Friday, February 16, 2018

To Will One Thing: a Lenten Experiment

I have actually read Kierkegaard's Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing, but I cant remember a damn thing about it other than the great title. 

Nevertheless...

When I was ordained in 2002 (I was licensed back in 1997, for those who want to update my stats on my preacher cards) I had a retired pastor deliver my charge to ministry.  For those who have never been to an ordination service in the free church tradition the charge to ministry is kind of like an imperative from another pastor not to screw up the beauty past generations of pastors gave their heart and soul to create.  

His charge was simple but beautiful: There are many worthy and noble causes that will demand your attention and time, but you cannot save the entire world.  Find the one or two issues that speak to your heart and give them everything you have to bring change and salvation and redemption in that particular area.  Over the years I have tried this approach, but there is always another worthy cause beckoning my energy and attention, or colleagues win me over with their devotion and energy to a certain cause.  I try to stay focused, but there's always something else...

Then one day I was at an event, just to listen, with a group of 20 year old activists.  They had the greatest gift idea: trust.  In their words, "Trust that we will do our thing and we trust you will do yours!  We're never going to get anywhere near where we need to be if we do not trust each other." 

But it is hard to trust and to stay focused during the Trump era.  Right now I wake up every morning and try to stay away from hearing or reading the news until after my prayers, after I read the bible, after a cup of coffee, and say good morning and i love you to my lovely bride and wonderful children.  Because if I read the news or hear it on NPR then my day is done.  I have nothing but scat in my heart, mind, and soul.  And my mind is broken, my concentrated will on one thing is fragmented and I feel the pull of a thousand different issues beckoning me to come toward them.  

But if I am going to have anything to contribute to this world I have to stay focused and centered.  I cant keep feeling like a pinball at the mercy of a pinball wizard going hither and yon.  I have come to realize my one issue is bicycling.  It seems small and meaninglessness but I have seen a transformation in my life, my family's life and the life of my community because of my commitment to bicycling.  All the issues that matter to me: environmentalism, racial reconciliation, economic equality, joy, beauty, nature, justice, health are all available through my concentration on bicycling.  

Trust that I am doing my work, I trust that you are doing yours.  Together we can help bring a spirit of human flourishing.  

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