Grow Mercy

Windows and Mirrors

Posted on December 15, 2006 by stephen t berg / 0 Comment

There are times when you are placed in the context of another so completely that you see yourself through the eyes and heart of the other. You are given a window, and then a mirror.

Garrity_housewifeweb This happens by way of an extemporary invitation. It’s in the face. There is an opening, an unscheduled moment of vulnerability; and when you step into that moment you yourself become open and vulnerable.

And you become human. Your beliefs and thoughts, your face, your centre, are received in mercy as you receive those of another. Jewish philosopher Martin Buber calls this an I/Thou experience.

I knew the answer but I asked a friend if she had had this experience. She said she has it very often. Which confirms why she is so radically empathetic.

While I don’t believe these experiences can be planned or reproduced I do believe we can watch for them. As we should wait and watch for anything–like empathy–that calls us into the human family.

Technorati Tags: Martin Buber, Human family, Spirituality

Christianity/Religion

Decision Making and the Will of God

Posted on December 12, 2006 by stephen t berg / 2 Comments

O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63)

Most of us don’t agonize over what accessory to wear with our beige top; and most of us don’t have to stop to think about whether or not to pocket some contact lens fluid as we leave Shoppers.

See what I face walking home from work every evening?!

But most of us modern Christians have at one time or another twisted ourselves out of shape wondering if a certain decision was "in God’s will" for us.

A herd of years ago I read a book called "Decision Making and the Will of God." I was an overly sober Christian on a spiritual comeback and I was convinced this book was going to provide me with a kind of formula, or template, with which to relieve me of the turmoil a collection of "bigger" decisions were causing me. I wanted to live, as they said, a "victorious" Christian life.

As the title promised the book did provide a decision making pattern. And I followed it as well as I could. But it did nothing to relieve me of decision making angst. Fact is, it exacerbated my spiritual anxiety. Not only did I worry about God’s will for me, I now worried about whether I was adequately following an apparently inspired formula.

Well, decisions were made and lived with. Some I regretted and brought heartache, some I was relieved over, and some brought delight and joy.

I suppose you could say the benefit of years has set in. I’m less sober these days, less grave, in many ways far more uncertain about things. (Some may not see this as a "benefit.")

I have no formula, no scheme, unless you want to call a desire for God–sometimes wavering sometimes deep and focused–a formula.

All this brings me to a poignant prayer I read the other evening in Thomas Merton’s journals. Perhaps it’s a prayer for you.

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Technorati Tags: Thomas Merton’s prayer, ’Decision Making and the Will of God’, Christianity, Religion

Christianity/Politics/Religion

Evangelicals and the ‘gay thing’

Posted on December 11, 2006 by stephen t berg / 2 Comments

I was reminded of this writing because of some of the reactions to the recent same-sex vote in Canada.

Evangelicals and the ’Gay Thing’ was written a year and a half ago, ostensibly for a writing class but primarily because of some things that had been rattling around inside for a time and needed airing.

*Escape* by Rene Capone

Quite naturally I’ve had mixed reactions from the people who have read it. My favorite response however was from James Alison who said: "Much enjoyed – and very moved… May your word spread and touch hearts!"

But perhaps equal to this was the fact that a couple of creative and provocative friends placed an edited version of the essay on the front page of a newsletter that was then distributed at an anti-gay political rally. (Apparently the newsletter was also dropped off at a couple of select evangelical churches.)

The point of the essay however was not to agitate, but to trace my personal change of heart and offer an opinion and an impression, and perhaps, to touch a heart.

Above all, this essay is dedicated to my brother-in-law Carl, who died ten years ago this past month.

Technorati Tags: James Alison, Evangelicals and gays, Same-sex vote, Christianity, Politics, Religion

Beauty/Peace/Spirituality

Nobody’s Watching

Posted on December 10, 2006 by stephen t berg / 1 Comment

We are ultimately and existentially alone. Our aloneness comes with a profound longing to belong, that is never truly realized.

"Nobody’s watching," is a message I woke up with a several nights ago. And the message was confirmed by a friend who without knowledge or warning spoke it back to me two days later.

In the message there is both melancholy and hope. And there is a kind of freedom.

Nobody’s-watching will tempt you to acquire what’s not yours. Nobody’s-watching can have you preening and crowding others for a lifetime.

But nobody’s-watching can suddenly free you. Nobody’s-watching properly received, will lift you high enough to see beyond your latent or real self-rejection.

And here you will no longer allow eyes that aren’t yours see for you. Or let someone else’s hands paint your pictures. Or let the feet of peers, friends, or even your most intimate loved one, walk a direction for you.

Your path is yours. Do what you do.

Walking in the river valley late yesterday afternoon

And know, that nobody’s-watching is given to you, in time; because you, "as beloved," are everlastingly watched, and waited for.