Turn Around

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Routinely the CNN website polls readers for their opinions on one thing or another. Sometimes I look at the poll topic and think, who cares. Other times I vote without questioning my own opinion about the topic. And then, there are the times I just want to see what others think because I’m not sure what I think. Now think about that. It’s an opinion poll—anonymous and not scientific. Odd that I would sit at my laptop and give even a second thought to expressing my gut level response to the question. The current poll asks, “How do you feel about 2011 ending?” Choices: I’ll miss it and Good riddance. No surprise— my response fell with the majority. Eight-five percent of the current vote of 111,837 voiced “good riddance”. I don’t recall having thought in the past at year's end that I was just thankful to be moving on—to have the opportunity to move on. No doubt, I have.

What occurs to me on this, the first day of the year 2012, is that I could be seizing the day like it matters. Reflecting on the last several years, ones that I’ve spent most of my time in the so-called land of enchantment, I’m marking time too much of the time. I’ve gotten a little complacent, which has expressed itself as disengagement that is frankly unsatisfying. As the saying goes, there’s no time like the present time—to make a change—and I was reminded of that this morning as I read the daily meditation from a site I started subscribing to back in the summer. For today, the first day of a new year, Richard Rohr (a Franciscan and ordained Roman Catholic priest) titles his meditation, “Resolve to Live Authentically in 2012”. He goes on to describe this authentic living as “turning around”. “As the old Shakers used to sing and dance, ‘Turn, turn wherever you may be, and the turning never stops.’ To be authentically human is to be willing to turn—and to be a saint is to have turned/changed many times.”

A few years ago, the priest leading the Bible study group in a small Episcopal mission I attended in rural east Texas defined repentance as turning around. Odd that I didn’t recall having heard that definition before. Turn around, change directions, change your heart, do good, do better. For some time now I have turned away from the notion of original sin and the baggage of sin and repentance that characterize traditional religious teachings and practice. This has nothing to do with understanding at the deepest level that humans do bad things. We make selfish, self-serving choices. Sometimes these choices are expressed violently and destructively. Look around, and then turn around. Pick up a newspaper or news magazine, turn on cable television, open the web browser on your computer. Our ugly choices are on display. Unfortunately, our goodness doesn’t get nearly as much press as we deserve. Look around, and then turn around.

I’m in a bit of a slump when it comes to religion these days. If I hadn’t realized and understood that my slump places me in the majority of those who have determined that church is somehow sadly irrelevant and that it is not meeting our spiritual needs, I would be more worried. If I hadn’t realized and understood that acts of compassion and generosity happen routinely and bountifully outside the confines of the church, and that church can sometimes be a place where compassion and generosity are hard to recognize, I would be more worried. For the season of giving and sharing just ended, the modest acts of generosity that called me had little to do with sensing that I had fallen short of my responsibility to others. They were very much about remembering the blessings I have and wanting, indeed needing, to shine even the tiniest light on the way for others. Give thanks for the blessing of blessing someone else. Look around, and then turn around.

The image at the top of Fr. Richard’s meditation this morning was the labyrinth at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. I was reminded of the sense of well being and healing I have felt many times when I have walked the labyrinth in one place or another. I was reminded that I haven’t sought this particular source of healing in a long time. As on all days, today I feel a need to heal and a need to grow. In some ways 2011 was a tough year for me, but the challenges I faced pale in comparison to what I see around me. Today, I get the opportunity to turn around, turn around.

January 1, 2012— Albuquerque, New Mexico

R. Harold Hollis