Perpetual Front Page

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”false” link=”term=haiti+earthquake&iid=9292313″ src=”http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9292313/months-after-earthquake/months-after-earthquake.jpg?size=500&imageId=9292313″ width=”380″ height=”254″ /]Six months is a long time.  When loss comes a-calling, devastation descends, trauma trips and tramples, our short-sighted society expects things to normalize in…oh, in a few weeks.  News is old news six months later.  In fact, it really isn’t considered news at all, right?  Some other news item flashes in front and we ‘go’ there, ready for short-term focus.  Surely, we’re not expected to hold every personal and global trauma in our fragile psyches simultaneously…surely not.  Too much is just that, too much.  Internal overload crashes our systems, we must decide what gets billing, what to released.  Munching on the ‘latest’ releases us from the burden of dealing with what was.  We grab our personal or collective front page and let that be enough for the day.

No one blames us, everyone does it.  I think we collectively relish the release of eyeballing the hard, long work of clean-up, healing, grieving, rebuilding.  It is boring, really.  No juicy slices to savor when we’re up to our necks in mud, barely sucking air.  Front page is much more tantalizing than scrubbing the floor…so we peruse the print or grab the latest gossip and talk about it at the water cooler, the next team meeting.  We’re relevant, up-to-date, forever flashy.   If it is a personal pit we inhabit, we may share, but then hurry to be okay.  We don’t want to burden, we hide pain, we’re slow to admit that we need help much, much later.  This is our beast to bear, others have moved on, others have their own problems.  The front page calls…

Maybe things are shifting, though.  As Boomers age, maybe long-term perspectives are coming into view.

Point in case: CNN has this on their front page this morning…
(sorry ’bout the commercial–beyond my control)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Haiti six months later, still up to its neck in rubble, still finding bodies, still sleeping in tents.  Those dark, wide-eyed gazes beckon us to see…beckon us to exit tabloids and enter Haitian hell so healing can happen.  We squirm, we shift, “haven’t we done enough?  I’ve already written a check to Haiti.  Our church prayed for them and sent relief items months ago. I’ve done my part…Where is that front page?  No, not CNN’s–I mean, the other front page?” Okay then, squirm and shift if you must, but as you do, ask God what He wants you to do…maybe you’re released, maybe you’re not…

If you’re still reading this, I’m betting He’s calling you to more.

Relief agencies abound–you don’t need my help finding one: you’re an internet savvy, smart cookie…you can sleuth them out.

One thing that doesn’t cost a penny…just some time, effort, compassion and trust, is praying this prayer, posted by the community of Taize for the plight of Haitians and Chileans (remember the Chile earthquake?):

Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Risen Christ, you are always alongside those who suffer. Bring strength and comfort to those who have undergone the natural disasters in Haiti, in Chile and elsewhere. Sustain the hope of those who are working for reconstruction. Come, Holy Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.*

Maybe as Americans mature into long-term perspectives, we’ll be willing to let go of the day’s front page and enter personal or collective tragedies deeply, personally, meaningfully and for the long haul.  Something beautiful happens when we do…life goes deeper, relationships grow roots, God gets billing…and who knows…maybe, just maybe, He becomes our perpetual front page.

*copyright © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, 71250 Taizé, France. Permission granted to reprint.  Entire prayer for July 12, 2010 is posted at: http://www.taize.fr/en_article10941.html

9/11 Ministry

 

In the shower this morning a memory came back to me of what happened post 9/11. I heard stories of people, days and weeks after 9/11, breaking down and crying–right in the streets of New York City. People had been traumatized and violated and were broken and, sometimes, right there in the middle of New York City, they’d stop and sob.

The main gist of the memory was that when people did that, when they paused and started crying, that others would just stop and stand next to them. Complete strangers would stop whatever they were doing, delay wherever they were going, to just ‘be’ with the one in pain. This was not a planned city wide movement introduced and promoted by government officials or even clergy members, this is just what people did–they refused to let suffering people be alone and weep. New Yorkers knew the pain well and how horrible the trauma, so they stood beside each other and, without words or unwelcome physical contact, remained until the weeping stopped, until the person was able to go on. A small gesture, really, but for New Yorkers it must have been a complete mind bend, or, should I say, a heart rend–a sure sign of their ability to see and care for one another.

One of the names that Jesus got prior to His birth (the angel announced it), was Immanuel. Immanuel means “God with us” and I wonder if what happened on the streets of New York City post 9/11 isn’t a snapshot of what God is like when we weep. New Yorkers may have emulated their Creator in those moments when they noticed, stopped and stayed.

I recall seeing video footage of when the Twin Towers went down, of people stopped on the highways watching. Out of their cars and gazing up at the carnage, they move toward one another, not away. They opt to be with one another, even though they know each other not. Sociologists would say they were moving out of instinct…maybe so, maybe God implanted a herding instinct in the face of threat or trauma, a ‘safety in numbers’ instinct…don’t know. Just know that that is what they did and yes, they did have a choice to do it. They chose to be with one another during a very difficult moment in time.

Immanuel is a larger than life name, really, for it means that the God of all that is, is with us, each one of us. We are not alone, no matter what we believe or do or say or what happens to us. Even in the midst of trauma, pain, isolation or surreal moments, He remains close. We are not alone, ever.

