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Pastor Annette's Blog

"OF ALL THE THINGS GOD HAS SHOWN ME, I CAN SPEAK BUT A LITTLE WORD . . . NOT MORE THAN A HONEYBEE CAN CARRY AWAY ON ITS FOOT FROM AN OVERFLOWING JAR."
~ MECHTHILD OF MAGDEBURG, 13TH CENTURY MYSTIC

Reformatting Vocabulary

3/7/2017

1 Comment

 
​Scout sniffed her breakfast and looked at me as if to say, “Is there anything else?”  She gets dry kibble with a little scoop of meaty, canned dog food stirred in.  The store was out of our regular brand of canned so I got a different one, which she LOVES!!!!  But that’s run out, so this morning we are back to the old one, thus the sniffing and those sad, brown, puppy eyes.  But I held my ground, and she finally gave in and ate it, knowing if she delays too long Rosie will eat both bowls and she’ll be hungry until morning.
 
The struggle is real, as they say.  The struggle of a life so privileged that preference and necessity seem synonymous.  I’ve always known I was privileged.  My parents made sure of it from the beginning.  I knew that certain weeks we didn’t buy things, because we have house payment this week, and we were very lucky to have our own house.  I knew not every little girl got new clothes or school supplies in August, that some kids didn’t even have a school.
Picture
Scout making her sweetest
eyes in hopes of sharing my scrambled eggs.  Nada, sweetheart.  No way.

Not once did my parents say we were privileged but somewhere in my growing up, blessed dropped into my vocabulary.  I didn’t notice when or where, but I expect it was at church.  The same church who by intention taught me Jesus loves me without end accidently left me thinking all this privilege also came from Him.  Unknowing what-we-thought-was-true-but-isn’t may be the most tedious spiritual discipline of all.  Weeding blessing from thought and speech where it does not belong never ends.  The tally of advantages gained simply by being white is startling.  Add educated, affluent and American – a person could count her many advantages all day long.

​What then counts as a blessing, if not the tastier canned dog food or my healthy family and warm house?  Not to put too fine a point on it, faith.  Faith in the Christ event.  Faith in Christ’s own self – who came and lived and died and lived again for us, breaking the threat of death over our daily existence – frees us to life without fear.  We are free.  Rich or poor, we are free.  Sick or well, we are free.  The threats of this world can do no more than kill the body, because in life or in death we belong to the Lord.  Whoever we are.  Wherever we come from.
 
I wish I’d figured it out sooner, but I’m glad I lived long enough to know the difference between privilege and blessing.  And while I’ve a long way to go in reformatting my thoughts and speech, I’m glad to be about this project with the likes of you.  Here’s a picture of Scout on her best behavior with her sweetest puppy eyes hoping for a bite of my scrambled eggs.  She didn’t get any.
1 Comment
Michael Enyeart link
3/27/2017 09:03:33 am

What a powerful and inspirational letter. Bloomington is "blessed" to have so many teachers ('rabbis') post on the H-T religion page.

I had several thoughts as I read and re-read and re-read the letter.

1. What is the childhood of Rev. Briggs? Were her parents ministers? Baptists?

2. Discussion of privilege is predicated on identity. Each of us have a hundred or more elements of identity, for example: our family, our ancestors, our DNA, our hair, our progeny, spouse, our body, our health, our athleticism, our personality, intellect, race, wealth, religion, politics, world views, home, car, oder, consumer products, and yes, dogs. If we experience slow death, these identities are taken away, one by one, and what remains is who we really are: spirit made in the image of God.

3. Serving in hospice, I was exposed to many faiths and ministers, and I tried to understand and honor them all. So I was "struck" that this description of “the Christ event” by a Baptist minister, seemingly transcended the notion that Jesus was sacrificed for our sins. Rev. Briggs writes:

“Faith in the Christ event. Faith in Christ’s own self — who came and lived and died and lived again for us, breaking the threat of death over our daily existence — frees us to life without fear. We are free. Rich or poor, we are free. Sick or well, we are free. The threats of this world can do no more than kill the body, because in life or in death we belong to the Lord. Whoever we are. Wherever we come from.”

This is a profound statement and the punch of the headline. Our true identity is spirit. Being human is mortal hominid possessed by eternal spirit. This was the lesson of the Crucifixion. Post mortem Jesus manifested spirit as his body. This is the miracle and atonement. Eternity echoed the story of the Prodigal Son. With this knowledge, we are made free from death and every other “bad” thing that happens. This truth allows us to live our life with courage and grace; regardless of what happens. We can be true to ourselves, like Jesus did. So what if we are crucified?

I have seen people die. In a sense, we are all dying. When we find our true identity as the witness of our Mind, a big part of our identity dies, and we are reborn of our true self.

I've seen that one can be in pain, but not suffer. Pain is hominid sensory information. Suffering is desire for reality to be other than it is.

We see such suffering in people who lament that “God did me wrong.” They do not realize that they chose this life for good reasons.

Celebrating and remembering our life at the end, is wonderful therapy. We evolve God. God evolves us. It's the same thing. This was the story of Jesus. Jesus sometimes spoke for the Christ or Christos. He sometimes spoke as a brother. Sometimes as Rabbi. He gave enlightenment as a Sat Guru (Luke 10). He said his kingdom is spirit.

Spirit is like water. All H2O seems the same, but it's context and environment makes it very unique. Look closer and there are quantum differences. Look deeper and it's just fields vibrating in a set of dimensions. Look deeper and find new dimensions. Spirit resonates in other dimensions.

The universe is working just like it should and when you find that, you end desire and suffering, and can repose in awareness, peace and love.

On the other hand, we have power to "move mountains." The “faith” Jesus described was not “believing in something without evidence.” Rather, it was natural knowledge that the universe is anthropomorphic. We (spirit) create reality. This is even true of atheists, agnostics, and psychologists – identity types of three great secular religions that bless us all.

Like H2O, all religion is the same thing. It's the lense we use to understand reality. Each path leads to the same place as we unlearn our conditioning and become clear eyed, like children and dogs.

I've unlearned a boat load of Christianity. Now, why in heaven's name, can't Scout have more of that other brand of dog food?

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    I write a Tuesday morning devotional to members and friends of UBC.  It is also posted here. 
     
    Enjoy!  
    Pastor Annette

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    Everything on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons license, which gives you permission to copy freely, provided that you attribute the work to me, that you use the work for non-commercial purposes, and that you do not produce derivative works.

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Bloomington, IN 47401
812-339-1404
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Photo from TheReptilarium
  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Staff
    • Annette Hill Briggs, Pastor
    • Rob Drummond ~ Music Minister
  • Listen & Read
    • Sermons
    • Pastor's Blog
    • #ITSYOURCHURCHTOO >
      • About >
        • When & Where?
        • Ministries >
          • Worship >
            • Music
            • Worship Arts
            • Worship Resources
          • Fellowship >
            • Wednesday Night Supper
            • Church Recipes
          • Service >
            • MCUM Collections
            • Habitat for Humanity Project
          • Vacation Bible School
        • Our Story >
          • Denomination
          • Who We Are
        • Contact
        • Calendar
    • Social Media Feed
  • Give
  • Newsletter
  • Recommended Reading