it would appear to me today that some sort of elucidation about how community conversations take place take place....having just come from one
i sat with two monks at the coffee table in the coffee room and the conversation went from football to politics
first fr brian went on and on about peyton manning and his huge contract with the indiana colts i don't know what it is with football with this 91 yr old genius
after the other monk and myself weighed in negatively stating rather absurdist positions on the presence of football at all the conversation veered toward recent politics
i made a case or tried to
for all politics being understood as merely a job with no celebrity no perks
it should be understood as a service task with no money involved whatsoever
everyone who is elected has to make their own way -
even if that means borrowing money from lobbyists
this idea was roundly rejected
br paul stated that politics is a human game and you have to be with humanity you have to show your face.... that's the politics i like - he said
he said he's rubbed shoulders with amy klobuchar and mark dayton
he's even stood next to michelle bachman
then br paul offered an expletive which i will not hesitate
to type out for matters of clarity
he said
i think she's a shit
that's all he said about it
he didn't say anything else
brian was in a conversational mood he could have gone on
with this level of inanity all morning
but the both of us paul and i seemed to have the
natural inclination to get about the activities of the day
and leave brian to his worldly thoughts
kind of a pathetic scene as we walked away
although brian smiled hugely and waved generously
i'm drinking decaf coffee
and i had a piece of toast as we chatted
community carries with it the willingness to
enter into inane if seeming pertinant conversation
with people you can trust
politics is not foreign to community life
it's a social reality that knocks on the door daily
we also spoke briefly about the state fair tragedy
the collapse of a large bleacher section
in some state or another
none of us seemed to know in which state this happened
but we agreed that people died
my comment to all this was
just goes to show you
the american dream can be a dangerous thing
this was the portal to something else about the rich
and caring about the feelings of the rich
somehow i came around to the money as manure theme
and expounded upon my theory of spreading it around
paul and i agreed that money tends to move toward family concentrations
and sooner or later two or three families will be in charge
of all the money
i suggested that obama make a political decision to enter the race
for re-election and simply say to america i'm going to stay in
washington and do my job maybe do a 15 minute press conference every week
brian spoke of harry truman riding the train through america
i was appealing to the notion that basic common sense and a resistance to the hooplah
would go a long way in this country even heritage foundation republicans and independents might be impressed with such a radical decision
the republicans coud fight it out but the democrats could just sit back and laugh
and refuse to play
they could decide to not pay attention to the babble
and leave it all one sided babble and then see how it pans out in the elections
or at least obama could decide to not campaign
until after the party conventions
i think that's what obama should do
ride the train
i only publish this as a means of elucidating the
commonplace activities in community
i suppose there was more said
maybe quite a bit left unsaid
but that in general is the line of shared conversation
i entered into this morning
now
i'm going to go swimming
alone
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
waiting
it occurs to me that community requires patience
utmost patience
a sense of deliberate willingness to wait
in the past week i've become very aware
that community exists in a broad sense
in a vast expanding definition
the lines are breaking up continually
while playing guitar at holy mass last week
with about 200 catholic lay missionaries present
all of whom i did not know
it occured to me that we were yet part of a great community
together
and indeed i was in the minority
for none of these people know me
yet we deemed it right and just to partake in
the same body and blood of eucharist
and i felt they were anything but strangers
this past weekend i sojourned in
lanceister county PA
and i engaged in a dialogue
between mennonites and catholics
actually a multilogue
which ended in our mutual recognition that
despite our familiarity we are divided somehow
we cannot worship as one
there's something that says
we are not the same people when it comes to
eating at this particular table
and i must say
though i knew these people better than
the lay catholic missionaries
i felt further away from them
that though every gesture had been made
to become familiar and friendly
we were still left with this gulf of
strangerness
we were uncomfortably strange to one another
yet the ray of hope emerged
and said something about
there is a possibility if you imagine together
there is a way to become closer
there is a way to bridge the gulf of strangeness
