Sabbath work - Messy

We are messy creatures. Our bodies are messy (think about that when you blow your nose). Our minds are messy (obvious when we stumble trying to string two or three coherent sentences together). Our hearts are messy (focus on something that irritates you).

Our relationships are messy. The best of families have dysfunctional moments. Our neighborhoods are far from ideal. Our government does things that are either illegal or stupid. Our churches offer things they do not have and demand things we cannot give.

So as our natural world is messy, our cultural world is also messy. Much of it proceeds from messiness. It is hard to imagine Beethoven's Ninth or Shakespeare's Hamlet without messiness. Messiness gives birth to the sublime and the profane. Profanity comes in degrees from the horrific (Darfur) to the merely ugly (homelessness).

If we start with Genesis, we can travel through Augustine (it's all our fault) and arrive at Leibniz (this is the best of all possible worlds). Now we blame messiness on "illegal migrants". In the 90's it was welfare mothers. I skipped over Bin Laden and the terrorists. The Truth is, messiness makes us possible. We can blame messiness on sin but it is hard to image the sin of the apple that falls to the ground and becomes home to the worm. Understanding comes not from praising the Glory of Creation (it is magnificent) but in giving thanks for the messiness that makes room for us.

Whenever I re-read the passion story, I start at the Transfiguration, celebrate the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, rejoice in the cleansing of the Temple, become melancholy at the last supper, angry at the betrayal, fall into despair at the trials and emotionally collapse at the scourging and crucifixion. But that's all right because Jesus rises from the dead and everything is all right. Or is it?

I suspect the problem is, we have it forwards. There must have been some Magic; Christianity flourished. It did so in advance of the doctrines we repeat vacuously today. There were no creeds, no Trinity, no church buildings, no Bible. All there was was a Story. We know the Power of the story was manifested in the communities it gave birth to. I cannot transport myself to that place and time but I can speculate.

The essence of that story was unconditional love and sharing in contrast to the prevailing social order which was domination and exploitation. He called not for the Death of the dominators and exploiters but the Death of those forces within ourselves. Jesus' Sacrifice was not a perfection of Abraham's bungled sacrifice of Isaac but a realization that we must do what it takes - at any cost.

From this vantage point, the Story makes more sense.

The meek are those who have no spirit of domination. The Kingdom starts where domination ends.

When unconditional love takes root, all things are shared. There is no hunger or thirst as we break bread together. The tables of commercial exchange are not merely reformed, they are turned upside down. Mercy flows because there is nothing to stop it.

To pull this off, we must do violence to our egos as if with a sword - the words of His mouth and the breath of His lips. No easy task and it cannot be achieved on street corners nor standing up in church. The tools are there.

But when, and if, we do pull it off, we find Peace.