I believe in the value of stories from all cultures to teach
common truths and to give us insight into our human experience. With this thought in mind I reference a story
from the (my) Christian tradition that, very much simplified says this:
After the death of Jesus, but before they
had come to understand that He had risen, the
disciples who walked with Him for 3 years were devastated. In no way, shape or form did they see the horrific events of Christ’s murder
as “part of God’s Plan,” at least not at that point. It was when they
tried to go back to what they used to know and
used to do before they followed His way, that
they started meeting Him everywhere in the events of daily life. They met Him in the Garden where His body had been laid, but was now gone. They met Him on a long dusty road to a town called Emmaus when they were
traveling in the wrong/backwards direction from where they should have stayed. And
they met Him after they said, “I don’t know what else to do, so I am just going to go fishing again – because
it’s what I used to do before I met Him.”
And then…. He comes walking on the water to them and asks
them “Children, have you caught anything?” (nope.)
In other words, going back may have been a time-filler, but it wasn’t a successful route to take. Eventually, He got them back on the track
again.
It has been helpful in my personal life – and I invite you
to examine your own path – to see if the “return to fishing” step occurs. For me, it does. Every time I decide to step away from the
part-time ministry world, I always seem to need to go fishing. Not literally. But I return to what it is that I did before
I was utterly consumed with giving 110% to ministry.
At one point, I looked at this movement as a weakness. That perspective has drastically changed. Now, I see my need to rest myself from the
intensity of the efforts I was putting forth.
I need to be healed from the most recent wounds incurred by people who
should have cared about me as a colleague, and as their trusted
professional. They are people who would
have done well to believe the best about me and my teaching goals. It would have suited them well to learn, in
the words of St. Francis, “to seek first to understand…” for in reality, their conclusions were based
on a faulty information, and their own misunderstanding.
One of my dearest friends often comments how she loves the
song, “All Are Welcome,” and I want to tell you why I, on the other hand,
cringe when I hear that song. I will
give you snippets of the lyrics:
“Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can
safely live,
a place where saints and
children tell how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and
visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall
end divisions. All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where
prophets speak, and words are strong and true,
where all God’s children dare to
seek to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as
witness and as symbol of God’s grace;
here as one we claim the faith
of Jesus. All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.”
This song is about a dream that we all long for but refuse to let occur
because we both knowingly and unwittingly block the flow of grace and
truth. WE want our churches, our places
of worship, and even our workplaces to be places “where all can safely live”
and “hearts learn to forgive” – as long as it is US that is being sheltered,
and OUR weaknesses that are being forgiven.
We aren’t going to be the ones to extend that to other people unless the
work of God’s grace truly moves in our hearts and changes the way we do
business. Churches and businesses are
still comprised of human beings, and in that fact resides our continual
struggle with self-oriented interests and behaviors.
And we are less likely to do that forgiving and safe-place-creating if
the leaders among us are the first to refuse grace. Are our leaders committed to truth? Will they educate themselves in the issues of
the day and how they relate to people’s lives – and how our ministry (if in
church) or business needs to address modern concerns? Are
our leaders willing to give ear to an explanation when they hear something on
the grapevine and don’t understand it?
Are our leaders willing to risk losing “the big donor” or the power
broker” or the “tribal leader” because they won’t agree to punish and crucify a
designated victim?
Prophets and educators – both religious and secular – I think are
people cut out of the same cloth. We are
willing to be circumspect in our view of the world. It’s not that we don’t have a center. In fact, sometimes we have a very strong
center of core beliefs, but we force ourselves to be open to seeing things from
different directions so we don’t miss an important detail. Sometimes even in the midst of a faulty world
system, there are shreds of truth – because otherwise people wouldn’t be
attracted to an outright lie. The
professors that I admired most in university were the ones that did not teach
just one discipline as a stand-alone concept; they were the people who could
integrate all the other disciplines toward the final goal of truth. I strive to be like those professors.
An excellent example was when I taught religion in a Catholic
school. I reached out to the English
teacher (who formerly was a nun) who was using the movie “Fiddler on the Roof”
in her classroom. I asked her if we
could work on a curriculum for it together
because I was addressing this same movie a year earlier in Old Testament
class. She looked at me completely
disconnected and said, “What does this movie have to do with religion?” Seriously.
In response, my main points to her were 3: the demonstration of Jewish faith culture in
that movie; the personal relationship Rebbe Tevye had with God; and the role of
Tradition in forming our decisions and challenging our mindsets. She declined to collaborate. And who lost out on a richer approach to
education? The students did.
I am disappointed that a good classroom experience or relevant topic
cannot be explored because of people who just “don’t get it.” But as I am now figuratively speaking, “going
fishing,” I am more concerned with locating a future spot where my
collaborators will get it. We’re going to do great and relevant ministry
on that day.
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