140. Praying for Assholes

Praying for Assholes

Luke 6:27 & 28 "But to you who are listening, I say love your enemies, do good to those that hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you."

I am sure that if you are reading this, you will know at least a couple of assholes. The kind of people that will want to create difficulties for you; just because they like to do so. Whether it be for personal entertainment, or some other hidden agenda, or just because they are miserable and cannot stand the idea that others are successful and happy. Assholes. Sorry for the foul language, but truly, the word asshole seems so descriptive of these, well, you know.

     We live in a world that stresses vengeance. Do not let that person get away with doing that to you. We practice being ugly people with each other. Our marriages become areanas for competition. One of the women I am blessed to work with recently lost a close friend over a cigarette thown out a window. This was based on another person's desire to be ugly in the world.

     The bible talks about this kind of greed and competition. I believe the admonition of "an eye for an eye" is not a recipe for justice, but a limitation of vengeance. We live in a world that invites us to be bitter, angry and hostile. Paul writes of this in Romans, "They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife and deceit, and malice."

Then we have Jesus.

Reminding us about "an eye for an eye." But then he adds, "But I tell you."

His famous words. Gently telling us that we have it wrong. These are not easy words that follow. Not at all, easy.

I am dealing with an asshole as I write this.  Honestly, I think he is a waste of oxygen. And I have taken to praying for him frequently and regularly. And no, I do not pray that he gets what I think he deserves.  I pray that he might come to know love and peace. At times it is harder to pray for him than at other times.
     Do not think for a moment think that I am some sort of spiritual master. I pray for him for a number of reasons. One of them is that Jesus has told me to do so.  And I understand that if I saw him the way God sees him, then the context of what is happening changes.
     Honestly, I pray for him because I want to keep from what he creates in me from coming into my home, and my relationship with Wanna. I do not think it is possible to be loving and gentle with Wanna if I entertain fantasies of zap strapping the man to a chair and covering his head with paint remover.
     When I step back a bit, and put a bit of perspective on what he is up to, then I begin to realize that he must be miserable indeed. There are those who go into this field I work in, because it gives them the ability to fuck with others. I see it all the time. People who want to be telling others how to live their lives out. People who think they know what others should have, or not have, in their life. It is not even morally based, rather based on their own personal preferences.  It has given me a good idea of what life with pharisees might have been like.
     So I pray for him. At the end of the day, I am happy that I am I, and would not want to be that miserable asshole.

I also pray for myself.  I know that if I am angry, and spiteful, and ugly of spirit, then I am likely to miss all of what is offered to me. I do believe that what we focus on, is what we create in our lives. Not in that mystical, energy attracts energy kind of way. But in a very practical way.  If I am simply thinking about how awful the world is, then I am likely not to see the beautiful, the lovely, and the desirable. Praying for this asshole, allows me to see what is good in the world around me. 
     I end with - Finally, brothers and sisters. whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

139. Spaces

If you follow my posts then you owe a thanks to another lunch mate. He bugged me about writing again.

I owe a thanks for the basic concept of this blog to a friend of mine Chris Kinman. 

I decided it was time to get back to doing what I enjoy.  Writing.  So here goes.

My friend has a concept that he refers to as Striated Spaces versus Smooth Spaces.  If we look at our interaction with nature it becomes easy to understand.  Nature rarely has straight lines. The lines in nature tend to be curved, like rivers, forming smooth spaces. The spaces nature creates tend to be less than clearly defined.

          We on the other hand we like straight lines, like the grid system of streets in our cities. The prairies where I grew up is a study in striated versus smooth spaces.  The plains were rolling, with poorly defined spaces.  Then we come along, with our penchant for clearly defined boundaries, and our desire for order, and lay down grid lines of road and railways. 

          But what happened is that the life that flourished there needed to be exterminated.  Thus, an entire ecology that had taken millions of years to develop – grasses, grains, and animals – was destroyed to make way for, well….. different grasses, grains, and animals. 

          I was reminded of this in a powerful way this afternoon.  We are undergoing another review of our agency.  And we were discussing a gentleman that we support on the streets of Surrey.  He prefers to be homeless as he likes the autonomy that comes with it. We provide outreach services for him. Mostly, we administrate his funds, make sure he’s alive, and try to coordinate health services for him. 

          We were asked today what the schedule for meeting him was…

          Our answer is that the outreach worker goes out around lunch on the given day to see him, and if he is not there, she goes back later, and then even later if she misses him again. Some days it will be four times that she tries to find him. 

          We were told that we should be setting appointments to meet with him. If he misses those three consecutive appointments, then we have to report that there has been an occurrence.  After an undefined number of occurrences, then services would either be scaled back or cut. The system works when applied to someone with a home, and personal supports.

          It is the same thinking that will keep him homeless. He does not want traditional housing, and you would not to rent to him – he is a lot on the smelly side.  But, as the arrangement we have made does not fit into the straight lines that the funding body wants to put in place, he will not have a place to live.  Which, given his health will probably lead to him dying.  He is at increased risk of developing lung infections.  Him being homeless in the wet and cold will lead to him being re-infected. He almost died last winter of a lung infection.

We do the same with God.

We create ideas of what life in Christ is like.  And like most of the striated spaces I see, it is an attempt to control what occurs naturally.  To be fair to my fellow Christians, I saw this aspect during my sojourn into paganism.

          Paganism, which by definition resists definition and hard and fast rules, had many people who were legalistic in their approach to spirituality.  People struggled with trying to create credibility by claiming this or that authority, and thus telling you how to worship, and to live your faith. It was that aspect of paganism that led me to understand that what I found distasteful about Christianity had nothing to do with Christ and everything to do with us.

I find much of what we do in our lives tries to limit the power of God. We create striated spaces when he offers smooth spaces. We create boundaries that will keep him out, but as with the grasses, grains, and animals of the prairies, can the replacement be any better?

          At best, our attempt to enforce our will on others, and God, becomes toxic spirituality, for religion becomes competitive.  In our quest to prove that God loves me best, we leave little room for each other, and even less for God.

I hope that you find yourself opening to the smooth space and energy that I find in Christ. I pray this for myself.  For as we create religion we create hard and straight lines which, I believe, damages souls. Not that there is no defined spaces within spirituality, but they are not as clearly defined as I think they should be.