Remember thou art Mortal

I was at Trinity Church today for their Noon Eucharist and imposition of Ashes. It was a bit of a surprise to me: by their (mostly unusable) website as well as by the blogs of their clergy, I sort of expected some liturgical innovations. There were very few, to be sure. Yes, the sermon was read from the altar - which was in the middle of the gathered community. But other than that, it was a standard-issue BCP Ashes service. I would go so far as to call it Broad Church BCP. This is fine by me - although a surprise as I indicated. Having come from St Gregory of Nyssa church, almost anything is “normal”!

Listening to the sermon today, in a standard sort of liberal broad church, about the idea of fasting while smiling or giving alms in secret, the preacher took us to a different place. Her sermon seemed rather open ended: I felt like I had got to a precipice and she was asking me to look over (and maybe leap).

She ended her sermon…

Because no matter what our laws say, or refuse to say about taking care of the marginalized, no matter how others who also worship God may approach the sacred texts we share in common, the sacred texts that we read one way to tell us this is important, the sacred texts that they read another way to say that other things are more important, no matter that our society, our community is not yet at that ideal place of institutionalized justice for all that we value so much in theory, no matter… if what Jesus was trying to say was be hospitable, rather than alienating when it comes not just to people you know and love, but everyone else around you, be hospitable rather than alienating… if what Jesus was trying to say was be humble, rather than arrogant, when it comes to the things God is not requesting, but requiring of you, be humble rather than arrogant… then perhaps this reading is incredibly relevant for us, today, here, right now.

And I spent a good part of the day wondering about that - not “how is it relevant” but rather “WTF am I going to do about it?”

And when I knelt before the rector, and he put the ashes on my head and said, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” I nearly cried: given my current emotional state - and the low blood sugar I was having - I’m kind of surprised I made it.

This is what comes to me on Ash Wednesday:

What do we mean when we say “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”?

It seems to me there are two different ways of emphasising our mortality, two radically different ways to understand the implications of our status as Sons of Adam (earth) and daughters of Havvah (life).

On the one hand it seems to say “this life is way short so focus on things eternal.”

This is the standard reading, I think, for Christians. This life is short, don’t focus on the the flesh for it passes away, but instead focus on the spirit for it is eternal. Don’t focus on this world - focus on the next.

There are two logical ends to that line of thought: monasticism or nihilism. If you accept the implications, everything becomes a monastic choice - marriage, celibacy, food, social life, line of work. Podvig. Struggle. Not struggle in the way that Genesis implies - all of life is struggle - but a specific kind of spiritual struggle to “overcome the world”. If you reject the implications of this way of thinking (but if, as St Ignatius implied) your twenty-plus years of brainwashing schooling have made it impossible to think in any other way, then in rejection you’re left with the root of nihilism: there is no spirit and this life is too short. Party on dude, there is no morality of any lasting import.

What if there is another way?

Is there a way to hear “Dust you are…” as a teaching that Life is important, we have something to do, and damn it, we’d better get busy!?

Can we hear it as if we - like some in Jesus’ day - maybe not “reject the Resurrection” but live as if it wasn’t important? Is it possible to live a Christian life agnostic about “the next world” and as if we must spend this life in Tikkun Olam, healing the world? Not in preparation for something else, mind you, but because this life is all there is and if I don’t make this world better by being here, I’m just a waste of space, air, time and energy.

Having done that - having ridden this life into the ground making things better - if there is something else, mightn’t I be better prepared for it?

As my mind wondered across this pattern, looking at it sideway and longways and on the Diagon Alley. I think that, if we take repair of the world to be important, it is our podvig, it is our spiritual journey. It becomes the only thing worth doing, in fact.

I’ve looked for a Jewish Drash or commentary on “dust you are” and I can’t find one (I’m open to suggestions). But as my Muslim Brother pointed out, this is the Muslim teaching - as well as the Muslim understanding of Jesus’s teaching. That we are in this world in order to do good - in preparation for the next.

I find it interesting that the Liberal/Broad Church understanding is in the same ball park as Islam and Judaism, while the conservative Christian understanding (Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant) is different.

Just Food.

This writer understands the Christian rejection of standards of Kosher ideas of “clean” and “unclean”. I well know the idea of Paul’s preaching for gentile converts. Although a reading of the Apostles’ letter - requesting converts to abstain from blood and things sacrificed to idols - could been seen as adhering to some form of Kashrut.

We use this as an excuse to blow off Jewish and Muslim ideas of “clean” and “unclean”. And while I think it might have been a good way to win converts from the pagan world (I mean, really, who wants to give up pork?) even the Church didn’t like the idea of “eat whatever”: that’s why half of the Church’s calendar is spent as a vegan.

Having said that, what if we limited our food to things that were just instead of clean?

What if we limited our food intake to only those items that were produced in a just relationship:

With God (instead of idols… but that’s your call)
With Creation - sustainable, local and, as needed, low-tech (as in those cases where Genetically Modified foods “escape” and ruin surrounding environments or kill other species).
With other persons - requiring just pay, just competition, safe working conditions
With ourselves - healthy.

Imagine refusing to eat in a way that did not show love to God, Neighbour and Self.

This is what fascinates me about the Heksher Tzedek movment.

The Hechscher Tzedek Campaign is an initiative of the Conservative Movement of Judaism to improve the working conditions, treatment of employees, environmental standards,and business practices in kosher food-producing businesses.

By definition, kosher food is in line with Jewish dietary ritual laws. This campaign will bring kosher food in line with Jewish ethical law and social justice values.

