Praying for AI or Not

Lorna and I were having lunch with a colleague and his wife last week.  In our very enjoyable conversation, the concept of praying for an AI generated person/entity came up.  Should the name of an AI entity be added to the parish prayer list if requested by a parishioner in such a relationship.  Now this might seem to be rather fantastical and the stuff of science fiction.  However, it is sure to be an issue in the not-too-distant future with the way AI is developing – I won’t say advancing as I am not sure it will be an advancement in human society. 

As AI becomes more human-like and harder to distinguish from real people, and people and becoming more isolated from each other and society in general, lonely people will inevitably turn to AI generated – what should we call them – beings, entities, factoids - think of Seri and Alexa in ten or even five years. 

To get back to my original question, this is undoubtedly going to be an issue in churches.  What then is the answer?  My initial thought on this is, of course not.  These AI personalities – let’s call them that – are not human beings.  They have not been created in the image of God, in the Chirstian understanding of who we are.  Bottom line: they do not have souls.  That raises an interesting issue about praying for pets, or animal companions if you prefer.  Should pets be included in our prayers?  That has never been an issue in my experience, but why no?  At our little Anglican church here in PEI, we will be celebrating the Blessing of Animals in a couple of weeks on the Feast of St. Francis.  Should we also pray for them if they are ill?  You could use the same rationale as with AI personalities – they are not created in the image of God – but do they have souls?  That is and has been debatable.  However, the answer to this that I prefer is by Catherine of Siena who when asked that question replied, yes, but that are small – this may be apocryphal but is one that seems to fit my hope for that part of God’s creation. 

As with human companions to pets, I believe, as Christians, we have to always treat people with compassion and love.  We should acknowledge what is important in their lives and what brings them comfort.  When that is disrupted, we should provide the comfort and compassion that is appropriate.  So, we can pray for the person in relationship with an AI personality, who is hurt or suffering but not the AI personality or perhaps animal companion – although I am willing to be persuaded differently on that point. 

May all your relationships bring you joy and fulfillment on your journey.  

 

Hope in the Age of Monsters

On Saturday, Lorna and our guests and I attended the Charlie Angus Resistance Tour event in Charlottetown, PEI.  It was a sold-out event in which we were given an inspiring talk by Charlie Angus who is a former long time NDP member of parliament.  It covered a lot of ground about the challenges we are facing in the world today with the rise of totalitarianism from leaders such as Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, and Orban. 

There were two of the many things in the presentation which really stayed with me.  One was his classification of our times as being the Age of Monsters.  This may seem to be somewhat hyperbolic. However, if you are paying attention to what is happening in such places as Ukraine and Gaza and the United States – to name a few – I certainly believe this is an accurate naming of the evil that is rising.  Indeed, I think of the closing lines of the poem by W.B Yates, the Second Coming:

The darkness drops again; but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

The other part of Charlie’s talk that stuck with me was addressing what we can do in response to this threat from the rough beasts that are slouching towards our Bethlehems.  He noted a study that had been done on the resistance to the Nazis in a town in the Netherlands in which residents were most likely to hide Jewish fellow citizens despite the threat of death to themselves from the Nazis.  The study of this phenomenon concluded that it was because of social pressure – people were asked and encouraged by their neighbours to do these heroic acts. 

In this context, Charlie also spoke about what, I believe, he called the theory of zero, ones and twos.  AS he described it -at least as I remember it – it begins with zero which is the start of any movement by one person’s action.  This in term is acted on by two, which then becomes four – and so one.  In this way one person can make a difference.  It also doesn’t require big, momentous acts.  The small, seemingly insignificant act can have unimagined impacts moving out like the ripples when a stone is thrown into a pond. 

As Charlie states he is not optimistic, but he certainly is hopeful.   It is vital we do not give up hope.  

  

Are You a Pharisee or a Publican?

This morning, I am looking at the readings for this coming Sunday.  The Gospel appointed is the parable of the Publican i.e. tax collector, and the Pharisee from Luke chapter 18.  Both are praying in the temple.  The Pharisee is blowing his own horn about how good and righteous he is – fasting twice a week, tithing, and giving thanks that he is not like other men who are adulterers, unjust, and extortionists.  He is especially thankful he is not like the Publican.  The Publican, in contrast, asks for God’s mercy as a sinner. 

Jesus holds up the example of the Publican as being justified rather than the Pharisee.  This is a well-known parable of Jesus – at least in my experience.  It is great fodder for sermons and is a great lesson for those in the pews about being like the Publican and not the Pharisee.  Don’t get too high on yourself and be righteous.  If you ask people sitting in the pews if they agree that the Pharisee should be condemned by Jesus, Likely most would agree – perhaps feeling somewhat uncomfortable about having similar feelings to those of the Pharisee – albeit on a much smaller scale of course.

 However, once you do that – to say thank God I am not like the Pharisee, you are doing just what Jesus was criticizing the Pharisee for doing.  How many of us can say we have never looked at someone and mentally criticized them as being the wrong kind of person, or acting in the wrong way, or dressing inappropriately, or having the wrong kind of hair, and so on.  When we do that, we are letting our inner Pharisee take over.  Rather than looking at ourselves we are focussing on the other out there rather than looking inward at ourselves.  

I invite all of us to pay attention for the next week to where our inner Pharisee takes charge and whenever it does see that we might not be admitting about ourselves. 

 

Reflections on Spirituality and Religion

My last reflection was on Faith, Belief, and Spirituality drawing on the work of theologian Harvey Cox in his book, The Future of Faith.  I want to follow up on that with thoughts and reflections by theologian Diana Butler Bass from an interview on the CBC program Tapestry.   The episode is entitled, Finding god in HGTV: a spiritual revolution http://www.cbc.ca/radio/tapestry/finding-the-sacred-in-unexpected-places-1.3765363/finding-god-in-hgtv-a-spiritual-revolution-1.3765366

Diana Butler Bass looks at Spirituality and Religion as they are manifest today and raises a number of interesting questions and comments. 

