Assessing Today

An array of things shining upon my morning made up a rather odd recipe for a morning. 

Books: "Waiting for God," "Let There Be Light," and "Practicing the Presence" each have taken my attention for considerable time. TV cooking shows intervened for almost an hour. My email caught my eye, especially the one from Richard Rohr.

He wrote a tribute to Fr. Keating who passed on Oct. 25th. A strange thought fluttered across my mind, "I knew him." I realized I didn't know him by being physically present with my body in the same room as his body. Then I thought about the way I knew him. I knew him from his writings, from what others said or wrote about him, from practicing Centering Prayer, I knew him from YouTube, and so I felt him in some deep place that made him a friend, a spiritual friend. This world was made better by his sojourn here. I suppose we all hope that in the end that can be also said about us.

Then I read an email from my husband that contained an article about the growth of New Age thinking coupled with the demise of traditional church and its theology. Even those still in churches hold some New Age beliefs, the majority of them it seems, and even Evangelicals do, almost half of them!

I saw a snipet about Google employees walking out because a big mucky muck was accused of sexual misconduct. I tremble at the loss of due process and the new mindset that accusation is proof of whatever.

Then I read an article about the raving, raging, irrational on the verge of taking over the politics of our fragile republic. This amazing experiment here, long known to be the land of opportunity for all those willing to work hard, is tottering. Never before had this occurred to me in my lifetime. I thought the magnificence of our Constitution would speak in the hearts of us all for a long, long, long time and we would stand with it and before it in reverence and with courage.

Perhaps this planet is the insane asylum of the universe. Perhaps we are incapable of learning from history and the folly of those who have gone before.

But, perhaps we can turn around and find the Spiritual and work together to make this planet the Kingdom of God planet, the place everyone wants to be.