Image
When I wrote last, I thought I’d be starting radiation and chemo on Oct. 27. For varying reasons I shall not bore you with, that did not happen, and will likely not happen this week either, though I’m assured I will start by Nov. 11 at the latest. What did happen this past week was lots of education about chemo and radiation and another MRI and the creation of a plastic mask of my head that my nephews might be interested in for a future Halloween. Even more importantly, what did happen was some excellent chicken and waffles that arrived via Door Dash; some stunning strolls through the yellowing woods with my brother Paul and sister Mary; a decent amount of organization on the work and home front that probably has needed to happen for a while now (Why were we not all added to each other’s bank accounts before?); and one exceptional four minute dance party following a Ted Lasso Season Two episode that led to the alarm company contacting us with concerns of unusual vibrations in the living room. So basically, what did happen this past week was a whole lot of beauty, work, and joy.
Which is what I wanted to talk about at the end of last week’s newsletter when I said I wanted to mention more about the Basileia tou Theou (usually translated the Kingdom of God in Mark’s and Luke’s Gospels) or the Basileia tou Ouranos (usually translated Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew’s Gospel… though there is no reason to think Jesus talked differently to Matthew. There is surely a single Hebrew term Jesus regularly used that underlies these two Greek phrases.)
I have vague memories of hearing about the Basileia as a child, but I do mean vague. I first fell in love with what Jesus had fallen in love with in my late 20s when studying to be a catechist in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd movement and holding a real mustard seed on the tip of my finger for the first time (not the kind in the spice jar), and then later reading the first volume of Dominican Fr. Don Goergen’s Christology series called “The Mission and Ministry of Jesus” (see chapter 7, if you really want to get into my weeds).
What became clear and beautiful to me at that point and has only become more clear and more beautiful to me in the decades since, is that God has an absolutely spectacular dream for our planet and that human beings have been given a uniquely spectacular role to play in collaborating with God to bring that about… if we so choose to do so. For the past 30 years, I’ve sat with children between the ages of three and twelve pondering what Jesus meant when he said that the Basileia was like not only a mustard seed, but a pearl, a treasure, a teaspoon of yeast, a vineyard, a shepherd searching for sheep, a woman finding a missing coin, and other parables too numerous to list because the Basileia is such a great mystery Jesus needed many.
Then three years ago, I spent an especially delightful fall semester away at the Collegeville Institute in Minnesota to ponder the stories / parables that Jesus himself might have heard as a child that helped shape his own understanding of God’s intentions for our Earth, and human beings in particular, while working on the book Redeeming Power. I found myself in the whirling vortex of Genesis 1-3 where we find the ancient Jewish Creation stories that Jesus would have grown up with. I loved reading not only the Christian but Jewish commentaries on these texts. If you are interested in going deeper into what I think our ancestors in faith wanted to share with us about God, our planet, what it means to be human (especially a human in leadership) let me nudge you in the direction of Redeeming Power. But here, I want to just name the three main things God calls us to in the Basileia God dreams for us:
- GOD INVITES US TO ENJOY THE EARTH – Genesis talks about God creating a beautiful planet for us that is good. Of all the creatures of the earth, we as human beings wake up within the mystery of time to find ourselves like guests at a banquet in which not only all we need to live is present, but more than we could ever imagine. Stars and a full moon. Leaves that change color throughout the year. Pink petunias and bright red tomatoes and squirrels that nibble on them. Clouds that look like cotton balls on some days and feathers on others. Birds that sing hundreds of different songs. This list could be very, very long and my newsletter does not intend to be, so I trust you can fill out the rest yourself. Point: Maybe other creatures also have a capacity to experience the world and be grateful, but human beings certainly have been given this capacity and, from the very beginning, have been meant to use it without fail.
- GOD GIVES US A WORK TO DO – Beyond placing us on a beautiful planet, Genesis speaks of human beings being given work to do to move the earth forward to becoming even more what God dreams it to become. Again, other creatures can also take earth up into their hands and change it, but none to the same degree humans are able to do so. We can knead and bake bread; ferment grapes into wine; fashion and play drums and flutes; paint the Mona Lisa; rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire. And again, the list is endless. Point: The way we work might end up feeling like punishment because of the structures of sin in our world, but work itself is intended to be meaningful and a participation in God’s larger plan for our planet.
