No Selfies, Please

I have never taken a selfie. That may be due to the fact that I still use an old-fashioned flip phone that does not lend itself easily to that application. The reason I still carry an antique cell is because I have no need for the apps on a smart phone. Naively I think that the purpose of phones is to make phone calls. When I need to be online I will reach for my laptop or tablet. I also seldom carry my cellphone. I enjoy the peace of not being at everyone’s beck and call. Remember when people could not interrupt you when you went out of the house for a walk or a meal in a restaurant?

I am obviously in the minority in my Luddite inclinations. It seems to be a 21^st century social requirement to have an obscenely expensive mini-computer in your pocket at all times. For many people it is an obsession to take and share photos of themselves with their phones. Many of these photos sport strange facial expressions that no one would ever display in person. What is it with the duck face?! What is the attraction of making faces for a camera and posting them online?

Every year there are news accounts of people who fell off cliffs at national parks, leaning over a railing trying to get the perfect selfie. Why risk your life to take a selfie? There was a recent post in USA Today about how to improve your selfies. It was suggested that hats and props be used. Of course you need to purchase a “selfie stick” to extend one’s reach to get just the right angle. I don’t get it. What is the attraction?

Selfies seem to be a way we remind ourselves – and the world – that we are unique and special persons. What wonderful places we visit! What fascinating people we associate with! What fun we are having! How happy we are! It seems like overkill. Methinks thou dost protest too much. I suspect that truly interesting people are too involved in living life to take pictures of themselves to share on social media.

Selfies are a strategy that the ego (another word of the self) uses to convince itself and others that it is real and important. This truth may come as a shock to many people: the self is a fiction. It has no reality outside our minds. It is a product of evolution and society. It is a psychological fiction that the brain has created to function in human society. The evolution of the ego has succeeded in making humans the dominant species on this planet, but we must not mistake its usefulness for reality.

In truth we are something much more profound than neurotic little egos seeking attention and approval. We are the Life that animates these bodies and minds. We are Awareness manifested as human consciousness. We are Self masquerading as selves. Human culture has called this the Holy. Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. Realizing this Ultimate Reality in awareness is the goal of all religions and spirituality.

The good news – which is the literal meaning of the word “gospel” - is that this reality can be readily seen by anyone. All we need is eyes to see and ears to hear, as Jesus said. No need to spend years perfecting spiritual disciplines. No esoteric knowledge needed. No initiation ceremonies required. No organization to join. No doctrines to be believed. No creeds to be recited.

This is seen directly when we look behind the self to notice what we really are. We simply need to inquire honestly as to our true identity. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door will be opened. When the door opens we see we are not who we thought we were. We are not a self, and certainly not something that can be captured in a selfie.  We are the selfless One. This is the testimony of the mystical branch of every world religion. It is the perennial philosophy. It is the timeless Truth. We are one.

I’ve Been Canceled!

Well, “Cancel Culture” has finally caught up with me. Now I know what it feels like to be canceled. The mail service (which will remain nameless), that I had been using to distribute my blog posts to subscribers, informed me on July 5 that they have terminated my account. Here are their exact words:

“Your account with the username Spiritual Reflections by Marshall Davis has been suspended for violating our Standard Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. Please review our policies for more information on the types of content we don't allow.”

Ouch! I felt like a criminal. What did I do wrong? I reread my blog post and reviewed the policies carefully, and I could not find any possible violation. I wanted to think it was because my revolutionary spirituality was too much for people to handle. But I suspect that the reason is a mention in my July 4 post of the far-right group The Proud Boys and their merchandising outlet “1776.”

That was likely caught by some mindless bot or algorithm, which assumed I was endorsing them rather than condemning what they stand for. Any human reading my post would have seen what I was saying. But that would mean involving real humans in the process, and my suspicion is that service uses only monkeys. (hint!)

