Quebec is proposing a limited form of euthanasia. The "dying with dignity" legislation would allow doctors to end the life of a terminally ill patient, who is of sound mind and who is receiving palliative care, to end their life.  These are the only conditions under which physician assisted suicide would be legal. 

I will be posting some more thoughts on this subject in the next few weeks. In the meantime, interested readers may want to read an November 2011 post, "Euthanasia: a slippery slope" which is accessible at http://faithcolouredglasses.blogspot.ca/2011/11/euthanasia-slippery-slope.html.

The blue box of New Year's Resolutions

It’s three weeks into January, and it’s time to check our progress on those New Year’s resolutions that we embraced with enthusiasm.

I have a standard resolution: stop eating sweets after the Christmas holidays. Because we had an excess of chocolates and baking this year, it was necessary for me to approach this resolution strategically. While the chocolates were in the pantry, and the baking was in the freezer (frozen cookies are the most tempting), there was no point tackling this resolution. The best course of action, and I undertook it with aplomb, was to finish up the treats first. With that dutifully accomplished, I have conquered my first resolution of 2013. 

My policy for resolutions: "reuse and recycle"

Photo: public domain

I am prone to repeating resolutions from year to year. My New Year’s resolution policy might best be described as “reuse and recycle”. The plethora of advice on how to keep New Year’s resolutions suggests that many people share my policy.

Our good intentions to remake our selves are usually short lived. Before the end of January, the majority of our resolutions are languishing in the blue box, waiting to be picked up, dusted off, and reshaped. 

Breaking free from our excesses

Many New Year’s resolutions focus on physical wellness. Year after year, weight loss, fitness, smoking cessation, and reducing alcohol consumption top the lists of the most popular resolutions. With resolutions of this type, we seek to break free from our excesses, and to transform some aspect of our self.

While our resolutions are not outwardly spiritual, there is an underlying spiritual context to our annual obsession with self-improvement. Our resolutions express our desires for a new beginning. We seek to heal the past, and to improve the future. Our resolutions are signs of hope. This hopeful longing for transformation is an expression of spirituality.

Based on the lists of popular resolutions, the majority of us rarely consider our need for spiritual wellness. Spiritual practices do not appear on our lists. This seems to me to be an unfortunate omission. Spiritual practices, when incorporated into our regular routines, will gradually accomplish the substantive transformation for which we long.

While not a quick fix, spiritual practices are life giving

Praying hands - public domain

In my experience, spiritual practices are much like resolutions. As our initial enthusiasm wanes, they become hard to keep. Resolving to pray, to read spiritual texts, to attend church, to comfort the afflicted, or to serve the poor, for example, does not mean that we will consistently do so. Like other resolutions, spiritual practices are not a quick fix. We do not suddenly become saints because we try to pray more, just as we do not become super models because we try to lose a few pounds. 

There is a difference between our efforts to incorporate spiritual practices into our lives, and our attempts to remake our selves through New Year’s resolutions. That difference lies in the ability of a spiritual practice to deepen our friendship with God, our knowledge of our selves, and our willingness to reach out to others.  And so, I have always found that spiritual practices are life giving, regardless of the number of times I fish them out of the blue box.

A Message from the Magi

Adoration of the Magi

On the twelfth day of Christmas, some men arrived to see, a baby on his mother’s knee. 

While we know very little about these men, they are compelling characters that have captured the Christian imagination. The men appear only in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2. 1-12).  

Matthew tells us that the men, who came from the East, followed a star until they found the Christ child. Along the way, they checked in at King Herod’s palace. After consultation with some experts in Jewish messianic prophecy, they carried on their way. When they found Jesus, they worshiped him, and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Disobeying Herod’s command to return to the palace, they took an alternate route home because they dreamed that Herod intended to kill the child.

The men become legend

From Matthew’s account, the men became the stuff of legend. As early as the 2^nd century, the men were a trio. By the 3^rd century, the trio had become a popular subject of art. By the 5^th century, the magi had become kings, and, in the west, had acquired the names, Balthassar, Melchior, and Gaspar.  In the east, they were Melkon, King of Persia, Gaspar, King of India, and Baldassar, King of Arabia.

Zoroastrian priests?

Over the centuries, the men have been called “kings”, “wise men”, “sages”, and “magi”. The word that Matthew originally used was “magos.”  Magos is a specific term that refers to a Zoroastrian priest.

Zoroastrianism is the oldest monotheistic religion in the world, possibly dating to about 1800 BCE.  It was the religion of three ancient Iranian empires, including that of King Cyrus, who is mentioned favorably in the Hebrew Scriptures. The prophet Isaiah calls him “God’s anointed one”.  Cyrus liberated the exiled Jews from Babylonian captivity, and rebuilt the Jewish temple. 