Like many of those New Yorkers who ceased and stayed, His arms are wide open and available for embrace. He stands beside and hopes that this time we’ll let Him love us, that this time we’ll let Him hold us, that this time we’ll actually look into His face and turn and follow Him into the streets of gold, where pain and suffering is no more.

Re-membering

Re-membering. Tomorrow is Memorial Day here in the U.S. It is a day where we remember those who’ve gone before us, most notably the service men and women who’ve died. The whole weekend is known as Memorial Day weekend and most businesses and offices will be closed tomorrow–it is also known as the unofficial kick off of summer, at least for those of us as far north as Minnesota.

Anyway, in conjunction with the last blog (The Past is Prologue) I want to chat a bit about remembering….

I believe “remembering” is more than just recalling something or someone, it is also putting it together in a way that makes sense…a way that rings true with us. To re-member means to put things that belong together back in their proper place (like reattaching a limb, finger or ‘member’ or bringing someone back into a membership that has been un-membered).

As creatures who are wired to make meaning of life-stuff, we look at those who’ve died and try to see how they fit into our life. How who they were and what they did impacted us. Whether we like it or not, they invade our psyche and we try (sometimes desperately) to re-member them into our life. They are there, we just need to attach them in a way that allows Lifeblood to flow…allows easier breathing and hope to blossom.

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Sometimes we invite them in self-destructive ways…we write them off as ‘bad’ or even ‘horrible’ and try to forget (un-member) them. Such un-membering doesn’t hurt them (in fact, if they’re in heaven they are probably actively praying FOR our re-membering them), it only divides us. We remain unhealed, self-protective, small,dark and split–we resemble Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings”.

How to re-member those who’ve passed into the next life in a way that enables free passage of spiritual Lifeblood? God knows…even when it is difficult or seems impossible, God knows. If we ask Him, Jesus comes and leads us into places of forgiveness, places of understanding, places of healing…we have to be willing to melt, though. I know, it feels kinda vulnerable, but it gives us the opportunity to entrust our ‘self’ to Him…

We may even come to love the one who has died…if they need anything, if we need anything, it is love. Love is the ultimate Lifeblood and it pulses through humanity, sometimes in trickles, but it does…let it pulse through you to the one you re-member this Memorial Day weekend. Who knows, you may find that as you do, you begin to re-member who you are…who He created you to be…

Tornados of Life

 

Today I spent some time in a chapel praying. I have a commitment to pray there weekly and oftentimes I sit in silence trying to quiet my brain…lovely fun…

This time I picked up my Bible and opened it to Jeremiah…words of prophetic judgment, doom and gloom. Israel had turned from God and they were going to be overrun and taken captive…the prophet’s words of warning fell on deaf ears and all he could do was weep for them. Then, for whatever reason, I randomly flipped to Revelation and landed on the part of God’s two witnesses and their powers to wreak havoc on humanity. Not much for warm fuzzies…

It got me thinking of how God works. The only thing that comes to mind is that He allows horrible things to bring people and/or peoples to their knees and to help them turn to Him. I think of 9/11 and remember how the churches were filled to the brim the following Sundays (especially on the east coast). It worked, people turned to God for answers and comfort, ready to seek Him, but I’m not sure the American church was ready to help…we’re just as complacent and worldy as anyone else. I wonder how many churches saw this as a real opportunity to bring others to Jesus. My hunch is that they provided words of comfort, declared how horrible it was, gave blood and hoped that things would settle down and church attendance would return to ‘normal’ so life as usual could go on. I’m grateful God Himself is not complacent–I have a hunch He is still calling those affected to Himself, if they haven’t already.

A wild notion is that natural disasters are a physical manifestation of spiritual reality. In as much as we are in chaos, destruction, and far from God, so is the planet… Can it be taken to a smaller scale? Do deserts reflect the spiritual condition of the people who live there? Wow! This could sound so judgemental…better stop now. In an even more personal example, we had our own special tornado touchdown in our yard about 3 yrs ago. Our neighbors had a tree or so down from winds, but we had 7 trees down and others mangled badly–the twister came from the east, traveled west through our backyard and then spun north snug against our garage. Three sides of our house/lot got hit, but it didn’t hit our house (thank you, Jesus) or even damage our ugly roof (oh well…). It was weird, surreal, loud and scary. The tornado was bouncing through the area (literally up into the atmosphere and down again, only to repeat) and someone (Someone) decided we were the perfect place to visit… I haven’t pondered this much, but I do wonder, why us?

I guess it is safe to say horrible things come, for whatever reason, and it seems the only thing we can do is check our response. Are we before God on our knees or on our face? Does it bring us to surrender at a deeper level to the One who gave us life? Can we allow God to work in us the transformation only He can bring? Like Pharoah\’s heart with Moses and the ten plagues, do we harden our hearts and only set ourselves up for more of the same, or do we soften and melt in the hands of the Potter? I guess the choice is ours…and, it may be, that the response may dictate how God deals with us in the future…

After Jeremiah and Revelation, I turned to the Psalms. My bookmark was on the page of Psalm 137 (or close to that) where every phrase (verse?) ends with something close to this ‘your steadfast love endures forever’. I repeated that phrase through the end of the prayer hour…good words to drink in and remember. No matter what, He is still love.