Sunday Musings – November 4, 2018
In some ways, following the trauma of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh last weekend this week was relatively calm. The interfaith service at Temple Shalom organized by Rabbi Joshua Lief which gathered together a significant number of people was comforting and a positive reminder that we can have a peaceful and loving community which allows us to celebrate our differences while combining our talents and energy to take care of each other.
Despite the negative campaigning by so many here in the United States. as we head towards the mid-term elections in the United States, I choose to believe that “we can overcome” the hatred which springs from fear.
Locally, Peoples University this week focused on the origin and development over the centuries of the concept of Human Rights reminding me to look at how far we as humans have moved towards an inclusionary society. In many parts of the world slaves are no longer legal despite still, at times, being tolerated under other labels, females are assuming their place alongside of and not behind us males. Although the internet may provide more opportunity to spread negative messages including hate, every morning I get many reminders in my email box of those working to create a more just and loving world. We, as humans, are daily moving forward one step at a time and perhaps only one half step back.
As the adage goes, we are not where we want to be, but we are not where we were yesterday or where we plan to be tomorrow.
As I read the newspaper this morning I was reminded that there remains an attachment to punishment as a way of stopping or greatly reducing violence. Yet, there was also a wonderful letter to the editor by the Rabbi of the local Temple about the outpouring of support last weekend in response to the shooting; the recommitment to loving and takin care of each other; the recommitment to respond to fearful hate with love. There was also an article about the support of many of local veterans, scholarship awards to students, advancement in specialty services at local hospitals, and the opportunities at the local community college.
A friend emailed me and asked me to reread the 14th chapter of the book in the New Testament attributed to John. One could and many do use the words in this chapter to reinforce or justify one’s belief that only the select few who obey certain rules will have eternal life in a literal heavenly house or one could read it in the context of this teacher who leads this very simple life and strives to teach unconditional love.
I realize that one must be careful when talking about love. Love is used to justify all manner of punishing, hateful, exclusionary behavior. Love is often used to in the context of “tough love” which I sometimes experience as tough but not very loving. It can be tough to love unconditionally while honoring the fact that someone is not yet able to accept help for their addiction to drugs, power, sex or other people, places and things outside of themselves. It can be tough to love without insisting, as did the disciples, that the person repent of their “sins” first. It can be tough to love when people are dying because of guns fired in the name of justice, fairness, the will of the god of someone’s understanding, or even in the name of bringing peace or democracy. It can be tough to love when a child is abused.
Love is tough and, yet, I am not sure that what is termed “tough love” is always loving.
As we in the United States vote this week it may seem as if the words of Martin Luther King Jr have been forgotten and, yet, they are lived by many as the respond to hate/fear with love in Pittsburgh, Florida, North Carolina and in many other places.
We can indeed overcome – not quickly, easily or without painful vulnerability, but we can and will overcome.
Written November 4, 2018
In some ways, following the trauma of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh last weekend this week was relatively calm. The interfaith service at Temple Shalom organized by Rabbi Joshua Lief which gathered together a significant number of people was comforting and a positive reminder that we can have a peaceful and loving community which allows us to celebrate our differences while combining our talents and energy to take care of each other.
Despite the negative campaigning by so many here in the United States. as we head towards the mid-term elections in the United States, I choose to believe that “we can overcome” the hatred which springs from fear.
Locally, Peoples University this week focused on the origin and development over the centuries of the concept of Human Rights reminding me to look at how far we as humans have moved towards an inclusionary society. In many parts of the world slaves are no longer legal despite still, at times, being tolerated under other labels, females are assuming their place alongside of and not behind us males. Although the internet may provide more opportunity to spread negative messages including hate, every morning I get many reminders in my email box of those working to create a more just and loving world. We, as humans, are daily moving forward one step at a time and perhaps only one half step back.
As the adage goes, we are not where we want to be, but we are not where we were yesterday or where we plan to be tomorrow.
As I read the newspaper this morning I was reminded that there remains an attachment to punishment as a way of stopping or greatly reducing violence. Yet, there was also a wonderful letter to the editor by the Rabbi of the local Temple about the outpouring of support last weekend in response to the shooting; the recommitment to loving and takin care of each other; the recommitment to respond to fearful hate with love. There was also an article about the support of many of local veterans, scholarship awards to students, advancement in specialty services at local hospitals, and the opportunities at the local community college.
A friend emailed me and asked me to reread the 14th chapter of the book in the New Testament attributed to John. One could and many do use the words in this chapter to reinforce or justify one’s belief that only the select few who obey certain rules will have eternal life in a literal heavenly house or one could read it in the context of this teacher who leads this very simple life and strives to teach unconditional love.
I realize that one must be careful when talking about love. Love is used to justify all manner of punishing, hateful, exclusionary behavior. Love is often used to in the context of “tough love” which I sometimes experience as tough but not very loving. It can be tough to love unconditionally while honoring the fact that someone is not yet able to accept help for their addiction to drugs, power, sex or other people, places and things outside of themselves. It can be tough to love without insisting, as did the disciples, that the person repent of their “sins” first. It can be tough to love when people are dying because of guns fired in the name of justice, fairness, the will of the god of someone’s understanding, or even in the name of bringing peace or democracy. It can be tough to love when a child is abused.
Love is tough and, yet, I am not sure that what is termed “tough love” is always loving.
As we in the United States vote this week it may seem as if the words of Martin Luther King Jr have been forgotten and, yet, they are lived by many as the respond to hate/fear with love in Pittsburgh, Florida, North Carolina and in many other places.
We can indeed overcome – not quickly, easily or without painful vulnerability, but we can and will overcome.
Written November 4, 2018
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