"In popular usage, a myth has come to mean a story that is not true. Historically speaking that may well be so. Humanly speaking, a myth is a story that is always true."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life." p. 286)
When I was in elementary school I loved to read Greek and Roman Mythology. I had no intention of switching my allegiance to the Christian faith in favor of that religion, and still wouldn't. But I do like stories that give real insight into what it means to be human. That show how as people we have always tried to make sense out of our world.
I am dismayed that myth has come to mean not true, (though I do like the show Mythbusters). Without some degree of myth, storytelling life becomes very cold, very cerebral for me. I have told people flat out that I consider the creation stories to be myths. What I do not mean is that the story is not true. I don't believe that the world was created in 7 days as I would understand 7 days. I do believe fully in the underlying truth that there is a God, who creates and sees things as good to very good.
When we place myth in the negative or insist on an unprovable literalism, we take the power away from the story and go on the defensive against science. Silly fight in my estimation.
I'll continue to read the Bible for the very reasons that I have always read it. I love the story. I understand the world and my place in it a little more deeply as a result. And from my limited human perspective those stories will always be true, because something doesn't have to be provable to be true for me.
Blessings,
Ed
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Reflections for 10/26/11
"Sometimes wishing is the wings the truth comes true on. Sometimes the truth is what sets us wishing for it."(f. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p.286)
Wishing, according to Jimminy Cricket your supposed to do it on a star. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, give me the wish I wish tonight." When it is your birthday you're supposed to make a wish and blow out the candles. I think for most of us, those kind of wishes are not anything we believe will actually occur.
One of the hurdles to wish fulfillment is that often we may have to do something beyond wishing for it. I might wish to win the lottery, however if I never buy a ticket, I will certainly guarantee that I won't win. I also know the odds aren't real good that even if I did buy a ticket that I would win. I might wish that I could lose weight, but unless I'm willing to make the necessary changes in my eating habits in addition to exercising, that too will be an unfulfilled wish.
However as Buechner wrote, sometimes wishing for something to happen is the means to opening the door or beginning the process of change. Once I can see the possibilities I might start to wish for them in reality and seek the way to make it happen.
Blessings,
Ed
Wishing, according to Jimminy Cricket your supposed to do it on a star. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, give me the wish I wish tonight." When it is your birthday you're supposed to make a wish and blow out the candles. I think for most of us, those kind of wishes are not anything we believe will actually occur.
One of the hurdles to wish fulfillment is that often we may have to do something beyond wishing for it. I might wish to win the lottery, however if I never buy a ticket, I will certainly guarantee that I won't win. I also know the odds aren't real good that even if I did buy a ticket that I would win. I might wish that I could lose weight, but unless I'm willing to make the necessary changes in my eating habits in addition to exercising, that too will be an unfulfilled wish.
However as Buechner wrote, sometimes wishing for something to happen is the means to opening the door or beginning the process of change. Once I can see the possibilities I might start to wish for them in reality and seek the way to make it happen.
Blessings,
Ed
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Reflections for 10/20/11
"It was a long while ago that the words God be with you disappeared into the word goodbye, but every now and again some trace of them still glimmers through."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 280)
Somewhere I remember being told never to say good bye, but instead until we meet again. Good bye somehow seems to indicate, I'll never see you again, which isn't necessarily true, but might in fact be the case.
How we say good bye, the tone of voice, the feelings behind it can often have a lasting effect.
If you slammed the phone down after saying good bye because you were frustrated with the person at the other end, that feeling takes a while to go away. And if it was someone you cared about, instead of some nameless person who didn't help solve your issue, and you don't see them again, not so good either.
When I say good bye to a family member on the phone I always try to say I love you. I'd rather not risk that the last words someone I loved heard from me were anything else.
And while I've never been to Hawaii, but I've heard that the word aloha is used to say hello and goodbye.
And I think there is something to all of this. How we meet people and how we take leave of people says volumes about us. I try to keep mine as positive as possible.
Blessings,
Ed
Somewhere I remember being told never to say good bye, but instead until we meet again. Good bye somehow seems to indicate, I'll never see you again, which isn't necessarily true, but might in fact be the case.
How we say good bye, the tone of voice, the feelings behind it can often have a lasting effect.
