The God of Ice Storms and the God of War

It is Friday, January 30, 2009 and here in Louisville, we are still suffering through the aftermath of an ice storm that hit here earlier this week. Actually, to be accurate it wasn't an ice storm, it was a snowstormicestormsnowstorm.

The ferociousness of this storm lives on, and may continue through the weekend. There is something about this storm that makes it seem almost alive...and God-like.

I have been reading a book about Hinduism that deals in a most interesting way with the idea of a God-like presence in natural phenomena.

At the beginning of a chapter entitled "God" in The Essentials of Hinduism, Swami Bhaskarananda has this to say about how some early inhabitants of India dealt with the idea of Deity:

"At a very early stage of their civilization the ancestors of the Hindus are believed to have been polytheistic. Earth, water, fire, wind, sky, sun, dawn, night, thunderstorm---all were deified and adored as gods."

That theology is interesting in itself, but what Swami Bhaskarananda writes next is even more fascinating: "But while being praised by the Vedic hymns, each of these gods was addressed or referred to as the Supreme God, the Lord of all gods, and the Creator of the Universe. According to the famous German Indologist Max Muller, the earliest ancestors of the Hindus were, therefore, not polytheistic; they were henotheistic." *[the emphases here are mine, not the author's]

This ability that our primitive ancestors had to see each calamity or force they encountered in turn as the supreme God when they confronted it, shows a real sophistication in fear.

When devastated by an earthquake, they could sense the supreme power of what was happening to them. The same was true when their homes were reduced to ashes by a fire, or their communities washed away by a tsunami or a Typhoon.

I have felt that kind of power two times in the last few weeks.

Obviously the storm we are living through at the moment seems so overwhelming (at one point 690,000 homes in Kentucky were without power) that it feels like God at work.

The same thing is true of war. The ferociousness of the recent conflict in the Middle East seemed to me to be so powerful, so all-consuming that it elicited the kind of awe in me that was spoken of in the Bible as 'the fear of God' (as in, "that'll put the fear of God into you.")

Generals frequently point out that whoever we are, when we resort to war, we have failed. Failed to find a way to live together. Failed to find a way to peacefully resolve our differences.

When war begins anywhere, it is alive. It is God-like in its fury. Not the God I worship. But certainly one I fear.
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*According to Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, henotheism, means (1) a religious doctrine attributing supreme power to one of several divinities in turn..."

We Need a Cease Fire...in the E-mail Wars

I get a lot of e-mails. Alot.

Actually I often receive as many as 100 e-mails a day. They come from all kinds of sources, and most of them are benign.

Lately, though, I have detected a disturbing new trend. I have begun receiving e-mails that are filled with hatred, misinformation and accusations about the fundamental badness of "the other".

Lately, most of these have concerned the brief but devastating war that flared recently in Gaza and southern Israel. I receive e-mails supporting the Israeli side that talk not only about the fundamental badness of the Palestinian political party called Hamas, but sadly about the fundamental wrongness of Palestinians...and Islam. On the other hand, I also get e-mails from people favoring the Palestinian side, or more particularly the Muslim side. Some of these are filled with words filled with hatred about Zionists and"The Jews." Ironically, the e-mails from both sides are at some level anti-semitic---in the broadest sense of that word. Meaning against people of semitic races (both Arabs and Jews).

To the people of both sides I ask, "What good does it do to spread hateful words?" I certainly understand the need to share factual information about the disasters unforlding in Southern Israel and certainly in Gaza. But resorting to name calling and epithets is just a sad attempt at beating our chests, pointing the finger of blame at the "other" and shouting "Hooray for our side!"

I would much prefer to see a thoughtful sharing of facts and a genuine dialogue in which both sides could air their often legitimate grievances.

Until that happens, whever I see an e-mail that is hate-filled I won't hit "forward." I will push "delete."

When Words Fail Us

Israel and the Hamas led government in Gaza are embroiled in the latest military conflagration to consume the Middle East. Deep anger and hurt are being expressed by supporters of each side, both where the war is underway and right here in our own community. I suspect that the same feelings are being felt in communities across the United States and maybe around the world.

Sadly, it is literally impossible for supporters of Israel and supporters of the citizens in Gaza to talk to each other right now. This noon here in Louisville there were both demonstrations and counter demonstrations about the war.

When it is not possible to talk without shouting at each other, perhaps the best we can do is sit together in silence. It's what I call "sitting in the ashes." It's a term I started using after watching the Wim Wenders film, Until the End of the World. In that film, when the wife of one the main characters dies, the widower sits in a pile of ashes with an aboriginal friend. They both pour ashes on their heads and wail in their grief, a ritual used by aboriginals when words fail them.

A little over a week ago, Christians, Jews and Muslims came together here in Louisville to sit in the ashes. We intentionally met in a non-religious space in the early evening when darkness had already creeped in. Chairs were gathered in a circle and about 30 persons entered the darkened space, lit a candle and placed it on an altar-like table in the center of the room.

Then we just sat together in silence. The the sign posted at the door said, "Please enter, remain and depart in silence." There were no words of welcome or benediction. All we could do was grieve and pray for a just peace to come soon.

That's all you can do when actions and even words, fail you.

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TT