CHURCH CHAT #25

 

CHANGE: A BASIC TRUTH WE WOULD BE WISE TO ACCEPT

Heraclitus (500 BC), the ancient Greek philosopher, once famously proclaimed, "There is nothing permanent except change." This cryptic statement holds profound meaning and immense importance in our lives and the world we inhabit. Simply put, Heraclitus suggests that change is the only constant in existence, alluding to the ever-evolving nature of the universe and every aspect within it. This perspective not only challenges our perception of stability but also encourages us to embrace change rather than resist it.

In our daily lives, we often find ourselves seeking permanence and stability, yearning for certainty and security. Yet, Heraclitus reminds us that such desires may be futile. The world we live in is in a perpetual state of transformation - from the changing of seasons to the growth and decay of life itself. Everything we encounter, from the natural world to our personal experiences, is subject to change.

Understanding the impermanence of things can be both liberating and humbling. It offers a fresh perspective, allowing us to let go of our attachment to material possessions and external circumstances that we often believe define our happiness. Recognizing the transitory nature of life teaches us to find joy and meaning within ourselves, rather than relying on external factors that are subject to change.

However, delving deeper into Heraclitus' quote reveals an unexpected philosophical concept that adds richness and intrigue to the discussion. This concept is the existence of a universal pattern amidst the ever-changing chaos.

The ancient Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang beautifully illustrates this idea. Yin and Yang symbolize the duality of life, representing opposing but interconnected forces that exist in harmony and constant motion. Yin represents the receptive, feminine, and stable aspects, while Yang embodies the active, masculine, and transformative qualities. Together, they create a harmonious balance within the world, emphasizing the cyclical and interconnected nature of existence. When we contemplate the notion of change through the lens of Yin and Yang, we begin to appreciate that there is both permanence and impermanence within the larger context of the whole.

While individual aspects may change, the underlying pattern remains constant. This understanding provides a sense of comfort amidst the chaos and fosters a broader perspective, allowing us to embrace change while finding stability within the broader universal order. By grasping the concept of Yin and Yang, we can better navigate the ups and downs of life.

Understanding that change is an integral part of our existence, and that there is an underlying harmony within the chaos, empowers us to approach change with curiosity and openness. We can learn to adapt, grow, and expand our horizons with the knowledge that change is not something to be feared but embraced as an opportunity for personal and collective evolution.

In conclusion, Heraclitus' quote, "There is nothing permanent except change," serves as a profound reminder that everything in life is subject to constant transformation. While this truth can be unsettling, it also provides an incredible opportunity for growth and transformation.

Furthermore, when paired with the philosophical concept of Yin and Yang, we glimpse the underlying order within the chaos, allowing us to find stability and meaning in the ever-changing landscape of our lives. Embracing change becomes an invitation to explore our infinite potential and to participate fully in the dance of existence. So let us embrace change, with open hearts and minds, and embark on a journey of continual transformation and discovery.

IS OUR MORAL COLLAPSE IN FREE FALL?

OUR PHYSICAL HEALTH

The battle against heart disease, stroke and diabetes — three of the world’s leading causes of death — may be won or lost on your grocery list.

Unhealthy eating habits stand out as a lifestyle factor that increases the risk of death associated with these chronic diseases, researchers say. Numerous studies draw a clear line between what’s on your plate and mortality.

For instance: More than two-thirds of heart disease-related deaths worldwide can be linked to food choices, according to a study published last year. The authors estimated that 6 million deaths could have been avoided through better diets.

Healthy lifestyle choices reduce the risk of stroke by 80%, according to a study published in 2019. Diet was identified as the leading factor, earning a designation as the “worst of the health issues in the United States.”

Poor dietary habits contributed to almost half of the more than 700,000 deaths reviewed as part of a study published in 2017. The deaths were caused by heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

Each study illustrates the profound impact that food choices can have on your physical health.

OUR EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH

What worries me even more is the profound impact that most of us now "take in" on a daily basis has on our mental and spiritual health. Our intake of "junk food" may be killing us physically, but I believe that our intake of visual, audible and electronic "junk food" may be killing us emotionally, relationally and spiritually even more so!

