A matter of perspective

According to Swiss physician Paul Tournier, "There are two things we cannot do alone. One is to be married, and the other is to be a Christian." This quote was part of our FP4H lesson week before last. It put me in mind of a poem by John Donne, a 16th century English preacher who happened to be a poet. (My early English Lit Professor, Jim Colquitt would probably have argued that Donne was a poet who happened to be a preacher.) Donne wrote:

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.

Donne believed that we are connected, so anything that affects one affects us all. The custom in his day was to ring a bell when someone died. So if the bell tolled, then it tolled for all, because everyone was affected by the death of one person. But that was long, long before radio, television or the Internet. We can sit in the comfort of our living room and watch news programs tolling the death bells for people and hardly be affected at all. It's all a matter of perspective, and our modern day perspective is nowhere near what John Donne's was.

So, if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, obviously it does. It is not in a vacuum, so it will create sound waves. But if those sound waves are not perceived by anyone, then it is not heard. Though it creates a crashing cacophony of noise, no person is affected by that tumult because they do not hear it. That's a matter of perspective.  But how many times are we surrounded by clamoring noise that we can't help but hear and we are still unaffected. Could that be a matter of perspective too?

What does Jesus teach us about perspective? Throughout the Gospel, we are reminded to not only hear Jesus' words, but to listen and perceive or understand them and allow them to affect us. Jesus had much to say and teach, and those who perceived--who listened--not just with open ears, but with an open heart and mind, were changed. Those like the Pharisees, who heard but did not listen/perceive were like rocks, remaining closed-hearted, closed-minded, and unaffected.

We are meant to be changed by the message Jesus brought of God's freely given gift of grace. We deceive ourselves by thinking for one minute that we can just say, "Oh cool, I'd like some of that free grace, add it to my shopping cart. Even if I don't have an immediate use for it, it's not costing me anything." Grace is not a one-way street. If we think we've accepted it, but are not affected, not changed; we have not listened and we have not understood. Grace is not static. Our Baptism does not come from, nor is it meant to produce still waters. We are meant to be caught up in the rippling waves of grace, washed along in their wake, constantly in motion, grace in and grace out, in a never-ending stream of life-giving cause and effect. Only through grace can we live into Christ's command to love others as he loved us. Only through grace can we be transparent, allowing others to perceive Jesus, not ourselves. To perceive the love of God in me, by grace, through Christ Jesus.

It is this grace that keeps us from thinking we can be an island unto ourself--a rock, hard, unyielding and unchanging: I am a Rock - Simon & Garfunkel.

Thank you Christ Jesus, for the gift of grace that you bought for us through your own suffering and death. Help us to percieve it with open hearts and minds, to be affected and changed. To be stirred into action, sharing your love with others so they will also perceive your grace and keep the waters ever flowing, we the river, you the sea. Amen.