Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Monday, January 21, 2013
The Courage to be Imperfect
Recently, Jenny passed along a link to a TEDTalks
video by Brené Brown who is a research professor at the University of Houston
and has spent the past ten years studying vulnerability, courage,
authenticity, and shame. (I strongly encourage you to watch it! LINK TO VIDEO)
Brown speaks of our longing for connection and the
many barriers we create that keep this from happening. At the heart
of our internal and soulful conflict is vulnerability, our fear of allowing
someone to see the "real" us. Feelings of inadequacy and shame keep
us locked in a prison of self-inflicted isolation and fighting a life long
struggle for true connection.
The key to unlocking the prison door lies in our
willingness to embrace "excruciating vulnerability...we have to allow
ourselves to be seen." Joined with the "courage to be imperfect"
in a world that so often seeks, with sadistic like pleasure, our flaws and faults
to then use as a bludgeon against us. We live fearing that some chink in our
armor will be made public and then the façade of our "perfect" life
will fall away and everyone will see us - exposed and shamed for the truth of
our imperfect reality.
We don't allow ourselves the gift of our
imperfections, the beauty of our vulnerability. We live behind high walls that
to protect us from the possibility of pain or exposure, and in doing so we live
lives marked by anxiety, worry, fear, and isolation.
Our Lord lived and died incarnating the fullness of
"excruciating vulnerability." Our Lord had the glorious courage to
face the imperfections of humanity that we may live free of shame and guilt.
God calls us into intimate relationship and connection if we have the
courage to be imperfect, the courage to be excruciatingly vulnerable and in
doing so open ourselves to a life giving connection with the God of the
universe.
May we live courageously into the fullness of our
vulnerability and imperfections!
In Peace,
Paul + (Your Imperfect Rector)
Black Friday: Living a life of grab-itude not gratitude
Dear Friends,
Each year I watch in amazement as the huge
marketing machine revs up! I feel like we are at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway and we hear Madison Avenue and retailers across our nation say instead
of "Start your engines." -- "Ladies and Gentleman - Open
you wallets and start your spending!"
People camp out for days to be the first in line
for a HD T.V. We are told that these deals will never come again. We can't
"afford" to pass up the "savings". We are now told
that Thanksgiving family time is going to Best Buy and Target to share together
the joy of Black Friday. (Which now begins on Thursday!)
We seem to be literally selling our nation the
notion of a life of grab-itude not gratitude. Grab it while you
can. Grab it whether you need it or not. Just grab it! Fill your
shopping cart, fill your house, fill your credit card, fill your life with
stuff, stuff, and more stuff.
This may give our economy a seasonal and joyful
boost, but it's not good for us. Not good for our families, for our
souls, for our understanding of thanksgiving and living with gratitude.
A Black Friday way of being will always leave us feeling like something is
lacking, something is missing. We will always feel - "If I just had
"that" (Whatever "that" is.) things would be better."
I'll happier. My kids will be happier. My wife will be happier. Not
true!
I am reminded of the wonderful words of St. Paul
in his letter to the Philippians, "for I have learned to be
content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what
it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of
being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in
need." (Philippians 4:11b-12)
Let us not be hypnotized by the huge marketing
machine, but rather as we live into the fullness of this season let us keep
before us and within us a sense of gratitude and thankfulness. Let keep our
eyes and hearts on the true things that make our lives full. And finally,
let us remember that it's not what we can buy on Black Friday that will make us
whole, it's what was given for us on Good Friday shown to us in the all
encompassing love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peace,
Paul+
Other verses of gratitude:
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything
in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians
3:17)
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love
endures forever. (Psalm 136:1)
The Lottery vs. Baby Jesus
Yet
again, our nation caught "lotto fever" as the Power Ball jackpot
climbed to over 575 million dollars. At one point, tickets were selling at the
rate of 130,000 per minute. Amazing! (And if you're wondering...I did buy a
ticket. Well - truthfully, I bought three. I'm not sure why three, but I did.)
And like millions of others, my tickets did not hold the winning numbers and
have now been tossed into the trash.
Like
sheep in some sort of mindless trance, we buy tickets knowing full well that we
have no "real" chance of winning. But, we play the "let's
dream" fantasy game of all the things we would do, some noble and
charitable, other things silly and selfish. And if we do really win...then
what??
Despite
the odds, the Lottery continues to grow, and millions and millions keep
dreaming.
Here
are a few statistical fun facts:
Odds
of...
• winning the Lottery. (1
in 175 million)
• hitting a hole in one on
consecutive par-three golf holes. (1 in 156 million)
• getting attacked by a
shark. (1 in 11.5 million)
• being crushed by a
vending machine. (1 in 112 million)
• being killed by
radiation from a nearby nuclear meltdown. (1 in 10 million)
• becoming the president
of the United States. (1 in 10 million)
• giving birth to
identical quadruplets. (1 in 15 million)
• dying from using a
right-handed product incorrectly if you are left-handed. (1 in 4.4 million)
• being canonized. (1 in
20 million)
• being killed by falling
airplane parts. (1 in 10 million)
I
wonder how many of the people who played the lottery think that we're silly for
believing in the stories of the Bible, the virgin birth, the resurrection, the
basic tenets of our faith? How could we be so foolish as to put our hope in
such silliness, in something that is nothing more than a theological fairy
tale? What a waste!
Maybe
we are silly and foolish? Maybe it is a waste and we really would be better off
putting our hope in the lottery. The story is rather unbelievable. The chances
of it being true are pretty slim.
But,
Advent is upon us and we're going to tell the story all over again. We're going
to tell the story of shepherds and angels, of a power hungry king and wise men
on a journey, of an inn with no room and a nearby stable. It's the story of a
young virgin named Mary and her husband, Joseph, who find themselves in the
most unlikely position (I have no idea what the odds are on this one!) of being
God's chosen ones to be the holy family to welcome into our world the baby
Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. And that's just part of the story, it gets even
more unbelievable from there.
"Lotto
fever" will soon strike again. I'm sure. Will I buy another ticket?
Most likely. Will I play the "what if" game? Probably so. But
at the end of the day, as crazy as it is, as unlikely and foolish as the story
may sound - I'm putting my "money" on Jesus and a virgin, on a cross
and an empty tomb. It may be a long shot, but I like our odds!
Peace,
Paul+
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