Rumors

R U M O R S # 441
Ralph Milton's E-zine for people of faith with a sense of humor
2007-03-18

March 18, 2007

GROWING GREEBLIES

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Motto:
"A merry heart doeth good, like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones." (Proverbs 17:22 KJV)
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Next Week's Readings - making a way in the wilderness
Rumors - zap the creeping crud
Soft Edges - bald spots
Good Stuff - the Tate family
We Get Letters - cosmic squirrels
Mirabile Dictu! - dying for nothing
Bottom of the Barrel - money
Stuff - (read this only if you would like to subscribe, unsubscribe or are wondering about permissions. That sort of boring stuff.)

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Rib Tickler - The lad had memorized the catechism in time for baptism on Easter Sunday.
"What is a lie?" asked the examiner.
"A lie is an abomination unto the Lord," said the boy, "and a very present help in time of trouble."
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Next Week's Readings - These are the readings you will probably hear in church this coming Sunday, March 25th, which is the fifth Sunday of Lent and also the Feast of the Annunciation.

Isaiah 43:16-21 - "I am going to do a new thing! Look! There it is. Don't you see it?"
Creation was not a one-time event. Scripture and science agree that it is an on-going process.
Spring is springing forth all around us here in the Okanagan Valley. In the creek that flows past our back yard, the mallards have begun their spring mating rituals. The heather is in full bloom in our neighbor's yard and an energetic bee is working over the crocuses popping up through our front lawn.
March is bustin' out all over. And it's hard to believe that global warming and human pollution will ruin all that.
"I will make a way in the wilderness," says God, according to Isaiah. But while it's easier and a whole lot more fun to focus on the fecundity of springtime, it's also necessary to name and describe the wilderness. How else will we find and follow the way that God is making for us?

Psalm 126 - paraphrased by Jim Taylor
1 When the gates of our prisons opened, we could not believe it.
2 Stone walls sank behind us;
the sky opened above us;
we did cartwheels for joy.
Those who gathered to celebrate our release said to themselves,
"God has been good to them."
3 Indeed, we could not have set ourselves free;
God must have had a hand in it.
4 Now we must rebuild our broken lives,
like piecing together shards of shattered pottery.
5 May we find as much joy in putting the pieces together
as we had sorrow in their shattering.
6 These new lives were born in pain and suffering;
with God's help, they can still blossom into a second spring.
From: Everyday Psalms
Wood Lake Books.
For details, go to www.woodlakebooks.com

Philippians 3:4b-14 - Yes, I am a "born again" Christian. I do have a problem with that phrase because it's so often used in the sense of having arrived.
But I have been born again. And again and again and again. Every day is a new birth. Each day is a call to a new commitment.
Paul is "straining forward to what lies ahead." This passage begins with Paul's "c.v." and his complete focus on the gift of faith. But he makes it very clear that his faith is still a work in progress.
A bit like the old game of "Snakes and Ladders." If you land on a square that says, "You have arrived!" you'll see it has a slithery snake attached to it that slides you right back to square one.
Or the Buddhist saying, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." If you figure you have the whole thing in your hip pocket, get rid of it. It's either your ego or an evil angel (take your pick) whispering in your ear, "You've got it made!"
I think there's a song or a book with a really great title. "The Journey is My Home."

John 12:1-8 - "You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." That's one of those statements that the writer of John tosses into the narrative, and then leaves us standing there with our confusion hanging out yelling, "Hey! Hang on a minute! What exactly do you mean by that?"
My Bible has a note: "Such spontaneous love will not neglect the poor." Well, maybe not, but such a statement can easily be used to justify the neglect of the poor.
Maybe the best thing to do with that statement is to use it in a healthy and creative tension over the way we use our money - our personal money and the budgets of churches. It's a question we need to ask constantly in our personal journey and the journey of our church community.
But like that "born again" idea - the minute you figure you've got the problem nailed, you've lost it.

There's a bundle of great resources on the Wood Lake Books website, including "Seasons of the Spirit" curriculum - which has material for all ages in the church. A few moments poking around on that site could be very fruitful.

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Rumors - I have a bionic eye.
Well, maybe not exactly bionic, but an artificial lens replacing a cataract. Over the course of a couple of years, some little gray greeblies grew around that tiny plastic chip and fogged up my vision. It happened so slowly, in such tiny increments, that I hardly noticed it, until I found that my nose was almost touching the computer screen.
Because my nose is of generous proportions that was still a reasonable distance, but closer than it should have been.
So I hied myself to the ophthalmologist. Posterior capsule opacification, he called it, which I liked because I could impress my friends. Far more impressive than saying the back of the lens was fogged up. Although they mean exactly the same thing.
The doc sat me down in front of a most impressive contraption that shone multi-colored lights into my eye, and buzzed most convincingly. And with each buzz, I was treated to a dazzling display of lights that swirled and swooped and swished. A psychedelic experience with no brain damage or hang-over.
As Bev drove me home, I realized I could read road signs long before we got to them. When I sat down at my computer, the screen popped out at me with a clarity that had me yelling, "Hey, I've just got a brand new computer!"
My sister Peg told me once that when she got glasses as a child, she suddenly realized there were individual leaves on trees, not just a green mass. Suddenly she could see in a whole new way.
The journey through Lent to Easter may be like that. Those little gray greeblies grow around our consciousness. They grow so slowly and imperceptibly around our awareness, we don't know they are there - we don't know what we are missing.
They don't hurt. They don't suddenly make you blind. And they are caused, not by large life-changing decisions or huge transgressions - not because of dramatic sins like murder or rape - but by the tiny little choices we make day by day in our bedrooms, kitchens and work places. Tiny choices we're not even aware of.
Lent is a good time to realize that we've got our noses far too close to the screen. That there's got to be more to trees than a green blob. That the "abundant life" Jesus promised seems like a long-forgotten dream.
There is a dull, gray film growing over our consciousness, and that if we don't take some action, the end result will be blindness. Not physical blindness but spiritual blindness.
So I am looking forward to the dazzling light of Easter morning to zap away the creeping crud that keeps me from seeing - that keeps me from being born once again.

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