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Sunday musings - December 26, 2021
On this last Sunday of the year 2021 many will continue their holiday visit with family, many will experience a sense of relief that the holiday and its consequent expectations are past, and many will be thinking about all that needs to get done to close out the year 2021.
For the homeless and those worried about homelessness knocking on their door it is just another day of going through the motions required for survival.
For those of us who have the luxury of moving beyond having to concern ourselves with the next meal and a warm, safe place to sleep, it may be a time to meditate and consider the next step in our spiritual journey; how we can live out that spiritual journey while also incidentally engaging in those tasks required in this culture to create and maintain a home, and to be a good steward of the community, the nation and Mother Earth. If our framework is a Christian one, we may be reminded of the alleged teaching of Jesus as reported by Matthew and Mark:
“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.” (Ἀπόδοτε οὖν τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ).(Matthew 22:21 and Mark 12:17).
For some this teaching may suggest that one needs to pay taxes to help maintain those shared facilities and responsibilities at the local, state and national level. For some this teaching may cause one to question what belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar. They may be questioning whether “Caesar” had the authority to require covid vaccinations or the wearing of masks. They may also be questioning whether the state has the right to decide what is taught in school, when a fetus becomes a person, who has right to own a gun which is capable of killing others, the role of the police and a host of other issues. Many favor very limited power for Caesar. Many believe that in some respects every action by each of us affects, at some level, the entire universe and, thus, is the concern of all of us – the body politic. Many just as passionately believe each member of the body politic should have the freedom to act independent of the body politic.
Other than what is reported in Mark and Matthew in the passage I have quoted, Jesus seems to have very little to say about how to decide what is Caesar’s and what is God’s. Yet, in the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount and the examples of how he ministers to others without judgment or any hint of punishment; his admonitions including to forgive 70 x 7; to love both those how are labeled as worthy of love and those who been labeled as unworthy of love; to quit defining anyone by the worst of their behaviors, he says little. Clearly, he equates how we take care of each other as a demonstration of how we render unto God the things that are Gods.
Van Jones on an Uncommon Ground podcast episode entitled “How to Combine Social Change with Inner Change” has a conversation with meditation teacher and author Tara Brach. During the course of their conversation, he states that black theology can be summed up in the phrase “Hallelujah anyhow”. Throughout the history of slavery, separation of family members, sexual abuse of both men and women, and a host of other cruel and unjust treatment, when black people gathered to worship their Hallelujahs were spoken/shouted with passion. Perhaps some of the passion arose from the depth of pain they had experienced. Yet, the pain did not dull their passion for laying all their troubles, joys, and concerns before the god of their understanding who they trusted to bring a new day; to bring justice. This faith did not stop them from the secret language of hymns, amazing inventions or the success evidence in the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Even the destruction of Greenwood could not quiet the resolve to ensure Greenwood would see a new birth.
Perhaps the lesson to be learned as we look toward 2021 is Hallelujah Anyhow; to celebrate while not denying the need to stand up for those actions and behavior which honor the sacredness of all people; to celebrate the power of truth telling with the humility of forgiveness; to stand tall and proud no matter what others do or do not do; to know wisdom is a process of identifying the questions rather than always knowing the answers; to know we can fight for what seems just and right while inviting those we might be tempted to label as an enemy to a joyful dance.
Written December 26, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
Sunday musings - December 26, 2021
On this last Sunday of the year 2021 many will continue their holiday visit with family, many will experience a sense of relief that the holiday and its consequent expectations are past, and many will be thinking about all that needs to get done to close out the year 2021.
For the homeless and those worried about homelessness knocking on their door it is just another day of going through the motions required for survival.
For those of us who have the luxury of moving beyond having to concern ourselves with the next meal and a warm, safe place to sleep, it may be a time to meditate and consider the next step in our spiritual journey; how we can live out that spiritual journey while also incidentally engaging in those tasks required in this culture to create and maintain a home, and to be a good steward of the community, the nation and Mother Earth. If our framework is a Christian one, we may be reminded of the alleged teaching of Jesus as reported by Matthew and Mark:
“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.” (Ἀπόδοτε οὖν τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ).(Matthew 22:21 and Mark 12:17).
For some this teaching may suggest that one needs to pay taxes to help maintain those shared facilities and responsibilities at the local, state and national level. For some this teaching may cause one to question what belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar. They may be questioning whether “Caesar” had the authority to require covid vaccinations or the wearing of masks. They may also be questioning whether the state has the right to decide what is taught in school, when a fetus becomes a person, who has right to own a gun which is capable of killing others, the role of the police and a host of other issues. Many favor very limited power for Caesar. Many believe that in some respects every action by each of us affects, at some level, the entire universe and, thus, is the concern of all of us – the body politic. Many just as passionately believe each member of the body politic should have the freedom to act independent of the body politic.
Other than what is reported in Mark and Matthew in the passage I have quoted, Jesus seems to have very little to say about how to decide what is Caesar’s and what is God’s. Yet, in the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount and the examples of how he ministers to others without judgment or any hint of punishment; his admonitions including to forgive 70 x 7; to love both those how are labeled as worthy of love and those who been labeled as unworthy of love; to quit defining anyone by the worst of their behaviors, he says little. Clearly, he equates how we take care of each other as a demonstration of how we render unto God the things that are Gods.
Van Jones on an Uncommon Ground podcast episode entitled “How to Combine Social Change with Inner Change” has a conversation with meditation teacher and author Tara Brach. During the course of their conversation, he states that black theology can be summed up in the phrase “Hallelujah anyhow”. Throughout the history of slavery, separation of family members, sexual abuse of both men and women, and a host of other cruel and unjust treatment, when black people gathered to worship their Hallelujahs were spoken/shouted with passion. Perhaps some of the passion arose from the depth of pain they had experienced. Yet, the pain did not dull their passion for laying all their troubles, joys, and concerns before the god of their understanding who they trusted to bring a new day; to bring justice. This faith did not stop them from the secret language of hymns, amazing inventions or the success evidence in the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Even the destruction of Greenwood could not quiet the resolve to ensure Greenwood would see a new birth.
Perhaps the lesson to be learned as we look toward 2021 is Hallelujah Anyhow; to celebrate while not denying the need to stand up for those actions and behavior which honor the sacredness of all people; to celebrate the power of truth telling with the humility of forgiveness; to stand tall and proud no matter what others do or do not do; to know wisdom is a process of identifying the questions rather than always knowing the answers; to know we can fight for what seems just and right while inviting those we might be tempted to label as an enemy to a joyful dance.
Written December 26, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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