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Seeing People As People

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is about a man who was heading to the city of Jericho when he was waylaid by three men who robbed and beat him, leaving him for dead.[1] A Jewish priest sees the half-dead man and skirts around him, not wanting to get involved. A second Jew came walking up, and upon seeing the man, he too walked to the other side of the path without assisting his fellow human being. Later that same day, a Samaritan comes walking by, but when he sees the man who had been left for dead, “he was moved by pity.” The Samaritan applied first aid to the injured man, put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and cared for him. When the Samaritan was ready to leave the next day, he paid the innkeeper a day’s wage, telling the innkeeper, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.”

Jews despised the Samaritans and saw them as no better than second-class citizens. This tale could easily be recast as “A Jew Helped the Nazi” or “The Black Woman bandaged the Ku Klux Klan Member’s Wounds” or “The Drag Queen Transported the Homophobe to a Hotel for Medical Care and Safekeeping.” Jesus asked the lawyer which of the three men who walked along the path was a neighbor to the victimized man. The answer was obvious – the despised Samaritan.

If we focus on the things of life: economic status, looks, language, culture, education, etc., it is easy to cast people into different boxes that we can label. A more well-to-do housing development may protest when a developer is trying to get zoning permits for affordable housing to provide lower-income citizens with a nice place to live. The current residents don’t want “their neighborhood” to be overrun with “those people.” People don’t want minorities being bused into “theirschools.” The fat kids get picked on. People with an accent are talked to like they’re stupid (in the U.S.). People with a high level of education may feel superior to those who may not have had the opportunities they did, or who chose a different career path that didn’t require post-high school education. However, if we focus on the divine within all of us, we can see G*d in others, as well as in ourselves. A sameness and shared experience becomes the bond between you and other people. Even if you don’t like that person, they are “your enemy” per se – if G*d chose to dwell in them, isn’t it possible that you can find it in your heart to see their humanity? Not only does Jesus teach us that everyone is our neighbor, he also says to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.[2] This radical form of love is something that makes Christianity unique.

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[1] Luke 10:29-37

[2] Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-28. 32-36.

I Graduated – What’s Next?

In celebration, I wanted to share with all of you that I graduated from Harvard today. It’s been a while ride with a successful ending, but it was not done in isolation. Many people contributed to getting me here, and I would like to give a big “thanks!” to all of you. The list is long and distinguished, so I won’t bore you with all of the names, but you are all held in my heart.

The next step will be to move back to Florida to fulfill the role of father to my wonderful daughters and to begin my writing career. My first poem was published in print this past week, which is a good first step. I am also part of the way through a novel. Of course, this blog will be kept up with and I am sure I can find someway to continue to agitate and instigate the Christian family through other literary mediums.

Thank you all. And though it may sound trite, it is meant from deep within – G*d bless you all.

Mother G*d

I started writing a new post a few days ago and ended up with twenty pages and counting. Below is a section of what I am working on, which involves practicing the presence of G*d in the present (say that three times fast). In order to be with G*d, we must seek an understanding of the Divine Nature. One of the stumbling blocks I have identified is the domination of masculine or “tough” language in reference to G*d: King, Lord, Rock, Almighty, Ruler, etc. In order to create a more balanced view of G*d, here are some Bible verses that speak to the feminine nature of G*d.

Mother G*d

• Numbers 11:12-14 – G*d conceives and gives birth; G*d as nursing mother
• Deuteronomy 32:18 – G*d gave birth
• Job 38:8 – G*d has a womb
• Job 38:29 – G*d has a womb
• Isaiah 42:14 – G*d cries out like a woman in labor
• Isaiah 46:3-4 – G*d has a womb and gives birth
• Isaiah 49:14-15 – G*d’s love is compared to a mother’s love
• Isaiah 66:13  - G*d as mother, comforting a child
• Psalms 131:2 – G*d as mother
• Acts 17:28 – We dwell in G*d as a child in the womb. We can call this the “cosmic womb”
• 1 Peter 2:2-3 – Humans can taste G*d’s spiritual breast milk

G*d Doing “Women’s Work” (referring to gender roles in antiquity)

• Genesis 3:21 – G*d as seamstress
• Psalms 22:9-10a – G*d as midwife
• Psalms 71:6 – G*d as midwife
• Isaiah 66:9 – G*d as midwife
• Luke 13:20 – 21 – the commonweal of G*d “is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
• Luke 15:8-10 – G*d rejoices like a woman who cleans and looks until she finds her lost coin

