tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44375405257786485692024-03-21T16:58:33.967-07:00Thoughts from Inside a HazelnutMarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437540525778648569.post-7836858157341063802013-01-21T10:03:00.002-08:002013-01-21T10:03:54.795-08:00U2 - MLK<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mDH7oD_AQW8" width="459"></iframe>Marenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437540525778648569.post-28144093870556203692013-01-21T10:00:00.000-08:002013-01-21T10:04:55.125-08:00Evangelization and Profanity, Part II've been thinking a lot the past few months about <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/samrocha/2012/10/the-new-evangelization-needs-profanity/" target="_blank">this </a>post by Sam Rocha. The funny thing is, it's turned into something different in my mind as I've mulled it over, and when I went back to it the other day it wasn't what I'd remembered. Funny how that works sometimes.<br />
<br />
Rocha writes,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Jesus was crazy. </blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In many ways, I think he was crazier than his
cousin, John the Baptist. When someone dresses crazy and lives a wild,
secluded life, there is no surprise in their madness. These people are <i>supposed</i> to be crazy. The only question is how much.<br />
I
doubt John the Baptist would’ve ever been invited to a dinner party.
(Unless you count the time he made his appearance as a head on a
platter.) </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But Jesus was different. He showed up the learned in the
Temple as a boy, people called him “Rabbi,” he gave public sermons and
got invited to an uptight, classy person’s house for supper. The kind of
person it’s considered an honor to dine with. People like this are, by
strict definition, not supposed to be crazy.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You don’t act out at dinner parties, but especially not these ones. You just don’t. No matter what.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Jesus
did. He told off the host, the owner of the house and founder of the
feast. Jesus called him a fool. There is some thing rude about that, but
there is also something supremely honest, authentic, and real about it
too. Jesus called out the Pharisee for being shallow, superficial, and
using his external piety to hide a deeper lie and infidelity.<br />
Church
folks often seem to think that kindness and being nice and piety and
good manners will restore the Church. They’re dead wrong. We need rude
people. People like Jesus. People who treat Pharisees with contempt and
prostitutes with generosity.<br />
As I’ve said before: <i>the New Evangelization needs profanity."</i></blockquote>
<br />
The notion that the New Evangelization needs profanity is something that intrigues me.<br />
<br />
Rocha continues,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
"There is nothing edgy about being edgy anymore.The edge that cuts
nowadays is actually a form of life that has its feet on the ground, in
the shit and the mud, with it’s soul swinging for the heavens with
reckless, crazy abandon.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Go to daily mass. Talk about it. That is
VERY profane these days. Light up a cigarette and tell someone the story
of how Jesus told off the Pharisee, and how crazy that was."</blockquote>
<br />
I agree that people are bored with edgy. Edgy is a cliche these days that often stops being edgy and just ends up being ugly. <br />
<br />
The problem is that people are habituated to edgy. Edgy is boring and cliched and ugly, and no one trusts sincerity. You start by telling someone that you go to daily Mass, and their assumption ends up being that you're sanctimonious, that you're posturing. People think that faith is just another form of insincerity. <br />
<br />
In order for a New Evanglization to happen, it has to be discovered again that what the Church offers is something universal. It isn't just a posture or an attitude or another way of being insincere. It has to be revealed that<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"underneath it all, beneath the pain and suffering, there lies a
deeper magic, a deeper reality, a beauty ever ancient and ever new, a
love Divine whom we can cling to, in hope.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
To minister in times
like these, we have to show that this is not a joke. Not a mere
formality. And it is surely not participatory democracy. The theodrama
of salvation history is tragic and profane, leading to redemption and
the sacred. When heaven and earth meet, sparks fly."</blockquote>
Our faith isn't a joke or a formality or a democracy or a posture, but these are all things that it can become when we're taking ourselves more seriously than we take Christ, when we're looking to ourselves for meaning for our lives. <br />
<br />
What does this mean? It's tempting for a Christian to define himself in terms of a negative relation to the world around him. It's tempting for a Christian to say to himself, "The world is full of sin, of profanity, of promiscuity, of violence, and I will not participate in that. I will live a holy life and be different." Then he lives that way and is satisfied. He thinks it's enough, but it isn't because he derives his compass and his understanding of his life from the very culture he rejects. Its North may be his South, but he's still working with the same compass, still the same context for understanding life. <br />
<br />
