Dress Rehearsal Rituals.

This has been my experience too. The rituals that once seemed sacred, now seem like a faint shadow compared to living in his reality every day. He is no longer relegated to certain 'power' times, places or events. The people we meet there are great, and we need others. But God is no more powerfully there than any other time and place.

"In the beginning, you tend to think that God really cares about your exact posture, the exact day of the week for public prayer, the authorship and wordings of your prayers, and other such things.
Once your life has become a constant communion, you know that all the techniques, formulas, sacraments, and practices were just a dress rehearsal for the real thing—life itself—which can actually become a constant intentional prayer."

(Richard Rohr. Falling Upward)

We will Run......

"Until you speak grace, we will despise you. Until you speak love, we will only hear a clanging gong. Until you speak truth, we will run from your institutions." (Jessica Bowman)

Language Learnings Positive Side

I found this to be true with every place and people I have been among, with the exception of the French. Especially true of of Africans and their local languages.

"I knew I had made many grammatical mistakes, but I was sure that they were not smiling because of that. In fact, no one ever laughed at any of our grammatical errors. They seemed proud of us for making the effort to learn their language, and I could feel this in their warm response......"
(Barrios Of Manta. Earle & Elizabeth Brooks)

Longing For Simplicity

"Our stuff, the more of it we have, enslaves our thoughts, actions, and time. Imprisoning us, locking up many possibilities, many freedoms, many other paths."

”Live simply so that others can simply live.”  (Elizabeth Seton)

Sometimes It's MORE THAN OK not to Care!

"I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court....."  (Apostle Paul) 1 Corinthians 4:3-5.

Paul was speaking to the church in the first part... amazing... I'm flabbergasted....

Actually, i have been freed from allowing people to manipulate me by how, where, and when they choose to withhold their praise, or launch their criticism. It's about getting you "in line", and see it for little else than that.  

However, how and where we serve, both overseas in an all Islamic community..... and here in Canada.....well much of it I would never have ventured into doing for the kingdom if I followed the "church plan" or listened to peoples criticisms by getting all wrapped up in the box of manipulation their judgement brings. There are some people who get REALLY angry when you won't play their church game by plunking down like a mindless sheep into their style of Church, leadership "box", or easy road programs. 

No, I'm not rebelling.... I'm doing my best to do what Christ does, when most want the easy road. A lot of church people live in a deep fear of being contaminated by association with people who have other Christian beliefs, other religion beliefs. They have to keep away, and be separate (especially their kids). Oh my word..... this is how we have taught our kids we don't have to love as "missionaries"   the community or world. Because there are exceptions of who we have to love and be hospitable too.

No Time For Relationships Or Serving

This was written in 1960's, and is so true. Who has time to juggle the events and management pushed on us by various groups we are part of?

"The truth of it is that personal contacts at home take considerable time and effort, which most busy Americans simply don't have. The day and a half a week that Rhoda and I had free whisked by at play rehearsals with our little-theater group or at the small art gallery that we helped operate. During the week there were symphony rehearsals, choir practice, professional-group meetings, hobbies, Rhoda's girl scout troop, socializing with good friends, night extension classes, and, of course, the weekend chores of yard and home. These were not good or bad, wise or unwise choices of interests; they were, like many other things that Americans do, merely activities we thought important to the fulfillment of our lives. Even the most discriminating use of time left us unable to extend ourselves for social service projects of any duration."

(Barrios of Manta. Rhoda & Earle Brooks, 2012)

Criticisms Commonly Made When People Work Overseas

This was written in mid 1960's. It's still the typical reaction.

"We were the first people from our area to leave for the Peace Corps, and the reaction of our friends and fellow citizens ranged from shock and bitterness to encouragement and praise. Many thought we were crazy to give up our good life and two years of potential advancement to expose ourselves to health hazards and unknown dangers. Others said things like, "Why don't you leave the work to the foreign service and to the missionaries? We don't need more people overseas." And still others criticized us for not staying home to help those less fortunate around us."

(Barrios of Manta. Rhoda & Earle Brooks)

Happy Serving Nations.

"Dedicate some of your life to others.Your dedication will not be a sacrifice. It will be an exhilarating experience because it is intense effort applied toward a meaningful end. My wish is that you will utilize yourself as a force of unity in the fragile peace of today. And that you will know the happiness that comes of serving others who have nothing."

(Dr.Tom Dooley)

Compassion For The Exceptions

"Jesus had no trouble with the exceptions, whether they were prostitutes, drunkards, Samaritans, lepers, Gentiles, tax collectors, or wayward sheep. He ate with outsiders regularly, to the chagrin of the church stalwarts, who always love their version of order over any compassion toward the exceptions." (Richard Rohr. Falling Upward)

Deadly Accident

My friend in Mali hit a young girl and killed her. And this is how the family reacted.

"So I'm still waiting for a call for an appointment with the Judge, Today God really surprised me. The father of the girl called and wanted to come visit.
He brought his best friend with him and they really wanted me to know that for them, this was over and done., they want me to 'sit my heart down' (Bambara translation), that they know what happened was an accident. Here, people really believe in God's sovereignty and don't question it, like we do in our culture. They want me to go on with work and life. They want me to come and visit them whenever I pass through their village. They wanted me to know that sometimes God brings people together in ways we don't understand.
Ya...l'm so blown away by this whole grace thing, Keep praying for God's timing and for patience as we all wait out the final proceedings.

