Healing the brokenness
The theologian and current president of Union Theological Seminary, Serene Jones in her book and in interviews such as the one with Krista Tippett in the December 5, 2019 on the On Being podcast speaks about Grace, brokenness, grief, mourning and redemption. She reminds the reader or audience that in order to heal from trauma one must face it, grieve, mourn and rebuild (my words). Her word is, I believe, transform.
Many events and realities have come together in the present time in the United States and many other places to make it more difficult than ever to ignore the difficulty we humans have in facing the many ways in which we exclude, discount and deny each other. Of course, denying each other entails denying essential parts of ourselves. Our history is a core part of who we are although it does not have to determine who we will be today. History is, however, a multi-facetted being for lack of a more precise word. There is the history we tell ourselves, the history our community tells us, the history others observe, and the history which contains the core.
Often the core of the “I” whom we allow to do this life dance is the being who is fearful of embracing our own sacred humanness. To be able to embrace our sacredness we must face the acts of our ancestors borne out of fear as well as their wonderful achievements.
Today we are graced with the opportunity to face our racism, sexism, homophobia, attachments/addictions, arrogance (another word for brightly painted fear), our shame and, yes, our grief. The collective and individual trauma of being us is something we naturally want to avoid. Yet, as we see when working for/with those suffering PTSD symptoms it is only by facing the grief and mourning that we can be transformed from the ugly wounding of combat, sexual abuse, economic violence, and other forms of social violence.
In the Christian religion Grace – that unconditional love of the god of our understanding – can only penetrate our souls if the mourning has freed it from its chains of fear and shame. Shame and fear leave us disconnected from ourselves and, thus, from each other and all else that we speak of as outside of ourselves or the mass of the other.
Healing thus starts with nakedness. The hymn which is often sung in Christian Churches “Just as I am” beautifully captures what is required if one is to begin the process of healing. This in my mind is humility. Of course, our nakedness is already visible to the God of our understanding or to anyone else who is courageous enough to “see” us. We label each other all the time as the other, criminals, sociopaths, evil ones, the hopeless, immigrants, the unmotivated, the undeserving who will not work for their food stamps, the ones not willing to sell one mind or other body parts to gain access to health insurance, the ones not willing to sell arms to make a profit, the ones who are not willing to “stand one’s ground” and kill in the name of justice or Jesus. These are the fearful ones who mirror our fear which is often attired in the “respectful” costume de jour.
Charles Dickens in the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities says, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity….”
Perhaps as we face the worst of times – the worst of the destruction by fear – we can allow ourselves to embrace the best of times.
Perhaps!
I am deeply indebted to Krista Tippett and Serene Jones for inspiring me to speak a portion of my truth. Of course, as always, I am conscious of the danger of “falling in love” only with those who echo what I already believe. If I have merely fed my ego I have not honored Ms. Tippett or Ms. Jones. I pray that I am not that lacking in humility.
Written December 6, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
The theologian and current president of Union Theological Seminary, Serene Jones in her book and in interviews such as the one with Krista Tippett in the December 5, 2019 on the On Being podcast speaks about Grace, brokenness, grief, mourning and redemption. She reminds the reader or audience that in order to heal from trauma one must face it, grieve, mourn and rebuild (my words). Her word is, I believe, transform.
Many events and realities have come together in the present time in the United States and many other places to make it more difficult than ever to ignore the difficulty we humans have in facing the many ways in which we exclude, discount and deny each other. Of course, denying each other entails denying essential parts of ourselves. Our history is a core part of who we are although it does not have to determine who we will be today. History is, however, a multi-facetted being for lack of a more precise word. There is the history we tell ourselves, the history our community tells us, the history others observe, and the history which contains the core.
Often the core of the “I” whom we allow to do this life dance is the being who is fearful of embracing our own sacred humanness. To be able to embrace our sacredness we must face the acts of our ancestors borne out of fear as well as their wonderful achievements.
Today we are graced with the opportunity to face our racism, sexism, homophobia, attachments/addictions, arrogance (another word for brightly painted fear), our shame and, yes, our grief. The collective and individual trauma of being us is something we naturally want to avoid. Yet, as we see when working for/with those suffering PTSD symptoms it is only by facing the grief and mourning that we can be transformed from the ugly wounding of combat, sexual abuse, economic violence, and other forms of social violence.
In the Christian religion Grace – that unconditional love of the god of our understanding – can only penetrate our souls if the mourning has freed it from its chains of fear and shame. Shame and fear leave us disconnected from ourselves and, thus, from each other and all else that we speak of as outside of ourselves or the mass of the other.
Healing thus starts with nakedness. The hymn which is often sung in Christian Churches “Just as I am” beautifully captures what is required if one is to begin the process of healing. This in my mind is humility. Of course, our nakedness is already visible to the God of our understanding or to anyone else who is courageous enough to “see” us. We label each other all the time as the other, criminals, sociopaths, evil ones, the hopeless, immigrants, the unmotivated, the undeserving who will not work for their food stamps, the ones not willing to sell one mind or other body parts to gain access to health insurance, the ones not willing to sell arms to make a profit, the ones who are not willing to “stand one’s ground” and kill in the name of justice or Jesus. These are the fearful ones who mirror our fear which is often attired in the “respectful” costume de jour.
Charles Dickens in the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities says, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity….”
Perhaps as we face the worst of times – the worst of the destruction by fear – we can allow ourselves to embrace the best of times.
Perhaps!
I am deeply indebted to Krista Tippett and Serene Jones for inspiring me to speak a portion of my truth. Of course, as always, I am conscious of the danger of “falling in love” only with those who echo what I already believe. If I have merely fed my ego I have not honored Ms. Tippett or Ms. Jones. I pray that I am not that lacking in humility.
Written December 6, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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