Live generously

It's another tough gospel this morning. Here, read it yourself in Matthew 5:38-48, but I must admit that I like Eugene Peterson's translation in The Message best:

38-42 “Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, gift wrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.”

Sometimes, Jesus exaggerates to make a point.

"If someone wants the shirt off your back, gift wrap your best coat and make a present of it."

I love that! What a wonderful exaggeration to make a point. If someone wants the shirt off your back, give him your coat. And, not only that, make it your BEST coat. Oh, and don't just give it to him. GIFT WRAP IT!

It reminds me of the advice given to me by my ordaining bishop. "If you are being run out of town, get in front of the crowd and make it look like a parade."

In the traditional translation, the point of this gospel passage is "Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect."  In 'The Message', the point is, "live generously."

Live generously. Whew! That's a pretty high calling, but one I have the possibility of reaching. I'm afraid 'perfection' is way beyond my grasp - well, on this side of heaven, anyway. Alas, I know myself only too well.

Live generously. Still not easy. If you are paying attention, the message 'hidden in plain sight' in those words of Jesus is that living generously often means to live sacrificially.

In today's society, when we hear the word "sacrifice" we immediately reach to protect our wallet or purse. But, that's not what Jesus is saying. He isn't saying 'give generously'. Oh, no. It's a much higher calling than that. He's saying, 'live generously.' And this time, he's not exaggerating.

He's talking about a 'spirit of generosity' that is so strong it infuses your whole life - your attitude, your philosophy, your 'style of life' -  the way you cherish life and are so filled with gratitude for the time you have been granted on this earth that you are willing to do whatever it takes to show your gratitude.

That's what generosity is, really. It's a manifestation of gratitude.

It's a "sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving" that is at the core of our Eucharistic prayer. It's a wonderful lesson in the manifestation of the miracle of God in this season we call "Epiphany".

Here's another miracle. Another manifestation of gratitude. Someone who 'lives generously' and inspires me to do the same.

Meet Cristy Kessler.  You can learn more about her at a website that has been established for her. It's called "One of our own". Here's what it says about Cristy.

"She doesn’t look sick. And she tries not to act sick when she’s around people. But Cristy has been fighting one disease or another for her entire life. Not a day has gone by in her 39 years when Cristy hasn’t experienced pain that would be agonizing to any of us.

Three autoimmune diseases affect almost every organ of her body. These diseases are chronic, progressive, evolving, and any one can be fatal:

• Scleroderma • Vasculitis • Ankylosing Spondylitis"

I think it takes enormous gratitude for your life to be in that much agonizing pain and still fight for your ability to live your life.

Further, I think Cristy defines the gospel mandate to 'live generously' by doing whatever it takes to make certain that she maximizes whatever time she's been granted here.

She inspires me - and others - to 'live generously' as well. Her webpage states:

Cristy wants very much to live so she continues to beat the odds. She’s able to do this with phenomenal doctors and with an incredibly deep faith in God. She is an award-winning high school teacher and college professor who continues to teach teachers. Cristy believes God has put her on earth for a reason and she intends to continue to live her life in the most productive ways she can. But she needs help and she needs support.

So, here's how you can live out the gospel mandate and 'live generously', too.

In 2007, Cristy went to Mayo Clinic, in Scottsdale, Arizona, and came out with the three diagnoses you are reading about here. Her bill, after insurance claims, was $10,000, and since then, she has garnered at least another $20,000 in co-pays and medical bills her University of Hawaii medical insurance has not, and will not, cover.

Thanks to the generosity of friends, family, and perfect strangers, since February of last year, we’ve been able to raise about $35,000 to cover the cost of the Mayo Clinic, the past three years of medical bills, medications, and much of her ongoing treatment.

Unfortunately, she just can’t continue to cover these expenses, as well as the future costs, on her own with the salary of a UH associate professor and with health insurance coverage that is not as comprehensive as it needs to be. Most of us find wonderful causes around the world to support, and research for many major illnesses is funded by international personalities. But vasculitis, scleroderma, and ankylosing spondylitis are not well-known diseases, and they don’t have holiday telethons or major personalities supporting them on primetime TV. It is rare for you to be asked to help one individual with the medical costs necessary to keep her alive, but we need all the help we can get to support one of our own, right now, and as much as possible.

Cristy’s doctors here have done everything they can for her. She’s had chemotherapy and is currently on a cocktail of daily drugs, including vicodin and morphine. A bone marrow/stem cell transplant will not restore what has already been damaged but it will stop the progression of these diseases so that she may live a longer and more productive life. She has spent much of the last year researching all the options available to her in the US and around the world, including a trip to Bankgok this past fall to consult with doctors there. Anadolu Hospital in Turkey has been the one facility that has been most responsive to her situation and has all of the certifications and experience necessary to make a transplant process safe and hopeful.

Now Cristy must come up with an additional $80,000 for a bone marrow/stem cell transplant that will take place at Anadolu Hospital south of Istanbul, Turkey. Anadolu is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University and has one of the top state-of-the-art transplant facilities in the world. The director of this new center has agreed to be Cristy’s doctor for her transplant process. But we need to come up with the funds in order for the process to get started. Cristy’s first appointment is February 28 at Anadolu. That gives us between now and mid-February to find the financial resources to move forward.

TIME IS SHORT! FUNDING IS DESPERATELY NEEDED BEFORE THE CLOCK RUNS OUT!

Very simply, Cristy wants to live. The treatment for allowing her to live exists, and although the United States will not make that treatment available, she is willing to go where there are compassionate and highly trained doctors who will treat her. We just need your continuing help to make that happen.

I know that there are many preachers out there who will be delivering sermons this morning about "perfection" and "radical resistance" and "loving your enemy". These are all important messages for us to hear - especially in terms of what is happening in the Middle East and in the Midwest.

This preacher wants to urge you to "live generously". Adapt a philosophy of life that flows from your unspeakable gratitude for the gift of your life.

Ask yourself: What 'sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving' am I willing to make as a manifestation of my gratitude for the miracle of life?

Take that the next step and ask, "What sacrifice can I make, out of the abundant riches of my life, so that others may live more abundantly?"

I think, when we consider those questions and then take some measure of action, miracles can - and do - happen.

So, here comes my shameless pitch: Please head on over to "One of our own," and make a contribution to Cristy's cause.

You can also follow her on Facebook and Tell A Friend about Cristy.

Even if you can't - at this time - make a contribution, do what you can. Spread the word to others who might be able to help.

Live generously.  Yes, Margaret Cho is right. Generosity - even in small, undetectable ways - can change someone else's life forever.

More importantly, it can change and transform your life and you will never again be the same.

It's a pretty high calling, but when you're dealing with miracles - especially the miracle of life - it's one that Jesus tells us is within our reach.

Lo! In this Season of The Epiphany, I tell you a miracle: When you live generously, miracles happen.

"If you always give, you will always have."

I don't know how that works.

I only know that it does.

Chaos and The Butterfly

In the past several weeks, through what my father liked to call "the miracle of television," we've witnessed political uprisings and protests in Tunisia, Cairo, Tripoli, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Kuwait, Djibouti, and Saudi Arabia.

And, of all places, Wisconsin - Madison, Wisconsin, for goodness sake! - where the protests against the governmental attempts to shut down collective bargaining appears to be spreading to Ohio, Tennessee, and Indiana, and influencing labor organizers in Pennsylvania and politicians in Washington, DC.

It's as if the Midwest has become the Middle East, leading some to ask, "Is Wisconsin the Tunisia of collective bargaining rights?"

What's going on here? Is some yet unnamed socio-political virus making its way 'round the globe like 'Swine flu' or 'Avian Influenza'? In the now increasingly socially-networked global village, is the cry for freedom from oppression 'twittering' around so that it is more clearly experienced and becomes infectious?