Interfaith dialogue

An overlap of religious ideas between Zoroastrianism and the Judeo-Christian tradition strongly suggests that 500 years before the birth of Jesus, Jews and Zoroastrians were engaged in interfaith dialogue. By the time Jesus was born in the 1^st century, Zoroastrian communities were a strong, and influential presence throughout the Middle East.  It is possible that Matthew’s magos were indeed Zoroastrian priests, were familiar with the Jewish messianic scriptures, and were looking for the messiah.

The magi as examples of conversion, perseverance, and trust 

Matthew’s account of the visit of the magi to the child Jesus lends itself to numerous spiritual interpretations.  Justin Martyr, writing in the 2^nd century, saw the magi as examples of conversion, and the renunciation of pagan ways. Origen, another one of the Church Fathers, said the magi were the first individuals to recognize Jesus as the messiah, and were witnesses to Christianity.  Pope Leo the Great, writing in the 5^th century, compared the journey of the magi to a spiritual journey. The star was the light of faith leading the individual to truth. In his eloquent words, “the star attracted their eyes, but the rays of truth also penetrated their hearts.”

Over the years, homilists have added to these interpretations. Some see the magi as examples of perseverance in faith. For others, the magi demonstrate that the servants of God are sometimes found outside of established religious organizations; attending church does not guarantee that a person is serving or honoring God well.

As a compelling example of tolerance

I think that the magi bear today’s world another important message. The magi sought, encountered, and accepted God’s revelation outside of their own religious system, and cultural experience. The unfamiliar did not threaten them; it presented them with an opportunity to discover God in a new way, and to grow spiritually.

Matthew’s magi represent the principles of dialogue, tolerance, and acceptance.  These are principles that improve our personal relationships. These are principles that bring greater harmony to the world, and are especially needed in the Middle East, the region where the magi travelled, and where the Christ, the prince of peace, was born.

My reading of Matthew’s account is not in keeping with the purposes of his infancy narratives.  In his stories of the birth of Jesus, Matthew wants to show that Jesus fulfills the Jewish messianic prophecies, that his birth is universally important, and that he has authority over men.

As part of the living word of God, the magi reach across time, continuing to speak with relevance to the present generation. Their generous spirit of openness and acceptance is a compelling example for all people of goodwill. In a world plagued with various forms of intolerance, the magi are symbols of those noble principles that foster harmonious relationships among individuals and nations.

Credits:

Adoration of the Magi, http://www.shl.lon.ac.uk/exhibitions/reading-the-bible/

Christmas is an opportunity to tune into the sacred

It was hard not to be tuned into the possibility that Kate might be pregnant.  The tabloids   had been speculating for weeks.  The speculation came to an end when the Duchess of Cambridge required medical attention for acute morning sickness. At that point, Prince William’s office had little choice but to announce the pregnancy, even though the royal couple may have preferred to keep the news to themselves.

Reaction to the announcement came quickly as people tweeted their congratulations, which ranged from the predictable to the euphoric. The more euphoric statements described the pregnancy as a “global phenomenon” and as the “good news that everyone has been waiting for.”  There were predictions for the future: “this baby will secure the future of the monarchy for decades” and “this baby will be the most famous child in modern history.”  There were expectations of universal joy: “this baby will bring joy to many around the world.”

Thinking of a long ago pregnancy

This highly public pregnancy and the reaction to it make me think of another pregnancy. It was a pregnancy that did not generate widespread excitement, although it had certain notoriety. A young Jewish girl had returned from a visit to her cousin and she was obviously pregnant.  The news spread quickly. The rumor mill was working overtime. Instead of congratulations, there was innuendo and criticism.

While he felt betrayed, her betrothed kept his cards close to his heart as he pondered his next step. Like everyone else in the village, he wondered how this could have happened. Who was the father? 

While people were quick to condemn her, they wondered about the sanity of her betrothed.  If he were not the father, then he was a fool, treating her with an honor she did not deserve.  The women shunned her and the men were preparing to stone her.

This may have been the reaction that Mary and Joseph faced in their little town, where it was impossible to keep Mary’s pregnancy a secret. While people in the surrounding villages were talking about it, none were offering euphoric congratulations. In their view, this was a shameful pregnancy; it was definitely not good news. No one was waiting for this baby to secure the future of a nation. No one expected this baby to be a global phenomenon.

The people were wrong. This baby was good news and he would influence the lives of many. This baby, Jesus of Nazareth, was sacred; he was the expression of the presence of God among us.

Recognizing the sacred in our midst

That long ago pregnancy teaches us something about recognizing the sacred in our midst. The sacred manifests itself to us in subtle ways. Like a woman who has yet to discover that she is pregnant, we may be unaware that we carry the sacred within our being. Like the critics of Mary and Joseph, we may be unaware that the sacred is about to enter into our experience. We are not tuned in.

