Self-isolation a bit like monastic disciplines

It has been almost a week since we started working from home and moved to self-isolation because of the threat of Covid-19. At this point in Richmond community spread has not kicked in to the degree seen in some other countries, but I imagine that is just a matter of time. So we are being asked to self-isolate. If you look at seclusion as a kind of spiritual discipline, them perhaps the charity of the act will help us find the resources to follow this advice.

It is difficult for social animals, such as us, to stay inside. It is particularly hard for extroverts, or so it seems to me, an introvert. I find strength in knowing that my sacrifice is helping to prevent the spread of a very nasty virus. I was thinking that this time of self-isolation can be seen in some ways like the monastic movement who went into the desert to battle invisible forces for the rest of society. Sometimes people think that the brothers and sisters who went into isolation in the wilderness were doing it to escape society that they believed was completely corrupt. If this were true they would be more like the doomsday folks who hide in their bunkers. This, however, misses the point of the ministry of prayer and intersession is all about. Christ had taught to go into seclusion to pray. Don't make a big show of your religious devotion (Matthew 6:5). Do this for sake of others. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down their life for someone else (John 15). So the monastic movement when into seclusion for the sake of gospel, for the sake of the world.

Also, those who chose to go into isolation for prayer, where going to where Christ had gone, to the place one went to fight the enemy, into the wilderness or the desert, into seclusion. They were doing battle, not against society, but for society. They did this by following Christ into the wilderness to do battle with an invisible enemy. I think that you get the analogy I am trying to draw here. We are being asked to intercede for our society by restricting out freedoms by choice.

This is difficulty to do in the city. Yesterday when I drove to my locked down building to retrieve a few items I needed to work at home, I saw many people continuing to gather at beaches in Vancouver. No doubt each person had a good reason why they needed to take the chance that community spread would not be happening in their midst. I would imagine each was trying to massage the emotional pain of staying home alone or being confined to their apartment or home, in the city. I am not trying to judge why people continue to defy social distancing suggestions merely trying to point out possible reasons and ways to find emotional energy to self-isolate. We are entering into a time of seclusion for the sake of society. To intercede for those who must continue to go to work and provide needed essential services. To try and help out relatives and elders stay safe. We are all inextricably linked together in our world. Our actions impact everyone else around us. This is an awesome responsibility. Perhaps, this might give us strength to embrace what we are called to do for the sake of one another.

Now it seems fitting to conclude with two observations. One by Robert Frost's poem, "A tuft of flowers" "'[People] work together,' I told him from the heart, 'whether they work together or apart.'" The second is the concluding statement from many in the First Nations community, something that is evident from all that is happening, "all my relatives."
 

Visiting the Nissga’a

I had a chance to visit the Nass valley. It is a beautiful part of the world. The soaring mountains and the Nass river, the source of life. The ice was flowing in the river with some of it hanging up on gravel bars as the tide goes out. We had come to try and meet with some folks and try and share encouragement with one another. I was traveling with ArchBishop Mark MacDonald, who is one of the most wonderful individuals I have ever known. He lifts my heart to worship Christ. I think this exemplifies the task of the leaders of the Church. Yes, it is true that the bishop is called to keep the faith, which on occasions seems to imply that they must argue against certain views which threaten the clarity of the gospel, but they are called or maybe sent to keep pointing us to Christ. All that is around us in this pristine part of creation pushes me to understand how small I am on the earth. The bishop reminds me that for small ones like me, Christ has come, and will come again. So this morning as I sit in a B and B in Laxgalts’ap, on the Nass, I worship Christ.

The Teaching House

I am in the land of the Nisga’a for the next few days. I am hear to talk with the people that attended the “Teaching House” event that we held last November. It is great to hear how the Church continues among this Nation. They adopted Christian faith because it seemed to parallel their own law that they believe the creator gave to them. Indigenous people in Canada embraced the gospel because they recognized the creator in the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. They had a kind of “Old Testament” as Steven Charleston calls it. An experience of knowing Creator before the coming of the Europeans. One of several eagles that I saw in the Nass river. Indigenous people continue to see the work of the creator in and around them.

