Still Somewhere in Between

Ten years ago on this 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, I gave the homily at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolis. (Of course, they couldn't, and still can't call homilies by non-members of the church's clerical caste "homilies," but that's essentially want they are.)

My homily on January 15, 2006 was entitled "Somewhere in Between," and drew from both my experience as a gay man in the Catholic Church and the beautiful imagery of coastal tidal zones, those special in-between places that can be both land and sea. (One such place in Australia is a very sacred place for me, as I've previous talked about here, here and here.)

The experiences, insights, imagery, and hopes that inspired and are expressed through my homily of a decade ago remain very meaningful to me. And over the years others have shared with me how meaningful and helpful this particular homily has been for them. That's something about which I feel very grateful and honored.

The full text of "Somewhere in Between" can be read here, while following is an excerpt.

I once had a theology professor at the College of St. Catherine who maintained that there is a tendency for humans to gravitate to the extremes; to move, in other words, towards those often polarizing extremes of a given issue or situation. Why is this so?

It’s because at the extremes it is safe. You know exactly where you stand and in what to believe. Everything, and I mean everything, is clear-cut, black and white. One doesn’t have to be bothered by pesky questions or unsettling ambiguities.

I think of the extremes as steep and jagged mountains – majestic and triumphant, but, in reality, cold and barren; unable to support any growth or any life of depth or complexity. They are also places from which any questioning or healthy skepticism is banished. They are often, therefore, the birthplace of fanatical devotion to narrow preoccupations; the birthplace of irrational fears associated with difference and change; the birthplace of dehumanizing stereotypes and sweeping judgmental pronouncements.

I think of the institutional component of our Church and how so many of its recent pronouncements regarding gay and lesbian people have clearly been born from such places. I think of the two extreme views that the Church presents of gay men – the first being that of the promiscuous sexual outlaw, the second being that of the afflicted individual bound to lifelong celibacy.

Well, I’m sorry, but I’ve discovered that I’m not very good at being either celibate or promiscuous. I guess I’m somewhere in between.

Indeed, it’s what I long for – a searching life “somewhere in between.” Not a desperately searching life, but one filled with hope and the joy of pilgrimage, one that is respectful of honest doubts, one that is open to authentic relationships and to God in many worlds.

I hope one day to marry the man I love – and I have a dream of holding our marriage ceremony within the tidal zone of a beach, in that place “somewhere in between” the land and the sea.

. . . I would imagine that most of us are somewhere in between the various extremes that both our church and society often present to us. And I think that’s okay. In fact, I think it’s more than okay. I believe we’re called to stand and live in the often messy middle between polarizing extremes. Such an “in-between” place is like a valley – green and fertile – that lies between those mountains of extremism. It’s not a place of indecision or lukewarm commitments. It’s not a place where “anything goes.” Rather it’s a place where we allow our convictions and beliefs the opportunity to be informed and shaped by new insights born of our experiences and the experiences of others; a place where we get to discover the light of God in unexpected places and faces.

In other words, that space between the extremes is the realm of authentic human experience, and therefore authentic religious experience. In that space we are all on the same level and can look into one another’s eyes as we share the reality and truth of our experiences. In that space we can walk and journey with each other, we can be in relationship. And in that space between the extremes we can collectively live and embody that fullness of life and truth that Jesus spoke about and that our church claims to possess. It is in the messy middle that we discern and embody God’s ongoing revelation and where accordingly, our church can be most catholic.

