Month: May 2017

There is no place like visiting the ocean to give you perspective. As I write this I am sitting at a table, outside, 30 feet from Aransas Bay. The gulls are floating on a rather heavy breeze from the Gulf. I am watching the sunrise and of course, contemplating ……things like how can that gull literally hang in the air like that? Why is the air so nice to breathe in? How does a blood red sun occur?

In the old mini series, Roots, the father takes the newborn Kunta Kinta out in the night, holds him up to the night sky and says, “behold, the only thing greater than Yourself”. That is a powerful way to begin life. To know that you matter greatly in the universe. The ocean teaches us just how vast it is and how small we are, I am. And yet, I am not insignificant. Neither are you.

As egotistical as it might sound, a great way to start the day is to look at ourselves and say, behold the only thing greater than yourself. You see, it is most certainly true, the Son said we would be heirs with Him and then, he stretched out his arms wide and gave his life. We are so precious to the Eternal that this perfect creation, the Son, was sacrificed. At that moment, we became greater than Himself.

So, as I feel the strong breeze and watch the coastal cloud cover blow inland, I will remember that I am an important part of all of this, if I will but allow it. Being a Child of the Eternal is my natural state, the way I was created to be. It is just who I am, not something I try to be. I cannot be greater than I am right now. And letting the waves and breeze be who they are, while I let myself be of an open heart? That is the Peace that passes all understanding. I am part of all of this, all of creation. I am small, but very significant. So are you, all that is needed is to be who you were created to be…….open your heart to the world, it will give you much back.

TMM

What is my name? What does it mean? Many traditions about names exist and they vary greatly. Many cultures name children as a way of inspiring the child to live up to the name. In other cultures, it is just a label. My mother chose the name Philip. I was never told why, but I have long known that it is the Greek spelling, like the New Testament, one “l”. That one “l” has cause problems all my life. All three times I graduated from college, I had to wait for my diploma because of an added “l”. Oh, and according to the Greek it means “lover of horses”. Yeahhh, not so much.

Names are important to me though. As a professor I work hard to pronounce my students’ names correctly. That is not only fair, but it is the right thing to do. It represents who they are to the world and that matters. I have a number of Hispanic students and friends and nothing irks me more than when, even though we live in Texas, people refuse to give those names their proper Spanish pronunciations. The same for my friends around the world, though I do confess to struggling with the names of my friends in India. Fortunately, they used Christian names, English names to make my life much easier.

Jesus asked that question once, of his disciples. One of them, Peter, got it right. I am convinced Peter was guessing, he really didn’t know that Jesus was God incarnate. Well, not when Jesus asked at least. Later, I am quite sure he figured it out. When Peter said Messiah and God, Jesus told him to keep it to himself. I have wondered about that. It could not have been a secret with all Jesus was doing. So why not talk about it? Well, right after that, Jesus talks about what it will mean to follow him, taking up a Cross daily. Jesus wants them to deeply consider what is in a name.

In this case, to be called by the name Christian is a death and resurrection proposition. Now, for most of those who go by the name Christian, actual death is not the issue, though in our current times, there are many in our world that it can be and is a death sentence. So, maybe, it is a name that one must deeply consider. The death is to ourselves, who we think we should be, want to be or who the world tells us we are. Instead, we take up our cross and follow the Incarnate God, living life as he did, getting it right sometimes.

The name is not just a label, it is a way of life. So, what is in a name? Life is in a name, in the name we have given to God Incarnate, Jesus the Christ. And, interestingly enough, that name embraces love in all its forms. I think to get this right, I will keep the lover part of my name and, forgetting those horses, I will love the world the best I can. And the toughest part of calling myself by the name Christian is that I have to embrace not only my enemies but myself. My entire self, good, bad, ugly and indifferent. That is what makes it a narrow way, to embrace Philip from God’s deep and loving point of view.  From that point of view my name is Beloved. So is yours!