My Late Father's birthday

January 7 is celebrated as Christmas for the Eastern Church, but it was also my dad's birthday. In our family we were not big on birthday celebrations. When we were kids my mother would make a big celebration with cake and games. When we got older there wasn't usually a cake but she would throw a pair of jeans on our bed and say, "happy birthday." I followed the tradition and would usually try to call around birthdays and say, "happy birthday."

My dad has been gone for a bit over a year and I was really missing him the last few days. It is around holidays and birthdays that we often miss our departed loved ones. It reminded me of Tolkien's character, Frodo at the end of the The Lord of the Rings, would get an ache in  his shoulder and his mood would darken on the anniversary of their fateful quest. A fantasy story but it reminds me of the life lesson that memory is powerful. It can shape our mood and we can even feel its effects in our body. So I remember my father, and the power of his memories give me resolve to live up to who he was. When I face the West in the evening, I remember my ancestors and ask for wisdom to walk in a good way on the circle of the earth. A gift of memory from my dad, on Orthodox Christmas, this January 7, 2019.

Christmas Time

Elaine and I spent the evening with our daughter, Jenny and her husband, Sean and our grandchildren, Kyren and Lily. We ate and read the Christmas story and spent time together as a family. Of course there are presents, but Kyren reminded us a few days earlier that we don’t need presents just our family. The creator sent his son to redeem us when we had gone astray. Angels told of the glad tidings that a child was given and he would be called Immanuel, God with us. It is a day to reflect upon the goodness of God and his love expressed toward us. The saviour has come to draw us back to him. Christmas time we remember to turn back to the one who made us and loved us.

The blind see

This morning I was reading William Stringfellow. He writes about the racism that permeated the United States where he was working as a lawyer in Harlem. He concludes that all are victimized by racism, although dominant society are less aware. He writes in An Ethic for Christians and other aliens in a strange land: 

"For white citizens to be blinded by this [racism] is a victimization of them as human beings - consigning them to a delusive state where conscience is dead - just as much as the more blatant and public dehumanization visited upon blacks." pg. 87

The gospel has something to say to this.

Luke 18:35-43
35 As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth* is passing by.’ 38 Then he shouted, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 39 Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 40 Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, 41‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, let me see again.’ 42 Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.’ 43 Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.

Jesus gives back the sight to a blind man who can already see better than the one's telling him to be quite. My prayer is that we would see and seeing we would work to set things right, to be true human beings who affirm the dignity of all. Delusion is not freedom, no matter how comfortable it seems. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear the gospel calling us back to be human beings; dependent upon the creator and all those around us.

An argument arose about who would be the greatest

Luke 9:46-50 presents a situation all to common among Churches and in our society.  The disciples were fighting about who was the greatest. It got me thinking about how hypocritical competition is, when it comes to wanting good for society. Jesus came to heal and forgive and set people free, but we turn it into an argument. No wonder young people leave the Church or grow cynical about the political process, as we argue about who is the greatest. Reading this passage made me check my own motivation.

This competitiveness is motivated out of fear, a fear that we will not be enough. Augustine writes in his Confessions Book 2 chapter 5, that we want joy, honor, happiness, but we think that the things that we see, the material goods, these will bring us joy, so we steal, we try and get them. Thinking that if we just have enough, then we will not be afraid anymore. Isn't this just another form of trying to be greatest? If we are the greatest, then we will have honor and friends, and ease, but what we end up with is pain and loneliness. Jesus says real joy and peace are found in becoming the least, even like a child.

The challenge is that we can see the results of great power and wealth and it looks good. We cannot see the joy that God gives, and this is the challenge. To give up what we can see and seek that which is invisible and only possible within, seems crazy.  Yet this joy that is beyond the material is a perspective that cannot be found while in the midst of wealth and power. William Stringfellow points out that the powers and principalities of this world (created things that were to serve human beings) dominate human beings. The market for example, made to help provide for human beings, now dominates human beings putting many in poverty. It becomes an "idolatry of death."

The solution, Jesus said, was to become like a little child. To realize we are dependent upon the creator and we must look up to see the joy of Christ. Power, wealth, and popularity, said Henri Nouwen, are not gifts, they are temptations to be overcome.