– Michael J. Bayly
Excerpted from "Somewhere in Between"
(a homily delivered January 15, 2006
at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church)

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• On Sacred Ground
• Another Time, Another Place
• Sharing a Good Thing
• Sufism: Way of Love, Tradition of Enlightenment, and Antidote to Fanaticism
• Amos Oz on the Essence of Fanaticism
• Memet Bilgin and the Art of Restoring Balance
• Seeking Balance

Other Homilies:
The Soul of a Dancer – Spirit of St. Stephen's Catholic Community, May 22, 2011.
Liberated to Be Together – Spirit of St. Stephen's Catholic Community, October 4, 2009.
"More Lovely Than the Dawn": God as Divine Lover – Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ, August 30, 2009.
Dispatches from the Periphery – Spirit of St. Stephen's Catholic Community, October 5, 2008.
The Harvest Within the Heart – Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ, July 17, 2005.
Disarming the Weapons Within – Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ, November 29, 2004.
Soul Deep – Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ, June 20, 2004.
Something We Dare Call Hope – Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ, November 9, 2003.
On the Road with Punk Rockers and Homeless Mothers – Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ, October 19, 2003.
Praying for George W. Bush – Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ, January 2003.
What We Learn From the Story of the Magi – St. Stephen's Catholic Church, January 2, 2000.

Image: Standing on sacred ground somewhere in between – southern end of Town Beach, Port Macquarie, February 2010. (Photo: Gordon J. Bayly)

John Allen on the Vatican's "Gay Lobby"

As someone who's written about homosexuality and the Roman Catholic priesthood (see, for instance, here and here), I appreciate veteran Vatican watcher John Allen's recent Crux article, "Decoding What It Means to Say the Vatican Has a 'Gay Lobby'."

Here's, well, the crux of what Allen has to say (with thanks to Terry Nelson at Abbey Roads for first bringing Allen's insights to my attention) . . .

[W]hen Italians say there’s a “gay lobby” in the Vatican, they don’t mean an organized faction with the aim of changing Church teaching on homosexuality or same-sex marriage.

Instead, what they have in mind is an informal, loosely organized network of clergy who support one another, keep one another’s secrets, and help one another move up the ladder. The group is perceived to have a vested interest in thwarting attempts at reform, since they benefit from secrecy and old-guard ways.

It’s called “gay” because, the theory goes, a Vatican official’s homosexuality can be a very powerful secret, especially if he’s sexually active, and threatening to expose him can be an effective way of keeping him in line. It’s hardly the only such possibility, however, and, in any event, the emphasis is not on sex but secrecy, as well as the related impression of people getting promoted or decisions being made on the basis of personal quid pro quos.

That’s not to say that the perception of a widespread presence of gays in the clergy isn’t a strong part of the picture, especially in light of the furor last fall over Polish Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, the former Vatican official who outed himself on the brink of a controversial Synod of Bishops on the family.

Yet the speculation over a “lobby” isn’t really about sexual orientation, but the impression of a system in which people living personally conflicted lives look out for one another. In that sense, the term “gay lobby” is often synonymous for Italian-speakers with corruption, secrecy, and a sleazy sort of personal patronage.

– John Allen
Excerpted from "Decoding What It Means to Say
the Vatican Has a 'Gay Lobby'"
Crux
January 15, 2016

Related Off-site Links:
Two Bishops: The Vatican Isn’t a "Den of Thieves," But Has a "Gay Lobby" – Inés San Martín (Crux, January 14, 2016).
Vatican Gay Lobby? Really? – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, January 17, 2016).
The Vatican's Secret Life – Michael Joseph Gross (Vanity Fair, December 2013).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Gay Men in the Vatican Are Giving the Rest of Us a Bad Name
• A Ewe Questions Her Shepherds
• To Be Gay in the Vatican
• Homosexuality and the Priesthood
• Quote of the Day – May 9, 2014
• Why I Take Hope in Pope Francis' Statement on Gay Priests
• Officially Homophobic, Intensely Homoerotic
• A Fact That Should Be Neither Surprising Nor Derogatory
• Vatican Stance on Gay Priests Signals Urgent Need for Renewal and Reform
• Report: Homosexuality No Factor in Abusive Priests
• Weakland, the Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal, and Homophobia
• Keeping All the Queens Under One Roof
• What Is It That Ails You?
• What the Vatican Can Learn from the X-Men

Interiors

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Glenda Jackson on the Oscars, Acting, and Politics

I've discovered I've developed zero tolerance for the Academy Awards or "Oscars." For one thing, I've come to see the whole Oscars nomination process as a glorified high school popularity contest. It's a "high school" dominated by white men of a certain age. One major consequence of this is the lack, year after year, of racial diversity in the slate of nominations. It's just become too much.