Are we witnessing The Age of Aquarius - not the song from the play/movie "Hair" - but the term astrologers use to define the time in the cosmos of cultural trends and tendencies.

An Aquarian Age, Wiki informs me, is traditionally marked by a such things as rise in democracy, freedom, humanitarianism, idealists, modernization, rebels and rebellion. Other ideas believed associated with Aquarius are nonconformity, philanthropy, veracity, perseverance, humanity and irresolution.

If this is the case, then some astrologers would argue that we are a wee bit ahead of the time line. Although there is some debate about this, The Age of Aquarius 2012 theory states that the new age will start on December 21, 2012, the last day of the Mayan Long Count calendar.

It's the end of the world as we now know it, folks, coming soon to a neighborhood near you. This is the "new age" the New Age people have been talking about since the 60's and 70's "Hippie Movement."

I have an affinity for the "butterfly" effect of chaos theory as one possible explanation.

Now, math is not exactly my applied science of choice or ability, but as I understand it, chaos theory holds that, underneath what looks on the surface to be disorder, is actually a beautifully intricate order.

Sort of the way, when one looks on the back side of a tapestry or piece of needlepoint, all one sees is a jumble of threads. Flip the piece over, and one finds a beautiful image.

However, the reverse is also true: hidden underneath the surface of unspeakable beauty often lies an equally mysterious chaos.

The key to chaos theory is the belief in a system of interdependence - as fragile as the wings of a butterfly and yet strong enough so that, if a butterfly flaps its wings in Peking, it could set off an effect that will be felt in Peoria.

As I recall, this happens even though these systems have their own independence and can determine their own future behavior. There is no randomness involved. Even so, this does not make them predictable.

To my simplistic mind, chaos theory has always been a mathematical manifestation of the divine gift of free will. This is a problem, of course, for those who believe that "God has a plan for your life," as if the goal of one's life is to somehow gain access to the File Cabinet In The Sky, secure the Heavenly File Folder of one's life, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest its contents, follow it exclusively, and - Voila! - one will live 'happily ever after'.

Actually, chaos theory and the butterfly effect help me to understand and live in the tension of both theological concepts - free will and "God's will".

In any event, it seems undeniable that, in all of these events, there seems to be a "disturbance in the force" as Obi-wan Ben Kenobi was fond of saying.

In one of his lessons, Obi-wan says to Luke Skywalker,

“The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”

Or, as Yoda taught,

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”

Is that what is causing the uprisings in the Middle East and the Midwest? "The Force" and some disturbance which has occurred there?

Have we lost touch with it? Forgotten how to use it? Or, are some of us just now remembering how to tap into its power?

It is remarkable to me, as I sit here in my third floor 'lonely writer's garret', and watch these events unfold in chaotic images on my television screen, that the effects on my soul and in my heart and in the depths of my psyche are undeniable.

I was deeply moved as I listened, yesterday, to Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an influential Sunni cleric, as he delivered his first public sermon in Cairo in 50 years.

Mind you, the 84 year old Sheik has been living in exile in Qatar - a neighbor to Bahrain - and has been banned from the United States and Britain for supporting violence against Israel and American forces in Iraq, even though he condemned the 9/11 attacks.

He began his sermon by saying that he was discarding the customary opening “Oh Muslims,” in favor of “Oh Muslims and Copts,” referring to Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority.

He praised Muslims and Christians for standing together in Egypt’s revolution and even lauded the Coptic Christian “martyrs” who once fought the Romans and Byzantines. “I invite you to bow down in prayer together,” he said.

Imagine! A Muslim cleric calling fellow Muslims and Coptic Christians together in prayer! Who would have thought that even remotely possible?

No, I don't think The Parousia is immanent. Jesus doesn't have a boarding pass on the next jet out of Heaven International Airport bound for the Middle East or the Midwest, but He may be lacing up His sandals.

As I write this, the winter wind occasionally slams bare branches of trees into the side of the house and occasionally rattles the windows with such force that it seems to be demanding me to turn my attention to its force and power.

Something quite remarkable is happening, right in our very midst. It will be to the philosophers and sociologists and political analysts to explain it to us more fully.

Perhaps it will be left to the next generation of the citizens of this universe, who will receive the benefit of the detached perspective of historians - with their advantage of viewing things on the other side of the time line - to truly understanding what is happening right now.

It is, at once, both terrifying and exhilarating. I am awash in a jumble of emotions - helpless and outraged by the violence and yet oddly amazed and hopeful.

I can only imagine how the leaders of the so-called "Free World" are experiencing all of this. The worst thing would be for us to look upon this and turn to consuming The Bread of Anxiety to assuage our fears.

A friend of mine reminded me that it is the nature of the Leader to act. The nature of Wisdom, he said, was to wait.

I keep hearing the words of Yoda. “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

I hear echos in that of 1 John 4:18: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

As I watch the events from the Middle East and the Midwest, I keep recalling - in my mind's eye - the scene in Star Wars of heat of the battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader - the battle between Good and Evil.

In a moment of weakness and despair, Luke hears the words of Ben Kenobi, "Use the force, Luke."

In the midst of the chaos, it may be time to set loose a few butterflies.

Don't bother. They're already here.

Lara Logan's Rape

There are always stories within - and behind - the stories. The ones we don't want to hear. The ones that get "sanitized" for American consumption, breaking them down into clean, homogenized sound bites we can digest while driving in our cars or sitting at our desks.

We certainly don't want anything in our "nightly news" that would cause indigestion after our nightly dinner.

We've all rejoiced at the liberation of Egypt from the 30-year, iron-rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. We've delighted to see people celebrating and dancing in the streets of Cairo. We've listened to newscasters wax eloquent about democracy and freedom and "the will of the people" - including interviews with "the man on the street" who seem the very definition of the word "elation".

Apparently, some people's dream of freedom is another person's nightmare of brutality.

Here's the report from the LA Times on attack of CBS news correspondent, Lara Logan, in Cairo.

Dateline, February 15, 2011 Reporting from New York — CBS News correspondent Lara Logan is recovering in an American hospital this week after being sexually assaulted and beaten by a mob in Egypt's Tahrir Square late on Friday.

The same day that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, Logan was surveying the mood of anti-Mubarak protesters for a "60 Minutes" story when she and her team "were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration," CBS said in a statement Tuesday. The network said that a group of 200 people were then "whipped into a frenzy," pulling Logan away from her crew and attacking her until a group of women and Egyptian soldiers intervened.

She was "surrounded by a dangerous element" and "sexually assaulted".

Here's another headline: "Lara Logan, CBS Reporter and Warzone 'It Girl,' Raped Repeatedly Amid Egypt Celebration."

Here's that report:

In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.

"Sexual assault" vs. "raped repeatedly".

"Attack" vs. "brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating"

Very different picture, isn't it? One is much more vivid than the other.

Lara Logan, the "Warzone It Girl" is no stranger to sexual assaults of a verbal kind. The admittedly beautiful South African journalist is a former swimsuit model, and a married mother of two.

She has long attacked 'Hollywood-lite' reporters for their dumbing down of overseas violence - at the same time using her Hollywood good looks and spotlight to push a more hard-hitting agenda.

So, she's young. She's stunningly beautiful. She's smart and talented. She's a highly successful woman in a predominately male profession. She pulls no punches, playing hard ball with the big boys and calling them out for pulling journalistic punches with the hard hitting stuff of the news about war.

See? She's been asking for it. What did she expect? The 'Warzone It Girl' out there doing a man's job. In the midst of "a dangerous element".

I mean, the rapists had been "whipped into a frenzy" by the celebration. And, there she was - a beautiful blond woman. What were they supposed to do?

