Archives for August 2011

Cats and Dogs and the Human Bestiary

Irene and I. Notice the secret of Irene’s happiness in her fat little paw!

Ever since childhood, I have both consciously and unconsciously looked for animal equivalents for people I encounter.

This helps me see understand them better—and offers surprisingly accurate clues on how they might behave in the future, and how one should deal with them. (Of course, if one has read them wrong, and got the animal wrong, then you are in trouble). Both J.K. Rowling and Philip Pullman mine this territory with their patronus and daemons, animals which provide an objective correlative, an exact equivalent of a human’s inner spirit.

Some people have the personality of big bounding dogs. Some of petted cats. I remember an American fellow church-member who had the hunted flickering eyes of a hunted rabbit. It turned out that she was from an abusive family, had been put in care, married well, made good. Her eyes, however, told their own story. She would never be entirely relaxed, entirely open and disingenuous; she remembered the days of being hunted, so to say. She was always, figuratively speaking, on the edge of her seat, ready to flee. You could never get the whole of X, just as a wild rabbit will never be entirely tame.

Irene had a classmate who for the six years I’ve known her, always struck me with her unpleasant “swinish” expression, I’d say, as I warned Irene to steer clear of her (maternal intuition!). In Year 7, she turned deeply nasty, writing filthy anonymous letters, stealing kids’ medication, trashing their belongings, Lord of the Flies territory. Her face had told the tale years before—as did her mum’s face which bore the identical expression.

Our family had a big debate on holiday as to which animal we were. When I was younger, I was definitely a puppy, a big bounding golden retriever, perhaps. Now, I would say, I am becoming a cat, perhaps a Siamese or Persian cat. All cats need to be happy is a warm sunny spot somewhere, and a saucer of milk. They have an unerring ability to find the warmest and most comfortable spot even in a cheerless, cluttered room. Amid scenes of devastation, war, tsunamis, earthquakes, you see cats, curled up and comfortable in a sunny corner amid the wreckage. While they will consent to being petted, if you ask them nicely, they are emotionally independent. And while I would rather be comfortable in comfortable surroundings, I find I can curl up and be happy anywhere, with my laptop, and a book, and a figurative saucer of milk, i.e. a snack. So I travel well, and enjoy it.

Roy was more of an emotionally independent cat when we got married. Now, he has morphed into a dog. A big mastiff or Saint Bernard, shaggy, affectionate, home-loving, devoted to those he loves. Or perhaps he is a big hairy German Shepherd, fiercely loyal and devoted, though snappish when pushed too far. (He generally doesn’t read my blog; isn’t that wonderful?) And while we are generally the kind of cats and dogs who enjoy snuggling up together, we are sometimes proverbial cats and dogs!

If our older daughter, Zoe had a daemon or patronus, it would also be a shaggy, good-natured, home-loving dog, a big fluffy sheepdog, which is what Roy always lovingly called her. Irene, at present, is a sleek, pampered cat, rather pleased with itself, though people’s personalities change through life, depending on the hand life deals them.

So, if you were an animal, which animal would you be?

“Oh, be swift to love, make haste to be kind” Thought for the Day

By Anita Mathias

“Oh, do not let us wait to be just or pitiful or demonstrative toward those we love until they or we are struck down by illness or threatened with death! Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh, be swift to love, make haste to be kind!” Henri Frédéric Amiel September 27, 1821 – May 11, 1881) Swiss philosopher, poet and critic.

“Totally Depraved” or Made in the Image of God?

By Anita Mathias

What is Man: “Totally Depraved” or Made in the Image of God?

^{Romans 1:29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.}

^{I first looked at this passage closely in a Bible study with my pastor, Bob Hopper in 1995. I was horrified, and burst out, “But how can one live in the world if this is your view of people?” Everyone looked at me, a bit amused at this naive outburst.}

^{But perhaps they were not reading carefully. Wouldn’t it be hard to go out into the world, if you knew for sure that you were going out among people ” filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice….Gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.” One shudders.}

^{Luckily, every scriptural moon has its bright side as well as its dark side. Though sometimes, we experience an individual behaving like this, or a group of people when the mob behaviour takes over (we can sometimes even experience all this in a toxic church) in general, I am relieved to say that this is not my experience of people. Neither, I daresay, is it yours.}

^{* * *}

^{I have been travelling a good deal for the last quarter century, since I was an undergraduate–as much as I could afford. In the beginning, my wanderlust was greater than my spare cash. Travel used to eat into our cash reserves. (Now, though it may seem self-indulgent, I have set a little nest egg aside for our family hobby of travel, which I find valuable for rest, relaxation, refreshment, family time, couple time, learning, newness, the revitalizing of a change—and try not to spend more than the growth on the capital on each trip.)}

^{When we were younger, and travel ate into savings, we were sometimes anxious : Is the taxi driver fudging the meter, taking us the most direct way ? Can we trust the waiters’ recommendations, or will he suggest the most expensive dish? Are they pulling those hotel room rates out of thin air? Were we being overcharged? Ripped off? Should we bargain harder?}

^{I suddenly realized that I was avoiding countries in which there is really no fixed price for anything—in which you are charged what they think you can pay. So looking rich is a disadvantage; however, if you don’t look rich enough, those in the tourist trade may be less interested in offering a sensible price, for lodging for instance. A sucker may come around the next minute.}

This was fear—I was sticking to Europe, and avoiding some second and third world countries for fear of being ripped off. I repented of what was after all fear; and went on to visit countries like Costa Rica (a fabulous country) Mexico and Israel. (Though we still like Europe best—the combination of history, art, architecture I love, food, nature: it’s all hard to beat as far as I am concerned.)

