"Growing” Old; Growing Aware

 I shall say no more except that I already told you many years ago of the alternative journey you are now called to take – a journey which does indeed lie on the slopes of that mountain but holds no fame or glory for you; only loneliness and sadness.  The choice is yours.  Will you deceive yourself as Dante’s Ulysses did in a sin far worse than the deceit of the Trojan horse? (Old Age 12)

 These words of the poet Teiresias, the blind poet, imagined by Helen Luke, addressed to Odysseus resting from his toils and trials of youth.  They sum up the choice which all of us must make when we face the journey into old age.  Are we truly to continue “grow old”—to continue to grow in psychic maturity or will we simply succumb to the aging process—sinking, perhaps not gently, into that perceived, not so sweet night, fighting that inevitable journey every step of the way.

As we baby boomers continue our journey into old age, the question of “growing old” or succumbing to the aging process becomes one which is looming larger in our lives.  I originally explored the questions raised by Helen Luke in her work, Old Age, about ten years ago when I was approaching the traditional retirement age of 65 (although I had retired for the first time quite a while before that).  Although, at the time, that age seemed to be appropriate for exploring the issue, I have realized that I was not truly able to appreciate the journey into old age that lies ahead of me.  I am beginning to appreciate the wisdom of Helen Lukes words to a much greater extent than when I began that exploration.  The question of whether I will “grow old” or succumb to the aging process is one that stares me in the face every morning when I regard the old man who stares back at me in the mirror.  It is one that I struggle with as I decide what I will do each day.  

Richard Rohr addressed this in one of his Daily Meditations this week:

It’s true that the second half of life is a certain kind of weight to carry, but no other way of being makes sense or gives us the deep satisfaction our soul now demands and even enjoys. This new and deeper passion is what people mean when they say, “I must do this particular thing or my life will not make sense” or “It is no longer a choice.” Our life and our delivery system are now one, whereas before, our life and our occupation seemed like two different things. Our concern is not so much to have what we love anymore, but to love what we have—right now. This is a monumental change from the first half of life, so much so that it is almost the litmus test of whether we are in the second half of life at all… Aging can be either a life of nostalgia or a wholehearted engagement with the future.  (Richard Rohr)

 I believe that what we face in our journey into old age is call to be aware, aware that we are created in the image of God for a purpose that can only be revealed throughout our lives.  The purpose is different at differ times in our life and can only be revealed if and when we are awake of the path that inner voice is calling us to follow.

May we be blessed to hear that voice on our journey.

 

 

AI and the Preacher

I am not what you would call an early adopter in terms of technology.  I do have a Facebook Page and a blog – neither of which could be called new technology any more – and I have never Tweeted (I do know Twitter it is not called that now), and I can send a text if I absolutely have to.  In effect, I can get by in the electronic age when push comes to shove, but that is about all.

All this said, I have recently become a stranger in the strange land of Artificial Intelligence (AI). With the encouragement of a friend, last summer, I signed up for ChatGPT.  In case you are not aware of this popular manifestation of AI, it is a system which can answer many complex and detailed questions and requests almost immediately.  Interestingly, I asked ChatGPT for the number of users and it wouldn’t or couldn’t tell me, “I don't have access to real-time data or specific user statistics, including the number of people who have signed up for the service.”  This is likely because I haven’t signed up for the paid service that is up to date.  The one, I signed up for, which is free, is limited to data from a few years ago.  I used the now old-fashioned way of finding out, and googled the question.  I was told that there are 180.5 million users of ChatGPT, “according to the latest available data.”  It is a real time example of why you shouldn’t blindly accept the information on social media.  It should be treated with care. 

However, with that caveat, my exploration of this strange new land has given me results which are quite impressive.  There has been much speculation about the future impact of AI will be.  It may bring about a new revolution as earth shattering as the invention of the printing press or the development of the assembly line.  The industrial revolution of the 20^th Century eliminated many manual labour jobs.  The impact of AI is going to be revolutionary according to most experts.  AI is predicted to eliminate many professional and white-collar jobs with mind numbing speed. 

