"A WORD ABOUT THE STRANGER"

  

Old Mission, Solvang, CA

I was reading the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks about Passover, the Holiday that Jesus celebrated and which, after his Resurrection, became Holy Week for Christians.  I am writing this away from home during Holy Week.  Tonight is Maundy Thursday and tomorrow Good Friday, the day of crucifixion.  

Rabbi Sacks says, 

If there is one command above all others that speaks of the power and significance of empathy, it is the line in the week's Parsha [Passover]:  "You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger:  You were strangers in the land of Egypt."  Exodus 23:9. 

He continues, " Why this command? . . . Empathy is essential to human interaction generally.  Why then invoke it specifically about strangers?"  Because, the Rabbi explains, empathy is easiest among groups that identify with one another, family, clans, religions, gangs, races.  The weaker the bond with another, the sharper the suspicion and fear.  

"It is very hard indeed to love, or even feel empathy for, a stranger."  Thus we need God's commandment:  You shall not opress a stranger. 

A couple of weeks ago, I also read an article about "Toxic Empathy," a frightening mis-juxtaposition of terms.  We are told by one Christian-Right writer that her new book equips Christians "with research-backed, Biblical truths to dismantle the progressive lies like 'no human being is illegal,' or 'love is Love.'"  The book and the concept, the oxymoronic combination of toxicity with empathy, is a favorite among Trump loyalists.  Elon Musk said that empathy is weakness. 

Dr. susan Lanzoni, on the other hand, says that "The disparagement of empathy is a deliberate effort to set up a permission structure to dehumanize others."  

Yes, we see that.  We see the movement to discredit our capacity to recognize and respond to suffering.  We don't need to list how.  Just look at our homegrown Gestapo that we call ICE (for Immigration and Customs Enforcement).  And the concentration camp that has been set up in El Salvador.  

So here it is Holy Week and our own savior is about to be crucified yet again, as he is every year, every day, lately almost every moment.  We remember that Christ's calls to love thy neighbor and welcome the stranger contained no coda on whom to exclude.  We remember that empathy and love are active, not 'thoughts and prayer.' And whether you read this now or after Easter, or next month, the message is always the same:  Christ did not rise for us to ignore the suffering of others.  To do so would be to ignore his own.  AMEN

 

LIFE RESURRECTED

 

Isn't it wonderful that it's spring? I have been outside all week, enjoying the tiniest of wildflowers and the brilliant green of my woods.  Doug, the chipmunk named by our granddaughter, has been boldly darting from deck to spilled bird seed.  He is by far the cutest rodent we have ever seen. He was a regular last year and we were so glad when he emerged from hibernation.  Did you know that chipmunks make refuse tunnels so that their sleeping quarters are clean? We've been rooting for him against the hawks that circle. 

Plus Easter and Passover.  What could be better?  Two Holy Days  commemorating great events in each religion:  the Resurrection of our Lord for those who are Christian and the deliverance from slavery in Egypt for those who are Jewish--two days with ancient origins.  

Passover always falls on a Full Moon because of its place in the Hebrew calendar. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox.  If the first full moon falls on a Sunday then that day is Palm Sunday and the next is Easter. This year Good Friday falls on the same day as Passover.  Sometimes  I have been privileged to celebrate both. There can't be a better beginning to the Easter Passion.

Obviously these are not historical dates, but that's just fine. I suspect that those who believe, of whatever faith, are not looking for literal confirmation of acts of religious significance.  Did deliverance actually occur when the moon was full?  Maybe.  It makes sense.  But does it matter?  We have been given faith as a gift, and as our heritage. There are pagan antecedents of Christmas too.  Religion finds its place in the community.  It has for centuries.  

So the two combine--spring and Easter.  New life and resurrected life.  Every year, in greens and yellows and purples, we see the manifestation of John Donne's statement:  "Death thou shalt die."  It's in my yard and in yours.  Amen.                    Nina Naomi

 

 

IN THE MOOD FOR BEGINNING FRESH?

It's almost Easter.  Today is Holy Saturday, for Christians a day of waiting while Jesus remains in the tomb.  The crucifixion of Good Friday is over.  At sundown the Easter vigil begins, the wait for the Resurrection.  A lot happened on this day over 2,000 years ago.  Just as a lot happened yesterday on the Friday called Good.

Tomorrow is a day for new beginnings. Easter always is.  Everyone has ordered lilies to adorn the sanctuary, many in memory of loved ones who have died, us included.  I have a ham in the fridge waiting to be baked,  Easter baskets shopped at Five Below filled with non-traditional things like sound-activated LED lights and a hands-free iPhone neck mount (for the teenagers) and chocolate. Yesterday we had readings about the Stations of the Cross and left the church in silence. We sang the hymns sung only once a year yet known by heart. "Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded," a bit gruesome, like hanging on a cross.  The church lost power because we were under tornado warnings, but it didn't matter.  Darkness was good.   

Last year and this year Passover fell on Good Friday. Last year we shared a Passover meal with Jewish friends.  It was a perfect transition--service at Friday noon, Passover meal in the evening, Holy Saturday then Easter Sunday.  This year again it's a special time around the world.  If you are one of these religions I hope for you all the blessings of your faith.  For me that means chastened, watchful, hopeful, attuned to grief yet waiting on tiptoe in anticipation of resplendence.  Spring must be a metaphor for all this!

In my mood for beginning fresh I've turned to Mary Oliver.  Many of us feel that poets know more about us than we do ourselves.  The only other poet Oliver reminds me of is Emily Dickinson.  Christian imagery everywhere, but not confessions of faith, not like we see in Dante or Milton or Hopkins or Donne or the other great Christian poets.  If you feel like reading about her, try "Why We Need Mary Oliver's Poems" by Debra Dean Murphy in The Christian Century, April 13, 2017 (www.christiancentury.org).  In the meantime, here's an Oliver poem that I think offers just the freshness we might be longing for this special time of year.  

WILD GEESE

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain 

are moving across the landscapes, 

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, 

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

 the world offers itself to your imagination, 

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.