it requires patience
it requires the willingness to share at table
the food of sustenance
like fruit and coffee and tea cupcakes
and pizza and date bars
those sorts of things
i only say this as a way of utilizing
my more immediate experiences and thoughts
in an effort to entertain the dialogue here
of some sort of community minded activity
sally brings up some good points
i hope people will chime in with her
i plan to revert back to her thoughts
and respond to them in kind soon
maybe community originates in the ability to
arrange for seemingly absurd possibilities
in a somewhat graceful manner
utmost patience
a sense of deliberate willingness to wait
in the past week i've become very aware
that community exists in a broad sense
in a vast expanding definition
the lines are breaking up continually
while playing guitar at holy mass last week
with about 200 catholic lay missionaries present
all of whom i did not know
it occured to me that we were yet part of a great community
together
and indeed i was in the minority
for none of these people know me
yet we deemed it right and just to partake in
the same body and blood of eucharist
and i felt they were anything but strangers
this past weekend i sojourned in
lanceister county PA
and i engaged in a dialogue
between mennonites and catholics
actually a multilogue
which ended in our mutual recognition that
despite our familiarity we are divided somehow
we cannot worship as one
there's something that says
we are not the same people when it comes to
eating at this particular table
and i must say
though i knew these people better than
the lay catholic missionaries
i felt further away from them
that though every gesture had been made
to become familiar and friendly
we were still left with this gulf of
strangerness
we were uncomfortably strange to one another
yet the ray of hope emerged
and said something about
there is a possibility if you imagine together
there is a way to become closer
there is a way to bridge the gulf of strangeness
it requires patience
it requires the willingness to share at table
the food of sustenance
like fruit and coffee and tea cupcakes
and pizza and date bars
those sorts of things
i only say this as a way of utilizing
my more immediate experiences and thoughts
in an effort to entertain the dialogue here
of some sort of community minded activity
sally brings up some good points
i hope people will chime in with her
i plan to revert back to her thoughts
and respond to them in kind soon
maybe community originates in the ability to
arrange for seemingly absurd possibilities
in a somewhat graceful manner
Saturday, August 6, 2011
creating community
is community created?
or found?
it appears that st benedict
set about creating community
rather deliberately
on the other hand
maybe that was just a response
to those guys who kept following him around
who wouldn't leave him alone
when he went off alone to pray
reading st benedict's rule lately
reignites my passion for christianity
at least a little
what is it about his words
that inspires me
to want to be good
to want to seek god?
i feel like i'm skating on two skis
i had a long glide
on the track of buddhism
for the past nine months or so
finding there some tools
to deal with life's disappointments
tools that were not easily accessible to me
in christianity
and an inkling of community
among like-minded spirits
but i never shook off
the ski of christianity from my other foot
am i ready now for a long glide on that ski
finding there an inspiriation
a personal call from the mystery behind it all?
am i called to work to build community
among the christians who are already in my life?
or rather to seek out other christians
with whom i might have more in common?
i think there is much in the rule of st benedict
that would appeal to my evangelical friends
would they join me in seeking inspiration there?
or would i be better off seeking out those
who already are drawn to the rule?
just some musings
on a saturday morning
thinking about starting
some sort of group in our home
benedict advises to begin
every good work with prayer
pray for me brothers and sisters
or found?
it appears that st benedict
set about creating community
rather deliberately
on the other hand
maybe that was just a response
to those guys who kept following him around
who wouldn't leave him alone
when he went off alone to pray
reading st benedict's rule lately
reignites my passion for christianity
at least a little
what is it about his words
that inspires me
to want to be good
to want to seek god?
i feel like i'm skating on two skis
i had a long glide
on the track of buddhism
for the past nine months or so
finding there some tools
to deal with life's disappointments
tools that were not easily accessible to me
in christianity
and an inkling of community
among like-minded spirits
but i never shook off
the ski of christianity from my other foot
am i ready now for a long glide on that ski
finding there an inspiriation
a personal call from the mystery behind it all?
am i called to work to build community
among the christians who are already in my life?
or rather to seek out other christians
with whom i might have more in common?
