Tag Archives: bible

Does Everything Happen for a Reason?

We human beings want to know why.

Recently I was driving home with a bright four-and-a-half-year-old in her car seat behind me. We stopped at an intersection.

“Why did you stop?” she asked.

“Because the light turned red.”

“Why did it turn red?”

“Because it’s telling us to stop and wait so other cars can go.”

“Why?”

“Because if we don’t stop, we’ll bump into other cars. It’s their turn to go.”

“Why is it red?”

“Because that’s the color the grown-ups agreed on.”

“Why?”

Eventually you reach the point of surrender: “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

Wanting to know why things happen is a basic human instinct. It has been invaluable to our survival; we have flourished as a species by being curious. But finding all the answers we want can be a challenge.

Last spring I was listening to a Lenten podcast about why things happen in life. At one point the speaker quoted a comedian: “Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is you’re stupid and make bad decisions.”

That certainly explains some events in my life, like the coffee stains on my shirt after I decided I could take a sip while accelerating from a green light. Or why I recently showed up for a doctor’s appointment only to have the clerk tell me I had the right month and day, but I had booked it for 2027.

For many ordinary events, there are common-sense reasons for why they happen. In the big picture, I believe most human behavior can be understood through our evolutionary inheritance, shaped by culture and personal experience. Our ailments are often the result of biological chance, genetics, and the inevitable effects of aging. Most accidents come down to simple physics compounded by human judgment.

For centuries, people have wondered whether an unseen force is intentionally making things happen. Spiritual traditions have offered a variety of answers.

Some say everything that happens is divine will, and it is our duty to accept it; numerous passages in sacred texts support this view.

Others say we are caught in an eternal struggle between good and evil.

Others say we carry karma from past lives that predisposes us to certain fates.

The Romans believed in the goddess Fortuna, who was blind. Without rhyme or reason, she brought about events that could make or break a person’s life. By the Middle Ages, this belief had evolved into an all-powerful Wheel of Fortune that turned and turned, raising some up and bringing others down.

Still others say our fate is written in the stars.

I have come to believe that many events can be understood as natural processes. But I also believe a subtle divine spirit can work through and in the midst of these forces, drawing out unforeseen possibilities and experiences of grace.

In many Gospel stories, Jesus encounters people who assume that their condition must be God’s will. But he reminds them that God sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. And, embodying the divine spirit, he sees each person for who they are and who they can become. If someone is sick, he reaches out to heal them. If someone lives on the margins of community life, he invites them in. If someone feels they have no future, he says, “Follow me.” Rather than telling people to passively accept their situation as fate, he offers them the choices for a new direction.

I have seen amazing things happen when people are open to divine possibilities: when we accept our present condition for what it is, seek guidance about where to go next, and then follow as best we can.

I also believe many good things in our contemporary life happen for a very clear reason: people have chosen to do things that make a difference.

“Why were so many of us able to survive the COVID pandemic?”

“Because teams of dedicated scientists worked together to develop vaccines, just as scientists before them used their skills to prevent cholera, polio, measles, and many other diseases.”

“Why are so many people coming together to defend our democratic system?”

“Because our ancestors lived under rulers who abused their power for personal gain. Our ancestors created a political system meant to limit personal power and to treat every person and our institutions with respect. And generation after generation has taken its turn to preserve and advance that system.”

“Why are there groups of people who have come together to create food banks, medical clinics, recovery programs, preschools, and crisis centers?”

“Because people choose to care for one another.”

We may not be able to answer all our “Why?” questions. But we can answer many with confidence.

My Brown Bag Lunch with a Nobel Scientist, Quiet Time in My Backyard, and Faith as a Signpost

When we first came to Santa Barbara in the early 1990s, I was finishing a leadership program through Seattle University. One of our assignments was to interview leaders from different disciplines: the arts, education, business, and science. I didn’t know any scientists, so I asked one of my parishioners who worked at UCSB for suggestions. “You should interview Walter Kohn,” Hank said. “People say he may get the Nobel Prize someday.” It was also known that, despite his fame, he came to campus every day on the city bus.

I called Professor Kohn’s office and left a message. He called me back and agreed to meet. “I bring a brown bag lunch every day and eat in my office,” he said. “Why don’t you bring your own lunch and we can talk?” We set a date.