^{* * *}

^{Over time, I discovered that I had relaxed. I didn’t hugely mind if I were overcharged (though it really, really infuriates my younger daughter!) The way I look at it, God’s financial blessings are a river; they have flowed to me through his goodness. I am cool if they flow from me to other people, deliberately or inadvertently, because God is a waterfall, and he will replenish my stores (or develop my character if he chooses not to do that immediately!!)}

^{So I am pretty relaxed when we travel, and just enjoy the people I meet. Yeah, sure, negotiating the world like a smiling, happy child must mean that I occasionally get ripped off and overcharged, surely, but by expecting to be treated more or less fairly, I can enjoy the taxi drivers, and waiters, and street vendors and hotel receptionists, and the people whose second homes I rent for the week, and engage them in conversation and learn their stories. And this attitude of observing people, trusting them within reason, and expecting them to be lovely, in fact elicits surprising goodness from all sorts of people in all sorts of ways. The girls are often surprised when people throw in things for free, like simcards and drinks and barbeques when we rent motor homes, upgrade us in hotels, give us things on the house in restaurants, put themselves out to help us when we rent their homes, though that wasn’t what we were after; we were just interested in people from another culture.}

^{That is surely the way to deal with people with joy. Expecting them to be made in the image of God, expecting them to be lovely, rather than being suspicious and cautious and expecting them to be “totally depraved. ”}

^{Believing in total depravity is believing in a theological truth against the evidence of one’s senses and experience. That could count as a working definition of insanity.}

^{(Though sometimes, I do believe in what Jesus says, despite the evidence of what my eyes see, and my experience teaches me. Such as that the meek inherit the earth. I totally believe they do because Jesus says so. But how? I don’t know. Perhaps being meek is a blessing in itself. Being aggressive and scheming is exhausting. Perhaps being meek leaves room for the power of God to act.}

^{* * *}

^{Our friends the Sassenbergs, German missionaries from Word Made Flesh, an incarnational mission in Sierra Leone house-sat for us when we visited Sweden last week. They said one of the hardest things about working in Sierra Leone was the daily and nightly beatings, of children especially. The shrieks, the crying , children blinded, deafened, scarred, burnt, as a result of violence from parents, stepparents, grandparents, uncles, teachers. Swollen faces, pummelled bodies.}

^{And then we visited Sweden, which partly due to the pioneering work of Astrid Lindgren (creator of Pippi Longstocking) was the first county to outlaw the spanking of children. Outlaw it!! Wow. Proverbs has a verse which says, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it out.” So how did one deal with children when the rod of discipline was banned?}

^{Well, with declining birth-rates in Scandinavia, children are exceedingly precious. The little Swedish children we saw frequently had two parents, or a parent and 2 grandparents, or a grandmother, mom and grand-aunt in tow. 3 adults fussing over a child! It was democratic, I observed. I saw a little toddler with a shaggy white hair of a polar bear object to being put in his stroller till he turned red in the face with his crying. No problem. His mum picked him out of the stroller, allowed him to toddle around, pull out a few plant tags in the botanical garden, play with a rose or two, and then, with quiet resignation, he got back into his stroller. Negotiation and compromise!}

^{If man was indeed totally depraved, I said to Roy, Scandinavian children, who generally seem as well-brought up as their elders would be as savagely beaten as those in Sierra Leone; it would not be possible for man to refrain from violence.}

^{* * *}

^{eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar on the premise that man is basically good. He created a rudimentary website, which later became eBay, on which people could advertise their surplus, purchasers would send sellers a cheque, and the sellers would then send Pierre a small cheque for his cut of the transaction. (Eventually, so many cheques piled up that Omidyar stopped cashing them). Omidyar proceeded on the premise that since people were basically good, it was not risky to send a total stranger a cheque believing that you would get your stuff, and Omidyar his cut. (eBay, interestingly, has moved on from this model of total trust, though it is still a lot more trusting than Amazon. It’s a nightmare to get a refund from an eBay seller who doesn’t want to give one.)}

^{I recently read of an pay what you can experiment by Panera Bread, which offered restaurant quality food to everyone regardless of their ability to pay (to provide a dignified way to help those bitten by the recession). Of course, if man was totally depraved as John Calvin maintained, then it would not work, but it did. Just 20 % of people did not pay the suggested price, which was balanced by the 20% who paid extra. I’ve often wondered how these pay what you can afford schemes work. Now I know.}

^{Of course, more interesting than the question of whether total depravity is a fact (which it cannot be!!) or a theological dogma with little basis in fact, is the question of how we should proceed. Should we deal with people as if they were made in the image of God, or as if they were totally depraved?}