More Examples of the Divine Feminine

• G*d is referred to as a protective eagle or bird. Both the mother and father eagle care for their chicks. In the beauty that is G*d, we get firm masculine scripture, concrete feminine passages and gender-ambiguous verses, because G*d is both and neither at the same time, allowing all human beings to relate to the Divine Reality (Deuteronomy 32:11-12; Ruth 2:12; Psalms 17:8; Psalms 36:7; Psalms 57:1; Isaiah 31:5)
• Hosea 13:8 – G*d as a mother bear
• Matthew 23:37 – G*d as a mother hen
• Luke 13:34 – G*d as a mother hen
• John 3:3-5 – to enter the commonweal of G*d, one must be birthed by the Holy Spirit
• John 1:13 – G*d gives birth to us
• 1 John 4:7b – G*d gives birth to us
• 1 John 5:1 – G*d gives birth to us
• 1 John 5:4 – G*d gives birth to us
• 1 John 5:18 – G*d gives birth to us
  • In Greek the wisdom of G*d is the feminine noun, Sophia.
  • El Shaddai, often translated as “G*d Almighty,” may also translate as “Breasted One,”
    “The one of the Breast,” or “G*d of many breasts.” Scholars are still debating.

 

Imagine

I consider myself a person who is aware of their emotions, but I did not realize how much something was bothering me, until of a dream I had last night. In the dream, I was the Vice President of the United States. After going about my official duties for part of the day and meeting with the American people, I became disheartened. I saw how angry and hateful people were, people who claimed to be otherwise, and I decided to resign my position. The crux of the issue was race. The dream seemed set in the future, but we were dealing with the civil rights issues of the twentieth century. My decision to resign was done without consulting anyone. I told a reporter to get a crew together, and as I paced back and forth thinking over my presentation, I woke up.

As I lay in bed, it was immediate what was bothering me: North Carolina’s decision to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

As a citizen of the Commonweal of G*d, I am grief stricken at the systematic hate of the Body of Christ. As an American citizen, I am appalled at the violation of civil rights and the institutionalized bigotry that we are perpetrating here in the U.S.

In the United States we all but decimated tens of millions of people in the name of “our” rights to live how “we” thought proper. We then enslaved millions of another race to support the economics of that society. We have mentally and physically abused our women, because “our” society was for the pleasure of the white male. Later, we “allowed” our slaves to be separate, but equal – shutting them away in dilapidated housing with substandard education, as we kept them bound in the invisible chains of poverty and fear. We have done all of this with biblical support.

Today, we still have a portion of our society that is trying to define equal rights for everyone, but then they make people less than human so “everyone” comes to mean “some people.” Rights are hard to get in the land of the free. At first, a person had to be a white, land-owning male. Women and other races were out. Slaves were 3/5 of a person. Then, blacks became people by law, but not by culture. It would be even longer before women could vote. Today, if you are queer in America, you do not have the same rights under the constitution as everyone else. If you are queer and in love, you do not have the right to get married like that man and woman next door who is getting a divorce. This same segment is touting how this is the voice of the people, because it was voted on. Yes, and so was segregation.

Imagine a world where Christians are defined by their love of G*d and neighbor, rather than living up to “biblical principles” that make people feel not good enough to kiss the shoe that is walking out of a church on Sunday afternoon. Imagine a world where Christians did not rally in anger and frustration against the creation of G*d, but out of compassion and earnestness for humanity. Imagine a world where Christians united to feed the widow and orphan, who put on the ballot equal pay for women, who marched on the steps of Washington to end wars, who wanted all people to have affordable access to dental and medical care, and who worked to make the word “Ghetto” an out-of-date term that our grandchildren would have to read about in history books. Imagine.

My heart hurts. My soul is crushed. I am repelled by the G*d that so many Christians worship. I have no desire to know their Jesus.

There is a G*d who is love. There is a Jesus who taught us the way. We are to love G*d and our neighbors as ourselves. We are not to judge those same neighbors. We are to embrace the outcasts of the religious and social elite. We are to let go of the possessions that are holding onto us and follow. We are to love. Imagine.

 

Walking the Walk

I had the opportunity to meet a ton of new people in the last couple of weeks. Beyond the meeting of one another, we had the opportunity to get to know each other. Part of the ritual is the question: “So, what do you do?” After telling whoever I was speaking with that I went to Harvard Divinity, the next question they would ask was, “Are you going to be a minister?”