I don’t remember what food I prepared, but I made sure to bring it in a brown paper bag.

I found his office and knocked. He invited me in and offered me a chair.

What remains vivid in my memory is his description of growing up in Vienna in a close Jewish family in the 1920s and ’30s. He was also grateful for the excellent public education he received, including the study of Greek and Latin. He said he gained a lasting appreciation for how Roman civil society and traditions put a high value on personal integrity and public service, which he sought to embody in his life and career.

After the Nazis took control of Austria in 1938, he was separated from his parents, who were later killed in the Holocaust. He made it to England, then Canada, and finally the United States. Along the way, he took advantage of every educational opportunity that came to him. He eventually found his calling as a scientist and came to UCSB in 1979 to become the first director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics.

As is often the case, what we remember from meeting a person may not be the details of what they said but the feeling we gain for who they are. I was struck by Professor Kohn’s modesty, his graciousness, and his desire, born of the suffering he had seen as a young man, to make the world a more just, caring, and peaceful place.

Five years after our lunch, Professor Kohn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in quantum mechanics. He died in 2016 at the age of 93.

The memory of that lunch came back to me recently as I was reading a compelling account of the intellectual and cultural legacy of Vienna in the 1920s and ’30s, much of which was brought to America by émigrés after World War II.* I realized Professor Kohn was one of those remarkable people, and a living embodiment of that world.

Looking for more information about him, I found this quote:

“I am very much a scientist, and so I naturally have thought about religion also through the eyes of a scientist. When I do that, I see religion not denominationally, but in a more, let us say, deistic sense. I have been influenced in my thinking by the writing of Einstein who has made remarks to the effect that when he contemplated the world he sensed an underlying Force much greater than any human force. I feel very much the same. There is a sense of awe, a sense of reverence, and a sense of great mystery.” **

A few days later, I was having my morning quiet time in our backyard. When I first become still, my mind is flooded with thoughts and feelings about what happened yesterday and what I’m anticipating in the day to come. When that flow settles, I try to get out of myself and observe my surroundings. I want to notice anything new: Have the leaves of the sycamore tree changed color again? Are any agapanthus still blooming? Is that squirrel running across the top of the fence the same one I saw yesterday?

But this time all was still, and nothing stood out. Then I became aware that just because I don’t see anything dramatic doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of life going on. Every tree and plant is quietly processing its life in response to the changing environment. Every spider is caring for its web or planning the next one. Every blade of grass is growing cell by cell. The children in our neighborhood, getting ready for school, are growing and changing every day. And as I am processing and planning and growing (and letting go), I am part of all that: “an underlying Force much greater than any human force,” as Professor Kohn said.

I want to remember what his family and so many like them went through. Like him, I want to be part of the ongoing effort to let the impact of our lives be rooted in reverence, not destruction.

Faith is not about having everything figured out. It is a signpost pointing in a direction we want to go, a direction that leads to discovery, delight, hard work, and service.

Professor Kohn wrote an eloquent account of his life story for the Nobel Prize award which you can read at  Walter Kohn Life Summary for Nobel Prize

* Vienna, How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World, by Richard Cockett

**https://todayinsci.com/K/Kohn_Walter/KohnWalter-Quotations.htm#google_vignette

Playing the Cards We’ve Been Dealt 

 

Recently I’ve known several people making important decisions in their life.  Take a new job or keep the one you have? Stay in your small town or make a move to a big city?  Folks who are getting on in years wonder, “Can I keep doing this activity or do I need to give it up?” “Shall I go forward with this recommended surgery or wait?” Meanwhile, I’m facing some of my own decisions. In the process, an old country song started playing on my inner personal jukebox: “The Gambler,” which was major hit for Kenny Rogers back in 1980.   Here’s the chorus:

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em

Know when to fold ’em

Know when to walk away

And know when to run

You never count your money

When you’re sittin’ at the table

There’ll be time enough for countin’

When the dealin’s done.