Bass first poses the question, is Religion keeping up with the longings and questions of and for the 21^st Century e.g. What are people longing for – compassion and companionship/neighbourliness.  How do we embody compassion?

The God of 100 years ago – hierarchical remote was manifest in the establishment and practice of religion.  This is a God who is a being sitting on a throne somewhere in outer space.  This is contrasted with a God who is imminent, creative, with us; a God who is compassionate.  Do our hymns and architecture need to reflect that?  Is it enough to just reflect this in our theology and sermons and teaching?  A tension between the memory i.e. an idealized view of a golden age of Religion which can be just a few decades ago in some of our lifetimes when Sunday Schools were overflowing and church services were standing room only versus the apparent yearning for something beyond the materialism and competition of Western society today.  

What is missing for the way the 21^st Century does religion?  Concepts of science e.g. the Big Bang – all matter created some 14 billion years ago – we are stardust – what has been happening since is the rearranging of the matter – is this God’s plan?  What might this be leading to us to – perhaps a future like one envisioned by the Omega Point of Teilhard de Chardin.

Is Spirituality opening the door for individualism?  A charge by those who primarily care about religious institutions, that the spiritual movement is a base about self-indulgence.   How does religion connect with what people are longing for?  Does spirituality allow you to sidestep those things that challenge you?  Short answer, yes.  But organized religion is no guarantee that doesn’t happen in a church community. 

Bass proposes that one manifestation of spirituality today can perhaps be seen in the popularity of HGTV.  People are longing for home.   Bass notes that when she refers to her little home in her back yard where she does her writing and puts a picture of it on social media.  She is inundated with requests about where they could get the plans for it.  It is a sign of the desire for a ‘Room of one’s own’ to use the phrase by Virginia Woolf who wrote about it almost a hundred years ago. 

In reflecting on this, I am left with the question of the viability and future of a spirituality that is amorphous and all-inclusive that it means everything and nothing at the same time.  Can region in its structure and practice include and incorporate the aspects of spirituality which will enable people to explore and develop a mature spirituality that will bring them closer to the God which they are seeking.

 

Faith, Belief, and Spirituality

The Gospel reading from last Sunday recounted the story in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus feeds a multitude with just seven loaves and a few small fish. Interpreting this event invites us to reflect on the concepts of faith and belief.  We also should allow spirituality to sneak into the discussion through the back door as well. 

In his work, The Future of Faith, theologian Harvey Cox outlines three major epochs in Christian history. The first, which he calls the Age of Faith, began with Jesus and the early disciples. Cox describes this as a time when a vibrant and uplifting faith energized the Christian movement from its earliest moments.

Cox then identifies the second epoch as the Age of Belief. This period started when the first generation of Christians no longer had direct contact with Jesus or his disciples. During this time, beliefs concerning Jesus began to be defined and solidified, shaping Christian doctrine for the next fifteen hundred years.

The Third epoch is the Age of the Spirit.  This Age is more amorphous and harder to pin down being identified in many different aspects.  The Age, which is identified with the Third Person in the Trinity, is appropriately like trying to catch a breeze in your hands. 

Cox holds that faith begins with awe which is in response to an encounter with mystery such as a miracle recorded in the bible or the wonders of the natural world.  Cox states that, “awe becomes faith only as it ascribes some meaning to that mystery.”  In this way faith is very much an outcome of experience.

The Age of Belief has resulted in an agreed set of statements or Creeds which Christians are to adhere to.  As the organized structure of the Christian Church emerged, the hierarchy of the church, “distilled the various teaching manuals into lists of beliefs.”  These have been adapted and replaced in some instances due to schisms and disagreements, while in other cases such as the Creeds have basically remained unchanged. 

The differences in the approach between faith and belief was well summed up by Carl Jung in his famous statement in response to being asked if he believed in God.  He stated emphatically, "I don't need to believe in God, I know."  Jung’s response seems to me to be based on his experience of exploring the human psyche in all its complexity and depth.  In effect, his faith gave him the assurance of the existence of God.

It seems to me that it comes down to how we respond to our experience of mystery.  In this way faith and spirituality have much in common - both are based on experience.  How do we understand mysteries today?  Do we try to demythologize them and turn to belief in science and rationality for answers?  Do we awaken the awe that may be buried under the mountains of scientific facts and theories that permeate our culture?  Then there is the convoluted thinking that muddles the distinction between faith and belief.  I believe we would be in a much better place if we just ‘let the mystery be’ – to quote one of my favourite songs. 

I hope that you will be open to mystery in all its forms on your journey.  

 

Who Are You Going to Serve?

 

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Bob Dylan put’s it out there in his song Gotta Serve Somebody – you are going to have to serve somebody.  That was the question facing us when we encountered the Gospel reading on Sunday from Luke chapter 6.

Let’s take a look at what Jesus is telling us to do to make sure we have heard him correctly.  Yes, it actually says love your enemies.  Well, I find it hard sometimes to even love those who are my friends.  How about doing good to those that hate you?  Well, there is the idea of killing someone with kindness.  That would serve them right and you might get perverse pleasure of being kind to someone who is not kind to you and thinking how they would actually hate that as it would really annoy them.

If someone slaps you on the cheek, are you really going to turn the other one to be slapped?  My reaction would be to want to hit back or at least make sure I wouldn’t get hit again.  Certainly, it would not be to turn the other cheek – that sounds a bit masochistic.  After all, isn’t that just human nature to want to protect yourself from harm? 

