NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. ~Sometimes, Mary Oliver In 2007 The New York Times describer Mary Oliver as ‘far and away’, the country’s best selling poet. This stanza from her poem Sometimes speaks to me . . and so I want to tell you about just one of those ‘Sometimes’ that happened to me recently, as recently as two days ago.  It was a beautiful day in early summer. The sun was shining with just a few white clouds in the blue sky. The trees and the grasses were various shades of green. Flowers had begun to appear both by the roadside and in the gardens along the way. Favourite songs from days-gone-by were playing on the radio. It was a glorious day. And I realized that this was as good as it could ever get.  In the midst of everything else that was going on in my life and in the world at large, I could still experience this moment of ‘perfectness’. It didn’t negate the angst and the worrying, the uncertainty. I

“There is a source of power in each of us that we don't realize until we take responsibility.” -Diane Nash Have you ever felt unequal to the task at hand? As if no one would ever listen to YOU? As if you were far out of your comfort zone? I’m sure Diane Nash, as a civil rights activist, has. I know I have. I remember being asked to lead a discussion group, saying yes and then waking up the morning before, after a sleepless night feeling sick and out of my depth. The only reason I persisted until these symptoms had disappeared weeks, months, later was because someone else had trusted that I was capable of doing this. How many times have you thought to yourself or heard someone else say after a sermon on loving others or following the way of life exemplified by the story about Jesus, “It was fine for Him [Jesus] say that his followers should give everything to the poor for example, because 'he' was different. He really didn’t expect his followers

“ The clue for me is to separate the Christ experience from the Christ explanations. All explanations are time-bound and time-warped, they are never eternal.”  ~  John Shelby Spong, A New Christianity for a New World Several years ago at this time of the year, it was suggested to me that I might find it helpful to read “The Coming of the Cosmic Christ” by Matthew Fox. I started reading it with a feeling of excitement. Finally I was going to ‘get’ what the Cosmic Christ was all about. I would finally understand!!! Suffice it to say that I didn’t quite make it all the way through the first chapter before the book got put down and has remained on the shelf ever since. All my hopes that a more modern explanation of the Christ experience might prove meaningful had been in vain. However I have just now completed an 8 month book study on another of Fox’s books ‘Original Blessing’ which has given me some insight into just why I was so disappointed in ‘The Coming of the Cosmic Christ.

The temperature for the last few days has been hovering around 10 degrees Celsius. And it feels wonderful. People are out in light jackets or even no jackets enjoying the warmth of the sun. But my mind turns to last fall, when the same temperature had felt chilly, a harbinger of colder temperatures to come and we huddled in extra heavy sweaters trying desperately to keep warm. But in reality the temperature was the same then as it is now. What isn’t the same is how we cope with the temperature, just as how we cope with the daily happenings in our lives. Some days we can shrug them off or barely notice them. While other days the same thing can provoke an angry outburst or even tears. This reminds me of the s tory the two frogs. One frog was put into a pot of boiling water and immediately jumped out. Meanwhile the second frog was put into a pot of cold water. The water was heated gradually until it reached the boil and that frog was no more.  And yes, sometimes we hold on to unt

“ So do not worry abut tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:34 NRSV “It is what it is.” The earliest written reference to this idiom dates back to 1949 according to the New York Times. The phrase appeared in a column written by J.E.Lawrence in the Nebraska Starts Journal. “New land is harsh, and vigorous, and sturdy. It scorns evidence of weakness. There is nothing of sham or hypocrisy in it. It is what it is , without apology” quotes.yourdictionary.com . It has risen in popularity since then, especially in the 1990s and through the 2000s, even spawning the hit song Que sera, sera, [Whatever will be, will be] that was sung by Doris Day in the 1950s.  Even though this saying has become more and more popular, I know that there are people out there who don’t like it for a variety of reasons. It is too glib. It is pessimistic. It is just an excuse, etc., etc. My answer to them is no to all of the above. For m