In using the same context for understanding his life, he is merely taking a position on life. By rejecting the thing that he sees as bad in society, he fails to recognize his own commonality with the larger society. He fails to recognize his own commonality with people who don't share his values. He divides the world up into "us" and "them," and forgets 1.) that he himself is a part of the society he rejects and 2.) that the Church is universal - there is no "us" and "them," only people in need of God. <br />
<br />
Rocha concludes,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"We’ve allowed ourselves to be painted as Pharisees and there is no
reason to deny the truth: we are Pharisees. Read our blogs. Pharisees,
everywhere. Read this post, for God’s sake! I’m a total fraud. “<i>Kyrie eleison</i>”
But the present situation still remains: some people cannot evangelize
because they lack the religious testicular fortitude to read <i>Rolling Stone</i>, without fear. Other cannot evangelize because they only read that and it’s other cheap equivalents."</blockquote>
He indicates that there are two dangers for Christians. On the one hand, we may be unable to evangelize because we are defined by our society. We may consider ourselves to be Christian, but allow ourselves to be immersed in pop culture and flow with that current. On the other hand, we may still define ourselves in terms of the culture by rejecting it. In this case, we really aren't free from the general culture because it constantly threatens us. We have to constantly exert ourselves to beat back the cultural influences we feel are dangerous, and in the process create within ourselves an attitude towards other people that is neither charitable nor evangelical.<br />
<br />
The New Evangelization depends upon Christians allowing themselves to be defined by Christ and not by the culture. This means asking the question, "What does it mean to be defined by Christ?" and letting the answer to that question unfold over time. It is by living with that question that we may actually begin to attract others, because secular as well as religious people want to know what defines them. Living with the same questions as everyone else is evangelization because where the culture currently asserts that there is no answer to the question of what defines them, that there is no meaning to our lives, Christianity affirms that there is meaning, that there is something that defines us apart from our mistakes and successes and ideas about ourselves. We live with the question of who we are, but we have hope that there is an answer, and that that answer lies in a Person who loves us. Marenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437540525778648569.post-75994188763278990682013-01-13T10:52:00.000-08:002013-01-13T10:52:45.824-08:00Feast of the Baptism of the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"And the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove. And a voice spoke from Heaven, 'This is my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on Him."<br />
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From Pope Benedict's <a href="http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-baptises-babies-on-feast-of-baptism-of-our-lo" target="_blank">homily</a> today:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"What happens may appear paradoxical to our eyes. Does Jesus need
repentance and conversion? Of course not. Yet He Who is without sin is
placed among the sinners to be baptized, to fulfil this act of
repentance; the Holy One of God joins those who recognize in themselves
the need for forgiveness and ask God for the gift of conversion – that
is, the grace to turn to Him with their whole heart, to be totally His.
Jesus wills to put Himself on the side of sinners, by being in
solidarity with them, expressing the nearness of God. Jesus shows
solidarity with us, with our effort to convert, to leave behind our
selfishness, to detach ourselves from our sins, saying to us that if we
accept Him into our lives, He is able to raise us up and lead us the
heights of God the Father. And this solidarity of Jesus is not, so to
speak, a mere exercise of the mind and will. Jesus was really immersed
in our human condition."</blockquote>
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Marenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437540525778648569.post-50488723675277043532013-01-04T09:18:00.000-08:002013-01-04T09:18:15.690-08:00Attitudes toward Mental Illness Need to ChangeThe kids and I were out doing some errands the other day and I realized that it was lunchtime and we were not going to make it through grocery shopping without something to eat. The restaurant <i>I </i>wanted to go to was closed, so we ended up getting fast food. I was slightly grumpy about this, and as we were leaving I was in an even worse mood because of the conversation I overheard in the booth behind us. Someone was saying that "if that law passes, I'm going to have two illegal guns and I'm not turning them in." Another person chimed in with "it's not guns that are the problem, it's all those mentally ill people."<br />
<br />
My blood froze. I was so angry. The opinion "it's all those mentally ill people" spoke to me of the attitude that mental illness is something that happens to someone else. If you have the attitude that mental illness is something that happens to someone else, than I can practically guarantee you that someone close to you is not getting the mental help they need.<br />
<br />
Most of us know someone who is suffering from mental health issues, whether we realize it or not. Most people with mental illness of some sort work very hard to hide it because they know that they will be met with this kind of attitude. They don't tell their friends. They may not even tell their families.<br />
