Good Friday. There is an energy to this day, for sure. We woke up this morning to the sound of the tornado alarm, and that felt true. So true. We gathered in the downstairs bathroom, huddled and wanting to know what was happening to us as the siren sounded through our neighborhood.
There are alarms sounding through our world as well. Do we hear them, or are our faces so transfixed by the talking heads in our echo-chambers-of-choice that our hearts are closed off?
I’m staying away from the news, because it just feels like poison.
We keep screaming, and we want to rely on reports to give us the clarity we feel we need. The cover we need. The excuses we need. We fall short–again.
The truth is that our practice of faith teaches us that we cannot rely on “the law” to enter into healing spaces, growing spaces. The law serves its purpose, and we would do well to remember the need to protect the most vulnerable. We would do well to remember.
But “the law” is not the space of the transformation we need. That is the territory of the heart. But we’re afraid of that space–seems we always have been. And, it seems we keep being invited back into the space of the heart. Are we paying attention? Do we dare ask what in us resists transformation?
Good Friday. There is energy in this day, for sure. There is truth in this day.
What we are seeing–what we are living in–is absolutely the manifestation of those values that American and Western culture has held most dear for far too long: greed, hyper-individualism, a zero-sum mentality, pride, arrogance, competitiveness, grasping. I find it hard to consider “the American dream” without sensing the shadowy underbelly that is actually a nightmare for our souls.
Empire.
Do we think that a report is going to suddenly clarify, resolve, what is actually the shadow of our culture? Do we think that it is going to be that easy? We fool ourselves. Are you curious about why we feel this urge to leap to Easter? Curious.
Good Friday. There is energy in this day, for sure. There is truth in this day.
Jesus keeps teaching us about the cost, what it means to truly open ourselves to the Spirit’s call to wholeness. Reorientation. Reconciliation. And it takes sacrifice. A willingness to look honestly at what we have celebrated in our culture: such pride, greed, arrogance, competition. Why are we surprised that this is happening?
Do we dare look at the deep truths of Good Friday and see what lies at the heart of our own practice of faith–those of us who dare to call ourselves followers of Jesus?
Thoughts on a Contemplative Reformation 
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