How about that hurricane?

The sky is dim at eight o'clock this morning, the air is heavy and eerily still, quiet, feeling like hovering doom. Hurricane Irene approaches. Soon I will shower and fill available and still-empty containers with drinking water.

Our social order feels just as heavy as this morning's natural atmosphere. Here is a quote that arrived in my email this morning that resonated in my waiting:

The amazing thing is that Jesus never once says “worship me!” He
says, “follow me” (e.g., Matthew 4:19 [1]).

Christianity is a lifestyle—a way of being in the world that is
simple, non-violent, shared, and loving. However, we made it into a
clever “religion,” in order to avoid the lifestyle itself. One could
be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish, and vain, and still believe that
Jesus is their “personal Lord and Savior.” The world has no time for
such silliness anymore. The suffering on Earth is too great.
Fr. Richard Rohr

Though I seek to live in a simple, non-violent, shared and loving way, I also recognize in myself anger and greed, selfishness, vanity, and a tendency to look around to identify who is like me and who is other. It's easy to most approve of ones like me, to judge and disapprove of others. Where is the compassion in that?

In college I learned Steps for Problem Solving. The first step: identify and define the problem. Now there's a challenge. Intentional living, making choices toward "solving problems," requires a lot of first noticing, deeply noticing, identifying and defining what is going on. I notice that what is going on is that the human heart-- mine and surely yours, too-- is full of both light and dark, and every shade and shadow between.

The heavy shadow of Irene will pass within a day or so, now.