angles

The angle that I come at Christianity from is not unanimously considered legitimate. What results is that I am considered a) [best case scenario] a prayer request, or b) [worst case scenario] a threat. In my case I've sensed in spots that I am viewed as a bit of each.

Now I don't mind being prayed for. But the threat thing throws me off. I think that that has to do with the others' fear, not my scariness. Throughout history "new" ideas, unconventional ideas, ideas that vary from the norm have been regarded with suspicion and nervousness. I want to be sensitive to that, and I think I am. I bite my tongue a lot.

But my tongue is getting sore. And while I don't think that I have "it all together", I am confident that I have a valuable (not scary) perspective, that I'm not alone in my approach to Christianity or in my experience of Jesus, and that I am gifted with the capacity to communicate (and demonstrate) the things that I believe about life and God and faith.

So, ready or not...

capacity

Some things transcend reason. Others contradict it. Consider the difference.

I'm on it!

Have a look at this brief article from my homeland regarding religious understanding in Canada.
Raising the standard for what is considered a socially acceptable grasp of religion, whether one's own or one adhered to by your neighbors, is pretty much exactly what I want to do with my life.
That and spend a lot of time playing outdoors.
Peace. Shalom. Namaste. Etc.

open letter to a jazz lover

August 11, 2010

Professor Harvey Cox,

I’m a chapter away from being finished with reading your book: Fire From Heaven. I want to thank you for your insightful perspective. More than your perspective even I’m grateful to have witnessed your posture. It is one that I aim to emulate as I begin a new phase of training and dreaming toward my vocation and career. Thank you for having the courage to treat your subject with a sense of mutuality. Thank you for not assuming that you have the upper hand. Yet thank you also for believing in the validity and importance of your own voice. I find your approach to theology, scholarship, and commentary to be inspiring.

I will be beginning an MA in Religious Studies at Chicago Theological Seminary in approximately four weeks and I am positively alive with anticipation for what this horizon may amount to. Thank you for your part in preparing me for what is ahead.

Your reader,
Aram Mitchell

(Last year Cox published The Future of Faith. I haven't read it, but it might be worth a look.)

s04e10

I'm a little behind, I admit: just finished episode ten of West Wing's season four, the one where the Whiffenpoofs get snowed in at the White House, Danny Concannon shows up in a Santa suit, and Toby sort of reconnects with his father.

Also in this episode Will Bailey, up and coming Deputy Communications Director gets tested. The President, Chief of Staff, and Communications Director (three pretty powerful dudes) throw a curve ball issue at Bailey to see if he'll respond by "speaking truth to power".

Never mind the political particulars of the imaginary West Wing. Life on our side of the television's screen has a good supply of its own drama. And I wonder, that being considered, how truthful are we to the powers that be?

That's not to say that powerful guys are necessarily life's villains, but truth be told it can't hurt to keep even them accountable to the way of love. Go ahead. Use your voice.

keynote

Hyun Kyung Chung created quite the spectacle at the 1991 general assembly of the World Council of Churches. As one of the keynote speakers, a role filled by a scholar or cleric offering an academically rigorous and emotionally engaging homily, Dr. Chung danced to the podium accompanied by nineteen fellow Korean dancers, two Aboriginal Australian dancers, bells, candles, drums, and didgeridoos.

Her speech opened with an invocation of the spirits of those killed by oppression, the spirits of the forest, the earth, the air, the sea and all its creatures, and "the spirit of the Liberator, Jesus Christ".

When accused of practicing syncretism (as opposed to a "pure" or "orthodox" style of Christianity) her response is, "I know I am a syncretist... [and if] you don't know you are a syncretist [it's] because you have hegemonic power."

Which is a fancy and feisty way of saying that we all shade our beliefs with colorful displays of our personal and cultural dispositions. Only some of us have been in the limelight for quite some time now and we've forgotten about the others who have historically been ushered backstage.

When those others step on stage, out of the margins, into the light: a) we're disoriented, b) we're possessive, or c) we notice their contribution to the color scheme.

"I think in order to really heal the world we need the wisdom of darkness. This can be the third world, dark people, women, or 'our shadows' (all the things we do not want to confront in ourselves)... I think that we need 'endarkenment' for a while, not enlightenment, to heal the world."



(I read about Dr. Chung's '91 address in "Fire From Heaven" by Harvey Cox)

Burst

You come from somewhere
someone's progeny
and fix yourself to his identity
or her breast
until you have the strength to stand apart and start
your search for the axis.

Looking high and low and in between
you can taste the dirt in a Wendell Berry poem
and feel the sparkle in the eye of a gnostic Christ.

Your body finds sex and
your soul finds your body and
your search for the center finds you.

Coming from somewhere thrust with a burst
into this world you lift your head
and stretch your legs
and open your heart to the unknown coming your way.

Coasting

Every once in a while -
When you're coasting downhill on your bicycle
You get a flat stone to skip five skips
A sip into your second glass of wine
The shutter on your camera shuts on a scene somewhat uncommon
A loaf of bread comes out just right
You hear your name spoken lovingly
When you dream a vivid dream
-you feel free.

To Whomever May Be Concerned:

I find life to be easier when things are organized. I gravitate toward orderliness and do my best to pursue clarity and ward off chaos. But I also try to allow space for disorder to take place. I have a drawer in the kitchen that is solely for clutter. I have a file amongst my computer documents that is a miscellaneous catch all. Until recently my hair was matted and unkempt. I try not to finish every book that I start. My most treasured spiritual insight is that peace is possible despite unanswered questions.

“In the beginning” order emerged from chaos and – as I’m sure we’ve all experienced often enough – it returns to it from time to time. At the cosmic dawning, as with our own essence, there is a relationship between the two – between what is done and what is undone, between the structured surge of life/now and the unkempt disarray of what was or has yet to be.

