It's been quite some time since my last posting but I wanted to share this recent moving story of a couple whose engagement was some 60 years in the making!
I will continue to post here but I'm also grateful that most of the things I felt I needed to express are either archived in this blog or are still in the initial stages of formation and articulation for later postings and/or publications.
Peace,
Padre Chuck
Monday, July 5, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Joy in Every Land
In celebration of Easter this week I'd like to share this video featuring one of my favorite musical pieces, J.S. Bach's Cantata 51, "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen" ("Rejoice in God in Every Land"). From the time I first heard this piece many years ago I've been drawn to its spontaneous sense of joy and exultation, a feeling that has always resonated with my faith in God.
In a special way this Easter I would like to offer this song as a meditation of thanksgiving for the joy I feel at finally being free to be who I really am. For so long I thought I had to pretend to be something I wasn't in order to win God's and other people's love and acceptance. But now that I know that I'm loved for who I really am I feel like I in fact can "rejoice in every land," as the song suggests. Now, this doesn't mean that every moment is easy or that life isn't without its pain, sorrow, or challenges. On the contrary, these things all continue for me as they do for all of us in this life. What's different now, however, is that the place deep inside me where I know who I really am is no longer hidden or covered up. Instead, it's open and free to feel both the ups and downs of life knowing that I really am loved at the deepest core of my being. In other words, I'm no longer phoning in my life through the filter of what or how I think I'm supposed to be - it's actually me who's living and experiencing what's going on in and around me and who can respond from who I really am. To me that's what this song is about - that there's a joy that's deeper than mere happiness and bigger than any sadness we may feel and that's available to us at every moment of our lives, if only we learn to claim it.
In a way, it reminds me of an insight I once read in a book of meditations by the Trappist monk Thomas Merton. He said that the deepest ground of our heart - the place where we are who we really are - is precisely the place where God finds us and we find our connection to God. I feel fortunate this Easter to know that place within myself a little more deeply and to find there the surprising, unmistakable love of the God who created us and is always at our side. To me that's the joy in every land, in every circumstance, and in every age that can truly change the world.
Peace,
Padre Chuck
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Growing Support
It's encouraging to read reports like one released recently, in which it's demonstrated that support among young people for marriage equality continues to grow. Although there's still much work to be done at all age levels and in so many places to help spread the message of tolerance and acceptance, it's at least encouraging to know that the future looks encouraging. Really, it's just a matter of time until society and religious institutions awaken more fully to the need to recognize marriage equality.
Peace,
Padre Chuck
Peace,
Padre Chuck
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Marriage Equality in DC
It's been awhile since I've been able to post here as I've been in the midst of moving back to the U.S. and continuing with my graduate work. However, I did want to take this opportunity to share this beautiful video, which features footage from some of the first same-sex weddings performed this week in Washington, D.C. Congrats to these happy couples and may their example inspire understanding and tolerance in Washington, nationwide, and around the world.
Peace,
Padre Chuck
Sunday, February 7, 2010
A Child is Listening
Today I would like to offer this excerpt from the excellent film, "Prayers for Bobby." The movie tells the true story of Bobby Griffith, a young man who took his own life in the early 1980s after suffering the rejection of family and friends for being gay. Sadly, Bobby's family wasn't able to accept him during his lifetime, but the film goes on to show their transformation as they learn the truth about the what the Bible actually says about homosexuality and how LGBT people have suffered needless persecution and discrimination as a result of bigotry and ignorance. In this moving final scene, Bobby's mother shares her story at a public hearing, an event which marked the beginning of her own public advocacy work on behalf of LGBT rights.
For me, watching this film was a painful reminder of the ways in which I too participated in a system that oppresses innocent people and attempts to take away their humanity. However, like Bobby's mother, I too have begun to find forgiveness and healing in the possibility of standing up together with my sisters and brothers in the LGBT movement and no longer remaining silent. May the God of love and compassion Mary describes in this speech come to fill all of our lives with hope, freedom, and the courage to stand up for what is right.
Blessings,
Padre Chuck
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Jesus, not Plato
To continue with my reflections on Bishop Robinson's book I'd like to offer the following important quote:
“Paul and his Greek and Persian contemporaries were also influenced by a popular notion from which most of the Western world still opereates—an idea that would have been foreign to the Hebrew mind and to Jesus—the notion of a mind/body dualism asserting that matters of the mind and soul were noble and striving for the good and perfect, while matters of the body were crude and obscene and inherently shallow, if not evil...Seeing the body, and especially sexuality, in this corrupting way is perhaps the most powerful source of our Pandora’s-Box attitude toward sex” (33).
With this statement, Bishop Robinson reminds us of the crucial truth that early on in the history of Christianity the influence of Greek philosophy came to hold theological sway in the church. As articulated in the philosophy of Plato, this line of thought suggested a fundamental mind/body split in which things pertaining to the mind are good and those related to the body bad. This school of philosophy actually has nothing to do with the life and teachings of Christ and therefore, though perhaps one might argue that it was useful for a time, there is no need to hold to this view of human beings or creation any longer.