Investigating the song’s history, I learned about the scene it imagines.  Two strangers are riding a lonely train at night.  The older fellow offers to tell the younger one the secret of life in exchange for some whiskey.  The young guy accepts and hands him the bottle.  The old timer tells him that getting through life is a lot like playing poker.  “The gambler states that every situation can be played for better or worse. The trick is to recognize what is worth keeping, choose one’s battles, and not dwell on losses. After he finishes talking, the gambler crushes the cigarette out, and dies in his sleep during the night, leaving the narrator to ponder his wisdom alone.”[i]

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em

Know when to fold ’em

Know when to walk away

And know when to run…

I have limited expertise playing cards.  I mastered “Go Fish” by age 5 and later learned how to keep up with “Uno;” more challenging games such as bridge were beyond me.  But my older brother taught me how to play poker when I was young, and when I got to college I enjoyed playing with friends.  I appreciated the blend of luck, strategy, and acting that made for winning poker hands.  

One of the life truths revealed in poker is reflected in the saying, “You’ve got to play the cards you’ve been dealt.”  We say that when we look at a situation and realize we can’t change the facts, as much as we’d like.   But a skillful poker player over time makes the best of whatever cards they have.  

We know some people are born into families and situations with many advantages – financial and emotional security, for example.  Others come into life with factors that make it difficult to feel safe or believe they’ve got much of a chance to do well.  We also see examples of people born into wealth, privilege, and fame who have difficult and sometimes tragic lives.   We don’t get dealt the same cards as everyone else — we all get different cards and must learn how to play them as best we can.  In that truth, the old gambler was right.  “The Gambler” meets the standard for every great country song: “Three chords and the truth.”

But as much as I like the song, I kept thinking about the message.  For me it’s missing some key bits of wisdom.

One is the value in having a higher purpose beyond just playing to win for ourselves.  Our personal experiences and strengths can help us find our way.  But we can also use them to benefit other people.  

I think of the many hospice volunteers I’ve known.  Often, they have been through personal losses and tragedies and, over time, were able to heal.  Having been through that, they felt a calling to help others who are facing the uncertainties of life and experience of grief.  They don’t try to fix people but instead care for others with patience and reverence.  They take the cards life has dealt them and play them in a way that helps others, and in the process find a sense of satisfaction not possible if they focusied only on themselves.  

The same is true in recovery and mentoring programs, and many kinds of service.

Another missing element is the power that comes from being known and cared for by a force beyond ourselves.  In many Gospel stories, Jesus is traveling from village to village, encountering a wide range of people.  Some have an illness that makes them socially unclean and untouchable.  Others have made poor choices in life and have assumed those decisions will define them forever.  Others feel they are of little worth due to their gender, age, or ethnic background.  Each of these characters hold certain cards in their hand and assume their disappointing lives are the product of bad luck and fate; these are the cards they deserve, and they’ll never have another chance.  Why not “fold em” and give up?  But Jesus comes, sees them, and engages them. He touches and heals people who are ill.  He gives women and children honor and respect.  He sits at tables to break bread with social rejects.  In his actions and words, he offers each person a spiritual wild card — the wild card of grace.  With this new card in their hand and heart, they can see new possibilities in their life and a new community where they are welcome.  They discover that, “when the dealin’s done,” a winning hand is not how many chips we have stacked up for ourself, but how we’ve played the game and why.

Lead image: keepnaturewild.com

[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gambler_(song)

What Are Your “Takeaways” In Life?

Life is complicated.  Every hour all kinds of information comes to us from inside and out — way too much for us to take it all in and use.  So we simplify.  We choose what to remember and value.  We navigate as best we can.

 

Last month I attended a two-day conference that involved 14 hours of presentations.  If someone were to ask me to convey everything I heard, it would be impossible (and boring) to do so.  But if someone asks, “So what were your takeaways?” I understand that means:  what were the highlights, the points and stories most relevant and useful?

 

It’s a similar process when we create memorial services.  Someone has lived a life – often many years full of life experiences.   When they’re gone, we try to make sense of it all. As I meet with families to prepare, I often ask who they want to have speak.  When asked, a good speaker draws on a vast amount of information they know about the person and instinctively distill it all, choosing a few themes or stories that illustrate the person’s character.  It’s always meaningful to hear what people value.  

              

Simplifying our life experiences into key “takeaways” helps us navigate our direction. 

              

But we need to be careful.  We need to guard against oversimplification — the temptation to assume we know more than we really do.  It’s wise to keep a humble spirit and open mind as we create our “takeaways.” 

