Religion
Post about Religious topics. My spiritual journey is a subtopic of this.
Celtic Retreat
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 07/15/2017 - 09:06This week I went to a wonderful retreat focused on Celtic Christianity. Near the beginning of the retreat, we broke into small groups to talk about our initial thoughts. We were asked to say one word to the whole group about our hopes for the retreat. I used the word “journey”.
I am thinking a lot about my own journey now, as I prepare to start seminary in the fall and as I try to find people and organizations that will walk alongside during my journey. For me, this word journey carries additional layers of meaning. There is the aspect of ‘pilgrimage’. Many people at the retreat had been to Iona. One had walked to Santiago. My journey or pilgrimage, right now, is much less about physical destinations and how to get there. Instead, it is more in the tradition of the “Peregrinatio Pro Amore Christi”. A quick simple description of this can be found in PEREGRINATIO, PILGRIMAGE CELTIC STYLE.
There was a brief comment about the idea of ‘Anamchara’, The Anamchara Fellowship describes Anamchara as
Anamchara is a Gaelic word for "soul friend". It was the style of formation given to a new monk or nun in a Celtic monastery, whereby the new member would be paired up with an older, more experienced monk
As I think about my journey, my peregrinatio, I find myself looking for Anamchara, perhaps not in the strictest original sense, but at least in terms of soul friends who will walk alongside me in my journey.
There was a lot of talk about Pelagius, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and others whose writings and approach to God were seen as a threat to the Roman church, the church of Empire. I look at the decline of the established church in western culture and some of my own struggles with the established church, I wonder what sort of ecclesiastical organization might walk alongside me in my journey.
Somewhere in this is something about connecting our faith and spirituality to the vernacular. The vernacular of Rome was of emperors and empire. The vernacular of the Celts was of nature. What was the vernacular of other indigenous cultures Christianity encountered and what can we learn from them?
What is the vernacular of twenty-first century western culture, the vernacular of Millenials and GenX? While it might sound like an oxymoron, what is the vernacular of modern academia?
Somewhere in this is I find echoes of Foucault and counter narrative. I find echo of Agamben and homo sacer.
As we left, we thought about where we go from here. I spend a lot of my time these days working with and thinking about online education. How might the School of Celtic Consciousness exist online and connect with similar efforts? I have a bunch of thoughts around this as well and hope to explore all of this in more detail in the future.
Two Types of People
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 06/18/2017 - 04:19It is an old cliché, “There are two types of people…” Those who divide the world into two types of people, and those who don’t. I tend to think more in terms of continua and less in terms of binary oppositions. Nonetheless, it is a valuable rhetorical device.
One such example is the quote attributed to Helen Keller, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” It is tempting to head off on a direction about the life of fear that seems to grip so many in our nation today, and the life of adventure. I choose adventure.
This came to mind this morning as I was reading some of Scott Cairns’ “Short Trip to the Edge”. On page 178, (at least in my copy of the book), he says,
Sometimes I think there are two Orthodoxies (as, perhaps, there are two Christianities) – the mystical faith of those who glimpse how little we know (and are drawn and driven by love), and the cranky faith of those who appear to know everything already (and wish the rest of us would either agree with them or disappear).
This resonates with me on several levels. It seems that those of us drawn and driven by love and willing to admit not knowing everything are too few and far between in politics. Likewise, it feels like the discernment process, at least in my branch of the Jesus Movement, fails to embrace those of us drawn and driven by love who admit to not knowing everything.
It feels like allowing God to shape and change me doesn’t fit with institutions that want to do the shaping themselves, perhaps out of fear of confronting changes they need to look at.
Yet again, perhaps we are confronting a false dichotomy. It is not binary oppositions, it is a continua. Our journey is to recognize what we don’t know, where we aren’t as loving as we could or should be and asking God change us in these areas.
The Snowflake
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 03/02/2017 - 21:12I pause to consider
the snowflake
that has landed
on the handle of my shovel.
Was it part
of the waters
that were separated
from the dry land
on the third day?
Was it part
of the sweat
that fell from Adam’s brow
after he was cursed?
Was it part
of the great flood
God sent
to destroy corruption?
Was it part
of the river
that brought
the infant Moses
to Pharaoh?
Was it part
of the Red Sea
that Moses
parted
providing a path
for the Israelites?
Was it in the Jordan River
when Jesus was baptized
or in the jars of purification
at the wedding feast?
Was it part
of the water that flowed
from the pierced side
of Jesus?
Did it irrigate
hazelnut trees
in the time of Julian
in Norwich?
And what will become of it
after it melts,
flows into the pond
and rejoins
the great cycle
of evapotranspiration?
“It lasts
and ever shall
for God Loves it”
Making Eden Great
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/01/2017 - 06:39Now the serpent was more crafty
than any of the wild animals
the LORD God had made
and he said to Adam and Eve,
“I’m going to make Eden great again.
I will be the greatest president
that God ever created.”
When they heard the boasts
and found them pleasing to the ear,
they cast their vote for the serpent
and elected him their leader.
Then they heard the sound of the Lord God
walking in the garden
and they were afraid,
so they said to the serpent,
build a wall to keep us safe
and drive out those who are different from us.
When the Lord heard this he said,
“Because you have done this
by the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
from which you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Yet still the serpent boasted
“and when I return to dust,
I’ll be the greatest dust ever”,
and the serpent’s daughter
made fancy clothes
that were too expensive
and nobody liked
and tried to sell them in the stores.
And so the serpent started working on his agenda
And he attacked the judges and reporters
That thwarted or criticized him
And he said
“Nobody knew that healthcare
could be so complicated.”
Virgin Mary Crushing a Snake
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 02/19/2017 - 09:00In Orthodox iconography
we often see
the bare foot
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
crushing a snake.
It is a symbol
of her victory over evil
her willingness
to be a servant
of compassion.
In recent years
the snake has been co-opted
in alt-right iconography,
a symbol of defiance
and fierce independence
leaving little room
for servanthood
to compassion.
Don’t tread on me, Mother Mary.