What inspired me to write about this topic today specifically was the potential from ChatGPT to be used for composing sermons.   It is a temptation which I believe will be hard to resist by at least some many of my fellow clergy.  It likely has been used for this purpose already.  I tested out the potential for ChatGPT to produce a sermon – no, I didn’t use it. I asked my new friend Chat (for short) to give me a one-thousand-word sermon on John 11:32-44 – the account of the resurrection of Lazarus.  The results were what I would call competent but not inspired or inspiring.  I won’t reproduce it here given the limitations I have placed on the length of these missives.  I can supply the results to anyone that requests it. 

To give you a taste of what it can do, here is a short introduction to one of the readings from last Sunday, 1 John 3:1-3.  I asked Chat for 20-25 word summary of the passage.  In our parish there is an introduction to each of the readings. Here is what Chat gave me almost instantaneously:

In 1 John 3:1-3, the apostle emphasizes God's incredible love, portraying believers as His children. Despite worldly confusion, the promise of transformation into Christ's likeness offers hope and purifies hearts.

This use is just a small example of the ways AI can be used.   Perhaps if Jesus was to be tempted by Satan today, this would be one of the temptations.  There is no doubt what we are facing is a wilderness of potential uncertainly and possibly chaos, about a future which includes AI.  It is something we need to be concerned about and pray for guidance and wisdom on our journey into that strange land.

Blessings.

 

God’s Pronouns

There is a trend – perhaps it can be called a movement – for people to identify the pronouns that they prefer to be used for themselves.  If I was going to identify which pronouns I prefer, I would out (he/him) after my name.  To be clear I am using this to illustrate the issue and not to indicate that I will start  doing this.  This probably means I am not ready to begin doing so at this time.  I may start doing this at some time in the future but I am not at that place yet. 

That raises for me, the issue of what pronoun we should use when referring to God?  It has been the practice throughout the history of Christianity to refer to God as him (sometimes capitalized Him).  This use is, of course, supported by Jesus Christ himself (note the pronoun), when he referred to God as Father (at least in translation), or his heavenly Father, especially in the prayer that he taught us – the Lord’s prayer. 

I raised this issue in a sermon I preached this past Sunday when I raised the issue of our tendency to put restrictions on our idea and understanding of who and what God is.  To think of God as Father, and use the pronoun He for God, is to put God in a box and to restrict our understanding of God.  As I noted in my sermon, God is beyond anything that we can do to describe or identify God.  We are limited by our humanness so; however we think of God, God is beyond our definitions or descriptions.  Theologians have been exploring this for millennia in more ways than most of us can imagine.  Indeed, if we look to the Bible, we will find innumerable ways in which the people of God have described God.  Here are only a few examples: Abba, Adonai, El Shaddai, Elohim, El, Yahweh.  Of course, we can describe God as The Force a la Star Wars to move beyond the bible.

Beyond names, God is also given characteristics that can be seen as feminine (I found these on the internet):

• God comforts his people like a mother comforts her child (Isaiah 66:13)
• Like a woman would never forget her nursing child, God will not forget his children (Isaiah 49:15)
• God is like a mother eagle hovering over her young (Deuteronomy 32:11)
• God seeks the lost like a housekeeper, trying to find her lost coin (Luke 15:8-10)
• God cares for his people like a midwife that cares for the child she just delivered (Ps 22:9-10, Ps 71:6, Isa 66:9)
• God experiences the fury of a mother bear robbed of her cubs (Hosea 13:8)

It is not wrong to describe God as masculine and use the pronoun Him and all its derivations.  God can be described as masculine.  However, in doing that we need to remember that we are limiting God just as we do if we describe God as feminine (Her) or in any other way.  God is beyond any description we can use for God.  He/She/It…and so on, is perhaps necessary for us limited people to try and understand God.  However, let’s try not to put God in a box and limit God for convenience or any other reason.  It’s not fair to God or yourself or others.

Blessings 

 

 

I am one of the performers at this event - local talent as we are dubbed - please join us if you are able to and support the PArkhill Carnegie Gallery.

Humility

I have been thinking about the state of relationships in our community both our local communities and our larger communities.  This has been in response especially to what is happening in politics in Canada as it seems to be importing many of the divisions and antagonism which is permeating politics in our neighbours to the south.  This can be extended to the devastating conflict between Israel and Hamas.