 

I recently was reminded of a passage from Wendell Berry’s novel, Jayber Crow..  Jayber comes from a small town in Kentucky.  As a young man, he felt a spiritual calling and enrolled in seminary.  He asks a lot of tough questions, sometimes to the frustration of his professors.  He mistrusts people who are convinced they have all the questions of faith answered, and who assume whoever doesn’t agree with them is simply wrong. He ends up leaving seminary, returns to his hometown, and becomes a barber.  In his day-to-day life, he carefully observes and listens to ordinary people.  And though he left seminary, he never loses his reverence for the Biblical stories.   At one point he says:

 

“As I have read the Gospels over the years, the belief has grown in me that Christ did not come to found an organized religion but came instead to found an unorganized one. He seems to have come to carry religion out of the temples into the fields and sheep pastures, onto the roadsides and the banks of the rivers, into the houses of sinners and publicans, into the town and the wilderness, toward the membership of all that is here. Well, you can read and see what you think.”

 

Unlike Jayber, I finished seminary and got my degree. I became one of those people in “the temple” of an “organized religion” whose duty it is to thoughtfully pass on the “takeaways” the tradition offers.  It has been a privilege to do so.

 

Like Jayber, I never tire of contemplating the Biblical stories.  After many years, they still often surprise and amaze me.  In the early Gospels for example, Jesus creates not just inspiration among his followers but also a great deal of bewilderment.   Whenever they try to put him in a box, he evades them.  Faith becomes more about following as best we can rather than having every question answered.  And I never tire of listening to people wrestle with life’s challenges, often in response to these timeless stories.

 

The French writer Paul Ricoeur believed there is a basic process we go through as we seek to understand life.  We begin with what he calls a “first naiveté” – we accept some simple beliefs we’ve been taught and we follow them. But then we start experiencing life in all its complexity and disappointments; we can become disillusioned with those original beliefs.  We may feel like giving up.   But the process doesn’t have to end there.  As we mature, we can accept life’s complexities and mysteries and discover a “second naiveté” — some new basic “takeaways” to help us go on.  These don’t ignore life’s problems but help us deal with them.  

 

Over the years, people have asked me, “Who are you favorite theologians?”  I have often said, “Rembrandt, Bach, Wendell Berry, and the older people I have known in my congregations.”  What a painter, a composer, a writer and those “ordinary people” have taught me is we don’t have to have all the answers to live a meaningful life.  We find satisfaction in work done well and responsibilities fulfilled.   We savor life’s simple pleasures when they come our way.  We love the best we can.  We care for other people as much as possible.  In that process, a quiet kind of light emerges.  And that light doesn’t stop with us; we sense it extends “…toward the membership of all that is here.”  And that is enough.

 

 Art Work: ”Family,” Kathe Kollwitz, 1931

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something to Rest On

Gospel music was not something I heard in my home growing up.  But I did know of a singer named Mahalia Jackson, who appeared on television shows and sold millions of records.  She performed at many civil rights demonstrations and before European royalty.  President Kennedy chose her to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at his Inaugural Ball in 1961.  She sang “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” at Dr. King’s memorial in 1968. She died in 1972 at the age of 60 and left a legacy of inspired art.

Mahalia Jackson was orphaned at an early age.  She heard gospel music coming from the church next door; it drew her in and she embodied it the rest of her life. 

Many successful gospel singers began in church choirs and later made a career singing the blues, which had a broader audience.   But she never did. She once said, “When you sing gospel you have a feeling there is a cure for what’s wrong. But when you are through with the blues, you’ve got nothing to rest on.”

Ms. Jackson knew pain well and she could express it in her music.  But at the heart of every song was the conviction that reaching out in faith offered “a cure” – “something to rest on.”

Imagine coming upon an old-fashioned water well.  Leaning over the stone wall that surrounds it, we look down to see if there is water.  But the sunlight does not reach far enough for us to know. So we pick up a small stone and drop it down into the well.  If we hear nothing, we might conclude the well is dry.  But if we hear a plunk, we know water is there.

Spiritual belief is like that.  We wonder if there is something beyond us. We drop something down into our inner well — maybe a hope, a prayer, a question, or a plea for guidance.  Sometimes we get only silence. But sometimes we get a response; it may come as a word, a phrase, an image or a conviction.

When we do receive a response, we recognize it is not something we could create on our own — it feels fresh.  When we claim it, we find our life opening to new possibilities.  We have “something to rest on” as our journey continues.

