Emancipation: A Surrender to God

You may be hearing news covering Juneteenth, yesterday’s celebration of Emancipation Day in 1865. And how about the 72 Philadelphia police officers placed on administrative duty over thousands of discriminatory social media posts? Some of them will lose their jobs. Thank you, Philly, for setting an example. And thanks to Pennsylvania's governor for designating June 19 as a state holiday. We've got so much more to do.

Two years ago I wrote a post rather apropos. In fact, it's the last one I wrote here. (It's a decree of its own sort. Please do read it.) Then this past weekend, I planned to share similar words to embolden men in particular to conduct themselves distinctively from the seeming throngs across our country. The words below come from Rule for a New Brother, first published in the UK in 1973. Let us dream, friends. That is, let’s prayerfully envision...

Human freedom is being threatened more than ever. Set yourself against everything that oppresses people. Free yourself from a world that seeks pleasures and possessions and bring others to share your freedom. Set yourself against everything that makes people slaves, politically, economically, socially. You have nothing to lose. No doubt you will have noticed that humanity’s bondage is to sin, to our short-sighted attachment to ourselves. Through your radical surrender to God you will be freed from this and become a deliverer of other people, a breath of fresh air for those you meet, a servant of all, a source of life, expectation and hope.

Read across the Scriptures and we find Jesus as the sign of Jubilee - the time of the Lord's favor, the day all of Nature is set free! He gives LIFE. As followers of his way, we will be his kind of deliverers! 

Now
In this earth
May the social, political, economic
Fathers and Mothers in our societies 

Begin again to collectively, palpably and
Humbly portray our call to FREEDOM.
We will see the great JUBILEE.

Amen.

Honoring Life

**This post was first written prior to the new year and feels more befitting now, as we remember the atrocities of the Holocaust, face the disservice and discriminatory courses being set under this new presidency, and continue to battle each other over who is really fighting for justice.

I've watched this from childhood and firsthand: honor without accountability distorts the truth. We all see it. Privilege that separates destroys us. Disgrace abounds among public figures. Life after "admired life" is cut short because the limelight burns too close. How many families of every sphere are destroyed by the abuse of power and addiction to esteem?

On Facebook today, I warned about treating our leaders like idols. I specified those in uniform because of the relativity to some of my own experiences. However, we must watch how we show respect to any leader, be they soldier, preacher, actor, teacher, politician. Whether highly visible or not, when someone is given the responsibility of a role, a title, a uniform, we must not place them on a pedestal.  Set them up on a ledge, we set them up for a fall.

These people are people. Like you, like me, with purpose and potential, they are still broken, messy, flawed, prideful people. By holding them too high, at arms length, we isolate them and leave them to their own defenses, distorting their place in the community. We dishonor them. Want to give what you believe is due them? Then, more than hollow recognition, give them your friendship. Work alongside them, to thank them, hear them, care for them, pray for them. Hold them accountable, but never out of reach. Follow, but never blindly.

Another distortion is disregard. Countless leaders (like the common person and the destitute) will never get recognition in pay or with publicity, but they're no less worthy of respect. There are those in our families, at our workplaces and on our streets whose existence we distort by our indifference. Enacting outright discrimination is a problem that goes unsaid. No, we must consider the disparity of when the only lives shown sincere regard are the ones in blue, the ones in the womb or the ones that look just like me or you. Call apathy its mother. Such an aberration ignites terror, war, genocide!

Be not a respecter of persons but respect life itself. Every life. Be mindful of yourself and open up. Fight every prejudice within. Stop drawing dividing lines with your words and attitudes. Every good cause can embolden the next. Mourn those who die alone, grieve the forgotten. Listen to the broken-hearted as well as the enraged. They're the same. Notice someone you have never noticed. I repeat, thank them, hear them, care for, support and befriend them as you do your leaders and those revered by the masses.

This kind of honor is the pedestal. In its proper place, it will serve as a foundation for all of society, all of humanity to be built on. Then, all that is living might have a chance to flourish.

Life is a gift that belongs to all. Honor it by honoring all.

Gifts from Grief

Last Friday, I spent all day decorating our house for Christmas.  Our tree had been up for a week and the kids' winter break was about to begin.  The prospect of sixteen days off sure made me merry and bright! And as I opened the boxes and bins of old decorations, they became fresh with meaning. I framed holiday cards given to us in past years and placed them around the house. Some of them represent new friendships that were painful to leave so soon. Other pieces hold memories with my family long ago yet felt different today. Pondering the gifts of the years filled me with joy.

Grief has also had its place, so I've pondered it. We won't be home (in NJ) for the holidays. That's only ever happened once, the year Owen was born. Even then, he and I flew home for a visit just weeks into the new year. Today, we have no idea when we might return.  to that place and a circles of circles of family and friends that are changing now without us. "Even when you're moving for positive reasons... moving is a major grief event," says Russell Friedman (Grief Recovery Institute). "Rather than avoiding the feelings of grief, lean into them... Grief is the way out of the pain."

Most of us on Earth are either grieving or living not far from grief. Some can't be home at the holidays, some are truly alone. Others grieve secretly while some are unaware that grief is the secret they hold. Sometimes it comes by utter devastation or by sudden loss. Other times it's simply a bi-product of the natural course of life. No matter, grief is painful. Whatever the circumstance, Friedman's definition will fit:     

 "the conflicting emotions caused by the end of or change in a familiar pattern of behavior."

Not long after our August move, a friend of ours kindly reopened the door to permission when she said I should take all the time I need. Change takes time to navigate. Even really good change. We already enjoy so much about our life in Colorado that people are confused sometimes when I say I'm doing well. It doesn't mean I don't have grief to walk through, that many moments are not hard. I'm just not depressed about what I don't have, about the distance, or even about the grave financial struggle that's come with relocating.

Grief doesn't exist in an emotional vacuum apart from peace, beauty, love. Likewise, there's a joy that is only found once we've known loss. It's why I'm thankful for past seasons of grief, why we can celebrate even in the midst of sorrow. On December 23, 1862, Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter of condolence to the daughter of an old friend, William McCullough, who'd just been killed in the war. Lincoln wanted to assure her even in the depths of anguish: "The memory of your dear father, instead of agony, will yet be a sad sweet feeling in your heart, of a purer, and holier sort than you have known before." We may never be the same after mourning, but we can become more.  

Perhaps through grief we find a friendship that stands the test of turmoil. Maybe after extensive sicknesses we experience profound health for the first time. A tragedy may restart our hearts with a fresh focus on what's really important. One season of grief may uncover a former loss we were never able to process till now. These are gifts we find even as our days bring loss.

Here we are at Christmas. This season enunciates the Greatest Gift ever to come from emptying and ultimate loss.  God himself would become a child and suffer all that man could, in order to make us whole. Wholly his. Rejected, despised, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief... Jesus the Son and Light of the World knows our pain personally and always offers more of himself in the dark places. A letting go can make room. 

Rainer Maria Rilke famously spoke, "Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final." Here is a poem of his, in the same vein.

LET THIS DARKNESS BE A BELL TOWER

Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.

You are here. You are alive.
You and I.
Let's keep going.