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Category: Humanity

Union With God

Published by mhelbert on November 2, 2019

Today I’m going to leave writing and and stuff alone and return to reflections about God, the Cosmos, and me. There are thoughts that niggle at the back of my brain that sometimes just need to be turned loose on the World.

Over the years that I have pursued God, or maybe God was pursuing me, through various forms of contemplative prayer, the idea of Union with God has peered through the mist from time to time.
I’m no historian, but I have read and heard stories of certain practitioners of various religious traditions seeking to become ‘one’ with, or joined together with deity.
In the Christian tradition that concept became famous during the Middle Ages through various mystics who then wrote about their experiences with “Mystical Marriage.” Or, they described their contemplative journey as a pilgrimage up mountain or into some kind of many layered mansion. These journeys culminated in some kind of mystical, ecstatic experience that left that person somehow changed.
It seems that this concept of Union with God is still the prevalent one today.

I don’t see it that way.

That way of experiencing God’s presence in one’s life seems too, well, individualistic. The journey is a solitary one. The trials along the way are ‘me’ against the powers of darkness that would stand in my way. Obstacles that I would need to prove myself worthy against in order to prevail.
Eventually, if I had remained steadfast and faithful, I found the prize and claimed it as my own.
That sounds all cool and everything. Especially, in our Western culture that elevates the individual to some kind of cultural sainthood.
But, I’m sorry. I just don’t see that model of Spirituality anywhere in the Scriptures.
Yeah, I get it that God is concerned about us each individually. And, God delights when we each desire to be with God. We, each of us, is precious to God.
I don’t think that’s the end of the story, though.
The whole idea of “Me and Jesus against the World” just doesn’t ring true.

So, how does Union with God fit into any other schema?
It seems by its very name to be something that only affects a particular individual.

Over the past few years I have had the idea of Humans as Ikons of God. That’s pretty much what the stories in Genesis calls us when the writers mentioned ‘in Our Image.’ Humanity is, in these stories, created to fill the role of Steward in God’s Good Creation.
A steward is a representative of someone else. The steward has authority to act in the Name of that someone else. The steward, in effect, partners with that someone else in order to achieve the benefit of, not just that someone else, but of All that is under the authority of that someone else.
For us, that entails the entirety of the Cosmos.

Union with God, to me anyway, seems to be more about partnering with God in order to achieve God’s Good Will in the Cosmos than with any kind of individual ecstatic experiences.
Union with God seems to be contingent, not just on my efforts against unseen enemies, but on my willingness to hear Jesus’ knock on the door of my Heart. Then, opening it so that He may come in and “abide” with and in me. Not for my benefit alone. Although, there is that. But, for the benefit of All.
Paul wrote to the Church at Rome about how the creation groans waiting for the daughters and sons of God to show up.

The further that I walk on this path of my life and seek God’s Presence, the more I am convinced that this life is NOT simply some kind of preparation for ME in order to be ready for some after life. That is not, CANNOT, be the purpose of God for the Cosmos.
God’s purpose is redemption of ALL. Life for ALL.

HERE!

NOW!

IN THIS LIFE!

Union with God means to partner with God, Work with God…

Love with God.

Are we ready for that?
Maybe.
But, together, United with one another in Union with God I believe that we can be.

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Ideabola

Published by mhelbert on October 30, 2019

“Burn!” cried the mob as the book pyre blazed in the night.
“Death to Infidels; heretics; free thinkers!”

Death?
Books can die?

This sentiment seems to be making a resurgence in some parts of the world. I mean, it’s never really been far from us.
The some churches still believes that Harry Potter poses an existential danger because of the whole witches and wizards thing.
At other times books that some so-called authority deemed ‘subversive,’ (re. Doesn’t agree with my opinion), have been collected and set ablaze as a public rebuke to anyone who might harbor similar positions.

But, books are not ideas.
They may, at best, be the vessels in which ideas travel.
Ideas, though, are by their very nature untouchable.
And, incurable.