Okay, once more, from the top. This is a refresher of Rape 101.

Rape is not a sexual act. It is an act of violence where sex is used as a weapon.

A woman never "looks for" or "is asking to be" raped.

Logan's rape - like any other rape - is not her fault. Every woman is shamed by but no woman is ever to blame for rape.

Nothing Logan did before or during the February 11 attack could have possibly invited or justified the heinous crime that was committed against her.

Nothing. Not what she wore or how she looked. Not how she talked or what she wrote. Not where she was or who she was or wasn't with.

Nothing. Got it? Good. Let's move on to talk about why this story has not been more widely reported.

Perhaps the "mainstream media" have not been reporting this rape because it's embarrassing. No one wants to talk about rape. Perhaps that's why so many thousands of rapes go unreported and so many hundreds of thousands of rape kits are warehoused in medical facilities without being processed.

It is estimated that there are 250,000 to 500,000 untested DNA kits in the US alone - some of them have been sitting on the shelf for twenty years. Without being processed, it is difficult to get a conviction once the woman gets up enough courage to actually file charges - IF she knows her rapist.

If you're paying attention, this means that for every rape kit that remains untested, there is a rapist walking around, free. Some, for twenty years. Or more.

It's not that we simply don't have the laboratory personnel to process the rape kits. It's that we don't think that the rape of a woman is enough of a priority to hire enough people to get the job done.

Perhaps we're embarrassed because a Pentagon report indicates that rape of women in the U.S. military increased 11% in 2009, according to a Department of Defense statistic, with one in three women reporting having been sexually violated while serving in the military. 

Shockingly, the Pentagon itself admits that reported incidents probably represent just 20 percent of those that actually occur. Female recruits are now far more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed in combat.

Perhaps we're embarrassed because, just a few days ago, 17 women in the US military became plaintiffs in a class action suitagainst Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, alleging that their failure to act amounted to a violation of the plaintiffs’ Constitutional rights.

Perhaps we're embarrassed because we know that many women endure symbolic rapes every day. There are far more subtle but even more destructive insults than a cat call or a wolf whistle. Sexual overtures and sexual innuendo - in the home and at work - are used as tools to "keep the little woman in her place."

Lara Logan was brutally and repeatedly gang raped. In public. In Tahrir Square. In front of hundreds of people - who were being watched by millions of others around the world - having endured years of symbolic rape in the press by her peers.

Might it be that we are embarrassed because this brutal and repeated rape took place in a country that was in the midst of its first taste of freedom in over 30 years, and there - right there in public - in the midst of the cheering and the dancing and the singing and the celebration?

Ancient Egypt is considered the cradle of civilization in North Africa. Apparently, modern-day Egypt has yet to learn what Mahatma Gandhi once said about the test of a true civilization.

"A nation's greatness," he said, "is measured by how it treats its weakest members."

Or, at least, those it perceives to be "the weaker sex".

Lara Logan's rape ought to be held up, again and again - and reported over and over in all of its embarrassing detail - so we may be constantly reminded that, while Egypt has come very far in securing their freedom, they still have a long, long way to go until everyone in that country is free.

Logan's rape reminds us all - even those of us in this "civilized country" - that Gandhi also said, "No one is free when others are oppressed."

Lara Logan made her name in journalism by telling the stories inside the stories - not pulling any punches about the ravaging effects of war - in hopes to improve the reporting standards of her profession and bring about an end to war..

Let's hope that Logan's rape can tell the secret, shameful stories - and the stories behind and within the stories - of the violence done to women, so that the dream of real freedom and true peace may one day be realized by everyone.

That is the "will of the people" that will be a cause for celebration and elation and dancing in the streets.

Everywhere.

Watson

(Fade in: The familiar musical theme from Jeopardy. The voice of Don Pardeau announces): "It's time to play Jeopardy!" (Fade out music. Audience applauds).

"I'll take 'What's on TV?' for $200, Alex."

"Answer: 'The quality being tested by an IBM Computer and two human contestants."

"Question: 'What is intelligence?'"

That answer-in-the-form-of-a-question is not simply the entertainment value of the last three nights of the game show Jeopardy in which Watson - a computer the size of 10 refrigerators, named for after IBM's founder - competed against two human contestants.

It's also The Question which has been the point of scientific and sociological and cultural inquiry for years. I suspect that question will continue to be asked for years to come.

Watson won, of course. All three nights. Although, he did miss the Final Jeopardy question the second night. "Toronto" is decidedly NOT a U.S. city, but Watson didn't understand the question because of the way it was worded.

I hate it when that happens, don't you?

As Dave Ferrucci of IBM Research says, this points out the limitations of relying so heavily on statistical reasoning. The result, as in Watson's case, is akin to a human autistic savant.

You know. Like the character Charlie Babbitt in one of my all-time favorite movies "Rain Man".

"Jeopardy!" is challenging because the clues are esoteric. No one would watch a TV program about a battle of common sense.

Hence, the popularity of "Reality Shows" like The Jersey Shore (don't get me started).

Watson is only a "statistical brain," and not an analytical one, so a question like "If a snowman melts and later refreezes, does it turn back into a snowman?" would be nearly impossible for a statistical reasoning program to tackle.

You can't answer it by calculating how many times "snowman" appears next to "melt" and "refreeze" in every article and book ever written.

Ms. Conroy reported that, in one interview about Watson she listened to, it was suggested that Watson could be used in medicine to cross reference a patient's symptoms with compendiums of digitized medical journals and data - a sort of statistical second opinion to a doctor's professional experience.

Pretty soon, the scientist said, computers will be used to more accurately diagnose and even cure diseases. Ultimately, perhaps, computers might even 'discover' a cure for everything from high blood pressure and diabetes to cancer.

Ms. Conroy said, "When that happens, you have to know that the pharmaceutical companies will get involved."

"Why?" I asked, sounding every bit as befuddled as I was.

She sighed a weary sigh in that way she sometimes does when she's talking to someone who obviously isn't in the medical profession and doesn't read as many mystery novels as she does.

"Right now, as long as we treat diseases symptomatically, the pharmaceutical companies make millions - billions - trillions! We put people on medications to control cholesterol and, once they come off the medication, their cholesterol levels sometimes get worse than they were before."

"The real treatment goal of pharmacology, then, is not to find a cure for high cholesterol - even though it can be life threatening - but to continue to treat the symptoms."

"Ah," I said.

Then, she added in that wonderful way of her ability to formulate and articulate pithy bits of wisdom, "There are great profits to be made in pathology."

You have to admit, she has a point.  Perhaps this is Phase II of the real reform of health care.

Is artificial intelligence a threat or a benefit?

I'm fascinated by the overtones of fear I hear in conversations about Watson. Mostly, they have to do with computers and machinery taking over the work of humans.

Well, guess what? That's what technology does. Tractors, forklifts, word-processing software - they all took away jobs.

And people, with their creative minds, have used them throughout history to figure out where the next jobs will be - even using the very technology designed to replace human labor to make greater profits.

At the end of the day, that's the real difference between 'artificial' and 'real' intelligence.

"I'll take "Cultural Anxiety" for $2,000, Alex."

(Bell sounds repeatedly. Audience applauds.) "And. . . . it's the Daily Double!"

"I'll wager $2,000, Alex"

"Answer: Dr. Spock, the half Vulcan, half human fictional character of the TV and movie series, 'Star Wars' said these words as a Vulcan blessing."

"What is, "Live long and prosper."

"And you win the Daily Double" (Bell sounds. Audience applause.)

That's something no computer can achieve without human assistance.

However, with the assistance of 'artificial intelligence', humans may be able to achieve both.

Peace, and long life, Dr. Spock.

I'll leave you with a little "Think Music" to consider these things.