A spiritual well is not a magic wishing well — it’s not about getting what we want every time.  Sometimes we receive prompts that invite us to face and bear challenges we would rather avoid. But the direction we receive always leads to embracing life.

Mahalia Jackson knew a great deal of personal suffering.  But in her faith and in her singing, she found something to “rest on.”  It didn’t make all the problems in the world miraculously disappear. But what she found within herself, in her music, and in her community gave her light, courage and the ability to endure, and she shared that with the world.

We are in the season of Passover and Easter.  The rituals and stories include times when people felt alone and without hope.  But then something happens that opens a way beyond the darkness into new life.  We are reminded we are not alone.  There is a living, divine presence down in that well. We are reminded we have “something to rest on.”

 

Getting a Peek at Heaven

Let’s say someone asks you, “Got any travel plans?”  Imagine saying, “Yeah… I’m going to the place where heaven and earth meet, poke my head through, and see what I can see.” This is how one artist imagined someone doing that:

(The caption reads: “A missionary of the Middle Ages recounts that he has found the point where heaven and earth meet.”)

For thousands of years, people looked to the skies and imagined what might lie beyond – and wondered if there’s a heaven out there.

Then science came with those telescopes, star charts, and rocket ships.

Years ago, I was teaching an adult class.  The passage we were studying mentioned heaven. One older lady raised her hand.

“You know,” she said, “I’m mad at those astronauts!”

“Why?” I asked.

“Well, when they got up there into outer space I thought they would see heaven.  But they didn’t find it.  Now I don’t know where it is. It makes me angry.”              

I have a friend who was a nun before becoming a doctoral student in mathematics at UCSB before becoming a Jungian therapist.  We used to go to public lectures at the Institute for Theoretical Physics on campus.  I appreciated having her with me because she could explain some of the concepts to me. I once asked her what she thought of the possibility of “worm holes” in space. She told me she thought it was an exciting theory, adding it might explain where heaven is hidden.

In spiritual traditions, “heaven” can be a reality beyond this one, but also accessible now.

In the book of Genesis, Jacob is alone in the middle of nowhere and lies down at night to sleep.  He has a dream in which he sees something like a ladder or staircase leading from earth to heaven with angels traveling back and forth.  He hears the voice of God promising that he will always be with Jacob.  Jacob wakes, remembers the dream and pours oil on the stone on which his head was resting and names it. He says, “This is the house of God, the gate of heaven.”  The story suggests that such an opening can exist in the most unlikely of places.

In the Gospels, Jesus speaks often of the “kingdom of heaven” and the “kingdom of God.”  And while some passages suggest a realm beyond this life, others suggest it’s a reality available to us now: “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among (or within) you…”

I once led a retreat with the theme of how paradise has been envisioned in different spiritual traditions and popular culture.  I showed a clip from the 1935 movie Top Hat in which Fred Astaire is wooing Ginger Rodgers.  In one scene, he invites her to dance with him as he sings the Irving Berlin song “Cheek to Cheek.” Here’s the chorus:

“Heaven, I’m in Heaven, And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak; And I seem to find the happiness I seek When we’re out together dancing, cheek to cheek.”

After seeing the clip, I asked the group to suggest how the scene expresses ideas of heaven.  People noticed that the set was full of light and beauty.  Ginger Rodgers had feather boas on the arms of her costume that floated like angel wings as she moved. We also saw both dancers moving effortlessly with each other, yet each retained their individuality.

And we watched the last scene of the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.”  It’s a baseball fantasy in which Ray Kinsella has inherited a farm in Iowa and is raising his family.  Ray hears a voice in the corn field calling on him to build a baseball field. He does. Soon players from the past start walking out of the corn to play the sacred game one more time.  As one of them is leaving for the day, he asks Ray if this is heaven. “No,” Ray says, “This is Iowa.” As the story continues, the voice prompts Ray with new tasks, and he follows not knowing where it’s headed or what it means.  The last player to appear turns out to be John Kinsella, Ray’s father; they were estranged years before at the time John died. Ray introduces his father to his wife and daughter.  They begin playing catch.  They have this conversation:

John asks, “Is this heaven?”

Ray: “It’s Iowa.”

John: “Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven.”


Ray: “Is there a heaven?”

