Zoe

Honestly Speaking

I have not written for a couple of weeks... a bit busy...sorry about that. I have really been tuning into the decalogue lately. It has me a bit mesmerized and drawn to the reality of being united with G*d in such a way that I am totally captivated by the living Word of G*D in JEsus and inhabited by the Holy SPirit. What a great joy, adventure and surprise to be so loved by that kind of G*d.

I read a report that most students now believe that lying is acceptible. Check this out, according to the Josephson Institute of Ethics, in the time period between 1992 and 2002, the percentage that agreed with this statement "a person has to lie or cheat sometimes in order to succeed" jumped from 9 to 43 percent.  Michael Josephson, the President of the non-profit Foundation said, "The scary thing is that so many kids are entering the work force to become corporate executives, politicians, airplane mechanics and nuclear weapons inspectors with the dispositions and skill of cheaters and thieves."

I would like to state the obvious here. We are called as people of another kingdom to be honest.  This is just common knowledge in the civic politic, or is it?  The commandment to not bear false witness against one's neighbor has a dual purpose. The first is to set a bar that holds honesty as a basis upon all human dialogue. To lie about another is to steal from them not what they own (which is what the previous commandment of grace is all about when it says NO STEALING) but who they are.  And in so doing the one who speaks falsely about another, by not giving the other the benefit of the doubt, reduces themselves to someone less than one created Imago Dei, in the image of God.

Secondly, let me suggest more provocatively and forthrightly, to speak is sacred.  In other words speaking and speech is a sacred act. In the beginning God spoke and a new reality was created ex nihilo or out of nothing.  Speech that is sacred is godlike because we create realities anew about ourselves and other people. Speech has the innate power to give life or even in its most harmful manner to take it away or at least to diminish it.  This is where we derive the English word sarcasm. It comes from two Greek words that mean "tearing the flesh."  Our words have the power to build up or tear down and apart. We live in a world that seeks to tear down and destroy at every front. I was driving across the Narrows bridge in the Seattle area last summer when I heard a driver yell at a person on the bridge to JUMP! I was furious. We are called to be lovers and givers of life and not destroyers!  To say that when my soul has been so invaded by the spoken and living Word of the cosmos I have the ability to co-create life anew or to take it, is not an understatement. What if, honestly speaking we, as Christians, are called to speak honestly?  Not a bad thought for people of a new kingdom!

Any Sign of LIFE?

A couple of nights ago my youngest daughter, Madeline, and I were reading and snuggling just before bedtime.  She asked me how my day was?  I remember reflecting and answering with deep gratitude, "I had a good day, but the best part is being here with you." She gets this really big smile that starts at one ear and runs along her jaw to her other ear, both of her cheeks turn a little red, and her blue eyes sparkled like the ocean. Frankly, I melted. What a great life I live. Then we both fell asleep.  Life is good....

So we are here with this next word of grace. Negatively it reads NO MURDER. Positively it could call us to the following action, Say Yes to LIFE!  We do live in a culture of rage, fear, and death.  We don't have to look very far to see that. Pretty much every day on the news there is all kinds of violence --everywhere. Yet, the people of God are called to celebrate life, to honor and cherish it.  To avoid murder and accidental killing is within the semantic range of the Hebrew language, which is less than precise compared to our litigious North American context.  I take the word to mean any act of violence against someone under a wide range or circumstances, intentional or otherwise--(Hauerwas and Willimon).  So we are called to be people who uphold life.

Jesus takes this one step further. He fulfills the First Testament and brings it home further by saying, be careful that you don't get angry and call someone an idiot--fool in the text of Scripture. Which means there is more than one way to murder someone. You can murder with a sword, the tongue, with silence or with a syringe.     

In the chaos of today is this relevant? As we stand on the threshold of a new world order is this helpful and hopeful?  In a very complex social order today that is global and also simultaneously local how do we make sense of any of this?  Most call pre-meditated murder out of bounds. Some say abortion is taking of life and others say it is not. Some say there are instances of just war and others say there are not. Others argue that in a nuclear age there is no such thing as just war because the 7 criteria for just war theorists was created pre-nuclear age. Some argue that stem cell research is within the boundaries of acceptability and others do not. Some argue for times when a good death is viable and others argue that it too is out of bounds. Some argue for capital punishment for premeditated crimes, while others retort where is the chance for penitence and social restoration?  I have my personal opinions but I will not share them here. Maybe it is enough for today so suggest out loud that the people of God are simply interested in life---life to and in all its fullness…I mean all politics aside, cannot we agree that life is worth fighting for?!

Whatever one’s opinion and even politic with regards to all of these issues, it is very clear that we can all agree that LIFE is worth struggling for, worth struggling over, even worth struggling to define.  It seems that Jesus is suggesting, if not, mandating that peace is our only real defense in today’s culture of fear. We are called out to show the world a better way to live, not just to any life but to God LIFE. A better way to live in a culture of fear, is instead to be people of faith. A faith that is willing to live and possibly, die for peace and life; only to discover our vindication, as Jesus did, at our own resurrection.  I believe that it was Indira Gandhi who said, "You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist!" Maybe this word of grace, the one that says NO MURDER, is telling us that failing to support the families of children of our society with health care, housing, food, education, day care, and just wages—the things that constitute the essentials of the dignified human life-- is at least as much a sin against life as war, abortion, euthanasia, stem-cell therapy and the sharp dagger of the tongue of anyone and everyone in a culture of rage!

Friends, we are called to be people of life. A people who live a Zoë way of life.  Zoë means life in all of its fullness and abundance that is pushed down to overflowing. That is why the name of my blog is Zoë—it is the Greek word for life.  It wishes fullness of life to every person on the planet as we enjoy God’s goodness and faithfulness, wonder, awe, mystery and the dance with the God of the universe. The essence of Zoë is a blessing and not a curse. How refreshing to be blessed when we are a culture that makes a virtue out of cussing and cursing. Doesn't it feel good to be a blessing and to receive one? So I say lets hit the mute button on all of the rage, murder, killing, violence and just plain non-sense in order to be people of life. Be people who overflow with Zoë, with Jesus, with grace, with Trinity!  Be people who bring a smile to the LIFE of a child, a red cheek, and the twinkle of blue eyes--risk bringing that out in everyone you meet on the street, sit next to in the bar, or bump into at the airport. Tennessee Williams wrote, “Life is an unanswered question, but lets still believe in the dignity and importance of the question.”