Being in the Weeds

This morning, I tackled the weeds in the Labyrinth at our cottage.  The weeds seem to be taking over this year and every time I turn my back there are more of them.  You have to wonder why Mother Nature makes weeds such hardy plants that seem to thrive in even the harshest conditions?  In any case, I rather enjoy whacking them with my whipper snipper – it is satisfying work. 

That experience brought to mind a parable of the wheat and the weeds in the Gospel of Matthew which can be found here if you want to refresh your memory, https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=527923442.

In the parable, Jesus tells of a field which has been sown with good seeds – wheat.  In the night, these things seem to often happen at night, the enemy comes and sows weeds among the wheat.  The owner of the field – the master – decides to not have the weeds pulled up by his ‘slaves’.  I wonder how many gardeners would like to have someone to do the weeds pulling?  In any case, he declines the suggestion of the slave to pull the weeds because the wheat might also be pulled up in the process.  Now, I can certainly relate to that because Lorna does not trust me to weed her garden because I would most likely pull up some of the good plants as well.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss or at least a good excuse to avoid things.

So, what do we make of the parable about not pulling up the weeds because some good plants will be pulled with them?  This could make a radical approach to gardening.  However, I don’t think that was what Jesus had in mind – at least not literally.  A parable by its nature, wants to surprize and encourage the listener or reader to approach a situation in a fresh way.  Let’s consider the wheat and weeds as an aspect of ourselves, after all, Jesus was concerned about the souls of the people he came into contact with.  If the weeds are aspects of ourselves that we don’t like or those things in us that are not acceptable, the natural reaction is to pull them up and get rid of them.  As with weeds, however, every gardener knows they aren’t really gone – they will return and they seem to thrive under every and any condition. 

The human equivalent of trying to pull up the weeds – unwanted aspects of ourselves, will not get rid of them.  Those flaws and faults we know are in us will not be gone if we try and pull them up.  This is actually trying to deny them and push them out of conscious awareness.  So, what is the alternative?  What does it mean to let them grow along with the wheat?  Well, it means that we have to stop striving for perfection.  I have struggled with the idea of trying to be perfect.  Christians have been told implicitly and explicitly that we are to be perfect - it says so in the bible in the Gospel of Matthew (5: 48).  This is traditionally translated as ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’.   However, an alternate translation is ‘Be all-embracing, as your heavenly Father is all-embracing.” 

When we strive for perfection, any imperfection is unacceptable and therefore something that we have to deny in ourselves.  We have to attempt to pull up the weeds and get rid of them.  We have to acknowledge them and realize they are part of us and once we do that, we can realize that God knows us better than we know ourselves and despite this God loves us.  Does that mean that we just accept our faults and whatever they are we say its okay and let it rip?  No, we need to acknowledge our faults and weaknesses and learn to love ourselves and to love our neighbours.  Richard Rohr address just this point:

To accept this teaching doesn’t mean we can say, “It’s okay to be selfish, violent, and evil.” It simply means that we have some realism about ourselves and each other. We have to name the weed as a weed. We can’t just pretend it’s all wheat, all good, because it isn’t. We’re not perfect. Our countries are not perfect. The Church is not perfect. The project of learning how to love—which is our only life project—is quite simply learning to accept this.

Be blessed on your journey to acknowledge the weeds in yourself and others.  

I acknowledge that we are on Turtle Island, the original homelands of the many Indigenous Nations who have lived since time immemorial in Canada or as many First and other Indigenous Nations
All of the lands in Canada are the subject of up to one hundred Treaties signed by the Crown in the right of Canada with these Nations.

I will only mention a few of the Nations: the Cree, Ojibway, Blackfoot, Blood, Dakota, Mig M'ag, Huron, Inuit and these lands are also home to the Metis people.

 

There’s No Fool Like and Old Fool

I have been fascinated by the concept of the fool and the Fool for most of my life.  I was born on April 1, 1949 – April Fool’s Day.  I have this blog, which I use for posting these missives, called, Another Fool for Christ.  This is based on the bible passage from 1 Cor 4:10, “We are fools for the sake of Christ.”  One interesting factoid regarding the day of my birth is that Newfoundland was supposed to enter confederation on that very day.  However, Joey Smallwood, who would be the first premier of the new province and the latest Father of Confederation, decided to change the day to March 31, 1949, to prevent the province from becoming a perpetual April Fool’s joke.  So, as a result the province of Newfoundland is one day older than I, and being the very mature age of 73, I qualify for both aspects of the expression, there’s no fool like an old fool being old and I hope, a Fool.

Now, you might be asking yourself, why am I writing this today rather than on or close to my birthday as it would be a good subject for an April Fool’s News and Views?  Well, perhaps I am doing it today because it is a foolish thing to do and not wait until next April thereby giving credence to my qualification as an old fool.  However, I have decided to delve into this foolishness because I have just finished reading a book given to me by a friend on the subject of the capital F Fool, To Play the Fool, by Laurie R. King.  The book is a murder mystery but it explores the concept of the Fool archetype.  Coincidentally, I have also finished rereading The Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore which also delves a bit into the concept of the Fool.

