This is my body
I admit that I have not seen Mel Gibson's film The Passion so I don't purport to speak authoritatively on its content. I am conflicted about seeing the film given the pre-release controversy over anti-semitism and the stealth campaign among fundagelicals to generate a market for it. I tend to operate out of a principle that I don't pay my oppressors to oppress me and G-d knows the fundies are pretty good at oppression, repression, suppression and compression.
The general consensus among those who have seen the film is that it is a bloodfest. A bit like Jesus of Nazareth meets Freddy Kreuger or Jesus visits Texas for a chainsaw massacre. Jesus Seminar scholar John Dominic Crossan described the film as a pornography of violence. And one has to wonder whether he might be onto something. Clearly the slasher movies are stimulating. And feminist scholars for years have pointed out the difficult to separate responses to sexuality and violence aspects of snuff and rape pornography.
In all fairness, Gibson said he sought to graphically demonstrate how horrific the crucifixion of Jesus must have been. Of course, he appears to have fallen into the same trap as the Gospel writers in blaming the Jews for the event and letting the Romans, who actually killed him, off the hook - the paradigm which 1900 years later will form a basis for the Holocaust. But, it is not a bad thing to consider the horrendous nature of the world's most famous execution - indeed, any execution.
The strongest supporters of the film have been fundagelical Protestants and some conservative Catholics (Gibson's dad is far out to the right that he thinks of the current pope as "liberal" - go figure!). They've brought whole congregations to see the film, many stressing the need for people to know what a price Jesus paid for human sin. Without diverting down the siderail here to the whole question of why any human being of good conscience and an IQ above that of a rutabaga would buy such theology, suffice it to say that atonement theology can be readily depicted without slow motion close-ups of chunks of the muscular Jesus' flesh being ripped out and his eye being put out. As one fundagelical minister said, "I'm afraid this might back fire and cause people to doubt atonement theology." One can hope.
Frankly, I am not terribly interested in worshipping a god who requires this kind of torture for any reason. I've never been able to reconcile a notion of G-d, the good creator who loves the creation, with a vision of G-d the bloodthirsty tyrant demanding his honor be redeemed through a gruesome piece of human sacrifice. That is not a god worth worshipping, in my view. On the other hand, a Lord who proclaims the Kingdom of G-d, who calls people to value the good Creation and themselves, who prescribes a way of living out that calling in the form of the Great Commandments, a prophetic sage figure who speaks of G-d with intimacy - Abba, Daddy - does indeed point toward a god worth worshipping. And his communal rite of belonging - a rite marked by eating and drinking together with "all sorts and conditions of men," to cite the Book of Common Prayer, does speak of being a part of a movement through which G-d is revealed and whose calling to live as the people of G-d can be embraced.
As I walked by the edge of Lake Underhill today considering these thoughts, I began to hear the words of Jesus. I looked across the lake's surface to the ducks preening themselves in the shallow water avoiding the piece of Styrofoam floating next to it..."This is my body!" And in my mind's eye, the Roman guard's whip caught a chunk of Jesus' flesh, ripping it from his shoulder, blood spurting through the air....The voice of the Holy Spirit punctuated that awful image, this time in the song of a mockingbird, As I turned my eyes toward the tree where she sang, I caught sight of the McDonald's cups and straws caught in a stagnant pool behind a natural gas pipeline...."This is my body!" And the crown of thorns were jammed into Jesus' scalp in my mind's eye. Shaken, I decided it was time to go home, my prayer and meditation time over....As I approached the expressway overpass, a plastic bag with a half-eaten salad to go and an empty bag of chips from a fast food drivethrough tossed from a car window created an arc of debris across the shoulder of the street and the bikepath on which I jogged....And in my mind the voice screamed out "THIS IS MY BODY! THIS IS MY BODY! THIS IS MY BODY!!!!!!....." the vision of Jesus exhaling his last breath from the cross now vivid in my mind's eye.
Frankly, I don't know if Jesus was G-d, anymore than any other human being has been. I don't know if Jesus is really present in the sharing of the communion or that the communion of saints stands around us at that moment though I believe I experience both of those things. But I do know that Sally McFague is onto something when she calls the Earth the body of G-d. In our haste to reassure our own existential security needs about the next life, we have allowed some of the basest sins to be committed against the body of G-d.
