The Circle Game

 Recently, I have had the new experience of entertaining on Zoom as part of the program for One Care which, of course, is not able to have its usual programs in person because of the Corona Virus.  I have done this three or four times so far and realized that I should try and expand my repertoire.  One of the ‘new’ songs I have been learning is The Circle Game by Joni Mitchell.  This is certainly not a new song and I was very familiar with it but have never learned to play and sing it which is very different than just listening to it or even singing along.

This is a song about the years going by and how things change in our lives.  The lyrics for one verse caught my attention as particularly applicable to the time we are in these days:

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him take your time it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down

This encapsulates the nature of time and how it is not a static concept.  Time is very elastic and can seem to slow down and speed up depending on what is going on in your life.  Have you noticed, as I have, that time in the shut down for the Corona Virus seem to go very slowly at the beginning back in the olden days in March but these days it seems to be getting faster and faster.  I don’t know about you, but I certainly want to drag my feet and slow time down at least a bit.  Some people who know a great deal more than I do about these things maintain that time doesn’t actually exist – it is a construct of our consciousness.  Einstein posited that as speed increases toward the speed of light time does indeed slow down and if someone was on a rocket to a distant heavenly body at a high-speed, time for them would be much slower than time would be for us on earth.  Scientist have actually tested this theory and proven it correct. 

In my experience, if I am doing an activity I enjoy, time can fly by without my being aware of it but if I am focused on time passing, it moves much more slowly – or seems to in any case.  The longest two minutes for me is the two minutes of silence at a Remember Day Service in which I count 120 seconds to ensure the silence is actually two minutes long – which seems to take forever.  I know I should be paying attention to honour those who made the supreme sacrifice but I find that difficult when I have the responsibility to ensure it is actually two minutes. 

The perception that time is speeding up is also a factor of age.  I’m sure those of you who are in the senior citizen category like me will have noted that time seems to be speeding up generally and is going by much more quickly than when we were young as the song poses.  I remember how long a week used to seem when I was growing up but then again, the week-ends did seem to fly by except possibly when I was attending a church service and my fathers sermon seems interminable – not a comment on his preaching as he was actually quite a good preacher. 

Theologians will often speak of God’s time not being our time as an explanation why things don’t happen on the schedule we lay out for events in the world or our lives.  Perhaps God does have an all-knowing view of the big picture and knows that “all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well,” as St. Julian of Norwich said.  After all, eternity is not a long time - it is outside time.  So, may I suggest that we drag our feet and slow down and notice how God is working in our lives and in the world. 

Blessings on your journey which I hope does not go by too quickly

The Dignity of Difference

 

My self-appointed personal research assistant – my son Matthew - brought to my attention an episode of the wonderful CBC program Tapestry hosted by Mary Hines.  Tapestry is one of my go–to programs to listen to.  This was a rebroadcast of favourites celebrating Tapestry’s 25^th anniversary.  The program was an interview with Johnathan Sacks who is the former chief rabbi of England.  I have been a fan of Rabbi Sacks for many years and particularly appreciate his book, The Dignity of Difference which I have written about fairly recently in this space.  The interview can be found at https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-59-tapestry and I would highly recommend it for its ability to enlighten as well as entertain.

Sacks’ great concern is that if humanity is to survive, we need to look beyond our differences to truly see and appreciate the humanity of others.  It is impossible to summarize the ground covered in this interview in the self-limits that I give this forum.  I want to give you a taste of Sacks’ erudition and the depth of knowledge he draws upon which forms what I might call his theology of the human spirit. 

“The great choice of the twenty-first century; will religion harm or heal?”  

“The cause of violence is not religion.  The cause is the human heart.” 

“Complements are fine as long as you don’t inhale.”

About the head of the Catholic Church in England, “He took God so seriously that he didn’t have to take himself seriously.”

God gave human beings the ability to transcend nature.  God gave us free will.  Sacks quotes Isaac Bashevis Singer, “We have to be free; we have no choice!”

Johnathan Swift, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”

I will give you a summary of a response Sacks gave to a question posed by Mary Hines, “Do you encounter the other when you debate a Richard Dawkins?  Do you look at atheism as the other?”   This response for me showed to wisdom that Sacks brings to the seemingly insoluble situation in the world where people seem to be building higher and higher walls instead of wider and stronger bridges.

In response, Dawkins recounted how the BBC had asked him to have a ‘conversation’ with Dawkins for a program.  He agreed to do it on one condition – that he could invite Dawkins and his wife to have dinner with him and his wife.  He did this to see if they could get on as human beings.  Sacks describes Dawkins as the Voltaire of our times – he is outrageous to provoke a reaction in people.  Sacks notes that he has great respect for Dawkins but deep down he likes him and, on that basis, he agreed to the conversation.  Two people that respect each other can meet together.

It does little or no good and probably does harm when people talk at each other and try to convince the other that they are wrong and you are right.  We need to be able to meet not with ‘the other’ but with an ‘other’ – person to person to understand and yes even love not despite who they are but because of who they are.  This may seem impossible but with the love of God all things are possible.

Blessings on your journey.