But then the whole idea of competitively pitting artists and artistic expressions (such as films) against one another just seems ridiculous. Glenda Jackson, a two-time Oscar winner, agrees. Here's what she said in 2012 about the Oscars.

You don't win them . . . the people who win are, I suppose in a sense, the people who voted for you, because their choice is the one that had the biggest number. But . . . you know, what do they mean? Someone said it's like winning a gold medal. No, it isn't. In the Olympics, everybody starts at the same point, they know exactly where the finishing line is, and you either get there first or you don't. Acting isn't like that. . . . There are people who should have got [recognition] but never did because their part wasn't showy enough. [Awards] certainly don't make you act any better.

And to British TV host Graham Norton, Jackson said in 1999:

My mother had all my awards and she used to polish them to within an inch of their life. And it wasn't very long before all the glitter on the Oscars disappeared and its just base metal underneath, which I think is quite a nice analogy for what they're about.

Indeed.

Acting and Politics

As you may know, Glenda Jackson retired from acting in the early 1990s to pursue a life in politics. Twenty-five years later, here's what she said about the link between acting and politics.

The best drama tries to tell the truth, tries to find and tries to tell the truth. The prime example, of course, is Shakespeare. It doesn't matter where he sets the play, where the story is, essentially all he's asking is: Who are we? What are we? Why are we? . . . And I think that's what the best politics is trying to find. It's how do you democratically create a society in which the individual can be that divinely-created individual but where there is an approach, a shared acceptance of the basic realities of what it is to be a human being. And the basic reality of being a human being is not all sweetness and light. It's how you manage to coordinate what is best.

. . . Really good acting is like peeling an onion. . . . You're trying to find out what is truthful about being a human being. And for me the best politics is always trying to define, divine, in the sense of digging something up, what is the truth about the way a country is structuring itself, what are our basic fundamental principles, [when] are we prepared to say: This is our red line. We're not going over this one.

Related Off-site Links:
The 88th Academy Awards Nominations – David Walsh (World Socialist Web Site, January 15, 2016).
Academy Nominates All White Actors for Second Year in Row – Tim Gray (Variety, January 14, 2016).
Oscars: Acting Races Are an All-White Field – Patrick Ryan (USA Today, January 14, 2016).
Black Actors and Directors Shut Out of 2016 Oscar Race – Christopher John Farley (The Wall Street Journal, January 14, 2016).
Lack of Color in Oscar Nominations Frustrates Academy President – Pete Hammond (Yahoo! News, January 14, 2016).
9 Actors of Color Who Should've Been Nominated for an Oscar This Year – Brennan Williams (HuffPost Black Voices, January 14, 2016).
It's Past Time to Tune Out the White Oscars – Earl Ofari Hutchinson (HuffPost Black Voices, January 15, 2016).
Glenda Jackson Laments Continuing Lack of Key Acting Roles for Women – Dalya Alberge (The Guardian, September 12, 2015).
And Last of All I Would Like to Thank . . . – Glenda Jackson (The Guardian, February 21, 2009).
Glenda Jackson is Back: Two-Time Oscar Winner Daunted and Excited to Return to Acting – Scott Feinberg (The Hollywood Reporter, December 3, 2015).

For more of Glenda Jackson at The Wild Reed, see:
• A Third Oscar for Glenda!
• John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday: "A Genuinely Radical Film"

See also:
• The Purpose of Art
• The Potential of Art and the Limits of Orthodoxy to Connect Us to the Sacred
• Oscar Highlights (2013)
• Oscar Observations (2010)
• Oscar Observations (2009)
• Five Oscar Highlights (2008)
• Where Milk Gets It Wrong

Opening image: Andrew Crowley.

