Your dominant eye?

This past week I had the chance to shoot sporting clays.  I had not been shooting since I was a boy, so I needed a refresher course, to say the least.  My friend reminded me of the need to determine whether I was left or right eye dominant.  This was critical to take proper aim.

He led me through a little exercise to make that determination.  He asked me to make a triangle with my hands and focus on something with both eyes using my hands as a "view finder". Once I had an object in my sight, I was first to close my left eye seeing only with my right eye and then to do the opposite.   

With one eye, the object would stay clearly in my sight, 
but with the other eye it would be hidden from view. The eye that enables you to see the object is your dominant eye.

All of this led me to the question, "What is my dominant eye through which I view the world?"  Is it the one that keeps the cross and Christ clearly in sight, or is my dominant perspective the one that takes the cross and Christ out of view?

Am I seeing the world through the eye of faith, the eye of prayer, the eye of the cross, the eye of Christ?  Or, I am looking at the world in such as way as to keep all of that out of sight?

It's important to know what is our dominant "eye"?  How do we see the world?  On what do we focus?  What is clearly in our sight line and what is hidden from view.  Is our dominant "eye" one of power, money, success, achievement, self-interest, jealousy, prejudice, suspicion, anger, and fear.  Or, is it the "eye" of faith, hope, love, mercy, grace, forgiveness - the "eye" of the cross and of Christ.  On what do we focus and what is hidden from view?  What we see and how we see things makes a huge difference. 

Try the exercise and see if you can determine what's your dominant "eye"?

Peace,

Paul+

Thanks to my "hand model" - the Rev. Allan King!

Live Strong!

This week there's yet another story of an "American hero" and tales of lies, cheating, betrayal, lawsuits, questions, confessions, speculations, and revelations which blankets the news.  The tangled web of ego and deception.   Money and media.   Power and influence.  A public image and hidden reality.  An almost pathological drive to win - no matter the cost.

This is not a, "Let's bash Lance Armstrong," reflection. This is a "Let's take a look at ourselves and our world," reflection. We love to win and we love winners. We love folks who "beat the odds". We love "super humans". We don't remember who came in 2nd a.k.a. the "also-rans". We all too often celebrate the widely held, yet false and destructive competitive battle cry, "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."

Unfortunately, far too many of us view the world with a very narrow understanding of what winning really is. Winning comes in many shapes and sizes. True "winning" isn't about crossing the finish line first or the person with the most trophies. Winning is about character and who we are at our core. It's about the values we hold dear, the tenacity of our spirit, and the true desires of our hearts.

Lance Armstrong, through his cancer foundation, made famous the words, "Live Strong." These words have inspired millions of people to keep striving, working, believing, and living to do something that perhaps they thought was impossible. And that's good!  But...for what are we striving, working, believing, and "living strong"? What are we trying to win? How do we define what winning is?

I challenge us to "Live Strong" - indeed. But, let us take a careful and soulful look at what we are "living strong" for and what we believe it is to "win". For we are to strive not for a trophy of gold, nor for ego and honors, but rather we are to "live strong" and "press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14

Let us "Live Strong" for the faith, for love, for hope, for grace. Let us "Live Strong" for Christ and for the Kingdom.

Peace,

Paul+

Real or Robot?

This week I found myself noodling around the Episcopal Cafe website and came across a video about the Nicene Creed.  In the opening seconds of the video it read, "When you recite the creed are you being real?  Or are you being a robot? Do you even know what your saying?"  

The questions posed by the video are true not only for the creed, but for many things we recite in church.  For many of us, the words of our liturgy are so much a part of the fabric of our being we can skip through them with little or no thought. But in doing so, are we being real or robots?  

This was a welcomed and well overdue reminder for me.  I need to remind myself to be intentional and mindful in worship -- no matter how many times I've said the words, no matter how many times I've heard them.  There is transformational truth in the words of our liturgy, in the words of the collects, the Psalms, the confession, the offertory, the eucharistic prayer, the Lord's prayer, and the post communion prayer.  Far too often, we engage them rather mindlessly, lifelessly -- but they are the words of our faith.  The words of our common worship experience that we share with our sisters and brothers throughout the ages.  Whether or not you "agree" with every word or "believe" every word -- say every word and pray every word with mindfulness and soulfulness, and let the Holy Spirit work.

