Thrills Gum

Thrills Gum

I was thinking of calling this last blog, before holidays and Sabbatical, ‘An Epistle,’ but the flavour of Thrills Gum has been disturbing me since this blog began to write itself! Bear with me and hopefully I’ll be able to share some of this Musing in a way that makes sense!

On today’s run – 35°C in the shade! – the word soulless kept bouncing around in my inner monologue. It’s not a word I naturally gravitate toward. Truth be told, it’s one I try not think about! Why? It’s one of those value words that often have been used by particular voices within the Christian fold to judge and exclude. Yet, today, it was calling … perhaps even imploring me to wrestle with it!

Here’s about as far as I have come … we do live in a soulless world of human systems and processes, policies and procedures. But what does that mean? What do I mean?

We live in a human world that – whether intentional or not – isolates us from one another. Reinforces distrust and uses stereotypes to make sure that what we see is what we get. And what we get, when we never knock on our neighbour’s door or introduce ourselves at public gatherings, is always predictable!

We live in a soulless culture even though we long for meaning, companionship, people to trust, friends to care for us, and for us to be able to offer hospitality to the Stranger. Even though we are isolated – living in our silos of clichés and categories – we still seek each other. But again – not to over use the image – we do it in an isolated manner, alone and left to whatever ways we have developed to find others. It’s like going to a candy store and we choose what we KNOW we like, we gather around us people who comfort our worldview and reinforce our assumptions and judgements. For some, once you’ve had thrills gum, nothing is ever the same again and you keep going back for the same candy, for that soapy flavour wrapped in a purple, crunchy shell and dressed with the yellow package. It’s safe and it’s what we know …

One of the things you often hear in church is, “That’s just the way s/he is.” And the way s/he is – often – inappropriate, stuck in patterns that echo the messages of isolation that keeps people at a distance. It’s, to be blunt, frequently an excuse not to go deep with oneself or others. And yet, if we are willing to struggle with what it means to be a community, confronting the patterns of isolation that we have internalised, we can live into a hope of community that demonstrates abundance: an image that is core to the Holy’s gift of Original Blessing.

You, me, him, her, we’re all wonderfully made and each possesses a spark, a gift only we have. But – you know there’s always one of those – it often takes a community to help us claim that. If we are isolated, we often do the opposite. And when we finally take that brave step to seek community, we bring with us our stuff and the challenge is whether or not we are willing to put it down and, in turn, hear something new. Are we willing to actually be transformed or do we simply want to reinforce what we know, even if fundamentally we long for something different?

The Forks

It’s not easy to form and maintain community. It’s not easy looking in the mirror and it’s even harder when there are others standing beside us. Looking into our own eyes, reflecting on our own patterns and whether they model compassion in a hurting human world takes courage. Courage because we may not like to confront the reality that the actions we take, the words we use do not actually demonstrate what we want to be in the world. Rather, and this is the hardest part, it means realising we have hurt other people, we have used our own isolated patterns to keep people away from us and it’s so hard to make changes. And – here’s the paradox – in that moment of awakening, we get to make the first free choice we may have ever had. Do we keep up the façade of individual strength or embrace the freedom of vulnerability in the midst of others? One choice maintains apathy and slumber, the other often leads to action and humility.

As I often say to others with whom trust has been established, there’s no ‘right’ answer, but there is an informed choice … if you are feeling called to be in community, if you are already in a community, do you engage with it to be transformed by the influence of others with whom you might be tempted to judge? Do you engage seeking to confirm assumptions or to be opened to potentials isolations could not imagine?

As those who endeavour to be Disciples of a first century Rabbi, teacher, mystic and healer, we have inherited a model of community that consistently demonstrates radical transformation in people’s lives. If transforming is not occurring in whatever you call community, I’ve got to ask: what’s the difference between a club & community? But be careful before responding immediately … take some time, reflect, take a deep breath and take chance to look into the mirror! And, if that’s too hard, maybe pick up a pack of Thrills Gum @ Sugar Mountain @ the Forks this summer. Who knows, the flavour might just be shocking enough to finally look into that mirror …