Can we in good conscience speak of salvation - health and wholeness - even as we choke G-d's body with our waste products of smoke and toxic gases? Should we not choke on our holy bread even as we befoul the water supply that our overpopulated planet already finds in short supply? Does not the wine cause a lump in our throat as we read of yet another species of animals no longer among the living, the victims of human acquisitiveness? Can we even look up from our debates about a movie long enough to see what is being done to the body of G-d?
This is my body given for you. ...Do this in memory of me....Whose memory do we really cherish?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Rev. Harry Scott Coverston, J.D., Ph.D.
Member, Florida Bar (inactive status)
Priest, Episcopal Church (Dio. of El Camino Real, CA)
Instructor: Humanities, Religion, Philosophy of Law
University of Central Florida, Orlando
https://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~ncoverst/
frharry@cfl.rr.com
If the unexamined life is not worth living, surely an unexamined belief system, be it religious or political, is not worth holding. Most things of value do not lend themselves to production in sound bytes.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Smart Aleck Bumper Stickers
On the bumper of my 2000 Honda Civic (Elsie, I call her, after my late beloved Franciscan novice counselor) are a couple of bumper stickers. On the left side there is a sticker with a telephone image and the words "Hang up and drive!" On the right side, a more modest, tasteful lime green sticker reads "WWJD: What Would Jesus Drive?" n
OK, I know, I know. Just a little preachy and smug. I actually ordered both stickers off websites at a moment when I was more than a little annoyed with the latest coed in her SUV complete with her sorority decal in the rear window in the pass lane on the expressway, oblivious to the world and holding up a little parade as she was weaving across the center line from time to time and hitting her brakes for no apparent reason (must've been a funny joke!). But I'd like to think my bumper sticker evangelism has more of a purpose than mere expression of irritation at rush hour.
As a college instructor, I observe the most amazing scene the moment class is dismissed each hour. In one fluid motion, many of my students pick up their book bags and take out the cell phone that most - though not all - have been courteous enough to turn off in class and by the time they hit the door to the hall, they're already engaged in conversation. I see them staggering across the campus, oblivious to their surroundings and sometimes unaware even of their footing as they walk by, chatting so loud that even if I had not wanted to hear about their lunch menu, their evening plans or the chick that vomited into the punch bowl, I still get to share that joy.
While this is annoying and perhaps something to chalk up to immaturity, when one combines this obliviousness and inconsideration with a motor vehicle, it's as problem. When you add all the other age groups - those of us who ought to know better - doing the same thing, it can be dangerous. One of the common observations I make of driving cell phone addicts is that they often appear to be looking up, as if to imagine the face of the dear one whispering sweet nothings into the cell phone on the other end. The problem is, they're not looking at the highway! They aren't aware that they're holding up a train of cars in the pass lane or that they're in the middle of a curve on an entry ramp. In short, they're tuned out.
Part of what disturbs me about this phenomenon is what it says about these folks. The comparison has been made more than once of cell phone use to other addictive activities including driving while under the influence of intoxicants. Accident rates suggest this new addiction is approaching the destructiveness and deadliness of the other intoxicants while driving. And yet the rate of cell phone use continues to climb. Why is that?
What strikes me about all this is the apparent near desperation to be distracted. The kids call it being entertained but the bottom line is not so much enjoyment of what one is engaged in as much as the perceived need to avoid thinking about what they are doing. Somehow walking across campus and driving to one's apartment are now too boring to be dealt with. So we must be distracted, diverted from these oppressive facts of life.
One of the marks of spiritual maturity is the amount of time one can spend alone with themselves. I look at my students, beautiful young men and women with good minds and often with sweet hearts and wonder to myself, what could be so bad that it must constantly be held in abeyance, constantly escaped? Why must they be constantly diverted or distracted? At a very basic level, their cell phone abuse is not just about inconsideration and the inability to respect others, though it is about that. But it is more: it is a barometer of how much of the American myth that says our prosperous lives overrunning with material goods somehow make us happy is no longer able to be taken seriously. People don't feel the need to escape or be diverted from happiness.
