Just returned to Nairobi from Ruai... Now if you've never heard of Ruai, it might be because 'you can't get there from here'. Oh, Ruai has much life to it and plenty of people, ...not like its a deserted small town (although compared to Nairobi, its miniscule). But the roads we were on,-- and roads is a very generous term,-- the travel and the smaller towns and communities, were a little reminiscent of an Indiana Jones adventure, and now, ...Cat Stevens' "Road to Nowhere" springs to mind. But this road to nowhere, --first becoming quite narrow, then dissolving into tracks of mud--evaporates completely into about 1600 acres of grassy and very often muddy Kenyan plains that, by June 2011, my fellow travelers say, will begin to take shape as a community of homes, shops, a hospital/medical training center, a postal office, complete with electricity and clean running water (rare in these parts). Now, this place is home to cattle, Nomadic Masai tribes, a few empty brick dwellings dotting the landscape, whose completion was clearly postponed due to lack of funding. Here, there is no tapped electricity, no clean running water, no medical care or other amenities usually associated with sustained healthy community living. But the 11 men I'm traveling with on this bright Kenyan afternoon have a vision, a blue print, the courage and the faith resources to breathe life into this Kenyan plain.
There are many excellent projects on the African continent that are inspiring, courageous, and with abundant vision. Africa is not a place where sadness abounds. Even within areas of desperate poverty, there is contageous hope. All too frequently though, we miss that which uplifts and report that which provokes feelings of sorrow, leaving us with a picture of Africa as an area of civil war, drought, famine and despair. But the balance is, that African citizens have refused, for centuries, to succumb to the images and perceptions of a world determined to undermine its vast sea of inner spirit, confidence and strength for revival. And so, the 12 of us gather on this dusty, muddy and grassy plain to visualize a community where hope lives in abundant supply. Such a community could serve as a model for changing the world's perception of a place that refuses to be forgotten. This community and those giving it birth, could be the impetus for changing a continent.
Jesus said to His 12, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Through following a vision for this City of Hope, are these 12, assembled here this afternoon, living the reality of becoming fishers of men, encouraging the human spirit, attempting to redirect our human destiny? We can do no less than to follow Christ and His vision and desire for a wholistic and healthy society. It appears that these 12 may be realizing that. These 12 may be answering Jesus' call to follow him. Isn't this the call that all of us should answer? Maybe the road doesn't have to lead to nowhere.
Welcome
Welcome to All. This blog is a discussion site, looking at our lives through our experiences, our spiritual, and, not so spiritual lens, ....what our lives look like at The Front. We are and some would argue, always have been, in interesting times. Servants, past and present have been at constant struggle with whatever the issues of the day have been. Where do we even begin to name them: poverty, hunger, education, shelter, .... and did I mention poverty? Fifty-one years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty, a war by the way, we're still fighting. Then again, we've always been at war with poverty, and yet poverty has remained steadfast. Jesus apparently got it right: "The poor will always be with you." But Jesus was a smart man. Did he mean what we think? Does poverty always have to be with us. Let's talk about this, and whatever else, in real and truthful ways. Let's view our lives from The Front.
If you have come to help me, then you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is linked to mine, then we will work together.
----(Anonymous) Australian Aborigine Activist
--mailto:--neilpitts@aol.com
----(Anonymous) Australian Aborigine Activist
--mailto:--neilpitts@aol.com
Contemplative Action
The Rite of Initiation: You are going to die
A shocking statement. Perhaps. But the Franciscan Priest, Richard Rohr,,who has studied the Rite of Initiation has said the following::
"Every initiation rite I've studied had some ritual, dramatic, or theatrical way to experience crossing the threshold from life to death in symbolic form. Some ritual of death and resurrection was the centerpiece of all male initiation. It is probably why Jesus sought out and submitted to John the Baptist's offbeat death and rebirth ritual down by the riverside, when his own temple had become more concerned with purity codes than with transformation. It is probably why Jesus kept talking to his disciples, three times in Mark's Gospel, about the necessity of this death journey, and why three times they changed the subject (8:31-10:45). It is undoubtedly why Jesus finally stopped talking about it, and just did it, not ritually but actually. Death and resurrection, the paschal mystery, is the theme of every single Eucharist no matter what the feast or season. It takes us many seasons and even years to overcome our resistance to death.
"The transformational journey of death and resurrection is the only real message. It makes you indestructible. The real life, God's life, is running through you and in you already. But allowing it to flow freely doesn't come easily. When you do, the spiritual journey really begins. Up to that moment it is just religion. Everything up to then is creating the container, but you have not yet found the contents; you are creating the wineskins, as Jesus says, but you are not yet drinking the intoxicating wine."
No comments:
Post a Comment