Sexuality, Spirituality and Sanity

One of the "collateral benefits" of being at a School of Theology like EDS is the seemingly serendipitous conversations in which one can often engage with other students and faculty over coffee or a meal in the Refectory (sometimes known as "Brattle Cafe but never, ever 'the cafeteria'. But I don't have any feelings about that).

Just the other day, one of the students engaged me in a conversation about a project we might do together for our required presentation in "Spirituality for the Contemporary World."

We had been talking in class about "Spirituality and Brain Science" (you can read my reflection on that topic here) and Pui Lan's insistence that we consider the difference between the "Mind-Body" connection verses the "Mind-Brain-Body" connection. (She has another post on her blog you might find very interesting.)

The "mind" she noted, is different from the "brain". The mind is a construct of intelligence, emotion and psychology, while the brain is all that in addition to being an integral part of the body.

It was an important and helpful distinction which allowed us to focus on the anatomy, physiology and circuitry of the brain before considering how that affects the mind and the body.

My fellow student and I began by talking about the intersection of Sexuality and Spirituality, but because of her experience with those afflicted with mental illness, we found threads of conversations about Sanity weaving their way into our discussion.

It started because I remembered that the preeminent psychologist, Carl Jung, began to consider things like "collective unconscious" and "synchronicity" in his work with schizophrenic patients.

He differed with his teacher and colleague, Sigmund Freud, about the role of religion and spirituality as being an integral part of the human psyche. One thing he noted was that many of his schizophrenic patients - no matter their religious background - had a strong identification with the crucifixion of Jesus.

I couldn't remember what more he said about this, but we began to wonder about the right / left hemispheres of the brain and how damaged circuitry of one side might lead to miss communication in the other.

That's when another student mentioned that, in his experience, schizophrenic patients also have a high libido and, without the "normal" filters, often act in socially inappropriate ways.

In my experience with some Alzheimer's patients, that's also the case, which becomes more complicated when aggression comes into the picture.

There was a moment of silence which we considered what we had just said.

Which led me to consider a long-ago conversation with Paul Moore, the former Episcopal Bishop of New York, who is now numbered among the saints.

Bishop Moore had written a book, "Take a Bishop Like Me" which was his reflection on his years in the episcopacy. In one chapter, he discusses "the crisis" (among many) that was prompted in the diocese and in the church when he ordained Ellen Barrett to the priesthood.

It was 1977. General Convention had just "regularized" the ordination of the eleven women who had been ordained to the priesthood in Philadelphia and changed the canons to allow women to be ordained to the diaconate, priesthood and episcopacy in The Episcopal Church.

Ellen was to be the first woman to be ordained priest in the Diocese of New York. Now, everyone who knew Ellen knew that she was a lesbian. Indeed, she had been elected the first co-president of the then fledgling organization known as Integrity.

The morning of her ordination, the New York Times ran a front page story - "above the fold" - with a headline that screamed something like, "Lesbian to be first woman ordained in Episcopal Church."

Well, for some of us who were also tittering about that untruth (Ellen was not the first lesbian to be ordained in The Episcopal Church. She was the first - but certainly not the last - to be ordained in the Diocese of New York), that headline was an example of the media having a firm grasp on the obvious.

For others of us, it was a nightmare come true. "See," some would be heard to say, "the only women who want to be priests are women who really want to be men."

Yes, it was pretty awful, back in the day.

Bishop Moore proceeded with the ordination, amidst the cries and laments and clamor and wailing and gnashing of teeth that surely - SURELY - this was the end of the world as we now know it as clearly evidenced by this piece of the theological sky falling right on the floor of The Cathedral of St. John the Divine - here, right here in New York City.

Well, the sky didn't fall and the world didn't end and the church has carried on, as the church has for centuries "mid toils and tribulations and tumult of her war". In reflecting about that time, however, Paul Moore wrote something which has stayed with me all these many years later.

I don't have the book here with me but, as I recall, he mused that "wherever it is in the psyche from whence spirituality arises, that is also the source of our sexuality."

I think he's absolutely right.

One evidence of that has to do with the very language of the psalms and our prayer. "As a deer longs for the waterbrook, so longs my soul for thee, O God." (Psalm 42)

In the magnificent words of some of the prayers in our Book of Common Prayer, we "earnestly desire". We "hunger and thirst". We "yearn".

We seek "mystic, sweet communion" for the Lord to come "as a bridegroom for his bride".

There are many, many more pieces of evidence one can find - especially in the Song of Songs or the poetry of the Anglican Divines - of the intersection of spirituality and sexuality.

There are also many, many works by numerous authors on this very topic which are worth the time of your investigation and inquiry.

Indeed, I dabbled a bit in this in the sermon I preached at the Trienniel Integrity Eucharist in 1997 - a full twenty years after Ellen's ordination - which I entitled, "The Erotic: Our Gift to the Church."

Here's the thing: About fifteen years after Moore's book was written, I had the opportunity to ask him about what he had said about spirituality and sexuality arising from the same place in the psyche.

As I recall, he said that the church has drawn a line between the two, separating and compartmentalizing spirituality and sexuality when we should be further exploring their mutual boundaries.

Indeed, he said, the church would become a healthier place if we began to recognize that our 'deepest spirituality' comes at the 'thin places' of our spirituality and sexuality.

"Some of the desert Mothers and Fathers and the mystics of our church have tried to teach us that," he said, "but some of us are too afraid to listen."

And then, he said something I thought was quite remarkable. "I think keeping our spirituality and sexuality walled off and separate from each other can lead to insanity - spiritual and psychological."

Based on the information provided by his daughter, Honor (The Bishop's Daughter), and what some of us surmised but now we all know about Bishop Moore's sexual orientation, the tragedy of his words strike a tender place of deeper understanding in my heart.

It also leads me to wonder about 'Sex, Spirituality, and Sanity' and what Brain Science can tell us about this aspect of the "Mind-Body" connection.

I wonder if we have been too "Cathedral-brained" - filled with highly organized layers of information. This is a highly developed left hemisphere of the brain - linear, concerned with the obvious, the tangible and the concrete. Unable to consider abstract thoughts or limited in making intricate connections.

Perhaps, as Clayton Shirly says, we need to become more "Bazaar-minded" - allowing the mind to wander more into the right hemisphere where we can - right here, right now - enter the flow of Jung's "collective unconscious" and consider larger concepts and discover more complex structures beyond our world and into the cosmic universe of thought and discovery.

Or, might it be, as Nicholas Carr asks, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Should we consider these right-brain, "Bazaar mind" people "the shallows" as the title of Carr's book suggests?

Pui Lan invites us to consider yet another way. She writes,

"I was reminded that the Buddhists have very different images of the mind. The mind that is not trained and wanders around is called the monkey mind. The aim of meditation is to tame the monkey mind, and to become conscious of one’s thoughts. After much practice, the mind can become empty and no longer attached to things". . . . .

Then, she muses, "Perhaps the bazaar mind needs the empty mind for a change."

Whether our minds are allowed to wander or empty, I think Brain Science has much to offer those of us who have long sojourned in the lofty Cathedrals of our minds and bodies as we dare to begin to consider the intersections and connections between our Sexuality, our Spirituality and our Sanity.

The geography of this terrain has few maps, and the ones we have contain complex, convoluted, often unintelligible, winding roads - much like the landscape of the Brain.

This is new land, and those who seek to venture into it are the pioneers of a new geography of thought and behavior who must be prepared to suffer "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".

Indeed, some will call those pioneers everything from "sex-obsessed" to "profane heretics" to "insane".

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people and our allies who have been numbered among those pioneers know exactly what I'm talking about.

My ordaining bishop once said, with a wry smile on his face, "Do you know how you can tell the pioneers? They're the ones with the arrows in their backs."

