Words Less Spoken

Tonight, I saw you hanging brightly. I wondered if you were lonely. All the other stars were hiding.

Can stars be lonely?

Do you have any planets to keep you company? To make you feel important.

Are they rocky? Are they gasy?

What if you have none? Just the occasional comet passing by. Reminding you of places you’ve never been. Maybe you aren’t a star at all.

Are you a planet?

or a star?

I never know which the big bright ones are. Are you moving or standing still? I won’t be here long enough to watch you wobble.

Do you know what you are?

You may not know it now, but I saw you. Do you see me?

It may be dark and cold and lonely, but tonight you were bright, and you were beautiful. I am thankful for you.

Tonight I wish upon a star. I wish upon you. I wish for you.

Will you wish for me?

The reality I moved into… for the the first time was so deeply a part of my being that I couldn’t believe I had lived my whole life having forgotten it. It wasn’t something I was learning about, it was something I was remembering. ~ Ram Dass

Have you ever been there? Literally, have you ever had the feeling that you’ve been here before? The names may be different, the faces, the seasons, but you know in your soul this is not the first time you’ve come this way. You’ve seen this face. Maybe not this face but the spirit of the one behind the face. You’ve had it all figured out. Life was manageable, compartmentalized, understood, explained away. Then you meet someone, you go some place, you see something, and you know that there is more. More than three verses and a chorus. More than three points and a poem. More than three kids and a dog. More than three strikes and you’re out. There is more.

As new and different a turn this part of your journey may seem, it has the warm embrace of the familiar. You know you’ve never been this way before. It’s new. It’s exciting. It scares you to death, but you feel compelled to go this way. You don’t know why. It gives you peace for some inexplicable reason. It doesn’t fit the mold. No one will understand. You don’t understand, but you go. You go because maybe for the first time this time you realize that there is more. We are more. You resolve never to live again as less.

This is the way of the soul. My way is not your way. Their way is not our way, but there is a way. Whether you found it  by accident, by frustration, by exhaustion… do not turn back from it. Maybe the last time you were here you opted for the 401k. Maybe you hurt those you love. Maybe you just got by. You have a chance, another chance. You can be more. You are more. There is more.

Listen to your soul. Strain your ear. Strain your heart. Tune out everything else. Hear for yourself. The song of the cicadas. The hymn of the oceans. The refrain of silence. The note is timeless and divine. Hear and see and know. Remember.

At this moment Iran is erupting in waves of violence from protestors who support and oppose the declared victory of Ahmadinejad in this week’s Presidential election. Students at Tehran University are pleading with U.S. President Obama not to accept the election results and to stand with them.

Students rescue injured riot police officer

I thought this photo was compelling. Students are rescuing an injured riot police officer who was attacked by protestors. This is the kind of action that will start a real revolution. Violence won’t. From Ghandi to Martin Luther King, Jr. to Jesus non-violent resistance and courageous acts of selfless love have turned the tides of history.

While Iran and the larger Middle East does not want to be Western nor should they, they do want to be free. There have long been stories about the changes among younger Iranians and the break with the powers that be. I’ve long thought that within my lifetime a revolution would ensue. Whether or not that revolution is crushed or turns the hearts and minds of all Iranians will depend on whether more students choose to emulate this act of selflessness or swing bats and burn buildings. Choose peace. Choose love. Start a fire that consumes hatred and oppression, and it will never burn out.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! I know the holiday carries a different significance for everyone or none at all. The day is important to me not for the legends of “chasing the snakes out of Ireland” or the privilege of pinching random people without prosecution. St. Patrick’s Day reminds me of the man himself and all the reasons why Celtic Christianity has kept me from abandoning the faith altogether.

I’ve written many posts about my affinity for Celtic Christianity, one such overall post is A Generous View of Life. I respect most that St. Patrick himself did not return to Ireland to enforce his way upon others. He did not banish all of the local traditions and split the people into groups of insiders/outsiders. He actually adapted many of the local customs, even pagan customs, to use them as an means of teaching Christian values. More so, he did not teach a dogmatic absolute theology. Rather he chose to live and model those values as an example before others. He focused more on being incarnational and missional rather than dogmatic and confrontational. By living your faith and modeling it before others, sermonizing becomes unnecessary.

I also appreciate that Celtic Christians were “people driven by ideas.” They were open rather than closed. They left themselves open to others. They left their faith open to mystery. Both principles are often pandered to but hard to find.

In case you’re still wondering, there were no snakes in Ireland to start with. Consider yourself pinched.

The coming evangelical collapse

This article by Michael Spencer in The Christian Science Monitor is a must-read. It is insightful, honest, pragmatic, and prescriptive. It is a prophecy of the kind not seen since the warning of the destruction of Jerusalem in the Old Testament, which by the way was not a supernatural vision but a realistic prediction based on being grounded in reality. Wake up, people!