Time to Love

I Am Good?

There are those who would set fire to the world, We are in danger. There is only time to work slowly. There is no time not to love.* 

I am told of a group of people who do the most beautiful thing. Maybe, if we pass along the story, some other communities will start doing it! When someone does something hurtful and wrong, they take the person to the center of town, and the entire community comes and surrounds him or her. For two days they tell the person every good thing he or she has ever done. These people believe that every human being comes into the world as GOOD, each of us desiring safety, love, peace, happiness. Sometimes in the pursuit of these things people make mistakes. The community sees misdeeds as a cry for help. They band together for the sake of their fellow human to hold him or her up, to reconnect her with her true Nature, to remind him who he really is, until she fully remembers the truth: "I AM GOOD". 

There are those, who would set fire to the world. 

Ten years ago I thought I was fairly informed. I knew that I needed to try to live lightly on our overburdened earth and I knew that there are some nations, out there, where inhumanity had descended into atrocity. Since then corruption has been revealed in places I once thought were sacred, like the priesthood and boy scouts; I’ve seen the disintegration of our civic discourse; the fall of our economy; terrorism on our shores; the threat of nuclear war; War: unending, devastating, constant conflict in many countries, some started by my own government; a crumbling social safety net; a crumbling physical infrastructure. and terrifying global diseases… west nile, ebola, swine flu; not to mention erratic and dangerous weather which is only the beginning of global climate change... Feel like crawling under a pew and hiding? Like running screaming down the hill to find something to picket? I know!

Here we are, all together on a big ship—the earth ship. What’s the name of the ship? How about we name it the Titanic. We’re about to hit the iceberg. People who are in poorer, less powerful parts of the world—people in steerage—are going to go down with the ship. But so will all of us sooner or later. it’s going to be pretty hard to turn the ship before it hits the iceberg. 

Retreat is seductive. It is tantalizing to pretend that things aren’t as bad as they seem, or to become cynical and to give it all up as a lost cause. It is easy to point the finger of blame, to speak of evil and of emergency. To add your torch of anger to all the others. We will set fire to the world. Literally set fire to the world, if we surface all the fossil fuels that we have found so far and burn more than 20% of them. Not just cause global climate change, but create a real lake of fire, a real hell, right here on earth. Remember the pictures of the oil wells burning in Kuwait? The gulf of Mexico? Texas? … Coming to you, in your OWN back yard! 

Run Away! (There is no such thing as "away")

When I open my eyes to the statistics and data, when I open my ears to the groaning of the world, the cries of the children, I am overwhelmed again and again by painful emotions: Fear, Despair, Anger. Not fun emotions. I could retreat, but I’m learning that hiding is a lonely business, and it doesn’t work for long. I could yell and scream, but that just leads to a sore throat. The only way out is to go through… The way to turn the ship of planet earth around is through hearing, seeing, caring, acting… 

We are in danger 

Fear may overwhelm us, immobilize us. Anger may tempt us to take shortcuts, to demonize, to disregard. Exxon, Monsanto, Enron… when I hear those names I feel angry. I feel small and helpless. I sometimes feel like shaking my fist and hissing. My rational mind knows that booing when I hear a corporation’s name or hiding in my comfy house are not particularly helpful reactions. But, I need to forgive myself for my feelings. My feelings are about an urge to justice. The need for justice is a good thing. The challenge is choosing the right actions. 

Deep Breath

Oh beloved of the world, who comes to us as mercy, we honor you, we honor you, we honor you, we call on your name.

For all the tender loving hearts that are breaking. Whether your heart is pierced through for the climate chaos visiting devastation through fire, flood, earthquake, and hurricane. Whether your compassion is fatigued by witnessing hate and fear in politics and on the streets. Whether your resilience is tried by the small and large failures, losses, and pain in your community, friends, and family. We need each other. We need to lean on the spirit of life, divine love, luminous love light of the one, universe.

Oh great lover of the world who comes to us as compassion, we honor you, we honor you, we honor you, we call on your name.

We lift up and celebrate the joy and beauty in the world, the simple pleasures of good food eaten with loved ones, music, a rainbow, new babies, one mind turned toward peace, one pair of hands working for justice.

Oh beloved of the world, who comes to us as hope, we honor you, we honor you we honor you, we call on your name.

Amen, blessed be.

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More on http://amybeltaine.info  *Time to Love is a song written and performed by Charlie Murphy and Jamie Sieber, based on words written by Deena Metzger. The first paragraph, above, is the words to that song.