SPIRIT IN MATTERS: Taking a Higher
View of Life on Earth
By Dianne Eppler Adams
Vol. 2, No 11 – July 26, 2004
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http://www.spiritinmatters.com
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FROM THIS VANTAGE POINT...
Loving and Letting Go
There is a natural process in life that involves letting go. As there cannot be
an “in” breath without having just breathed out, so life itself does not
complete its process, its expression until it lets go.
However, often we resist the letting go part. How long may we hold on to the
past before the holding on becomes a deadening action on one’s own potential and
future. Some people, I notice, let themselves deteriorate along with the
memories of the past. Change is harder to some than others, it true, but there’s
no denying it as an integral process of life.
Look at the natural world. There’s really no way to keep life from bringing the
change called winter. We harvest the crops and then let go, only to discover new
growth in the spring. It would be foolish to try to hold onto the tomato plant.
We could shield it from the cold and snow, but it would still die. Our actions
would be futile and a waste of time. Nature knows that what grows must die and
that new growth will come.
How then can we approach the many circumstances in our lives when we face a time
of letting go? I suggest that it is by loving that we are able to let go easily
and with grace, knowing there will be new growth somewhere as a result.
If, for example, dear friends announces their move hundreds of miles away, it
your love of them and happiness for their great new job that eases the loss of
their presence in your everyday life. When your child leaves for college, by
recognizing with love this important step in their maturity, you can celebrate
the event rather than mourn their departure.
When my sister died recently, it was my love for her and my belief that she was
now much better off having left the physical suffering she had endured for years
that allowed me to let go of her sweet loving presence in my earthly life.
Loving and letting go can be applied as well to numerous other situations. I
belong to an organization that has been very influential to my growth. The
charismatic leader of the organization passed away and for several years the
energy of the group has been primarily focused on the past. Little or no new
life or growth has occurred, only gatherings that reminisce about past
activities, how great they were and how important the leader’s teachings.
This reminiscence is a good thing if it is part of loving and letting go, but a
deterrent to new life if it is an express of holding on to the past and denying
change. Out of that organization have grown many new projects and initiatives
spawned by individuals who were influenced by the deceased leader. Yes, new life
is possible for every member as a result of letting go.
Perhaps the best that we can do when we face a situation or circumstance that
calls us to let go is to go deeply into the love that is there. In recognizing
the love present, we can find peace in letting go and an ability to see the new
life that becomes possible.
We can let go through loving, because love never dies even though the person,
the organization, the situation will surely end sometime.
(Your comments are always welcome at
SpiritInMatters@aol.com.)
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FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION...
MORE AMERICANS SEEK GOD ON THEIR TERMS, AND IN THEIR HOMES
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Correspondent, The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2004/0721/p01s01-ussc.htm
The Rev. Tom Caiazzo calls it The House of Grace, but it's also the house of
Reverend Caiazzo himself. The congregants who gather in this Boston-area
residence twice a week for prayer and preaching hope to someday establish their
evangelical church in a more public space.
Meanwhile in Austin, Texas, the people who gather every other week at the
residence of internist Cecilia Schulte to talk about God generally agree they'll
never find a more suitable setting.
These represent two faces of a growing trend toward religious life that occurs
in the most humble of sanctuaries: the home.
In some cases, the groups are nascent churches, perhaps fledgling global
movements. In others, they're more akin to a book club where informality is the
glue that holds a group together for discussions of divine grace.
But the bottom line is that for many Americans, worship is no longer centered
exclusively under a steeple. In an era of long commutes, overloaded schedules,
and made-to-order spirituality, religious experience increasingly means
venturing into someone's home for refreshments and a taste of God on far more
personal terms.
The `UBUNTU' OF GLOBALIZATION
By Julian Hewitt | July 12, 2004
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/07/12/the_ubuntu_of_globalization/
In South Africa, we have a term, "Ubuntu," which refers to the spirit of the
community. It is a shortened version of a South African saying that comes from
the Xhosa culture: "Umuntu ngumuntu ngamuntu." This means that I am a person
through other people. It means that my humanity is tied to yours. This is
probably the single most important aspect of living in a highly connected
planet: Our humanity is tied together. We must respect each other, and we must
always keep our interconnection in mind.
The United States needs to understand the meaning of these South African phrases
more than any other industrialized nation. The ultimate global power, the United
States creates ripples that cause big waves around the world. This happens more
frequently than the average American comprehends.
When Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cuts interest rates by a quarter of
a percentage point, it has a huge impact on me in South Africa. Straight away it
influences my still sizable student loan, as the South African financial markets
react to this news by preempting a cut or a hike by the South African Reserve
Bank in response to rate changes in the United States. Ripples run through the
Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and dollars will either be cheaper or more
expensive for me to buy. In short, globalization enables Greenspan's small
action relative to US markets to have a large effect on me 13,000 miles away in
South Africa.
