Good reading for Holy Week @ PH Base

http://thephbase.blogspot.com/2012/04/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html#!/2012/04/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html

Just thinking, if we were the ones who needed the death and resurrection of Jesus as an illustration of the forgiveness God had already given us (like the Father in the parable of the "prodigal" son), what does that say of our reading of Genesis 3: 23-24?

Genesis 3

Genesis 3:23-24

What happened to her?

It would be nice to think that Eve got to remain in the garden, but already we see the moral of the ethical story teller assume that after “marriage” and after the curse Eve was now One Flesh with her husband and had no identity other than his and no choice but to live with the consequences of his lust.

In America because of election politics and the opinion of at least one candidate for the nomination of the Republican Party as President, a small group with personalities like the reality show family, the Dugga’s, and Quiverfull movement leaders the Hesses  have had their ideology  mentioned. http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/atheologies/5844/%E2%80%9Cone_of_us%E2%80%9D:_rick_santorum_and_the_politics_of_(very_big)_family

“My body is not my own” is their motto – and their interpretation of that idea is that women of child bearing age have no right to control their bodies regarding reproduction is based right here Genesis 3 in this patriarchal idea of the curse.  For millennium men have feared women and sought to control them as wealth.  But the short sightedness of accumulating, including large families, leads to poverty, neglect, planetary overpopulation, starvation, death.  Humanity just can’t get it right.  I guess that is part of the moral of the ethical story, too.

But here is my idea.   “My body is not my own” is a great idea!  Good for you Santorum, et al.  I agree with you, BUT you have not gone far enough ethically.   I know that I am not completely autonomous.  The end of the issue is not my nuclear family, or my immediate neighborhood.  Nor is it limited to national concerns.  For me, the sacrifice of control is about the whole of the planet, not just biology or my man’s lust and its consequences.    The cause for unbridled reproduction lays a curse upon all sexual activity that is not reproductive, including homosexuality. 

Notice too, that the direction of the action is not from the Church or Congress or Legislature onto me.  It is my action directed toward my commitment to my children, my neighbors and the world around me, human and beyond.  It is toward sustainability for future generations, not just the myopic present.

In centuries past the call to remember “my body is not my own” lead to the ideal of serving others and denying oneself.   Celibacy, work for the poor, focusing passions for the spreading of the message of God’s eternal love AGAPE and not EROS which is carnal and temporal.  It has nothing to do with usurping divine power at all over others, but over oneself.

Beyond the curse of Genesis 3 and the forced loss of self, is the message of the Christian faith.  This is Holy Week 2012, the remembrance of death of the immortal-mortal son of God the burial of the “sin” or payment of original sin and the resurrection to a new life – one garden to another garden.   “It is not my body”  is gone in authoritarian terms for in Christian terms the curse and the law are dead and buried and the self is resurrected to autonomy and the challenge of growth and service.  Now not only men, but women have a moral obligation to make decisions based on their conscience, to think of the impact of their decisions.   Imagine such a world.  I was taught to think ahead to the consequences of my actions.

Holy One, fill our hearts with the compassionate love of all our brothers and sisters on earth  so that we can see that our carnal desires for food, clothing, shelter and family are not without effect on others everywhere.  Inspire us to take the motto ”Our bodies are not our own” and lower our footprint upon the earth, and leave room for others.

Bringing folks together for good: against-sex-trafficking : Imtalkingnow

I am sick in bed, but my fingers have been doing a great deal of walking.  Today via BYU [Brigham Young University] TV channel  I attended the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to listen to talks by prophet, apostles, members of the seventy and others.  Unless one was not familiar with the teachings of the LDS church I would have thought is was just another Protestant group.  I admire their focus on organization toward mission and their willingness and encouragement of how to do mission in a normal way everyday.   But I did not hear anything that would place the conference in April 2012, the teachings were just as appropo to 1973 or 1956. 

Then I turned to the Odyssey Network (not a TV channel) and found this gathering, very much about this year.    http://odysseynetworks.org/video/faith-leaders-rally-against-sex-trafficking  Here was a video showing people who did not share a theology or faith story who were focused on a mission.  There are conferences, but the focus was not within, but outward, totally. 

What is interesting is that I have been asked to edit a page connected to Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan which is advertizing a gathering on this topic also.  http://www.imtalkingnow.org/

There are so many leaders talking about goodness and mercy and justice from one end of the spectrum to another, from a certain distance to "getting-your-feet-muddy-and-hands-dirty" type of work.  We good at talking, and a few are good at walking.  We people of faith have to to both well and loudly.

I live near Sanford, FL - yeah - that one.  We lost a young man staying with his dad, who was shot and killed by a man yet to be arrested so that an authority can make an official decision regarding the case.  People are walking and talking.  I hope we will do some good and learn to work together. 

Where am I going with this?  Well, if we can talk a good talk about caring for family, not living in discord, being moral and ethical, AND actually living that out in the needy world, not just our private lives, imagine what the name of Jesus, or God, or the prophets we follow would mean?   Newsweek wouldn't have an article by Andrew Sullivan about how people are leaving church but still following Jesus.  Now I am an institutional product, but really a refugee and I can see both sides of this issue.  I hope we can network in a way that supports the groups we need to be part of, yet keep the corporation to a minimum, so we spend our time walking the walking and not just talking.

OK I am done talking [for] now.