I recently started a list of violent movies that are being advertised. I was shocked at how many are available just in the last two or three years: Killer Nannies, Faces of Death, Ready Or Not, Here I Come, Daredevil, They Will Kill You, Psycho Killer, Scream 7, Euphoria, The Mummy, Blink Twice, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Abigail, Deadpool and Wolverine, The Substances, Monkey Man, In a Violent Nature, Kill and Terrifier 3 to name just a few!

To movies, I would add the popularity of vicious cage fighting, online gambling, road rage, running redlights, defacing public buildings, vandalism in general, internet gossiping, presidential revenge through the DOJ and the general meanness and reputation ruining even from congressional members toward their counterparts that we hear about every hour, all day, every day on the news!

Taking in this much violence, revenge and law-breaking has a terrible corrosive effect even on good people. We call this corrosive effect on people, "normalization." The normalization of violence easily leads to more violence. The normalization of infidelity easily leads to more infidelity. The normalization of petty-theft easily leads to scamming, embezzlement and even robbery. The normalization of revenge easily leads to more revenge. The normalization of verbal abuse easily leads to physical abuse. The normalization of lawlessness easily leads to more lawlessness.

Unchecked, these behaviors lead to the collapse of culture and a pathetic "dog-eat-dog" world. The expression "dog eat dog" does not refer to canine cannibalism, but to an intensely competitive situation: one in which people are willing to hurt each other in order to gain an advantage or win an argument. In such a world, what took hundreds of years to build can unwind in a very short time. What was unwound (one person at a time deciding to give into what everyone else is doing) can only be rewound by one person at a time deciding to resist this popular trend.

When our country is in a moral free-fall collapse, there is no "quick fix." The only way out is back - one person at a time saying "Hell no! Not me! I will deliberately choose not be part of this trend! I will speak out against it every chance I get! I will resist it with all my might! I will vote against it in every election! I will act differently, even if I am the last person on earth to do so!" We got in this mess "one person at a time" and we can only get out of this mess "one person at a time!"

CHOOSE NOT TO FOLLOW THE CROWD

CHOOSE TO LIVE DIFFERENTLY

CHOOSE TO TAKE THE HIGH ROAD

NO MATTER WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING

EVEN IF YOU ARE THE LAST ONE STANDING

FROM DASHED HOPES TO EYES OPENED!

That very day, two disciples of Jesus were walking to a village called Emmaus. Looking downcast, they said, “We were hoping that Jesus would be the one  to redeem Israel, but he was handed over to death and was crucified.

Luke 24

This gospel story, by the way, is the gospel story that was read at my "First Mass." Fifty-six years later, it still speaks to me in a very powerful way. It still reminds me that things are not always as bad as they may appear on the surface. In fact, today's gospel is yet another version of the "empty tomb" story we read on Easter Sunday - another example of a great big breakdown preceding a great big breakthrough. 

In this story, it is Sunday evening and two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem. With eyes cast down, they are dragging their feet in a depression toward a small town called Emmaus. Some commentators believe they may have been a married couple – the disciples Cleophas and his unnamed wife.  Jesus had died a humiliating death just three days ago. Earlier that very morning, some women had returned from the tomb, claiming that the tomb was empty and that they had seen some angels who had told them that Jesus was alive! Obviously, these two either had not heard the "good news" about Jesus' resurrection or had dismissed such reports as just the wishful thinking of his distraught women friends.

“We had hoped,” they told the mysterious stranger. “We had hoped that Jesus was going to be the Messiah, but obviously we were duped. It did not pan out as we were expecting. We were hoping and now we have no hope. We just had to get away from the whole scene. We are disappointed. We were badly misled. We are angry. We don’t have any idea what to do next, but we certainly not going to be taken in again by this latest bit of crazy news. “Hurt me once, shame on you. Hurt me twice, shame on me.”

This story symbolizes all people who have had their hopes blown away. Just as our church has been doing for the last several years, these two demoralized disciples pour out their despair, their anger, their sadness and their resentment. This mysterious stranger listens and then begins to review the scriptures, reminding them that God has always intervened to save his people when they hit bottom.

As they walk along, Jesus goes over story after story from the scriptures and shows them how God had always come to their rescue and could even overcome the death of their master. As these two demoralized disciples listened, Jesus made his case. The fire in their hearts that had all but died out, was fanned into flame again. Little by little, their eyes were opened by the explanation of Scripture and in the breaking of the bread. They came to understand that this stranger was indeed Jesus himself! Having left the gathered disciples back in Jerusalem a few hours earlier, they rushed back to rejoin the faith community who had their own stories of restored hope to share.

