Sunday, April 20, 2014
I was not planning to write today given that it is Easter Sunday in the Christian calendar. But holidays have a way of inspiring my heart and mind. And that happened again today.
Growing up in Texas it usually did not happen that Easter Sunday fell at that special and small window of time when the world outside is bursting forth in green after the dormancy of winter. The warmest parts of Texas do not even have consistently freezing weather at night in the 'coldest' part of the winter season so the whole idea of a 'growing season' is not really applicable as it is in the northern part of the United States. I honestly cannot remember an Easter when the trees and plants outside had not already bloomed in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex where I grew up.
As I have noted more than enough times already we are emerging from one of the most brutal winters in decades here in Minnesota. The lakes around the Twin Cities and points south of here have essentially completely thawed. But thawing out the northern half of the state will take some time yet.
You could barely guess that winter had been so severe when outside today in the Twin Cities. Brilliant sunshine and temperatures over 70F are making it easy to forget about the brutal winter while we simultaneously remember that yes indeed there is such a season as Spring. The season of dormancy does end and the deciduous trees do come back to life here...in good time. There are still a few piles of snow here and there that are the meager remnants of the mountains of snow created by the plows of our past winter. But you actually have to look for those piles to even really notice them now. Meanwhile the buds on trees and bushes are greening up and out. A few days of weather like what we have today will coax them into full emergence. Yes, Winter is finally leaving us for another year.
I have been looking forward to this time of year for months now. After my unexpected deep healing journey began last summer I found my health and interior life improving as the world outside moved in the opposite direction towards the release of autumn and the quiet of winter. This incongruence between the direction of my own life and the trend in the natural world felt quite jarring for a time. As Winter began last year I found it a perplexing experience to feel so energized while the world outside was growing dark, cold and silent. At least the incongruence is over now.
In my blog entry from Saturday, February 8th I spoke of my experience of Jesus after writing about a recent sermon given by the Reverend DeWayne Davis at All God's Children Metropolitan Community Church. When I went on a thirty day silent retreat as part of my training in the Jesuit order (when I was in my 20s...it feels like a lifetime ago now) I experienced Jesus personifying the trickster archetype. I want to finish writing on that topic now...or at least write more.
I think rising from the dead after being crucified to a tree is quite the trick. If that doesn't qualify you as a trickster I don't know what would. To defeat death itself is the ultimate achievement. But how else could a person honestly claim that Jesus embodies this particular archetype? I would answer with the following:
I was not planning to write today given that it is Easter Sunday in the Christian calendar. But holidays have a way of inspiring my heart and mind. And that happened again today.
Growing up in Texas it usually did not happen that Easter Sunday fell at that special and small window of time when the world outside is bursting forth in green after the dormancy of winter. The warmest parts of Texas do not even have consistently freezing weather at night in the 'coldest' part of the winter season so the whole idea of a 'growing season' is not really applicable as it is in the northern part of the United States. I honestly cannot remember an Easter when the trees and plants outside had not already bloomed in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex where I grew up.
As I have noted more than enough times already we are emerging from one of the most brutal winters in decades here in Minnesota. The lakes around the Twin Cities and points south of here have essentially completely thawed. But thawing out the northern half of the state will take some time yet.
You could barely guess that winter had been so severe when outside today in the Twin Cities. Brilliant sunshine and temperatures over 70F are making it easy to forget about the brutal winter while we simultaneously remember that yes indeed there is such a season as Spring. The season of dormancy does end and the deciduous trees do come back to life here...in good time. There are still a few piles of snow here and there that are the meager remnants of the mountains of snow created by the plows of our past winter. But you actually have to look for those piles to even really notice them now. Meanwhile the buds on trees and bushes are greening up and out. A few days of weather like what we have today will coax them into full emergence. Yes, Winter is finally leaving us for another year.
I have been looking forward to this time of year for months now. After my unexpected deep healing journey began last summer I found my health and interior life improving as the world outside moved in the opposite direction towards the release of autumn and the quiet of winter. This incongruence between the direction of my own life and the trend in the natural world felt quite jarring for a time. As Winter began last year I found it a perplexing experience to feel so energized while the world outside was growing dark, cold and silent. At least the incongruence is over now.
In my blog entry from Saturday, February 8th I spoke of my experience of Jesus after writing about a recent sermon given by the Reverend DeWayne Davis at All God's Children Metropolitan Community Church. When I went on a thirty day silent retreat as part of my training in the Jesuit order (when I was in my 20s...it feels like a lifetime ago now) I experienced Jesus personifying the trickster archetype. I want to finish writing on that topic now...or at least write more.
I think rising from the dead after being crucified to a tree is quite the trick. If that doesn't qualify you as a trickster I don't know what would. To defeat death itself is the ultimate achievement. But how else could a person honestly claim that Jesus embodies this particular archetype? I would answer with the following:
- Jesus is noted as performing many miracles of healing that simply were unthinkable in the time he lived in. Lepers, the seriously ill and even those who had died are noted as being healed after an encounter with Jesus. In my opinion these are still more examples of Jesus being a trickster. Helping people to miraculously recover from what appeared to be terminal conditions is amazing.
- Consider also the story in which Jesus turned water into wine. Do you have any friends who can do that?
- Chasing the money changers out of the temple was certainly a sudden event befitting the behavior of a trickster.
- Walking on water is another amazing trick. Unless you happen to live in Minnesota or some other place where the lakes regularly freeze in the winter walking on water is beyond the range of your talents.
There are certainly more examples than these but I cannot recall more at the present moment without pondering the events of Jesus' life more thoroughly.
I believe we need tricksters in our world. They serve a vital role. Many embody the trickster in the form of clowns, actors, politicians and scam-artists. The shadow side of the trickster archetype can obviously cause harm in the world...but even the shadow has its value. Sometimes immense pain becomes the source material from which grow our greatest gifts and insights. Thus there is nothing fundamentally wrong with pain...it is our relationship with pain that we must transform. In doing so we can find freedom!
No comments:
Post a Comment
I invite you to accompany me as I document my own journey of healing. My blog is designed to offer inspiration and solace to others. If you find it of value I welcome you to share it with others. Aloha!