Ideas are like a virus that spreads by getting inside of a person at a cellular level, invading and capturing the minds of those who are exposed to them.

Ideas become a part of a person’s DNA. They are, by nature, invasive.

Yet, not foreign.

Not harmful.

In fact, they can produce vitality and health in those who harbor them deep within their hearts and minds.

Ideas CANNOT be stopped by destroying the vessels that carry them.

Even if those vessels are living, breathing human beings.

That, too, has been tried. How many “heretics” have been burned; fed to lions; hanged; drowned?

And, yet, the ideas live on.

“But,” some say, “ideas can lead people astray! They can put a person in harm’s way!”

Astray?
NO! Emphatically, NO!
Ideas may open our minds to other ideas.
They may cause our minds and hearts to grow 2 sizes larger.
They may make us more empathetic.
But, astray? Nuh uh.

Ideas are what make us humans in the first place.
They are the engine that pushes us forward.

Yes, ideas can also give some people reason to hurt, maim, or destroy.
But, it will also be an idea that counters those who would act in that way.

Ideas are like a virus.
They will infect us.
They will change us.

The question that remains is, how will we embody these ideas?
How will we live in a world where Ideas live, thrive, and yes, Infect?

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Security? I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Security!

Published by mhelbert on October 24, 2019

Today’s Tuesday.
Yesterday, well, that was Monday.
And, I didn’t post anything.
Sorry if the 2 of you who actually visit here missed me.
But, I was unable to write.
Not because I was too busy with other tasks. That’s never really stopped me before. If I have something that needs to crawl out of my brain and onto the Internet, Well By Gawd, I’m gonna get it out there!
No, I had different impediments. Stuff that does, in fact, keep the crawly stuff locked up inside.
First, I haven’t been sleeping well. And, Sunday into Monday I was working on about 5 hours. That’s after weeks of maybe 6 hours on average. My mind simply said, “Nope. Not thinking today. And, there’s nothing you can do about. Nya Nya Nya.”
And, my mind was right. There was nothing gonna shake any words loose.
The other thing happening was that I was an emotional wreck. My mind said it was too tired to write, but, Hoo Boy, not too tired to race around like a squirrel on crack. I could not have put two cogent thoughts together if my life depended on it. Thankfully, it didn’t.

So, what’s going on?

I’ve shared a little bit about the journey that I’m presently walking. Emotions, Passions, Thoughts, you know, all that sensitive artist kind of crap. And, I have to tell you, this journey is fraught with all kinds of pits and obstacles and beasties and such.
But, it is a journey that I must undertake. Now. At this time in my life.

I’m finding that with all of the hope that I had earlier in life to embody Mr. Spock from Star Trek, I am too human. My emotions leak all over me like the oil pan of one of my old cars used to leak all over my driveway. And, these emotions can be just as much of a sticky mess and hard to clean up. Maybe, harder.

I’ve discovered that I am hyper-insecure. As I look back over my life and look deeply into my heart, I have always been like that. I fear rejection, for sure. More importantly, I think that I fear not being accepted.

So, I push for responses that might give me a glimmer of hope that you, (whoever that is), might give me that I’m not the waste of skin that I feel that I truly am.
I say and do things that we both will regret. Not because I’m a creep or some narcissistic boor. But, because I’m afloat in a sea of doubt surrounded by the dense fog of uncertainty.

Now, some shrink may look at me and say something about how I must have felt rejection when another child was brought into my childhood home. Mom and Dad had to set me aside so they could include the newly added soul.
Or, they might say that there is a hidden memory and wound from being given up by my birth mother for adoption. Lord knows I’ve heard that before.

Or, maybe, just maybe this is how I’m wired. Nothing broken. No wounds or hurts. It’s just part of my Melancholic personality type.

Honestly, I don’t know where the roots of insecurity lie. Don’t know if it’s even important to know. The fact is, this is where I am and I need to deal with it.

