Peace of God Be With My
Enemy Daily Reflection June 2, 2020
In today's reflection, I am led to
continue using the lessons from the Lectionary for the 4th
of July, from the Book of Hebrews: “If they had been thinking of
the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity
to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a
heavenly one”.
Those of you who have heard me prattle
on over the years, know that my definition of heaven is not a place
above the sky where you go after you die as a reward for a holy life.
For me the word “Heaven” is a circumlocution for being in the
presence of God, where time and space are irrelevant. Therefore, in
this Wilsonian definition, Heaven is not a future fantasy theme park
where we are hoping to be admitted, but an ever present time and
space of the deeper reality. To me, the meaning of the commandment of
condemning the taking of the LORD's name in vain is not about
cussing, but about referring to God in the third person as if God had
left the room. God is here in us, in creation and in the space
between us. This means to me, that I have to practice seeing God in
the person with whom I disagree, or who is my enemy.
There is a Hindu greeting, “namaste”
which comes three different sounds; na = not, mas = me, te = thee. It
means “I am open to you”, “this is not about me”, “the God
in me greets the God in you”. In the Episcopal Church, our version
is in the exchange of signs of the Shalom of God, the Peace of the
LORD with members of the congregation, which we do before receiving
communion. If you have trouble sleeping and/or want to know more
about that, I wrote a long scholarly article on that practice, “A
Pax On Both Your Houses”, for the Sewanee Theological Review
when I was in Seminary 37 years ago, which is probably mouldering on
the dusty back racks of some Theological School Libraries.
Today's newspaper headlines have to do
with the naming of the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis. Stennis was
the longtime chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee and was
heavily involved in appropriations for our military. The naming of
the Carrier was in honor of his support over the years of the Navy.
Stennis was also a through going racist.When black sailors whose
parents and grandparents Stennis fought against having their voting
rights, or going to equal schools, or having representation on
juries, or advancement in the military, or living in the place of
their choice, or being able to make a living above poverty, or having
due process in court, or having a fair trial; when the sailors salute
the ship they are also saluting the man whose name it carries. It
would be like saying namaste, the Shalom of God, the Peace of the
LORD to him. If I were black, the words would choke in my throat and
I would need a power greater than myself to do it.
My own private politics have been
extreme left wing, and I have had to keep them out of my statements
as a Priest in the Episcopal Church. But I am retired now. I went to
seminary right after Ronald Wilson Regan was elected President and it
was difficult for me to lead prayers when we prayed for the leaders
of our nation. I disagreed with almost every thing he did, but I
prayed for him, sometimes gritting my teeth. One thing that helped
was saying his full name, his middle name is the same as my last
name; so we might be cousins, maybe 47th cousins, eight
times removed, but we were connected in my mind. I have a hard time
with our current president; but prayers with his name, the namaste,
the Shalom of God, the Peace of the LORD, are offered for him,
sometimes with gritted teeth, but offered because we are all
connected. I do not choose my God, or my neighbor; rather God's Peace
is in the space between us if we choose to give it.
No comments:
Post a Comment