Mark’s gospel of disruption

Mark’s gospel of disruption (excerpt from 5:28 min)

And for those of us who ask the larger questions, I think we are being invited to think deeply about what this holy cosmetic destruction, this disruption is meant to birth. All right, and I'll be the first to say that I've kind of spent most of the last six months either as a deer in the headlights or just wanting to run away from it all. And like I shared with a friend the other day, sometimes I think my life is like a game of snakes and ladders. I think I can make some moves in this direction, oh, there's a ladder that looks like it's going to go where I need to go. And then suddenly, if you recall the game, oh, there's the tail of the snake taking you to another place. So that it's a holy mass of destruction, this disruption and all these little disruptions, kind of as, kind of like an earthquake, the aftershocks of the massive disruption.

Our sacred text, and the traditions and the stories and the archetypes and the mythology within the text, are laying down these massive disruptive texts all the time with the promise that if we can now wrestle with who we are and what is most vital for our humanity, we might actually get to a place where we never dreamed was possible. But it will not be without some significant letting go and significant dying and some significant fear.

And so I invite you to consider what it is right now that may be slowly trying to come to birth. And then to be honest about the fact that it may be too soon. I kind of liked things done yesterday. Yet I'm pretty sure that a massive disruption, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the end of a marriage, we know those things don't get worked out in, oh, well, it's five months now, we should be, you know, moving on to a different track, embracing a different story.

And so in the meantime, right, I think we need to know that we're in really good company throughout the ages. People of every spiritual tradition wrestling with endings, yet recognizing them quite possibly as portals to a new life, a new story that might be more kind, more gentle, more just than the one that is collapsing. I wish you good Sabbath day, friends, good rest, good renewal, and good conversations about what might be seeking to rise in you and which stones in your life might still need to be pushed aside so that you can claim a new story.

Covid Sunday practice - For Times Such as This, Living with Curiosity, Creativity & Courage