Thoughts...

Humanity marches ever onward.
Tho there are no more lands to conquer,
No people to displace,
No new territories to plant our banners,
No fauna to drive to extinction,
No minerals to exploit and deplete,
No place left to spread our disease.
Gone, the proud people of the Land,

Gone, the free Range,
Gone, the mighty Bison stampeding o'er the plain,
Gone, the trees and woodland creatures,
Gone, the innocence of this place.
O, virgin continent!
Lost to the ravishing of the rapist who overpowered you
And took Your virginity.
Exploited for a moment's gratification...
Left lying in your own blood.

1st Nations and White Privilege

Over the years I've had numerous occasions to reflect on what the colonial mindset has done to the American continent's indigenous people. Yeah, I grew up with cowboys and Indians, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, and all of the other evidences of white privilege in this country. But, something never quite sat right in my heart. The First Nations people were human beings. Their world was invaded by outsiders. How were we right? So, like a good little White guy, I started looking at some of the humanitarian and philanthropic ways to "help the poor Red Man." Little did I know that I would one day run head long into Randy Woodley. Nor, did I anticipate the effects of Dr. William Myer on my worldview. These men, along with Rev. Jennifer Crumpton, Caryn D. Riswold, and the bloggers at Womanist Musings have stretched me to the point of breaking. In fact, I have broken. I've broken with the white patristic ideal of America. I've broken with the idea that White makes Right. I've broken with the idea that God has ordained males for the divine work on Earth. These things make me wish that I was NOT a White Male.
But, I am. I can't change that. And, for whatever reason, Creator saw fit to make me this way.
However, back to my original thoughts.
Some folks think that humans came to this continent some 10,000 years ago. From these original travelers came the indigenous people that Columbus and the Mayflower, and perhaps the Norse met. I've read some blogs and other sources written by Native Americans that indicate that they KNOW that Creator gave them the land. This land. The land that we call ours. In fact, from Columbus to Cortez to the Jamestown community to every White European to set foot on this continent, we have said that God gave US this land. It was God who led the explorers west. It was God who allowed the Conquistadors to triumph. In our arrogance we have interpreted the seeming military successes of our forebears to mean that we were/are right. Everything that we have done in this hemisphere has been god-ordained. This country is God's country.
Bull.
What if......
The First Nations people are right. Creator gave them this land to live on. To live with. What if those roots were allowed to grow deep and produce much good fruit because Creator Yahweh ordained it so? And, what if God did, in fact, lead the Europeans here? We have been taught that God sent the Europeans to this continent to bring the Gospel. To bring civilization. But, what if Creator brought them here to learn? The indigenes knew the land. They knew Creator. They knew the true reality of life here. What if that's just what the Europeans needed to learn?

Walt Whitman and...the Bible?

This morning I was reading through the book of Hebrews in the Second Testament. Chapter 11 in that book contains some enlightening stories of faithful people in First Testament history. At the end of the chapter the following was recorded, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." This was written to show that we are interconnected with those who have gone before us. In a real way, we are people who share in the lives and faiths of all of humanity. Walt Whitman, a poet that I have only recently come to admire and appreciate, wrote the following:

On the beach at night alone,
As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song,
As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef of the universes and of the future,
A vast similitude interlocks all,
All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
All distances of place however wide,
All distances of time, all inanimate forms,
All souls, all living bodies thought they be ever so different, or in different worlds,
All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processed, the fishes, the brutes,
All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages,
All identities that have existed or may exist on this globe, or any globe,
All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future,
This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd,
And shall forever span them and compactly hold and  enclose them.

"A vast similitude interlocks all..." How true. We are all interrelated by virtue of a common heritage. Whether one believes in a single creative act of Yahweh Elohim, or the natural progression of evolution, we all share a common Source. Perhaps, it would do all of creation a great service if we humans started to live like parts,  siblings, of the Whole rather than the masters.

Quiet...Please!

It's rare whenever I see two blogs discussing similar topics. So, it was pretty amazing to see two this morning on the same topic. These reviewed a book entitled, Quiet:
The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking By Susan Cain.
I had never heard of the title, but it will certainly find a home with me fairly soon. The reviews, and a brief excerpt, discuss the place of introverted people in a world built on the idea that extroverts rule. For those who know me, I am definitely the former. I've told many folks that I much prefer books to people. Let me do anything, but let me do it alone. Of course, I've had people read that as selfishness, a lack of working to be a "people person" and any number of epithets that come from mostly extroverts who want everyone to be like them. Well, I'm not...and will never be.
So, I found the reviews refreshing. They were penned by kindred spirits that I can identify with. Here are links to the reviews:
 http://www.patheos.com//Progressive-Christian/Making-Room-Greg-Garrett-02-01-2013?offset=0&max=1

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/2013/01/finding-your-restorative-niche-a-review-of-susan-cains-quiet/

And here is a link to an excerpt from the book:
http://www.patheos.com/Books/Book-Club/Susan-Cain-Quiet/Read-a-Book-Excerpt-02-01-2013.html

Under Construction

I'm going to be trying some new things on this blog. The first thing I've done is to eliminate the 'Interesting places' and replace it with a list of blogs that I frequent. Please note that just because I've put a link to a blog on mine, that does not mean that I agree with all of the content of the other blog. I have found that each of these, however, does stretch me and make me take pause to reflect. One of the things that keeps me on my toes is to check out opinions that may differ from my own. I think the dialogue this can encourage is important. Whenever we get content and complacent within our own comfort zones bad things can happen. Our minds and hearts tend to atrophy and we can become functionally useless. So, poke around and comment.

Imago Dei

Read an interesting blog this A.M. It reveals much of the current direction that Christ followers are taking theology. I find the position refreshing. If for no other reason than it provides fodder for reflection. For those of you who know me, that's one of my favorite past times! Anyway, here is the link. Please take a minute to read it. Then take more than a minute to reflect.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/emergentvillage/2013/01/the-image-of-holiness/#comment-13066

What do we really believe about God?

One of the things I mentioned in my New Year's Things that I'm tired of was how scholars continue to kick dead horses. It seems that some things cannot be released and allowed to die. I have realized that these folks have been trained to question. They ask and ask and ask. This is, actually, a good thing. Nothing in faith is above questioning. That's how we appropriate and make the faith our own. None of us can accept the word of someone else. We MUST learn how to make it ours. But, in this process I've found that a lot of folks make faith about US. We try so hard to appropriate the text and the tradition that we miss the supernatural, the other, the Godly. Evelyn Underhill got it when she wrote, "The tendency of all worship to decline from adoration to demand, and from the supernatural to the ethical, show how strong a pull is needed to neutralize the anthropocentric trend of the human mind; its intense preoccupation with the world of succession, and its own here-and-now desires and needs...It is the mood of deep admiration, the meek acknowledgement of mystery, the humble and adoring gaze..."
So many scholars and theologians can argue about the text. What it says or doesn't say. But, very few are talking about the work of the Spirit. Where is the mystery? Where is the stuff that cannot be easily explained by historical or literary criticism? I think that the mystics among us are being overshadowed by the scholars. Christ followers are empowered and guided by what is unseen and unfelt. We are experiencers of God, not simply those who can understand some 2,000 year old text. I agree with Underhill. We need to get over ourselves and immersed into the reality of God, who is Spirit.