Apple Orchard Wounds

Explaining to ourselves the spiritual and psychic wounds that we have experienced is a tough conversation. I, for one, need metaphors that guide toward a meaningful handle on daily life.

“When the tree tends to wood and leaves, and not to fruit, we wound it, gash it, and almost always, it turns its energy to fruit.” Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote and spoke these words in the 1930s as a pastor in New York City. He had a friend orchard owner who shared this insight. I take his word for this and have not checked it out with a 21st century orchard owner. Some life experience seems to support the validity of this insight. All religions seem to address the mystery of necessity and/or free will. My brand of Christianity holds that free will is elementary to the human condition. In other words, we can choose how to deal with the facts of life, good and bad.

An apple tree responds as it is programmed by natural development. Humans can choose how to deal with issues of natural development. Learning from natural forces like apple trees enables us to better grasp our human ways of dealing with assault and injury, both physical, mental and spiritual. This applies to both individuals, groups and communities.

The global wounds to the Christian Church today are an example of opportunities for response choice. The martyrdom of Christians in some regions of the world seem profoundly distant from most Christian communities. Yet the martyrs are gashes in the community of faith – the Body of Christ. For the most part this gash in the Body is not even known by the world wide Christian community. Busy with survival techniques and happy evangelism we are into our own universe. This gash in the Body is a distraction from an already busy and hectic life. To turn attention to the martyrs means to interrupt the agendas of denominations and congregations. How to get this on the agenda appears to be the issue.

It could be that awareness of martyrs could lead to release of fruitful energy. Since some martyrdom of Christians happens in Muslim regions the fruitful energy released bu this “gash in the tree” among Christians could produce actions that relate Christians with Muslims for the good of both. We are competitive religions. We compete for people, for attention, for domination, for being “right”. That is a fact of religious life in the Orchard of the World. The Orchard metaphor presents a choice regarding use of energy released by the gash of martyrdom.

Delton Krueger   dkrueger@visi.com

The Place of Food in Spirituality

The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 4, verse 6 gives us Jesus saying: “No one can live alone on food. People need every word that God has spoken”. Without food people perish. Without adequate food the development of brain and body are compromised. Obviously Jesus was not downplaying the value of food. The issue for 2010 is the definition of “Food” in the wealthy countries of the world. Food for the very poor is anything that will sustain the body. For people with money food is often the playground of imagination and sensual experience. Jesus in his words above is reminding us of our duty to keep things in their proper place or suffer the consequences. It is apparent that in America one of the consequences of questionable food is obesity – a serious health issue. The practical value of the words of Jesus give basis for churches to examine the place of food in each society on earth where Christians are present.

Where I live in the Midwest of America in Minnesota the expanding work of Community Food shelves gives evidence both of the need and of Christian response.
It is my intention of contemplate the words of Jesus during today’s waking hours.

Prayers for the wealthy requested!  In the welter of Christian prayers for the homeless, the hungry, the poor, the oppressed I hunger for prayers that single out the powerful and rich as in need of the loving Grace of God. I invited others to pick up this missing link in Christian devotion.

It is unrealistic to assume that the wealthy have their lives in order and that their minds are at peace. With wealth comes responsibility in decision-making. Those decisions affect the lives of multitudes of persons, among them the poor and oppressed. With wealth comes a certain separation from many in the human family. Such separation comes whether people of wealth wish it or not. There is a price to pay for being powerful. Often that price drives people to isolation and desolation. The poor may wish for such isolation but they too would face the same troubled mind.

Now that the misdeeds of some wealthy people have brought about an economic crises, people of faith have the golden opportunity to raise their prayers before the God of all Creation and to focus on the wealthy among us. There is a momentary awareness of the impact of a small number of people on the entire human family. I trust that we will not waste this moment of truth.

Join me in prayers for the wealthy. Not prayers to tell God what to do with them. No, let prayers be simply remembering the names of certain wealthy people and to give thanks to God for the opportunity in the hands of those people. The Creator knows all and wishes for our participation in the growing awareness of global interdependent human family.

When making decision about religious belief keep in mind Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason.

Christian belief statement

Concise words are the expression of a person’s belief at a certain moment in time. Belief is always open to evolution and revision. Here are my words:

Blessed be the name and person of Jesus Christ, Creator God come among humans to enable us to deal with evil and rise to new life in the Spirit.

This is not for sake of argument. It simply tells the reader/observer how one Christian puts his faith into words of the English language.

I welcome hearing how other people, of any World Religion, put their faith into a brief statement in their unique language.

Delton

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