Generous
Spirit
“The
biggest paradox about the church is that she is at the same time
essentially traditional and essentially revolutionary. But that is
not as much of a paradox as it seems, because Christian tradition,
unlike all others, is a living and perpetual revolution. Human
traditions all tend toward stagnation and decay. They try to
perpetuate things that cannot be perpetuated. They cling to objects
and values which time destroys without mercy. They are bound up with
a contingent and material order of things—customs, fashions, styles
and attitudes—which inevitably change and give way to something
else. The presence of a strong element of human conservatism in the
Church should not obscure the fact that Christian tradition,
supernatural in its source, is something absolutely opposed to human
traditionalism.”
Thomas
Merton
There is a mime
circulating on Facebook about the aftermath of the mile-wide tornado
that struck Lee County, Alabama a week ago, killing 23 people. It
features Kermit the frog sipping a cup of tea and says in essence,
“There are 46 mega-churches in Alabama, yet a Native American tribe
is paying for the funerals of the tornado victims.” Think about
that for a minute. There is one church in Birmingham that has
seventeen campuses and 60,000 members. It is only one of many churches that
have five- to ten-thousand members. All of them are evangelical and
ultra-conservative. All of them have campuses resembling small towns.
I'm sure that any one of them could have funded funerals for the
victims of that tornado. But they didn't. Instead, the Poarch Creek
Indians stepped up and offered what all those Christian churches
didn't. An act of generosity and compassion.
One of the many things
that human history has taught us is that change is inevitable. When
we try to hang on to anything, when we insist on things staying the
same, or only going in a prescribed direction, we set ourselves up
for failure. When we cling to our traditions, our wealth, our way of
life to the exclusion of others, we are destined for calamity. It may
not happen right away, but it will happen. We cannot turn our backs
on the poor and marginalized without consequences. The Christian
churches should be leading the charge for change and equality, rather than forming
a circle around their possessions and passing resolutions that
exclude and condemn. There is a parable in the wake of the tornado's
destruction—who is the neighbor of these victims?
Thomas Merton was a clear
prophetic voice for his church, now mired in the terrible clergy
sexual abuse controversy. What happened as a result of the Catholic
Church trying to hold on to its traditions, its facade of purity, and
its wealth is a travesty. Corruption at the core will erode even the
oldest of established faiths. Jesus was a revolutionary character and
his message was unambiguous. Feed the hungry, clothe the poor, release the
prisoner, care for the sick, give drink to those who thirst, be a
blessing to all. Let us go and do likewise.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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