Saturday 29 November 2014

On Apocalyptic Names.



The books will be opened. The secrets will all be revealed. Everything will receive its true name. Prophets, angels, teachers, saints have been sent to reveal the truth to us, and still we fail to learn.
            Those who name God as Merciful show no mercy. Those who name God as Love shed blood in hate. The rhetoric of religions is saturated with violence, while Jesus stands in the midst of this maelstrom saying, ‘Do these words mean nothing to you? I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’
            The name represents the identity. The name acts, often, as the person. Your signature is something you had better not lose. ‘Identity theft’ is a crisis for people. The past that has given you meaning, your place in the divine dispensation, as well as your presence in the present secular order, all lost: this is what has been done and is being done to the Aboriginals. Their house of prayer has been ransacked: its name is Country.
            Uncompromising religions sweep across the Middle East. In the fifth century another uncompromising religion swept across the same lands, destroying the monuments of the protectors of cities: Christendom triumphant. We see the ruins of these ancient places, study the archaeology, try to understand them.
            Persons are to be loved, not understood.
            The hymn At the Name of Jesus speaks of Empire. It is God who is humbled in this hymn, in order to be named. Indeed naming is a limitation. You must be humble to receive a name.
            Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and others fight across countries, sacred lands, naming enemies and killing even the youngest children, as Herod killed the innocents, martyrs to his power.
            What does the transcendent God think of all this? If ‘think’ is a proper word to use of so great a Being. ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’
            Jesuit spiritual directors have a question that I think is a good question, worthy to be thought over, something to be solved for this day, the only day you are certain to have, although tomorrow you may find a different answer. “Who is Jesus Christ for you today?”
            Who is Jesus Christ for you? What does he say to our present griefs? To me he says: ‘Go and learn the meaning of this: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’

Friday 14 November 2014

On Light Lifting: How Hard Do You Work?



The Melbourne Cup favourite, Admire Rakti, returned to his stall after finishing last in the race, and suddenly died. Due to his previous wins, the horse was carrying an unusually heavy 58.5 kg, although the weight itself was not apparently implicated in his death. An autopsy discovered a rare condition called ventricular fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm that may occur in athletes — humans as well as horses — in which the heart is unable to pump blood leading to collapse and death. The very strength of his heart and the speed of the race might contribute to the electrical imbalance that led to Admire Rakti’s heart failure.
            Is it possible to be too strong?
            Racehorses are born and bred to run under a set of strict conditions. They’re carefully vetted as valuable animals whose fate may be involved with millions in money. Things like weight and distance, age and form are considered in assessing a horse’s suitability for certain races and tracks. Admire Rakti had just won the Caulfield Cup which led to the extra .5 kg he was carrying.
            Is it possible to be too successful?
            I once met at a day care centre a lady called Alice, only 48 years old, yet unable to take care of herself because of her damaged memory. Alice, a school cleaner, had a heart attack at work. Now she couldn’t be left alone to make a cup of tea. But she had some memories. “I didn’t know how hard I was working,” she said. She said it again and again; she couldn’t remember she’d already said it once.
            Do you know how hard you’re working?
            We’ve spoken of the heart in the body: what about the other heart, that rules your emotions? Can the mind break, the heart break, the spiritual commitment even break? Is it possible to work too hard?
            Jesus invited the crowds that came out to see John the Baptist, the people so heavily burdened, “Come to me, and I will rest you.” It’s not the giving of a rest that’s like a cloudy feather bed where you can lie down and go to sleep. It’s the order of a master to his slaves who’ve been doing some heavy lifting: sit down and take a spell. He works them; but then he rests them.
            Heavy lifting can be sustained for only so long. Extreme speed, success, achievement can only win for so long. Unlike many masters, he respects their limitations. Do you respect your limitations?
            Heavy lifting seems to be much admired these days. We’re not supposed to have limitations. What about some light lifting?
            We could respect the rhythms of our minds and hearts and even our souls and spirits. Is it really necessary to move so fast? It’s very unlikely that you have to run like a racehorse. Nor do you need a penalty weight following your latest success. The practice of something tending to failure might be good for you: I play the piano, despite having a pinched nerve in my neck, which guarantees me a little wholesome failure every day.     
            I can recommend light lifting. Do you know how hard you work? Jesus had another idea. Take a rest, now and then.

Sunday 9 November 2014

On the Blessing of Gay Marriage.



