Keep it Simple, says the choir

I've gotten some great comments, both online and off-line, from choir members, since I invited them to read my new blog.  Two of them have reminded me to keep it simple.

One lady, said, "I don't get into all this navel-gazing. I never have. I don't understand it."  Then later at a vespers supper discussing recent tragedies in Haiti and Chile, and how we react to those who hold god responsible for such earthly tragedies, she offered another pearl of wisdom:  "Why ask why?  It just is.  Deal with it."  I thought these were really very wise comments, the type you would get from a buddhist monk after exhausting yourself climbing to the top of a mountain to ask the meaning of life.

Another woman, who I was shocked to discover is 82 years old, when I could have believed she was in her 60's, told me in so many words that, of course, we can't know god, so that's why he sent Jesus, to be the human embodiment of god on earth, and if you want to know god as much as a human being can, all you have to do is follow Jesus.  So that makes the path very simple and manageable, too.

I still am not comfortable believing that Jesus is the ONLY embodiment of god on earth, though, and the only way.  Maybe it's a good idea to keep the focus manageable, though, and target on just one faith.

And then I am reminded of one of my favorite teachers at Andover, my chemistry teacher Elaine Anderson.  I had not taken any chemistry before I began her class, so I had a bit of a learning curve to catch up with other students.  I just couldn't "get it" in the beginning...much the way I remember struggling in second grade to master the concept of borrowing ten from one column, when you needed to subtract from a number that was smaller.

So she came to me, and she said, "you know, Ian, I went and looked up your test scores at the admissions office, and you're not dumb, so why don't we do some tutoring outside of class."  And through that we struck up a friendship, and sure enough, it just took me a little time to "get it," and once I "got it" I had no problem excelling in the rest of her class.

But anyway, one thing I learned about her outside of class, was that she was a born again Christian.  I was really surprised that a scientist, a chemist, studying the scientific method, and using mathematics to describe the chemical interactions and behavior of the physical world at the molecular level, could also believe so passionately in Jesus and god.  So I asked her about it.  She told me, "well, it just happened to me... I was driving along on the highway in my car, alone, on the southeast expressway returning to Andover from Boston, and all of a sudden, I realized there was someone in the passenger seat, and it was Jesus.  And we talked, and we still talk."  How could I argue with that?  It wasn't that she'd devised some complicated philosophy or studied theology for years, and weighed the pros and cons of every religion.... it was just that suddenly one day, Jesus appeared in the passenger seat of her car, and they had a conversation while she was driving, and so of course she was a follower and believer of his now.  Very simple.

Then when I was applying to college, she asked if she could pray for me, and I said yes, and we went to the chapel, and she prayed for my college admissions.  But that's another story!

The picture above shows a Hubble image of the collision of gases near an exploding star.  You can read more about it here