"The Way finders" by Wade Davis
We were amazed at how the sun came out and shone down through the windows upon us all. After the service outside we walked to the grave and I felt chilled but very pleased the heavy rain had stopped.
I have been going through my books trying to decide which ones to give away; but it never fails I get reading many of them again. One of these books is "The Wayfinder" which reminds me that all of our thoughts, and intuitions, myths and beliefs, ideas and inspiration have helped shape us today. He stresses the importance of language that we have been given to pass on our wisdom.
"Each one of us is born as a unique combination of the genetic endowment of our parents and the human potential we all possess." Yet as we look at our world today which is suppose to be civilized we hear again again savagery coming to destroy the good and fuel more wars and killing. Nation to nation we have ignored the mythic ancestral claims and have turned to political power to control and manipulate.
Many questions where asked of Jesus.
Why are you speaking like this?
Where does the wisdom and authority with which you speak come from?
Who are you?
Can anything good come from Nazareth?
Why are you behaving unlawfully?
Are you the king of the Jews?
Or are you the Messiah?
Jesus us fulfilling his own words about going the second mile, loving and praying for your enemies and for this he will be nailed to the cross. He entered into Jerusalem on a donkey with his heart broken and tears in his eyes. In Mark 13 he speaks words of a coming judgment brought on by their own corruption, oppression and greed. The temple has become dishonored by the greed of those in authority. Jesus is angered by what he sees.
"Jesus burst the boundaries of all expectations" and becomes a prophet of doom like the old testament.
Disturbing wisdom that holds a warning for those who would hear.
Returning from the funeral there was dad sitting in the warmth of the front porch and I thought he looked very happy and content; but he had had a bad morning with pain in his hip. Very discouraging.
I rushed in and out to go visit Jim who I know would be expecting me. He had been very sick all night as had another lady with what sounds like the stomach flu. Do hope I do not get it.
Raining hard this morning so I will wait and see how it is when it is time for my walk.
4 comments:
That Wade Davis guy is an interesting chappy. And I would use those words you quoted to say that most of what we call religion is accumulated cultural baggage. Which actually is a good thing, maybe, in the sense that people are going to believe in their culture whether they believe it or not. That's not a mistake in typing. :)
But, of course, if most of religion is about culture, then it is about people, not particularly about God. And so the search for God is often parked in religion to rest for a while.
Yes, they did Jesus all those questions. And the basic answer was that the chappy who was Jesus didn't want to park his own particular search for God in the religious culture of the day. Good old Jesus is a model for those who want to search, not for the Pope and all those lot who think they know. St. Peters church in Rome is nothing but a big-stone-cultural-relic. Just like Wade Davis finds cultural histories there in other societies, St. Peters cathedral is part of ours. Just that. Precious little to do with God. Which is fine. Pope and bishops and all those people don't do any harm, as long as we realize that they are just cultural baggage, like, say, Santa Claus.
Love,
Rick
PS - so the point, you see, is not to anti-religious (that's like shooting fish in a barrel), but rather to not let the silliness of the great stone churches and the cardinals and the easter bunny get in the way. Just like Jesus didn't let the officials and rituals of his day get in his way.
YOU know, Rick may have a good point! It certainly gives me food for thought! I can see where culture has overtaken faith and become religion. I always liked the friends ( Quakers ) way of worship. Simplicity....without all that baggage. Did you hear today that the pope in all his wisdom is having a "special cologne" made for him, by one of the best perfume houses...I wonder how many hungry mouths that would feed? Beth, what are your thoughts?
I am going to ask Judy,our Anglican minister, music student and friend, what her thoughts are....she is quite progressive in her thoughts. Thanks for "stirring the pot," Rick! Do you have a suggestion for reading? Love, Nancy
The sky looked very blue when the clouds cleared. Hope Dad's hip is better.
Ken
I think the church has to change and that it has to open it's doors and listen to the neeeds of the world or community in which it exists.
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