Deal with it?
What’s that mean?

Hell, I don’t know.
Fix it?
Heal it?

Learn to embrace it and live with it?
Maybe, someday be able to celebrate it?

I honestly don’t know.
And, I may, (re. Probably), never know.

I do know, however, that I am what I am and that’s all that I am.
So, the journey continues.

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Broken??? Nope.

Published by mhelbert on October 22, 2019

Have you ever had one of those moments of clarity when suddenly, as if and epiphany, various and discordant seeming thoughts coalesce into a complete image?

No?

Nor have I.
But, this morning as I was quietly sitting in my office, dark except for the light of a few candles, I began to put some pieces together about who I am that I’ve only seen as disparate thoughts, now here; now gone.
I mentioned in some earlier posts that I’ve been doing some much needed introspection. It’s much needed because I think that over years and decades we become immune to the passions and voices that at one time helped to form us into the people that we now are. Some people refer to this as “adding baggage.”

So, I’ve been taking an inventory of sorts. I began to recall memories from as far back as I can. It seems that “helping” my dad build a fence when I was 4 yrs. old is one of the earliest.
Part of doing this kind of exercise is to look for patterns and triggers that may provide clues to why I am who I am today. It can be an interesting and fun endeavor, to be sure.

But, the overarching “Why?” for taking this path may be more problematic.

You see, it begins with the assumption that something Must Have Gone Wrong at some time. Because, I am obviously broken and in need of repair.
At least, that’s the impression that I’ve been given by people around me. Including, and especially, those closest to my heart.

So, the introspection became a forensic investigation. I was a sleuth looking for clues of a crime that I surely must have committed. Else, why am I like I am? If I had not done something wrong, taken a turn when I should have gone straight, then I would have turned out much differently. (re. ‘Better.’)

Well, I haven’t found anything that stands out.
I’m beginning to think that I never really did.

That fact has been the result of many different thoughts, feelings, and memories that I have sorted through. And, continue to sort.

I found that in this world that seems to be established as one where there are Round Holes and Square Holes, I’m a bit of a rhomboid.
I will obviously not fit into a Round Hole. I don’t care if it’s a circle, and egg, or an oval. My harsh, straight-line corners won’t allow that.
I won’t fit into a Square Hole, either. I don’t have the requisite right angled corners for that.
I am, what Lewis Black might say, “askeeeeewwwww.”

That’s all well and good.
It helps me reconcile myself to myself.”
“Hello, Mike? Meet Mike!”

Where the rub comes, though, is when others can’t seem to get past my Rhomboidishness. They think that in a world with only Round and Square Holes someone like me is an aberration. I MUST BE BROKEN!
So, they get out the saws and the sandpaper and go to work on fixing me.
They don’t realize that all they are doing is destroying who I truly am.

For most relationships, I can simply walk away. They don’t ‘get’ me, whatever that means. And, I really don’t have the time nor need to deal with them.

But, if you want to know me.
If you want to be with me.
If you want to Love me.
Well, be forewarned.

Because, if you think that you will ‘fix’ me, then we are headed for a relationship in which neither of us will be happy and both will be frustrated.

I wrote before that I must echo the wise words of the old sage, Popeye:
“I am what I am and that’s all that I am.”

I’m tired of trying to make everyone else happy at the expense of my own.
Selfish?
Ok, if that’s how you want to view it.

I, however, see it as Self-Preservation with a Hope to Flourish.

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Welcoming and Acceptance

Published by mhelbert on October 16, 2019

I’m going to take another day or two to reflect some more on the confirmation process that I’m currently taking part in at St. Barnabas.

There is a term that has been floating around for a few years now. That term is “Welcoming.”
Most of us use it to describe a person or place where anyone, regardless of who they are, what they think, what color their skin is or what gender they describe themselves as. It has become almost a password for progressives.
I can imagine someone walking up the the door in a 1920s speakeasy. The little port opens and a burly face with heavy eyebrows and a square chin looks out.
“Welcoming,” whispers the person on the outside.
The burly-guy then opens the door. The correct password was given.

