Spitting

The last week or so has brought many opportunities to reflect upon the mocking and humiliation of Jesus by Herod's guard and the Roman cohort. Their disdain for Jesus of Nazareth included spitting on him. This act of disgust and disapproval seems nearly universal among human tribes. It is one of the worst things you can do to a person.
The last week also included debate about the health bill and some citizens chose to use the "n" word in regard to my Congressman and colleague, Rev. Emanuel Cleaver, II. Rev chose to respond with Christian grace ... in effect turning the other cheek.
What concerns me is how little I have heard about this. When Rev says something that upsets people or they disagree, folks have a way of letting me know their disapproval.  Why have so few ( almost no one) expressed concern that a UMC pastor and their Representative in Congress was spat upon?
How can any citizen of this republic much less a disciple of Jesus Christ affirm such behavior?
John Wesley followed a core value/practice:  In unity, essentials; in matters of opinion, liberty; and in all things, charity/love.

Cremaster

Sue Monk Kidd continues to explore the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly [When the Heart Waits] by discussing the development of its chrysalis. It begins with a little "protuberance" called a cremaster. The cremaster is the connection point. Kidd writes: My mind whirled to the poetry of T.S. Eliot, who wrote about a still point, a spiritual place where there's no going forward or going backward. A point within us where we're fastened, and around which everything turns. "Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance." he wrote. The still point is our cremaster. Without it, there's no dance of tranformation. It's the place where all cocoon making starts. We need to find the point in our soul where we go neither forward nor backward but are fastened in our waiting. ... What is this still point? It represents the Center, the quiet core where God's Spirit dwells in us. "Do you not know that ... God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Cor. 3: 16)

I believe this spiritual cremaster ... our Christ connection ... can take shape in many ways. For some it is a moment of belief; a spiritual experience; a relationship of acceptance/amazing grace; the taste and sensation of eucharist; or a deep sense of the Holy.

I wonder about the spiritual cremaster of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, who shouted his prayer to Jesus outside the Jericho gate. His prayer has anchored millions as they have discovered how the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. (Romans 8: 26b)
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. Amen.

The Diapause

I've been revisiting Sue Monk Kidd's When The Heart Waits. In her chapter on Letting Go, she discusses our resistance to change and spiritual growth. Her book explores the image/process of the metamorphosis of a larva into a butterfly: The most surprising thing I discovered is that catepillars don't yield themselves to the cocoon at the same rate. When the moment comes to spin the chrysalis arrives, some of them actually resist and cling to the larval life. ... This state of clinging has a name; it's called the "diapause." ... There is a natural diapause in the human journey of transformation -- a time when we hold onto the self we know. It seems that at the moment of our greatest possibility; a desperate clinging rises up in us. We make a valiant attempt to "save" our old life.

I remember watching my daughter, Leah, getting ready to crawl.  She managed to get up on her hands and knees but seemed unable to move forward.  She simply rocked back and forth.  Her mother and I became worried. Was something wrong? Then we received our monthly newsletter on child development which explained that one set of muscles was needed to hold her up while another set of muscles had to be engaged to move her forward. When she finally tried to crawl ... she fell on her sweet face. She returned to her "diapause" for awhile but soon was crawling all over the house.

Our lives include a series of passages or transitions where we often resist the next step, stage, opportunity (select your descriptive word). We cling ... a diapause ... a temporary stopping point ... before moving through. Our life prepares us with multiple passages/diapauses for the final transition for this life to the next.

Yesterday in worship (while exploring the last 24 Hours of Jesus life) we spent some time with Jesus in Gethsemane. A diapause of sorts before saying to his disciples: Rise, let us be on our way.