"Madonna with Child"
Francisco de Zubaran 1658

 

In the birth of the Christ child, we have a beautiful image of the sacred as immanent  and as transcendent. In Mary’s tender caress of her newborn son as he nurses at her breast, we have an image of the soul responding to the gentle touch of God’s presence.

In the tiny and dependent Christ child, we sense that the sacred is vulnerable and susceptible to neglect. We begin to understand that just as parents care lovingly for their child, we must nurture what is sacred within our self. Then, we are better able to recognize and respond to the sacred in others and in creation.

In the report of angelic choirs appearing in the night sky to announce the birth of this child, and in the legends of animals kneeling before this baby in a manger, we find a metaphor for the presence of the sacred in the world around us. 

Becoming pregnant with the possibility of transformation

While nurturing a sense of the sacred in a secular world may seem like foolishness, it is a trusting response to God’s invitation. God asks us to become pregnant with the possibility of our own transformation.  As an unborn baby slowly develops in the silence and darkness of the womb, our inner transformation occurs invisible to the eye, until, little by little, we give birth to the love and the joy manifested in that first Christmas, when a young Jewish mother wrapped her babe in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.  

"Nativity"
 Frederico Barroci  1597

                                                  Merry Christmas!

"Are you ready for Christmas?"

It’s that time of year when everyone is asking the question that makes even the most organized woman feel frazzled. “Are you ready for Christmas?” I am definitely not ready for Christmas, either materially or spiritually. 

When my children were young, I had deadlines for my Christmas preparations so that I would be ready.  I rushed around as if the coming of Christmas depended solely on my ability to get things done.

Over the years, I have scaled back. I bake less and I buy less. While many people I know have also scaled back on the purchasing of gifts, Christmas shopping remains a national obsession.

Black Friday is like a military operation

The madness begins on Black Friday. This year Black Friday dominated the media. It was as newsworthy as the possibility of war between Israel and Palestine, civil strife in Syria, and the fiscal cliff in the United States. It could be that Black Friday is worthy of all this media attention. After all, shopping on Black Friday has its war like elements as consumers fight to get the best deals and, as they repeatedly swipe their credit cards, consumers create their personal version of a financial crisis.

According to market researchers, the annual Black Friday shopping ritual is comparable to a military mission. One researcher noted that people plan their shopping mission weeks in advance, devising strategies to increase their chances of successfully obtaining the best deals.

Not everyone is impressed with Black Friday. Twenty-two years ago in Vancouver, Kalle Lasn of Ad Busters came up with the idea of “Buy Nothing Day”.  Lasn thought it was time to counter the blatant consumerism of Black Friday. He wanted to encourage discussion on the dark side of consumerism. The dark side of consumerism is the stress it places on the planet and the psychological consequences of the message that consumption equals happiness.

The Christmas season has become a time of excessive consumption. The excesses of the season, whether it’s credit card debt from overspending, an expanded waistline from overeating, or multiple hangovers from over imbibing, leave many people feeling less than satisfied when the New Year arrives.

Christmas creates a widespread feeling of goodwill

Celebrating, and the giving and receiving of gifts play an important role in Christmas.  They help to define the festive season, demarcating Christmas from the rest of the year. Christmas is the only holiday I can think of that creates such a widespread feeling of goodwill.  The spirit of Christmas inspires gladness, generosity, and greater civility among people.

When I think about the consumerism of Christmas, the words of the prophet Isaiah come to mind.  Isaiah uses the metaphor of a banquet to describe God’s invitation to live a fuller, more satisfying life. Why, God asks, do you waste your money on things that cannot feed your soul? Why do you work for things that give you no satisfaction?

The Christmas shopping season coincides with the liturgical season of Advent.  Advent is a time of spiritual preparation when Christians prepare to welcome ‘God-with-us’ in the birth of the Christ child. Advent is an appropriate time to counter bargain hunting with some soul searching.

  

Photo: Louise McEwan

I have learned to buy less and do less so that I can give more

Years ago, when the number of tasks I wanted to complete before Christmas began to overwhelm me, I had an insight. It was so obvious, yet it was something I had consistently overlooked. Christmas day would come and go, regardless of the state of my preparations. Christmas day did not depend on specialty baking, or a pile of gifts under a beautifully decorated tree. The beauty of our Christmas depended on the love in our hearts and in our home.  The thing that mattered most was my ability to be present to my family, my friends, and my God. Although I still search for the perfect gifts, I have learned to buy less and do less so that I can give more.

In a curious twist, Christmas leads us towards another Friday: one that is a counterpoint to Black Friday. While Black Friday’s all consuming focus is about filling up our lives with stuff, this Friday has a different focus. In the birth of the Christ child, Christmas points to Good Friday. Good Friday encourages us to become empty, so that we may live in the lightness of heart that characterizes the Christmas spirit. Christmas is the beginning of God’s strategic operation for us.