Photo of the Day

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Winter Light
• Photo of the Day – December 6, 2015
• Photo of the Day – April 4, 2015
• Photo of the Day – April 9, 2013
• Photo of the Day – March 30, 2012
• Photo of the Day – January 7, 2012
• Photo of the Day – November 17, 2011

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

Quote of the Day

Even the Vatican has marked singer David Bowie’s passing, praising the artist whose life and career perpetually challenged sexual and gender norms, and who, at varying points in his life, identified as gay and bisexual.

. . . The Vatican’s praise for Bowie has generated global headlines, fueled by the dissonance created in bringing together rigid Catholic officials and the unconfined seeker that was David Bowie. That the Vatican’s newspaper was so affirming* is a positive sign for LGBT issues in the church, likely [an] outcome from Pope Francis’ improved engagement with the world and demand for all people to be respected and valued.

I think Cardinal Ravasi and those behind the L’Osservatore Romano article are touching a deeper truth that connects Pope Francis, David Bowie, and all of us in between: the path to holiness is the journey towards authenticity. To paraphrase the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, “To be a saint is to be yourself.”

– Bob Shine
Excerpted from "Vatican Marks David Bowie’s Passing By Praising Him"
Bondings 2.0
January 12, 2016

* Notes The New York Times:

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has eulogized David Bowie as a singular musician, "never banal," who grew artistically over five decades thanks to his interest in art, film and theater.

The paper, which frequently weighs in on pop culture, noted the "ambiguous image" Bowie cultivated early on in his career and blamed it on his aim to attract media attention. But it said that aside from such "excesses," Bowie's legacy "is one of a sort of personal sobriety, expressed even in his dry, almost thread-like body."

It listed "Heroes", Bowie's ode to Berlin, as one of his "pearls" in his 25 albums.

Related Off-site Links:
David Bowie Dies at 69; Star Transcended Music, Art and Fashion – Jon Pareles (The New York Times (January 11, 2016).
Saint David Bowie? Not Yet, But Faith Leaders Pay Respects to Dead Rocker – David Gibson (Religion Dispatches, January 11, 2016.
Rebel Rebel: The Fantastic Voyage of David Bowie – Stephen Thomas Erlewine (All Music, January 12, 2016).
Celebrating David Bowie, a Star Who Burned Bright to the Last – Michael Cooper (The New York Times, January 11, 2016)
How David Bowie Sexually Liberated Us All – Tim Teeman (The Daily Beast, January 11, 2016).
David Bowie Allowed You to Be Gay – Arnold Wayne Jones (Dallas Voice, January 11, 2016).
David Bowie and My Queer Awakening – Brynn Tannehill (HuffPost Gay Voices, January 12, 2016).
The Complicated Sexual History of David Bowie – Philip Lewis (Yahoo! News, January 12, 2016).
David Bowie Allowed His Art to Deliver a Final Message – Joe Coscarelli and Michael Paulson (The New York Times, January 11, 2016).
David Bowie: Did He Change Attitudes to Sexuality? – Vincent Dowd (BBC World Service, March 23, 2013).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Daniel Helminiak on the Lesson of Jesus: "We Will Be True to God by Being True to Our Deepest and Best Selves"
• The Challenge to Become Ourselves
• David Whyte: "To Be Courageous is to Stay Close to the Way We Are Made"
• LGBT Catholics Celebrate Being "Wonderfully Made"

Opening image: David Bowie in the 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Love is an Adventure . . .

. . . It survives and develops
like the universe itself
only by perpetual discovery.

– Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Choice (and Risk) That Is Love
• What We Mean by Love
• Love as "Quest and Daring and Growth"
• The Gravity of Love
• Quote of the Day – October 5, 2010
• Getting It Right
• The Longing for Love: God's Primal Beatitude
• Love as Exploring Vulnerability
• The Art of Surrender
• To Be Held and To Hold
• To Know and Be Known
• The Many Manifestations of God's Loving Embrace
• In the Garden of Spirituality – James B. Nelson
• Passion, Tide and Time
• Love is Love
• Love at Love's Brightest
• Dew[y]-Kissed

Image: Subjects and photographer unknown.

Gull Lake

Above and below: Gull Lake, Minnesota – January 8-10, 2016.

I traveled to Gull Lake with Brent (right), the man I've been dating since All Hallows Eve of last year. We stayed at the Causeway on Gull Resort (above), just outside of Nisswa, Minnesota. It was a very special time.

Above: The downtown area of nearby Brainerd.

Above: Returning to the Twin Cities – Sunday, January 10, 2016.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Northwoods
• Winter Light
• Shadows and Light
• Winter Storm
• Winter's Return
• A Winter Reflection

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

What a Man!

It's been quite some time since I posted an installment of The Wild Reed's "What a Man!" series.

In case you've forgotten, this series was started back in April 2011 as a way of highlighting well-known straight men who, regardless of the risks to their careers or popularity, have courageously chosen to publicly support LGBT people and their civil rights. To date, The Wild Reed's "What a Man!" series has spotlighted seven sportsmen (Ben Cohen, Sean Avery, Hudson Taylor, Nick Youngquest, Chris Kluwe, Brendon Ayanbadejo, and Nick Symmonds) and one U.S. Republican politician (John Kriesel).

This evening the spotlight turns to National Hockey League (NHL) player Andrew Ference (above left), who is a spokesperson for Pride Tape, a new campaign encouraging LGBT hockey players to "stay on the ice."

Pride Tape is basically rainbow-colored strips that hockey players can decorate their sticks with. The campaign is intended for LGBT athletes and allies alike to show their support.

“[It’s] a badge of support to LGBT youth, to say 'you’re welcome in our sporting communities,'” Kris Wells, director of the Institute for the Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alabama, recently told CBC. “This is a way to signal you’re an ally without having to actually say anything.”

Adds Ference, who plays for the Edmonton Oilers, “Some kids just stop playing the game they love, just because they’re gay. Let’s show EVERY player they’re welcome on the ice.”

The Pride Tape campaign’s Kickstarter page has garnered 374 backers, totaling $17,000 to date. The goal is to get $39,386 in donations by February 4, in order to manufacture and distribute 10,000 rolls of tape.

So . . . if you'd like to start the New Year by contributing to a worthwhile cause, this would be it! Click here to contribute to Pride Tape's kickstarter campaign.

Above and below: In 2014 Andrew Ference made history by becoming the first professional hockey player in Edmonton to march in the city’s 34th annual Pride Parade in support of the LGBT community. Ference told the Edmonton Journal the decision was “kind of a no-brainer,” adding:

Making sure that [LGBT] youth know they have allies at the pro level, or whether it’s a teammate who might be thinking about coming out, or whatever it is, we want to make sure that it’s an accepting environment for everyone. I know most of my teammates and guys around the league line up with the same kind of belief.

Here's a little bit more about Andrew Ference (Courtesy of Wikipedia):

Andrew James Stewart Ference (born March 17, 1979) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and an alternate captain for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Ference started in the NHL during the 1999–2000 season and has played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames and Boston Bruins. In 2011, Ference helped the Bruins to their 6th Stanley Cup Championship. He was born in Edmonton, Alberta, but grew up in Sherwood Park, Alberta.

. . . Ference and Krista Bradford, a former professional snowboarder, married in 2002. They have two daughters: Ava Tye, born in June 2005, and Stella, born in March 2009.