John: “Oh yeah. It’s the place where dreams come true.”


Ray: “Maybe this is heaven.”

I’m not sure where heaven is to be found. Maybe it’s somewhere out there in outer space. Maybe it’s somewhere here in inner space.  Maybe it’s both. I welcome those moments when we seem to catch glimpses of it in our everyday lives, and remain open to the healing and beauty it might hold.

(Dear Reader: Not being satisfied with the way I ended this, two hours after posting I’m adding one more thought…)

I like to think of the fellow in the engraving and imagine what his life would be like when he came back from his journey. I’m guessing he’d be like most people who have had near-death experiences and profound spiritual encounters: he’d feel less fear, more peace, and a fresh committment to making each day matter.

(The lead image is an engraving from The Atmosphere: Popular Meterology, by Camille Flammarion, 1888; featured in Cosmigraphics: Picturing Space Through Time, by Michael Benson)

Maybe Prayers Are Like Snowflakes

One early spring afternoon years ago, I was making the three-hour drive on Interstate 90 from Seattle to our home in central Washington.  The highway passes through Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains.  There had been plenty of snow that winter and there were only a few cars on the road as light flurries were falling. I was alone. I heard a loud crashing noise.  On the right side of the road ahead of me I watched a large snow-covered branch fall to the ground from a tall pine tree .  As I continued driving, I wondered how much weight it must take to break that branch off from the trunk of its tree.  How many snowflakes were required to make that happen? Did just one last snowflake tip the balance?

As I continued driving, I wondered if prayers might be like snowflakes.  Individually, they are virtually weightless.  But can they accumulate over time to make something tangible and unexpected happen?

There have been many theories over the centuries about how prayer might actually “work.”  There are many spiritual traditions encouraging people to pray. Many people share stories of how prayer has led to some remarkable outcomes. 

At the same time, many people can remember times when what they prayed for did not come to be.  Much has been written trying to understand “unanswered prayer.”

I have had colleagues in the medical profession recount experiences when they were working with families and individuals who were facing serious health challenges who put all their faith in prayer, sometimes to the exclusion of good science.  If the malady did not disappear, the family was faced not only with the loss of a loved one but questioning their faith as well.

I no longer expect to come up with a definitive answer to what prayer is and just how it “works.” But some stories come to mind. I’m going to share one this week and more in a future posting.

When I arrived to serve my congregation in Goleta, one man who became a friend and mentor was Hank Weaver.  Hank had recently retired after ten years at UCSB in the Education Abroad Program. He was a faithful Mennonite and a lifetime pacifist. Hank was a warm, engaging and brilliant man who walked with a slight limp.  I soon learned his story.  Just two years before, he had been diagnosed with a serious form of cancer in his lower spine.  The initial prognosis indicated he might not have long to live.  He decided to learn as much as he could about what he could do.  He had a PhD in chemistry and, as a dedicated scientist, worked carefully with his oncologist to begin the chemotherapy. 

At this time, people were beginning to use visualization as part of cancer treatment; the idea is you use your imagination in meditatation to visualize the chemo overcoming the cancer.   Hank was told one common example was to imagine cancer cells as small fish swimming in your bloodstream, and the chemo is a shark eating them up one by one.  Hank thought about it and said that wouldn’t work for him due to his belief in nonviolence.  He developed an alternative. He imagined a catfish swimming through his bloodstream, bottom feeding on things his body no longer wanted. 

Hank asked anyone who was willing to pray for his healing to do so, and many did.  One particularly dedicated member (in church speak, a “prayer warrior”) told me she had created an image in her mind of Hank entering the sanctuary fully healed, and many times prayerfully held that image in her mind and soul.  Hank also did all the right things in terms of diet and physical activity.

Months passed.  Slowly, the cancer began to disappear.  Eventually it went into remission.  The damage to his spine meant that his walk would always be impaired, but that was a small price to pay for the outcome.  (He did tell me one benefit of his impairment was the handicapped placard he had now had for his car – he began to get invitations from friends asking to go with him to Dodger games to take advantage of his hard-earned status for a premium parking place.)

Hank ended up self-publishing a book about his experience, Confronting the Big C.  Eventually he and his wife moved to Indiana where he served as interim President of Goshen College before retiring.  Hank had experienced a remarkable healing, and he believed it was the combination of good science and open-minded spirituality that led to his outcome.  He lived twenty-five more years until dying at the age of 93.

