Dear Treehousers,
I’ve been much challenged of late, trying to move forward with construction on my theology in the midst of the world kinda melting down around us.1 I’ve felt paralyzed, if you want to know the truth, in being able to talk cogently about what I believe and why that matters — and about who Jesus is, about God, about faith. About meaning and purpose. About the long arc of the world’s history.
And yet, isn’t there something very clarifying when we hit these kinds of crisis points? What is necessary and good stands out in sharp relief. Keep what is essential for the journey, leave the rest in the road behind you.
Last week a person with too wide a reach and no business with a megaphone said, “The fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy.”
A pretty crystalizing moment, at least for me. Ah, right. That irksome habit of living with heart and purpose to care about what happens to other people.
That very public statement that I assume far too many agree with (I mean, money and power do talk in exceedingly loud voices that foster soullessness) pushed some buttons that I knew needed pushing. My tap-dancing had to stop. It was time to ask myself the question: Is Jesus, one who practiced and preached radical empathy, essential to my journey? And in some fashion that won’t exactly pass the test of orthodoxy (big surprise, huh?), I think that answer is yes.
Why? I guess I feel like, if there is Divinity, Jesus is a strong contender for what I hope They would be like. I guess because I want to think of the embodiment of that kind of Divine Love fully sharing our humanity and thereby showing us our best possible selves — with compassion that is often tender, frequently fierce. With a heart turned toward justice, meaning what is good and true and right and that builds up and gives life and dignity to individuals and communities. With teachings along the expansive frontiers of forgiveness2 and the miracle of healing that can come from the release forgiveness often brings.
In the Kingdom/Reign/New Dimension of God that Jesus announces and literally fleshes out, there is joy, there is belonging, there is wideness and freedom. There is healing and wholeness. In that new world that is already on its way, business as usual is upended. In parable after parable about the Kingdom (we’ll get into some of those next time and also they’re pretty much all about the Kingdom) Jesus often leaves the good and righteous religious people sputtering in outrage.3
So what does all this mean? To me? For our time now? Because it has to mean something here in these moments, these tumultuous days, or we’ve just been wasting each other’s time.
More to come. Soon it’ll be warm enough for us to go out on the Treehouse’s ginormous screened-in porch and catch up on our construction progress. Hope you’ll stick around.
Let’s just be clear. None of what is happening now in the good old U S of A is normal. Alarm bells are ringing.
Y’all, we gotta talk about forgiveness sometime soon. It might not be quite what you think or have been taught.
Oh, okay, but just one: Matthew 10:1-16 RSV. It’s a doozy.
Your paragraph beginning with "Why" gives a perfect description of the reason I follow Christ. I have to block the perversion and focus just on my walk (as difficult as it is to do).