“His memory is a blessing”
In the Christian tradition, today, March 13, 2016 is the 5th Sunday of Lent. I am aware of this because I grew up with God as envisioned or posited in the Christian Tradition. In that tradition, which may have been borrowed from a Pagan tradition as was many of the rituals in any religion, Lent is a time of fasting and prayer. Some in the Christian church understand Lent as following the tradition of Jesus who went into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights where he resisted the temptations of the devil. Lent, again in the Christian tradition culminates in that period between the death of Jesus on the cross, his subsequent burial, and his resurrection.
While searching through suggested meditations or homilies for this fifth Sunday of lent, I came across a reminder of the a “60 Minutes” segment by Bob Simon about the tiny Latin American town of Cateura built on a garbage dump. Deacon Greg Kandra says of this community, “People known as the Trash Pickers sift through the garbage, scrounging for anything they can sell—paper, pieces of plastic, cardboard… But one small band of trash pickers has done something amazing. They have found a way to turn trash into musical instruments: violins made from oven trays, cellos crafted from oil barrels, trumpets are made from drain pipes. All these pieces are brought together and used by children, who have formed an orchestra of their own, the Recycled Orchestra of Catuera.”
- See more at: http://aleteia.org/blogs/deacon-greg-kandra/second-chances-homily-for-march-13-2016-5th-sunday-of-lent/#sthash.pyxG3P1x.dpuf)
This story is the perfect metaphor for the love of Christ, Buddha, Allah – the God of one’s understanding. That love is unconditional. As humans our lives are often messy and filled with the residue of the hurt which we have caused ourselves and others as well as the treasures of the small acts of kindness we often do. We are simultaneously a blessing to others and one who leaves much emotional and physical trash as we proceed in this journey. Yet, it is with open arms that the God of our understanding welcomes us home throughout every day. There are times we are so full of ourselves that we do not even notice the trash we are leaving and there are times when all we see is the trash – the hurt of commission and omission. Yet, this God of one’s understanding calls us to accept this unconditional acceptance and to in turn give unconditional acceptance and love. It is easy, of course, to get busy with life and forget to go to the desert to be nakedly still in all of our humanness and to resist the ultimate devil of self-judgment.
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner said to Krista Tibbett on the NPR show, “On Being” of one of his mentors/professors, Jacob Petuchowki, “His memory is a blessing.” This is the message of Lent and most other spiritual traditions: The memory of us is a blessing. It is not the God of our understanding who judges us so harshly. It is us. We say, “What me, I am the worst possible sinner. I am unforgiveable. My sins of commission and omission are so great that I am unworthy of love.” I am sure that Professor Jacob Petuchowki was as human as the rest of us and, yet, “His memory is a blessing.”
Dr. Rachel Remen, a physician, had to come to terms with her own humanness and the limit of much of traditional Western medicine when she got ill. Out of her search for a more holistic approach to healing comes, among much else, the memory of her grandfather. She writes about him and his life in the book, “My Grandfather’s Blessings.”
This word blessing. What does it mean? Oxford dictionary gives as its first meaning: “God’s favor and protection.” Or “A person’s approval or permission.” We also use it in the sense of a gift of someone’s life and perhaps teachings. That is the sense that Rabbi Kushner uses the word when taking about the professor. Dr. Remen’s grandfather was acutely aware of the blessings/gifts he was given and was a blessing to many.
When I say that someone’s memory is a blessing I am not ignoring their humanness – the many shortcoming which may have made them so difficult at times - I am saying that I am choosing to focus on, just as the God of my understanding focuses on the ways in which I am a blessing.
On this fifth Sunday of Lent it is my intention to be as honest as I know how about the many times I have failed to love unconditionally, of the many times that I have kept track of the times that someone has not behaved the way that I wanted them to behave, of the many times that I have judged another to be less lovable and good than I, and of the many times that have been angry because someone died or went on a different path before I was ready for them to do so. It is also my intention to accept that it is only by acceptance of my own humanness and of the humanness of others that I can experience the blessing of myself and others.
For me, both from a Christian and a Buddhist perspective, this is the blessing of the time out; that time which we can call Lent or a retreat or reflection or in the tradition of the 12-step program, a thorough 4th step which leads to the 5th through the 12th steps.
I think of the many people who have touch and who touch my life. Their memory is a blessing.