Instead, I believe what is needed in the church is a reflective, intelligent return to the historical and biblical roots of the Judeo-Christian tradition, in which God's gift of sexuality is both respected and appreciated as good, holy and beautiful. In doing so we have the potential to help our sisters and brothers, whether gay or straight, regain a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the gift of sexuality in their lives.
Peace,
Padre Chuck
“Paul and his Greek and Persian contemporaries were also influenced by a popular notion from which most of the Western world still opereates—an idea that would have been foreign to the Hebrew mind and to Jesus—the notion of a mind/body dualism asserting that matters of the mind and soul were noble and striving for the good and perfect, while matters of the body were crude and obscene and inherently shallow, if not evil...Seeing the body, and especially sexuality, in this corrupting way is perhaps the most powerful source of our Pandora’s-Box attitude toward sex” (33).
With this statement, Bishop Robinson reminds us of the crucial truth that early on in the history of Christianity the influence of Greek philosophy came to hold theological sway in the church. As articulated in the philosophy of Plato, this line of thought suggested a fundamental mind/body split in which things pertaining to the mind are good and those related to the body bad. This school of philosophy actually has nothing to do with the life and teachings of Christ and therefore, though perhaps one might argue that it was useful for a time, there is no need to hold to this view of human beings or creation any longer.
Instead, I believe what is needed in the church is a reflective, intelligent return to the historical and biblical roots of the Judeo-Christian tradition, in which God's gift of sexuality is both respected and appreciated as good, holy and beautiful. In doing so we have the potential to help our sisters and brothers, whether gay or straight, regain a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the gift of sexuality in their lives.
Peace,
Padre Chuck
Prayers for Haiti
Although with my research this year in Mexico I don't get to blog as often as I'd like I did want to share a hopeful article I ran across recently about the tragedy in Haiti. The news about this disaster is of course horrific but it's also helpful, I believe, to remember that those who have suffered this tragedy are not just victims but also women, men and children who, with the help of international aid, are working together to gradually rebuild their country and their lives.
Peace,
Padre Chuck
Peace,
Padre Chuck
Thursday, January 7, 2010
The Roots of Homophobia
As I mentioned in my last posting, I would like to continue to share a few more insights from Bishop Robinson's book that were especially striking to me. For today I'd like to offer the following quote:
“Much of the chaos in our society and in the church are the early stages of the end of male dominance, male superiority, and male privilege. And because of the link between homophobia and misogyny, this battle over homosexuality is as much about the end of patriarchy as anything else” (40).
Although Bishop Robinson elaborates more extensively on this point throughout his book, I believe this short excerpt sums up quite well an essential point he's trying to make: namely, that much of the resistance to LGBT equality in our places of worship and society stems from a deeper, longstanding misogyny or hatred toward women. Many cultures throughout the world and certainly the major Abrahamic religions are historically based on a patriarchal model of society - men are the leaders and authority figures and women traditionally have been marginalized to a kind of second-class citizen status. Now that this is changing, both as women gain a voice within the church and society and men who don't conform to traditional masculine roles also become empowered, those in traditional roles of dominance feel threatened and are responding accordingly.
However, despite these challenges to equality, voices like Bishop Robinson's continue to arise to give us the courage and hope we need to keep on fighting for what's right. It's not an easy fight but in the end it's one that will ultimately liberate both the oppressed and their oppressors from a system that, by its staid inflexibility, is obscuring the message our world so needs to hear - the good news of God's radically inclusive and embracing love for all.
Peace,
Padre Chuck
“Much of the chaos in our society and in the church are the early stages of the end of male dominance, male superiority, and male privilege. And because of the link between homophobia and misogyny, this battle over homosexuality is as much about the end of patriarchy as anything else” (40).
Although Bishop Robinson elaborates more extensively on this point throughout his book, I believe this short excerpt sums up quite well an essential point he's trying to make: namely, that much of the resistance to LGBT equality in our places of worship and society stems from a deeper, longstanding misogyny or hatred toward women. Many cultures throughout the world and certainly the major Abrahamic religions are historically based on a patriarchal model of society - men are the leaders and authority figures and women traditionally have been marginalized to a kind of second-class citizen status. Now that this is changing, both as women gain a voice within the church and society and men who don't conform to traditional masculine roles also become empowered, those in traditional roles of dominance feel threatened and are responding accordingly.
However, despite these challenges to equality, voices like Bishop Robinson's continue to arise to give us the courage and hope we need to keep on fighting for what's right. It's not an easy fight but in the end it's one that will ultimately liberate both the oppressed and their oppressors from a system that, by its staid inflexibility, is obscuring the message our world so needs to hear - the good news of God's radically inclusive and embracing love for all.
Peace,
Padre Chuck
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