Brain Grains

Go over to FreeRice. A word shows up and you click on the word that means closet to the same thing. This can be confusing for the anal-retentive like myself “spelt” does not mean “wheat” but ok. “Apocryphal” does not mean “false” but, ok. Ge the word right and 10 grains of rice are donated to hungry people. Doesn’t sound like a lot? They gave away 16 Million grains of rice on Saturday. Just to be clear that’s about 320kg of dry rice which (if my math is correct, which it may not be) comes out to about 1,612 cups of rice or about that many meals. Not bad for a day’s word games.

FreeRice. Go play.

How does it work? Here’s from the F.A.Q.:

If you have all this rice to donate, why don’t you just give it to the hungry people right now?

We are not sitting on a pile of rice―you are earning it 10 grains at a time. Here’s how it works. When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.

Who distributes the donated rice?

The rice is distributed by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The World Food Program is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good. Wherever possible, the World Food Program buys food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. We encourage you to visit the United Nations World Food Program to learn more about their successful approach to ending hunger.

Will the rice I donate make a difference?

The rice you donate makes a huge difference to the person who receives it. To a mother or father watching a loved child die in their arms from hunger, the rice you donate is more precious than anything in the world.

(Props to JewSchool.)

Border bullies

Mark your calendars! 4 August 2007, is the day I agree with Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League - and agree I do, as will much of the left side of my personal blogosphere, on this issue:

Border bullies of San Diego / Minutemen, other groups spread anti-immigrant invective (via SFGate):

In a harshly worded statement, Catholic League President Bill Donohue insisted that there are legitimate ways to express an opinion, but that this wasn’t one of them. “By succumbing to anti-Catholic bigotry and harassment,” he said, “the San Diego Minutemen have discredited their cause and have no moral grounds upon which to make their appeal.” This group and their tactics, he said, should be opposed “not only by Latino Catholics, but by all Catholics.”

(Props to Fr Jim.)

Makes ya think, huh?

The Friendly Atheist points us to some Christians showing forgiveness.

No rights here, thanks.

Rocco shows us pictures of the Catholic Church-inspired protest today: the majority stomping out the very prospect of rights for minorities. Thanks, God’s People, we love you too.

Jubilee

Rabbi Brant Rosen posts on this weeks Torah portion - Lev 25-27 - The Torah of Fair Trade, which coincides with World Fair Trade Day (tomorrow).

Also Tikkun Ger writes more on Eco-Kashrut.

May is the Month of Mary

And summer is the season of Ethnic Church Festivals!

One of the ten local Episccopal Congregations, St Mary’s, is holding its annual May Faire this weekend: Proceeds from Maye Faire will go to the Sisters of the Community of the Transfiguration, an order of Episcopal nuns that operates a medical clinic and school for the impoverished children of the village of San Pedro in the Dominican Republic.

Festivities kick off at 7 p.m. Friday with a concert by the Asheville Recorder Ensemble in the St. Mary’s sanctuary. Then, beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, a rummage sale will be held in the E.W. Grove City Park across the street. Saturday features an arts and crafts sale from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and at noon, a may pole dance for children.

At 2 p.m., the Asheville Morris Dancers and the Ashgrove Garland Dancers – men’s and women’s English dance troupes, respectively – perform in the park. The day’s festivities end with a 3 p.m. English tea in the St. Mary’s fellowship hall. Tea will feature homemade scones and lemon curd. Seats for tea are $8 each, and reservations are recommended.

On Sunday, St. Mary’s will hold a special pre-mass procession - with the Crowing of Mary - at 10:30 a.m. Evensong will begins at 5:30 p.m.

Sounds like a fun weekend!

Anti-God Coffee

Props to Jew School for this story, but they linked to WND for the background which is, generally, about as trustworthy as a fishwife on crack withdrawal. So I googled for the story and found a real live newspaper version of the story at the Dayton Daily News. They’ve even got pictures.

Michelle Incanno was an admitted Starbucks addict.

She’d buy the company’s coffee beans every week. Whenever she’d get the chance to drop by a Starbucks, she would, placing the same order every time: a large, house brewed coffee with nonfat milk and two Splenda. When the Seattle-based chain opened a drive-through near her Springboro home, she was in java heaven.

That was until she got an unexpected jolt last week from her coffee cup.

Printed on the cup was: “Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.”

Naturally enough, she’s offended enough not to go back. Seems she’s pro-god, you know, a “Mother of three and a Catholic.”

She’s not offended by the way they drive small businesses out of place. She not offended by seeing the same logo on every freaking corner. She’s not offended by the destruction of the microbrew coffee market by the near-global presence of uniformly mediocre coffee. She’s not offended by their unfair labour practices. She’s not offended by contributing to this social injustice with her own money…

But DEAR GOD! DON’T let them try to make her think about something she doesn’t like.

Personally, I think we should all write the Daytona Daily and complain about yet another story that makes Christians look as if we’ve got our heads buried in our eclessial sands… except I think we could get sued for perjury with that “looks as if.” Sooner or later, someone is going to nail us for worshipping a deity so small we need to defend him.

BTW, WND does report an earlier event (in 2005) where the same Coffee Cup Commentary Campaign caused critical Christian conversvatives convulsions.

A Revolution of Hope

What does it mean, in today’s world, to be a follower of God in the way of Jesus?
What does it mean to be a faith community engaged in the holistic, integral mission of God in our world today?
How do we, as individuals and faith communities, respond faithfully to the crises facing our world?
What is our duty to God, ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our enemies, and our planet in light of Jesus’ radical message of the kingdom of God?
How can we engage in personal formation and theological reformulation for global transformation?

(Props to Emergent Village.)