Mark Dohle

Deeper understanding

February 8, 2010 |  3 comments
Image Credit: sxc.hu I tend to think that most preaching and bible quoting is a waste of time, if the person doing the deed does not bring his or her own humanity into the mix. Pounding on the bible and quotation jumping and the pointing of fingers, can often be a diversion that is shared by one click speaking against another. My sister Jane, who is a very caring Christian, who does a great deal of work with addicts, as well as with women who have been abused, once asked me this question: "Mark do you think Jesus is coming soon"? It is a good question. I said "no, because the Gospel has yet to be preached". By that I don't mean it literally of course, but I am not sure the Gospel is as yet understood by Christians, and of course I am smack in the middle of that statement, for not only do I not live the message, I am still seeking to understand it. However I think Jane understands the message of the Gospel better than me. From what she says and from what I have heard from others, she does not preach, but shares. She is also honest about her own struggles and failures. In other words she has humility; the ability to understand the truth about herself and is not afraid of that reality. Is she perfect, does she fail, well I am sure she does, for failures are just as important as successes, for it is there that we learn true compassion which leads also to empathy. People respond to honesty, to the admission of failure. Most understand the struggle needed to live up to ones commitments. What is not tolerated is out and out hypocrisy. To fail and to keep trying and to be honest about it is different than failing and hiding it, while at the same time judging others for doing the same thing. I would think that one reason Jesus counsels us not to judge, is because of the fact that failure is an important part of our journey, and we should not be afraid to admit it, nor to show compassion on others who also fail in their path.

There is more than one way to look at the Incarnation and since I tend to think that Christianity is till in its infancy, there is a long way to go in seeking to understand it. Revelation, wherever it comes from, either from another person, or from God, does not mean it is something new, it is just revealed at a certain point in time. It also does not mean that the mystery of the revelation, be it from a person, or God, is something that will be grasped at once and understood in its depth. People are made in the image of God; that is a mystery that I feel has not even been scratched. Yet Christ says "whatever you do to the least, you do unto me". What does that mean, really? Who and what are we? So if I see someone I despise or perhaps feel hatred for, or perhaps total indifference; who and what are they to me, what are they revealing? Am I sometimes the ‘least', because I have yet to understand what the saying "love your neighbor as yourselves" really implies? No I still don't get it. Hatred, contempt and fear are easy and natural states, or so it seems, which leads to great suffering, yet we continue to use the same old methods than only lead to further cycles of violence and pain. Perhaps we are insane as a species, for we do not seem to learn from the continual reruns that have occurred throughout history.

What does the Incarnation say about God's relation to the world? Perhaps it is a truth that has always been at work. What does that mean? On the cross we see our souls, Christ bears our pains, feels what we feel; our despair he knows, from each one of us. Is this what the Incarnation means or again is it only the surface leading us into the mystery of the immanence and love of God? Christ, is he showing the relationship that the Father has always had with us? Christ also calls God our Father? So even though God is beyond all concepts, yet in revealing himself he uses metaphors we can understand. Fatherhood is one of them and he shows us the father archetype in its most sterling attributes. Perhaps motherhood and fatherhood are one of the most powerful indicators pointing to how God relates to the world, times infinity. Though we can twist that to say the opposite, for many, the Christian revelation is not good news at all, but something to be avoided at all cost and despised. If that is true, whose fault is that? It is certainly not the critics, though they can also fall into the trap of stereotypical thinking. Perhaps no one is free from that trap; I certainly am not.

For those on the Christian path, what are we called to? Are we called to be God bearers, giving birth to Christ in the world? Are we called to see Christ in our enemies? To embrace not only those we love, but also those marginalized and despised, hidden from view? How is that possible? Only by truly believing that because of grace we are called to be other Christ in the world. When we pray, perhaps like Christ, we represent with and through Christ all of mankind, for then we truly bear each others burdens. The Our Father if said slowly and pondered seems to indicate that. For Catholic's, the last part of the "Hail Mary" says this: "pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death". This seems to be a prayer for the whole human race, just like the Our Father. More often than not people hate Christians because they accost those they feel are outside the fold, in other words they are persecuted because of their unbelief, belittled and not simply loved as Christ taught us. If people do not experience the Christian before them as filled with love, then their blabbering is a waste of time. Perhaps preaching should not be attempted until ones inner demons, anger, rages, doubts and lust are confronted, known and owned. Perhaps in judging others, in fact, we really our judging ourselves and more often than not, it seems at times, to be based on envy and jealousy.