If you slammed the phone down after saying good bye because you were frustrated with the person at the other end, that feeling takes a while to go away. And if it was someone you cared about, instead of some nameless person who didn't help solve your issue, and you don't see them again, not so good either.
When I say good bye to a family member on the phone I always try to say I love you. I'd rather not risk that the last words someone I loved heard from me were anything else.
And while I've never been to Hawaii, but I've heard that the word aloha is used to say hello and goodbye.
And I think there is something to all of this. How we meet people and how we take leave of people says volumes about us. I try to keep mine as positive as possible.
Blessings,
Ed
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Reflections for 10/17/2011
"Sleep is a threshold I drift toward like leaves."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p.277)
-
I slept pretty well last night. My dreams were as strange as always, but I felt rested when I woke up. I didn't have an alarm or cats to wake me. The bed at the hotel was comfortable and the room quiet. While I certainly missed my wife, I do know that while she sleeps better when I'm home, I tend to sleep better the few times I'm by myself.
Sleep is something all of us need. Our bodies learn to adjust to how much we give them in comparison with how much they need. I seem to need generally 6 hours and when that is not enough naps come on.
Buechner's image of drifting toward like leaves seems quite accurate for many things in life. In the fall leaves seem to gather and blow around all over the place. There is an aimlessness about it. I don't like to think of my life as aimless but what is going to happen each day and what the future holds for me are not entirely clear.
I'm not an evergreen for sure, but I do believe that much like the oaks, and maples that I find beautiful, new leaves always appear in the Spring.
Blessings,
Ed
-
I slept pretty well last night. My dreams were as strange as always, but I felt rested when I woke up. I didn't have an alarm or cats to wake me. The bed at the hotel was comfortable and the room quiet. While I certainly missed my wife, I do know that while she sleeps better when I'm home, I tend to sleep better the few times I'm by myself.
Sleep is something all of us need. Our bodies learn to adjust to how much we give them in comparison with how much they need. I seem to need generally 6 hours and when that is not enough naps come on.
Buechner's image of drifting toward like leaves seems quite accurate for many things in life. In the fall leaves seem to gather and blow around all over the place. There is an aimlessness about it. I don't like to think of my life as aimless but what is going to happen each day and what the future holds for me are not entirely clear.
I'm not an evergreen for sure, but I do believe that much like the oaks, and maples that I find beautiful, new leaves always appear in the Spring.
Blessings,
Ed
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Reflections for 10/12/11
"Rejoice is the last word and can be spoken only after the first word."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 273)
What is there in life that brings you joy? I know what things I enjoy, sports, food, my family are a few. But is enjoying something the same thing as bringing joy into your life? At first I thought no, there must be a difference, but the more I thought about it, I said of course they are at least related if not one and the same.
Rejoicing, giving thanks and appreciating what I have in my life, the people and things in my life that bring me pleasure that make life worth living. I do rejoice for those gifts. Perhaps for me the ability to give thanks, to rejoice in and for the things I enjoy comes from that first word, which interestingly isn't given. I'm guessing that for me the first word is belief. Because of my belief, I find that I have the words to give thanks, the ability to appreciate all that I have, without lamenting what I don't.
I find it funny to encounter folks for whom the belief part works but not the joy part. When I encounter sour puss believers I want to ask, "what gives you joy?" What examples in your life can you share. If living your belief, never brings anything but a pained expression on your face, and only sees what is wrong with the world and others, I would hate for that to be the last word.
Blessings,
Ed
What is there in life that brings you joy? I know what things I enjoy, sports, food, my family are a few. But is enjoying something the same thing as bringing joy into your life? At first I thought no, there must be a difference, but the more I thought about it, I said of course they are at least related if not one and the same.
Rejoicing, giving thanks and appreciating what I have in my life, the people and things in my life that bring me pleasure that make life worth living. I do rejoice for those gifts. Perhaps for me the ability to give thanks, to rejoice in and for the things I enjoy comes from that first word, which interestingly isn't given. I'm guessing that for me the first word is belief. Because of my belief, I find that I have the words to give thanks, the ability to appreciate all that I have, without lamenting what I don't.
I find it funny to encounter folks for whom the belief part works but not the joy part. When I encounter sour puss believers I want to ask, "what gives you joy?" What examples in your life can you share. If living your belief, never brings anything but a pained expression on your face, and only sees what is wrong with the world and others, I would hate for that to be the last word.
