Turning Toward the Heart: Converting to the Way of Love
This account from Acts is familiar to many of us that grew up in the church: Saul on the road to Damascus, the “conversion” of Paul — his literal “come-to-Jesus” moment. Saul, a Pharisee, took pride in fulfilling the commandments of his tradition which, for him, was a way to anchor Jewish identity and culture as a marginalized group living under Roman occupation as much as it was the fulfillment of his own covenant with G-d as a Jew. It is largely through Saul that Jews get interpreted through New Testament readings as primarily or overly legalistic, serving a punitive G-d. The G-d of the “Old Testament” seemingly gets replaced by the G-d of the New Testament, love prevailing over law. This becomes a very Jews bad, Christians good trope. Common interpretations depict Saul’s conversion as mirroring this supercession: this neurotically law-abiding Jew is shown the error of his ways through divine revelation, drops the old Jewish Way, and becomes a Christian — right?
No.
Why Not Become All Flame?
It all begins with an idea.
This account from Exodus 3:1-15 is one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible: Moses encountering G-d in the wilderness in the form of the burning bush. I find so much meaning and intimacy in this meeting, this moment where G-d directly introduces G-dself to Moses, and to all who encounter this narrative throughout the ages. This moment also marks the beginning of Moses’ prophethood, as he responds to G-d’s call.
There is so much here in this meeting that parallels our own lives and conditions. When we read these stories, we tend to read them and their characters as being distant and far away, the things happening to them occurring in some kind of holy vacuum; totally unique circumstances happening to totally unique people that don’t resemble us in any way, whom we now venerate from a safe distance. But what if we saw ourselves in these figures? What would that mean for us, for our relationship with G-d? What would this mean we are asked to do? How would we live and show up in relationship to one another?
Troubling the Waters: The Revolutionary Power of Creative Love
It all begins with an idea.
As we dive into this week’s reflection, I’d like to take just a moment to tell you a little bit more about myself and where I’m writing to you from.
I have an unusually interfaith background. I was raised Roman Catholic and was as involved in my church as I could have been, up until I was about 16 or 17. I left my church for a number of reasons, and shortly after began exploring Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, through family connections. That was in 2001, shortly before 9/11. At the time, I was a junior in a fairly small public high school in an overwhelmingly white suburb in New Jersey. I will forever remember watching the hijacked planes fly into the Towers on live TV in my American History class.
I remember watching pillars of smoke billowing upwards on the horizon for days afterwards. And, I will always remember the many ways Americans responded to that unthinkable tragedy. Communities came together in solidarity, embodying the greater love and compassion we all know we are capable of. First responders, like my cousin Danny, became heroes who literally put their lives on the line in unimaginable conditions. And, while so many of us rose to the occasion as our better selves, there were those of us who did not, and moments where we fell short of the great love that we are called to embody in this world.
Love You Two Pennies: Open Doors and the Heart’s True Feeding
It all begins with an idea.
Who are the Widows? This pairing of Gospel and Hebrew Bible readings each tell stories about widows and extreme poverty. But do you notice something here? We aren’t told anything about the widows that Elijah encounters in Zarephath or that Jesus sees in the Temple. We don’t know their names, their ages, or their circumstances. They are the faceless marginalized and dispossessed, the vulnerable and abandoned.
Isn’t this often the way we still discuss and think about the vulnerable Other? Leaving these details out, I think, might make it seem like they’re unimportant — or worse, that these people are not as valuable to G-d as we are.
I started to wonder about these nameless widows, women apparently left alone in the world without any families or social structures to support them. What we do know is that they are both burdened by the worst poverty we can imagine.
Union Theological Seminary Declares a Climate Emergency
It all begins with an idea.
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York has formally declared a climate emergency by making a commitment to become an ecologically-resilient and green institution. Approved in December 2020 by the Union Board of Trustees, the seminary adopted a “Resolution for the Creation of a Climate Mobilization Action Plan at Union.”
The resolution initiates a process for the formulation of a 10-year Climate Mobilization Plan with the following goals: 1) develop practical and pedagogical partnerships with Indigenous communities, 2) zero-emissions by 2030, 3) Green Seminary certification through the Green Seminary initiative, 4) institutional resilience to the effects of climate change, 5) a yearly community assembly to assess the progress of the Climate Mobilization Plan. (see full resolution here)