Silence is God's first language; everything else is just a poor translation.
If only I were blind as a bat and could listen to the silent language of God.
Poop
Disclaimer - this post is about poop. If you are uncomfortable with the topic or if you have just eaten you have been warned.
Recently there was a Podcast from "Freakanomics Radio" entitled "The Power of Poop".
This bit of radio gold, expresses the "rediscovery" of what is being called at this point 'fecal matter transplant' (or less technically 'transpoosion'). It is the idea of taking bacterium from a healthy person's bowels and transplanting that bacterium into the bowels of a sick person. It is the hope that the healthy bacterium will bring a balance to the sick person's bowels. This transplant is still on the fringe of the medical/science community but is growing in support.
I have no idea if it "works" but it is having a wide range of success according to the podcast.
This got me thinking about God and how God works.
The Christian narrative is one that shouts are loudly as I know of, of a God who sees the beauty in all people and all things and all situations. God is that source of life which is able to see and enemy and rather than push the enemy away or kill the enemy, God prays for the enemy and loves the enemy.
In fact, in the Gospel of John and in the writings of Paul, the word "flesh" is used to describe that which is opposed to God (see John 1:10-13 or Romans 7:5 or 1 Corinthians 3:2-3). And yet, God uses that which is opposed to God, human "flesh", to reveal Godself and reconcile the world. To say it another way, God came in the form of flesh, a enemy of God, in order to bring peace and reconciliation.
Can you do that? Can you incorporate your enemy into yourself so that you can bring reconciliation?
I have yet to meet anyone who could do that sans the Holy Spirit of God in Christ.
God creates a world in which even that which is opposed to God becomes the source of healing and reconciliation.
Which brings us back to poop.
The world is set up so that even that which we recoil at and deem as "waste" can in fact bring healing.
*As a side note, when I shared this idea of fecal matter transplants with a church member, she pondered "if we would be more willing to accept other people's poop rather than being so full of our own poop, we could all be healed?"
Recently there was a Podcast from "Freakanomics Radio" entitled "The Power of Poop".
This bit of radio gold, expresses the "rediscovery" of what is being called at this point 'fecal matter transplant' (or less technically 'transpoosion'). It is the idea of taking bacterium from a healthy person's bowels and transplanting that bacterium into the bowels of a sick person. It is the hope that the healthy bacterium will bring a balance to the sick person's bowels. This transplant is still on the fringe of the medical/science community but is growing in support.
I have no idea if it "works" but it is having a wide range of success according to the podcast.
This got me thinking about God and how God works.
The Christian narrative is one that shouts are loudly as I know of, of a God who sees the beauty in all people and all things and all situations. God is that source of life which is able to see and enemy and rather than push the enemy away or kill the enemy, God prays for the enemy and loves the enemy.
In fact, in the Gospel of John and in the writings of Paul, the word "flesh" is used to describe that which is opposed to God (see John 1:10-13 or Romans 7:5 or 1 Corinthians 3:2-3). And yet, God uses that which is opposed to God, human "flesh", to reveal Godself and reconcile the world. To say it another way, God came in the form of flesh, a enemy of God, in order to bring peace and reconciliation.
Can you do that? Can you incorporate your enemy into yourself so that you can bring reconciliation?
I have yet to meet anyone who could do that sans the Holy Spirit of God in Christ.
God creates a world in which even that which is opposed to God becomes the source of healing and reconciliation.
Which brings us back to poop.
The world is set up so that even that which we recoil at and deem as "waste" can in fact bring healing.
*As a side note, when I shared this idea of fecal matter transplants with a church member, she pondered "if we would be more willing to accept other people's poop rather than being so full of our own poop, we could all be healed?"
Being blind as a bat...
There is an axiom when describing someone's poor eyesight we call them "blind as a bat". I have never needed glasses or contacts and so becoming blind as a bat is something I never have experienced.
While bats cannot 'see' very well, bats can hear very well. They are able to listen to the world around them in such a way that it directs them to food, steers them from danger, and guides them back home.
It was posted the other day on Inward/Outward blog the following:
Cul-da-sacs
I grew up in a cul-da-sac in Keller Texas. It was great.
My friends and I could play street hockey without fear of cars driving through the game.
We had parties for the neighborhood and had tables of food right in the middle of the cul-da-sac.
We could have tons of basketball games at a full court with fathers and sons.
I learned to back up a vehicle in the broad space of the cul-da-sac without fear of hitting another vehicle.
Cul-da-sacs are amazing.
Sort of.
You can have an amazing lemonade stand, but there are only 3 people who are going to drive by it.
When you enter a cul-da-sac the only place you can go is home.
Cul-da-sacs can only sustain themselves for a short period of time before you have to leave it in order to go to the store.
Cul-da-sacs are insular and not open to new creations.
Is your life a cul-da-sac? Is your job a cul-da-sac? Is your church a cul-da-sac?
I am concerned that the UMC is fantastic at building cul-da-sacs and not avenues. I find we in the church love to build cul-da-sacs because of the safety and security they provide. But cul-da-sacs never go anywhere.
Cul-da-sac is really just a fancy name for a dead end.
My friends and I could play street hockey without fear of cars driving through the game.
We had parties for the neighborhood and had tables of food right in the middle of the cul-da-sac.
We could have tons of basketball games at a full court with fathers and sons.
I learned to back up a vehicle in the broad space of the cul-da-sac without fear of hitting another vehicle.
Cul-da-sacs are amazing.
Sort of.
You can have an amazing lemonade stand, but there are only 3 people who are going to drive by it.
When you enter a cul-da-sac the only place you can go is home.
Cul-da-sacs can only sustain themselves for a short period of time before you have to leave it in order to go to the store.
Cul-da-sacs are "finished" in that what is built is all that there will ever be.
Cul-da-sacs are insular and not open to new creations.
Is your life a cul-da-sac? Is your job a cul-da-sac? Is your church a cul-da-sac?
I am concerned that the UMC is fantastic at building cul-da-sacs and not avenues. I find we in the church love to build cul-da-sacs because of the safety and security they provide. But cul-da-sacs never go anywhere.
Cul-da-sac is really just a fancy name for a dead end.
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.