us to get our priories in line with the realities of our present existence.
         Thanks for allowing me to share this.
         Anthony Gifford

Jesus as King? Christ the King? An Anathema!

    As one who is trying to be a disciple of Jesus, attending church is often a challenge. This last week was very sad for me. It was 'Christ the King' Sunday, the culmination of the Christian Year which goes from Advent to Christmas, to Easter, to the celebration of the formation of the Church, to the logical conclusion of the reign of Jesus (the Christ) as King, ruling over all creation and the hearts of all men, even the women. There's only one problem. Jesus would be not only amazed at the idea but horrified. Nothing could be more opposite to his whole being than the idea of power, the very foundation of 'KING'.
  How many times had he refused everything to do with the role of king (messiah)? Hadn't that been the most identifying mark of his ministry? Love to him was the opposite of power. True, his followers hadn't accepted that idea. They had used force to take over the city, had handed it to him on a platter, so to speak. But he had abandoned it and left the power to the Romans.
  Even though the experiences after his death had shown that love was greater than power, his followers soon forgot and again came to believe that Jesus would come again to be their king, a cosmic Messiah, and thirty-odd years later joined the Zealots in that hope. They were wrong. They all were killed.
  Yet, year after year we perpetuate that lie. It is deeply engraved in our songs, hopes, writings and story. It has never led to anything but death and despair. It is so utterly against the message of Jesus, the call to act on our own and accept the fact that we are each children of God. How can we not hear Jesus? Why do we ignore his words and call and give in year after year, wasting our lives, waiting for God to do everything for us?
  Churches, if this is the big finale, the end of what you have to say, maybe it had better be the end. Really. There's so much more to the reality of Jesus, and you're just not saying or doing it.

SHARING A MIRACLE

       One of my favourite sayings comes from the Jewish tradition: Don't expect miracles, but recognize them when they happen.  This is with the understanding that miracles are not super-natural events, as we now view them, but any event or moment in which the holy is experienced. It might be a revelation brought on by the sight of a new leaf on a tree, or by an unexpected word from a stranger.
      Judy and I bought the one and only cafe on this lovely Amherst Island some six years ago, deciding to run it in the summer and sail in the Bahamas in the winter. Judy had grown up here and I certainly felt at home among the varied folks here.
      We did this because it was 'right'. The cafe would never be a 'business' in the usual sense, but the island, any inhabited place, needed somewhere to eat and talk. The cafe hadn't been open in five years. We knew that we couldn't run it forever, and indeed, having no experience what-so-ever, didn't know if we'd last more than the first summer. We did.
      It soon became apparent that our expectations, business-wise, were fairly accurate. We did our best to involve others on every level knowing that sooner or later, it would have to be run on some kind of community basis or close.
      After five years of summer operation, we ran out of steam. A wonderful island cook took it for this last summer and did a fine job, but one summer was enough.
      A month ago, talking around a table with friends after an event, the topic of the cafe came up, along with the possibility of making it an island project. After a few bottles of wine, everyone there was really excited about the concept. We set a date to meet in a month, time to spread the word. We did. Last week, meeting here at the house a friend shares with Judy and me.
       It was a miracle. Only a start, certainly, but a miracle, never-the-less. In this culture, everywhere we look and hear, the pressure is to be independent, alone and self sufficient. To rely on others is a sign of weakness; to do things, anything with others, shows that you're not strong enough on your own. If you need help, hire it. Keep control. Call the shots. Any time that people take a serious look at co-operating on any venture is a miracle, a visible sign that love (the Holy) is among us and within us. Any time we put the welfare of the whole above ourselves, any time that we really understand that our welfare does depend upon the whole, the holy is present.
      There were over twenty people represented in body or spirit. All that talent and experience, talking about the possibilities and sharing their hopes, doubts and wants. It was wonderful. We were so caught up in the moment and the challenge of the event and future that it is only now that I've realized how wonderful the night was.
      I have no idea what will become of the idea. I certainly hope that it will take form and will succeed, that the cafe will become a place of great food and fellowship, for the 'clients' and those who share in the running of it. It could provide much needed employment for island students and raise funds for other projects. But, if that one meeting is all that happens, it will still be a miracle to me.