The video closes by saying, "So the next time you proclaim the Creed...don't be a robot.  Make it real.  Don't just say it...pray it. Love it.  Live it."  We may just be surprised how these old and very familiar words find new life and refresh us in a new and wonderful way.

Watch the video

Peace,

Paul+

Religiosity vs. The Living God

While on holiday at the shore, I read a classic (at least a classic for an Episcopal Priest) The Christian Priest Today by Michael Ramsey former Archbishop of Canterbury.  The book is a collection of addresses he gave to those preparing for ordination in the Church of England.  Covering topics such as calling, prayer, preaching, teaching, humility, obedience, politics, doctrine, and discipline, Ramsey gives thoughtful insight into the ministry of the ordained.  But, even more so he offers wise counsel for lay and ordained people who come together in this great incarnational community known as the Church.  How do we fulfill God's vision for us and the world?

One most needed reminder and striking challenge came when he quoted F.D. Maurice, words written over a century earlier,"We have been dosing our people with religion, when what they need is not that but the living God."  (p. 20)  So often the Church can get caught up in the theoretical black hole of religiosity and completely lose sight of God.  Our world will not be healed by "religion", but by an encounter with the living God.  I am not saying to do away with religion, but rather I want remind us of the subtle seduction of religiosity and to encourage us to be faithful and intentional in how we live out our faith as individuals and together as the Body of Christ, the Church.

 

We must continual ask ourselves, "Where is the living God in all of this?" Being good Episcopalians doesn't mean much if we are not grounded in a deep and abiding relationship with God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In Christ,
Paul+   

Ubuntu

This past week I began reading God has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time by Desmond Tutu.  Of the many beautiful images Tutu offers us in his wonderfully accessible and yet poignant way is the notion of "ubuntu". "You know when ubuntu is there, and it is obvious when it is absent.  It has to do with what it means to be truly human, to know that we are bound up with others in the bundle of life." (p.26) 

We live with the false belief that we are independent.  "The 'self-made' man or woman is really an impossibility." (p.25)  We pride ourselves on self sufficiency.  The power and autonomy of the individual denies our true self.   Tutu points out that at the heart of creation is to be in relationship.  We are made to live in community, not in isolation.  He shares the African idiom, "A person is a person through other persons." (p.25)

We need to remind ourselves of this essential truth that to be truly and fully human is to be in intimate and life giving relationship with others.   We at times are so scared of being seen as overly dependent that we miss the life giving truth of interdependence.   Tutu writes, "The world is going to have to learn the fundamental lesson that we are made for harmony, for interdependence.  If we are ever truly to prosper, it will only be together." (p.28)

All for one and one for all! (Tutu didn't say that.)

Peace,

Paul+

Why be reasonable?

For Christmas I was given A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, by Edwin H. Friedman.  The book is filled with notions that challenge me on many levels.  Early in the book, one such notion that struck a chord was Friedman's belief that having an "unreasonable faith in 'being reasonable'" puts a leader and the group s/he leads at risk.  Sometimes we need not to be reasonable. 

How many times have you heard someone say, "Let's be reasonable." Or, "You're not being reasonable."  Why are we so concerned with being reasonable?  There are times not to be reasonable, but rather bold and outrageous.  There are times to simply do what must be done, even when it's not the "reasonable" thing, the "popular" thing, nor the "prudent" thing, but it's simply the right thing to do.

Our faith at its essence and core is NOT reasonable.  There's nothing reasonable in the bold and prophetic story of Holy Scripture. There's nothing reasonable about death on a cross and resurrection to new life.  There's nothing reasonable about the call to follow Jesus as Lord.  Our faith calls us to put our faith in an outrageous and unreasonable Savior.  Our world will not be transformed into a fuller vision of the Kingdom of God by reasonable faith and reasonable leaders and reasonable actions.    

Do we have the nerve?  Do we dare?  I'm afraid we are all too often held captive by our failure of nerve and our need to play it safe and be "reasonable".  God give us the courage and strength to be "unreasonable" Christians, to be bold and prophetic people of faith in a world where far too many are held captive by a "reasonable" faith of playing it safe.

In Christ,

Paul+