Barry Taylor offers a few thoughts on what he terms “magical thinking”. I always find it interesting reflecting on god in times of crisis; who is god? Where is god? Does god give a shit? And what kinds of people do we become in times of crisis? What drives us? What animates us? What feelings? And where are the invitations to transfiguration – too engaging with the deep places in our lives – where is the “more”? Why do some people find it so difficult to face self-critically into their own inner realities, preferring instead to blame God, to blame others? God’s invitations to become more than we currently are. Invitations to grow up. There are invitations too, to grow our conceptions and experiences of God.
Anyway, Taylor’s reflection took me to some useful places, some places free from magical thinking (not one of my natural inclinations) including my reflecting again on Bruggemann’s conceiving of God’s judgment: “… God will not intervene to protect us from the inherent consequences of our pervasive sin…[from our choices]. When we so blatantly violate God's intention[s] … the expected consequences will follow.
Here are some excerpts from Taylor:
“…I know that life is understood by more than rational thinking but every once in a while I want to shake a few people and demand that for once they take off their religiosity-smeared glasses and look at life with a different lens--the devil is not out to get them, they are not in a spiritual warfare battle because the doctor looked pensive while he was doing the biopsy, they haven't upset god, and if by some mad chance they had pissed off god enough to bring them to this place in their life, surely their own belief in grace and Jesus would be enough to let them know that their sins are not accounted to them--Jesus!! I just want to scream right now. I completely get why all the detractors of religion are so militant--some of it is completely bloody nuts, and worse, it leads people into terrible places in their life…
…Tomorrows lectionary gospel is Mark's account of the Transfiguration of Jesus--a strange tale for Mark to tell smack dab in the middle of his somewhat dark account of the life of Jesus-a resurrection story written back into the account to perhaps offer those early follower some comfort or guidance in the midst of the shitstorm of their existence. What struck me most about the story was the response of Peter, one of the disciples. It's his misplaced piety that sticks out--he is enthusiastic, ecstatic even, and wants to make shrines for Jesus and Moses and Elijah (if you don't know the story--it's in the Bible--Mark 9)--but he is completely off-base, that is the last thing that needs to happen. We are told by the writer that his response is simply fear-driven and that fear cuts him off from experiencing the very thing that might perhaps sustain in his moment of fear. We tend to locate our ideas of the sacred in a particular way, or in a specific location (my church/synagogue/mosque/temple etc) - but it is often fear that drives that choice and the transfiguration story is an invitation to experience something else, something more--in fact a 'sense of the more' is what permeates the story for me.
I realize that my views about sacredness, about religion, about god, are different than others, and I have no desire or need to convert anyone to my way of looking at it all, but I do strongly resist the way people speak and act for god when it is ultimately fear that is driving things. Perhaps we need to deal with ourselves, our desires, our drives and our fears before we can start to think about god in meaningful ways…”
Read the whole reflection here.
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