So, it all looks pretty bleak for us Christians doesn’t it.  Do you actually know anyone who has done the things that Jesus is telling us – no - commanding us to do? Perhaps I can think of a few saintly people, but I have a suspicion that they probably didn’t live up to all the requirements laid on us by Jesus in this passage and other parts of scripture.

Given that, if we are to give up and pack our religious bags and leave, where are we to go to.  Every other part of the Christian church is under the same obligation to the commands of Jesus Christ.  We could become secular humanists but that leaves us to our own devices and put us in the self-centered clutches of our egos.  If we look around us, we can see the devastation resulting from people letting their ego’s take control and run amok.  We have some great examples – not good examples because there is nothing good in what they are doing.  They include he who should not be named just south of us here in Canada – not to mention the leader of Russia and don’t forget, Israel.  There is nothing there that will lead us to a place which is beyond ourselves and call us to self-sacrifice as we have in the model Jesus Christ. 

So, the question posed by Dylan remains, who are we going to serve?  For an answer – this morning anyway, I want to turn to Alcoholics Anonymous.  Step 6 in the 12 Steps of AA is Willingness.   Step 6 arises from the belief that one cannot get rid of bad aspects of ourselves that cause addiction without some assistance from a Higher Power. The individual must also be willing to let those defects go without looking back.  This does not mean you have to believe in the Christian God in any of its many variations, but you have to admit that you cannot do it yourself.  But how do you decide on what Higher Power you are going to serve – as Dylan says it could be the Devil, or it could be the Lord.   Is it going to be something which will make you a better person and the world a better place?

Of course, you may decide that you can serve something like rationalism or science.  However, with that as with many things you might identify as a Higher Power, you don’t actually give up control.  You pick and choose the aspect of the higher power which still allows you the illusion that you are in control.  IF the higher power is actually a higher power for good then I suspect that, if you are honest with yourself, there will be an aspect of that Higher Power that you will object to and resist.  That is probably the sure and certain sign that the Higher Power is actually that – a higher power which wants what is truly the best for you and for the world.

Here’s the link to the song which you can listen to on your journey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC10VWDTzmU

 

 

Borders and Liminal Space

Borders have been in the news to a great extent recently.  Donald Trump does not seem to have much respect for the borders of other countries – particularly Canada, proclaiming that Canada is not a real country and should become the 51^st State.  He declared that the Canadian U.S. border is just the result of someone drawing an artificial line.  Putting aside the part of the border that follows the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River basin, it is true that it was drawn by people along the 49^th parallel by mutual agreement after much mutual disagreement; 54-40 or fight and all that entails in our history for example.  However, this is true of many, if not most, of the borders that exist now and have existed throughout human history. 

Then there is the supreme disrespect shown by Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the borders of Ukraine.  These are, of course, just two current examples of the challenges and serious consequences brought about by the drawing and redrawing of borders between countries by leaders throughout history.  The lack of respect for borders leads to serious consequences to put it mildly. 

 Reflecting on borders brought to mind the wonderful song on this subject, Borderline, by Joni Mitchell.  The first verse lays it out beautifully:

Everybody looks so ill at ease
So distrustful, so displeased
Running down the table
I see a borderline
Like a barbed wire fence
Strung tight, strung tense
Prickling with pretense
A borderline

This song addresses much more that the borders between countries and summarizes the damage and destruction that that human tendency to draw borders between – well just about everything.  Again, the lyrics state it so well:

Every bristling shaft of pride
Church or nation
Team or tribe
Every notion we subscribe to
Is just a borderline
Good or bad, we think we know
As if thinking makes things so
All convictions grow along a borderline

Is this tendency to draw boundaries and borders that separate us so effectively, actually inevitable?  It certainly seems to be as the evidence is all around us.  We naturally identify people and things as ‘the other’ – not like me or us – as the song says, “all convictions grow along a borderline.”  Psychologist Carl Jung identified the tension of opposites that exists between things – positive and negative psychic energy in tension.  The desire – conscious or unconscious – is to try and eliminate that tension.  This tension, rather than being something to eliminate, is seen as the source of growth, transformation, and the development of consciousness.  Friedrick Von Hugel named this ‘divinely intended tension’ which puts it into the realm of God’s plan for creation.  Richard Rohr addressed this, “Growth is the boundary between the darkness of unknowing and the light of new wisdom, new insight, new vision of who and what we ourselves have become.” Richard Rohr July 15, 2025 

Holding that tension and allowing the liminal space between the opposites will allow something new to be born.  This is not the normal response to things we see as the Other.  However, it seems to be the way in which, as people of God, we can work towards bringing about this world to be how God intends it to be.   

Joni Mitchell’s Borderline can be seen on-line here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqOzVh4eLqc

I invite you to listen to the song and take in the lyrics that express so well the danger and temptations of borders and reflect on how you might hold the tension between the borders in your life and see what might be born.

 

The Dark Pub-Night of the Soul

Richard Rohr is currently exploring the dance between darkness and light in which darkness often gets, in my view, an undeserved primarily negative view.  In the Rohr blog, he notes that, “periods of darkness, confusion, and struggle as necessary for our transformation and growth.  Experiences of darkness are good and necessary teachers. They are not to be avoided, denied, run from, or explained away.”  He further explains that, “It really feels like the total absence of light, and thus the saints and mystics called it “the dark night.”   In classic spirituality this is referred to as ‘the dark night of the soul’. 

This concept resonates with me and brings to mind my experience of the dark night which I refer to as the dark pub night of the soul.  The circumstances of this case are one of the most embarrassing of my life.  It happened when I was in my mid-fifties and was in the process of ordination in the Anglican Church of Canada.  Part of that process is to spend time as a theology student in a parish under the supervision of the parish priest.

I was, in my mind, a mature individual who was very self aware and should have few problems in this role.  Indeed, I set out to make a very favourable impression on my supervisor and the members of the congregation.  I was, in effect, going to shine and ride to glory.  It turned out this was my overarching mistake which would be very definite my Felix Culpa – my fortunate fall. 