^{* * *}

^{In my mind, it all comes down to Jesus. How did he treat people? With openness or suspicion? I would say with openness, but circumspection.}

^{He healed everyone who came to him for healing. However, even when it came to believers, John tells us that}^{« Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person. » John 2:25.}

^{He did, however, entrust himself to a chosen few, one of whom betrayed him, one of whom denied all knowledge of him, three of whom fell asleep in his hour of need, and eleven of whom were nowhere to be seen as he bled to death asphyxiated and in excruciating pain.}

^{And yet, his last instructions were that we learn to love each other.}

^{* * *}

^{So perhaps that is the balance one needs to learn rather than putting one’s faith in extreme theological statements; that is the best way to go out into the world, to treat people, to deal with people. With kindness, expecting the best. Not being over-hasty to trust, being aware that people’s capacity for betrayal lurks just below the surface, but that people also have a surprising capacity for kindness and self-sacrifice.}

^{Exercise caution in your business affairs for the world is full of trickery,}^{as the Desiderata put it.}^{But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.}^{Never underestimate the kindness of strangers or willingness of people to commit random acts of kindness and of love.}

From Dreaming Beneath the Spires

What is Man: “Totally Depraved” or Made in the Image of God?

By Anita Mathias

What is Man: “Totally Depraved” or Made in the Image of God?

^{* * *}

^{Believing in total depravity is believing in a theological truth against the evidence of one’s senses and experience. That could count as a working definition of insanity.}

^{* * *}

^{In my mind, it all comes down to Jesus. How did he treat people? With openness or suspicion? I would say with openness, but circumspection.}

^{And yet, his last instructions were that we learn to love each other.}

^{* * *}

From Dreaming Beneath the Spires

The Questions Jesus Asked

By Anita Mathias

Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God

Some very penetrating and hard-hitting questions from the Gospel of John

1 Do you want to get well, John 5:6

² How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. John 5:44

³ Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. John 6:6

4 John 6: ⁵⁵ Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” ⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?

⁵ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. John 6:75

6 “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40

7 John 13:12 “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

⁸ Again he asked them, “Who (what) is it you want?”John 18: 7

⁹ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” John 20:15

10 John 21: ⁵ He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

⁶ He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

¹¹ Again Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

¹² When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”

²² Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

from Dreaming Beneath the Spires

The Questions Jesus Asked

By Anita Mathias

Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God

Some very penetrating and hard-hitting questions from the Gospel of John

1 Do you want to get well, John 5:6

² How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. John 5:44

³ Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. John 6:6

⁵ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. John 6:75

6 “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40

⁸ Again he asked them, “Who (what) is it you want?”John 18: 7

⁹ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” John 20:15

10 John 21: ⁵ He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

⁶ He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

¹¹ Again Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

¹² When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”

²² Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

from Dreaming Beneath the Spires

The Eucharistic Nature of Creativity (Talk by Rob Bell at Greenbelt, 2011)

By Anita Mathias

The Eucharist–This is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, shed for you.

Writing from the heart, close to the bone has these eucharistic characteristics: pouring out your life-blood.

And so, it’s no wonder that one sometimes feels depleted. Emptied. Exhausted.

Bell recommends taking a break when this is the case, coming unplugged, unwired. Going away perhaps, and waiting for the springs to refill at their own pace and time.

The results sometimes surprise one!!

He suggests balancing time spent shedding one’s creative blood with time replenishing the empty tanks, and letting God refill them with fresh wind, fresh fire.

Bell also suggests laying down your work when you are feeling burnt out, laying it down for as long as necessary, and when you come back you are renewed and refreshed and can approach your work with fresh vision, passion and perspective.

Good to hear since I work best in short, intense bursts, and regularly burn out.

* * *

90 % of the energy expended in one of his books was spent on “mind-games.” Second-guessing his work and its reception. Don’t do it. Get it out there. Leave the reception to God.

* * *

After his glorious vision of angels ascending and descending the highway, Jacob says, “Surely God was in this place and I was not aware of it.”

We live in a God-drenched world, and being out in it, experiencing it, puts us in touch with infinite springs of creativity, with God himself.

Moses in the desert saw a bush which burned and was not consumed. Bell suggested that that bush was always burning. It was just that Moses slowed down enough to notice it.

It burns for us too, eternity in blades of grass.

“My father is always at his work, to this very day, and so am I,” Jesus says. God is always at this work, creating newness, sharing his visions with us. Those who can see God always at work, in our hearts, in the hearts of people and in the world will never run out of things to write

Rob Bell seems quite relaxed, happy and confident in his own skin, apparently quite unscathed by the tsunami caused by Love Wins.

Love Wins, and Other Possibly Dodgy Theological Speculations

By Anita Mathias

“In my father’s house, there are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you.”

Room for Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein, perhaps;
for Mubarak and Mobuto and even Assad, who knows;
room, it might be, for crazy, tormented Hitler
whose last act before their suicides
was to make an honest woman of Eva Braun,
–just because she wanted it.
And even–I do believe it,
room for me!

Archives for August 2011

anita.mathias