i think there is much in the rule of st benedict
that would appeal to my evangelical friends
would they join me in seeking inspiration there?
or would i be better off seeking out those
who already are drawn to the rule?
just some musings
on a saturday morning
thinking about starting
some sort of group in our home
benedict advises to begin
every good work with prayer
pray for me brothers and sisters
Monday, July 25, 2011
thinking of santiago de compostela
on this feast of st james
the first apostle martyr
we sang at mass this hymn
to the tune from Melchior Vulpius
and lyrics by George K. A. Bell
Christ is the King! O friends rejoice;
Brothers and sisters, with one voice
Let the world know he is your choice
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
O magnify the Lord, and raise
anthems of joy and holy praise
For all the saints of ancient days.
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia!
O Christian women, Christian men,
All the world over, seek again
The way his faithful followed then.
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia!
So shall God's will on earth be done,
New lamps be lit, new tasks begun,
And the whole Church at last be one.
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia!
i noted the lyrics because they echo my morning reading
looking into the chapter entitled
eternal life in the book by
Henri de Lubac sj
Catholicism
de Lubac insists that the notion of community
alive and working in the early church
was marked by continual prayer
for all the followers of christ
and ultimately for all men and women
that the justice of christ might be realized
in a recognition of unity
this lends itself to the further awareness that
the hammering out of the creeds and
the theology which accompanied all that
was really an effort to assure unity
perhaps the greatest catholic awareness
of the 20th going into the 21st century
has been the importance of mending bridges
building them again
and opening doors of sincerity and charity
for all those living in the spirit of christ
even to those who don't
much of this based on our being reacquainted
with the literature of the first few generations
of believers after the apostles
before the hymn during communion
i recognized a few people in the area around the altar
with whom i have grown uneasy
one might even go so far as to say suspicious
yet i deem to share in the same body and blood
the hymn beckons me on in hope
to walk to the altar with hands out is a way
of making community
not by my design but in openness to
a mystery
far greater than what i know
the title of the Vulpius hymn
is
GELOBT SEI GOTT
beloved of god
who can put a limit on that idea
the apostle james had conceived (or at least his mother did)
of the possibility
of being installed as a high government official
in the kingdom brought about by christ
it was not long until he realized
perhaps after making it to the northwest coast
of what is now spain
that his inclusion in the kingdom
would be ratified by a death much like that
of the one he chose to follow
i like to think that one day i will walk
to santiago de compostela church
and watch the largest
thurifer in the world
swing swing swing
the first apostle martyr
we sang at mass this hymn
to the tune from Melchior Vulpius
and lyrics by George K. A. Bell
Christ is the King! O friends rejoice;
Brothers and sisters, with one voice
Let the world know he is your choice
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
O magnify the Lord, and raise
anthems of joy and holy praise
For all the saints of ancient days.
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia!
O Christian women, Christian men,
All the world over, seek again
The way his faithful followed then.
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia!
So shall God's will on earth be done,
New lamps be lit, new tasks begun,
And the whole Church at last be one.
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia!
