Sabbath Soliloquy

Canned Heat’s On the Road Again is playing in the background, while C-SPAN’s fare today has been coverage of the peace rally in D.C. and the commencement of Hillary’s campaign in Iowa. The three most important people in my life are socially, politically, and morally conscious activists, and the concentric “rings” spreading from this source include many, many more who, while they may not fall into the “three most important” category, are nonetheless critical elements of the construct I perceive as reality.

I am beginning to think that our government is growing fearful of its constituency, of its people. I think that this —if it is in fact what’s happening—is not a good thing. Jesus of Nazareth, who is proclaimed Prince of Peace by countless millions, repeatedly counseled his followers to not be afraid. Therefore, regardless of what they call themselves or think themselves to be, anyone who encourages violence by percolating fear throughout the public mind is truly antithetical to the Christ.

To find any truth or meaning in the teachings of the Christ requires clarity of theology that naturally becomes increasingly important for each succeeding generation; for it is true that the transmission is always but one generation from extinction. We must hope and pray that the transmission has not already been lost.

Twentieth century discoveries of ancient documents (e.g. Dead Sea Scrolls; Nag Hammadi library), however, has improved inestimably the likelihood that the Christ is still experientially (and therefore, in my mind, existentially) available to our contemporary consciousness. Combined with a progressive process worldview, a continuously reborn consciousness of the Christ has the power to redeem even today’s sinful world.

We must, then, apply ourselves not only to what we believe, but to why we believe it, thereby determining whether or not what we believe is actually true. Only then are we in a position to start living the Good News revealed so long ago to human consciousness. Our human survival, in other words, profoundly depends upon our ability to comprehend, and then, perhaps more importantly, to implement the Truth of God revealed to us through Christ!

Amen.