<br />
Mental illness isn't something that happens to someone else. It's something that happens to that-person-right-there who isn't talking about it because they're afraid that you'll act like an asshole.<br />
<br />
People with mental illness need support from people who love them. If someone looks at "all those mentally ill people" with disdain and fear then someone else is going unsupported. <br />
<br />
When we talk about changing mental health care in this country, it's important to realize that attitudes about mental illness need to change too. Our attitudes contribute to the lack of adequate care for those with mental illness. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Marenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437540525778648569.post-23757226471088405432013-01-03T07:44:00.000-08:002013-01-03T07:44:41.061-08:00Noticing the Hiddenness of Christ at ChristmasThe past few years I have found Advent to be more meaningful than the Christmas season. The sense of anticipation that accompanies Advent focuses my attention on the presence of Christ. I light candles. We light the Advent wreath and sing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!" We sing "People, Look East!" The kids make Jesse Tree ornaments while I read Bible passages to them. By the fourth week of Advent, we have a rhythm and a sense of peace begins to steal over the house.<br />
<br />
Then, Christmas comes and that routine collapses. We eat cookies and candy and unwrap presents. The kids play video games and watch t.v. We still sing at dinner and our Nativity scene is set up, but theses activities are peripheral. They are afterthoughts and spirituality is no longer a central feature of our daily lives.<br />
<br />
This year, I had a definite feeling of let-down with the arrival of Christmas. Where had that sense of peace gone? How was it that in the celebration of Christ's presence our family had become completely distracted from it? <br />
<br />
During Advent I read <a href="http://www.osv.com/tabid/7631/itemid/10014/The-Liturgical-Love-Words-of-Advent.aspx" target="_blank">this </a>quote from Pope Benedict:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="dnn_ctr16424_ItemDisplay_ArticleDisplay_lblArticleText"><i>"'Advent' does not mean 'expectation'
as some may think. It is a translation of the Greek word parousia,
which means “presence” or, more accurately, “arrival” — that is, the
beginning of a presence. In antiquity the word was a technical term for
the presence of a king or ruler, and also of the god being worshipped,
who bestows his parousia upon his devotees for a time. “Advent,” then,
means a presence begun, the presence being that of God."</i></span></blockquote>
Benedict suggests that Advent is not a time of anticipating Christ's presence, but a time for recollecting that presence. We need this time to prepare for Christmas because most of the time we are not aware of Christ's presence in a day to day, moment to moment way.<br />
<br />
On the Sunday before Christmas, when I was preparing lunch for my mother-in-law I was reflecting on the disruption of my focus on Christ. I was also listening to the "Adore te devote" of Thomas Aquinas. I suddenly became aware of the words:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Devoutly I adore thee, O hidden God, Truly hidden beneath these appearances. </blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My whole heart submits to you, and in contemplating you, is completely overwhelmed.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sight, touch, taste are all deceived in their judgment of you. </blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Hearing suffices firmly to believe. I believe all that the Son of God has spoken. </blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
There is nothing truer than this word of truth. </blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On the cross the divinity was hidden. Here the humanity is also hidden. </blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I believe and confess both..."</blockquote>
<br />
<b>Truly hidden beneath these appearances...on the cross the divinity was hidden...here the humanity is also hidden. I believe and confess both....</b><br />
<br />
Advent is a time for focus, for becoming aware of the Presence of Christ. Christmas, the time when that Presence of Christs bursts upon the world is also the time when the Presence of Christ becomes hidden. When He was born, His divinity was hidden. His presence was revealed by a star and by angels not by his appearance. Now, his humanity is also hidden. We believe and confess both.<br />
<br />
Christmas is a celebration of Christ's birth, but it is also the moment of His hiddenness. Advent prepares us to notice Christ's presence in our lives, even when it is hidden. If we find Him to be hidden at Christmas, Advent has prepared us to look for Him nonetheless. <br />
<br />
<br />Marenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437540525778648569.post-63400741614439663102013-01-02T15:20:00.001-08:002013-01-13T10:53:30.929-08:00<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/theanchoress/2013/01/02/les-mis-just-mean-men-minimized-women-and-immodesty/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Scalia</a> today offers two opposing feminine perspectives on <i>Les Mis</i> and cites what's wrong with both of them. She also includes <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2012/12/a-feminist-who-is-miserable-about-les-miserables/" target="_blank">Deacon Greg Kandra's</a> thoughts on the feminist critique of <i>Les Mis</i>. <br />
<br />
