Monday, November 21, 2016

No Concept, but a King



The North Rim sits approximately 2,000 feet above the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, so the ecosystem and climate on each side of the chasm differ drastically. While chaperoning a Geology field expedition out west, which explored this wonder of the world, I certainly noticed the difference in weather on the two rims. In late May the South Rim was pleasant with highs in the low 70s; however, on the North Rim the temperatures were down right freezing with heavy snow falling affecting everything from setting up tents to seeing across the canyon. On the last day of this frozen camping failure our fearless leader Dr. Bran Potter, a man who has forgotten more about the earth’s formation than I will ever know, despite the chilly conditions lost his cool. 
 
The students on the trip were packing up their belongings and placing them in the storage trailer, which not only contained all the tents, duffels, and sleeping bags, but also all the cooking equipment and food for the next few days. Diligently some students, Dr. Potter, and I packed up the supplies, as the conditions had already put us behind schedule for our next stop in Southern Utah. Then, a few out-of-touch numbskulls got a not-so-bright idea. They began so innocently tossing snowballs at one another, but pretty quickly their target shifted from those engaging in a snowball fight to those packing up the trailer. When Dr. Potter attempted to back up his van to attach the now-filled-trailer to the tow hitch a snowball narrowly missed his head and exploded off the side view mirror. Now, some people possess such an overwhelming sense of calm about them that when they show any emotion it is so captivating and memorable that one never forgets the encounter, Dr. Potter is one such individual.

As the snowball whizzed past his head he stopped his actions and seemingly everything else around him in the campground did as well. Even though the van was still running it seemed to grow silent and the only thing audible was the near silent noise of snow falling on already accumulating snow. The words that he spoke—not yelled, but firmly articulated toward the culprit with a snowball still in his hand—I will never forget. “You have no concept.” I have often returned to these words, not as an insult, although it is a good one—how can someone come back from being told he has no concept? “Oh yes, I do!” does little to prove that one indeed does have a grasp of the idea at hand—I have returned to Dr. Potter’s words as a humble reminder that I do not know, a lowly mantra for navigating the difficult times and the unanswerable questions.

I have no concept. Perhaps this is not reassuring to hear from your priest. I naively thought that this country was only a little bit divided, but now it seems we are as far apart as the North Rim and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Since the election fear has bubbled up from beneath the surface, as over 400 hate crimes have been reported, even including racist epithets on the sides of stores, schools, and Episcopal churches. Protestors who claim love and unity as the virtue that guides them have turned hateful and even violent. All my certainty and naivety hide me from the truth that I have no concept of the painful, divisive reality that exists right here. The great thing though about saying I have no concept allows me to step out of a place of knowing the way forward, and perhaps it opens up to me a new opportunity to practice being faithful.

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.” These are the words that ended our reading from the Letter to the Colossians. We also heard within that letter, “He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Paul meant in writing this that Christ tied, ties, and will tie together all things. However, as the Rev. Gay Jennings, the President of the House of Deputies, wrote this week reconciliation may be out of reach and pastorally inappropriate for some people at the moment. When people are scared or angry because of who they are, who they love, where they are from, what religion they practice, or whether or not they went to school we cannot expect that Christ will magically draw us back together in an instant.

Quite often we make a mistake in thinking that the way to unity is through victory over another, but reconciliation comes through the blood of his cross. Jesus was betrayed by his friends and followers, mocked and verbally abused by his religion, tortured by the Roman Empire, made to carry his own instrument of death, crucified, and surrounded by criminals, soldiers, and a hate-filled mob while he died. On the third day he rose from the dead, but somehow we as followers of Jesus do not wear an empty tomb, a sign of victory, around our necks. Instead we revere the cross, the image of defeat! In the darkest moment of his life, Jesus’ words were “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” While I say I have no concept of how we will heal the divisions in this country, what truly baffles me is how Jesus said this in response to all that had happened.

Simone Weil the 20th Century French mystic described that the world is made up of gravity and grace. Gravity are those laws that govern the world; yes, physics, but also an eye for an eye, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, hate for hate, and love for love. Grace though, is different. Grace is non-complimentary behavior: love for hate, pardon for offense, another cheek, a second mile, and prayers for our enemy. Grace is the moment when in the face of an irreconcilable difference we choose the hard road that Jesus walked instead of the easy way of isolation. Grace is the Black Lives Matter protestors and Blue Lives Matter protestors crossing the street to embrace one another and jointly protest the loss of lives. Grace is the congregation that continues to speak love and forgiveness even though the KKK spray painted swastikas and “whites only” on their building. Grace is Jesus reaching out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross so that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace (Book of Common Prayer, 101).
 
We are people of grace. Yes, we live in a world of gravity. Yes, drop an apple and it falls. And yes, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But, we are not people of gravity, we are people of grace! I may not fully comprehend grace, I have a hard time understanding how Jesus said, “Father, forgive them.” But I do know that the King I will always follow is Christ who even in the face of betrayal, division, and even death wanted nothing more than to draw people together, forgive sinners, and even welcome a criminal into his Kingdom! I may have no concept, but thankfully God does. And, I take great hope in following Christ as my King! I may not have a concept, but I have a King, Christ who reigns now and for ever.

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