I love that question, because it gives me an opportunity to put people at ease. With the face of Christianity being some fat, white guy from the religious right, it can be hard to converse with people when they find out you like that guy Jesus. People have a fear of ministers. Isn’t that ironic? Or maybe it’s just sad.

Through dialogue, I realized that I knew a lot of facts and figures. I could espouse theorems and theologies. But lately, I had not been doing a whole lot of living Jesus. I had been so wrapped up inside my head that the expression of my faith had recently become mere words. At this point there will be a group of you that will say, “Ah hah! All you smart people and your books just need to act like Christians.” True, true, Christianity needs to be lived out, but having a reason for what we believe is as biblical as, well, the Bible. Education and practice are not opposed, but in conjunction with each other. We need to understand our faith so we can go live it.

The people I have come to share my life with lately must be angels. Their stories and spirits showed me that I had become stagnant in my spiritual life. Often in Christian circles one can hear the phrase “Christian walk,” meaning how we live life as Christians. If that phrase has any merit, then my walk had become a standstill. This is not to take away from this blog. I often get contacted about how these words help people (or confound them), but I needed some more personal contact.

Last night I bought two loaves of bread (very Jesus-esque) and some peanut butter and jelly (thinking about it now, I should have asked if anyone had a peanut allergy). I made twenty sandwiches (cool fact: one loaf of bread equals ten sandwiches) and headed out to Harvard Square. On any given night there are tons of homeless people, drunk people, and strung out people  (or a combination of the three) hanging out in and around the square talking, sleeping, or zoned out, but for some reason I had to go looking for people to feed.

In the past, whenever I have done some sort of do-gooder task, it made me feel good. Last night was more about a “need to.” It was great. I talked with Mike, who had four teeth and smelled like pot (I love that smell). He said he suffered from PTSD with all the things he had seen, but that he had it “under control.” There was Cough Drop, who was from North Carolina, and he passed on the PB&J because of stomach issues. He was too concerned to find out something bad was going on, and he refused go to the doctor. When I told him I was from Florida, he had stories to tell of Dade County (Miami) and how the cops were nice to him down there (just don’t speed).  He also said bars would sometimes hook him up with free beer, while up here he can get free smokes. I met a girl who’s name escapes me, but she was a friend of Cough Drop, and was the one to make sure I knew about him to give him the opportunity to eat. Her boyfriend’s name was Taco, who was wary and wanted to know who I was. When I told him I had been homeless before and wanted to help out, he sarcastically replied, “You survived too, huh?” Taco seems to have seen little love to be as jaded as what I saw, but it was obvious his girlfriend loved him dearly. There was another gentleman there who wanted to go drink, but the girl was trying to be the voice of reason and Cough Drop said he didn’t drink anymore (not all homeless people are drunks and drug addicts).

There was another couple who were far gone into heroine, but took the sandwiches. When I came by later, the man and women were holding the half-eaten sandwiches as they nodded in and out of consciousness. I hope the food helped.

Some people were asleep, so I laid the food next to their head or hands and walked away (I hate being woken up. Don’t you?).

I met Tyrone, a.k.a. Gorgeous (but he made sure to tell me he wasn’t gay), and Biggie (who sounded like the deceased Biggie Smalls), and several more men. One guy wanted a turkey sandwich, but he settled for the PB&J.

One of the things I remembered from Jesus was that he didn’t just spend time with social outcasts, he touched them and allowed himself to be touched. With this in mind, I extended my ungloved hand to whoever wanted it or offered one to me. That does not make me a saint or special (I am kind of a germaphobe, which might make me “special), it was just me trying to be Jesus.

This story isn’t meant to elevate me, but it is a reminder that we need to operate on many different levels. We need to feed the hungry while working to change the system that creates the hungry. That reminds me of a great quote from the deceased Catholic bishop Dom Helder Camara: “When I fed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry, they called me a communist.” For my far-right leaning brothers and sisters that are still concerned with the “Commie threat” more than fifty years after McCarthyism, that is something to think about. We need to think spiritually, as well as sociologically. We must learn, as well as practice. I say these things, because I cognitively knew, but I fell out of practice. It happens. We can’t be everything all the time. I have spent years studying in academia and it is nearing the time to go out with my shirt, shoes, and a walking stick.