i noted the lyrics because they echo my morning reading
looking into the chapter entitled
eternal life in the book by
Henri de Lubac sj
Catholicism
de Lubac insists that the notion of community
alive and working in the early church
was marked by continual prayer
for all the followers of christ
and ultimately for all men and women
that the justice of christ might be realized
in a recognition of unity
this lends itself to the further awareness that
the hammering out of the creeds and
the theology which accompanied all that
was really an effort to assure unity
perhaps the greatest catholic awareness
of the 20th going into the 21st century
has been the importance of mending bridges
building them again
and opening doors of sincerity and charity
for all those living in the spirit of christ
even to those who don't
much of this based on our being reacquainted
with the literature of the first few generations
of believers after the apostles
before the hymn during communion
i recognized a few people in the area around the altar
with whom i have grown uneasy
one might even go so far as to say suspicious
yet i deem to share in the same body and blood
the hymn beckons me on in hope
to walk to the altar with hands out is a way
of making community
not by my design but in openness to
a mystery
far greater than what i know
the title of the Vulpius hymn
is
GELOBT SEI GOTT
beloved of god
who can put a limit on that idea
the apostle james had conceived (or at least his mother did)
of the possibility
of being installed as a high government official
in the kingdom brought about by christ
it was not long until he realized
perhaps after making it to the northwest coast
of what is now spain
that his inclusion in the kingdom
would be ratified by a death much like that
of the one he chose to follow
i like to think that one day i will walk
to santiago de compostela church
and watch the largest
thurifer in the world
swing swing swing
Sunday, July 10, 2011
longing for community
ok it's about time
for someone to post something here
i find a disturbing lack of genuine community
in my christian life
not a complete lack
but a sparsity
it is hard for me to find much depth
at church or at other christian gatherings
i know or expect that many of the people at these gatherings
have a deep spiritual experience
but the gatherings don't seem to offer
an opportunity to acknowledge that
or to reflect on it or to encourage one another in it
i sense more of what i am looking for
in the buddhist sangha that i attend
where people are willing
to sit with each other in silence
allowing space for each to approach God
and then sharing things learned
on the pilgrimage
of course they don't use words like God
or pilgrimage
but that is my sense of what we are doing there
i do get this same sense
when i visit christian monasteries
where monks or nuns are on a pilgrimage together
where there is a sense of desire
to grow into the image of God
that we are meant to be
and also a sense that we are
dependent on the community
in order to do this
i wonder whether and how
this type of community
can be fostered outside of
a monastery?
i know that some christians have it
most often in small groups
of two or three or four
who meet together to pray
i'm going to be on the lookout
for ways of fostering
christian community
for someone to post something here
i find a disturbing lack of genuine community
in my christian life
not a complete lack
but a sparsity
it is hard for me to find much depth
at church or at other christian gatherings
i know or expect that many of the people at these gatherings
have a deep spiritual experience
but the gatherings don't seem to offer
an opportunity to acknowledge that
or to reflect on it or to encourage one another in it
i sense more of what i am looking for
in the buddhist sangha that i attend
where people are willing
to sit with each other in silence
allowing space for each to approach God
and then sharing things learned
on the pilgrimage
of course they don't use words like God
or pilgrimage
but that is my sense of what we are doing there
i do get this same sense
when i visit christian monasteries
where monks or nuns are on a pilgrimage together
where there is a sense of desire
to grow into the image of God
that we are meant to be
and also a sense that we are
dependent on the community
in order to do this
i wonder whether and how
this type of community
can be fostered outside of
a monastery?
i know that some christians have it
most often in small groups
of two or three or four
who meet together to pray
i'm going to be on the lookout
for ways of fostering
christian community
Thursday, June 9, 2011
theme for the day
at the beginning of his great tome
catholicism henri de lubac sj
invites the reader into the mental world of the
generation just after the apostles
that of clement of A athanasius
basil gregory gregory nazianzens
hilary and cyril d jerusalem not to mention augustine a little later on
the precise insight sustained through 500 yrs of church teaching and revived in a vital way today
what is this insight
for gods' sake
god created human kind with the inherent understading of unity
that our awareness of our likeness to everyother human
is the context for our understanding our likeness to god
something militates against this inherent knowledge
what
when we find out
perhaps we could begin to build something
that looks like a community
the plaster that holds community together
is often cracked and crumbling
patch work is no mean craft
amen
catholicism henri de lubac sj
invites the reader into the mental world of the
generation just after the apostles
that of clement of A athanasius
basil gregory gregory nazianzens
hilary and cyril d jerusalem not to mention augustine a little later on
the precise insight sustained through 500 yrs of church teaching and revived in a vital way today
what is this insight
for gods' sake
god created human kind with the inherent understading of unity
that our awareness of our likeness to everyother human
is the context for our understanding our likeness to god
something militates against this inherent knowledge
what
when we find out
perhaps we could begin to build something
that looks like a community
the plaster that holds community together
is often cracked and crumbling
patch work is no mean craft
amen
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