Scalia writes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"As Deacon Greg writes earlier, if this is what we’ve come to, something
is wrong. If our avenues to humanity are going to be detoured via
one-way-streets of gender-obsession; if our access to God is going to be
limited to art that conforms to an idea of virtue so strict as to
eliminate depictions of beauty (or ugliness) for fear of temptation,
then we are going to diminish our thinking, and therefore our
understanding of both God and humanity, until our world and our souls
become very, very small."</blockquote>
<br />
This is increasingly the division between secular and religious life. Religion presents a view of virtue that is so strict as to force out reality on the one hand, and the secular view wants so badly for reality to be just that it does the exact same thing. <br />
<br />
<b>Update</b> <br />
<br />
I went back and read <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-we-love-les-miserables-despite-its-miserable-gender-stereotypes/2012/12/28/bc8ef17e-4f84-11e2-839d-d54cc6e49b63_story.html" target="_blank">Stacy Wolf's</a> feminist critique on the Washington Post's website and came away with the following impression.<br />
<br />
Wolf's position is a response to the injustice of the position of women in the Paris of <i>Les Mis</i>. She objects to the victimization of women in the movie, and their being saved by men. But the problem is that these things happen in real life. Women have been victimized and sometimes they have been saved by men. <br />
<br />
Wolf contrasts the women <i>Les Mis </i>to other types of female characters. She writes of powerful female protagonists in other movies:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"They’re human. They struggle. They take action. The plot isn’t just what
happens to them but what they make happen. These women have lives."</blockquote>
Victimized women are human. They struggle and take action and have lives. Not every woman is <i>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. </i>In fact, most women who have been victimized do not find themselves in the kind of empowered position portrayed in the movies Wolf cites. Do they not deserve to have their lives portrayed in art?<br />
<br />
Must it always be a problem when female roles in art don't support our modern ideas of how one should empower women? <i>Les Mis</i> inspires compassion. Valjean's response to Fantine is exceptional and it provides a model for how anyone should respond to such situations in the real world. Should we not show that because it doesn't offer a narrative that supports feminism? <br />
<br />
This is the kind of attitude I had in mind when I wrote about secular viewpoints forcing out reality. It seems that it is more important to Wolf that a movie present an empowering view of femininity than that it reflect reality and compassionate responses to reality. This is a sacrifice of reality and compassion to ideology. It also compromises good art if art must always be subservient to ideological allegiance.<br />
<br />
<br />Marenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437540525778648569.post-23783971300098779042012-12-27T08:51:00.001-08:002012-12-27T08:51:05.169-08:00I love "The Sound of Music." I used to listen to the soundtrack for hours on my grandparents' 8-track player whenever I went to visit them.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, <a href="http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-regret-to-inform-you-that-my-wedding-to-captain-von-trapp-has-been-canceled#.UNfOYA0qQo0.twittera" target="_blank">this </a>is hilarious. <br />
<br />
<br />Marenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437540525778648569.post-60943059483848202362012-12-26T21:34:00.002-08:002012-12-26T21:34:40.421-08:00USCCB Issues Statement on Newtown Tragedy<a href="http://www.usccb.org/news/2012/12-219.cfm" target="_blank">This </a>was so good. Emphases are mine.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"With
regard to the regulation of fire arms, first, <b>the intent to protect one's loved
ones is an honorable one, but simply put, guns are too easily accessible</b>. The
Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, in their document, "The
International Arms Trade (2006)," emphasized the importance of enacting
concrete controls on handguns, for example, noting that 'limiting the purchase
of such arms would certainly not infringe on the rights of anyone.' </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Secondly,
our entertainers, especially film producers and video game creators, need to
realize how their profit motives have <b>allowed </b>the proliferation of movies,
television programs, video games and other entertainment that glorify violence
and <b>prey on the insecurities and immaturity of our young people</b>. Such
portrayals of violence have desensitized all of us. The massacre of twenty
little children and seven adults causes each of us to reflect on our own
understanding of the value of human life. We must improve our resources for
parents, guardians and young people, so that they can evaluate entertainment
products intelligently. We need to admit that the viewing and use of these
products has negative emotional, psychological and spiritual effects on people.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>We
must also reflect on our own fears as we grapple with our prejudices toward
those with mental health needs. </b>Our society must provide health services and
support to those who have mental illnesses and to their families and
caregivers. As a community we need to support one another so no one feels
unable to get help for a mentally ill family member or neighbor in need.