... Twenty or 30 years ago, there would be nothing wrong with an American who
never left home, never owned a passport, never spoke a second language, never
knew the capital of Denmark. But we live in a globalized world. We live in a
world of causes and effects. We live in a world where a single superpower has an
overwhelming influence on global affairs.
Today, there is hypocrisy: The United States plays the key role in our
globalized society, but its citizens are not globalized. Holding such a position
of global influence without having a global worldview is not just naive, it is
dangerous. It is dangerous to be the source of global ripples but to ignore
their effect.
Over time, those ripples may cause waves that will slap back on your shores.
RECOVERING A HIJACKED FAITH
By Jim Wallis, Special to the Boston Globe, July 13, 2004
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/07/13/recovering_a_hijacked_faith/
Many of us feel that our faith has been stolen, and it's time to take it back. A
misrepresentation of Christianity has taken place. Many people around the world
now think Christian faith stands for political commitments that are almost the
opposite of its true meaning. How did the faith of Jesus come to be known as
pro-rich, pro-war, and pro-American? What has happened? How do we get back to a
historic, biblical, and genuinely evangelical faith rescued from its
contemporary distortions?
That rescue operation is crucial today in the face of a social crisis that cries
out for prophetic religion. The problem is clear in the political arena, where
strident voices claim to represent Christians when they clearly don't speak for
most of us. We hear politicians who love to say how religious they are but fail
to apply the values of faith to their leadership and policies.
When we take back our faith, we will discover that faith challenges the powers
that be to do justice for the poor instead of preaching a "prosperity gospel"
and supporting politicians who further enrich the wealthy. We will remember that
faith hates violence and tries to reduce it and exerts a fundamental presumption
against war instead of justifying it in God's name. We will see that faith
creates community from racial, class, and gender divisions, prefers
international community over nationalist religion and that "God bless America"
is found nowhere in the Bible. And we will be reminded that faith regards
matters such as the sacredness of life and family bonds as so important that
they should never be used as ideological symbols or mere political pawns in
partisan warfare.
The media like to say, "Oh, then you must be the religious left." No, and the
very question is the problem. Just because a religious right has fashioned
itself for political power in one predictable ideological guise does not mean
those who question this political seduction must be their opposite political
counterpart.
The best public contribution of religion is precisely not to be ideologically
predictable or a loyal partisan. To always raise the moral issues of human
rights, for example, will challenge both left- and right-wing governments who
put power above principles. Religious action is rooted in a much deeper place
than "rights"-- that being the image of God in every human being.
Similarly, when the poor are defended on moral or religious grounds, it is not
"class warfare," as the rich will always charge, but rather a direct response to
the overwhelming focus in the Scriptures, which claims they are regularly
neglected, exploited, and oppressed by wealthy elites, political rulers, and
indifferent affluent populations. Those Scriptures don't simply endorse the
social programs of liberals or conservatives but make clear that poverty is
indeed a religious issue, and the failure of political leaders to help uplift
those in poverty will be judged a moral failing.
It is because religion takes the problem of evil so seriously that it must
always be suspicious of too much concentrated power -- politically and
economically -- either in totalitarian regimes or in huge multinational
corporations that now have more wealth and power than many governments. It is
indeed our theology of evil that makes us strong proponents of both political
and economic democracy -- not because people are so good but because they often
are not and need clear safeguards and strong systems of checks and balances to
avoid the dangerous accumulations of power and wealth.
It's why we doubt the goodness of all superpowers and the righteousness of
empires in any era, especially when their claims of inspiration and success
invoke theology and the name of God. Given human tendencies for self-delusion
and deception, is it any wonder that hardly a religious body in the world
regards the ethics of unilateral and preemptive war as "just"? Religious wisdom
suggests that the more overwhelming the military might, the more dangerous its
capacity for self and public deception. Powerful nations dangerously claim to
"rid the world of evil" but often do enormous harm in their self-appointed
vocation to do so.
The loss of religion's prophetic vocation is dangerous for any society. Who will
uphold the dignity of economic and political outcasts? Who will question the
self-righteousness of nations and their leaders? Who will question the recourse
to violence and rush to wars, long before any last resort has been unequivocally
proven? Who will not allow God's name to be used to simply justify ourselves,
instead of calling us to accountability?
In an election year, the particular religiosity of a candidate, or even how
devout he might be, is less important than how his religious and/or moral
commitments and values shape political vision and policy commitments.
Understanding the moral compass a candidate brings to his public life and how
his convictions shape his political priorities is the true litmus test.
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Help your brother's boat across, and your own will reach the shore.
---Hindu proverb
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©2004 Spirit in Matters: Taking a Higher View of Life on Earth
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