What will we believe and therefore become?
We are all put here to bring hope, love and grace into one another’s lives. We bring beauty into this world, as we bring innocence, and the ugliness that we take with us when we leave is what we’ve made of ourselves instead of what we should have made.
Perhaps hell is less about fire than futility. Less about brimstone than isolation, less about physical torture than about despair. If so I’ve seen it in the eyes of strangers and friends. Lived in that ever decreasing space myself and imprisoned others for portions of their and my own life. Most of us would agree that the whole world feels broken. That more and more of us are more on our own. Loneliness curls in the heart like a worm. Eating hope and leaving behind hollow men and women. You can see it in our choice of heroes. These days they are actors, singers and power hungry leaders. How mad have we become when these people embody what a hero means to us? It been said that a civilisation spiralling down into the abyss often finds the spiral thrilling, and sometimes loves the promise of the depths below. People embrace the romance of darkness but cannot see the ultimate terror that waits at the bottom. Think of our media, news & entertainment: violence and sex are what sells - what we crave. Consequently the hand of extended Truth is resisted regardless of the goodwill that it offers. We have even been known to kill our would-be benefactors.
As agents of a new humanity what then should our articles of instruction be?
Perhaps creation, for it engenders wonder. For no matter what your beliefs, or lack of them, life spent without wonder is poor. Closed to Mystery and the possibility of the truly Transcendent, truly Other and truly Good.
Or perhaps that even in suffering, some of God's children have an inextinguishable joy, an unshakeable faith - that their speck of a life has meaning. Even within wrenching chaos their lives are lived in the belief of a larger purpose. A briefly glimpsed mosaic of the Truth of history.
Yet we must not merely ruminate and hope that we will see the kingdom come and His will be done here. We must join Him and do the work. This requires a coming together within us and with each other. It necessitates the assistance of circles of friends – reliable cadres of committed courageous souls.
I guess it all comes down to the following questions. What will we believe and therefore become?
Perhaps hell is less about fire than futility. Less about brimstone than isolation, less about physical torture than about despair. If so I’ve seen it in the eyes of strangers and friends. Lived in that ever decreasing space myself and imprisoned others for portions of their and my own life. Most of us would agree that the whole world feels broken. That more and more of us are more on our own. Loneliness curls in the heart like a worm. Eating hope and leaving behind hollow men and women. You can see it in our choice of heroes. These days they are actors, singers and power hungry leaders. How mad have we become when these people embody what a hero means to us? It been said that a civilisation spiralling down into the abyss often finds the spiral thrilling, and sometimes loves the promise of the depths below. People embrace the romance of darkness but cannot see the ultimate terror that waits at the bottom. Think of our media, news & entertainment: violence and sex are what sells - what we crave. Consequently the hand of extended Truth is resisted regardless of the goodwill that it offers. We have even been known to kill our would-be benefactors.
As agents of a new humanity what then should our articles of instruction be?
Perhaps creation, for it engenders wonder. For no matter what your beliefs, or lack of them, life spent without wonder is poor. Closed to Mystery and the possibility of the truly Transcendent, truly Other and truly Good.
Or perhaps that even in suffering, some of God's children have an inextinguishable joy, an unshakeable faith - that their speck of a life has meaning. Even within wrenching chaos their lives are lived in the belief of a larger purpose. A briefly glimpsed mosaic of the Truth of history.
Yet we must not merely ruminate and hope that we will see the kingdom come and His will be done here. We must join Him and do the work. This requires a coming together within us and with each other. It necessitates the assistance of circles of friends – reliable cadres of committed courageous souls.
I guess it all comes down to the following questions. What will we believe and therefore become?
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