Free Thoughts

"Coercion merely captures man. Freedom captivates him" (R.Reagan).

Is there liberty in Christ? I believe there is although it seems at times to be so clouded over and hidden from us. So many people seem to trade one form of slavery for another, choosing between the shackles of Christian religion gone amuck and the charms and vices of the kind of selfish living the world espouses. If those are our only choices, I wonder which one those who long to be free would choose? Neither sounds appealing.

In Christ, does free mean free? If it doesn't, then let's call it by another name. Free sounds like free. Not a little free. Not sort-of free. All free or not all free. Which is it?

Are we free to throw off the yoke of the oppressor? Are we free to reject religious bondage, even if masked as Christ? Are we free to leave those who would enslave us, coerce us, control us, or shame us in Christ's name? Yes. Yes. And yes.

When I think of Christ, I think of freedom. When I think of freedom, I think of Christ. Freedom is inextricably linked to my experience of life and faith in Christ. Where his spirit is, freedom is. Inseparable.

If free is free, I am free from the fear of death and free from the fears of life. I am free from self-imposed curses and shackles of my own making. I am free from those who would enslave and free from heartless religion that can entomb the living dead. I am free from the past, and I am free in the future. I am free from the inside to the outside, free from the core of me. All of me free.

If free is free, I am free to risk, hope, dream, step out, and step into. I am free to forgive. I am free to have a clear conscience. I am free to fail. I am free to be wrong without doing wrong. I am free to be weak and free to be strong. I am free to be and free not to be.

I am free to have more questions than I do answers.

This I'm sure of: our freedom at his cost bids our participation, a recognition that our freedom is not free of responsibility. Should I choose to bring condemnation, coercion, or a curse with me where I go, I am in competition with the Spirit of Christ. Love, after all, does not possess or control but gives freedom. I have been freed for the benefit of others.

When we have an awareness of our inestimable worth and his indescribable gift, we neither wish to cheapen his grace with our freedom or cheapen his grace by the limits we insist on placing on it. I think we are in love with freedom and terrified of it at the same time!

While I may wrestle with what freedom in Christ is, I am more certain of what freedom in Christ isn't. I wasn't born yesterday, so it is a hard sell to convince me that Christian freedom is manipulative, controlling, legalistic, or in anyway resembles the religious yoke Jesus broke! I am still looking for his middle way.

I am free to figure it out.

Snow Day

Even as much as I love teaching, I can still appreciate a snow day!

Aliens Among Us

"Being a foreigner is not a disease" (Alden Nowlan).

I have a confession to make: I am an alien. I was born in another place and raised in a completely different culture than the ones I have spent the last decade in. I know what it is like to be an outsider, to be limited in communication, to be restrained in getting a job, and feel like an oddball in everything from measuring systems to currency to religious traditions to food to all the little idiosyncrasies that make up a society. Not that those things were a bad experience. I get a kick out of finding my way in a new country or new society. By and large, we felt at home among the Irish eventhough our "yankiness" oozed from our every corpuscle.

Even now, living back in the United States, we find ourselves living in unfamiliar territory and serving a minority population. Quite often, I am the only white American in my classroom full of students. My Chicano, Latino, African-American and Native students remind me every day that we are very different. From them, I learn about other cultures, other religious traditions, other foods, other languages, and all the other little idiosyncrasies that make up their society. And I love it. They are beautiful people with fascinating stories of trying to make it in a strange place.

Somewhere along the line, I learned that changing your opinion was a form of compromise and that compromise was a bad thing. I must be a very bad person (and will probably be labeled as such by those who disagree with me). You see, my opinions on foreigners and immigration and tuition equity and affordable health care have all been dramatically changed for two reasons: first of all, I have been a foreigner and have become accustomed to thinking like one; second, on a daily basis, I have grown to love and appreciate the population of people that I serve on a daily basis.

It's easy to have exclusive opinions when we don't have a lifestyle that allows other people in. It's funny how our opinions change when we get to know the Mexican mother who crossed the river with her children on her back or sit down and hear the stories of your brightest students who are unable to continue their education because they don't have papers or talk with the family who are living in unacceptable and adverse conditions because they are too afraid to stand up for their rights as tennants.