You Can't Just Let A Baby Die

I've been in his Peace Corps workers shoes. Ecuador in 1960's.

"We'll take Doilito to the doctor in the morning," I announced firmly. I didn't have much money, either, but I had enough to get a baby to a doctor and to buy milk. And this time I had some second thoughts about our usual policy of not giving out money. You can't just lie in bed and listen to a baby die."

(Barrios Of Manta. Rhoda & Earle Brooks)

Unlearning is Often The Real Issue

As a West African NGO, I have to deeply agree with this statement. The real pivotal points are almost always hinged more on local peoples resources, resourcefulness, history and habits, than it is about any new ideas we try to introduce.

"...transformation is often more about unlearning than learning "

(Robert Rohr. Falling Upward)

Ordinary....Men Without Visions

"What choice remains?
Well, to be ordinary is not a choice:
It is the usual freedom
Of men without visions
(Thomas Merton)

There is Nothing To Join?

"All we can give back and all God wants from any of us is to humbly and proudly return the product that we have been given—which is ourselves! If I am to believe the saints and mystics, this finished product is more valuable to God than it seemingly is to us......True religion is always a deep intuition that we are already participating in something very good, in spite of our best efforts to deny it or avoid it. In fact, the best of modern theology is revealing a strong "turn toward participation," as opposed to religion as mere observation, affirmation, moralism, or group belonging. There is nothing to join, only something to recognize, suffer, and enjoy as a participant."

(Richard Rohr. Falling Upward)

Church Sends You On Tangents

A very frank and honest statement by a Catholic clergymen. You pour your heart out, and sometimes expected to do so for things that, in your view, don't matter. But the congregation dictates the rules of the game. Do it, or loose your job, eventually.

There are things that thrill me about ministry, and others that kill my soul. The things that kill my soul, I've never met anyone who cares that they do. It's just how it is, so suck it up, is the attitude, not that I have ever said much about what kills my soul to a leadership. Again, its ALWAYS you, not anything about the system. Few really want to think of better ways, as it's easy and comfortable to stick with the usual, the automatic, the rote memory.
Having written all this, Richard Rohr suggests it's good in some way. The truth sets us free, but not before making us miserable.

"Church membership requirements, church doctrine, and church morality force almost all issues to an inner boiling point, where you are forced to face important issues at a much deeper level to survive as a Catholic or a Christian, or even as a human. I think this is probably true of any religious community, if it is doing its job. Before the truth "sets you free," it tends to make you miserable. The Christian truth, and Jesus as its spokesman, is the worldview that got me started, that formed me and thrilled me, even though the very tangent that it sent me on made me often critical of much of organized Christianity. In some ways, that is totally as it should be, because I was able to criticize organized religion from; Scriptures, saints, and sources, and not by merely cultural, unbelieving, or rational criteria.
That is probably the only way you can fruitfully criticize anything, it seems to me. "
(Richard Rohr. Falling Upward)

So Captures Mali

I drive one of those motor bikes everywhere, into the bush, around the town. My wife on back too. The view driving down the road...... felt like I was driving.

Watch "From Here to the There" on YouTube

Wisdom!

"Travel light. Live light. Spread the light. Be the light." (unknown)

 But I think this about sums up where I'm heading.

Sitting In Silence In Africa

Peace Corps worker who served in Benin wrote this about her time with the village women. It mirrors what I have heard a lot of expat women have express. It seems to be harder for women to break the cross-cultural ice.

"Besides big Mama and a few other women, most of them had not gone to school and, therefore, didn't know French. I visited them, but the visits mostly consisted of my sitting on a bench, saying nothing while they sat on a bench saying nothing.

Or we would shell peanuts together, or pound peanuts together, but no one talked as the peanut shells piled up, and I coughed when I inhaled fine chunks of the shells. Sometimes my visits reminded me of a bizarre compilation of bad first dates—nobody said much, and I spent the whole time trying to think of ways to
politely end the experience.

When a conversation actually did take place in French, it usually led to dramatic increases of knowledge and cultural appreciation on my part."
(Last Moon Dancing. Monique Schmidt. Pg110)

Changing Expectations In Africa.

"Most volunteers quickly realize that effecting major changes in village patterns was not only exhausting and sometimes dangerous, but for the most part futile....(pg 62) .......

"My original goal for my classes centered on teaching English. Now I consider a successful class one in which all machetes remain on the floor." (pg 58)

(Last Moon Dancing: Memoir of Love and Real Life In Africa. Monique Schmidt.)

We Got You Instead of The Pump We Needed.

A reality check for a Peace Corps worker..... I actually told some new arrivals, that given the choice to have you, or your money, a lot of people would tell you to go home and not come back, just give us your money.  Sure it is an exaggeration, but this is how a lot of Africans feel about us and what we do in their village. Of course, the new filed workers I said this to were quite horrified at my statement. Ten years later they reminded me about what I said (I had long forgotten) and said at times we wonder if they really like us or not, or just the money we bring. But that is life with people in any country.  Some love you, some love the stuff your bring them, some love neither. Some "love" you as long as your giving them what they want. When you are not, they don't want a relationship.

"No one understands your formal French or how you can teach when you can't bargain for rice. This village needs a pump but we got you."

 (Last Moon Dancing: A Memoir of Love and Real Life in Africa. Monique Schmidt)