Of course, there is much that could be said about what Jesus would drive. My father dryly quipped, "A camel." And he's right, of course. But the point of the sticker is not that Jesus would endorse a particular consumer product but whether he'd think *any* of them are particularly good things. SUVs tend to be top heavy and roll over. When they do, they often kill anyone their vehicle touches, sometimes along with the SUV occupants. They also hog more than their share of the gas fueling our national petrochemical addiction. They take up more than their share of the highway, the parking lot and pollute more than their share of the air.
Clearly there are some SUVs that are worse than others. And then there's the Humvees! What sadist determined that monstrosity should be marketed for American streets and highways? But what all of these vehicles have in common is one thing: selfishness. I call SUVs the "selfishmobiles" for obvious reasons.
Of course, in my little Honda, I spend a good deal of time looking into the back of SUVs I can't see around. I find that annoying on a good day, frustrating as hell on a bad day. But mostly, I simply think that the person who would inflict him or herself on the public with such a vehicle - and often with a cell phone in use to boot - really has a hard time escaping the junior high misimpression that "it's all about me."
Now, I think Jesus would have a good deal to say about that. I think he'd remind us that one of the primary ways we love G-d is by loving others as ourselves. I think he'd remind us about the lilies of the field and how they display G-d's goodness and generosity, lilies that fall victim to more and more pavement to accommodate larger vehicles and to acid rain that results from their exhausts. I also think he'd point to "the least of these," the working poor in their rattle-trap vehicles, barely road worthy, often uninsured, but absolutely vulnerable to assault with a deadly selfishmobile.
I suppose I'll take those stickers off shortly. I'm not much of a one for bumper stickers generally and I don't dare put a sticker on for a candidate I want to win election - it's generally the kiss of death. But I do have to say that I'm worried about where this is all going. Mother Earth can't take an ongoing, mindless self-indulgent human race oblivious to what it's doing to the planet, much less to each other. I'm hopeful things may be about to change in this country at the top. But the desperate search for diversion, distraction and entertainment regardless of how it affects other human beings, much less the planet, is a symptom of a much deeper problem. There are days when I wonder if we're really up to hearing what our warning signs are trying so hard to tell us....
Peace.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Rev. Harry Scott Coverston, J.D., Ph.D.
Member, Florida Bar (inactive status)
Priest, Episcopal Church (Dio. of El Camino Real, CA)
Instructor: Humanities, Religion, Philosophy of Law
University of Central Florida, Orlando
https://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~ncoverst/
frharry@cfl.rr.com
If the unexamined life is not worth living, surely an unexamined belief system, be it religious or political, is not worth holding. Most things of value do not lend themselves to production in sound bytes.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On the bumper of my 2000 Honda Civic (Elsie, I call her, after my late beloved Franciscan novice counselor) are a couple of bumper stickers. On the left side there is a sticker with a telephone image and the words "Hang up and drive!" On the right side, a more modest, tasteful lime green sticker reads "WWJD: What Would Jesus Drive?" n
OK, I know, I know. Just a little preachy and smug. I actually ordered both stickers off websites at a moment when I was more than a little annoyed with the latest coed in her SUV complete with her sorority decal in the rear window in the pass lane on the expressway, oblivious to the world and holding up a little parade as she was weaving across the center line from time to time and hitting her brakes for no apparent reason (must've been a funny joke!). But I'd like to think my bumper sticker evangelism has more of a purpose than mere expression of irritation at rush hour.
As a college instructor, I observe the most amazing scene the moment class is dismissed each hour. In one fluid motion, many of my students pick up their book bags and take out the cell phone that most - though not all - have been courteous enough to turn off in class and by the time they hit the door to the hall, they're already engaged in conversation. I see them staggering across the campus, oblivious to their surroundings and sometimes unaware even of their footing as they walk by, chatting so loud that even if I had not wanted to hear about their lunch menu, their evening plans or the chick that vomited into the punch bowl, I still get to share that joy.
