Stained Glass
Stained glass windows: Who doesn’t love them? They capture the brilliance of our days; of our sunrises and sunsets; and set our ancient stories on fire, infusing them with vibrancy, energy, glory. Safe within their luminosity we can rest, for the unchanging, the reassuring, the comforting, the certainties of the past are surrounding and protecting us.
Stained glass windows: I love them, too. But I worry when, with all that majestic beauty, they—let’s face it—block our view of everyday life; a life, more critically than ever, we need to see.
It is easy to sit in pews surrounded by gorgeous, artistic expressions of stories that have guided us (and certainly can continue to do so) but we know we need a renewed energy. Totally inclusive and celebrated leadership and ministers will bring that, but I argue an outward focus on action, rather than inward soul-gazing or even contemplation, will benefit the soul, if that’s what we’re after, as well as the world which is what millions of others with whom I join are after. Let’s shoot for both.
And so, as I try to envision our new Church for a new day, I would have to take the stained glass down. I would instead let large clear glass reflect the ever-changing outside natural world desperate for preservation and restoration, the urban grit, the people of the streets, the sprawl of suburbia, exhaust and smoke and litter and decay and color and light and drama, and, most importantly, the infinite possibilities for interconnecting with all that is happening in today’s world. We renew the world, humbly and gratefully, and thus we renew ourselves – and maybe our Church.
I found this passage quoted in the spring 2019 issue of Corpus Reports, but perhaps you have seen it elsewhere (U2 lyrics?). The author is L. R. Knost and she expresses much more beautifully what I have been trying to say:
“Get up off of your knees. Come out of your churches, your mosques, your temples. God can hear your prayers for peace, justice, and hope in this broken world just fine while you’re out creating peace, working for justice, and giving hope to this broken world. When are we finally going to realize that humanity is the solution to inhumanity? When will we finally understand that we are all drops of the same ocean, hurting together, healing together, hoping together?
Don’t just pray for hands to heal the hurting. Pray with hands that are healing the hurting.
Don’t just pray for arms to help the helpless. Pray with arms that are helping the helpless.
Don’t just pray for feet to respond to need. Pray on feet that are responding to need.
Don’t just pray for someone to do something. Be someone who does something.
Don’t just pray for answers. Be the answer.”
5 Responses
Pray for the ordination of celibate women to the priesthood and the episcopate.
You rock, Ellie! I have been saying for some time that I am sick of preaching to me to be kind to my neighbor. How am I going to be kind to people who are sleeping on the streets here in NYC if we don’t change the structures that put them there? Do something!
Thank you, Beautifully said. here’s mine:
BLESSED WITHIN-Prophecy of Equality
In translating scriptures into present day patriarchal languages, only the Father Image is used, not the Mother or female half of God. The Original Biblical Message in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek say: “Both were created, male and female in the Image of God.” *Genesis 1:27; 5:1.
The Pastoral Constitution Article 29+ to end discrimination in Church, for racism, sex…as not the Will of God. Vatican II, 1965, still goes unheeded.
Non-inclusive language of the female half, has created a false male/only Image of God, contributing to Idolatry, a lack of equal rights for the female half.
The Universal Golden Rule message we find in good hearts, Scriptures, tell us to treat each other with equal fairness and respect. The lack of, being a root cause of poverty and our wars. The cooperative feminine nature could help balance, negotiate the more aggressive male nature, to avoid ever near nuclear disasters.
Less than a handful of males, now control 90% of the world’s economy, with excess profits and interest,’Usury’. Paying CEO’s millions, to squeeze ever more from products and workers!
Even good wages, need only one family disaster to wipe out most savings.
If you would forward, give a copy of this page to 3, and those 3, would send to 3 more, in 15 cycles could reach millions. Send a Post Card to your moral leader, & or to Pope Francis, Vatican City, Rome, Italy 00120. To please Stop discriminating against female half. Stop supporting Inequality. E-book is free to read. Go to https://www.amazon.com/dp/1689926341
All this brings tears to my eyes, a sign of the Spirit’s moving in Gutierrez and Ronan and me! Let’s keep it going!
Bravo, Ellie!