Burdensome healthcare policies must be adjusted so people can get help for
themselves or others in need. Just as we properly reach out to those with
physical challenges we need to approach mental health concerns with equal
sensitivity. There is no shame in seeking help for oneself or others; the only
shame is in refusing to provide care and support."</blockquote>
<br />
The bishops' statement echoes what my own thoughts have been these past weeks. <br />
<br />
<b>Guns are too easily accessible</b>. It ought not be inflammatory to suggest that firearms be regulated. Not banned - regulated. <br />
<br />
<b>Pop culture does have an effect on the lives that people choose to live.</b> American pop culture's presentation of acceptable masculinity is extremely limited. In general, men are presented as weak. When they are strong, they are strong because they are violent, even if they are the good guys. Moreover, themes of the meaninglessness and absurdity of life abound. These are negative influences and they affect people more than most of us realize. <br />
<br />
From a practical perspective, I'm not sure what the course of action ought to be in changing this. I'm not a fan of censorship, and attempts to provide "wholesome" or "edifying" entertainment frequently end up feeling artificial and forced. At the same time, however, I think it is worthwhile just to state the problem, to recognize and articulate the problem(s) with popular culture. <br />
<br />
When I was young, my mom did not want me playing with Barbie dolls. She objected to the attempt to sell glamor to young children. She felt that Barbies presented an objectified view of femininity and indoctrinated girls into this view from the earliest age. In spite of her objections, I had an enviable collection of Barbies, and they were among my favorite toys. But I knew of her dislike of Barbies. I knew from my mom's attitude that there was something "wrong" with Barbies, and I never thought of comparing myself with them. I never had the body image issues that other girls had from comparing themselves with Barbies. I was, in a sense, inoculated from their affects by my mom's articulation that there was something wrong with them.<br />
<br />
It really bothers me when people say that popular culture is not responsible for the awful things that happen, when people argue, for example, that violent movies and video games don't cause people to do violent things. Every person is responsible for his or her actions, but the development of the person is affected by what he or she experiences and how that experience is understood. Popular culture is one of the things that forms the basis for understanding experience. <br />
<br />
<b>There is enormous prejudice towards people who suffer from mental health issues. </b>I was dismayed to see how quickly many people jumped to mental illness as nearly the sole cause of the Newtown shootings. Many, many people suffer from mental illnesses without being violent. Many people commit violent crimes without being mentally ill. <br />
<br />
I was further dismayed to see some people blaming the medications used to treat mental illness. For a person to admit that they have a mental illness is very difficult. For them to take the step of taking a medication that will change the way their brain works is even harder. Stigmatizing mental illness, stigmatizing medication, makes it more difficult for people to get the help they need. <br />
<br />
Mental illness can certainly be a cause of violence. It may very well have been a cause in Newton, but the bishops are right in calling us to reflect on our own fears and prejudice. <br />
Marenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437540525778648569.post-69865460684490812602012-12-20T13:08:00.003-08:002012-12-25T17:00:10.139-08:00<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/badcatholic/2012/12/zombies.html" target="_blank">Marc Barnes</a> on zombies and the personal apocalypse. On the eve of the Mayan apocalypse and with the weather changing here, it seems quite apropos!<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The fact of the Zombie Apocalypse has the tremendous effect of
stripping away our obsession with comfort and convenience, forcing us to
value life and the living of it. All that we truly want to discard, but
in our weakness cannot, is happily discarded for us: Our stupid
arguments with our siblings pale when the first window breaks. Our
constant desire to just get a little more money, a little more pleasure,
or a little more status is blown up with the zombie heads. Our
constant, nagging questions — does life matter? Am I truly living? — are
answered when life is threatened.<br />
This is simultaneously the
awesomeness and the sadness contained within our obsession over the
zombie apocalypse. It is a dream of something being done for us, that in
reality, we alone can do. We will not — in our weakness — shake the
tyranny of convenience. We will not love passionately, forgive faults,
see the world as beautiful, value human life and personal existence with
profound reverence, live courageously, face death without whimpers, and
otherwise rip ourselves from the state of boredom. Not unless we are
forced to.<br />
So have my prediction for the coming age: The more
bored we become, the more convenient our lives, and the further we
remove ourselves from suffering, the more zombie movies we’ll make, the
more apocalypses we’ll predict, and the more we’ll speak — with happy
smiles — of the destruction of all human existence. But if a man could
live as if he knew not the day nor the hour; if he could, against all
odds, live what human existence truly <i>is</i> — A Personal Apocalypse — then perhaps he could truly live.<br />
Until then, we’ll be the walking dead."</blockquote>
Marenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437540525778648569.post-4523460960336492382012-12-18T20:02:00.000-08:002012-12-25T16:59:27.660-08:00The Church and Hard Questions<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We have a thousand questions and you’ve given
three answers! What are you doing swanking about with this…when children are
being sprayed with bullets and our hearts are broken? Where is God, old man?