I believe that what is desperately needed in all these relationships is humility.  I recall once reading a definition of humility as being a state in which one sees clearly.  This surprized me when I first read it but on reflection, I came to understand what was being said is that if you see yourself clearly you will understand where you belong in relation to other people and the world that God has created.  If you see yourself and others clearly, you will realize that the proper response is humility.  This is regardless of what God-given gifts you possess or what you have accomplished in life.

In reflecting on humility, I checked into what has been said about it in one of my go-to sources, the daily reflection by the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) which is entitled, Brother, Give Me a Word.  I found that there were a number of daily offerings about humility.  I want to share a few of them with you to give you a flavour of the brothers’ thoughts on this subject.  The first is in line with that quote that I referred to:

Humility

Humility is not about self-abasement. Rather, it is about living into the truth of who we are, recognizing both our gifts and our shortcomings, our abilities and our limitations, our righteousness and our sinfulness. Br. David Vryhof, SSJE

 

Here are a couple of other of the brothers’ thoughts on the subject:

Humility

Making a right estimate of ourselves involves appreciating the natural gifts that have been given to us by God, but also realizing that we are beneficiaries of God’s undeserved, redeeming love. The humble person knows he cannot exalt himself, because all that he has and all that he is proceeds solely from God’s generous love. Br. David Vryhof, SSJE

 

Humility

One of the easiest things in the world is to be clearsighted when it comes to others, and to know exactly what another needs to do to address their shortcomings. It is not so easy to address, or even admit, our own shortcomings. Real humility is about knowing ourselves as God knows us: imperfect creatures, whom God loves. Knowing ourselves loved by God means first recognizing that we are loveable. To do that, we need to be clear sighted, not about the other person, but about ourselves. -Br. James Koester SSJE

 To be humble is a challenge for different reasons especially because of our egos.  The ego demands that we are in charge of all that we do and all that we are in relation to others.  The ego compares itself to others and judges our worth on that basis.  This means that we are put in situations where we judge the outcome on the basis of whether we believe we have won or lost and consequently whether we are better or worse than the other and whether we are worthy of being loved.  There are, of course, other factors such as anger and hate which will drive our response to situations and events.  In the worst situation we will want to humiliate the one we see as our foe.

I will close with one more quote form my friends at SSJE on what is required to be in community with others.  It does not refer to humility but if we are humble we will be thankful for what we have been given in life by others and especially by God:  

Community

We depend on one another for support. As we Brothers know well, community is a fragile organism that can only survive where thankfulness and reconciliation are allowed to thrive. Br. James Koester, SSJE

May we be blessed with the gift of humility on our journey.  

  

Beyond Information

I remember a long time ago – perhaps forty year or so - thinking that all the information I had to deal with in my job was rather challenging.  Well, little did I know – perhaps in my naivety – that what lay ahead for everyone was an overwhelming flood of information.  That seems to be what we have now – so much information available at our fingertips – literally with a click of a mouse (if you still use are old fashioned enough to use one), that, if we are so inclined or trapped, we can spend all day every day falling down one rabbit hole after another on social media in a never-ending desire for more information.  At least Alice only had one rabbit hole to fall into. 

Today, we seem to be consumed with the search for more information and usually we only want to look for information to affirm and confirm what we already believe.  The algorithms on the various social media platforms seem to ensure this will happen or at least make it difficult to avoid.   The question we have to face today is, is there such a thing as too much information?  The answer is probably self evident – of course there is! (I don’t use exclamation points very often but I think this is an occasion to use one).

I realize my wording has been rather convoluted and meandering but perhaps that reflects the nature of the subject and is an example of more of something not always being better. 

So, given that we are faced with an epidemic of information of all kinds – good and bad, relevant and irrelevant – how can we deal with it?  I believe the answer lies first in the realization about what information does.  I was helped in gaining an understanding about the nature of information in one of Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations this past week, “Mere information tends to break things apart into competing ideologies.” 