I have tried to contact a human with two emails asking for a specific reason for my suspension, but so far I have not heard back. I am not holding my breath. Unfortunately that means I had to find another means of distribution. It also means my timely post on the Declaration of Independence is out of date. But if you are still interested in my thoughts on this historic American document even after the July 4 holiday, you can access it HERE.

That is assuming I will not be canceled by my new subscription service for the same unspecified reason. Now I know what it feels like to be President Trump banned from Facebook. It almost makes me feel sorry for the guy. Almost. Oh, Oh! I hope that statement is not grounds for being banished again! Careful, Marshall, Big Brother is watching!

By the way, the new service is called follow.it. They have been very helpful in transferring my account and all my subscribers – including you - to their service. They are staffed by real humans with names who answer emails promptly. Follow.it has lots of options for subscribing if you want to explore it. They even said that if I posted a link to https://follow.it/ in this article, they would be happy to give me a $10 credit. But of course I would never do something like that!

This post will be the first time I have used this service, so I will see how well it works in delivering a good looking article to your inbox. I might have to tweak it to get the presentation the way I want it. The last service did not work well at all. A lot of people were not getting my blog. I could not even get them to send it to me!  And I never got any help fixing the problems. So in retrospect I guess it was good they suspended me. As the Bible says, “All things work together for good…” Even cancel culture. 

Reflections on the Declaration of Independence

I privately read the Declaration of Independence yesterday in anticipation of hearing it read aloud at an Independence Day ceremony held at our town’s Honor Roll today.

The opening words of this document are famous: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.”  The Deity is invoked in the form of “the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God.” Then come these familiar words:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Those words are well-known. I was not so familiar with the list of 27 grievances that the founding fathers had against King George. They are called “a long train of abuses and usurpations.” The final one caught my attention: “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

I wonder how those of Native American descent would feel about the public reading of these words as a part of this country’s celebration of freedom and equality. Personally I would feel uncomfortable using the words “merciless Indian Savages” and accusing them of “undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.” It feels tone deaf. The same accusation could be made about the American government’s treatment of the indigenous peoples of North America.

Then there is the condemnation of “domestic insurrections.” Historically this refers to both “Indian” and slave revolts in the 18^th century. Apparently our founding fathers did not think that Native Americans and African Americans had the right to revolt against unjust American government. These Americans were not included in those who “are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”  

The African slave connection is particularly relevant today in our racially charged environment and the present uproar about Critical Race Theory. The author of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson, was himself an infamous slave owner. In fact a passage condemning slavery was omitted from the final draft of the Declaration. Those who sought independence for themselves were not willing to extend that right to African slaves.

The term “insurrection” cannot be heard these days without thinking of the January 6 attack upon the U.S. Capitol. Insurrection is not a designation assigned to the event by journalists. Many participants in the attack saw it as exactly that. January 6 was their “1776 moment.” 1776 has become a symbol used by the Far Right. For example, the Proud Boys have an online shop for thier merchandise named "1776."

My holiday reading of the Declaration of Independence has turned into more than just a patriotic moment for me. Hearing it read aloud by friends and townspeople in our town square felt like a spiritual experience. Perhaps it was because it was Sunday morning. When I returned home I meditated upon what freedom means for each generation and every person, racial group, and minority group in America.

Reflection on the Declaration of Independence needs to be more than old white men like me expressing gratitude for the freedoms that we have historically enjoyed. It means guaranteeing that the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are extended to all people in this great country. The Declaration of Independence is not a onetime declaration. It is an ongoing revolution.

Why I Love Church

I came home from worship on Sunday morning, and the first thing I said to my wife was: “I love church!” It is true. I love church. I look forward to worship all week long, every week. A lot of my clergy colleagues do not love church any longer.

I don’t blame them. Churches can do serious harm to people … especially clergy. Clergy burnout is at an all-time high. It has gotten worse during the pandemic. Many pastors cite divisive politics and conspiracy theories as precipitating factors leading to their exit from the pulpit. Partisan politics is functioning as a rival religion within many congregations.