For me, these are no longer political or social issues. They are spiritual ones. How many times have my opinions been shaped by political affiliation or my source of news rather than by my faith? Once again, Jesus rocks my world and transforms my opinions. I realize that he is not a Republican, Democrat, or a Libertarian but is someone whose love of people transcends politics and bureaucracy.

So what do I do when scripture says that the community is to have the same rules for the alien as we do for ourselves (Numbers 15:15)? Does that mean that the alien must have the same opportunity and be afforded the same justice? The Old Testament is full of reference to the fair treatment of the alien. Here are a few examples:

• "You must love foreigners..." (Deut. 10:19)
• "Do not cheat or hurt a foreigner..." (Ex. 22:21)
• "You must not mistreat a foreigner..." (Ex. 23:9)
• "Everybody should rejoice at your Feast...strangers, orphans, widows" (Deut.16:14)
• "Do not deprive the alien or fatherless of justice..." (Deut. 24:17)
• "Do not oppress the alien..." (Zech. 7:10).

The Lord reminded Israel that they themselves had been aliens and strangers in a foreign land and therefore had an obligation to care for the foreigners and strangers in their midst. I find it intersting that among some of worlds poorest and most transient societies, hospitality is among the highest values. Some cultures place such a high value on hospitality for the stranger and foreigner because they themselves quite often need a place to stay on their travels or in their time of need. Wayfarers understand the needs of wayfarers.

Jesus didn't talk much about the foreigner and stranger in the four Gospels. He didn't have to. What we lack in teaching on this subject from him, we see quite clearly in the way he lived. His life and ministry was not bound by politics or culture or even creed. He showed no favoritism. As a wayfarer himself, he went where there was a door open to him and shared what he had with whoever had need. Jesus calls us to think and live differently.

Perhaps a lack of hospitality is something only the rich can afford.

The authors of Hebrews and 1 Peter remind us that we are all aliens and strangers on earth. Perhaps we should recall that to mind when we consider the assylum-seeker, refugee, stranger, or foreigner in our midst. It's good to remember that we are all on a journey until we reach home. The Kingdom of God calls us beyond protecting and preserving our home to a place where our homes and lives offer welcoming hospitality in the love of Christ.

"I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was alone and away from home, and you invited me to your house. I was without clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me" (Jesus, Matthew 25).

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and all our friends in Ireland!

Patrick

St. Patrick

St. Patrick's Day, more affectionately Paddy's Day, is nearly upon us. What has become a celebration of all things Irish (and beer) originated as a feast day for Ireland's beloved patron saint. While much of Patrick's life is shrouded in mystery and muddled with myth, there are some things about his life and ministry that I deeply admire. Whether he actually drove the snakes out of Ireland while fasting atop the reek now named for him or turned into a deer to avoid a murderous plot to kill him and his band of merry men does not matter to me.

Although I am delighted in the absence of snakes on the island and would be more than happy to credit their vacancy to Paddy, it is the legacy of his calling from God and commitment to the people who once enslaved him that most interests me. Ironically, Patrick was not Irish-born but was most likely the son of a Roman official and was born in Britain (Wales to be more specific). At sixteen years of age, he was kidnapped by raiders and sold into slavery in Ireland and spent years working as a slave near Slemish Mountain in County Antrim in Ireland's north. Those years in slavery drew him close to his God.

Following his cue from a dream, Patrick escaped and returned to his family in Britain. Back at home, he heard voices in his dreams beckoning him to return to Ireland saying "Come here and walk among us". And that is what he did though his family begged him not to go. Following a period of study under Germanus of France, Patrick returned to Ireland in 432 AD, landing on the shores of County Down.

His ministry among the Irish was wide and varied. He established communities of faith across much of the land and took on the powerful druidic leadership that ruled the people. Before long, Patrick arrived at the Hill of Tara in modern day County Meath. There, on an opposing hill, he lit a paschal fire atop the Hill of Slane on the eve of Easter. According to pagan practice, at this time of the year, all fires were to be put out before a new one was lit at Tara. When the druids saw a light coming from Slane, they warned the high king of Ireland that he must extinguish it or it would burn forever.