For me, this summed up what is so evident today in the dominance of social media and the availability of information in the cloud of computing.  As I write that, I realize how that phrase, cloud computing, is so unintentionally revealing about its nature.  Instead of the cloud of knowing, it is the ‘cloud of unknowing’ (with apologies to the unknown author of the classic in mystical writing).  I guess we could all join in with the cry of TMI, TMI – too much information.

The idea that mere information breaks things apart, really gets to the essence of the problem.  We need to work to bring things together and not engage in things that separate us.  What we need is not more information; what we need desperately, is to find wisdom.   That is not an easy thing- true wisdom is hard to find and perhaps is not always easy to recognize.  However, that statement of Rohr’s is an example of wisdom, “Mere information tends to break things apart into competing ideologies.”  Here is the complete quote which addresses one way in which we can find wisdom

Mere information tends to break things apart into competing ideologies. Wisdom received through contemplative seeing puts things back together again. At the CAC (Center for Action and Contemplation), we have found that the most radical, political, and effective thing we can do for the world and the church is to teach contemplation: a way of seeing beyond the surface of things that moves people toward credible action.  

Contemplation is, unfortunately, not something which is natural or easy to people, especially these days when we are distracted and obsessed by all that information.  However, that recognition is a place to start. 

May you be blessed with the gift of contemplation on your journey.

 

All Embracing Thanksgiving

I have two subjects in mind today; thanksgiving – because it is the Canadian Thanksgiving, and perfection which I have intended to write about before I realized it would be Thanksgiving Monday today (not great planning ahead but there you go).  I hope I will be able to connect the two topics in a reasonable, if not meaningful way.

I have been interested in the issue/topic of perfection for a while now and wrote an article about my encounters with perfection – which I have dabbled in over my life.  The issue of perfectionism, or the drive for perfection, came into my awareness and consciousness some years ago when I was attending one of the intensives as part of my training as a dream group facilitator with the Haden Institute.  Here is the passage from that article which I want to share with you:

While I was at the Intensive, I found a small book at the Kanuga bookstore, or I should say, it found me. It is entitled A Prayer for the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz.  This little gem is a translation from Aramaic sources of The Lord’s Prayer and other sayings of Jesus. One of the passages that the book addresses is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 verse 48, that is traditionally translated, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” However, the translation by this author reads, “Be all-embracing, as your heavenly Father is all-embracing.” I felt my discovery of this book and this passage to be a physical gift from the Divine.

The gift of this book came after a dream which challenged my desire for perfection which I had not recognized consciously.  I had, for many years been uncomfortable about the commandment by Jesus that we should ‘be perfect’ so I was very grateful for this different interpretation of Jesus’ words. 

One of the impetuses for writing about perfection this week was that it was the theme for Richard Rohr daily missives last week.  Here are two excepts from his Daily Meditations:

Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. Knowing this gives me hope that human wholeness—mine, yours, ours—need not be a utopian dream, if we can use devastation as a seedbed for new life.

On one level, soul, consciousness, love, and the Holy Spirit can all be thought of as one and the same. Each of these point to something larger than the self, shared with God, and even eternal. That’s what Jesus means when he speaks of “giving” us the Spirit or sharing his consciousness with us. One whose soul is thus awakened has the “mind of Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 2:10–16). That doesn’t mean the person is psychologically or morally perfect (my emphasis), although such a transformed person does see things in a much more expanded and compassionate way. Ephesians calls it a “spiritual revolution of the mind” (4:23)—and it is!  Our outer world and its inner significance must come together for there to be any wholeness—and holiness. The result is both deep joy and a resounding sense of coherent beauty.  Richard Rohr 

To emphasize the selection of this topic for today, when returning from a family gathering in London today, there was an interview with Thomas Curran, the author of a book about perfectionism in our society, The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough.

So, what has all this perfection have to do with thanksgiving and Thanksgiving?  We can be thankful that we are who God created us to be in all our strengths and weaknesses – I know that those weaknesses are the ghosts that visit me in the wee hours of the night.  However, they are what make me who I am as do the strengths. They are what makes me who God created me.  Now if only I would truly believe that in the depths of my soul all manner of things would be well – that would be good enough but not perfect thank be to God.

May we be thankful for all that God has given us on our journey.