What am I refusing to notice?

I began writing a post earlier this week but somehow got stuck. In the meantime two things popped out of the blogosphere that really got my attention and caused me to ponder things that I don’t usually think about too much.

Elizabeth Adams wrote about attending a Palm Sunday service at the Anglican Cathedral in Montreal and being struck by something different in the Easter story. This caused her to reflect on the stories that form us, especially powerful stories that have shaped much of the culture of our society, and how our relationship to them can change over time. She says:

… the point is to go deeply and personally into the story and see what it tells you … about human behaviour and yourself as a human being

In this case Elizabeth was drawn to the short sentence in the story in Mark’s Gospel:

And they all left him and fled.

This led her to ask the question:

“What is it in my own life, right now, that I am refusing to stand with, that I am fleeing?”

I will add another that came to me as I read Elizabeth’s piece and began writing this post:

What is it in my current situation and about myself that I am refusing to notice?

Nancy White, who usually writes about online collaboration, was struck by a translation of the Lord’s Prayer. She was reminded of:

… the ease with which we fall into our own ruts and of the difficulty with which we can come to share understanding of a set of words.

Nancy was particularly struck by translation of the familiar “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” that goes like this

Untangle the knots within us so we can mend our hearts’ simple ties to each other

And so more powerful questions arise both for myself and for the various groups that I am part of and that form and are formed by who I am:

What is it that I need to disentangle? How can we do this? What holds our entanglement in place? What are we refusing to notice that would help us to change?

And, finally here is the full translation of the Lords Prayer by Neil Douglas Klotz

O, Birther of the Cosmos, focus your light within us — make it useful
Create your reign of unity now
Your one desire then acts with ours,
As in all light,
So in all forms,
Grant us what we need each day in bread and insight:
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us,
As we release the strands we hold of other’s guilt.
Don’t let surface things delude us,
But free us from what holds us back.
From you is born all ruling will,
The power and the life to do,
The song that beautifies all,
From age to age it renews.
I affirm this with my whole being.

All I can say is … wow, doesn’t this ask some questions!