Living with order and chaos at war within and all around us is one option. Seeking conscious communion of the two is another.

Favoring the latter I try to open myself to the value of each, even though one is more difficult for me than the other.

I find that I have done well. I’ve made progress. But one chasm I’ve yet to cross (to enter) is what to do when order in my relationships evades me.

Recently I’ve been haunted and distracted by other people’s sore spots. I have come to realize that who I am – persona/ideas/expression – is a disruptive force in some people’s lives. Whether they are threatened, concerned, or curious, and have communicated it with tact, passion, or silence it has become clear that several of my relationships are askew. And I feel responsible to do something about it.

I hesitate to throw them into a drawer full of clutter, or to file them away to glance at later. I don’t want them to get too tangled up. I don’t want to not finish something that I’ve started. I am tempted to devote all of my energy to smoothing things over and setting things straight. But I can’t.

I can’t because I lack the capacity.

But also because I have the potential for creative enterprises that require my energy, and I am entering a season where I long to give it to them.

If you are one of my friends feeling askew, threatened, concerned, or curious: I cannot assuage the threat you feel, nor salve your concern. But I may be able to engage your curiosity. This isn’t me checking out of these relationships. It’s me saying that if you have questions about me then I’d be glad to enter them with you, but I can’t answer them for you.

hard soul

Also in TO, had a session of throat grinding, heart finding musical tutelage somewhere along Queen Street. Featuring champion busker and free fingered artist: DB Buxton.

coming out

I was in Toronto last weekend, standing on Church Street talking with Aaron, whose family is Indian and Catholic. We were talking and he asked me if I have a girlfriend, to which I responded, “A wife, actually.” I asked him if he has a boyfriend, but he doesn’t. He said he has to be discreet. I wondered out loud if that was because of his family, and he said that, yes, it was. His family doesn’t know. He hasn’t come out yet.

I was standing there on Church Street thinking about Aaron’s discretion, and I thought that probably most of us have something or other that we haven’t come out about to our families. Which doesn’t suggest that Aaron’s situation (being gay in a family that disapproves of his orientation) isn’t uniquely difficult, because it is. It does, however, raise the question: Am I making it difficult for any of my loved ones to be honest about who they are?

love

Moms and Dads give lots to their children. There are exceptions who don't. But most of them do and it's probably generally agreed upon that that's the way it should be.

Then every now and again there comes an opportunity for a son or a daughter to give a bit too.

And hopefully ultimately the flow of love between parent and offspring becomes as vigorously mutual as possible.

Click: part of the flow.

remembrance

I am grateful for the country I reside in. And grateful for the folks who, taking initiative and making sacrifices and believing in the effectiveness of believing, had a hand in crafting the country it is.

Thanks to the soldiers and to the activists, the academics and the farmers, the politicians and the teachers, the journalists and the janitors, the rock stars and the IT guys (and gals). Not everyone does what they do with grace and poise and a heart full of hope. But some of you have. And lots of you do. Thanks to you.

Let's not forget to remember each other.

quest

I have experienced an ongoing call to seek, a convincing impulse to reflect, and a persistent compulsion to express. I trust that the call is good, because it has been good. It has inspired me to quest for compassion, knowledge, integrity, and humanity.

I value this vocation. I consider it to be profound and true.

head

G.K. Chesterton wrote, "The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head."

And without deliberating as to which disposition is the better of the two, it's valuable to know which one you tend toward.

ownership

Granted, I'm taking this out of context... but not very far out of it. And take my word, even in its context it did little else than reek of hubris while providing a distinct example of nationalistic pride gone askew.

Read from a periodical this evening, in an article that I think was trying to say that the U.S. is learning to appreciate soccer and that soccer's popularity is growing here, becoming more of a priority. It said it like this: "Face it, world: the U.S. is going to play, watch, market, manage and own your sport sooner or later."

Then it quoted someone at the head of the U.S. soccer force, "For good or for bad, America has always been the center of the universe, whether it's sports, culture, politics; so it makes sense that as soccer has exploded to become a true global sport, America would hop on the bandwagon."

I agree that America is hopping on the bandwagon, and a fine bandwagon it is, and a fine squad they have to do the hopping (I'm a big fan of Howard's tending prowess). But, dear me, soccer has not exploded to become a true global sport -- it is the global sport.

And I think that ownership is not determined by purchasing power (through marketing, managing, mass viewing, etc) but by the enthusiasm with which it is played.

Soccer -- the world's football -- is for all of us; possibly the one thing remaining that will always shed imperialistic robes for the sake of its own simplicity. Two goals and a ball. Heart, passion, celebration.

It tends to bring us together. I value soccer for that. Let's let it do what it will.

see

Seeing something from where you are is quite natural and easy. Seeing that you see something from where you are is more difficult at times. It's good to perch every once in a while, to see as expansively as possible, to take a moment to value perspective.

grounded

I value having a spot to sit and think, stop and feel, to stay put and let the business of a day pass through my consciousness leaving me more or less at ease with the way things are, situated.

habla

I spent a lot of time the past few months talking with Jesus. I discovered that language is a luxury, helpful, but not a necessity. We saddled horses together, played soccer together, climbed trees, fixed leaky hoses, harvested bananas, shot the breeze -- all with minimal mutual vocabulary. Jesus spent even more time talking at me than I did at him. And he seldom slowed down to ensure my comprehension.

I'm back, feeling rinsed off by three months at the end of the road in southwest Costa Rica. Airing out for now in Indianapolis, recalling the summer days of my childhood, and sorting through the insights that piled up while I was away.

sabbatical

Hey readers. For the next few months you won't hear much from me, but for the occasional photographic representation of my musings and the writing de mi esposa, visit this magical place.