Atonement/Christianity/Peace/Religion/Violence

Whither Humanity?

Posted on by stephen t berg / 3 Comments

Wondering how I was coping with today’s stories in this world of ours–from N. Korea to the Amish tragedy–a friend asked, "What has happened to humanity that we can go as far as we do to destroy the image of God in each other?"

It’s the right question. But how do you answer it? Is it possible?

It’s a religious question: If there wasn’t something "divine" about us, I suppose there would be no use asking, well, no ability to ask in the first place.

It’s also a question that sees human culture moving toward disintegration and asks about its moment of truth.

The question also recognizes that our "god-image" is mutually destroyed in each other in the reciprocity of violence.

We read the "stories" or have the anchor read them to us, and what?

Where is our Philip to help us interpret what we see and hear. Will we remain as thick as the eunuch before the interpretation or will we be able to apply a hermeneutic of the cross? Because, if the central feature of the gospel sheds no light on 9/11, Iraq, Kim Jong Il, and Charles Carl Roberts IV, then what use is Christianity? No, let me restate that, what use is the gospel? I restate because, thankfully, Christianity does not own the Gospel. A good thing.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Christianity/Peace/Religion

The Little Flower

Posted on by stephen t berg / 1 Comment

(Psalm 26) That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving…

For Thanksgiving I reacquainted myself with Therese of Lisieux, the little flower. The Little Flower is probably a misnomer because she never tolerated sentimentality, piety or religious affectation. But she was destined to be a fragrant and audacious flower for Christ.st_therese_collage

She says that in her immaturity she desired public martyrdom, she desired the grand gesture. But it never worked out. Instead she entered an anonymous and humble convent.

Here, in her small cloister, she says she “habitually failed”. But here is where she grew into that little flower. In the absence of the crowd, in life together in a small community, in the presence of ordinary goodness and ordinary pettiness, she learned “her little way”.

She discovered herself in Christ through the smallest of acts, in the smallest of tasks, in the most mundane events, but also in misunderstandings, in personal slights, and in mistreatment.

There seems to be an unhealthy aspect of her quietude in the face of personal injustices and great physical suffering. But how can I judge her when this is what seemed to drive her deeper into the heart and mystery of Christ. Besides, she never saw the fruit in opposition. Her peace of heart and mind, which was her compass, came more often in “suffering” the thing.

She died when she was 24 years old, “with a thankful heart”. She gave her life to what was, and for her it was suffering, not because she desired suffering, but because it was her unique vehicle toward life with and in Christ.

Her “Story of a Soul”–which she rejoiced in having published because it told of all God’s favour and love for her–is far removed from me, but I do identify with her when she says, “I am far from living up to my ideal, and yet the very desire to do so gives me a feeling of peace.”

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Christianity/Spirituality

Clear Eyes

Posted on by stephen t berg / 1 Comment

…concluding the last two posts:

Several years ago a local radio talk show (The Bill and Bill Show) had a callers opine about whether the northern lights made sounds. There were a few callers who called in swearing that they had heard them and stuck to their story. The late Bill Mattheson on the other hand, produced the science and fun ribbing the troglodytes.

But we know now that "hearing" the northern lights happens. It has to do with the brain supplying the sound. This is not an audio hallucination, but a kind of leakage where a small part of the current of electrical impulses carrying the images going from the nerve endings of the eye leaks over, or is rerouted into the area of the brain where sound is processed.

This corresponds to why it is that deaf musicians can "hear" music, and can enjoy concerts and other musical events. We used to think that the brain was hard wired; one part was for this activity and another part for that. But only a few years ago Dr. Dean Shibata, an assistant professor of radiology at the University of Washington, found that the brain trains itself and rewires itself to utilize an available area.

Deaf people sense vibration in the part of the brain that other people use for hearing. The perception of the musical vibrations by the deaf is every bit as real as the equivalent sounds, since they are ultimately processed in the same part of the brain.

While I am still unable to hear the aurora boreales I am again opening myself to the possibility. When I am anointed by them, like I was just the other night, I am lingering and leaning into them. One day perhaps I’ll again hear the swoosh and crackle.

In the mean time–although I am still remanded by information and too seduced by the control I pretend it gives me–I try to read and ponder, meditate and pray in ways that will keep moving me nearer to the felt presence of God.

We all have the ability for simplicity, for an eye that is sound, for a second innocence. We carry within us a mystic-saint. We know this not only because the mystics and saints tell us this is so, but because we have all been stirred in a now forgotten place by the first play of God-light, by the first naïveté.

Test your "magic eye" skill
tranquility2

The mystic is simply one who has become unencumbered, dispossessed of all forms of real estate, and so, as Christ says, her "eye is clear". She has moved through the information and the science, has acknowledged and is thankful for their gifts, and because of this, and in spite of this, is able to again hear the voice of light to where her whole body is filled by light.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,