I’m a Christian. And a leader. Not the only leader in the world. Just one of many. Most of us are Christ and often Holy Family-centered. Not Yaweh-ists. Not Paul as lead dog. Not Peter.
We do have on earth some who claim to be Christian, and who are predictably on the rampage in the media today— ‘red-suit-revival’ as we used to call the style back home, or ‘jumping about like beans in a hot skillet’ about their projections re the hell-and-damnation-retribution-by-“the God” they imagine is behind the effects of a natural disaster, in this case, the storm named Sandy.
But, the more reasoned amongst us, Christian or no, understand from sheer observation that storm cycles roll in regularly throughout the world, and this time Sandy has borne down on several states on the east coast causing floods and the difficult events that go with high winds and water: fire, loss of property, disruption of transportation and property.
And the most heart-stunning part often of naturual disasters: loss of life, and children, elders and other vulnerable people who are injured or ill, and may be frightened, alone, or unable to find medical help immediately. I find that those who are ‘red suiting’ it today in the media, have little or nothing to say of comfort or actual on the ground helps ongoing for those who are hurt and suffering from the storm. That’s not Christ.
This cycling of earth upheaval and the suffering of the vulnerable has occurred many times over the centuries, witnessed by our ancestors and also by our farthest back people in other far more ancient Eras. This is Planet Earth, not Planet Paradise… and storms and tsunamis and earthquakes and fires come. They have always come, even when and where there were only a handful of human beings on earth.
Even in the theoretical time when there may have been NO humans on earth. Even where people have led exemplary lives. Even where the innocent live. Even amongst the dens of thieves. If in fact “God” sends bad things to kill people who kill/harm others, then humanity would have been wiped out entirely during any number of wars from antiquity forward.
Though there is an old Creator God in far back Old Testament who seemed a bit like a teenager who kept creating the destroying the world in the mythos of that ancient time, that God was, amongst other names, called Yaweh. But we are not Yaweh-ists who create and destroy. We are Christians, and make a distinction, a serious distinction about whom we follow. It is the Christ– in Imitatio Cristi…. we try hard to live in ‘imitation’ of the loving, inviting and gentle Christ. Not Paul. Not Peter. Christ. Only the God of Love, Christ.
In these and all cases of harms and hurts to peoples from natural disasters, as Christians rooted solidly in the compassionate Christ, we move to help in real time, giving money, time, face to face help, and goods to be taken to those in need–and also by petitioning los angelos y los santitos, the angels and the saints, the communion of the beloved deceased, Jesus and Holy Family to please appear in any way possible to comfort and help those afflicted.
We do not, as Christ-centered Christians confuse civics nor Caesar’s politics with Christ. We dont confuse our own soul-sullying and simpering hatreds and ego-driven scorns or ‘my way or the highway’ twitchings of madness… with The Christ who is radiant, and truly the God of Love.
Though we all fall away from the Radiant Center of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are conflicted by doing so, we feel unrest in doing so, and strive to come back to Center again. The Center is Love. Pure Love for humanity, for earth, for creatures. We dont crow about nor use others’ difficult happenstances to soapbox ourselves in some distorted view of Creator and Christ.
I personally cannot grasp all of Christ within my limited mind. But I love Jesus and the Holy Family. Even though I cannot hold all of what ‘Source without source’ is, I do know when others or myself have made God far too small. I find that fitting God to our politically-driven image, rather than as it was said once long long ago, that we were made in God’s image… the vast and unending — is the difference between a pissant and a real pastor.
A true pastor is a human being who humbly, meaning with God at the center, brings the Earth gospel of Love into being by his or her words, actions, thoughts, hopes… as often as possible.
There is a huge difference between making oneself the center by ranting and raving about God… and striving to be the Gentle Christ who cared for those beset or set aside by others.
There are ranters who rave on in some vapid version of what I’d call “Good Friday-only Christianity,” and lean far too long into asserting death and destruction and retribution scenarios only… BUT Christianity is really about Easter Sunday. It is about the Resurrection… the return to life after such a death blow. There is the miracle. We take as Christians, the idea of Resurrection literally, figuratively and in complete good conscience about all, and without judgment as to who is worthy or who is not. That is where we fasten ourselves: to the soul of Love that can never be killed, to the mystery of coming back to life in so many decent and holy ways, even after violent and long death.
But/ and== though there will always it seems, be politically upset Christians who have much ‘air time’ and who make predictable photo-op grabs, whilst they are busy raving about the destruction of God rained down on men as a result of their sinful ways… there are multitudes of those of us who are ‘quiet Christians’ who dwell on Resurrection, over and over and over, and how we can, in real ways, seed, incubate and bring New Life to ourselves, to others in need.
I hope you will, as you peruse the usual big-mouths pontificating over natural disasters, also note that we are here too, the ‘quiet Christians’ bending to the work before us to help others. We are often unseen, and not heard from. But/and the effects of the One who stands behind us, are indeed seen in good ways that we reach and touch others in need.
And we are not small-minded separatists: We join all others, no matter what religious ideal for goodness and growth they follow, or whether they follow one at all… we join together to try to help… to help to mend and lift whatever needs mending and lifting that is within our reach.
Though the loud condemning ones have their fifteen minutes in the lime-green light, we together, we are the legions of battered but not benumbed hearts that outnumber all. We live not in the fifteen minutes of notoriety, but in a time that is timeless and with HUGE opportunities for striving to learn– and to grow in understanding that we are more than just bones and blood, that we are also despite all travail swirling around us, helpers and healers to others. Some of us learned this by following the life of Christ. Not Yaweh. Not Paul. Not Peter. Only Christ. God not made small.
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Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., an archive of her columns on culture, religion and social justice can be found at National Catholic Reporter online, under her work called El Rio Debajo Del Rio, “The River Beneath the River.” Best-selling author (145 weeks New York Times Bestseller list, published in 35 languages worldwide, most recently Mandarin and Farsi), activist, psychoanalyst and post-trauma specialist, her most recent book is Untie The Strong Woman: Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul: Soundstrue.com and facebook
The image comes from a set of photos that were passed on from a blog on Mother’s Day. The photographer took many people into various parts of the natural world and depicted scenes from Yeshua’s life. This one commemorates John the Baptist and Jesus embracing after John anointed Christ with water in the tradition.