Spiritual cocooning

I'll be floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. Muhammad Ali

Recently there was this meeting in a parish hall here in Kalmar, me being the youngest person present (being 28!). There was the usual lamentations on the state of the church, you know the score, worldliness creeping in and bishops folding over to outside pressure. Basically the pastors are failing to keep the wolves from the flock and the flock from the wolves. All perfectly true, but this time I couldn´t help hearing scratches in the record, like it had been played once too many (metaphor lost on the CD generation).

The subject was twofold, living in the world and rulership of the church. For those of you who know your Luther, that translates to the worldly and spiritual regiment, though our basis of discussion was the Confessio Augustana written by his disciple, Philip Melanchton. But I´ll stop here before I start delving into interesting but overly deep waters. What struck me was that the twofold subject turned into a onesided discussion, on who rules the church and how that power is exercised. Living in the world appearantly didn´t merit questions or argument. I really couldn´t understand how that is, since my experience is that it´s quite simple being a Christian in the church where one after all has plenty of support and back-up, despite some feral presence where it really shouldn´t be. Now, being a Christian in the world, that´s a different matter altogether, there being little or none fellowship with other believers, in a culture where belief is sanctioned socially (oh, yes it is...). Not to mention that distractions are more or less what the “experience economy” is about, temptations being the engine of a consumerist society. You might say a snowball in hell has better chance of survival. Then again, for God being willing is being able...

We´re also faced with a new political situation, where everyone is empowered, but power has become invisible. Who works it, and where does it go? What is a Christian agenda in our secular society? Material welfare, or spiritual (how that can be accomplished using worldly means)? All utopias are dead by the way, they just seem ridiculous in a society where all we have is means, all goals being compromised or banale. Never before have we been confronted with so many choices, yet they all feel like same shit, different colour. You can put your soul into your work, but how many workplaces really do something for the benefit of the Kingdom, let alone your fellow man? We work more, in order to be able to consume more, because there is a whole industry geared to manipulate our desires to dead things, preferably killing our souls in the process (souls having no money and being a bit of a nuisance economy-wise), get sick of it and realize that if I stop consuming, we need work less, hang on a minute, must work less, and that spells unemployment and maybe even economic collapse.

In short, a spiritual cocoon can look mighty attractive on the streets of Babylon. But then again a cocoon is by nature a temporary residence, and we´re supposed to leave it different, freer, better than we entered it. It´s warm and snuggly, but it´s for preparation, not hibernation. I have no problem with caterpillars, but you must admit butterflies are more beautiful and have a sensible amount of legs.

I´m a bit unsure about cocooning in the church, because it´s perfectly obvious we need it. I did a retreat this summer for one thing, and it was necessary, that´s all I can say about it. But should I make it a yearly tradition? Maybe not. That conference with mr. Holyone and ms. Devoted sounds awfully interesting, but does it take me in a direction of my own design, spiritual or not, or on the path that God has cleared for me? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn´t. The point is, we can´t just look for comfort and kicks, we need to realize at some point that we´re actually equipped for all occasions, clothed for any weather. That we can float like butterflies, sting like bees, and truly are both beautiful and loved. Even loving. Then we´re ready to answer the question of the psalmist:
How shall we sing the Lord´s song in a strange land? Ps 137:4


PS. By the way, the word “mass”, as in service with the holy communion, means “sending out”, as out into the world, as into service. Faithful preparation is faithful service, as a friend of mine would say. It´s full of faith, so to speak, and faith is a driving force, able to move mountains and warm, snuggly believers.

Two takes on death

I just spent an evening listening to a new Johnny Cash record, “American V: A hundred highways”, well and truly his swan song, since we sadly no longer have him with us. But I guess God must be mighty happy having him singing by the throne...

Well, listening to all those songs about caskets going down into the grave and children left weeping for their dead, I couldn´t help comparing it to Bob Dylan´s first record, from when he was just 21 years old. Also filled with songs about death and dying, yet radically different. It´s actually possible to sing an album´s worth of songs about death whilst being utterly confident about one´s immortality. That´s the Bob variant by the way, and it´s an absolutely brilliant display of youthful arrogance. Johnny is a bit different, naturally. He comes at you doing what he´s always done, singing about life and living as he sees it, correction, lives it. When asked about his new companion, he´ll simply say, “Oh him, don´t worry about him, that´s just Death. Can´t seem to get rid of him, but then again, what can he do to anyone?”

Indeed.