Theological and other musings from Fr. Neo. You might call it ‘Mere Christianity with an edge.’ Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas!
Posted on June 26th, 2009 by fatherneo.
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I remember being enthralled with Michael Jackson. I spent hours listening to Thriller as a junior higher and even more hours trying to moonwalk. But what a tragic end. $400 million in debt. A suspiscious lifestyle. Neverland no more.
Rabbi Schmuley Boteach, once a counselor to Michael Jackson says,
In many ways his tragedy was to mistake attention for love. I will never forget what he said when we sat down to record 40 hours of conversations where he would finally reveal himself for a book I authored. He turned to me and said these haunting words: “I am going to say something I have never said before and this is the truth. I have no reason to lie to you and God knows I am telling the truth. I think all my success and fame, and I have wanted it, I have wanted it because I wanted to be loved. That’s all. That’s the real truth. I wanted people to love me, truly love me, because I never really felt loved. I said I know I have an ability. Maybe if I sharpened my craft, maybe people will love me more. I just wanted to be loved because I think it is very important to be loved and to tell people that you love them and to look in their eyes and say it.” One cannot read these words without feeling a tremendous sadness for a soul that was so surrounded with hero-worship but remained so utterly alone. Because Michael substituted attention for love he got fans who loved what he did but he never had true compatriots who loved him for who he was. Perhaps this is why, when so many of his inner circle saw him destroying his life with prescription medication - something he used to treat phantom physical illnesses which were really afflictions of the soul - they allowed him to deteriorate and disintegrate rather than throwing the poison in the garbage. Michael’s death is not just a personal tragedy, it is an American tragedy. Michael’s story was the stuff of the American dream - a poor black boy who grows up in Gary, Indiana, and ends up a billionaire entertainer. But we now know how the story ends. Money is not a currency by which we can purchase self-esteem and being recognized on the streets will never replace being loved unconditionally by family and true friends.
We could analyze MJ’s tragic childhood, forced to be a star at age 5, never allowed to be a child. But a key question is, what is in the DNA of our culture that turns the hearts of the children away from the fathers and the hearts of fathers away from the children? We know how to make money but not how to treat an ‘affliction of the soul.’ How can one be worshiped and totally alone? It is an American tragedy for sure. There is ‘only one boy who never grew up,’ so says the story of Peter Pan; but one silver-gloved chosen child of destiny who, sadly, was never a boy at all.
Posted on June 19th, 2009 by fatherneo.
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My wife and I went on a retreat sponsored by Pastor’s Retreat Network www.pastorsretreatnetwork.org
We vistited the Cedarly House near Delafield, Wisconsin (about 30 minutes west of Milwaukee–walking distance from Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary). Spending five nights at Cedarly was more than a vacation. Vacations often become times of overspending, gratuitous activity, and an over-saturation of TV.
Such was not the case in our time away. This was a liberating experience that ‘took us out of the game’ of service and commitments for awhile. While we gazed at the wonder of a beautiful Wisconsin lake and walked through a forest replete with deer and small wildlife, we took time to delight in God and rekindle our love for each other.
We meditated, prayed, read Scripture, for the sheer joy of connecting with Christ. We learned again that the spiritual disciplines are not intended as activities of legalism or strict asceticism, but for placing ourselves into the presence of God–for learning to be on his Kairos (eternal) time rather than our own time.
What I learned in particular was how unfocused, anxious and dis-eased ‘normal’ life is, especially when given the opportunity to step away from it for a time. It took be two or three days to leave behind the worries of ministry. If I feel ‘dis-eased’ at the pace of life, being a shepherd of souls, how much more does the person who doesn’t ‘have’ to think about God live in disorder, hurriedness and worry.
Retreat is always difficult to translate into ‘real’ life. However, it is not a luxury as a Christian (and especially not a pastor or priest) to spend real, intentional and substantial time with Christ regularly. How else can we hear from God?
In Richard Swenson’s book, Margins, he describes the pace of our lives like the pace of a car. Overload is the fastest pace, unsustainable busyness, a pace many are in more than they should be. Drive is where we usually are, doing daily tasks, going from place to place. Stop is ceasing activity for a little while, the only real speed that we can have relationships with others–and where we often fail. Is stope where we meet God? No, for Swenson, Park is the only speed that we can commune with God. This is being totally still, getting out of the car, and listening to the silence of his presence.
Yes, it is possible to get to a place where we can ‘practice the presence’ everywhere we go, but not until we learn to be still, to have ears to hear and eyes to see. How can we hear what God says until we learn how to listen?
At Cedarly, for a few days at least, we were on God’s time, in his space, learning to listen once again. God is faithful.
Posted on June 1st, 2009 by fatherneo.