Written March 13, 2016
In the Christian tradition, today, March 13, 2016 is the 5th Sunday of Lent. I am aware of this because I grew up with God as envisioned or posited in the Christian Tradition. In that tradition, which may have been borrowed from a Pagan tradition as was many of the rituals in any religion, Lent is a time of fasting and prayer. Some in the Christian church understand Lent as following the tradition of Jesus who went into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights where he resisted the temptations of the devil. Lent, again in the Christian tradition culminates in that period between the death of Jesus on the cross, his subsequent burial, and his resurrection.
While searching through suggested meditations or homilies for this fifth Sunday of lent, I came across a reminder of the a “60 Minutes” segment by Bob Simon about the tiny Latin American town of Cateura built on a garbage dump. Deacon Greg Kandra says of this community, “People known as the Trash Pickers sift through the garbage, scrounging for anything they can sell—paper, pieces of plastic, cardboard… But one small band of trash pickers has done something amazing. They have found a way to turn trash into musical instruments: violins made from oven trays, cellos crafted from oil barrels, trumpets are made from drain pipes. All these pieces are brought together and used by children, who have formed an orchestra of their own, the Recycled Orchestra of Catuera.”
- See more at: http://aleteia.org/blogs/deacon-greg-kandra/second-chances-homily-for-march-13-2016-5th-sunday-of-lent/#sthash.pyxG3P1x.dpuf)
This story is the perfect metaphor for the love of Christ, Buddha, Allah – the God of one’s understanding. That love is unconditional. As humans our lives are often messy and filled with the residue of the hurt which we have caused ourselves and others as well as the treasures of the small acts of kindness we often do. We are simultaneously a blessing to others and one who leaves much emotional and physical trash as we proceed in this journey. Yet, it is with open arms that the God of our understanding welcomes us home throughout every day. There are times we are so full of ourselves that we do not even notice the trash we are leaving and there are times when all we see is the trash – the hurt of commission and omission. Yet, this God of one’s understanding calls us to accept this unconditional acceptance and to in turn give unconditional acceptance and love. It is easy, of course, to get busy with life and forget to go to the desert to be nakedly still in all of our humanness and to resist the ultimate devil of self-judgment.
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner said to Krista Tibbett on the NPR show, “On Being” of one of his mentors/professors, Jacob Petuchowki, “His memory is a blessing.” This is the message of Lent and most other spiritual traditions: The memory of us is a blessing. It is not the God of our understanding who judges us so harshly. It is us. We say, “What me, I am the worst possible sinner. I am unforgiveable. My sins of commission and omission are so great that I am unworthy of love.” I am sure that Professor Jacob Petuchowki was as human as the rest of us and, yet, “His memory is a blessing.”
Dr. Rachel Remen, a physician, had to come to terms with her own humanness and the limit of much of traditional Western medicine when she got ill. Out of her search for a more holistic approach to healing comes, among much else, the memory of her grandfather. She writes about him and his life in the book, “My Grandfather’s Blessings.”
This word blessing. What does it mean? Oxford dictionary gives as its first meaning: “God’s favor and protection.” Or “A person’s approval or permission.” We also use it in the sense of a gift of someone’s life and perhaps teachings. That is the sense that Rabbi Kushner uses the word when taking about the professor. Dr. Remen’s grandfather was acutely aware of the blessings/gifts he was given and was a blessing to many.
When I say that someone’s memory is a blessing I am not ignoring their humanness – the many shortcoming which may have made them so difficult at times - I am saying that I am choosing to focus on, just as the God of my understanding focuses on the ways in which I am a blessing.
On this fifth Sunday of Lent it is my intention to be as honest as I know how about the many times I have failed to love unconditionally, of the many times that I have kept track of the times that someone has not behaved the way that I wanted them to behave, of the many times that I have judged another to be less lovable and good than I, and of the many times that have been angry because someone died or went on a different path before I was ready for them to do so. It is also my intention to accept that it is only by acceptance of my own humanness and of the humanness of others that I can experience the blessing of myself and others.
For me, both from a Christian and a Buddhist perspective, this is the blessing of the time out; that time which we can call Lent or a retreat or reflection or in the tradition of the 12-step program, a thorough 4th step which leads to the 5th through the 12th steps.
I think of the many people who have touch and who touch my life. Their memory is a blessing.
Written March 13, 2016
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