--and see something new....

Some days, the Google icon is done up fancy, and if you let your cursor remain over it, it will show the name of a person Google is highlighting for day. I think of it as Google's calendar of saints, using the language of the Church.

Today, (for those who don't use Google) it looks like this:

It is supposed to show geological strata... with fossils embedded in it, in honor of Nicolas Steno, who was one of the pioneers of geology and anatomy. Wikipedia states, "By 1659, Steno had decided not to accept a statement as true simply because it was written in a book, but rather to rely on his own research."

You know, with a rigorous intellect and intellectual honesty, relying on one's own research can be a good thing. Otherwise it's just plain ol' dangerous... creating closed circuit systems that derail the train... been caught in a few of those myself --not digging deep enough, led by the nose, over trusting.... leading to false claims and outright lies. --like the pseudo-science that debunks global warming --or supports sexual "re"-orientation.

We all get caught short like... one way or another.

You know what I mean... ? But, imagine the courage, vision, imagination it takes to look at a current world view, dig in to it, and see something new... I stand in awe of that. Nicolas Steno was one of the courageous types, way back before the false division of science and religion. Way back when before modern literalists lost the myth and mysticism, lost the metaphor --and began to look at faith as a type of proof.

--when, it is not. Faith is not a proof. --Faith is a Way taken. A trust. A poem of living.

At prayer this morning (John 1:40-42)

One of the two who heard John [the Baptizer] speak and followed him [Jesus] was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).

--understanding is a work of our volition. We are brought to faith, one by one, through the living poem of another....

I love that Simon, the 'Rock' --petra --called Peter --Cephas, was brought (not first) to Jesus by his brother. One by one we meet. Not through deed or word, but a living witness, a living invitation... Not as a brow-beat, but an invitation... to a certain liberty. Freedom from the old way of seeing....

I am remembering and preparing to go in to a place where that invitation was nothing less than violent, an uprooting, an unwise degradation of local culture... a tool of destructive empire.... I am foolishly hopeful, not so much to win converts, but to be present... merely present. A poem of living.

Dear God, it's margaret. It will take many more generations to reconcile the violence done in your name. Help us help each other see you already at work among us, for the sake of our liberty from the lie. The great lie we tell ourselves and each other. Help us all dig deep. And see something new. Courage for the vision --the revelation --a new world view. And hear my prayers for M,B,S,M,M's mom,L,G,N,S,D,H... Amen.