According to legend, as Patrick interceded in prayer for the Irish people, an angel visited the saint and told him that the Irish people would come to Christ and retain their faith until the Judgment Day. The Irish people remain in their faith to this day.

This idea that Patrick would be so moved by compassion as to return to the land that once enslaved him impresses me deeply. He left his homeland and went again to Ireland at great risk to himself to bring the light of Christ to those living in darkness. He came not as an outsider to lord over the land and create power for his own benefit but instead became Irish as he lived among the people he loved. I admire that.

I admire those among us who answer the call of God to move beyond self -- and any form of selfishness -- to love and serve those they formerly considered their enemies. These men and women of faith, these modern mystics, travel a unique path in life in order to follow the voice of God. This Voice, ultimately, leads them to live intentionally among people and in places that others may scoff at. A man like Patrick, in my opinion, has lived a life worth noting.

"I came to Ireland to preach the good news...I have had many hard times, even to the point of being enslaved again, but I traded in my free birth for the good of others."

Patrick

The Trinity

"There is no other God,

there never was,

and there never will be,

than God the Father

unbegotten and without beginning

from whom is all beginning

holding all things as we have learned;

and his son Jesus Christ

whom we declare to have always been with the Father

and to have been begotten

spiritually by the Father

in a way which baffles description,

before the beginning of the world,

before all beginning;

and through him are made all things,

visible and invisible.

We believe in him and we look for his coming soon

as a judge of the living and of the dead,

who will treat every person

according to their deeds.

God has poured out his Holy Spirit on us

in abundance.

He has poured on us the gift and guarantee

of eternal life.

He makes those who believe and obey

sons of God

and joint heirs with Christ.

We acknowledge him

and adore him

as one God

in the Trinity of the holy name."

St. Patrick

Irish Blessings

Here's to good Irish friends:

Never above you.

Never beneath you.

Always beside you.

Ireland was good to us. Perhaps it's good that we left her before our hearts were ready so that a remnant of Ireland could remain in our hearts forever. Better to leave before you want to than leave because you want to!

It's been 13 months since we've returned to America. I haven't spent this much time away from Ireland since I moved there in 2000. Still, there's not a day that goes by without thinking about the place or the people (or the smell of damp sheep for that matter)! We are not certain when we will be able to visit Ireland again, but there will be something a bit unsettled in us until we do.

Until then, we want our Irish friends and our many youth to know that we consider you our Irish blessings. And we will be thinking of you as St. Paddy's Day approaches, a day when everyone is Irish. Heck, I'll take it when I can get it!

So here's to you and yours and mine and ours. If mine and ours ever come across you and yours, I pray that you and yours will be as kind to mine and ours as mine and ours have been to you and yours!

Slan.

Depth

A Prayer in Distraction

A Prayer in Distraction by Henri Nouwen

"Please accept my distractions, my fatigue, my irritations, and my faithless wandering. You know me more deeply and fully than I know myself. You even offer me more than I can desire. Look at me, see me in all my misery and inner confusion, and let me sense your presence in the midst of my turmoil. All I can do is show myself to you. Yet I am afraid to do so. I am afraid that you will reject me. But I know -- with the knowledge of faith -- that you desire to give me your love. The only thing you ask of me is not to hide from you, not to run away in despair, not to act as if you were a relentless despot. Take my tired body, my confused mind, and my restless soul into your arms and give me rest, simple quiet rest. Do I ask too much too soon? I should not worry about that. You will let me know. Come. Lord Jesus, come. Amen."

Limits

"The key, in a sense, to our family is how we treat the child that tests us the very most. That child alone enables the other children to sense and feel that our love is unconditional. And that knowledge, that inward sensing, that inward feeling, is beyond price" (Covey).

It's not the student that is easiest to work with that teaches us the limits of our love, it's the one that tests, pushes, challenges, disrupts, fights, and resists that teaches us the most. I suppose it is those students I should be most thankful for, because they show me the limits of my commitment and love and afford me the opportunity to repent when I recognize it.