Belief is all fine and well, but without action is it an empty thing. I would rather have a world of dedicated, active atheists than a world full of do-nothing believers. Remember, “faith without works is dead.”

Theology of Free Will

Theology nerds have favorite concepts that theology is applied to. For me, I enjoy the problem of evil and free will. The problem of evil, or “theodicy,” wonders how bad things can happen in a world if there is a good god that created it or is maintaining it. The conversations around that will make your head spin. The other concept, free will, is what I will be addressing today.

Here, in the United States, we are a melting pot of cultures, which is both beautiful, due to the diversity and interchange, but also problematic, when trying to define what American culture is. Defining culture is problematic at best in a more homogenous culture, but here, it is nigh impossible. However, if anything, I would argue that one, if not the only, defining characteristic of American culture is its individualism. This is not a critique, but a statement of fact. Libertarianism is the political version of this, but in aggregate we are a very “don’t tell me what to do” culture. It is this tendency to shift away from a collective, shared society, which causes a hypocritical element within the U.S. Church.

Hypocrisy typically has a negative connotation, because it almost always implies premeditated rationalization. To put it differently, when we are being hypocritical, we usually know that we are acting that way. This is often verbalized as, “I know the Bible says, but…” Or, “I know Jesus said, but….” “But” when looking at free will and the U.S. Church, I argue that because individualism is so ingrained into our culture, and thus into our subconscious thoughts and actions as American citizens, the hypocrisy of our theology surrounding free will is not intentional. Let me clarify.

Since Americans do not want to be told what to do, this influences their theology. Ask almost any American Christian (not all, for sure), and they will tell you that G*d allows free will. Even those who espouse predestination argue for forms of free will. For those that feel that we have to make a choice for Jesus, they will say that conversion cannot be coerced. For the predestination people, their daily lives, how they live as Christians, are governed by free will. However, our actions betray our words. When human beings suffer, we tend to blame G*d. Even within the Catholic Church, where there have been movements that glorify suffering, the majority of the Catholic laity would not agree. The reason for mentioning theodicy in the beginning of this post is because when we are confronted with evil we have a propensity to blame G*d for either doing it to us or for allowing it to happen. Either way, we blame G*d. But to blame G*d for direct action against us, or inaction that results in our suffering, still faults G*d for our problems. This flies in the face of free will and a loving god.

If, as we so often say, that G*d allows for free will, then the suffering that we endure as part of the human condition is our fault, or the fault of others. By not living for others and governing my own actions in such a way that glorifies G*d, is what creates pain and suffering in the world. Free will says that G*d cannot force a human being’s hand toward any action or stop us from acting at all. Free will allows us to do good or to do evil, and to refrain from both.

Free will is not all encompassing, or maybe I should say all powerful. Our free will is limited by the actions of others. As a child, I could choose to act in whatever way I wanted, but if I broke against the social norms that my parents were trying to instill in me (not scrapping my teeth with my fork) my behavior was corrected. I could still choose to disobey my parents, but then I would have to deal with the consequences. People who maximize free will by not allowing the choices of others to limit their actions are typically understood as psychotic, and then their free will is still limited, because they are placed in a prison or mental institution. Submitting to social norms is both an act of autonomous free will and a limiting of free will by society.

This same limited type of free will also limits the actions of G*d. As I have said in previous posts, if G*d cannot lie, go out of existence, or be unloving, then there is a precedence for G*d being unable to do certain things. If G*d allows human beings to have free will, and G*d is not going to change the rule book on us, then G*d’s actions in our lives and in the world are then necessarily limited. Understanding free will in this way does not remove G*d from our lives, nor does it create a deistic deity that leaves us alone.

Understanding G*d as the embodiment of love, knowing G*d as ever-present, lends itself to say that G*d is always with us, guiding us towards the right decisions, that will be best for us and others. G*d tried to keep it simple: love G*d and others as you love yourself. Through prayer and contemplation we are able to feel the ever-present influence of G*d in our lives, guiding us towards the best of decisions. Knowing G*d is always there, knowing G*d, even in the midst of darkness, when the best choice is just the less worst choice – that is our comfort. The Holy Spirit, understood as a councilor, is who we seek guidance from to help us move forward in our lives. G*d always wants the best for us, and by seeking G*d and being sensitive to G*d’s influence, we can go through life in love and confidence, knowing that our actions are our own, and that G*d is helping us every step of the way.