Church can be toxic to both clergy and laypeople. No one knows that better than I. About a dozen years ago a denominational executive told me that he thought I was suffering from PTSD caused by clergy abuse! Not abuse by clergy, but abuse of clergy … by churches. He was not a professional therapist, so his diagnosis was not official. But as a longtime “pastor to pastors” he had seen enough abused clergy to know the signs.

Psychological suffering caused by churches is epidemic. It is known as toxic religion. That is why so many people have rejected “organized religion” and the “institutional church.” Toxic Christianity is usually the phenomenon of authoritarian structures – sectarian cults, fundamentalist, evangelical, and Roman Catholic churches. The Southern Baptist Convention is in the midst of an abuse scandal now, just like the Roman Catholic Church has been in recent decades. But clergy abuse can happen in any type of congregation.

Somehow I survived, I healed, and I still love church. I persevered... or rather perseverance happened. It was not my doing; it was grace. I never stopped loving church, even when a particular congregation and denomination was not healthy for me. By the grace of God I now love church more than ever. Why do I love church so much?

I love the music. Congregational singing touches my soul. I love good preaching. On the other hand, there is nothing that will propel me to the exit faster than hypocritical or judgmental preaching. For me preaching needs to be honest, biblical and prophetic. The preacher does not have to be a master orator, but his/her words need to come from a place of authenticity and be transparent to the biblical text and the Spirit.

I love church fellowship. Some people are able to thrive with private spirituality alone. These are the “spiritual but not religious” folks. Not me. There is something that happens in me during communal worship that does not happen in private prayer or meditation.

I love church because it is holy space. It is a time and place set aside for nothing but God. A Sabbath. There are very few such times and places in our culture these days. The world encroaches on sacred time and space, and fills them with noise, technology and entertainment.

In worship the universe opens to the Sacred. The veil of the temporal and physical world drops away and reveals the Kingdom of God, which is always present just beneath the surface. The heart opens into eternity. I cease to be, and God is.

This is not due to any particular liturgical design. It is not a psychological gimmick crafted by skillful worship planning. In fact, if I sense that the worship leaders are manipulating the congregations’ emotions, it will send me out the door faster than a bad sermon. Sacred Space is something that is equally present at all times and places. Yet for some reason it is revealed to me – in me – most readily on Sunday morning in church.

Heaven comes to the earth. The heavens open, and the Spirit descends … or perhaps the Spirit ascends from the depths of the soul. Ultimately the spiritual geography of inner and outer is the same. The Spirit takes control. No special effects. I am not a Pentecostal or holy-roller. Just Holy Presence.

I am no longer present, but the Spirit is present in and through me. Like John the Revelator, a door opens to heaven and a voice says, “Come up here,” and I do. I spend an hour – and an eternity - in the Presence of the Divine.

Most of all I love worship because I love God … with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. The personal God. The God beyond the Personal God. God in Christ. God in others. The Alpha and Omega. The Beginning and the End. The Ground of Being. Being Itself. 

Words cannot describe the Divine I know in worship. This is the Eternal God. The God I knew before birth. The God I know now and forever. The God of perfect love. That is why I love church.

It’s Okay

I haven’t watched “America’s Got Talent” in years. But the pastor mentioned the television show in his sermon last Sunday. He spoke of an extraordinary woman who sang on the show the night before.  She is Jane Marczewski from Zanesville, Ohio, who sang her original song “It’s OK.” So I went online to see why she had impressed him so much. If you have not seen her performance I invite you to do so here.

She is a thirty year old singer-songwriter who goes by the stage name Nightbirde. She has had cancer three times in her brief life, and it has recently returned to reside in her lungs, spine and liver. She has only a 2% chance of survival. But she says, “2% is not zero percent. 2% is something.” On top of all this, her husband left her.