In my experience in this role, I discovered a lot of my limitations which, although I was aware of them, I was unaware to the extent to which they would be a challenge for me.  My supervisor was very good at pointing these out to me and not letting me ignore them.  These challenges came to a head when the parish was holding a pub night in which I had an opportunity to perform – singing and playing my guitar.  I decided that this was my opportunity to shine and show some of my strengths rather than, in my mind, the weaknesses that had been growing In my awareness.

I decided that I would sing and play one of my long-standing favourite pieces, Suzanne by Leonard Cohen.  I attended with my wife Lorna and two close friends.  As I waited my turn to take centre stage, I began to drink wine, and I didn’t stop after a few drinks.  By the time I was called up to the stage I was well in my cups, as they say.  I don’t remember much of my time on stage except I attempted to say a few well slurred words and launched into my version of the song.  It did not do well to say the least, but I did eventually manage to stagger off the stage without falling down. 

I came home – or rather was brought home and fell into bed.  I woke up at some point in the night and turned the radio on and heard a piece of music on CBC radio which I had not heard before and haven’t heard on the radio since.  I was Whythorne’s Shadow by the composer Earnest Moeran.  Ah yes, confirmation of what I had started to realize, I had been in thrall to my Shadow.  Just to clarify, this is not normal behaviour for me.  I had been exposed in front of the very people I wanted desperately to impress.  I made a fool of myself and not in the sense of a Fool in which I was in charge of the archetype.  As noted in Wikipedia, “bohemian lifestyle and heavy drinking during this period interrupted his creativity for a while and sowed the seeds of the alcoholism that would blight his later life.”  By the way, he was, as I was, the son of a clergyman.  Yes, the Shadow certainly knows how to pick them.

I appear to have been doubly blessed with a visit from the Shadow and synchronicity.  Whythorne’s Shadow indeed.  I will close with a quotation form the poem Whythorne’s song  by the composer Thomas Whythorne on which Moeran’s work is based:

As thy shadow itself apply'th
To follow thee whereso thou go,
And when thou bends, itself it wry'th,
Turning as thou both to and fro:
The flatterer doth even so,
And shopes himself the same to gloze,
With many a fawning and gay show,
Whom he would frame for his purpose.

 

The Humble vs Pride Challenge

‘I am the most humble person in the world!’  We know immediately there is something wrong with that statement — even if we’re not quite sure what.  If someone is humble, they do not think of themselves in comparison to others.  In fact, the person who makes that statement is ironically prideful about their humility — which means that he or she is basically not humble.   There is an interesting variation on pride which I have run into recently; it has been coined as the humble-brag.  The person who humble- brags gets to blow his or her horn and yet appears on the surface as being humble. It can go something like this, “I am so humbled and honoured to be awarded this great award.  I don’t deserve it but it is wonderful to be able to do the great things that I have done.”  In effect the person is saying, “aren’t I wonderful I   have done these great things and am humble as well.  Quite a neat trick, the humble-brag. 

Pride does not get very good press in the bible.  Here are a few of the verses which deal with pride: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs); One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honour (Proverbs); For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy (2 Timothy);  Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves.

Pride is definitely frowned upon by God and by the first Christian leaders.  With this very clearly negative view of pride I’m surprized that its opposite, humility didn’t make it into the Beatitudes.  

Let’s look at humility – the state of being humble.  Here are a few examples of how humility is viewed in the bible: Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves (Philippians); The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honour and life (Proverbs); Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Matt.); Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you (James).  Our Epistle set out humility in opposition to pride – God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.  Another passage gives a similar comparison, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom” (Proverbs).   We can see that it doesn’t seem that pride and humility can exist at the same time. 

That is why that first statement I made is just wrong.  If you are truly humble you are not going to believe you are more humble than everyone else or even anyone else.  You aren’t going to compare yourself to others — you just are who you are.

Indeed, our culture today certainly promotes pride as a good thing.  We are not encouraged to downplay our accomplishments and abilities.  We are told that to be successful we need to trumpet our accomplishments in social media.  If we are in business we see that those who don’t promote themselves don’t get customers — at least not many.  It seems that the sizzle is more important than the steak.  So it seems that to be a Christian then is to be counter cultural — to be against the culture.  I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise to us.   As Christians we are told to turn the other cheek; to go the second mile; to love our neighbours — better, to love our enemies. 

One of the reasons that true humility is difficult is because it is natural to compare ourselves to others.  We want to know how we are doing and the way we seem to do that most naturally is in relationship to others.  We seem to receive that lesson right from the cradle.  We are told directly or indirectly that we should be like others – and by implication do better than others. 

We are given marks in school and by implication are those marks better marks the others —where do we stand in the class.  Even our play is turned into competition — we are taught that winning is good and losing is bad or at best it is an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and by learning win the next time.  We win awards in life – medals in sports and academia — we get the job and after that the promotion.  By implication others do not succeed and therefore we conclude that we are better than others. 

How are we to become truly humble?  Is it something that we can work to become or is it something that will be given to us as grace from God?  One of the best definitions of humility that I have come across is by Sister Jane — an Anglican Nun.  She defines humility as ‘seeing clearly’ — to be humble is to see clearly.  When I first read that I was puzzled by that.  How was humility related to seeing things clearly?  Well I first thought that if we clearly see ourselves as we are we will know that we don’t compare that well to others at least some others in the world.  No matter how much we succeed there will be others who are better at us in whatever way we judge ourselves.  Even world champions are not the best in everything or even many things. 

However, on reflection I believe that to see clearly means that we can see what is truly important in life — we can see what is truly important to God.  I don’t believe that God wants us to be better than others.  God wants us to be the person that God intends us to be. 

