When I was young I went to an Egyptian exhibit at a museum in Dallas. I remember the pictographs were wonderfully disturbing to me. My hair stood on end as I saw this ancient language speaking, not with disconnected letters, but with strangely simplified pictures. Even though I did not understand what the pictures meant, I knew without a doubt they were an attempt to build a bridge between our human minds and the pre-human world we are trying to understand. They belonged neither in the physical world, nor in the human imagination, but were like a strange coded membrane between them.
For many, religious symbols are a source of endless frustration. “Why does religion have to say things in parables? Why doesn’t it describe the world in plain language? Definitions are an attempt to clarify our objective experience, symbols are an attempt to express and share our subjective experience. So, a definition tells us what the limits are, a symbol opens us to our limitless universe. A definition is clear within the confines of our literal speech, a symbol speaks to and from the unknowable depths of our subjective experience. Lastly, a definition aims at being the last word on a subject, a symbol aims at being the first word in conversation as long as life itself.
I’m at the trial of Janie Spahr in San Antonio. As I said before, she is facing a church court for performing same sex marriages. Last night, we had a worship service. The room was filled with beautiful people I have come to know over the years. The abuse these people have suffered from the church is beyond my comprehension. A roomful of beautiful, faithful people being judged by “Christians” who disingenuously admit they are sinners in need of God’s grace, yet withhold that same grace from others.
Last night I remembered a tee-shirt from an earlier marriage equity event in Virginia. On the front of the tee shirt it had the tourist slogan, “Virginia is for lovers”. I noticed there was an asterisk on the saying. On the back of the tee shirt was the footnote, “Warning! Some restrictions may apply.” As long as the church claims grace for itself and offers judgment for others, we will be a rudderless, powerless joke ourselves.
Jesus taught whoever has love, has God. The Presbyterian Church will deturmine today if Jesus knew what he was talking about. As long the church is infected with this hypocrisy, to be honest, we should put an asterisk on all our symbols of God’s grace, “Warning! Some restrictions may apply.”
Racism, classism and sexism are a part of the air we breathe every day. Even if we could uproot them completely today, when we awake tomorrow, they will be at our doorstep as regular as the newspaper. Farmers must weed their fields every day, and we must uproot prejudice just as regularly. The day farmers come to believe they have finished their work is the day they begin to lose their fields to the weeds. And those who say they have eliminated their own prejudice have, in their heads, nests filled with vulture eggs waiting to hatch.
Rev. Jane Adams Spahr has been the national symbol for the acceptance of gays and lesbian Christians in the Presbyterian Church for decades. Several years back, Rev. Spahr was called out of retirement to stand trial for performing same sex marriages. This weekend the Permanent Judicial Committee of the Presbyterian Church will meet in San Antonio to give a final verdict on a case that will set precedent for years to come. On Saturday evening and Sunday morning Rev. Spahr will be in Austin and available for interviews.
On Saturday evening at 6:00pm St. Andrew’s Presbyterian will host a gumbo dinner to help Rev. Spahr with her legal fees. Then, Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. Dr. Spahr, her legal team and many of the couples she has married from all over the country will be at St. Andrew’s to discuss the trial, and what the future may be in the struggle for gay and lesbian acceptance in the church.
For more information please call Rev. Jim Rigby 512-251-0698, or email jrigby0000@aol.com
There’s been a lot of talk this week about whether Catholics should be forced to supply birth control when they insure workers. It is an important question. Here are some additional questions that pertain to the issue:
When women work, do they deserve a full range of health care options? Should they receive that full range in any insurance offered them? If business owners have a right to deny coverage based on religion, what would prevent a Christian Scientist business owner from denying health care all together?
Some religions believe women should not be leaders over men. Should a business be allowed to discriminate in hiring as well as health coverage?
When someone interferes in another person’s private life, is it really accurate to say they are still expressing their own “private religion?” When you start bothering someone else, isn’t that by definition “public?”
In the same way, if a religious institution receives public money, have they not waived any claim to be exercising their “private” expression of religion?
When we were children we imitated our parent’s cooking by making mud pies. It is common for religion to be a similar kind of mimicking the words and actions of the pious dead. How can we tell the difference between real religion and this kind of make believe? It’s actually no more difficult than distinguishing between pies made of real chocolate and those made of mud. Real religion nurtures us by opening us to reality. It actually illumines our path. Real religion calls us to our full capacity, and calls us to give others every right we claim for ourselves. If religion does not do all these things, we must seek deeper. There is nothing wrong with learning from those whose religion consists of imitation, but we never want to eat the meal they have cooked.
I am an animal person, and a vegetarian, but I will not watch a PETA add because I know it will usually objectify women. I’m tired of the nude and scantily clad starlets urging us to vegetarianism. I’m tired of trying to make the issue “sexy” at the cost of women’s dignity. If PETA is in favor of vegetarianism why do they treat women like meat?
To read the article, click here
What some call “prayer”, others call “meditation”. Still others, who do not consider themselves religious, still find themselves in a reverent state of mind, whispering a blessing to our world.
Today, when our nation is bombarded with images of fear and violence, even if we don’t call it “prayer”, it is important to protect a place of peace within ourselves. These are septic conditions for the mind. Just as a poorly kept ponds can breed only snakes and insects, so fearful hearts can only produce stunted and cruel people.
It has never been more important to understand prayer as giving our hearts to love on behalf of the whole world. We must join the countless people, religious and not, who whisper a blessing to our world. We must protect the sanctuary of our hearts from the poison of hatred and fear. When we feel ourselves taken in the poison of fear, we must sit with our fear bathing it with compassion. By healing our own hearts, we work to heal our world
In addition to the activism so necessary to make a better world, we must also pray or meditate constantly so that we can pass through these times without becoming brutes ourselves. These are dangerous times, but it does not benefit us to live one minute out of our senses. If it costs our lives to be loving, let us live our last moment as compassionate human beings.
If your idea of a day celebrating love implies not dropping bombs on anyone, this is a Valentine for you.
To read, click here
Just for fun, Bill McKibben faces off with Stephen Colbert, to hear,
click here