While this is annoying and perhaps something to chalk up to immaturity, when one combines this obliviousness and inconsideration with a motor vehicle, it's as problem. When you add all the other age groups - those of us who ought to know better - doing the same thing, it can be dangerous. One of the common observations I make of driving cell phone addicts is that they often appear to be looking up, as if to imagine the face of the dear one whispering sweet nothings into the cell phone on the other end. The problem is, they're not looking at the highway! They aren't aware that they're holding up a train of cars in the pass lane or that they're in the middle of a curve on an entry ramp. In short, they're tuned out.
Part of what disturbs me about this phenomenon is what it says about these folks. The comparison has been made more than once of cell phone use to other addictive activities including driving while under the influence of intoxicants. Accident rates suggest this new addiction is approaching the destructiveness and deadliness of the other intoxicants while driving. And yet the rate of cell phone use continues to climb. Why is that?
What strikes me about all this is the apparent near desperation to be distracted. The kids call it being entertained but the bottom line is not so much enjoyment of what one is engaged in as much as the perceived need to avoid thinking about what they are doing. Somehow walking across campus and driving to one's apartment are now too boring to be dealt with. So we must be distracted, diverted from these oppressive facts of life.
One of the marks of spiritual maturity is the amount of time one can spend alone with themselves. I look at my students, beautiful young men and women with good minds and often with sweet hearts and wonder to myself, what could be so bad that it must constantly be held in abeyance, constantly escaped? Why must they be constantly diverted or distracted? At a very basic level, their cell phone abuse is not just about inconsideration and the inability to respect others, though it is about that. But it is more: it is a barometer of how much of the American myth that says our prosperous lives overrunning with material goods somehow make us happy is no longer able to be taken seriously. People don't feel the need to escape or be diverted from happiness.
Of course, there is much that could be said about what Jesus would drive. My father dryly quipped, "A camel." And he's right, of course. But the point of the sticker is not that Jesus would endorse a particular consumer product but whether he'd think *any* of them are particularly good things. SUVs tend to be top heavy and roll over. When they do, they often kill anyone their vehicle touches, sometimes along with the SUV occupants. They also hog more than their share of the gas fueling our national petrochemical addiction. They take up more than their share of the highway, the parking lot and pollute more than their share of the air.
Clearly there are some SUVs that are worse than others. And then there's the Humvees! What sadist determined that monstrosity should be marketed for American streets and highways? But what all of these vehicles have in common is one thing: selfishness. I call SUVs the "selfishmobiles" for obvious reasons.
Of course, in my little Honda, I spend a good deal of time looking into the back of SUVs I can't see around. I find that annoying on a good day, frustrating as hell on a bad day. But mostly, I simply think that the person who would inflict him or herself on the public with such a vehicle - and often with a cell phone in use to boot - really has a hard time escaping the junior high misimpression that "it's all about me."
Now, I think Jesus would have a good deal to say about that. I think he'd remind us that one of the primary ways we love G-d is by loving others as ourselves. I think he'd remind us about the lilies of the field and how they display G-d's goodness and generosity, lilies that fall victim to more and more pavement to accommodate larger vehicles and to acid rain that results from their exhausts. I also think he'd point to "the least of these," the working poor in their rattle-trap vehicles, barely road worthy, often uninsured, but absolutely vulnerable to assault with a deadly selfishmobile.
I suppose I'll take those stickers off shortly. I'm not much of a one for bumper stickers generally and I don't dare put a sticker on for a candidate I want to win election - it's generally the kiss of death. But I do have to say that I'm worried about where this is all going. Mother Earth can't take an ongoing, mindless self-indulgent human race oblivious to what it's doing to the planet, much less to each other. I'm hopeful things may be about to change in this country at the top. But the desperate search for diversion, distraction and entertainment regardless of how it affects other human beings, much less the planet, is a symptom of a much deeper problem. There are days when I wonder if we're really up to hearing what our warning signs are trying so hard to tell us....
Peace.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Rev. Harry Scott Coverston, J.D., Ph.D.
Member, Florida Bar (inactive status)
Priest, Episcopal Church (Dio. of El Camino Real, CA)
Instructor: Humanities, Religion, Philosophy of Law
University of Central Florida, Orlando
https://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~ncoverst/
frharry@cfl.rr.com
If the unexamined life is not worth living, surely an unexamined belief system, be it religious or political, is not worth holding. Most things of value do not lend themselves to production in sound bytes.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)