Where is he, and what does he want from us?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First Things</i> this week
<a href="http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2012/12/doing-better-with-the-hard-questions" target="_blank">Elizabeth Scalia</a> asks the question, “Does the Church need to do better on big
questions?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She discusses the above tweet,
addressed to Pope Benedict after the school shooting in Newtown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She writes,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“does the Pope (and the church) need
to do better with the “hard” questions of faith that are now subject to New
Media?</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Or do we — and especially the non-believers who are pining for “big”
questions — simply not understanding the depth of the answers?”</blockquote>
<br />
The truth is that the Church does, in fact, need to do better with the hard
questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t speak of the pope in
particular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pope’s writings reveal that
he is very much engaged with the hard questions – probably more engaged than
most ordinary people are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
And therein, to me, lies the problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The pope is engaged with the hard questions, but are ordinary Christians
engaged with them?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do ordinary
Christians even recognize the enormity of the questions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In response to Scalia’s suggestion that we
may not be “understanding the depth of the answers.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would suggest that we aren’t understanding
the depth of the questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
As I have watched reactions unfold since Newtown, it has become apparent
that Christians all too frequently reach for easy answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
Why did this happen?<br />
<br />
Most of us at this point have seen the <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/barefootandpregnant/2012/12/how-not-to-respond.html" target="_blank">internet memes</a> that inform us that
God allowed this to happen because he was mad about prayer being banned in
public schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
Such statements represent a reaction that entirely fails to take seriously the
question, “Why?” It jumps to the conclusion that we know God’s mind, that we
understand this tragedy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes the
astonishing assumption that we can know why this happened.<br />
<br />
When tragedy occurs, the questions that arise are tremendous.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where is God? What does He want from us?</i><br />
<br />
These are huge questions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are
the right questions. They are questions that cannot be answered in 140
characters or less. They can’t even be answered in 140 pages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are questions that we have to carry
with us, questions we have to live with.<br />
<br />
It is hard to live with unanswered questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is hard to live with an open question pulling
at you, but I would argue that it’s essential to the life of faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These kinds of questions are not questions we
pose to a void.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are not questions we should pose to ourselves,
seeking a theological or political answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When we, as Christians, take these big questions seriously, we are
asking a person, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Where are you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you want from us?”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
The pope, in his tweets, says, “Remember that he is always beside you.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we have to ask, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where?” </i>and we have to live with that open question so that we will
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">look.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
The pope tells us, “Pray, always.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prayer
asks these questions, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Where are
you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you want from us?” </i><br />
<br />
The pope is not offering easy answers, but he is offering a way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pray.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ask.<br />
<br />
If Christians are responding to the “big questions” with easy answers (even
if simply with nice, theological answers and not with internet memes) it is a
sign that we have failed to take the questions seriously, that perhaps we have
failed to ask them at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this
respect, the admonishments of atheists like the one quoted above should strike us
to the heart. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He may not believe, but he
<i>asks</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157766108827078969noreply@blogger.com0