Archive - 2015
June 26th
Balloons
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 06/26/2015 - 21:42After the spectacular celebration
the deflated balloons
hang limply
from the mailbox.
June 25th
The Blank Page, Again
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 06/25/2015 - 21:40Another night getting home late too tired to confront the empty page, too tired to take some of the ideas I’ve been kicking around and properly develop them into a blog post.
It is a day of rejoicing that the Affordable Care Act escaped unscathed. It is a day of sending positive energy to friends whose mother just died, whose cousin’s son has an unexplained illness, who just had to put down a beloved pet.
I did make some progress in starting discussions that will lead to me getting together with various friends for lunch or coffee to talk about things too deep, too personal, too influx for me to talk about in my blog or in social media yet.
More soon. Buen Camino
June 24th
#Rhizo15 Theological #WhiteCurriculum
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 06/24/2015 - 20:30Over the past few months, there have been a few things that have captured a large amount of my attention, the #Rhizo15 cMOOC, the Love Bade Me Welcome poetry workshop at Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the discussions about race, from Rachel Dolezal to the shooting in Charleston.
How do these fit together? I’m not sure, but perhaps the wanderings of my mind can help bring a little focus. I started off this evening, looking at online theological education online. One of my first stops was The Top 20 Online Theology Master’s Degree Programs. There is a lot more out there than I thought there was. So, I started looking for theological MOOCs, but I didn’t find so much there. The little bit that I did find was more on the level of Introduction to the New Testament. From there, I started looking for philosophy MOOCs and other esoteric MOOCs. Anyone up for a Lacan MOOC?
This led me back to the #RHIZO15 group. Even though the MOOC is officially over, the community lives on and recently, one of the posts was to a Google Doc, Charleston Syllabus (by and for Philosophers). It looks like some interesting material. One link was to Why is my curriculum white? In this video there was lots of talk about colonialism and empire.
This reminded me of a book someone had mentioned on Facebook, In the Shadow of Empire: Reclaiming the Bible as a History of Faithful Resistance
It brought me full circle me thoughts about theological education. To what extent is theology education today white? Or, if not white, Laodicean?
June 23rd
Metaphor
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 06/23/2015 - 21:07Metaphor
Today, I sat in my priest’s office talking about big things going on in my life. I had spoken with her about some of what was going on around a month ago, so there was nothing unexpected. As we spoke, a large storm rolled through. Was it coincidental? Was the storm tied back to the storm from Sunday’s Gospel lesson? Perhaps tied to the storm God sent when Jonah tried to flee his calling.
Perhaps the storm is just a metaphor for the turmoil in my own life.
I’ve been thinking a lot about metaphor these days. A few weeks ago, when I wrote about heading out to my college reunion, I wrote, “my life is a metaphor. I’m just not sure what it is a metaphor of”.
I am home now. Friends have lost power, but we are, at least right now, doing okay. Part of the metaphor?
I don’t know. But I do know that I am, again, very tired. So, I will sleep, perhaps dream, and find new metaphors tomorrow.
Buen Camino
June 22nd
Living into the Change
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:45Thomas Lux’s poem The People of the Other Village is stuck in my mind as I read Facebook posts and news stories about the aftermath of the shooting in Charleston. The people of one village tries to win points at the expense of the people of the other village. The people of the other village tries to lose as few points as possible. At times, it feels like there is a gleeful hatred and I’m tired of it.
Yes, we need to talk about gun control. We need to talk about racism. We need to do more than just talk. We need to get to underlying issues. Why have the people of one village been enslaved and oppressed by the people of another village for hundreds of years?
To me, it comes down to the confession of sin. We have not loved our neighbors, our neighbors from the other village, as ourselves. We have not been overwhelmed by God’s love for us and the recognition that God loves the people from the other village as deeply as God loves us.
My thoughts go to the end of Romeo and Juliet
See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.
And I for winking at your discords too
Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd.
All are punish’d.
So, what do we do? The politicians are positioning themselves. Yet I cannot help but remember the cartoon of the politician on the stump asking, “Who wants change?” and everyone raising their hands. But, when the question is presented as “Who wants to change?”, no one raises their hands.
It feels like, at this moment, everyone wants something to change, but very few want to be the people that actually change.
Several weeks ago, I set out on a spiritual journey. I’m not sure where it is going or how it will change me. However, I am at the point where I am ready to be changed. I’m running into people along the way, that are on their own journeys, that are ready to be changed. Are you one?
Buen Camino.