She is an articulate person of deep honest faith. In her March 9 blog post entitled “God Is on the Bathroom Floor” she sounds like a modern day Job. She writes of her prayer life:

I am God’s downstairs neighbor, banging on the ceiling with a broomstick. I show up at His door every day. Sometimes with songs, sometimes with curses. Sometimes apologies, gifts, questions, demands. Sometimes I use my key under the mat to let myself in. Other times, I sulk outside until He opens the door to me Himself.

I have called Him a cheat and a liar, and I meant it. I have told Him I wanted to die, and I meant it. Tears have become the only prayer I know. Prayers roll over my nostrils and drip down my forearms. They fall to the ground as I reach for Him. These are the prayers I repeat night and day; sunrise, sunset. Call me bitter if you want to—that’s fair.

Count me among the angry, the cynical, the offended, the hardened. But count me also among the friends of God. For I have seen Him in rare form. I have felt His exhale, laid in His shadow, squinted to read the message He wrote for me in the grout: “I’m sad too.”

Wow! Out of this ordeal has come a song that says “it’s okay.” She said to the audience, “It’s important that everyone knows I’m so much more than the bad things that happen to me.”  She added, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.” Her song’s refrain says: “It’s ok if you’re lost. We’re all a little lost, and it’s alright. It's ok, it's ok, it's ok, it's ok.”

That is what we discover when we are honest with life. We cannot understand the injustices and inequities of life, especially suffering, evil and death. But it’s okay. There is no way to understand the ultimate mystery we call God. Religion – including my own Christian religion – is nothing more than a clumsy attempt to articulate the Inexpressible.

Many religious people insist they know the answers. They have it all figured out. It is in their books and organized into doctrines and creeds. They come knocking on your door with pamphlets that outline the path to heaven. Nightbirde tried that. She is a graduate of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. Then life happened, and God showed up.

It is not clear to me if she still considers herself a Christian. At the very least her faith is deeply informed by Scripture.  But hers is not the faith that goes by the name of Christianity these days, the religion that expresses itself more in power politics than the power of love. This is a faith discovered on the bathroom floor. As she says, “If you can’t see God, look lower.” 

She knows a wholeness (holiness) that comes from a place of brokenness. It is only by traveling through the “not-ok” that one glimpses the Whole (Holy) and sees that it is all okay. That is the true meaning of the Cross and the Resurrection.

Rethinking Gun Control

I became a pacifist in 1968 as a result of reading the Sermon on the Mount. Naively I thought Jesus meant what he said. I took Jesus at his word and did not understand why all Christians were not pacifists. My ethical stance was sincere enough to convince a draft board to issue me Conscientious Objector status in 1971. 

My youthful idealism moderated over the years as I came face to face with the horror of gun violence, especially the mass murder of three children in our church in Massachusetts. I knew immediately that if I had been present at the crime I would have done anything to stop the murder, including killing the shooter or die trying. While preparing the funeral for those children, I realized I was not the pacifist I thought I was.

Consequently I reread 20^th century Christian theologians’ response to Fascism. I pondered anew Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian Realism. I came to understood why Dietrich Bonhoeffer decided to become part of a plot to assassinate Hitler. I embraced Just War theory. Yet I have always refused to explain away Jesus’ nonviolent ethic of the Sermon on the Mount with clever hermeneutics. I live in the tension between the words of Jesus and trying to stop evil.

In a similar fashion I have long advocated gun control. Not the banishment of all firearms but careful regulation of them. I learned to handle a firearm when I was ten years old, and I was a riflery instructor during my teen years at a summer camp in New Hampshire.  I know how to use a gun. It was only a few years ago that I was deer-hunting in Pennsylvania.

I am a supporter of the second amendment. But I do not think that the second amendment was intended to allow mass murderers access to semi-automatic weapons so they could kill children more efficiently. I also believe that followers of Christ are called to a higher standard than the US Constitution – namely the New Testament teachings of Jesus.

I relate this personal history to explain why after more than fifty years I am reconsidering my position on gun control. The reason is the dramatic rise of anti-democracy forces that are gaining power in our country. They are threatening these United States of America and our freedoms.

