Confronting the Powers: Week 8 of Ordinary Time
LOOK: All Creatures Lament, Josh Tiessen - Source | HT
Artist’s Summary:
We shall awaken from our dullness and rise vigorously toward justice. If we fall in love with
creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.
––Hildegard of Bingen
Physiologus, a 2nd-century monastic text, was a predecessor to medieval bestiaries extolling the moral symbolism of real and imagined creatures, accompanied by lavish illustrations. One of the legendary stories is of a mother pelican who pierces her breast to feed her young, a phenomenon believed to take place during seasons of extreme drought. This visceral image was applied to Christ’s self-sacrifice on the cross—shedding his blood to make atonement for the sins of humanity. In the Gospel books of the Bible, Christ likens himself to a mother hen: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” [ii] Over the centuries many cathedrals adopted the symbol of the mother pelican and her chicks in the form of colourful stained-glass windows.
Drawing on this theological symbol, my painting depicts a mother pelican’s strident attempt to rise from the oily muck to save her chicks. I had in mind the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. This explosion of a rig managed by oil company BP was the largest marine oil spill in history, affecting Brown Pelicans in Louisiana, as well as White Pelicans many kilometers inland. In addition to oil spills, the ecological disaster of ocean plastics proliferates. Fishing nets are the worst perpetrators, and hooks that get lodged into wildlife. By 2050, 90% of seabirds will have plastic in their stomachs. Recently a train derailment in Ohio unleashed toxic chemicals like vinyl chloride into the air and waterways, resulting in nearly 45,000 animal deaths (primarily fish) and affecting the health of local communities, one of the worst catastrophes in American history. These environmental disasters manifest the proverb, “Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity, and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.” [iv]
When I read the words of Hildegard of Bingen (above) I am reminded that my love for the natural world must also involve a response to its endangerment. All Creatures Lament is meant to be an unpleasant and sobering work that spurs us on to action. Looking into the face of an innocent suffering creature, we also look into the face of Christ, remembering that we are called like he was to stand with the oppressed and marginalized, no matter the species.
LISTEN: All Creatures Lament, The Porter’s Gate, feat. Fernando Ortega & Molly Parden - Lyrics & Lead Sheets | Spotify | YouTube
Here’s a playlist I made for us a few years ago! Ordinary Time, pt. 1: Worship God in the World and Church
READ: Wisdom 12:13, 16–19; Psalm 86; Romans 8:18–25; Matthew 13:24–30, 34–43
Readings for the rest of the week*: Psalm 105; 1 Kings 18; Luke 9:7-9; Luke 22:66-23:25; Acts 12; Acts 21:22-26:32
PRAY: Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the Eighth Week After Pentecost
O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
READ: An excerpt from The Spacious Path, Part 3 (pp. 235-236)
CONTEMPLATIVE ACTIVISM
One of the most important decisions we make in contemplative silence is to discern God’s presence in the real world around us. As we grow in discernment, we better understand how to respond to God’s presence with prayerful action. We’ve already dispelled the myth that contemplation is about doing nothing and considered how prayerful listening to Spirit, scripture, creation, our lives, and silence leads us into prayerful acts of obedience.
African American spiritual leaders have led this conversation and embodied this flow from prayer into action. In her book Soul Care in African American Practice, author Dr. Barbara L. Peacock—quoting writer Dr. Ruth Haley Barton— offered the surprising observation that identifies Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the tremendous spiritual contemplatives of the twentieth century:
Dr. Ruth Haley Barton, founder of the Transforming Center, affirmed the inclusion of contemplation and prayerfulness in his life when, in honor of Martin Luther King Day in January 2010, she wrote that Dr. King’s “life was characterized by a powerful integration of prayer and contemplation with a profound commitment to decisive and loving action in the world.” Barton’s insight is extremely valuable in the discussion of the power of prayer and spiritual direction from an African American perspective.
ORDINARY AND (EXTRAORDINARY) JUSTICE
On my eighteenth birthday, I visited my dad in jail. He was serving a light sentence for an act of nonviolent protest. As a pastor in our community, he believed he had a prophetic and pastoral responsibility to enact visible acts of peace and justice. His choice did not make him popular, and after the organization he participated in crumbled under leadership scandal and a shift toward inciting violence, I questioned my dad too. In the light of history, I’ve changed my mind. I wish more pastors and church leaders would be like my dad, who willingly sacrificed his reputation for a loving, embodied presence on behalf of the vulnerable.
One of the gifts of growing up in the church has been bearing witness to the hidden works of justice happening around me all the time when humble, loving people commit to listen prayerfully and then act on behalf of the poor, imprisoned, sick, homeless, orphaned, widowed, trafficked, abused, unemployed, and refugees among us. In our small congregation now, a small group of fiercely faithful women meets regularly to pray against the epidemic of sex trafficking in our city and the world. If you stumbled into the room without knowing why they were gathered, you’d have no idea that these nice church ladies’ prayers bloom into fruitful acts of justice like painting rooms in homes for women who have survived sex trafficking, driving them to the store, listening to their stories, and offering a gentle, loving presence. Without this group of women, our church could move right along, unaware of the victims we encounter as we go about our city. Their embodied, prayerful presence serves as a stone in the wheels of our church. Because of this group of women, my friend Jennifer in particular, our church can’t move forward without tending to the needs of the trafficked in our city.
We see this kind of action—from shouts for peace and justice to acts of hidden resistance—at work in the lives of religious communities since the time of the early church and across the ecumenical spectrum. Sharing the work of prayerful, embodied presence is how the Holy Spirit invites the church to practice resurrection of God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. As we draw closer to God in contemplation and community, we are more aware of how and where to join God’s action in the here and now.
DO: This week, we’re thinking about what it means to join Jesus in confronting the political and (false) religious powers of this world. In the safety of God’s presence, ask the Spirit to help you prayerfully sit with the following questions from Living the Christian Year (p. 264):
Do you need to communicate your conviction about some matter of truth or justice to anyone in a position of authority over you, whether immediate (as in your boss) or distant (as in your senator)?
Ask God for the courage and grace to do so this week when the time seems right.
*During Ordinary Time this year, I’ll be curating the weekly themes, music, readings, and practices from four sources:
Sunday lectionary readings from Year A of the Book of Common Prayer 2019 (Anglican Church of North America).
Weekly themes and select lectionary readings from the excellent devotional guide, Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God by Bobby Gross
Weekly song to meditate from the sacred ecumenical arts collective, The Porter’s Gate because it feels like they’ve curated their discography to coordinate with the themes of Ordinary Time in Living the Christian Year!
Weekly readings and suggested practices from my book The Spacious Path: Practicing the Restful Way of Jesus in a Fragmented World because I was definitely influenced by Living the Christian Year! While it’s not necessary to purchase the book to follow along with us, I’d be grateful if you did!