We respond to love, defenses drop, we relax, and in the presence of love we truly become ourselves, we allow the love to impregnate us, to fill us, for once the defenses are down the ocean pours into our souls and begins to fill our infinite capacity to be loved. A foretaste of this is experienced in the love between husband and wife, parents and child and yes in friendship. Eternity is not about time, but the about the ever present moment that draws us ever deeper into love and the grace filled relationship that implies. Love is ecstatic, erotic, read the Songs of Songs, a bar song in ancient times that was put into scripture. All of life is here to bring us deeper into that mystery and I feel that one day we will all reach it, because the lesson will one day be learned. We are truly called to love our neighbor as ourselves.....and again...who is our neighbor....the one outside the tribe.

People often laugh at this, but I don't see any other way that the endless warfare and hatred can be stopped. Governments can't do it, neither can religion as it is presented today, but it must come from the grassroots, from the bottom up, from those who have compassion and love for all of life. We are all loved and cherished by God, from the greatest to the least, if that is truly believed then its fruit will show. If not, then the tree will stay barren. I think Christianity is more barren than fruitful, yet perhaps that is because it is still a religion in its infancy. Perhaps we as a species are at the beginning of our journey, perhaps we do have a future and the seeds planted by Christ will take root and blossom fully one day. Or perhaps I have no idea what I am talking about. If I think we are far from living out the message of the Christian path, well I am in reality talking about myself. For I am just a person trying to make sense about all that we have to face on a daily basis, both individually and collectively, and so far, I am not doing so good.

So the above is really about me and not about anyone else. Yet the great mystery still pursues me and compels me to keep striving in hope, not only for myself but for all of mankind; past, present and future. For with God there is only now, so it is in that ‘now' that I choose. For the closer the mystery draws near (after all of the words that I have typed out).in the end, it is only when I sit in silence that I get some sense of it all, though it is in a place where concepts fall short and words in the end fail. Perhaps it is about heart to heart after all and not head banging. Yet I don't see any resolution coming soon.[!gad]I tend to think that most preaching and bible quoting is a waste of time, if the person doing the deed does not bring his or her own humanity into the mix. Pounding on the bible and quotation jumping and the pointing of fingers, can often be a diversion that is shared by one click speaking against another. My sister Jane, who is a very caring Christian, who does a great deal of work with addicts, as well as with women who have been abused, once asked me this question: "Mark do you think Jesus is coming soon"? It is a good question. I said "no, because the Gospel has yet to be preached". By that I don't mean it literally of course, but I am not sure the Gospel is as yet understood by Christians, and of course I am smack in the middle of that statement, for not only do I not live the message, I am still seeking to understand it. However I think Jane understands the message of the Gospel better than me. From what she says and from what I have heard from others, she does not preach, but shares. She is also honest about her own struggles and failures. In other words she has humility; the ability to understand the truth about herself and is not afraid of that reality. Is she perfect, does she fail, well I am sure she does, for failures are just as important as successes, for it is there that we learn true compassion which leads also to empathy. People respond to honesty, to the admission of failure. Most understand the struggle needed to live up to ones commitments. What is not tolerated is out and out hypocrisy. To fail and to keep trying and to be honest about it is different than failing and hiding it, while at the same time judging others for doing the same thing. I would think that one reason Jesus counsels us not to judge, is because of the fact that failure is an important part of our journey, and we should not be afraid to admit it, nor to show compassion on others who also fail in their path.

There is more than one way to look at the Incarnation and since I tend to think that Christianity is till in its infancy, there is a long way to go in seeking to understand it. Revelation, wherever it comes from, either from another person, or from God, does not mean it is something new, it is just revealed at a certain point in time. It also does not mean that the mystery of the revelation, be it from a person, or God, is something that will be grasped at once and understood in its depth. People are made in the image of God; that is a mystery that I feel has not even been scratched. Yet Christ says "whatever you do to the least, you do unto me". What does that mean, really? Who and what are we? So if I see someone I despise or perhaps feel hatred for, or perhaps total indifference; who and what are they to me, what are they revealing? Am I sometimes the ‘least', because I have yet to understand what the saying "love your neighbor as yourselves" really implies? No I still don't get it. Hatred, contempt and fear are easy and natural states, or so it seems, which leads to great suffering, yet we continue to use the same old methods than only lead to further cycles of violence and pain. Perhaps we are insane as a species, for we do not seem to learn from the continual reruns that have occurred throughout history.