I believe Hank would say there are no guaranteed outcomes in this life.  None of us are getting out of here alive, and death will eventually take every one of us. But when facing serious challenges, we can choose to gather and employ all the best resources to increase our chances for a desired outcome.  We may never know how all these different forces – medical, spiritual, social, emotional – might interact with each other.  Some effects we can see and measure. But others, like prayer, may involve forces that are small and subtle.  But that doesn’t mean they can’t make things happen.

Image: Fineartamerica, Tera Fraley

“Old Truth”

                  This past week, my wife and I went north to spend a few days in the presence of Mt. Shasta. While there, I thought often of a recent poem by my treasured friend and long-time colleague, Rabbi Steve Cohen. To me, these words are timeless — like the mountain. Given the state of our world, they are also timely. I’m sharing the poem with you this week.

“Old Truth”

Today we need Old Truth.

We thought it had died so we buried it.

The fact is that we tore down the Old Truth

because it seemed to be a rotten timber.

It had been twisted into a pillar of slavery and oppression

so we tore it down and buried it.

But today we need it again,

remembered and restored to its original sacred power.

When Old Truth goes silent, the Pharoah speaks:

“It is mine, this Nile; I made it for myself.”

Pharoah throws every boy that is born into the river

and says: “Who is God, that I should heed His voice?”

Who, indeed, is God?

How might He deliver us from this Pharoah,

this crocodile king, lying in the river,

certain that he is god, and that he will rule forever?

We need the Old Truth

Not some artificial intelligence, but our Old Human Intelligence.

We still remember that Voice, speaking to us from out of the fire:       

“I am the Lord your God Who brought you forth from the Land of Egypt”

“The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the earth””

“Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”

We used to stand in class and pledge to be

“One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”

Many times in history, human hands have

“hurled Truth to the ground”

But always, with time, with courage and with help from God,

“Truth springs up from the earth,

and justice gazes down from Heaven.”

You can explore more of Rabbi Steve’s writings at https://www.rabbistevecohen.com.

(sources:  Ezekiel 29:9; Exodus 5:2; Exodus 20:2; Genesis 3:10; Micah 6:8; Daniel 8:12; Psalms 85:11)

“Have You Seen This Dog?” — Thoughts on Getting Away

(Dear Reader: I had a few tech challenges getting this posted…I hope this comes through now…)

Some years ago, we had a dog named Andy.  He was a feisty soul who lived 18 years.  One day, I had parked our car in the driveway and, for reasons I cannot remember, left him there for a few minutes.  I returned for him, saw him in this pose and took the photo.

Just for fun, the next day I made flyers with “Have You Seen This Dog?” in large print and the photo below it.  I added a comment that he was last seen driving a gray Honda Odyssey van on Patterson Avenue and included my contact info.  I posted the flyer a few on telephone poles in our neighborhood.  No one seemed to notice.  A few days later I took them down.

Earlier this week I happened to come across the photo again.  Something about it called to me — I thought about that impulse we can have to “get away.” 

Do you ever feel this desire?

Maybe it’s just taking a break from our daily tasks and getting outdoors to take a walk. Or going out to spend time with friends. Or engaging in a physical or creative practice that reminds us of our inner capacity to experience new things.  We often return from such activities with renewed energy and optimism.  

The desire may lead us to travel.   I am constantly thinking about trips I want to take to places I’ve never been. The travel industry offers us images and catalogues that stimulate that desire even more.  If we have traveled to a new country or culture, we may return with an increased knowledge of how other people live, what the world offers, and our own possibilities.

Sometimes we “get away” for distraction and entertainment. Sometimes we do so for something deeper.

From a spiritual perspective, many transformational figures have found new direction by “getting away” from what’s familiar to find something new – Buddha, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Elijah, Jesus, Mohammed and countless others who have gone on vision quests and personal pilgrimages.

In my years of involvement at La Casa de Maria Retreat Center, I saw countless people arrive feeling burned out, sensing they needed a new direction.  They found an environment designed to encourage personal renewal.  They were free to wander the 26 acres of oak trees set alongside a running creek.  They could choose to rest, meditate or reflect at one of the spiritual gardens.  Wonderful food was provided.  Naps were encouraged. Unhurried conversations could take place.  There were no television screens to distract attention.  Time after time, people left feeling like their purpose in life was once again clear. They had found new hope and courage.

