Ray’s Blog

It is Good Friday. We have made it this far and Easter is near. Once we get through Good Friday.

Beginning inside the Lion’s Gate in Old Jerusalem, the Via Dolorosa follows the route of Jesus’ final walk, concluding in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Developed by the Franciscans in the 1300’s, Christians often walk this route in Lent and Holy Week in observance of Christ’s walk to Golgotha and the resulting Easter celebration.

News reports are detailing the various observances in Jerusalem and other parts of the world. As pilgrims walk the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, others participate in the Way of the Cross or Stations of the Cross in local congregations.

As with most things, there are extremes in these observances. On one side of the continuum are those who do not observe Good Friday, perhaps because it has little or no meaning for them. I am not talking about non-christians who have no need for it, but Christians of various groups who do not observe it. One of the controversies of today has to do with the Detroit Tigers playing their home opener on Good Friday (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/2009-04-10-474975978_x.htm) and the resulting protests. This seems to be an easy fix. If it bothers you, don’t go. Not everyone believes as you and I do and I have no need to force the issue with them.

The other extreme is more troubling. Historically, there have been (and are) groups that observe this week in self-flagellation. More troubling are the practices of a group in the Philipines. This group practices crucifixion in an effort to emulate the Passion of Christ. This year, a TV comedian participated (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25318169-2702,00.html) and had himself nailed to a cross for 5 minutes. Somehow, this is to enlighten the participant and those in attendance on Christ’s offering. In other words, they consider it a religious expression.

I do not consider it a religious event. Rather, it seems to me to be the ultimate act of exhibitionistic masochism, played out in front of voyeurs. In other words, I consider it an event based in psychological and spiritual pathology.

Life and my own choices bring more than enough pain. I do not need to seek out other opportunities to hurt myself or others, whether out of meanness or in the name of religion. Rather, I look for ways to understand what is beyond the painful “now”. For me, Easter is the validation that there is hope beyond Good Friday.

The Way of the Cross offers us a way of deeping our understanding of God’s ultimate human presence. It is an “as if” experience in which we walk the walk as if we were Jesus. We never walk it as Jesus, but always as ourselves, fantasizing how it may have been. Imagine, if you will, what it must have been like to be nailed to the cross, but don’t enact it. The pathology lies in the moving from “as if” to “as”.

As for me, I have had enough of the gore. It makes the Passion into a slasher movie and cheapens it. Rather, I find encouragement in knowing that God became one of us to the extent that God went through what others encountered and endured, not as exhibitionist or masochist, but one of us.

So, I will Walk the Way of the Cross. I will hear and participate in each place along the way. I will tear-up when we hear about Mary as mother, touched as a parent. I will walk away and ponder. And I will do all of this, aware that Easter is coming. Beyond the pain of the way, is a new day.

Twixt and Tween are my best friends.

You have met them. You see them everytime that you ask me a question and I offer you responses from various points on a continuum.

You know. Never the extreme. Always somewhere in between.

Twixt and Tween.

Coming from a more fundamentalist faith, I tended to see things in absolutes and extremes. Right OR wrong. Good OR bad. It was a faith without variation. It was a faith that talked of black or white. Colors were optional.

In college, I met a man who would become an early mentor. In his Bible class, he introduced me to critical thinking regarding religious texts. In addition to teaching me to think, understanding that there were contradictions in the scriptures, he taught me that there were various theories regarding the development and understanding of holy texts. I became curious and began to reconsider in a different way, the faith that I had abandoned.

He introduced me to Twixt and Tween.

Later, in seminary, I listened to my New Testament professor as he talked of theories and understandings that differed, sometimes dramatically. When questioned as to his theoretical leanings, he would respond, “I feel strongly both ways.”

Twixt and Tween were his friends, too.

As Episcopalians, we are rooted in the Anglican Tradition which is often identified with the Via Media, the Middle Way. It seems to me that one of the peculiarities of our spiritual journey is that we are accompanied by Twixt and Tween. We read the scriptures, understand tradition, and use our reason while realizing that there are more “better” answers than “right” answers. Usually, we wind up suspended betwixt and between, seeing possibilities in various thoughts and approaches, while acknowledging the supremacy of none. It can be an uncomfortable place, especially in a world that keeps asking for absolutes, answers. But, it is our way.

And, it is the nature of Holy Week. Holy Week is that time between Palm Sunday and Easter, between the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and Resurrection. Many events and things happen betwixt and between those two events. Teaching, prayer, meditation, friendship, comfort, agony, betrayal, dinner, service, and death, just to name a few. Twixt and Tween are not idle, but busy with life, love, death, and ultimately, resurrection.

Twixt and Tween are our friends.

I learned recently of the death of my mentor. He lived his life fully, in anticipation of the life to come. I approach his death with ambivalence, aware of seemingly conflicting feelings. On the one hand, I grieve my loss while on the other hand, I celebrate his life. I live with both of these emotions, cognizant that he gave me much, and that some of him lives in my memories and actions.

And also, that he leaves me with my friends.

Twixt and Tween.

Welcome to my blog. Short for “weblog,” a blog is something like a journal. In this case, I am publishing it for you to see. I will update it with announcements, perceptions, links to interesting sites, news, and all kinds of things. Once I am more comfortable with this format, we may engage in some discussion and debate.

This blog is part of the website of Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Mobile, AL. Whereas your thoughts are important, I will moderate the comments.

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welcome.

Ray