The Fool appears in many guises throughout history from the Trickster in the Tarot which has the number zero and appears in spaces vacated by the other cards, to the fool in the king’s court who speaks the truth to the king or ruler and reminds them that they are fallible humans.  Here are some quotes from To Play the Fool which give a taste of this complex, counter intuitive character:

The Fool seeks to save his community by appearing to threaten it.  The essential ministry of a Fool is to undermine beliefs, to seek doubts, to shock people into seeing truth.

The Holy Fool speaks a language of symbols and of Divinity… They (children) believe in the possibility of magic, the reality of Saints, and would not be surprised at the existence of miracles.  The Fool is their representative, their mediator, their friend.

Foolishness is a hazardous business, and not only to one’s mind and spirit. After all, one of the Fools main activities is to make a fool out of others, to throw doubt on cherished wisdoms and accept behaviours: in other word, to shock.

Christianity is, by its nature, more akin to folly than it is to the Pope’s massive corporation.  The central dictate of the Christian doctrine is humility, imitation of Christ’s ultimate self-humbling.

As you see from these quotes, the concept of the Fool is not an easy one to grasp and hold onto.  It is like trying to contain water in a sieve or getting a reflection of yourself in a pool of rippling water – it keeps changing.  However, it is one I believe is important to keep in our awareness (consciousness) and reflect on when we react to things which annoy us, or push our buttons.  Let me close with a quote from Care of the Soul:

The path of soul is also the path of the fool, the one without pretense of self-knowledge or individuation or certainly perfection…You will have the spiritual radiance of the holy fool who has dared to live life as it presents itself and to unfold personality with its heavy yet creative dose of imperfection.

May you be blessed to embrace your inner Fool on your journey.

 

I acknowledge that we are on Turtle Island, the original homelands of the many Indigenous Nations who have lived since time immemorial in Canada or as many First and other Indigenous Nations
All of the lands in Canada are the subject of up to one hundred Treaties signed by the Crown in the right of Canada with these Nations.

  

Where’s a Good Church

On Saturday, Lorna and I met with my son Steve and daughter-in-law Deb for a picnic in Sackville NB. This is halfway between our cottage and their home.  It turned out to be a very nice day all around, weather wise as well as company wise.  It was great to get together.  We had the picnic at the Visitor Information Centre in Sackville – a picnic table in the shade.  After lunch Lorna and I went for a walk on the trail in the connected Waterfowl Park and managed to find the covered bridge.  All in all, a very pleasant day. 

While I was in the Visitor Information Centre, I picked up a couple of pamphlets for churches in Sackville.  One was for the Salem Baptist Church and one for Sackville United Church - see below.  

There is quite a contrast between the two pamphlets and, although I have not visited either church, both churches likely have some differences in their worship and activities.  As the saying goes, you only have one chance to make a first impression, so here is my first impression of each of the churches based on the pamphlets.  First, let me say that both churches are making an effort to engage people by having the pamphlets available at the Welcome Centre. 

The Baptist Church is apparently all about family.  Worship is only one, possibly minor, part of what this congregation is about.  They let you know in great detail all that they are involved with and all they have to offer every member of the family.  It would appear that family is the traditional two parents (a father and a mother) with two children and an additional member, possibly a grandfather or uncle.  There are programs and activities that every member of the family can participate in.  However, I did find it surprizing that although there is a “Ladies Fellowship” there is no equivalent for the men (Gentlemen).  It is a bit surprizing that worship does not seem to be front and center in what they have to offer.  They do let us know that the preaching will be practical. 

The United Church, on the other hand, has very little information about the church and what it has to offer people.  Rather than programs and information on worship, it provides some adjectives to describe themselves; warm, vibrant, inclusive progressive, affirming, community, faith.  It does let you know that they have something on Sunday morning – which I am sure is worship even though it is not stated. 

If I did not come with any presuppositions about what a United Church or a Baptist church might be about, what would my reaction be?  Of course, that would not have been the case twenty or even ten years ago, but today more and more people are completely unaware of church and what these two denominations probably entail.  If I had a traditional family with children at home, I would probably try out the Baptist Church and would probably be interested in all the activities and programs.  The worship service might also be lively and uplifting and I would likely be warmly welcomed and not have to become familiar with how to maneuver through the service.   

The United Church would not give me much information to entice me into seeing what the congregation was about.  The adjectives might catch my attention and. If I was curious, I might check it out.  But I think that what the people are looking for today is probably community.  I don’t know from the pamphlet what the United Church would offer as a community that I could join and based on the adjectives; they probably are a welcoming community which I would feel a part of.  However, there is no way to tell from the information provided. 

I invite you to reflect on which of these churches you would be likely to explore and why that would be.  If you are a member of a church congregation now reflect on how your experience of that church matches with what is offered in these pamphlets.