And, for the most part, it’s really easy to say that we’re welcoming.

Especially, for churches.

I’ve been to churches where the priest or pastor stands in front, arms wide open and a big smile on their face as the proclaim, “Of course, we welcome LGBTQs here! I would love for them to come!”
Unspoken is, “So we can show them the love of Christ by pointing out what filthy, wretched sinners they are. Hallelujah!”

But, welcoming is not enough, I think.
Not nearly.

I think that something is bigger than that. And, far more difficult.
Something that comes closer to how Jesus, himself, treated people.

That is Acceptance.

Let me explain.
We can welcome a gay man into our group or fellowship. That’s really the easy part. Especially, if he doesn’t try to spread his gay cuties around.
But, can we accept that gay man, who is married, as our priest and pastor?
How about the divorced woman who was abused in her church? Can we accept her? Are we able to accept her pain as our own and allow ourselves to heal with her in our community? Can we accept her and the gifts that God has given her to be a fellow-worker in God’s garden with us?
What of the person who struggles with emotional or psychological stresses? We surely can welcome such a person so that he may find comfort and healing. Right?
But, can we accept such a one as a peer who is loved and gifted by the same Holy Spirit as we?

It’s easy to welcome and accept people who look, act, and think as we do.
“But, how does that make us any different than the pagan?”, Jesus asks.

I am glad that I am both welcomed and accepted at St. Barnabas.
I am ever so much more glad that St. Barnabas is becoming, not only welcoming, but accepting.

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For Love of Self and Beast

Published by mhelbert on October 13, 2019

I mentioned in other posts that I’m trying to get to know myself a wee bit better.
Emotions; passions; the hidden bits and pieces that we human folks work so hard to keep locked up.
I don’t know why this has become something of a necessary project with me.
Perhaps, the effort of keeping the beasties at bay is just becoming to tiring for me.

We all do it.
It’s nothing new.
Bill Shakespeare wrote in the play As You Like It, “All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players…”
If we’re honest with ourselves, we KNOW that’s absolutely true.

The ancient Greeks used masks in their dramas to indicate, not only who the character was, but also what kind of character it was.

We still do this today.

As I sat this morning in prayer, I talked to Yahweh about this. I said, “This is me.” Then, quoting the great sage Popeye, I told God, “I am what I am, and that’s all that I am.”
Then, I told God, “It’s Yours. All the darkness and the beasties that are within.”

Now, such confession is well-known in Churchy circles. Folks beat their breasts and cry out to the Void, “O, Lord! I am a Sinner! Please forgive me and take my life for Your Glory!”
Or, something like that.

These folks then get to make some new masks.
Masks of piety and righteousness.
Masks that allow them to communicate spiritual-sounding platitudes while concealing the reality.

The Beasties still live.

But, the masks allow us to appear as something we really aren’t.
We can say, “It’s not about the money at all. It’s about the Ministry!“
Or, “God gave me this book so that He can use it for His Glory!”
(Whatever that really means.)
I could go on and on and on, ad nauseum. But, I’m sure that you get the point.

We are, for the most part, False.

Let that sink in for a moment.

In virtually all of our social dealings, we put on personas that we think will fool those around us and portray as as ‘good’ and ‘virtuous.’
Hell, no one want to appear in negative light! It’s human nature!

And, it keeps the peace and allows us to actually interact with one another without strangling each other.
So, masks do serve a social purpose, I guess.

Where the real rub lies, though, is when we actually start to believe that what the masks portray is the true reality.

I’m not a selfish S.O.B.! Look, I deny my own needs every single day! I am “Altruistic Man”! Yippee!

Not only do we delude ourselves, we try to delude God.