TMM

When you hear the word Gethsemani, most will think of Jesus in the Garden just before his crucifixion. But for me, that word takes me to the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. For me it is a place of thunderous peace. A place where time is different, where life is less complex. It is a large property, 2500 acres in the knobs of Kentucky and populated with a wonderful Abbey church, guesthouse, and so much more. It is not fancy but it most certainly is holy.

The Abbey is about 30 miles from where my mother grew up and is buried. I have known of the Abbey all of my life because they have always made wonderful cheese (no cheese these days), fruitcake, and fudge, the latter two laced with Bourbon. Wherever my family lived, my aunts would make sure we got cheese and or fudge at Christmas. My mother loved this place and, though she was Protestant, she had a deep respect for the monks and their way of life.

I go to this Abbey because I am a part of it as a Lay Cistercian of the Abbey of Gethsemane. At least once per year, I go on retreat there and when I am about an hour away my heart starts to change, to calm down, to begin to let go of all of the burdens it has been carrying. For each of us in LCG, and I think every person who goes to this place of peace, it is both deeply personal and commonly peaceful. When I drive into the parking lot, I take a breath and suddenly, my Abbey Heart opens up. I am at peace, though the world out there is still there, and for a few days, my Abbey Heart rules.

And then, I have to leave. Go back to the “real” world, to a faster pace, to more cares. That world has never gone away and I know that. My Abbey heart, you see is a choice I make, not a magical event in Kentucky. Life at the Abbey is balanced, it is about keeping that balance between work, prayer, worship, and quiet. The monks make that choice and contrary to what you might think, it is not all that easy. They really are a microcosm of the world, not a separate world. Yes, they are separated by a wall and live in that one place, all the time, but they struggle with all of the human emotions, fears, and hopes. Hmmm, just like me.

An old story about abbeys and monks goes like this. A man walks by the abbey every day and wonders what they do in there. Finally, the Abbot is at the gate and the man approaches him and asks the question, “What do you monks do in there all day?” The Abbott’s gentle and surprising reply was, “We fall down and we get up.” All sinners can be saints and all saints are sinners. That is the school of love I am a part of, where they fall down and get up. It is a place of great courage too, because you see, it is hard to fall when others know about it and harder still to put our egos away and get up.

So I think I shall work  on choosing my Abbey Heart every day, at home, at the college and at work in the garden and yard. It is a choice, that I must make in order to find the peace “that passes all understanding”. And I will keep getting up.

TMM

 

I have had a few game changers in my life: a beautiful new daughter; a new Ph.D.; a new job; getting fired; and a few more that shall go unnamed in this note. It has not always been events that did it, more often it was something I read or heard that challenged me to think in new ways. And that, my friends, is the hardest of all, to change your mind. If it was easy, there would be no addicts after the first rehab treatment. There would be no broken relationships. Frankly, a lot fewer people would give up, if they could just change their minds!

Jesus was the real game changer. No, not what you might think, not by dying or rising again, although those events are important. Jesus came to challenge us to think differently about God and about each other and about ourselves. Now this is where I am going to push you a little, to do what I do in my classrooms each day, I am going to push you to think in new ways about old ideas.

God has loved us from the beginning. Jesus was going to come from the very beginning. Sin did not cause Him to come and it didn’t cause him to die. I know, now you are ready to quit reading, but stay with me a bit longer. Try thinking in a new way. What if Jesus came to change our view of God, how we think of God and not to change God’s view of us. It is Jesus’ life and words that are game changers. He came to show us how God feels about us. That God would let his Son die to prove that he loves us eternally, and always has.

If you were to dare to think in this new way, would it change the game for you? Could you see yourself as beloved? Could you see everyone as beloved? Could yo see the world as a beautiful and wonderful place? Most of all, would that help you see that the Eternal is right where the Eternal has always been, in you. In me. In us all, forever and always. It could change the game for you and all the world.

TMM