Yes..
Presence…
“As long as I want to be in the flow of Life, that very desire prevents me from seeing that I’m always already here”
Robert Kull
That Word!
The use of the word “sin” has made me cringe for quite some time now. The word has been weaponized by many, being used to bring people down, to remind them of their fallen state before God, and their inevitable one-way ticket if they don’t repent. Sin is not a list of behaviors found in the Bible that condemn you or changes the Great Creators feelings about you.
Sin is something in your life that separates you from fully experiencing the light of the Divine nature. This “something” could be anything. It might be a bad relationship, or an over emphasis on your social status. Whatever it may be, it keeps you from being fully connected to the peace and happiness that the Divine offers. The love that God offers is never withheld, you have just placed a blockade between you and it. You will most certainly know when your “blockade” has been removed!
Hello Again!
It’s certainly been a while since I’ve made a post on the Allgood Pages. To be exact my last post was on April 13, 2019! I guess the crib notes for my absence would read something like this. Husband and wife decide it’s time for a change, make the decision to move their family of four 250 miles to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and open a pizza restaurant! Within the time span of that decision and now there was joy, tears, sweat, anger, failure, success, fear, frustration, and just about any other emotion you would like to throw in. It been tough but rewarding. I knew that one day I would be able to return to my writing, so year after year I kept the domain alive.
That day has finally come, and I’m so grateful to be back at a point where I can continue to share what I’m finding with you. As before, my post will be based on my reading, and my life experiences. They will all be genuine and well-intended. I still have no special training, no divinity degree, no doctorate, just my willingness to take a shot at something “different”.
The Cracks…
Much like many of my fellow United Methodist, I have been struggling with the current condition we have found ourselves in. Many times, I have begun and abruptly ended several blog entries detailing my frustrations with the decision of the Church to affirm the Traditional Plan. I remain a supporter of the One Church Plan, specifically as it presented the opportunity to hold the church together as one organization. Knowing there were firmly rooted camps on both sides of the discussion, I have wrestled to find words that might bring understanding to both. It was this Sunday that these words finally arrived. In Father Richard Rohr’s recent Daily Meditation (Sunday, May 24, 2019) he referenced a quote from Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen (1934–2016, probably best known for his song Hallelujah).
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
Leonard Cohen
These words stuck with me, popping up frequently throughout the following days since first reading them. I have learned, this is my
As I proceed I would ask you to keep in mind that the One Church plan was not acceptable to many on the Progressive side either. It was inherently wrong to them that this plan still provided for their exclusion, just as the Conservative side saw it the opposite. So, to some degree the One Church Plan was a loss for many on both sides.
As I see it, the One Church Plan created a vessel that contained us all. A vessel that we would continue to call the United Methodist Church. Were we united? Of course not! So, it was most certainly a heavily cracked vessel, so cracked in fact that it was on the verge of collapse. Yet, the plan forced us with all our anger, frustration, and sadness to sit in the same room together and continue to look at each other. We would be compelled to hold the tension, compelled to learn more about each other. As we spent time together we would challenge each other’s foundations. We would walk away, count to ten, and then come back to the table. Eventually, the holding of this tension would produce something greater, something “other”. Arising from the midst of this cracked vessel we would come to see the presence of God in our opposite, and they in us. Now, seeing God in our foe we would return to the scriptures, diving deeper below the surface, to find the truths that would affirm this “other”. Here, we would discover the truths that would allow us to see that there are no two sides to love, just as there are no two sides to God. We will then have taken a step toward true transformation.
When we go our separate ways and create a vessel where we sit with only those that agree with us, we lose a crack, and the light that makes us think hard about our beliefs disappears. With that light, that challenge to our way of thinking gone, we lose a chance at transformation. My hope is that somehow, we decide to sit in our cracked vessel, allowing the light to come in, embracing it and wrestling with it together. Yes, the crack is big, and it would stand to reason that a big crack lets in big light!