What the World Needs Now is Love

 Recently, I was made aware of an interview on CBC Radio program Q (or q?).  The subject of the interview was François Clemmons https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-50-q/clip/15790034-full-episode-francois-clemmons-dalton-higgins-iskwe-judy. He is best known for his role as Officer Clemmons on Mr. Roger’s Neighbourhood.   I’m sure everyone one who was a fan of Mr. Rogers and everyone in his neighbourhood, will remember the wonderful cast of characters that were his neighbours which included of both species; human and puppet including; Mr. McFeely, Lady Aberlin, Mr. Anybody, Lady Elaine Fairchilde, and King Friday to name only a few.  It was a wonderful cast of characters, including Officer Clemmons, and through them, Fred Rogers explored the world and all the complexities which many children found to be a rather strange and a sometimes (speaking from experience) fearful place.

Officer Clemmons stood out because he was portraying a black police officer which is not so unusual these days, but definitely the exception when he began playing the character.  His role as Officer Clemmons, which began in 1968, was the first recurring black character on a children's T.V. show.  Clemmons was accomplished in his own right performing with the Metropolitan Opera and winning a Grammy.  The host did a great job of exploring the life and experience of Clemmons and it is well worth getting to know a bit about this very interesting and accomplished person.

Clemmons noted that Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood was the place in his life where he absolutely felt loved and protected which, I believe, was the universal experience of children who made up the loyal following of the show.

What grabbed me and moved me the most from this memorable life was Clemmons’ experience shortly after he joined the show. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. had just happened and Clemmons was devastated by the brutality and senselessness of the murder of one of his heroes.  Fred Rogers assured François that he would address this on the show.  When François read the script, he thought it was a mistake.  He told Fred Rogers that sometimes violence must be met with violence and that was the only way to deal with people who would do such a terrible thing.  But it wasn’t a mistake.  It was pure Fred Rogers.   In the scene, Mr. Rogers was sitting with his feet in a basin of water and invited Officer Clemmons to join him, assuring him that he would share his towel with Officer Clemmons.  They share that basin with the water washing over both their feet.  The hatred and anger that François was washed away – a model of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet in my association.

Not everything about his experience on the show was perfect of course.  One incident he recounted was being told by Fred Rogers that he could not portray an openly gay man on the show and even suggested that François should marry a woman.  This did not fit my picture of Fred Rogers any more than the image held by the interviewer.  However, they were able to move beyond that and François reported that he understood the need for it given the times and circumstances, and the reality of producing the show.  However, what shone through in that was the image of them sharing a basin of water and the abiding love that was the basis of their relationship that was deeper than can be truly understood.

I do believe that love is what binds the universe together and will not be defeated by those forces that threaten to pull us and the world apart. 

Blessings on your journey

 

Emancipation Without and Within

Saturday was Emancipation Day in Ontario.  I was not aware of this official day even though it was declared in 2008.   The province designated August 1 as "Emancipation Day" to commemorate the approval  in 1793 of legislation that abolished slavery in Upper Canada as Ontario was then known.  Upper Canada was the first jurisdiction in the British Empire to abolish slavery.   

The declaration of an official day and the emancipation through legislation are both things of which we in Upper Canada can be proud.  However, it is unfortunately that this official day is not generally better known and observed – but perhaps that is more evidence of my shortcoming than a general situation.  In any case, with the Black Lives Matter movement coming to prominence this year it is entering the collective consciousness of residents of Ontario. 

Emancipation of racialized people is something which has not been fully completed as our society is becoming more aware of the extent of systemic racism that exists in different parts of our society.  Racism is an overt aspect of discrimination which exists in many forms in society which many people experience to the detriment of all of us.  It is a hope as well as a goal that true emancipation will one day be a reality in Ontario and all of Canada. 

There is another aspect of discrimination which I want to discuss.  This is the inner prison which seems to be the heritage of all humanity.  There is a definition of sin which I find particularly apt and applicable.  Sin is that part of us which chains us to the past.  I came upon this definition many years ago - unfortunately I am not able to identify the source.  However, the concept of being chained to the past, for me, sums up an important aspect of our lives that prevents us from living fully the lives that God intends us to live.  We need the emancipation of our souls and our psyches from those things which we have done to others and which have been done to us by others which do not allow us to live lives as fully as possible.   

If we are consumed by guilt because of the hurt we have caused others or consumed by anger because of what others have done to us we will not be free.  That is why we can find ourselves awake in the middle of the night with memories of past events filling our thoughts and controlling our emotions.  Fortunately, we are offered something which can come to our aid. What is offered to us is the possibility of forgiveness.  That is why the prayer that was taught to Jesus’ disciples, the Lord’s prayer, is so powerful, “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” 

By asking for forgiveness we can receive manumission, a word which I was not aware of until a few years ago.  I was reminded of it when I re-watched the Book of Negros which is a marvelous miniseries-based ion the historical novel by Lawrence Hill. If you are not familiar with it, it can be described as the Canadian “Roots”.  However, to get back to where I left off, manumission is the act of the owner freeing his slave.  When we ask for forgiveness, we are offered manumission by the one who owns us – God.  This is not to say that it is easy to achieve. True forgiveness seems to be difficult to seek and to perhaps even harder to accept.  However, it is ours for the taking.

Blessings on your journey to freedom within and without.