interesting times
“May you live in interesting times.” - An ancient curse that seems particularly poignant today.
These “times they are a’changin” and the daily news is never boring. One friend recently tried to reassure me, “We’re doing our best to make your life boring.” I knew exactly what she meant and I was – I am – grateful.
Republicans are legislating morality, Democrats are calling for fiscal conservation, and Michael Bloomberg has switched parties, again. The weather is warmer than ever, except when it is colder, and every single highway in Missouri is under construction. The price of plane tickets changes every day at every website, clothing sizes vary by manufacture in an era of mail order everything, and the cost of stamps changes so often that the newest stamps don’t even list a price!
Touchstones become increasingly important in such a time as this. I suspect the rise of religious fervor literally around the globe is an extension of this need for touchstones. For me, as a pastor, both the bible and worship are important touchstones. Touchstones offer grounding and perspective. They remind whose we are, empowering us to withstand the winds of change without losing our minds, or our souls.
Of course not all touchstones are created equal. Touchstones built of patriarchy offer the reassurance of a utopian social order in which roles are defined by gender, race, and class. These stones offer the comfort of reassurance to all who hold them, but opportunity for only a select few. Some touchstones are gems, but are so small as to be easily lost. A touchstone for parents is often the crystallized memory of an infant’s touch, but the memory is easily hidden in the midst of adolescent drama. Other touchstones are so large that they have become uncontrollable, like our economic enmeshment with the military industrial complex.
One of my roles as pastor is helping people to identify touchstones. As I work with our community to use touchstones, I am aware that in addition to knowing the composition and size of the stone, we must also be mindful of the ways we use our stones. The presence of touchstones is value neutral. The value is defined both by their composition and by our employment (and/or deployment) of the stones. I have vivid memories of my mother yelling, “Don’t throw that stone!” She was convinced that one of us would look up as the stone was coming down and we would go through life with one eye. Stones can build walls of safety and walls of division. Stones can kill and stones (at least in the hands of our children) can make soup.
My daughter is always on the lookout for touchstones, probably a hazard of being a teen in a turbulent world. She has been exploring religions beyond the Christianity in which she has been raised; in particular she is curious about Wicca. As a mutual friend began meeting with Winnie to share the Wicca path, I was consulted for permission and found myself a bit tongue-tied. Was there something in Wicca to which I should object? I finally stammered, “Nothing illegal”. Oddly that leaves a lot of open ground I would rather not have my firstborn explore.
As I consider the touchstones, I think I have a better answer. The touchstone of Wicca, of any religion, is not negative until it is used to maim. The touchstone of the bible is not negative until it is used to wall some people in and others out. Difficult as it is for a pacifist to admit, I suspect that the touchstone even of a trained military is not negative until we allow its growth to turn the waters white.
The times would be a little less interesting if our stones stopped flinging. A little less interesting with out the maze of walls we’re building. A little less interesting when only small stones are tossed in the creek and the big stones are held for deeper waters. Go ahead and gather stones, but hold them carefully.
