The best is behind us!

Recently I went to see the new Woody Allen movie, "Midnight in Paris" - a pleasant, romantic and thought provoking movie.  The main character Gil Pender, played by Owen Wilson, is a Hollywood writer who wants to be a "real" writer.  Traveling in Paris with his finance and her family, he longs to stay, rent a little apartment and make a go of it.  He dreams of life during what he feels is the "Golden Age" of Paris - the 1920's, the days of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Eliot.  Surely this time was more alive, more vibrant, more real than 2011.  If he had only been born then, surely that was the time to be alive! 

 

One evening after a few drinks and getting lost on his way back to the hotel, he is magically transported through time back to the 1920's in Paris.  There he finds himself having drinks with Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dali and Pablo Picasso.  He returns night after night confused and in disbelief, yet so alive by his remarkable encounters.  Surely this time was like no other and there would never be time like that again.  One encounter leads to another and then another.  (I don't want to tell you the whole story!) 

 

Finally, however, he realizes the meaning of this sacred journey...the best was NOT in the past.  There was NO Golden Age.  No perfect time.  The "age" in which we live is measured by how we live in this time and this place.  WE make the time in which we live either "Golden" or "Rusted". 

 

We can either live with the assurance of the miraculous work that God is doing today and the hope of what God will do tomorrow, or we can constantly look over our shoulder and think, "God's not doing it like he used to. God used to really do some miraculous things. Boy - in the good old days, the church was really the church, priests were really priests, a man was really a man and woman really a woman, America was really America!  Oh, if we could only return to 19?? - those were the good days, the Golden Days."

 

We live in the time in which we live.  There is no magical manipulation of time which can transport us to some idyllic period which we believe was "better".  Today is going to be as "Golden" as we want to make it.  Today will be as full and alive, as vibrant and rich, as pregnant with possibility and creativity as we allow it.

 

Let us open ourselves to the possibilities of today!  Let us live today as the Golden Age of hope, the Golden Age of life, the Golden Age of God...the best is NOT behind us - the best is still before us - if we open ourselves to it!!

"Moderates can no longer afford to be silent."

I recently finished reading The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam, by Eliza Griswold, the daughter of our former Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold.  This engaging book is the result of seven years of work, as Griswold traveled the globe between the equator and the tenth parallel in an "urgent examination of the relationship between faith and worldly power."    

Though there are many points worthy of discussion, one quote continues to come to mind. While in Indonesia Griswold met with the founder of the Sisters in Islam, a Malaysian NGO that protects women's rights, who said, "Moderates can no longer afford to be silent." (p.203) This Griswold believes "is a sentiment one could easily hear among American Christians, be they Episcopalians, Catholics, or evangelicals." (p.203)  I agree!

I'm growing weary of the dominate voice of faith whether Christian or Islamic being that of radical extremists either on the left or right.  I'm tired of hearing Christian voices that in no way reflect the faith that I understand and hold dear.  I'm not saying that we should not hear these perspectives, but I fear that drown out other voices.  Other voices, moderate voices, reconciling voices need to be heard.  

Episcopalians can make a difference!  I believe we have a unique and wonderful way of understanding God and engaging the world.  Though Episcopalians are a rather small minority in the USA, our voice needs to be heard.  Our churches need to take active service and leadership roles in the world.  We have a great message that needs to be shared.  We have wonderful Anglican way of being and worship that needs to be experienced by more people.  We have an engaging and challenging theology that has ample room for many across the theological spectrum. 

     

Moderates can no longer afford to be silent!  Not only for the health of the Christian faith, but for the health and well being of our relationships with those who differ from us.

In Christ,

Paul+