Faith

Yeah, I’m on hiatus for Lent, but this one was so powerful that I decided to break in and share it anyway. Sue me.

via Dear god, < Killing the Buddha.

Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, an impassioned UCC minister, potently shares his frustrations with God. The entire letter is long, but very worth reading. The bit that hit me most deeply is quoted below:

Dear god,

I have not written you in some time. I have been busy cleaning up your shit down here. I believe the last time I wrote you it was from New Orleans. Now, I write from a little further south—Haiti.

…

I know you like numbers because you dedicated an entire book to them in what is purported to be your word. So let me give you a few:

1.5 million homeless
30,000 died in Leogane
250,000 total dead
6,500 tent cities

Evidently you shared your version of the earthquake’s cause with your envoy, Pat Robertson. (By the way, a deal with the Devil for my freedom is a deal I am willing to make.) If the recent tone of my sermons and this letter have not made it clear, let me say in no uncertain terms—I am angry with you, god. If you did this, you did very, very wrong.

However, I will not give you the pleasure or satisfaction of me quitting. Haiti is not a test of my faith, or the faith of the people of Haiti, for that matter. Our faith is shaken but steady. We are rebuilding in the shit and filth, but you are hiding. Haiti is not a test of our faith but a test of your grace. Show yourself.

Sincerely,

Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, Senior Minister
Lemuel Haynes Congregational Church
South Jamiaca Queens, NY

via Dear god, < Killing the Buddha.

It’s easy for me to say this from my comfy chair here in Louisville, but in a very real way I think God just did show Herself – through Rev. Sekou’s letter.

February 2nd. Brigid’s Day.

Here’s a photo of my mantle with a candle lit for Imbolc and below that, a digital painting I made last night with Painter X, based on a 3d render I worked up a couple years ago.

In honor of my muse, my Lady, my creative spark, my Empress, my mother, my anima, my tornado, my warm breeze, my protector, my instigator … sun of my morning, moon of my night, fire in my darkness.

I light a candle and create … and Possibility inches ever more closely to being born.

John Shuck’s blog Shuck and Jive has been one of my favorites for many months now, and I resonate quite a bit with his take on spirituality, politics, and Christendom.

More specifically in relation to my earlier post ‘A Turtle Revived, a Monkey Resolved‘, John’s writings deserve a good deal of credit for laying the groundwork to help me let go of the depression funk and rediscover the power of creativity. The post linked below turns out to be the perfect opportunity to highlight my appreciation AND to share a well-written overview of some of the aspects of ‘Creation Spirituality’ that appeal to me:

Shuck and Jive: Via Creativa!

So, thanks, John! You’ve helped change a life. I owe you one.

I can’t find anything in this post by Debra Dean Murphy that doesn’t deeply resonate inside me.

Afghanistan and Advent « Intersections: Thoughts on Religion, Culture, and Politics.

I read somewhere recently that in order to truly hate someone, you must first have loved them. I don’t know if I think that’s actually true, but I do know that I never loved George Bush or Dick Cheney, but I have loved Barack Obama.

And these days, the inner turmoil I feel about Obama’s politically-calculated betrayal of his own stated ideals is weighing on me far worse than anything I ever felt about the Bush administration.

I ranted and railed and voted against Bush’s lies from day one. But this time, here and now, where we find ourselves … that’s a condition I helped bring about.

Leah tried to warn me. She told me over and over again, “He’s a politician, just like the rest of them. He can’t possibly do what he says he’s going to do. Political reality won’t allow it.”

I knew she was right – I didn’t actually expect Obama to succeed in all the changes he was proposing.

But I DID expect him to try. In that, I thought he’d be different.

I was wrong. And I’m sick about it.

I haven’t had a chance to see the movie yet, but this review grabbed me and made me think deep thoughts about parenting and selfishness and control over one’s reality. Both my boys enjoy reading Sendak’s wonderful book. But really, the person in the house who loves it the most has probably always been me.

The IMAGE Blog ◊ Why the Wild Things Are.

I’ve actually enjoyed several of the entries on this site since discovering it last month. A very potent mix of ideas about faith, art, creativity, and how they all co-mingle.

On Sunday the boys and I went with Leah to Seymour, Indiana, where she preached the sermon for the second week in a row at a small Presbyterian church. Nice church. Mostly old people, but nice. Hospitable.

They have been without a pastor for too long, though. Somebody thought it was a good idea to cut out the communal speaking of the creed so that the Stewardship chair could talk about financial commitment to the church. Something about that rankled me. I’m not saying there’s anything particularly magical or life-changing about the words of The Apostles’ Creed or any of the other Christian creedal statements – but I think there IS something liturgically important about the congregation standing up and saying a creed together. Not in the sense of literal adherence to the words, but in the communal sense of reminding ourselves – and one another – of the things that bind us and guide us, even in the midst of wrangling with how to live them out. I like to think that in the subtlest of ways, speaking the things we believe in a ritualistic manner, as a community, helps anchor those things in our minds. In a more ideal world, the communal repetition of creeds would help us take those beliefs out into our daily lives and provide us with a confident place to stand when we get tossed into the midst of those unexpected events – both little and large – that we encounter in our daily lives. Of course, in the world I experience, creeds are more often used as a means of categorization, separation, and dogmatic litmus-testing. Such is life. Read the rest of this entry »

The Newer, Smugger, Crappier Atheism – Here’s a “New Rule”… from RPGpundit

I usually find the RPGPundit pretty smug and obnoxious when he writes about roleplaying games – he is after all the guy who consistently labels anyone who enjoys, discusses, plays, or designs hippie/indie/story games as “SWINE”.

But I’ve gotta go along with him on this one – people who use a belief system (including absolute belief in non-belief) as an excuse to be a dick to other people are equally dickish, whether they’re on the theistic OR atheistic side of the fence. I just wish that Pundit realized that when he flatly paints all of my friends and peers with the “SWINE” label, he’s kinda doing the same thing, in my opinion.