God does want us to develop and grow and become fully mature human being.  I believe that we have a human need to be better than others because we believe deep down that that is the only way we will be of value — the only way we will valued by others and by God. 

If we can truly come to believe and know that God loves us unconditionally — that God loves us because we are God’s beloved children than we can just be the people of God.  That is something to be proud of. 

 

Your Shadow’s Invited to the Banquet

 Last Sunday, the Gospel reading was Jesus’ parable of the rich man who invites his neighbours to a great feast.  None of the invited accept the invitation so he invites all those who wouldn’t usually be invited to a rich man’s celebration – the poor, the halt, the lame, the blind.  This is well summarized by the Medical Mission Sisters in their song, I Cannot Come to the Banquet, which we sang at the worship service. Here is the chorus:

I cannot come.
I cannot come to the banquet,
Don't trouble me now.
I have married a wife.
I have bought me a cow.
I have fields and commitments
That cost a pretty sum.
Pray, hold me excused,
I cannot come.

The meaning of this parable seems clear to us.  It is easier to understand than some of Jesus’ parables.  God offers a banquet to us.  As Christians we are people who will be invited to God’s banquet that is prepared for us in God’s kingdom.  However, many of us who are invited to God’s feast with all the wonderful food and drink that will feed our souls, will decide we have better things to do than attend the Great Feast.   

That is the usual understanding of the parable.  I believe that it is perfectly valid and true.  However, I want to look at another way of understanding the lesson that Jesus is giving us.  What if we look at this from an inner perspective?  What is God offering to us about ourselves—about who we are created by God to be?  We have those parts of ourselves which are good and upright and live a life that is acceptable to us and to society. 

What then of the guests that the master invites when we don’t partake—the poor street people, the halt, the lame, the outcasts and people we wouldn’t dream of inviting to our banquets?  What about the parts of ourselves that are the aspects of ourselves that we don’t find acceptable —the street people within us?  We can look at those people invited instead of us as aspect of ourselves that we don’t find acceptable—those parts of ourselves that we don’t like and don’t even want to acknowledge.  These unacceptable parts can raise their ugly heads when we aren’t looking. 

Those parts of ourselves that we don’t want to acknowledge are part of who we are.  Carl Jung named those parts of ourselves that are unacknowledged and denied the Shadow.  They are also invited to the Great Feast as the parable tells us.  If we are going to attend the Great Feast those parts are going to attend as well.  We have to acknowledge them to God if we are to attend.  Otherwise, we will not be included in the Great Feast that God offers us. 

Take a few moments to think an aspect of yourself that you would not want to invite to a party.   What would it be like to welcome that part of yourself to a party that Jesus is throwing?  What if Jesus welcomed that part and made them the guest of honour.  How would you feel about that?  That is the part of you that Jesus truly wants at the party.  If we will acknowledge them and offer them to God we will be invited to partake in the Great Feast that Jesus offers us—acceptable parts and unacceptable parts. 

Your Shadow is accompanying you on your journey.  Why not get to know you Shadow and see what it offers you.  That will be a true blessing. 

 

Is Joy More than Happiness?

 I have been experiencing a lot of joy this past week.  That experience is not of joy – rather, it was about joy. I have had more than a few encounters with people writing about joy.

Joy is something I have thought about and pondered in my life.  I must confess that I have had a difficult time really getting a handle on what an experience of joy actually is.  There is lots of theory and exposition about joy but if asked I would have trouble describing the direct experience of joy. I am quite able to know when I am happy but what is joy when it is experienced?

Checking out the definition of joy on-line was not very helpful.  The first source I came across defined joy in terms of happiness - simply “great happiness.”  Another was a bit more detailed, “the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.”  So, can it be that joy is just an exaggerated experience of happiness or is there a difference between joy and happiness? 

Here are excerpts of some of the expositions regarding joy that came my way this week.

Dr. Barbara Holmes’ (1943–2024) makes a direct distinction between happiness and joy:

Make no mistake about it, there’s a real difference between happiness and joy. The sources of happiness are very fleeting. Buy something new and see how fleeting it is. That new car, that new house, they lose their luster in a mere few weeks. True joy is foundational. It’s a basis of God’s love for us, sealed with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Could there be any firmer foundation? 

 

Mystic and theologian Howard Thurman (1899–1981) writes of faith as the most secure foundation for joy.  However, he does seem to conflate joy with happiness but gives us an expanded idea of joy:  

There are some who are dependent upon the mood of others for their happiness…. There are some whose joy is dependent upon circumstances…. There is a strange quality of awe in their joy, that is but a reflection of the deep calm water of the spirit out of which it comes. It is primarily a discovery of the soul, when God makes known [God’s] presence, where there are no words, no outward song, only the Divine Movement. This is the joy that the world cannot give. This is the joy that keeps watch against all the emissaries of sadness of mind and weariness of soul. This is the joy that comforts and is the companion, as we walk even through the valley of the shadow of death. 

 Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis also sees a relationship between joy and happiness:

Joy is that feeling of well-being, pleasure, and happiness that accompanies us as we move through life. It alters the way we see the world, its people, and ourselves. Joy tints our perspective with optimism and the confidence that we will go through the hard things, and though we might be bruised or battered, we’ll come out on the other side. Joy is the wellspring of resistance, the water of life. Now, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and smile from the inside out. There, there it is. Can you feel it? That’s joy!  

Considering all this, it seems to me that happiness is dependent on externalities.  You are happy if life brings you things that give you happiness.  However, joy seems to be something that comes from your inner being – from a deep source that is ironically from both the outside and inside. 