I'm not suggesting for even a millisecond that we enter into this new territory with the idea of planting a flag there and claiming it as our own. I am not talking about a new Intellectual Colonialism.

Rather, I'm suggesting that we venture forth, into the Cathedrals and various habitations we consider 'holy', seeking to find a closer glimpse of the Realm of God. Open to new possibilities. Following the call of the Spirit to discover how God continues to reveal Godself to us in new, unimagined ways.

Because I believe God is doing precisely that.

That journey, my friends, is at the core of a solid theological education - some of which is discovered in reading books and learned in lectures (Cathedral mind), some of which is experienced in serendipitous conversation (Bazaar mind), and some of which is allowed to wander freely (Monkey mind), occasionally causing disruption and upsetting all our nice, neat, preconceived notions and ideas about how the world works and God's interaction with the world..

Ultimately, I think we make our greatest discoveries when we are practiced and disciplined at emptying our minds in prayer and meditation, so that we are no longer attached to the preciousness of our "things" and "thoughts" but find a way - a place - for us, in our varied and wondrous states of being to live in the shalom - the peace - of God, which passes all human understanding.

Gaga

A confession: I love Lady Gaga.

I love her intelligence, her savvy sense of the entertainment marketplace, the brilliant way she takes a theme and develops it in words, music and visual art, and the outrageous way she keeps pushing the boundaries.

Yes, she is often both crude and vulgar - so unlike the rest of what constitutes entertainment in our culture - but, like Madonna before her, she is very smart about how she uses it to both express herself as well as satisfy the "fame monster" that, if we are honest, lives in all of us.

And, if the bottom line of success has a dollar sign in front of it, she is very, very successful.

Comparisons between Gaga and Madonna are inevitable. Both women come from Italian, Roman Catholic families - Madonna Louise Ciccone from a working class family in Detroit and Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta from an Upper West Side hardworking middle class family.

Both women were educated by nuns - Madonna in parochial schools in Detroit and Gaga at the posh Convent of the Sacred Heart, 91st Street, from which notables like the Kennedy, Vanderbilt and Hilton women also graduated.

I find the Italian-Roman Catholic parallel fascinating - especially since an undercurrent theme in the artistic expressive lives of both Madonna and Gaga have to do with images of women and power, religion and success and fame.

Madonna has been surprisingly vulnerable in her honesty about the impact the death of her mother - at age 30, when she was only 5 years old - has had on her life, her sense of self, her relationships with men and her music and her art.

Lady Gaga has also spoken of how she felt alone and like an outsider as she was growing up, and has made several references to having been taunted and bullied at school for being different from the other girls.

Both women seem to have an understanding of and appreciation for the psyche and sensibilities of gay men, who are a huge part of their audience.

Indeed, both walk the line of androgyny in their costumes and both have more than hinted at their sexual dalliances with other women, forming a bond with gay men, alliances with bisexual men and women, the fondness of some lesbian women all the while enticing the sexual fantasies of many heterosexual men.

Gaga and Madonna weave themes of art, sex, and religion into their work, with Madonna adding the provocative elements of social issues and politics.

Gaga is only 23 years old. I'm sure these last two elements will begin to appear in future work as she, like Madonna, reinvents herself.

It is the image of the post-modern woman which both women project that both fascinates and intrigues me. In many ways, they present the classical stereotypes of women in power - using men and their fantasies about "the virgin whore" for financial gain and social power.

And yet they are both not afraid to show their vulnerabilities - Madonna with her two divorces and three children, and Gaga with her efforts to repair her relationship with her father, recently helping him to get the open heart surgery he needed.

Madonna has also become a superstar of spirituality - taking us with her as she moved from a rejection of her Roman Catholic roots to a sojourn with debauchery, through Eastern spirituality and now in full embrace of Jewish mysticism.

I suspect we'll see a similar trajectory for Lady Gaga. I couldn't help but chuckle - as I watched the replays of her now-infamous "Egg" performance of her new hit "Born This Way" at the Grammy Award Show the other night - that, when she had a momentary, minor slip, as she quickly recovered, she made the sign of the cross.

As a former Roman Catholic girl, I understand. The nuns of our youth continue to loom large in our present reality - as well as our future.

What messages about being a woman do these two women send to young girls? I think that's yet to be revealed.

Madonna's controversial video "What it's like for a girl" gave one message. Lady Gaga's video of "Telephone" with Beyonce - which featured an ending which was an homage to "Thelma and Louise" as both women drove their car off a cliff rather than "go back" - gave yet another.

 I remember my mother's deep concern about my fascination with Dale Evans. One Christmas, she even bought me a Dale Evans outfit - complete with fringed vest and skirt, cowboy print shirt, cowboy boots and cowboy hat.

Her concern increased, however, when I insisted - rather loudly - that I was not a "cow girl", but rather, a "cowboy girl".

Even at age six or seven, I think I intuitively understood something about gender politics. I didn't want to be a 'cow girl'. I understood that 'cowboys' had the real power, but I didn't want to give up my status as a female. So, 'cowboy girl' it was.

My mother, just as intuitively, understood more what I was saying than even I did. In her instinctive impulse to protect me, she insisted that, when I was dressed in my Dale Evans outfit, I was a 'cow girl'.

When I refused, I lost the privilege to wear my cowboy girl outfit. This apple didn't fall far from the tree of strong women from which I had blossomed. Even when I wasn't dressed as Dale Evans, I continued to call myself a 'cowboy girl'.

I suppose an argument could be made for the socio-cultural, political revolution caused by a seemingly innocent cultural icon as Dale Evans.

Well, at least at one time, in one little girl.

Who knows what reaction - or, counter-reaction - pop icons like Madonna and Gaga will have on this generation of young women?

You know what? I think "the weaker sex" is much stronger than that. I think we can make our own way - remembering that our greatest strength often springs from our most vulnerable, broken places.

Indeed, I think our anxieties about the influence of the entertainment industry gives way too much power to the admittedly powerful force of pop culture.

At the end of the day, I think the love and nurture of family, an understanding of God's love and the support and nurture of community instills more in us - male and female - than the credit we give to the entertainment industry. 

Madonna has been a formidable if not controversial voice for AIDS education and prevention as well as her work on the forefront of the AIDS pandemic in Africa.

Lady Gaga has yet to find her voice for social good, but she's young.

After all, she did bless herself when she slipped on stage during her performance at the Grammy's.

Yes, both of these women do and say things that, in the words of Annie Lamott, are enough to cause "Jesus to drink gin straight out of the cat dish."

Never underestimate the formative and transformative power of family and faith.

That, ultimately is the message I hear from these two women - whether they intend to send it or not.

For all their controversy, these two kids "are all right".

And, so will our children and our children's children.

It has ever been thus.

Encountering The Spirit #2: Your Brain on Prayer

When I first announced here at Telling Secrets that I was going to be spending time at the Episcopal Divinity School as Proctor Scholar, I promised to occasionally write about what I was learning and share some of that information in this particular neighborhood of cyberspace.

This week's journal assignment in "Spirituality for the Contemporary World" - the course I'm taking at EDS with Kwok Pui Lan - is to reflect on "Spirituality and the Brain Science". I am fortunate that Pui Lan has encouraged us to create a blog as our journal, and delights to know that so many members of the class have done just that. It's been great to read such a wide variety of perspectives on spirituality.

I must admit that when I saw the topic and the assigned readings when I first looked over the course syllabus, I was mildly surprised, if not slightly amused.

I suppose I viewed it as The Next Trendy Topic - the way Myers-Brigs Type Indicators or Enneagrams have swept some corners of the church like the "gospel of now".

Not that these two things don't have value, in and of themselves. They do. It's just that, in my experience, for some people they have become "the destination" rather than a vehicle to the path of deeper spirituality.