We, as a church, in many ways are still in a depression, especially after a sexual abuse scandal, a shortage of priests and now more parish closings. We are still sharing our anger, resentment and sadness at all that has happened to us in the last few years. This Easter, in the midst of all these dashed hopes, we 21st century disciples gather again to share the scriptures and break the bread, hoping that we will recognize the presence of Jesus and have our faith renewed and our hope restored. Renewed by this Easter faith, maybe some of those who have left our faith community will, like these two disciples, someday soon get up and come back to rejoin our faith community again. When they do, they may be surprised to find out that more than 150,000 new members a year have joined us each Easter across the country through baptism and profession of faith.

One of my favorite ways to explain the message of Easter is an image I discovered many years ago.  In that image, the church is pictured as a gigantic egg. We woke up a few years ago to realize that this egg was covered with fine cracks. Each year the cracks have seemed to get bigger and bigger. Some people have simply walked away from it as they would a hopeless case. Others have been hysterically running around with ropes and tape and ladders trying to glue it all back together.

Having raised chickens as a child, I know that there is a response that we need to make! We can stand back and let it hatch! The cracking egg shell is not a sign of death, but a sign of new a chick being born!  I know from experience that the dumbest thing you can do is to tape it shut!  Easter reminds us that the church is not falling apart, but giving birth. The church is not dying, it is being reborn and renewed. Breakdown is a sign of an imminent breakthrough. There is no rebirth and renewal without pain. 

The Easter message is both simple and profound: in the long run, no matter what you are facing (cancer, addiction, divorce or even the loss of a loved one), there is absolutely no reason to lose hope when one puts one's trust in the man who conquered even death to rise again! He promised us, in the process, that good will ultimately triumph over evil when all is said and done!  

I will end by quoting the words of one of those old gospel songs I heard a few years ago, entitled “Joy Comes in the Morning”

If you’ve knelt beside the rubble of an aching broken heart,

When the things you gave your life to fell apart,

You’re not the first to be acquainted with sorrow, grief or pain,

But the Master promised sunshine after rain.

Hold on my child! Hold on my child!

Weeping only lasts for the night.

Hold on my child! Hold on my child!

The darkest hour means dawn is just in sight!

Yes, it is true, it is darkest right before the dawn, the old eggshell has to crack and fall apart before new life can come out, there is always a great breakdown before a great breakthrough and there is no resurrection without a death!  That's why real Christians never give up! No matter what happens! They never give up....and neither should you!         

 

                          

                                 

 

CHURCH CHAT #24

 

MOTHER GOOSE: EPITOME OF PATIENCE NO MATTER THE WEATHER

 

Right below my downstairs deck on my condo, a mother goose has built a nest. When I first noticed her and her nest, he had three eggs. She now has seven eggs. I can only count them when she stands up to turn around. She sits on her nest day and night, rain or shine, keeping her eggs warm in hopes of seeing them hatch someday soon. She never seems to leave her nest, even to eat, but only to turn around and peck at her own chest. I read up on that peculiar habit only to find out that she does that to help "feather her nest."

The other day, I threw a piece of bread out on the water to see if she would get up and go eat it. She didn't move from her nest. A day or two later, my compassion for her was reaching a breaking point. I took another piece of stale bread, softened it in the microwave, and let it cool. I threw it toward her. It landed, a little out of reach for her, so she didn't leave her nest. I walked toward her and picked up the piece of bread. This caused her to stand and hiss at me as a warning to stay away. This time, I threw the bread to her and it landed within her reach from the nest. That did the trick! She started to peck at it, and because it was soft, she was able to break off and swallow small bits of the bread slice without leaving her eggs to the mercy of a predator. Since her nest is so near to the water, I hope she can take a break to ger a drink!

Compassion will cause you to do things that may not be for your own good! With a pond overrun with geese already, the last thing we need is seven more geese...and there may be more nests! Stay tuned to this blog. I may have a bunch of goslings swimming around with her in a few days! They are so cute when they are babies, but not so cute when they grow up and leave their poop all over the grass!