EITHER / OR. Dualistic thinking. One thing or another. Black or white. No shades of grey. Only one thing to say? … OK. But there'll be hell to pay.
Jesus of Nazareth suggested a better way. Be “born” of water and of Spirit, he answers Nicodemus (whose name means “victory of the people”). Be a bit more bendy, flexible, fluid. Turn around. Gain other perspectives. “Repent” – which is to say – try to look at life in a new way, every day. You're largely made of water, ebbing and flowing, and the Wind of the Spirit (Life) listeth where it wills, beyond your knowing – and that's how life keeps growing. (according to St John 3.1-17)
Pray. Be opened, and open-minded. That's how you or anyone will come to know the “victory of the people” – a new kind of “kingdom” – the home of justice and peace, the home of “God's only Son” (the Word, the life-giving Spirit that prexists all else). (John 1.1-14)
Deep seated fear – (beginning in us, Fr Richard Rohr suggests *, as early as 7 years old) creates either / or mentalities. But “God's only Son” is to be seen in the world so that it might be neither condemned nor condemning, so that she or he who believes in the One, the Spirit, the “Son”, the “Father” of all, who prexists all else, should not “perish” but be fully alive in the One-ness (the “Holy Communion”) forever.
EITHER / OR. Dualistic thinking. One thing or another. Black or white. No shades of grey. Only one thing to say? … OK. But note that there'll be hell to pay. There's a better way. There is a better way.
(The short film alluded to in the Homily today may be seen here)
* Fr Richard Rohr ofm, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
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