Oh, in the past, I have "dabbled" in the topic of Brain Science. I confess, however - with a modicum of embarrassment - that I have done so mostly for its "entertainment value".

As a busy - often frenetic - parish priest, a discussion of the topic of Brain Science is a compelling way to get the message out about the value of prayer. It makes for a fascinating (read: increased attendance) Adult Forum on a Sunday morning or a short series for weekday Adult Education.

I never took it as seriously as I ought to have because. .. . well, because what little I'd read mostly affirmed what I already knew or suspected about the benefits of a practice of prayer.

Having "bought" the premise, my reading on the topic was less about personal edification and more about presenting the information in a way that would inspire or encourage others to take their prayer life more seriously. (And yes, getting the "numbers" up for attendance at Adult Education for the Parochial Report.)

That was my goal. Not the study, itself, of brain science and prayer.

A few years ago, a small group of parishioners became interested in the book, The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World by Lynne McTaggart

The book has become something of an international sensation. There's now an Intention Experiment Website where you can join "a series of scientifically controlled, web-based experiments testing the power of intention to change the physical world. Thousands of volunteers from 30 countries around the world have participated in Intention Experiments thus far".

This is not about praying to win the lottery or buy a new car. It's about healing the world. The website states: "The targets are only philanthropic: healing wounds, helping children with attention deficit or patients with Alzheimer’s, counteracting pollution and global warming."

We had talked about joining the project in some way, but, as it often happens in busy suburban parishes, we quickly got off track by other pressing matters that took precedence over the prayer project.

You know - like the basement flooded (Again!) or the roof leaked (Again!) but this time, really, really needed to be replaced. Or, someone was furious because the weekly service bulletins contained a typo (Again!) and someone else was threatening to leave the church (Again!) if the service didn't get pared down to sixty minutes. Not 65 or 70. One hour. So, how 'bout say, we cut down the Prayers of the People. It gets "so boring" hearing the same people's names week after week.

Sigh!

It is a wonderful gift and a blessing to be able to have the luxury of time to read a bit more in depth about this fascinating topic - especially as I consider revising my personal Rule of Life.

Pui Lan has had us reading some fascinating literature which has whet my appetite to learn more. Mind you, this is one lecture in a survey course on Spirituality. I suspect an entire course of study could be dedicated to this one topic alone.

And, these are not all the books we had to read for the course. I do want to highlight a few and encourage you to find them online and read them for yourself.

"Spirituality for the Cathedral and Bazaar Mind" is an essay by Pui Lan which was published in Project Muse: Spiritus A Journal of Christian Spirituality in 2010.

Kwok talks about the way architecture influences or is an expression of our spirituality. To summarize very briefly, The Cathedral is the spirituality of inhabiting sacred spaces. The Bazaar is the spirituality of the seeker.

Kwok makes the point that "virtual religion" - which has opened up to us in the vastness of cyberspace - ought not be dismissed as 'lesser' in some way. Rather, she argues that it has enormous value for those who are seeking a deeper relationship with God and, indeed, can be used to enhance Cathedral spirituality.

Ann Harrington's, "Making Sense of Mind-Body Medicine" is an essay from the book, The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine.

While Harrington gives a marvelous summary of mind-body medicine, for me, the power of Harrington's essay comes at the end when she talks about narrative and the power of story to help and heal. She writes,

"This book has shown that the stories of mind-body medicine do not merely describe experience and behaviors that are given in the world; they also help create behaviors and experiences that had not previously been there. Given this, it seems clear to me that the future of mind-body medicine should lie in seeking, not finally to escape from its stories, but to embrace them as part of its map and part of its territory alike - inextricably part of and fundamental to what it is all about."

Is this not part of the miracle of the stories of the miracle healings of Jesus? To "help create behaviors and experiences that had not previously been there"? To provide an avenue of hope when the road seems blocked by despair?

Is this not, fundamentally, what is at the core of prayer?

Edward Hallowell's essay, "Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform" is also not overtly about spirituality, but there is no doubt in my mind that the qualities and characteristics of Christian community have much in common with what he has to say about building a work environment that will be more satisfying and harmonious and, ultimately more productive.

The article was first published in January 2005 in the Harvard Business Review.

He talks about the problem of what he calls "ADT" - Attention Deficit Traits, which he defines as a pure response to the hyperkinetic environment of modern life. He adds, "Modern culture almost requires that we develop ADT".

The modern work place, with its assumptions on the ability to "multi-task" often places the frontal lobes of the brain on overload. This has the effect of producing anxiety and fear. Emotion, Hallowell says, is "the on/off switch for executive functioning". Rather than creating a structure which imposes accountability, building a trusting relationship with superiors and peers alike is key to increasing accountability which, in turn, increases productivity.

Makes sense to me. To my mind, the institutional church is at its best when it places a high value on developing trusting relationships over and above the 'bottom line' of any budget.

Alas, I fear many manifestations of the institutional church in many dioceses have lost sight of this. We could learn something from Hallowell's work in order to rediscover what we already know is at the core of our identity as the church, the Body of Christ.

I want to point you in the direction of just a few more resources before I stop and let you get on with your day.

Daniel Amen's essay, "In God's House: Brain Health and the Sunday Sermon" is from the book Healing the Hardware of the Soul

There's a fascinating report of a study that was done by the John Templeton Foundation at Harvard Medical School and the American Psychological Association which notes a link between going to church and being part of a body of believers with health benefits for both the body and the mind.

For example:

+ The mortality rate for men who attend church is 25% lower than men who don't. For women that rate is 35% lower.

+ Patients who depend on their faith for strength are three times more likely to survive open heart surgery.

+ Hip-fracture patients who attend church on a regular basis walk longer distances and have less depression at discharge than those who don't.

There's more - lots more - but that's enough to give you some very smart sounding information to add to your Sunday sermon or "fun facts" to toss around and impress people at the next dinner party.

Amen also has an interesting video on YouTube "Change your Brain, Change your Life 2/7" There are other parts of the program which you can find by clicking the videos on the right sidebar.

Finally, I want to encourage you to listen to the 30 minute NPR program on Talk of the Nation which featured Andrew B. Newberg entitled "Neurotheology: This Is Your Brain on Religion".

Newberg has also written a book, "How God Changes Your Brain"

Newberg, a neuroscientist and memory expert, has a special interest in spirituality; he has scanned the brains of worshipers ranging from Franciscan nuns to Pentecostals speaking in tongues (That's one of his brain scans at the beginning of this post).

His studies have convinced him of a a link between spirituality and cognitive health: The neurochemical changes that he observed during meditation and prayer appeared to improve brain function.

It is compelling and fascinating stuff - something those who are in leadership roles - lay and ordained - in congregations need to take seriously, whether they are in a community with either 'cathedral' or 'bazaar' oriented spirituality.

I want to leave you with this video, "Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight". Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one.

It's truly an astonishing story, at the end of which she says, with audible emotion and passion in her voice,

"Who are we? We are the life-force power of the universe, with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds. We have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world."

"Right here, right now, I can choose to step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere, where I am - we are - the life-force power of the universe. . . at one with all that is. Or, I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere, where I become a single individual - separate from the flow, separate from you."

"These are the 'we' inside of me. Which would you choose? Which do you choose? And when?"

"I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemisphere, the more peace we will project into the world, and the more peaceful our planet will be."

Is this not the point of prayer? What is the point of religion and the spirituality that arises from a disciplined life of individual prayer if not increased compassion and deep inner peace which will positively impact and ultimately transform the world for the better with things like justice and mercy, reconciliation and walking humbly with God and each other?

This has laid the foundation for me to think about my Rule of Life in a very different way - which, I suspect, was Pui-Lan's intention in the first place.

