Fifty Shades of Grace #7

Reverend Robert (Bob)Van Gorder is an 85-year-old retired Congregational minister living in Connecticut. A man of creativity, he is an-award winning photographer, and as a person of significant integrity, he served as a conscientious objector during World War II.  He also happens to be the uncle of my spouse, Bonnie Minkler, and performed our wedding in July 1973.

Bob was one of the participants during the March on Washington in 1963. During its 50^th anniversary weekend in August, Bonnie emailed Uncle Bob to get his thoughts and recollections of participating with thousands on that day 50 years ago:

“My memory is a bit hazy about some things, but I remember that it was a beautiful day when a friend of mine and I got on a train from Springfield, MA, and headed toward Washington, D.C. I confess I was a bit unsure about my decision to attend, since I had never before experienced anything this large or fateful, but such thoughts were quickly banished in the hours to come. 

As soon as we reached Washington, we were immediately absorbed into a crowd of hundreds and thousands of people as far as the eye could see, ahead of us and behind us, filling the broad avenue that finally led to the Lincoln Memorial. And I felt wonderful as I walked along, sometimes by myself, at other times with a friendly group, interacting with various people, but never feeling alone, just glad and free, relishing each moment, almost euphoric in my feelings of connection with those about me. And what an amazing variety there were: black, white and brown, rich and poor, young and old, the happy, the hurting, the aimless and homeless, Asian, Hispanic, Jews and Muslims and Christians, gays, straight, people on crutches and in wheel chairs; the whole rainbow of humanity. And I felt a tremendous oneness with them and deep love for them all, and I felt them loving me back! 

I have never experienced anything quite like it, before or since, nothing quite as profound! At one point, a choir from a black church started singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” and I and people all around me joined in, I taking my usual bass part! Beautiful! And of course we all sang “We Shall Overcome” and other familiar freedom songs at various points along the way, not forgetting “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty”! It was an awesome scene, from the base of the monument looking down the reflecting pool toward the capitol. Everyone was thrilled to be a real part of it all! And Dr. King’s speech was great, as expected, simple and profound, going straight to everyone’s heart: a kind of echo of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, I thought, not just in its brevity but in its profound clarity and appropriateness for that particular moment in time. It was a great climax to a truly wonderful day, one I will cherish always. 

This Anglo-American pastor took a stand for our nation’s future that day, risking the condemnation of his congregation for “mixing politics with religion.” Yet, like so many others, his commitment to civil rights in “the land of the free and the home of the brave” compelled him to be a part of history. We thank God he is.

Fifty Shades of Grace # 6

FIFTY SHADES OF GRACE  # 6

Andy Murray won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships in June and was the first male British citizen to do so in 77 years. He won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics and became the first British player since 1977 to win the US Open tournament last year. He is ranked the worldwide No. 3 and British No. 1 male singles tennis player.

He is also a survivor of gun violence. The media reminded the world of that and placed his accomplishments in that perspective after he won Wimbledon.

The Dunblane, Scotland, school massacre occurred at Dunblane Primary School on March 13, 1996. The gunman, 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton, entered the school armed with four handguns, shooting and killing 16 children and one adult teacher before committing suicide. Andy, then 8 years old, hid under a desk in a nearby classroom until police and teachers arrived on the scene.

In his autobiography, Hitting Back (Century, 2008), Murray says he was too young to understand what was happening during the Dunblane massacre. He is often reluctant to talk about his experience in interviews, but after watching the news from Connecticut last December, he had something to say. 

Andy sent a message to the families of the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown in response to the tragic mass shooting that took the lives of 20 students and six teachers (12/14/2012). In a Facebook post, he wrote, "My heart goes out to all those poor children, their families and the community in Newtown in Connecticut, so, so sad." (USA Today, December 18, 2012).

The people of Dunblane will tell you that Andy Murray has made them famous. He has dimmed the memory of that tragic day in 1996. He will not claim that effect but remains a proud and dedicated citizen of that village. As one of the most competitive and focused professional tennis players in the world, he remains a person with deep empathy for others. 

One dictionary defines “champion” as “a person who fights for or defends any person or cause.” For the people of Dunblane, Andy Murray is their champion in more ways than one.

FINDING GOD

FINDING GOD

The sunrise at the New Camaldoli Hermitage at Big Sur is amazing. The blue of the ocean and sky serves as the backdrop for transformation as the sun rises in the east and slowly illuminates the fog bank as light creeps over the coastal range. The pink and gold of the sun warm the molecules of moisture in the fog, expanding, shaping, and changing its color. I rise early not to miss it each morning of my silent retreat.

In August, the air temperature feels perfect in the early morning and evening; shirt sleeve weather with a gentle breeze that embraces.

It may be universal to conclude that "I find God in the mountains ... at the seashore ... in the sunset." It would seem that the pious, agnostic or atheist find a transcendent beauty in nature that inspires. The Judeo-Christian tradition certainly does. The Bible throughout reflects the praise of Psalm 8:

"Oh Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. When I look at the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them...?"

Yet in August at Big Sur, when the temperature is balmy and breezy, it is also perfect for the breeding of beach flies. These tiny black bugs live among the washed-up kelp and debris of the shore and head up the hills of Big Sur to propagate. These flies breed all the time, but in summer, up the sides of the hills, it is a festival!

One can't walk outside during the day without being covered with these bugs. The buzzing in one's ears is particularly annoying to one's piety if the flies have traveled with you into the chapel for prayer and meditation.

Many confess that "I find God in nature, in the majesty of Yosemite, in the brilliance of a sunset." I agree wholeheartedly. But is God in those nasty shore flies, too? Cancer is a part of nature. Earthquakes, lightning-caused forest fires, and hurricanes are all a part of nature, too. Is God to be found there as well?

The father of orthodoxy, Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE), would say "yes." He posits that God directs all things toward an eternal conclusion that will make sense of what we have experienced as evil in our short time on earth. God uses all things, even black beach flies, for an eternal good that will be revealed to us at the end of time. So the faithful endure and accept the capriciousness of nature as part of the deal.

This is a comforting ideal for many. It gives reason and hope in the face of chaos and suffering. The difficulty is that it makes God the initiator of what humans experience as evil.

I don't buy it.

I reject Rev. Pat Robertson’s conclusion that God sent Hurricane Katrina to devastate New Orleans because of its reputation for sin. I am offended at the suggestion that God causes a five-year-old to die of terminal cancer for some "unknown good that will be revealed to us at the end of time." The God that is revealed to us in the death and resurrection of an ancient carpenter from Galilee is Love. What possible love would it be for Augustine's God to allow 24,000 of God's children to die every day of largely natural and preventable malnutrition related diseases for some "unknown good”?

When we look at the sunset or the mountain or the stream and see God in nature, it is not that God is in them so much as their beauty touches the God that is within us. That source of inspiration lies within. The agnostic or atheist may find this notion offensive, but when in awe of natural beauty, doesn't that say something about our capacity for transcendent wonder, whether we acknowledge a Supreme Being or not?

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is not only true about interpretation. Our hearts may be the source of inspiration of the clouds at sunset, or the calm when listening to the rhythm of the waves, or that sense of joy as we watch a whale breach.

With an open and contrite heart, indeed God can be found in the courage of patients living with cancer and the dedication of the medical teams working with them. We can see God at work in the first responders to natural and human-made disasters or the communities determined to rebuild afterward without attributing divine action as the cause of the earthquake, fire, or flood. With the right frame of mind and spirit, we can even appreciate little black beach flies as an essential part of the natural order. But we don't have to like them!