When thinking about joy this past week, I was able to identify an experience of joy when attending a funeral of someone I didn’t know personally – the mother of a colleague.  The funeral service ended with the choir singing the In Paradisum from Faure’s Requiem.  The music was external, but the experience of joy came from somewhere internal.  It was not happiness - it was joy.   I realized that I had experienced that many times before but didn’t recognize it s joy.  May you be blessed with joy on your journey.

Both Hope and Despair

Just after I finished posting my last edition of this blog on the subject of Hope and Despair, Lorna and I had a living example of just that – we had a an experience of both hope and despair.  Our cat Trixie (although she is much more Lorna’s cat) who is an indoor branch of the feline species, took the opportunity to explore the great outdoors.  Now I’m not completely convinced that this is an example of synchronicity, I think it is a candidate for this phenomenon.  Here is Lorna’s description of the event as recorded on Facebook: 

I was gardening and I didn't realize the door hadn't latched. Trixie likes to watch me out the window when I am in the yard. When she noticed the door was slightly open, she decided to explore a bit. I had just finished my work and turned to see a large orange and black cat scoot under the back porch. I was wearing my outside (baseball) hat, which scares her for some reason.

 

I thought it can't be Trixie; Trixie's not that big. Then I saw the open door.

She next ran out from under the back porch - Greg caught a glimpse-and likely went from there under the deck. Ater a few minutes of calling her then googling about indoor cats escaping outdoors, I tramped around the forsythia bush as suggested but I frightened her. She startled me by darting out from under it. She disappeared before I could see where she went

 

Anyhow, we left both doors open and put out treats and familiar smelling things like her litter box and blanket. I had an email from my daughter to distract me.

 

So, just as I got to the point in the email where I was telling her how unnerving it was, and how worried I was and what if she didn't come back, and wasn't it lucky she'd been chipped when I heard a small "meep," so I looked over my shoulder. Greg had just seen her in the bedroom, so he quietly closed the back door, and motioned me to close the front door. She must have walked right behind me without my noticing. Anyhow I tiptoed over and closed the door.

 

She came back about an hour after she got out. So, I have Joanna to thank because I decided to reply to her, and thus let Trixie come in on her own !!!

 

This is a great example of how hope and despair can be experienced in the same event.  The reaction by both Lorna and me swung between both ends of what I can describe as the hope and despair axis – despair that we will never see Trixie and again and we will never have another cat to the hope she will return if we do what Google advises. 

 I hope that any times of despair will be accompanied with hope on your journey. 

 

Hope and Despair

I recently listened to an episode of On Being with host Krista Tippett, which asked the questions: What is filling you with despair? And what is giving you hope?  These are very good questions for these times.  So, I would like to pose those questions to the readers of this blog, what is filling you with despair? And what is giving you hope?

Before you consider these questions, let me clarify what I mean by the terms hope and despair.  Generally, despair is defined as being without hope.  However, this is not all that helpful until we define hope.  I believe it is better, for our purposes, to define this as being resigned to the inevitable; to have no possibility (hope) that the current situation will not improve and will lead to the end that is in front of us and there is no possibility that something will intervene to prevent that from happening.

Turning to hope, it is often the case that hope is used synonymously with optimism.  I can be optimistic that some situation or event will turn out okay in the end regardless – regardless of what?  There is nothing that is required of you to bring about the outcome you are wanting.  Hope, on the other hand, is to my mind, the possibility that things will turn out for the best if forces are brought to bear on that issue and work to bring about the desired outcome.

That force is sometimes – perhaps even often – a divine one which will bring about the best of all possible worlds or at least the best of possible outcome in this case.  This is best expressed by the saying of Julian of Norwich, the 14th century English mystic, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."   However, in hope there is also the possibility thahopt the forces will be based here on earth comprised of people working to achieve the desired ends.  Sometimes these forces combine as in the Social Gospel movement to bring about the Kingdom of God which will encompass the ends that are hoped for.  This can be considered faith in action.

It is easy to despair these days with the wildfires raging across many parts of Western Canada, and warfare raging in Ukraine, and the slow-motion destruction of the Palestinian people in Gaza.  However, we must not give up hope and let despair win. 

So, I will leave you with the questions I began with: What is filling you with despair? And what is giving you hope?  

  

The ‘If Only’ Life

The Gospel reading for Sunday was John 5.1-9 which tells of Jesus healing the lame man by the pool of Bethzatha.  Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be made well?” 

The ill man needed to realize that he would have to approach life in a new and radically different way if and when he was healed.  For pretty much his whole life he had been dependant on others for what he was given.  Now, he would literally and figuratively have to stand on his two feet and become responsible for how he lived his life. 

He probably could not comprehend what that meant.  Therefore, Jesus was asking him if he was ready and willing to live life in a new way.  We don’t know how he fared after the healing in his new life – scripture doesn’t tell us, so we can only imagine. 

But what has it to do with us here and now today?  We are not sitting by the pool of Bethzatha waiting for someone to take us down to the pool to be healed.  But is there an equivalent to that?  We can be waiting for God to make things right in our life.  We can live in the ‘if only’ life.  I would be happy and fulfilled ‘if only’ I had more money or ‘if only’ I had more friends, or ‘if only’ I had a different job – that was a big one for me earlier in my life.  It might be some handicap or illness that someone is experiencing which is quite understandably challenging – who am I to judge the challenges others have in their lives.

But what is the ‘if only’ that is keeping us from living the full life we are intended to live?  Whatever is keeping us from living the lives that God intends us to live, Jesus is telling us that we are loved by Jesus and Jesus will be there to help us and support us just as he was for that man waiting and hoping to taken to the healing waters of Bethzatha. 

Whatever our circumstances, are we ready to live our life in the way of Jesus?  Are we ready to give up the ‘if only’ in our lives?   Jesus is calling us to do just that.  