It's like that old commercial about your brain on drugs. This time, it's 'This is your brain. This is your brain on prayer'.

Which will you choose?

What's in your heart?

Matthew 5:21-37.

It's a tough gospel this morning.

If Jesus were to give out those Valentine Heart Candies in church this morning, instead of "Be Mine" or "Hot Stuff" or "True Love", His Gospel Valentines would say, "Anger", "Adultery", "Divorce", "Do No Murder","Oath" "Yes=Yes," "No=No".

Jesus is making it pretty clear that if you are going to follow Him, you are not only going to have to follow all the laws and the commandments, you are going to have to put your heart and soul into it.

It's not just about following the commandment that says, "You shall not commit adultery." If you are married and you even look at another person with lust in your heart, well, says Jesus, you have committed adultery in your heart and you are just as guilty as if you acted on it.

Former President Jimmy Carter made that one passage of scripture almost as well known as the story of the Nativity.

Jesus went even further. It not about having a legal divorce. When you married, your vows were for life. Even if you get a legal divorce, you are still married in the eyes of God. If you remarry, you are committing adultery.

And, if you're going to make a vow of any kind then make sure you can keep it before you make it. Otherwise, you are simply consorting with the Evil One.

Not exactly the warm-fuzzy messages about "Love and Marriage" which the media is putting out for Valentine's Day tomorrow.

Life, as Forrest Gump says, may be like a box of chocolates, but Jesus says that the commitments of the heart are not. Understand, he says, that the vows you make on earth are sealed in heaven.

"Blessed are the pure in heart," said Jesus "for they shall see God." (Mt. 5:8).

In criticizing the quest for material wealth, Jesus says that "where our treasure is, there will our heart be also" (Mt. 6:21 and Lk. 12:34).

In lambasting the religious elite for their hypocrisy, he demands, "How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Mt.12:34-5; Lk. 6:45).

If you want to be a follower of Jesus, the first thing is that you gotta have heart - as that old song from "Damn Yankees" goes - "miles and miles and miles of heart".

Oh, it's fine to be a genius of course
But keep that old horse
Before the cart
First, you gotta have heart.

I suspect if there are any "young lovers" in the pews this morning, they probably won't hear these words of Jesus applied to them in any way. Romantic love is not only blind, it's often deaf as a doornail.

Usually, when Jesus teaches to his disciples like this, it often means that the Pharisees are somewhere nearby, within hearing range, primed for a conflict.

These words of Jesus come right after "The Beatitudes" - from The Sermon on the Mount". He certainly had a large audience.

I suspect these words were not only meant for those who followed Jesus, but also for any who might consider following him, as well as those - like the Pharisees and Sadducees - who may have doubted his commitment to his mission.

One can hear these words from Jesus as being about Jesus, too.

His essence.

What's in his heart.

And, it's this: Love.

He's not playin'. He's in this for real. For life. For ever. And, ever.

And, so should those who follow Him or profess to love God.

In the ancient words of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4):

"Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One" (Shema Yisrael, Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad).
"Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever."
"And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."
"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
"And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes."
"And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."

In Mark's Gospel it is reported that one of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

Jesus responded by reciting a portion of the Shema and then ended with these words, "The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

For Jesus, it's all about Love - the commitment of love. The embodiment of love.

Because, God is love.

And, for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, that's the best Valentine's Day message anyone could get.

Walking in faiths

It's a brave new world out there, kids.

A world that is increasingly diverse and multicultural, which holds pluriform truths that find expression in an increasing variety of religions and religious practices.

It's very confusing and threatening for some who have, perhaps, eaten too much of the Bread of Anxiety which the world offers in such abundance.

For others who are deeply affected by the spiritual starvation of the world, it is as exciting as opening up a great banquet table for a hungry person with absolutely no restrictions on the types of foods they might try.

Those in the first group often react by shutting down, guarding and defending and shielding themselves with the old scriptural nugget found in John 14:6: "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'."

The emblem on their spiritual shield - or bumper sticker on their car - reads: "Jesus said it. I believe it. That settles it."

Which would be fine for them, I suppose, but it doesn't. Settle it, I mean.

One can almost predict the hellfire and brimstone that will follow, complete with assertions that, if one doesn't follow Jesus (and this is important) EXACTLY AS THEY UNDERSTAND HIM, well, you will burn in hell. For eternity.

It's almost become a caricature of Christianity which would be funny if the anxiety inherent in such positions didn't make it very, very sad.

On the other hand, many of us have become almost immune to the 'cafeteria-style' religion of some of our friends and neighbors, most of whom assert, gently but firmly, that they are 'spiritual but not religious'.

While such positions often earn the criticism of being superficial, it is more and more common in a pluralistic culture with a wide-open religious marketplace.

"Brand-loyalty" is increasingly less important than community. There's something very deep and radically authentic about that, which I can appreciate when the challenges of that reality don't feel absolutely daunting.

As a priest, I have noted that more and more people who come to church arrive from a diverse background of religious experience. Our evangelism seems to be working, albeit slowly. We certainly have gotten more than our "market share" of publicity, which seems to have had its positives along with its negatives.

Some may have been, as they say, "baptized Roman Catholic" or "brought up Baptist," but before they stepped foot in an Episcopal Church - many of whom for the very first time - they also stopped off for long sojourns at a Yoga or a meditation class inspired by Eastern traditions and may have even enjoyed a few Seders at Passover or shared in the celebration of Eid ul-Fitr at the end of Ramadan.

Nobody blinks an eye at such a resume of diverse religious experiences. It has become what we expect from "seekers".

A quick confession before I move on to my point - and, I do have one: I have trouble with the application of the term "seekers" as limited to those folk who practice a wide variety of spiritual practices but claim no religious preference.

I'm an Episcopal Priest. I love Jesus. I love The Episcopal Church. I love that we are part of the diversity of the World Wide Anglican Communion. And, I would describe myself as a 'seeker'.

What I mean is that while I am faithful to my Baptismal and ordination vows, am deeply fed by the miracle and mystery of Holy Eucharist, and love the rich treasure of the Holy Scripture and the Book of Common Prayer, I am continually seeking ways to deepen my relationship with God in Christ through a variety of spiritual practices.

Truth be told, I still employ many of the spiritual practices I learned from my brief, earlier sojourns among the Quakers and Buddhists. I meditate daily - finding 'walking meditation' most satisfying of late - which often results in a spiritual reflection that, more often than not, finds its way onto this blog.

I am deeply moved by the piety of my Muslim sisters and brothers and their commitment to prayer throughout the day. I am also inspired by the deep commitment of my Jewish brothers and sisters to works of justice and kindness and their life-long quest for religious education.

Walking with my sisters and brothers of so many different faiths assists and inspires me to walk more closely with Jesus. In that sense, I am and, perhaps will always be, a 'seeker'. I think when we believe we have "arrived" at The Truth, that may be the precise moment when we are furthest from it.

That's my reality and my truth, which some of my sisters and brothers in Christ would not only dismiss as impossible, they would harshly judge me as placing my soul in peril of eternal damnation.

I appreciate their concern, but really, I can assure you that it is well with my soul. This kid - this eternal and forever child of God - is alright, thank you very much.

The question arises, however, about limits and boundaries. It's a fair question. The word 'religion' most likely comes from the Latin ligare, meaning to "bind, connect". It is, therefore, part of the essence of religion to limit and form boundaries around what it is, exactly, that one believes.

It's not just Christians who can become rigid fundamentalists about what one can believe and still be considered a "member of the faithful". There are orthodox Jewish sects who believe that one can not be a Reformed Jew and still be Jewish. I know many Jews who observe all the High Holy Days with their families and are active members of the Unitarian Universalist Church who are dismissed by their family as not being "really" Jewish.