Blessings,
Ed
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Reflections for 10/11/11
"Games where the players create the illusion of being in the same room but where the reality of it is that each is alone inside a skin in that room, like bathyspehers at the bottom of the sea. Blind man's buff games where everyone is blind."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 272)
One of the hardest things of being a priest or for that matter being a friend is to be present with someone who is ill, dying or going through a crisis. You're never fully sure what to say. You know you're not comfortable and yet it is the place you somehow have found yourself, or you realize you need to be.
Part of the problem is of course knowing how to deal with crisis, especially other people's. Do I just let them vent, do I try to offer help or helpful advice. I usually start by being quietly present, first to allow the other space to talk about what they need to talk about. Second is to get my self centered to be able to deal constructively with that person.
I think another issue of course is seeing our own vulnerability in that moment. That other person could very well be us at some point. What would we do if the roles were reversed? We don't really want to spend much time contemplating or own mortality or our own fragility.
And the last part is that feeling of being useless right then and there. Because we live in a solutions oriented world and self-help books and groups are everywhere, we have almost forgotten how to just be present with others. If I can't help you, what good am I? If there is nothing I can do, why am I here? Valid questions no doubt, but perhaps not the right ones.
Blessings,
Ed
One of the hardest things of being a priest or for that matter being a friend is to be present with someone who is ill, dying or going through a crisis. You're never fully sure what to say. You know you're not comfortable and yet it is the place you somehow have found yourself, or you realize you need to be.
Part of the problem is of course knowing how to deal with crisis, especially other people's. Do I just let them vent, do I try to offer help or helpful advice. I usually start by being quietly present, first to allow the other space to talk about what they need to talk about. Second is to get my self centered to be able to deal constructively with that person.
I think another issue of course is seeing our own vulnerability in that moment. That other person could very well be us at some point. What would we do if the roles were reversed? We don't really want to spend much time contemplating or own mortality or our own fragility.
And the last part is that feeling of being useless right then and there. Because we live in a solutions oriented world and self-help books and groups are everywhere, we have almost forgotten how to just be present with others. If I can't help you, what good am I? If there is nothing I can do, why am I here? Valid questions no doubt, but perhaps not the right ones.
Blessings,
Ed
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Reflections for 10/9/11
"Death not as a distant darkness that his great faith was light enough to see him through; death not as a universal condition; but death as this death and darkness which he saw written across the swollen faces of the two women who stood there before him."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 270)
As a priest I have certainly had my experiences with death and grieving. I've been with families at bedsides as a loved one dies, or as the machinery that is keeping them alive is taken off. I've presided over plenty of funerals where even though the deceased had lived a long and happy life, the grief was still real. The first few years were hard to get through those funerals. I'd still feel tears welling up. This doesn't happen as much anymore, but I also haven't experienced death on a deeply personal level in quite some time.
I'm sure that I will have to deal with it much more deeply again at some point. My hunch is that I will at that point weep, just as Jesus did. I hope that there will be for me at that point, someone or many people there to uphold me, so that I can grieve. While my faith may be my consolation over the long haul, it is others who will weep with me and give me the time and space to do so myself that ultimately will see me through.
All of us will have that moment, and many have already gone through it. And I'm sure that many of those same people have been able to be present for others at that moment, because they have a general understanding of what life feels like at that moment.
Blessings,
Ed
As a priest I have certainly had my experiences with death and grieving. I've been with families at bedsides as a loved one dies, or as the machinery that is keeping them alive is taken off. I've presided over plenty of funerals where even though the deceased had lived a long and happy life, the grief was still real. The first few years were hard to get through those funerals. I'd still feel tears welling up. This doesn't happen as much anymore, but I also haven't experienced death on a deeply personal level in quite some time.
I'm sure that I will have to deal with it much more deeply again at some point. My hunch is that I will at that point weep, just as Jesus did. I hope that there will be for me at that point, someone or many people there to uphold me, so that I can grieve. While my faith may be my consolation over the long haul, it is others who will weep with me and give me the time and space to do so myself that ultimately will see me through.
All of us will have that moment, and many have already gone through it. And I'm sure that many of those same people have been able to be present for others at that moment, because they have a general understanding of what life feels like at that moment.
Blessings,
Ed
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