When we return from these kind of journeys, we may not feel the need to “get away” again any time soon.  Instead, we can face our life, responsibilities and opportunities with clarity and confidence.  We accept whatever limitations we may have, but now with a willingness to acknowledge them, making the best of the time and resources we have. 

It’s good to get away.  It’s also good to come home.

In my pastoral and hospice experiences, it was often instructive to see how many people at the end of life found purpose and meaning in simple things: personal relationships, a few treasured memories, and an awareness that life is a marvelous mystery and gift.  They didn’t feel a need to be anywhere other than where they were.

I could have asked Andy what led him to take the wheel and contemplate getting away that day.  Was it some deep spiritual calling? Or just a hope he could find a household with better food?  But Andy never wanted to talk about his deeper feelings, and I respected that.  I do know that as I opened the car door, picked him up, and brought him into the house he seemed glad to be home once again.

Five Tips for Your Spiritual Journey

On the first Sunday of the year, I was asked to give a sermon marking “Epiphany,” a day which focuses on the story of the Three Wise Men.  As I kept reflecting on the story, five lessons emerged which I feel can be “wise” guidelines for our own journeys: Be Curious, Go With Friends, Be Careful, Give Your Best, and Be At Peace.  As I resume my blogging practice for the year, I decided sharing this list would be a good beginning.

Be Curious  In the Magi story, I see three forms of curiosity at work. Their quest began as they were studying the stars – it is rooted in a fascination with nature.  They got as far as Jerusalem but then needed local scholars to give them their next clue – they needed to refine their search by turning to spiritual writings.  And they choose to go home by another route after one of them had a dream – they knew how to listen to inner promptings. We can follow their lead:

                  Nature: whether it’s a daily practice of outdoor mediation or walks, studying any dimension of natural sciences, or simply being ready to ponder the mysteries of life that surround us, we can be open to moments of awe in the natural world that expand our mind.

                  Scriptures: Spiritual writings from long ago and the present day can open us to see new meaning in what we experience. 

                  Inner promptings: We can gather important information from science and spiritual writings which can be complimented by paying attention to our own intuition, dreams and feelings.  

Go With Friends  Sometimes we need to go on a journey by ourselves to find what we need. But other times it’s best to go with friends – people who share our values and hopes and are open to new discoveries.  There were at least three Magi.  Spend time with good friends as you navigate your life this year.

Be Careful  The Magi were warned in a dream not to return the way they had come – Herod was not to be trusted.  We go through life wanting and wishing for the best, but we don’t want to be naïve about possible deceptions and wrong turns.  Some leaders, institutions and people can pretend to want to help us, but they may be using us for their own ends.  Be careful as you make important decisions.

Give Your Best The Magi offered gifts with specific significance: gold for a king, frankincense for a spiritual leader, and myrrh for a prophet who will be facing death.  In our lives, sometimes material gifts we give can make an important difference in the world. But there are other ways to give. If we are part of a family, we give our support, love and attention year after year.  This doesn’t guarantee outcomes we may prefer – over time we may have many sleepless nights as events unfold in the lives of people we love that we cannot control.  But we still give our best.  We are asked to love our neighbor, which is not always easy. But making a good effort to meet, understand and befriend people in our communities is what creates authentic social life.  And our spiritual traditions ask us to honor the stranger in our midst, for they too are part of the human family.  We can seek to do that in our jobs and in volunteer work.  And we can do that by supporting worthy causes with our time and talents.  Since retiring, I have been helping raise money for a new community medical clinic in town that serves people who would otherwise be unable to receive such care. I may never know personally anyone who will be served, but I believe it’s the right thing to do.

Be At Peace:  After the Magi worship the child and offer their gifts, they go home and are never heard from again.  It will be 30 years before that child in the manger will begin his work in the world, and it’s unlikely the Magi would still be alive to learn what unfolds. But they did what they could with what they had in the time they had, and they did it well.  As we get older, we realize there are many things we care about and want to know “how it all will turn out.”  But life is never finished.  What we can do is to stay curious, travel with friends, be careful along the way, and give our best.  And then it’s OK for us to be at peace.  We’ve earned it.

Photo credit: pixabay.com