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Not that Disney is an accurate cultural barometer or anything, but being that I have three little ones, I have noticed a shift in the way Disney films play out. There was the typical ‘find your own way’ that is common in a Disney film, especially among the “Princess” movies. Ariel leaves the Mermaid world behind to ‘find herself’ as a human being; Gisele (Enchanted), finds true love on her own terms–leaving her land of cartoon fantasy for 21st century modern romance. Not that there is anything wrong with ‘finding yourself’ per se, but it reeks of individualism, one finds success, not by becoming a part of one’s community and folkways, but by leaving one’s community and folkways behind.
In the recent Tinkerbellfilm, Tink of course wants ’something different’ than what ‘tinker fairies’ are supposed to be. She wants adventure and to find her way. However, she learns that she is not who she really is unless she works for the benefit of others. Similar plots appear in Toy Story, High School Musical and even the recent Hannah Montana movie.
Now I am no fool. I know that Disney/Pixar is a marketing machine. My kids are mesmerized by the toys, movies, and clothes that Disney produces and I know that my 6 and 8 year old daughters (and my Toy Story obsessed 4 year old boy) are targets of Disney’s money driven machine.
But maybe, just maybe, Disney’s shift is one in the right direction. It is not about one’s commitment to one’s selfish desires, it is about one’s commitment to the greater good. “We’re all in this together” after all.
Posted on May 14th, 2009 by fatherneo.
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I posted on my Facebook, a question, ‘what does spiritual but not religious’ mean, and have received quite a response. I invite more from the neophytes…One difficulty is the definition of both ’spiritual’ and ‘religious.’
Posted on April 28th, 2009 by fatherneo.
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Chech this out.
http://www.jazztheologian.com/findingthegroove/2009/04/jazz-soul-nights-finding-the-groove-live.html
My wife and I went to the first night and were blown away. Not only was it challenging theologically, it rocked.
Theology in a Jazz club with insights on Jazz and the gospel. God is doing something with this!
Posted on April 11th, 2009 by fatherneo.
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Cristo ha resucitado! Khristos voskres! Al Maseeh Qam! Christos Anesti! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed!!
“First and last alike, receive your reward.
Rich and poor, rejoice together!
Conscientious and lazy, celebrate the day!
You who have kept the fast, and you who have not,
rejoice, this day, for the table is bountifully spread!
Feast royally, for the calf is fatted.
Let no one go away hungry.
Partake, all, of the banquet of faith.
Enjoy the bounty of the Lord’s goodness!
Christ is risen, and you are cast down!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life is set free!
Christ is risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead.
For Christ, having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Christ be glory and power forever and ever. Amen!”
Posted on March 6th, 2009 by fatherneo.
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Thomas A Kempis said:
JESUS has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus—love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!
Posted on March 2nd, 2009 by fatherneo.
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Talk about Lent to most folks and they either have no idea what you’re talking about, or they think it is some exotic season of superstition and (mardi gras) pomp. Yesterday I was at St. Arbuck’s and some young professionals were meeting for a work project. In walks a priest in a black cassock. After the priest left, one of the slick urban professionals said, “That priest thinks he is something dressing like that…he just wants free coffee or to show everyone else how hoooly he is.” At that point I caught one of the young ladies out of the corner of my eye pointing to me (I was wearing clericals, though no cassock) and whispering, ‘hey there’s another one!’ presumably so Mr. blowhard wouldn’t put his foot further in his mouth. The didn’t see her, however, and proceeded to say, “Yea that priest just wants to look like Neo,” to which I then replied, ‘Hey that’s why I dress this way…’
A perfect postmodern Lenten moment. No respect for religious leaders and suspicion over every motivation a priest/pastor might have. A misunderstanding of the clerical cassock and the black that it represents.
So do we still need Lent? How about priests?
Posted on February 19th, 2009 by fatherneo.
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“The church grows when congregations are committed to the historic faith. God is in charge of us, He is in charge of his church and his world and he is not going to forsake us. He is going to stick with us regardless of our mistakes”—Retired Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey
Posted on February 18th, 2009 by fatherneo.
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The fathers of the desert fled society because they felt it had a ‘deep sickness.’ Not only did they flee from the sickness of the culture, but from the sickness of the church of the post-Constantinian era. Jarslov Pelikan said,
“These monastic athletes, as one scholar has put it, ‘were not only fleeing from the world in every sense of the word, they were fleeing from the worldly church.’ The monasticism of the fourth and fifth centuries was a protest, in the name of the authentic teaching of Jesus, against an almost inevitable byproduct of the Constantinian settlement, the secularization of the church.”
At a seminar/retreat a few weeks ago, we watched two very different films whose characters have similar impulse and similar inclinations. Out of Great Silence, a silent documentary on the Carthusian monks in France and Into the Wild, Sean Penn’s depiction of the tragic journey of 22 year old Christopher McCandless, who fled to Alaska in the early 90s to escape the sickness of the world and the dis-ease in own his family.
In the films there is a beauty to solitude, being enraptured in nature and the deep quietness of the wilderness. While there are numerous problems with our world, what stands out to me is our inability to see and to hear; that is, our inability to use our senses in their fullness–both physical and spiritual.