Where’s the Holy Humour

Bruce Tallman, who is a spiritual Director, wrote recently about attending a lecture by a Michael Higgins on his new book, The Jesuit Disruptor: A Personal Portrait of Pope Francis:

According to (Michael) Higgins, Francis was first and foremost a pastor, a pope of the heart because, although an intellectual like most Jesuits, Francis believed, like Blaise Pascal, that the heart is greater than reason. The heart has reasons of its own that reason alone cannot comprehend. As Archbishop Oscar Romero wrote, “There are things that can only be understood by eyes that have cried.”

I Believe that when we do just that – let our hearts do the thinking we approach what has been called Holy Humour.  I have written about Holy Humour previously.  So, what then do we make of Holy Humour?  Can there be true humor in such a serious thing as religion?  One author who explores this is Helen Luke in her collection of essays, The Laughter at the Heart of Things.  One commentary I came upon summarizes the essence of what Luke is saying very well:

What is at the heart of the matter, according to Helen Luke, is a sense of proportion.  Luke quotes T.S. Eliot and notes that, “Eliot is, expressing here (in the quote) the identity of a sense of humour with the sense of proportion and the humility that this engenders”.  What is at the heart of things the joy of seeing disproportion restored to proportion.

At bottom, the humour is getting us in touch with joy – the joy of being part of God’s creation.  After all, to quote a group of musical religious sister – the Medical Mission Sisters, joy is like the rain.  Perhaps those are raindrops on roses to bring in another song. 

May you be blessed with holy humour on your journey.  Remember joy is a serious matter not to be taken too lightly – too much of the time.  

 

That’s How the Light Gets In

As is often the case, one of the Daily Meditations from Richard Rohr gave me something to reflect on.  This one reminded me of the challenges that we are given and give ourselves to be perfect.  This apparent decree by Jesus to be perfect is something that needs to be reframed or understood differently. 

Divine perfection is precisely the ability to include what seems like imperfection. Indigenous religions largely understand this, as do the Scriptures (see Psalms 98, 104, 148, or Daniel 3:57–82 [1]). In Job 12:7–10, and most of Job 38–39, YHWH praises strange animals and elements for their inherently available wisdom—the “pent up sea,” the “wild ass,” the “ostrich’s wing”—reminding humans that we’re part of a much greater ecosystem, which offers lessons in all directions.   Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations April 30, 2025

Years ago, I discovered a small book, or I should say it found me.  It was entitled A Prayer for the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz.  This little gem is a translation of The Lord’s Prayer and other saying of Jesus from Aramaic sources.  One of the passages that the book addressed was from the Gospel of Matthew (5: 48).  This is traditionally translated as ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’.  However, the translation by this author is, ‘Be all-embracing, as you heavenly Father is all-embracing.” 

This passage and similar ones direct Christians to seek perfection and the understanding of God, as all good.  I could not reconcile them with my understanding of humanity as creatures of God, created in the image of God.  This new translation reconciled that dichotomy for me and brought my Perfection Complex into a conscious awareness.  This enables me to reconcile these passages with my understanding of the human psyche.  We are to seek wholeness not perfection.  I will continue to relate to my Perfection Complex in new consciousness and new appreciation for the drive for perfection that has been part of me – recognized or not though much of my life.  I will continue to offer my imperfect offerings to the source of my being which desires my wholeness and not my perfection.

Finally, I offer you my favourite lyrics from Leonard Cohen which encourages us to forget our attempts at perfection:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

I invite you to reconsider your desire for perfection and let the light into your life. 

Let the Mystery Be

 This morning I am pondering the mystery of life.   I have been fascinated by the Book of Job for many years.  It is something of a mystery why the book of Job was included in the canon of the bible as it puts God in a less than favourable light.  Job becomes the pawn in a celestial wager between God and Satan with dire consequences for Job and his family.  However, the story does have a happy ending for Job – if not for his children who perish. All that Job loses is restored to him including new children to replace those who perished  - as if a child you lose can be replaced by a new child or children - and he lives happily ever after and dies at a ripe old age of biblical proportions.

In the course of the story Job demands an audience before God and demands justice.  However, God is less than sympathetic to Job’s plight and states that God and God’s works are beyond Job’s comprehension.  Job humbles himself and admits to God that it is beyond his comprehension:

Then Job answered the Lord: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; ⁶therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”     

It is hard for us human being to live in the mystery of life.  We can deny it as some people with a scientific bent try and believe that we will solve the mystery of creation.  Or, as religious people we can try and put God in a nice box that we define and tie up with a bright bow.  However, if we are honest and humble enough, as Job was, we can try and live in the mystery of life. On this subject I will quote Helen Luke, one of my favourite authors who is one of the great explorers of this mystery:

true mystery is the eternal paradox at the root of life itself—it is that which, instead of hiding truth, reveals the whole not the part.  So when, after having made every effort to understand, we are ready to take upon ourselves the mystery of things, then the most trivial of happenings is touched by wonder, and there may come to us by grace, a moment of unclouded vision. 

True paradox can be difficult to understand and to live with but it is in paradox that we can discover God.  I believe that we are called to let the mystery be in all its wonder and respond to God with praise and thanksgiving.  I will close with a verse from my favourite song on this mystery; Let the Mystery Be by Iris Dement:

Everybody's wonderin' what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.

May you be blessed by the mystery in your life.

 

The Stations of the Cross (2) Adapted from www.preachingpeace.org

 It seems to be human nature that we want to leap over the challenging times of life and get to the good parts.  That is understandable.  However, I believe we need to not avoid the dark nights of the soul and embrace, or at least not deny those times.  How can we begin to know something of ourselves and of God when the dark times engulf us and threaten to overwhelm us?  What can we learn from those times when everything including God seems to have abandoned us?  We desire to quickly move from the despair of Good Friday to the joys of Resurrection Sunday.  I used an adaption of the Stations of the Cross on our Good Friday service. 

