Zoe

The A B C's of a Momentary Monk: F for Fasting

I love cookies. In fact I never met a cookie I did not like. I definitely have a sweet tooth, for chocolate big time.  So the thought of fasting is, well, a bit of a stretch for me. I like to spiritualize that discipline away saying I pray plenty so I do not need to fast. The purpose of fasting is to create space to pray. Well that is one reason to fast. But there are many types of fasts. Like the one that was forced on me today. Okay so, we have a septic system that had major difficulties about a month ago. It was a "situation" in which we ended up replacing the drain field. So much for a family vacation to Hawaii. It all went into, well--you know what! Not my idea of a great way to spend my hard earned on, if you know what I mean. Well today we had 10 cubic yards of top soil delivered to be spread over the newly graded back yard. The plan was to spread it out and throw down some seed in between raindrops and then power wash off the driveway and look forward to playing golf when the ark finds dry land again sometime this July. After about 10 wheel barrow loads my back went out. I went down to  my knees and could not stand up straight. I am sure the image of a 46 year old man crawling up to his front door and into the house must have been a funny sight to the eagle that fly's over our house, but I was hurting--big time!  It was a forced fast. A fast from my schedule, my to-do list, my ability to rely on myself to get it done. A fast is  fast and I am experiencing one. I certainly have had time to pray. It is ironic how our best laid plans are just that-ours. Gods sense of humor is always something different. I can move a little bit right now but not sit down as of yet.It might take a few more hours and Advil before I can get around more effectively!  I am typing this on my side. I think all of this writing is making me hungry. I think I will have my daughter bring me another cookie.

Virtue Unfettered: The ABC's of a Momentary Monk; E is for ENOUGH

When is enough, enough?  I ask myself that question daily. What do we/I/my family really need?  We  really produce alot of garbage and trash. That is one of the emergent questions that seems to make alot of sense right now. I do like that this economic correction is forcing us to ask that question more frequently. Coming from a place of global power we certainly have enough food, water, and adequate health care compared to nearly 90% of the rest of the world.  When 20,000 children die every day because they don't have food and another 15,000 children die due to unclean potable water---we certainly have enough--as I reach into my mini fridge to grap another bottled water to drink--and fill the landfill up with one more thing that we certainly have enough of--empty plastic water bottles. I am reminded of an image that burns in my mind  from my most recent trip to Africa.  I see lots of children  using old empty water bottles as sandals to protect their feet from the ground and the sharp reminders of those who have enough and those who do not. It sure makes me wonder what we are doing.  And and even more pertinent question is how should I live as a Christ follower in light of this sampling of images?  For one thing I think i will bring water in my reusable water bottle. I cannot change the entire world but I can change this one thing today. Will you join me?  In the triumph if the therapeutic the feeling of happiness has certainly replaced the notion of happiness as being a by product of a larger communal good. Enough is enough. Maybe it is time to return to a Edensitic happiness and set aside our hedonistic happiness....Enough already!

images of faith

  Most of the images that we use in worship now are from a recent CD released by CIVA - Christians in the visual arts. It is a compilation of "higher art" images edited by Sandra Bowden. I highly recommend the CD. Not only do the images tell the story of the Christian message but with the images comes a description of each image. It helps to translate what we see with how we perceive it. The explanations are powerful and give us a context and a framework to interpret what we SEE and in this sense we are compelled to "pray with our eyes wide open."  This compilation contains over 100 images and was made available by a grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. It is but another powerful example of how my generation is incarnating the word spoken and alive. It is our kerygma! I have included a favorite of mine for you to enjoy. It is entitled Golgotha by Rouault. In fact it is the wallpaper on my iphone. Enjoy! 

Perhaps...

My eyes are burning. I have not gotten much sleep the last couple of days because I have spent many late nights listening to the new U2 CD No LIne on the Horizon. I am not sure why I am such a fan. I always have been....we go way back....to the beginning. When they started I was starting, as a human. Perhaps it is the fact that Bono and his wife Alli have been married a little longer than Dawn and me. Perhaps it is that we have just grown up together. They, u2, were always something that I could count on. Perhaps it is their ability to capture the soul of the planet and we just groove--but then again we are not alone. Many of you do too---groove together with them,that is! Perhaps it is their love for Africa that I share with them. Perhaps it is the intellectual genius that I so enjoy--even though I am a very simple man trying to dabble in deeper things. Perhaps it is their ability to collapse the material and spiritual in such a way that there really is a blurring on the horizon of those two boundaries. They are ontologically metaphysical without losing their penultimate imminence.  Perhaps it is just the love of rock and roll, the violence of it that awakens us to the madness and the sheer BS of many things that we place such heavy stock in. Perhaps it is their ability to write and sing of love, angst, searching, wandering, questioning and at times finding. Perhaps it is because they have the gift of dripping us in emotion through storytelling. Perhaps they connect all of what it means to be human in a three minute convergence of creation and inspiration so that we feel it through all of our physicality. Perhaps it is that I never know if I have just listened to a rock song or worshipped-God, or both! Perhaps it is becasue they capture the tensions, paradox, and antinomy of life in such a way that i neither know if I have just experienced loneliness or joy....because through all of their melodious searchings there is always one thing....hope! They have the ability to create a playground for us to wander in, without fear, they allow us space to swim in the world of the unknown and to surrender to that sacred and primal place. It is a womblike experience in which the etheral and material simultaneously co-exist.  Perhaps it is all of these things. Perhaps it is none of these things. Perhaps it is just the gravitas of grace. Perhaps.