Torn-to-pieces-hood

I’ve been reading a book on spirituality unlike many other books on the subject. This spirituality arises out of the real-life experiences of alcoholics and their discovery of a way to live a sober life through the vehicle of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). There is a ring of truth in many of the authors’ insights, but the one I’ve been thinking about is the notion of “torn-to-pieces-hood,” William James translation of the German word, zerrissenheit.

There is a recognition by all who participate in AA that each and every one is “torn to pieces,” and that perhaps the best thing we have to offer each other is our own story of “torn-to-pieces-hood.” To translate that language through the filter of Christian theology I would say, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” But the words “sin,” and “God” carry so much baggage for some people, including Christians, that “torn-to-pieces-hood,” may be a good substitute which gets at the complexities of our human condition.

You don’t have to be an alcoholic to be torn to pieces. Maybe all of us have felt like Humpty-Dumpty, having “fallen short” and unable to put the pieces together again. The amazing thing is that there are those who have seen their lives fall apart either by their own choices or by external circumstances but have, seemingly miraculously, managed to get their lives back together again; scarred perhaps, but moving on. When we see their lives and hear their stories we experience something like hope, and develop something like faith – to believe that there might be enough grace in the world for our own torn-to-pieces-hood.

In a world where people tear each other to pieces, we all need a community where we hear stories of hope, and where we might discover a faith that will enable us to believe that a mended life, or an amended life, is possible. I think the church provides that opportunity for us. Even though many of us spend a lot of time in church pretending that everything in our lives is okay, there are opportunities within the life of the church to get beneath the façade; small groups of fellow spiritual pilgrims where pain may be bared, hospital visits where our mortality must be faced, worship experiences where the Word of God pierces to the heart.

I encourage you to find people with whom you can confess your own “torn-to-pieces-hood,” and to listen to stories of others who have, though scarred, managed to find their way. There is hope and grace enough for each one of us.

If interested in reading more on this subject, you may want to check out the following book by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham, The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning.

Some of you may wonder how a preacher, schooled in the Wesleyan theology of “perfecting grace,” could recommend a book entitled, The Spirituality of Imperfection. However, I am always quick to point out that what John Wesley meant by perfection is not the same thing we mean. Wesley did not mean we would be free of mistakes or failures. He simply believed that God’s grace was so great that it might be possible for that grace to be present in a person’s life, at least in their intentions.

I admit that my recent reading of Kurtz and Ketcham has made me question Wesley’s optimism. Nevertheless, I remind myself that Wesley’s optimism was not the result of confidence in human potential, but rather hope in God’s grace. Thus, in our torn-to-pieces-hood, it is not we who put ourselves back together, but God. And God, or in AA-speak, our Higher Power, usually puts us back together through the loving imperfections of others and their stories of recovery.

I can live with that. Indeed, I have lived with that for many decades now. That’s enough for this torn-to-pieces-but-patched-up preacher.

Kill Them with Kindness

I read this somewhere once, “The surest way of defeating your enemies is by turning them into friends.” Sounds a little naïve, I know, but I like it. It reminds me of Jesus. I recall the apostle Paul also writing something about leaving vengeance to the Lord (Romans 12:20-21), “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Or, as my mother might have said, “kill them with kindness.”
I was reminded of all this in my Bible study last night, and I started imagining what would happen if we really did this. What if we actually showered our enemies with kindness instead of insults? What if we offered our opponents blessings instead of animosity? I am astounded at the possibilities.
What if members of the Tea Party movement invited President Obama to a banquet celebrating his tenure as the U.S. of A.’s first African-American president?
What if Israel actually stopped building settlements in Palestinian areas, and Palestinians returned the favor by helping to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem?
What if local PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Gays and Lesbians) showed up to clean the bathrooms of local chapters of the KKK (Ku Klux Klan)?
What if members of Hispanic communities offered to baby sit the children of ICE workers?
What if we built ESL schools instead of fences along the Texas-Mexico border?
What if Reverend Terry Jones invited Muslims in his Florida community to a dinner to listen to why they love the Koran so much?
Crazy ideas, I know but, whenever I start imagining like this I start thinking that this is the kind of thing Jesus was doing. And of course, it drove the establishment in his day absolutely crazy, and that’s why they killed him. Amazing that such out-of-the-box ideas about how to live could get people so upset.
I don’t think I have quite the nerve to do some of the things I’ve just imagined just now. I am not Jesus, after all. But I wish I was more like him. Then I’d be through with all my enemies, because they would be my friends. Or else, they would kill me.
Hmmm, I guess that’s why we keep the walls up. That’s why we keep up the animosity. In a sick way, it’s kind of funny. We’re willing to kill and be killed to keep the walls up. But we’re not willing to die to tear them down, for Jesus’ sake.
I don’t want to end on such a despairing note. The truth is that there are people who are imagining the world and living life as Jesus did. Jim Fleming is a teacher who runs a school in Palestine in which he teaches children, often bringing Christians, Muslims and Jews together, to learn about the Biblical world. His example encourages me that there are ways to bring enemies together that they might recognize in each other the face of a friend. And I am encouraged to “kill my enemies with kindness,” like Jesus, and my Mother, would have me do.

It's NOT All About the Benjamins!

I’d like to think that it is love that makes the world go ‘round, but I suspect most people would opt for money, or the love of money. Whether you’ve got plenty of it, or little of it, money occupies a big chunk of your concern, doesn’t it? How am I going to keep what I’ve got? How am I going to earn more than I’ve got? How am I going to get by if I don’t have any? Money is at the center of our lives.

I’m doing a sermon series called, “Your Money or Your Life,” and I’m suggesting that many of us are living to make money, rather than making money in order to live. What a poor life-choice! When money is the driving force, all kinds of bad things happen, like oil catastrophes in the Gulf of Mexico, or toxic loans in the banking industry, and, well, developing ulcers . . .

I know it is complicated. Money is often the reason we are willing to hire an undocumented immigrant to pick our tomato crop because we can hire them more cheaply and thus compete with the industrial farms that are picking tomatoes with machines in order to cut down on costs so that we, consumers, who are positively driven to save a buck, can leave the store with tomatoes at sixty-nine cents a pound! Ahem. To quote Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Money is the reason dolphins are slaughtered in secret coves on the coast of Taiji, Japan. Money is the reason pornographic websites continue to multiply. Money is the reason some of you reading this can’t sleep at night.

Jesus said, “You can’t love both God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).” Mammon is a word describing “worldly gain.” The early Christian movement is described as “The Way,” in the Book of Acts, and whenever The Way got “in the way” of someone’s livelihood (read Acts 19:23-41), Christians got persecuted. Christians are supposed to be more concerned about making a certain way of life, than they are about making money, although in recent history we tend to get a little confused about that. If we choose The Way, we may gain a little perspective on life and money and establish some more wholesome priorities. Still, if we choose The Way, people whose top priority IS money may get a little upset with us.

I realize times are hard for about 10 – 15 % of the U.S. population. I don’t offer these thoughts to deepen anyone’s anxiety. If anything I am inviting us to try a different perspective, so that whether we have a lot of wealth or none, God and not mammon becomes our main concern. And Jesus says the result is refreshing to our spirits (Matthew 6:25-34):

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.