(Spoiler Alert: God’s not fooled.)

Yet, we continue to think that if God just gives us an injection of Holy Spirit we will, in fact, become that other person. We believe that somewhere deep down inside there really is a Divine spark that will transform us into a person saturated with and dripping with Godly virtue.

Not happening, is it?

I mean, when we take off the mask we’re still ourselves. Aren’t we?
We’re still selfish and carnal and angry and, and, and…

We are not going to become anything that we have not always been.

Human.

And, that’s OK!

God never asked us to become “Virtue Person,” or “Spiritual Person.”

We are asked to be honest.
With ourselves. With others. With God.
Because, God loves us as we are. Dirt under our fingernails and everything.
We have no reason to hide. No need to be anything other than who we are.
Period.

Maybe, we should all just sit back and get to know ourselves. To accept and love ourselves.

God does.

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Argument as Spiritual Practice

Published by mhelbert on October 12, 2019

Over the years I’ve heard a lot, read a lot, and generally had ideas about the so-called Spiritual Disciplines swirling around me like a swarm of mosquitoes.
Yeah, I chose that metaphor purposefully.
The voices from Church leaders and non-leaders have been little more than a buzz in my ears with the occasional blood-sucking bite on the neck. (Vampire bugs!)
Richard Foster and his rather vacuous 1978 book “Celebration of Discipline” was a mainstay for so many. In the circles I was involved with, that book was pretty much used to shame us. It gave leaders another cudgel to condemn us. None of us could follow all that Foster wrote. Yet, when we failed we were reminded of how none of us were either strong enough or committed enough to perform even Foster’s simple exercises.

As I got older and gained more experience I began to understand that people can’t just ‘decide’ to ‘will’ their way into practices that allow the kind of practices that Foster and others prescribed. At best, then, these books and resources provide folks with a variety of practices that people have found useful over the years. They could offer us the ingredients, just not the recipes.

I found that only God’s own gravity of Grace can draw people into that orbit where that thing called Spiritual Formation takes place. No amount of self-will or self-discipline can move our hearts even a millimeter in that direction.

Once God does act, however, almost anything can become a Spiritual Practice that leads to new experiences. Experiences that enlarge hearts and create empathy. Experiences that bring freedom to speak freely to God without fear or timidity.

That brings me to the point of all of these words today.

I want to introduce a new Spiritual Practice.
Well, I’m sure it’s not new. But, I don’t recall ever hearing about it.

It’s called “Argument.”
Or, if you want, call it “Disagreement.”

With whom am I talking about Arguing with?

Well, God, of course.
Who else?

That may sound strange. So many of us have been taught that God is all-knowing and, most importantly, ALWAYS right.
For these people the idea of arguing with God is akin to heresy and is a fast-track to finding oneself in Hell.
I feel kind of sorry for people who think this. Their god is too small.
I mean, think about it. If God is Who we have been taught, you know, Supreme Being and all of that, do you think that this God could possibly be threatened or offended by our puny human arguments?
Don’t think too hard about that. The correct answer in “No.”

There are precedents in the Bible.
Abraham seemed to argue, well at least tried to ‘bargain,’ with God in that little matter of Sodom. Job tried to argue with God over his perceived wrong treatment. Jeremiah argued that he was unfit for the calling that God had for him.
Shoot, Jesus argued with the Father in Gethsemane. “Father, please, don’t make me drink from this cup!”
Now, in all of these, God’s side of things was ultimately followed.

That’s not the point I want to make.

I want to make and argument for, well, arguing!

And, that, as a Spiritual practice that can open us up to receive more of God’s Grace and Presence.

I’ve had many disagreements with the way I perceive God’s hand in my life. Like so many, I tried to stuff these feelings by believing that because I am just a human I must be wrong.
“Not my will, but Yours, O God” is the mantra we’re taught to repeat.

