Babel, Pentecost, and the Cave

as we focused again on language and light in AWE this week, I was struck by the connections that occur over and over again in scripture between light and language and the echos that I see of that in places like Plato. Pentecost is seen as the undoing of the damage done at Babel and yet the way that is achieved is not simply through a display of language but also a pyrotechnic display of the Holy Spirit. It harkens back in my mind to the opening of John, where the Word is connected with the Light, and those of us in darkness cannot comprehend the Light, or the Word. It reminds me a lot of Plato's analogy of the cave which he uses to talk about language and our understanding of the forms. In Plato's analogy we are left looking at a knowing about merely shadows on the wall, impressions made of real objects that are reflected off the walls by people standing around a fire behind us. But in Plato's analogy of the cave even the fire is simply a poor substitute for the true light in our lives. Plato seems to raise the question as to whether or not we could really handle the true light or if we would simply be blinded by it. From what I recall of Plato from philosophy class we are really left deal with partial understandings, incomplete truths, never able to see fully what is there, to understand the true nature of the forms of things. Plato really embraces that notion that those of us in darkness are not able to handle the Light of the world. Are our eyes are too dimmed by our trogolodyte dwelling that we cannot adjust to the brightness of the Light. Plato would not necassirly subscribe his great light to God, but there is certainly a push by neo-Platonic thinkers to make the leap even if Plato never would have done that.

So as someone who from time to time thinks of himself as a neo-Platonic I am left with this question, how does our understanding of Pentecost change our understanding of the trap that both Plato and John see, that we cannot trully handle the light because of the darkness we wrap ourselves in? At the AWE service I suggested that maybe our job as Christians was to be little Christs, little Lights that would shine in the darkness and make the true Light more bearable, more believable for those around us. Looking at the radical teachings of Christ and how hard people struggle to believe in the complete grace and love that Christ offers us I think there is a need for us to model some of Christ's grace, some of Christ's love, so that others can find that total grace and love a little more believable. At the same time, have we really been able to see and experience the Light for ourselves? have we left enough the darkness behind to see the Light? In Plato we are captives, chained to the wall, forced to look upon the shadow puppets dancing before us, unable to turn and see the show behind us directly. Does Christ free us from the chains? Does the Holy Spirit unbind us to get a better glance at what is really going on? Or is the separation of Babel simply a deeper reflection of the separation of Eden, that until we are fully united with God we can never return to being fully united with each other? How does Pentecost help us remove the barriers to understanding that divide the world constantly between us and them, how do we increase our understanding of what IS so that we can get a fuller glimpse of the Light and can come closer to the reconcilation we seek? I leave the answers for others to ponder and come up with ...

"Remember your baptism and be thankful"

For our worship service last night we did had a time where people could remember their baptisms. As people came forward and I touched them with water, I came to the realization that one of the people in worship was someone I had actually baptized. Suddenly I was remember the baptism as well. It was interesting to look back then and think about what that baptism has meant to me as well as to the person I baptized. It made me realize how communal baptism really is. We often talk about that at infant baptisms, that we as a community are all taking part in the baptism and in the commitments that follow, but I also think it is true for adults, as was the case in this baptism. By being the person doing the baptism I had the chance to help initiate a person into the community of faith. I have since had a chance to help this person on their faith journey, to walk with them through struggles and to see them grow in their faith. I have been changed by the sacrament just as much as the person I baptized. I think there is something holy and sacred about that. I think the sacraments are meant to be transformational and that this transformation cannot simply be contained to the person receiving them, but that anyone who comes into contact with them is affected.

So my thoughts for the week are this: how have you been affected by someone else's baptism? How has your life been changed by seeing a change in others? When have you been able to be John the Baptist, and be a position to create a change in another and in turn be changed yourself?

Altars Today

In our service last night we talked about the altar that was build after Joshua led the people through the Jordan. We used stones to build and altar of our own and shared different stories of faith that we had. What I wanted to focus for a minute on this morning was more on the concept of altars in our society today. In the early days of our faith, altars were things of stability amidst a mobile population. Today the population is far more sedentary, but I would be curious how spread around our altars would still be. Looking at my life, and thinking about where I would have built altars, I would see them existing in several states and in several locations within a given state, assuming I use altars to commemorate important religious events in my life.

Another thing that altars do is to give us a talking point, something we can point to and use to talk about our faith. When people see the pile of rocks they ask why it is there, we can then say what it represents, why it is important. We have new talking points, new piles of rocks in our lives. Some of us where crosses around our necks, or place them in our homes. Others have artifacts we carry with us from our travels, some obvious, such as maybe a replica of the Eiffel Tower, other far more subtle, a shell collect on Omaha beach in Normandy.

So here is the question to ponder, where would you have built altars in your life? What "stone piles" do you have to point to and talk about when it comes to your faith? What can you do to make new ones?