Clash of Opposites

Dedication

“To God, who is the source of every good idea (old or new), which writers accidentally discover or unintentionally steal or by grace glimpse and then wrestle into fresh words for strangers, who in turn pass them on to others—in a wonderful process of receiving and giving that's a lot like Christmas.”

Brian McLaren (a Generous Orthodoxy, dedication page)

I am so looking forward to attending the Wild Goose Festival next month. I have known for some time that my version of Christianity was not typical for the time and place where I exist. In Alabama, fundamentalism reigns supreme, and there's a lot of shaming of those who do not tow the line. It will be so nice to spend a few days in the company of progressive Christians, and to realize that others feel as I do that we're in the opening days of a second reformation. Just as when Martin Luther nailed the 95 points he considered in need of revision on the door of his parish church in Wittenberg in 1517, and started the biggest explosion in Christendom since the crucifixion, today we are in a global dance for the heart and soul of Christianity.

I don't like it. I really wish I'd been born when all this had been resolved, and I could just go about my business without questions that have no answers. But, alas, here we are in the midst of it. And being compelled to write, I must write what Spirit lays on my heart to say. What I need to say is this: there is goodness in the world, sweetness even. Things are difficult for many people—there is poverty, violence, massive migration, desperate people in need of help. I know we in the U.S. are not able to help everyone in need, but we should help those we can. Brutality is not the answer, has never been the answer, and we will pay the price for resorting to it. We are already paying the price in the eyes of the world and in the conviction of our own souls.

I believe that these periods of tension, when the clash of opposites takes the world in its teeth and shakes it, are the signal fires of major change. We don't yet know what direction that change will take us, but we're getting to see the brutal side of it in real time. It has our attention and hopefully will keep our attention long enough to move in the opposite direction. Brutality brings out in us the human desire to soothe and heal the wounds. It opens the hearts of most people with a deep desire to stop the hurting. The opposite of brutality is love—which was the Good News in the first place. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. That message has not changed.

                                                           In the Spirit,

                                                                Jane