I’m sorry, but that response is just so inadequate on so many levels.
It makes the assumption that humans are little more than toddlers who have no idea what might be good and helpful. I makes God into a benevolent dictator who may or may not tolerate our perceived insolence.
Both of those assumptions are categorically wrong.
We are Ikons of God who carry within us the very image of God. We are fellow workers who are entrusted with the Stewardship of this world in which we live.
Hardly toddlers.
God may be benevolent, but God is No dictator. The whole idea of Free Will puts the lie to that.

Ok, so what?
What does that have to do with argument and Spiritual Formation?

Everything!!

It reveals that we are taken seriously by God.
God Listens!
When I argue with God it implies that there are two voices interacting.
No argument is one-sided by definition.
So, I ‘hear’ God’s voice.
That voice may rebut. That happens with regularity.
Sometimes, though, the voice says, “About time you thought of that!”
God seems to actually enjoy it when we use our brains to work through an argument and come to the correct and logical conclusion!

More importantly, I feel, is that when we feel free enough to argue with God, God is pleased.
Our relationship is confirmed. Not as equals or even peers. But, as two parties in lively engagement.
Some of the most intimate experiences I’ve had with God have been in the midst of real Knock-down, drag-out bouts of In-Your_Face disagreement.

In the end, I feel that God has honored me by engaging with me on a deep, visceral plane.
And, I think God is pleased that I am not simply willing to be dragged along a willing fool.

So, yeah, I think that Argument can be listed among Spiritual Practices that Christ-followers should embrace.
We should not fear to offend God.
Nor, should we simply acquiesce to things that we think are unjust or simply wrong.
God is not that dismissive Father who says, “Shaddup, Kid!”
No, God seems to desire that we learn to BE intelligent fellow-workers in the Cosmos.

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Stardust

Published by mhelbert on October 3, 2019

Deep space
Two Bright Stars.
Gravity pulls inexorably
Paths converge.

Celestial Bodies Unite!
Crash! Merge! Fuse!
New elements
Created in Heat; Pressure.

LIGHT! ENERGY!
Bursting; Rushing
Outward toward oblivion.

Stardust
Shot thru Space.
Clustering; commingling
Creating!

Two figures;
Stardust figures
Hearts pull inexorably
Paths converge.

Terrestrial Bodies Unite!
Souls come together
Merge! Fuse!
Heat Created! Pressing Together!

NEW LIGHT! NEW ENERGY!
Bursting from Within;
Rushing
Outward toward Love.

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Family

Published by mhelbert on October 1, 2019

On Saturday we went to a small town in North Central Ohio. We went there in order to celebrate the life of one my aunts who passed late last winter. It seems that the only time we all get together anymore is when someone ‘walks on.’

I hope to share some of my reflections on this gathering later this week. Today, however, I want to touch on just one point of being “Family.”

We wanted our side of the family to all be present for this. It would be good for everyone to touch base. However, my son had to work. So, we picked up his wife and our grandson and headed southwest.

This would be the first time our grandson had met most of these folks. We’re not exactly active when it comes to keeping up.

As we were driving, he became a bit impatient because it takes about an hour and a half to get to the place. And, he’s not used to sitting still in a car for that long. Plus, I think he may have been just a tad nervous about what was going to happen.

We drove past old, rusted hulks of cars and farm equipment, falling down barns, and acre after acre of soy bean and oats ripening in the Autumn sun. After a while his Mother asked if he would like to live out here.
“No,” he replied, “there’s nothing to do.”
Yep, the response you’d expect from a 9 yr. old from the city.

When we arrived the room was filling up with a lot of people. My Aunt and Uncle’s family is well-known in this tiny burg out in the middle of nowhere.

We greeted everyone and began to rekindle long smoldering relationships and introducing our grandson. Soon, he was sitting quietly with his mother playing something on his phone.

Now, I was a bit concerned that he would become bored and restless and start getting antsy. But, he remained calm for the duration of the celebration.