What does the Incarnation say about God's relation to the world? Perhaps it is a truth that has always been at work. What does that mean? On the cross we see our souls, Christ bears our pains, feels what we feel; our despair he knows, from each one of us. Is this what the Incarnation means or again is it only the surface leading us into the mystery of the immanence and love of God? Christ, is he showing the relationship that the Father has always had with us? Christ also calls God our Father? So even though God is beyond all concepts, yet in revealing himself he uses metaphors we can understand. Fatherhood is one of them and he shows us the father archetype in its most sterling attributes. Perhaps motherhood and fatherhood are one of the most powerful indicators pointing to how God relates to the world, times infinity. Though we can twist that to say the opposite, for many, the Christian revelation is not good news at all, but something to be avoided at all cost and despised. If that is true, whose fault is that? It is certainly not the critics, though they can also fall into the trap of stereotypical thinking. Perhaps no one is free from that trap; I certainly am not.

For those on the Christian path, what are we called to? Are we called to be God bearers, giving birth to Christ in the world? Are we called to see Christ in our enemies? To embrace not only those we love, but also those marginalized and despised, hidden from view? How is that possible? Only by truly believing that because of grace we are called to be other Christ in the world. When we pray, perhaps like Christ, we represent with and through Christ all of mankind, for then we truly bear each others burdens. The Our Father if said slowly and pondered seems to indicate that. For Catholic's, the last part of the "Hail Mary" says this: "pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death". This seems to be a prayer for the whole human race, just like the Our Father. More often than not people hate Christians because they accost those they feel are outside the fold, in other words they are persecuted because of their unbelief, belittled and not simply loved as Christ taught us. If people do not experience the Christian before them as filled with love, then their blabbering is a waste of time. Perhaps preaching should not be attempted until ones inner demons, anger, rages, doubts and lust are confronted, known and owned. Perhaps in judging others, in fact, we really our judging ourselves and more often than not, it seems at times, to be based on envy and jealousy.

We respond to love, defenses drop, we relax, and in the presence of love we truly become ourselves, we allow the love to impregnate us, to fill us, for once the defenses are down the ocean pours into our souls and begins to fill our infinite capacity to be loved. A foretaste of this is experienced in the love between husband and wife, parents and child and yes in friendship. Eternity is not about time, but the about the ever present moment that draws us ever deeper into love and the grace filled relationship that implies. Love is ecstatic, erotic, read the Songs of Songs, a bar song in ancient times that was put into scripture. All of life is here to bring us deeper into that mystery and I feel that one day we will all reach it, because the lesson will one day be learned. We are truly called to love our neighbor as ourselves.....and again...who is our neighbor....the one outside the tribe.

People often laugh at this, but I don't see any other way that the endless warfare and hatred can be stopped. Governments can't do it, neither can religion as it is presented today, but it must come from the grassroots, from the bottom up, from those who have compassion and love for all of life. We are all loved and cherished by God, from the greatest to the least, if that is truly believed then its fruit will show. If not, then the tree will stay barren. I think Christianity is more barren than fruitful, yet perhaps that is because it is still a religion in its infancy. Perhaps we as a species are at the beginning of our journey, perhaps we do have a future and the seeds planted by Christ will take root and blossom fully one day. Or perhaps I have no idea what I am talking about. If I think we are far from living out the message of the Christian path, well I am in reality talking about myself. For I am just a person trying to make sense about all that we have to face on a daily basis, both individually and collectively, and so far, I am not doing so good.

So the above is really about me and not about anyone else. Yet the great mystery still pursues me and compels me to keep striving in hope, not only for myself but for all of mankind; past, present and future. For with God there is only now, so it is in that ‘now' that I choose. For the closer the mystery draws near (after all of the words that I have typed out).in the end, it is only when I sit in silence that I get some sense of it all, though it is in a place where concepts fall short and words in the end fail. Perhaps it is about heart to heart after all and not head banging. Yet I don't see any resolution coming soon. Comments (3)

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