The January 6 attack on Congress was a tipping point for me. I suddenly realized that the forces of tyranny could overthrow our democracy. We had a president who tried to overturn a legal election. He continues to speak against the legitimacy of our elections and courts. His followers are undermining voting rights in several states. At a QAnon convention over Memorial Day weekend they talked about a military coup to reinstate the former president.

It doesn’t help that I am presently watching the Hulu television series based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, which takes place in New England. It feels eerily prophetic. The fictional conservative Christian nation of Gilead was formed through orchestrated attacks on Congress, the White House and the Courts. In the light of the recent attack on the capitol, with participants calling for the execution of the Vice President and Speaker of the House, the Republic of Gilead does not seem so fictional.  

For that reason I am reconsidering my stance on gun control. The Religious Right is well armed. They are strong advocates for the second amendment, interpreted to mean unfettered access to firearms. As much as I disagree with their politics, I am starting to agree that the rest of us need access to all types of firearms to protect ourselves from them!

If Christian Nationalism gains power, it is only a matter of time until they deny their enemies access to firearms in the name of “law and order” and national security. Those who seek to preserve freedom will need to be just as well armed. That does not mean I am buying an assault weapon anytime soon. I would not know how to use one anyway. But I am sure there are a lot of people who believe in our democratic form of government who do know how to use them.

Our nation is at a crossroads. Anti-democratic authoritarians could take over my country, just like they are taking over my party. If that happens, ordinary Americans will need to defend themselves against them. More importantly we will need to defend those who cannot defend themselves. True Christianity is more about defending others than self-defense. It is loving one’s neighbor as oneself, including neighbors who have been declared “sinners” by the culture warriors. Jesus, after all, embraced sinners.

I pray that the current situation does not degenerate into armed conflict. We need to do everything we can do to prevent that from happening. But it is certainly possible. It was not that long ago that regional differences in our country erupted into Civil War. It could happen again, especially if voting rights are denied and elections are overturned or rigged. That seems to be the present political strategy of the anti-democracy movement.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Advocates for freedom and human rights for all people need to be prepared. If history has taught us anything, it is that we cannot be naïve about people’s willingness to lie and cheat and commit atrocities in the name of God and country. The debate about gun legislation is no longer just about stopping crime or mass shootings. It is about preventing our country from falling into the hands of domestic terrorists. May God help us.

Memorial Day 2021

Memorial Day is a day aside to remember the sacrifice of men and women who have laid down their lives in battle protecting our country. We celebrate Memorial Day this year at the end of a deadly pandemic. This year I remember not only soldiers who died in war, but those who died on the frontline fighting what our former president called the “invisible enemy” of COVID 19.

At least six hundred thousand Americans have died in this war in the last year and a half. That is nearly as many as died in combat in all American wars combined (666k). More than 3,600 U.S. health care workers have perished on the frontlines in the war against COVID. That is more than died at Pearl Harbor or September 11. Let us remember them.

There are those who downplay their sacrifice, who undermine and thwart the efforts of healthcare providers. Some people ridicule the advice of the CDC and NIAID, calling the coronavirus epidemic a hoax, refusing to wear a mask or receive a vaccination for political reasons – not medical ones. Our country asked us to sacrifice a little comfort and convenience in this war, but many refused. They chose ideology above protecting Americans.

America is still at war. Like WWII after D-Day but before VE Day and VJ Day, the tide of the war has turned, but the war on COVID is not over. People are still dying. People are still fighting on the frontlines, while others party like it’s 2019. The war is not over till it’s over. Eight thousand people still die of COVID in the world every day. Healthcare workers are still risking their lives to care for these people.

Let is remember our fallen soldiers who died on the battlefield fighting a military enemy. Let us remember those who have died in hospitals fighting a viral enemy. Let us remember our healthcare warriors this Memorial Day. Let us honor their sacrifice. Let us remember that this war is still being waged in hospitals around the world. They are also heroes this Memorial Day. Let us honor and remember them.