After, we all went to one of my cousin’s home to continue catching up. My cousin’s home is on a small lake where he keeps a boat. Some of the other kids were down by the water fishing and hanging out. So, I asked him if he’d like to go down and have look.

We walked down to the dock where the boat was tied up. He got aboard and steadied himself on the gently rolling deck. He got to watch some of the kids reel in a few fish. He helped them keep track of their bait and, pretty much, observe. This was a completely new experience for him.

Soon, my cousin decided to take some of the kids out on the boat so they could do some tubing. My wife went and took our grandson with her. They watched as all of the kids took their turn being dragged across the surface of the water, bouncing and swerving over the wake. Soon, all of the kids had a turn except for our grandson. He has no experience being in the water like that. When the other kids started to say that it was his turn, my wife said that he looked like a deer caught in headlights. My cousin noticed and said, “It’s ok. Maybe next time.” They returned to shore.

Soon after I noticed him out in the large yard playing games with some of the other kids. Pretty amazing how kids just sort of ‘get it’ when it comes to playing together.

When it was finally time to leave, we said our goodbyes and started the trip home. It had been a long day for all of us and we were quite ready to get home to rest.

As we were driving he said, “I never knew that I had so much family.”
Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Family.

His mother asked him again if he would like to live out there.

“Yes,” was all he said.

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Random Thought for a Friday

Published by mhelbert on September 27, 2019

In the car for my morning commute, my mind sometimes wanders into strange and mystical places. Today I found myself considering a strange word. One that is tossed about without a second thought. A word that I think may be one of the most misunderstood, and frequently ignored, in our language.

That word is “Vow.”

Merriam-Webster defines it:

“a solemn promise or assertion

specifically: one by which a person is bound to an act, service, or condition.“

As I considered this word, I began to wonder why we use it. Some religious sects use it to bind individuals into some kind of ‘priesthood’ or other religious community like a monastery or convent. This, they claim, binds the person into service, (servitude?), for life. (Sometimes with devastating effect. But, that’s another story.)

Others swear vows of chastity until a certain time or event, like marriage. There are those who “swear off” alcohol, tobacco, or other substances that they consider harmful to their life and well-being.

Some courts of law require that witnesses get “sworn in,” vowing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

But, my mind led me to consider those vows that one may make at a young age that are considered binding for life. Because, I don’t really think that these are either helpful or realistic in real life.

It’s been said by people way smarter than I am that the only thing that is completely constant is change. People grow. Environment changes. Opinions are altered over time. Our journey is not static by any means.

So, if as a young man I swear to abide by certain vows, when I grow older and the world in which I live moves on, I may find myself stuck between growing with the world or holding on to some words that I spoke in a different time and place. I am not talking about ‘fairness.’ As in, that wouldn’t be fair. No, I’m talking about reality.

In recent years there has been a lot of news about certain clergy abusing others. Others who are usually most vulnerable to abuse. The shame and condemnation that are felt by all involved can be horribly devastating. Here is a person who Swore and Oath, who Made a Vow! Look at what has happened!

Now, not only is the innocent victim traumatized by this and may never recover fully. But, the Vow has been shown to be false and meaningless.

My question is, why make it in the first place?

Jesus, himself, told people NOT to swear or make oaths. He said that folks should simply say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when asked whether they would do something. Yet, we continue to insist on swearing and making oaths that there in no way can possibly be honored until death. The world doesn’t sit still for anyone.

Would it not be better to enter into a community or vocation or some other institution with intent to follow and live according to whatever conventions are in place until such time as the world turns? Then, with all seriousness and consideration be able to say, “It’s time. Time for me to move on. Time for me to move away from the temptations that plague me and deal with who I am and what I am Now called to do. And, most importantly, to be able to do that with honor and dignity. To be blessed by those who we’ve shared a short season with. To grow with the world without the shame and guilt that comes from “breaking the Vow.”

Yeah, I think that would be much better.

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