When I was studying at UFT, I took a course called Liturgical Sources. A primary source of liturgy is Blessing. To illustrate the blessing formula, each of the students had to create a blessing for the marriage of Adam and Eve. When it came to my turn, I said, “I’m going to bless the marriage of Adam and Steve.”
            My blessing ran, “Blessed are You, Lord God, Creator of Love, who has caused your Son Jesus Christ to be born of a Virgin, to be our Light and Salvation: we thank you for the love between Adam and Steve, that we celebrate here today, and for the uniting of their families through their union. We pray that you will give them length of days together, in unity, patience, wholeness and joy, that they may serve as an example of true affection, faithfulness, and care, and  through their marriage enrich their families, their friends, and all who come to know them. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
            The Jesuits who were taking this course with me thought this was a fine blessing: they particularly liked the part about uniting the families. Marriage was always a family affair, and this is one reason why gay marriage is so important. The churches should lead the way even if the state resists something ‘different.’ The church should be blessing gay marriages no matter what the state thinks.
            Families like marriages. (They love weddings!) You know who your family is with marriages. For who is my brother’s husband but my brother-in-law? You can have more people in your family. That’s a consideration for some of us. And you can openly acknowledge your family, which is something that more and more straight people want to do and are doing: this is my brother, my sister, his husband, her wife.
            Then there’s the blessing that gay marriage is. Rather like the blessing that any marriage is. You could get to the point of dropping the word ‘gay’ and understand that when two people commit themselves to love and be faithful, to share and support, to protect and serve one another the whole social fabric is strengthened.
            Since I’m supposed to be writing about social justice here, I’ll just mention that of the 2500 annual suicides in this country, as many as one third may be gay, with young persons particularly vulnerable. I’ll never forget a significant churchman saying, one day, that when he was a child a gay couple had visited his parents’ church for a while. They didn’t stay, but, he said, “they meant the world to me, because for the first time in my life I saw that I might have a future.” This man deserves to stand at the altar and exchange his vows with his husband. Every gay child deserves to look forward to having a future: the lack of that perspective (among other factors) can lead to death.
            What is marriage? It is a bond that, as St. Paul says, contains sexual desires and places them in a context of family belonging. It may often (not always) lead to the birth of children who must be cared for, educated and protected in a set of secure relationships. Hence it is a collective, not only an individual, responsibility: all the family is involved.  It is, as the Prayer Book has it, ‘an honourable estate’ if by honour we mean the public acknowledgement of worth and value. Married people are esteemed and respected wherever the family is regarded.  Therefore the church needs, in its pastoral oversight, to bless gay marriages. Blessing gives life, hope, love, light, and value: it is a chief Christian action, Blessing, in the name of Jesus Christ, who blessed all the world.

Saturday 1 November 2014

On Praise: All Saints.



Thomas Aquinas was a wordy man. But what attracts me is his life. All those words spilled in combat with the Gnostic heretics, who claimed that the world was created by an evil spirit. Not perhaps entirely different from today, when some claim that the world is created by nobody. Surely not the right spirit.
            It has all the ingredients of a good fairy tale. The castle, the seven brothers, the imprisoned prince, the mysterious Quest. Aquinas’ cousin was the Holy Roman Emperor. The seven brothers’ favourite thing was fighting: big landholders fighting other big landowners. Aquinas was the strange fairytale hero whose childhood question — What is God? — fuelled the incessant reading that disturbed his family: they were religious, of course, as everybody in the thirteenth century was religious, but Thomas was taking things too far. There’s a place for people like him. The local Benedictine monastery will do fine: let’s make him the abbot! (Monte Cassino, no less.)
            That’s the kind of family he has: Let’s make him take a vow of stability, run the monastery like a real aristocrat, deal with all the admin and the personalities, do a little reading in his spare time. No, says Thomas. The brothers tried everything: they kidnapped him, locked him up in the castle, locked him in with a pretty girl. He threw her out, escaped, and took to the roads as a wandering friar.
            Let’s see the world! Of course, since he’d joined the frightfully exciting Dominican preachers, he had a Dominican boss: you nearly always have someone to obey, in the thirteenth century. You will see Paris, he’s told: specifically you’ll see the University of Paris. He won’t be the last young person to be directed thus.
            Thomas was wordy, but also silent. The words were all inside. They called him ‘the dumb ox’ because he had so little to say. When the words came out, they smashed the heretics’ case.
            Dominicans like to praise God: naturally enough, God must first exist to make this possible. I sympathise: when I look around, I see much to praise. In yesterday’s hailstorm I saw the red young maple leaves tossed upside down, showing silvery undersides amongst the red in the Japanese garden. Praise. Of course. What else?
            All Hallows: all saints praise God. Francis famously praised God in nature: earth, air, fire and water. Benedict, whose name means ‘blessed’ listened carefully for praise of God in every soul. Thomas followed the Dominican way: praise, bless, preach. The first of his preaching is the existence of God. Otherwise, he said, there’s nothing to discuss.
            The God of Exodus is named I AM. Existence is the basic quality. Thomas, in the end, lost all his words. Praying before an icon of Christ, he fell into trance and had a mystical experience that changed his life. He no longer wrote a word. He had received the only thing he wanted: his Lord. Soon after, he died.
             His Lord, Jesus, called himself the Truth. As truth is, God is. Is this logic, or faith? Praise is a sure thing. All saints, praise God.