- GOD INVITES US INTO RELATIONSHIP – Much ink has been spilled on the phrase “Let us create man in our own image” and I have participated in that spillage in Chapter 4 of Redeeming Power, but here let me just say that God by God’s very nature is relational and we who are fashioned in God’s image are to be, too. From the beginning, we are meant for friendship. For deep conversations and tender love. We are meant to watch out for one another. To have dance parties after Ted Lasso Season Two (Episode 9, to be precise). To change our littlest one’s diapers and tell them not to be afraid in the middle of the night because we will be there for them… and then to do the same on the other edge of life. The pictures we might paint of what participation in divine relationship looks like are also too numerous to describe here, but I trust you can get your own brush out here as well. Point: From the beginning, we’ve always been meant to enjoy being in relationship with others and with God.
I’m sure you are wondering by now why I am so compelled to talk about Genesis Creation stories right now based on what I wrote about last week. Like what is the connection here at all?? For me, it is two-fold.
One, I want to tell you how consoling knowing these three things from Genesis has been to me in the last month. The Basileia that God dreams for us and invites us into is not one that is intended to give us the longest life possible on this planet, but the most meaningful one—the one in which we most fully enjoy the beauty of this world; the one in which we feel like we have a purposeful work to do that makes a positive difference for the world; the one in which we are able to be in deep relationship with others. On all three of those fronts, I know that I have been so richly blessed more than I deserve.
I have seen mountains and oceans and deserts and jungles. And let’s not forget moose. Indeed right now, I am looking at one of those 10 ft Joro spider webs that have overtaken Georgia this fall. Not exactly what I want outside my front window, but pretty darn glorious to behold nonetheless.
I also have been given the most meaningful work anyone could desire to have in life. To be able to study history and theology. To be called to preach. To be called to be a catechist. To be able to write and to speak. There is nothing more I could have asked for in my past or present.
And then I have been blessed with the deepest of friendships and family relationships. When I think of my husband, my son, each of my siblings, friends across a long span of time, I don’t have words. And I’ve not even yet mentioned my nephews and nieces, my in-laws, work colleagues, atrium children….
I think of these three things that Genesis talks about God wanting for us and ripples of gratitude come over me. No. More like waves. As long as I keep my focus there, I find myself able to remain at peace versus anxious because no matter what happens to me next with chemo and radiation and whatnot, I know I am in really, really good hands. I won’t lie. Yesterday afternoon the Emory Center My Chart App sent me a form to fill out called “End-of-Life Planning” and it was a bit of a gut punch still. But when I sit back down with what I’ve learned from Genesis, the gratitude waves do return and they bring with them some real joy.
Which brings me to the second point of connection to last week…. And then I do promise you I will finish for the day:
Given the role that leaders have helping all of us move in the direction of God’s dream for us, do we see any indication that our leaders have the experience of feeling these three things as well? Do we see them drawing nearer the beauty of the earth? Do we see them getting to experience joy and laughter and friendship and maybe some occasional spontaneous dance? Do we have any sign our leaders experience their work as meaningful, not for their own benefit, but for the planet at large? That the work they are trying to do is about making the world a truly better place? And if not, what a sad situation of tremendous loss. If working on Redeeming Power taught me anything, it taught me that those who have truly come in contact with their human vocation tend to be the world’s happiest people. Is it possible that God is inviting our country to faaarrrr more joy, perhaps by inviting its leaders to faaarrrr more joy than they currently seem to have access to?
Last week I said the problems of our moment in time are big, and we can’t make others learn how to laugh or love or work hard or dance. But we can do it ourselves to the best we are able. We can try to show our leaders what human joy looks like, even if it really is mingled with a host of other emotions as well. And we can offer our tiny efforts to live in awe, and do our hard hopeful work, and be a good friend… well, we can offer them to God and say “Here’s what I’ve got as one of those humans on your planet today. Can you do something with it beyond what I can imagine right now?”
Life is a mystery. The capacity to make of it an offering is not. May we continue to join together today in the common fashioning of one.
(Image: Creation of the Cosmos icon)