Searching for Sacred

I am chewing on a new idea – loving something without possessing it. Possession of objects is obvious, at least to my preschoolers in their chants of “THAT’S MINE!” As adults, we work to buy our house, furnish with our stuff, and put our car in the driveway. And if we are not careful, our possessions soon own us. We work hard to acquire and maintain only to realize that we are too tired to enjoy our life. Possession of people is far more subtle – “who gives this bride?” “my children . . . my husband; my church . . . my students . . ..” We acquire these people and then we expect them to look, act, and think like we do. I am confident most of us do not do this consciously or even intentionally. But let’s face it, we have dreams for the people in our lives and when they deviate from what we have deemed the path to accomplishing these dreams we grow frustrated. We buy our little boys “Daddy’s little quarterback” t-shirts in hopes they will be athletic. We dress our daughters in pink dres...

In Ruth Hubbard’s blog ( http://ruthhubbard.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/what-do-you-do-with-culture ), she raised the question “how do we respond to culture?” Ruth highlighted five common responses to culture that I quote below:  CONDEMN–When we do battle against culture as if it is an evil to be vanquished.  CRITIQUE–When we judge the value of culture as good or bad.  COPY–When we mimic culture as if it’s better than what we could come up with ourselves.  CONSUME–When we simply ingest culture without filters.  CULTIVATE–When we take what is good in culture and keep it good.  CREATE–When we create culture. Being a lover of culture, philosophy, sociology, etc., I began pondering this question once again. I have come to the conclusion that to respond to culture carries the risk of engaging in a power struggle to prove one’s worldview/perspective/creation is better than another.  I am not suggesting that all cultural responses are equal or even beneficial. While living...

I started praying again. This sentence suggests a period of time where prayer was absent from my life, and that would be accurate. I used to pray for very specific things, as if God were a genie – I rub the lamp, state my wish, and “poof” it would magically appear. If God failed to meet my request, my insecurities silently cried and questioned my worth. Eventually, God’s silence brought forth anger within me -- “God is absent. God is dead. I do not need God.” My journey back to prayer has been a slow process. I first had to all the layer of anger to melt away. Healing and peace have been a wonderful blessing. But under this layer were core questions regarding the role of God, humans, and prayer. Are we pawns in God’s cosmic game of chess and therefore prayer has no impact on outcome? Is God a genie-god waiting for us to state our wish, plea out case, and then respond? While there are theological schools of thought that would affirm each god-image, I cannot believe both fall short in...

Lent is upon us. Forty days set aside to examine our hearts, clean out the junk, and renew our commitment to God and the mission of Christ. For many, lent becomes a time of fasting and sacrifice – restraining oneself from the vices of life that silently grip us. I am in said category by eliminating certain foods and beverages, some out of traditional sacrifices (e.g. not consuming meat or alcohol), and some to combat an addiction to sugary sweets. Fasting opens our eyes to the role food plays in our lives. Being a middle class American, I have come to expect large portions of food at the ready. Without much conscious thought I have assumed that food and remaining hunger free is my right. I casually proceed through my day, filling my stomach with protein-filled meats not noticing my neighbor who is hungry and protein-starved. I grow blind to the millions who die daily from starvation and disease-ridden water. Fasting reminds me that food is a privilege, and gluttony hardens my heart....