Mephistopheles Today

I recently saw the movie Elvis which is the wonderful depiction of the life of Elvis Presley as envisioned by Baz Luhrmann.  There are many things which are commendable about this movie including the performances by Tom Hanks as Col. Tom Parker and Austin Butler as Elvis (no second name required in the title or the cultural). A few days after seeing the movie it came to me that what is portrayed is the legend of Dr. Faustus.

The story of Dr. Faustus originated in 15^th century Germany, purportedly based on an historical person,  Johann Georg Faust .  The story has been the basis for many versions over the centuries, in art, literature and plays.  In modern times, versions of the story have been told such notables as Goethe, Thomas Mann, and Christopher Marlow.  Intentionally or not, the story influenced the movie, Elvis.

The story of Faust, in outline, tells of the misadventures of a successful German scholar who is dissatisfied with achievements even thought he is distinguished in many areas of academic life including medicine, law and religion.   He determines that he wants to succeed in the practice of the black arts i.e., magic.  Faustus calls upon the Lord of Darkness and in doing so summons up Mephistopheles, one of the Devil’s servants.  He bargains with Mephistopheles and strikes a bargain that if Mephistopheles will serve him, the Devil will claim his soul after a set number of years - twenty-four in some versions.  Faustus has all that he desires for the time allocated, even summoning up the figure of Helen of Troy and generally causing mischief and mayhem.  As the end of the allotted time draws near Faustus believes that he is irreparably lost and his soul is claimed by the Devil.  It is interesting that in Goethe’s version he is forgiven through the intercessions of one of his victims. 

Turning to the movie, Elvis, there are some details that do not fit the legend.  Elvis was not a successful person when the tempter arrives in his life.  However, the story is told through the eyes of Colonel Parker who is portrayed as an evil genius who guarantees Elvis the success and fame that he desires and which he delivers.  Elvis has opportunities to redeem his life (and soul) but Mephistopheles aka Col. Parker manages to ensure that Elvis is successful beyond his dreams at the ultimate cost of his soul.  Col. Parker ensures that the Devil claims his due gaining everything that he seeks i.e., the means to engage in the endless ‘games’ of chance that are the foundation of the Las Vegas enterprise.  Elvis spends his final days, captive in the hell on earth of the venue of the eternal Las Vegas Concerts, being denied his dream of seeing and engaging the larger musical world.   

The legend and the movie present the archetypal story of the person who sells his soul to the Devil for the material things of this world.  This was one of the temptations of Jesus in his time in the wilderness when Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would bow down and worship him.  What does it profit someone to gain the world but lose his soul?

The world seems to abound in many incarnations of Mephistopheles in many manifestations today.  Perhaps no more than in previous times, but that we are only more aware of it.  Is there a Mephistopheles in your life who is offering you the world only demanding your soul - something that many people do not believe they possess?  As Bob Dylan said, “you gotta serve somebody.  It may be the devil or it may be the Lord but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”

If you face your Mephistopheles on our journey, may you be blessed to choose life.

Holy Listening and Holy Speaking

One of the challenges that we face when we are engaging others is to listen and speak in ways that enable the participant to truly engage each person.  Basically, you should not confuse the two activities.  Listen when the other person is speaking and speak when others are listening.  Here are a few guidelines or principles I encountered recently which can help in both activities. 

• Silence creates the space for listening to God. It provides time to explore our relationship to Source. The practice of being in this silence nurtures our capacity to listen to others. 

• Reflection gives us access to listening for our inner voice. The practice of taking a few breaths before responding to a situation, question, or comment gives time for your true wisdom to reveal itself. It’s a slowing down, waiting, practicing patience. 

• Presence is the awareness of listening to another, of connecting at the heart level. The practice of taking a mundane, ordinary activity and giving it your full attention, for example, washing your hands or brushing your teeth, trains your concentration and your ability to be in the present moment with another.  

It is important to keep the ego in check if you want true communication to take place.  Often, rather than listening to what someone else is saying, we concentrate on what to say to score points or to impress others or to win the argument. 

When the conversation involves more than two people it becomes even more of a challenge.  We want to ensure that we have an opportunity to say the very important thing that will raise us up and put us in a prominent position.  Here are some rules which can encourage people to speak from the heart in these situations. 

Begin by inviting each participant to set four intentions:  

1. Speak from the heart (truthfully, including your feelings).  
2. Listen from the heart (without judgment, with an open mind).  
3. Speak spontaneously (without preplanning your response).  
4. Speak leanly (use only the necessary words; for many, this is the hardest discipline of all).  

Holy listening and holy speaking occur when we are fully present with others. If we are able to be fully present to others, we are truly in communion with them

May you be blessed to engage in holy listening and holy speaking

 

I acknowledge that we are on Turtle Island, the original homelands of the many Indigenous Nations who have lived since time immemorial in Canada or as many First and other Indigenous Nations
All of the lands in Canada are the subject of up to one hundred Treaties signed by the Crown in the right of Canada with these Nations.