In the midst of a conversation about the merits of interfaith dialogue and worship some Christians strongly resist such engagement, quickly reminding you of the persecution and murder of Christians by Muslims. And, of course, the consequences of 9/11. Not that two wrongs ever make a right, but they seem to conveniently forget a shameful period in religious history called The Crusades.

The conversation takes a sharp turn when the subject comes round to Christians who claim equal membership in another religious belief system.

Christian Century recently had an article entitled "Double Belonging" about three such people.

Paul Knitter is a former Roman Catholic priest who left the priesthood in 1975 because, in his words, "much of what he recited in creeds on Sunday morning stopped making sense" to him.

Buddhism became a "dialogue partner" for him in those years and, to his surprise and delight, he became not only a practicing Catholic, active in his parish, but also a devoted student of Buddhism, actively engaged in Buddhist meditation and practice.

Presently, he has taken vows as a Buddhist, is on the faculty of Union Theological School and his book, "Without Buddha I could Not be a Christian" has had a large impact on theology and interfaith dialogue.

Deborah Risa Mrantz
founder, LOGOS DIVINITY GUILDWORKS AND MINISTRIES

Deborah Risa Mrantz embraces both Judaism and Christianity. "My religious identity," she says, "is not split or fractured. I inhabit two grounds of belonging concurrently."

An artist, she says that part of her challenge is to "articulate a multi-dimensional religious faith in a linear and dualistic culture". Her art expresses what she calls "the essentially conservative custom and content" of the mystical traditions of both Judaism and Christianity.

I found this statement both fascinating and compelling:

"When I say that I hold to both Judaism and Christianity, I don't mean to imply the standard terminology - that Christianity has been grafted onto my Jewish root. That's only a partially descriptive metaphor. I mean that the modern molecule of my Jewish Christianity cannot be further divided down - the atoms cannot be split in me . . . There are no smaller subatomic parts making the religious and spiritual whole."

Which leads me finally, but certainly nowhere near the last, to Ann Holmes Redding, the Episcopal Priest who, perhaps, has paid a higher price than either Knitter and Mrantz for her unusual religious and spiritual journey.

Her experience is a fascinating echo of the experience of Mrantz.

Redding publicly embraced Islam after serving for 20 years as an Episcopal Priest. This led to her being defrocked by the Bishop of Rhode Island (where she was canonically resident) in 2009 thereby losing her ordination and her livelihood.

She calls what happened to her a 'convergence' instead of a 'conversion. "I didn't leave anything behind," she says.

One church official said to her, "It is as if you have two bedfellows. This comes down to a question of faithfulness."

Redding finds the marriage metaphor inappropriate. Faithfulness has been a central priority for her.

"If you want to use familial or kinship metaphor," she says, "try that of siblings. I feel like the mother of two children. Christianity is the older child who taught me how to be a mother. Islam will always be my baby. I learn about one child from what the other teaches me."

She believes that she can stand at the "fault lines" of both religions and speak about how Christianity and Islam might find common ground. Becoming a Muslim, she says, was just the beginning of a very long journey, and she hopes that she might be of use in a very large, God-inspired work of reconciliation.

Redding has become somewhat of a punching-bag for some in The Episcopal Church, a poster child of everything that is W.R.O.N.G. in their very 'orthodox' (by which they mean 'right') understanding of Christianity in general and The Episcopal Church in particular.

She is certainly not alone in being persecuted for the expansiveness of her beliefs. In these very anxious times, those who need to keep their spiritual coloring within clearly defined religious lines become positively apoplectic about even the suggestion of interfaith dialogue.

Katharine Jeffers Schori recently visited a church in Arizona, where it was reported that she

"asked the members of All Saints if they had reached out to any Muslim groups in their area. When several people shook their heads no, she urged them to change that.

“I would encourage you to start a dialogue with the Muslim faith,” she said. “There are many strands of Muslims that share a great deal in common with the Episcopal Church. God will use us if we are willing to work closely with each other. There are great possibilities.”

Some of the conservative blogs have picked up on the story. That noise you hear in the background are their howls of protest.

Some of the comments have been sadly predictable in the ignorance they display. One wrote: "No doubt all “strands of Muslims” have in common with TEO that they refuse to profess Jesus as Lord and the only way to the Father, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, not only a “son of God” but GOD the Son. For once Herself speaks truth."

Yet another snarked: "Heretics reaching out to heretics. They’re all pretty much Arians anyways."

And, my favorite, precisely because it was so predictable, "What part of “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light” does this woman not understand? Sheesh!"

Which is all to ask the question, what are we to make of all this? How are we to live in a multicultural, wildly diverse, increasingly pluralistic culture? Are we to shut down the borders and lock the gates, or open the doors of our faith to a wide embrace? Both positions come with costs. Are we willing to be held accountable to the consequences - intended or unintended?

Are we surprised, really, that more and more people are viewing religion as divisive when what the world needs more than anything is reconciliation?

I don't know about you, but I'm beginning to hear "I'm spiritual, not religious" less and less as an expression of superficial religion and more and more a statement of anxiety and distance from the worst parts of religion - especially Christianity as defined by those who profess to follow JEEE-SSSSUUUSS.

The challenge for those of us who are in positions of lay and ordained leadership in the church is how to honor and respect the paths many people have taken which have led them to The Episcopal Church and incorporate those spiritual practices which have deepened their relationship with God without losing the unique essence of the nature and character of our Anglican identity.

I'm especially interested in seeing how that works out at the chapel here at EDS. We're in an interim period so the worship is far more traditional than I expected it to be - which, surprisingly enough, has been a bit of a disappointment to me.

I see the seminary chapel as being a "liturgical laboratory" where one can experiment with a variety of rituals and religious expressions while still learning the essentials of liturgical leadership in an Episcopal community of faith.

It's also a place where one might experiment with spiritual practices that come from other religious traditions - meditation, movement, music, images, and rituals - and find ways to incorporate them into the liturgical life of the community.

This honors not only the spiritual journey taken by many seminarians but also prepares them for the realities they will face as they take on the challenges of leadership in Christian community in a post-modern world.

Are seminary chapels microcosms of the wider church? Might this be a vocational calling for the wider church? Might our communities of faith find a more satisfying spiritual life if the church - in addition to "traditional Sunday worship" that is "straight up BCP" - also provided avenues for other practices at other times during the week?

I suspect many more churches than we know or suspect are already engaged in this enterprise to greater or lesser extent.

The church I attend here in Boston on Sunday mornings features a full three minutes of silence after the homily so that all might reflect on the gospel and the preacher's response to it. When that time of silence ends, we are summoned back to corporate worship with the sound of a bell. It's an interesting - and, I must say, satisfying - fusion of spiritual practice.

It's a brave new world and the journey into religious pluralism offers us what is, perhaps, the greatest spiritual adventure of our time.

There are many pioneers and explorers on the frontlines of faith and belief and at the crossroads of religion and spirituality. Knitter, Mrantz and Redding are but three.

I have a vague memory of a phrase by a French philosopher who talked about religious pioneers as those who "plow the vast oceans of our faith". Sometimes, some of them can get swallowed up in the very waves they create.

I keep hearing one of the offertory sentences of our Eucharistic prayer - the invitation to gather all of our brokenness to be healed and made whole so all may be fed - as the beckoning of Jesus to a deeper, more authentic spiritual reality.

I'm quite certain it was not meant to call people to the vocation of interfaith experience, much less "double belonging," but more and more, I'm hearing it in the way Paul may have meant it to the ancient church in Rome, which also knew similar multi-cultural and pluralistic realities.

"I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to prepare yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." (Romans 12:1)

The question is, how much of our lives are we willing to sacrifice so that our spiritual worship we may be 'holy and acceptable' to God?

Living into that question may require more courage than this brave new world is ready or able to return.