Last time I introduced the Stations of the Cross and looked at the first five stations.  This time I will finish our journey with Jesus to Golgotha. 

Station VI: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem 

“Weep not for me, but for yourselves and for your children.” The women of Jerusalem want to weep for you as though your fate were unrelated to theirs, as though the violence you suffer did not own them as well. You turn their sympathy back on them; remind them that your fate is their fate, too.

How many times have we contemplated your Passion, Lord, and wanted to cry for you? How many times have we wanted to weep because of your pain, and not because we caused it? How often have we blinded ourselves to our complicity in violence by feeling sorry for the victims?

Station VII: Jesus falls Again

Jesus, you have done all that you can do. When you fall this last time, you entrust the remainder of what must be done to us. There is no more strength. You are utterly beaten, defeated, but we are not finished. Like the potter’s clay, we will now make you into what we need you to be.

How many times have we seen another’s weakness as an opportunity to shape them, to change them into what we want them to be? How many times do we take advantage of the fact that you are too weak to resist, Jesus, and fasten you to the Cross?

Station VIII: Jesus is nailed to the Cross

Hanging for hours on a cross is not cruel enough, Jesus. Watching you suffocate will not mollify our rage. Life has been so unfair to us, we have such rage that we have to use nails, instead of the traditional ropes. Rage bleeds away as nails, meant for wood, cut easily through human flesh.

How many times have we allowed our rage to drive us to cruelty? Cruel acts? Cruel speech? How many times has another borne the scars of our rage?

Station IX: Jesus dies on the Cross

We stand in stunned silence as we survey the result of our sin. The Lord of Life hangs dead from the tree. The peace we pursued as we chased you up the hill refuses to come. As we gaze upon you, Jesus, our victim, the realization dawns. Violence will never again bring peace, and we are terrified.

Mute with horror, we stumble to our homes, as though the earth were moving under our feet. The ground itself seems unsteady as we contemplate a world without violence. On what will we stand?

Station X: Jesus is taken down from the Cross.

We have all departed by the time the guards permit those who love you to bring you down from the Cross. Once the spectacle ended, we are compelled to leave. There is something horrible and fascinating about you as you hang there, and it frightens us. We leave the task of dealing with your body to those who are already unclean.

How often, O Lord, have we fled our own horror, left the care of the dead and the dying to others? How many times have we let our fear of the power of death drive us into hiding?

Station XI: Jesus is laid in the tomb 

In a tomb that you could never have afforded, those who did not abandon you, those who refused to join the mob, lay your body to rest with great tenderness. There is nothing divine in the torn flesh, nothing holy in the bloodied brow. There is only sorrow, deeper than the greatest trenches in the ocean. Sorrow.

You will breathe life once again into our deadened spirits, Jesus, but not on this day. Today we walk as those robbed of hope, shuffling from one place to another as though we belonged in the tomb with you. Perhaps, without the breath of your new life, that is precisely where we belong.

Silence

The Stations of the Cross Adapted from www.preachingpeace.org

It seems to be human nature that we want to leap over the challenging times of life and get to the good parts.  That is understandable.  However, I believe we need to not avoid the dark nights of the soul and embrace, or at least not deny hose times.  What can we begin to know something of ourselves and of God when the dark times engulf us and threaten overwhelm us?  What can we learn from those times when everything including God seems to have abandoned us?  We desire to quickly move from the despair of Good Friday to the joys of Resurrection Sunday.  I used an adaption of the Stations of the Cross on our Good Friday service.  Here are the first five stations.  I will finish the journey with Jesus to Golgotha in my next edition.

 Station I: Jesus is condemned to die

Pilate said, “I find no fault with this man,” but when the crowd grew loud, he grew silent. “I wash my hands. You deal with him.” Pilate had the knowledge and the power to stand and say no to the world as it sought to crush the Lord of Life. He didn’t use either.  How many times do I have the knowledge and the power to say no, and stay silent? How many times do I participate, by my silence, in the Passion of Jesus? Who will die because I do not say no?

 Station II: Jesus takes up his cross. 

 This cross has been thousands of years in the making. Its weight grows greater each time I look for someone to blame for the pain in my world. Each time I insist that sin must be punished, I add an ounce to the burden Jesus carries for me.  This is the cross he carries, the cross of blame, of vengeance.  When have I said, “Well, he certainly deserved that!” or “It’s only fair. Look at what she did!”  When have I failed to forgive as I have been forgiven. When have I laid more weight on your blessed shoulders?

 Station III: Jesus falls the first time

The laughter at your first fall is transformative, Jesus. The gathered “I’s” surrounding you laugh together, becoming a “we” for the first time. We laugh together; we reduce you to a joke, to something less than a man. Your first fall is the fall of my “I.” I am lost now, in the collective “I” of the mob.  How many times, Lord, have I sacrificed my “I” as I took satisfaction or pleasure in the fall of another?

Station IV: Jesus meets his mother. 

We want to make you a clown. We want to isolate you completely, but your mother will not permit it. She withstands the blows of taunt and sorrow to be present for you along the way. She alone remains to give you courage, to remind us that you are someone’s child, just like we are.

 How many times, Lord, have we watched another suffer, but from a safe distance? How many times have you looked out through the eyes of another for comfort, but were unable to find it?

 Station V:  Simon helps Jesus carry the Cross 

We need you to die, Jesus, but our rage has gone too far. You are too weak to continue on to the head of the mountain because we have beaten you so severely. When you can’t go on by yourself, we look for a solution that won’t involve us too closely. We mustn’t touch the cross ourselves, but the process must go on. Then we find our answer. A stranger, someone who obviously has no idea who you are will carry the cross. He knows nothing of your innocence. ow many others have we called on to do our violence for us? How many soldiers pulled triggers because we could not? How many executioners pushed buttons for us?