Sitting here in the beautiful spring breeze under the River Tree, the old codger finds himself thinking about just how amazing—and just how screwed up—this world is these days. He’s written before about the potential benefit of a little faith in our lives. Now might be a good time to talk a little more about it.
We look around and see nothing beyond us, and it’s only natural to think we’re alone. Hey, our senses don’t lie, do they? But science pretty much tells us they do. And with the constant deluge of evidence of the damage and devastation human beings’ acting and reacting to themselves can do, maybe it makes sense to reach out to something beyond ourselves, especially if it speaks of potential peace and love.
Not to assume too much, but a faith that kicked off just about this time, some 2,000 years ago, seems to speak pretty clearly on the subject. Its leader was a young carpenter who told his followers, just before the authorities took him to torture and brutally execute him, that they should—and here’s the kicker—eat bread and wine after he was gone, because that bread and wine would be him! Not represent him, but actually be him: body and blood.
A lot for rational people to absorb, right? But his followers endured threats, persecution, torture, imprisonment, and execution for hundreds of years and arguably brought down the greatest empire ever known to man at the time, and they have continued to take in that bread and wine as his body and blood.
The old codger was lucky enough to be raised by three beautiful, strong women whose very lives were the centrality of faith and love, though in an offshoot of the carpenter’s faith. Then he was blessed to meet and marry his beautiful wife, who took him to the carpenter’s original church. There were lots of ups and downs, standings and kneelings—all in all, a lot to take in. The old codger tried his best to keep up. Satirist Tom Lehrer took a nice shot at it with his tune “Vatican Rag.” Google it. It’s pretty cool.
Anyway, after a couple of years of respectfully, but frankly obliviously, going through the rituals, at a certain point one Sunday, the codger found himself unaccountably, mysteriously moved. What the heck was going on? It happened to be when the followers, leading up to taking the bread and wine, said, “I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
It, for some reason, hit the codger hard. Darned if it doesn’t still hit me between the eyes every time I tell it. And it continued for the following services, until he figured he’d better try to find out more about what the heck was going on. He’s been working on that now for the past 24 years as he’s joined the Carpenter’s flock.
And what does the Carpenter tell us? Embrace peace, love, and trust in all our fellow human beings. Why? It allows us to work together to build a better world for all of us. Set aside hate, fear, lust, and greed. Why? They inevitably destroy collaboration and learning, and promote the destruction of this beautiful world and everything in it. Is it naive? Well, then the Carpenter and all his followers were naive, right? Everything built on those beliefs over 2,000 years is useless and naive?
As he sits here in the freshening breeze under the spreading River Tree, the codger can’t see that there’s much of a real choice if we believe in a future.
At 2 p.m. Saturday, June 6, on the streets of Perryville, we can all get a chance to visit with the Carpenter. Might do us all some good in this screwed-up world.