Ference's association with environmentalist David Suzuki while in Calgary led him to create a carbon-neutral program for the NHL, which now includes over 500 players who purchase carbon offset credits to counteract the negative environmental impact of professional sports. In February 2012, National Geographic began a ten-episode Web series called "Beyond the Puck" highlighting Andrew's life as a NHL Player and "eco-warrior."

On September 5, 2011, following the Bruins Stanley Cup championship, Ference organized and led a parade and flash mob in Boston's North End, which is the area where he resided during the NHL season. After bringing the Stanley Cup to and from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital on a bike trailer, Ference brought the Cup to an area of the North End outside the TD Garden. There, the Cup was hoisted up on a platform carried by friends and family, and paraded through the North End, with many stops at local shops along the way. Ference and the other Cup-carriers were accompanied by a marching band, members of The Boston Bruins Ice Girls, and the Boston Bruins mascot Blades. Hundreds of fans also joined them for the parade, which was concluded with a dancing flash mob.

About Ference's numerous tattoos, Dani San Giacomo writes:

Andrew Ference is pretty much the king of tattoos – good tattoos. He has his back entirely covered in a tribal, red and black design; along with numerous tattoos elsewhere on his body including his chest and arms. His first tattoo was a Canadian flag on his upper arm that he got when he was 16. He had just moved from his home in Canada to Portland, Oregon and wanted to take a piece of Canada with him to the States. When asked what his most meaningful one is, he said it’s his daughters’ names, “Ava” and “Stella” across the top of his back. What a great dad.

Yes . . . and what a man!


Related Off-site Links:
NHL’s Andrew Ference Helps Launch Rainbow Tape To Support Young LGBT Hockey Players – Jon Adams (Logo, December 23, 2015).
Oilers’ Captain to Make History at Edmonton Pride Parade – Patricia Kozicka (Global News, June 3, 2014).
Oilers Captain Andrew Ference Calls His Decision to Join Edmonton’s Pride Parade a “No-brainer” – Marissa Payne (The Washington Post, June 4, 2014).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• What a Man! – Ben Cohen
• What a Man! – Sean Avery
• What a Man! – Hudson Taylor
• What a Man! – John Kriesel
• What a Man! – Nick Youngquest
• What a Man! – Chris Kluwe
• What a Man! – Brendon Ayanbadejo
• What a Man! – Nick Symmonds
• Rockin' With Maxwell
• The New Superman: Not Necessarily Gay, but Definitely Queer
• A Fresh Take on Masculinity

Winter Light

At around this time yesterday afternoon I took a walk along Minnehaha Creek, close to my home in south Minneapolis. I share today some of the images I captured in that beautiful winter light in which I found myself immersed.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Winter Storm
• Shadows and Light
• A Winter Reflection
• Winter's Return
• A Winter Walk Along Minnehaha Creek
• Photo of the Day – December 9, 2012

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Something to Think About . . .

.

Related Off-site Links:
Response to Oregon Militia Standoff Reveals Stark Double Standards – Tom Cahill (U.S. Uncut, January 3, 2016).
Tamir Rice and Oregon's White Terrorists – Rini Sampath (The Huffington Post, January 4, 2016).
This Comic Sums Up the Double Standard Used to Excuse White Violence – Tom McKay (Yahoo! News, January 3, 2016
Oregon Standoff and a Clear Case of White Privilege – Khaled A. Beydoun (Aljazeera, January 5, 20156)
Why Aren’t We Calling the Oregon Occupiers "Terrorists"? – Janell Ross (The Washington Post, January 3, 2016).
Stop Calling Terrorists "Militiamen" – Tom Mockaitis (HuffPost Politics, January 4, 2016).
Don’t Call Them Patriots. They’re Terrorists Occupying Sacred Native American Land – Amanda Girard (U.S. Uncut, January 3, 2016).
What's Happening in Oregon Is Nothing Less Than Armed Sedition – Charles P. Pierce (Esquire, January 3, 2016).
If the Oregon Militiamen Were Muslim or Black, They'd Probably Be Dead By Now – Wajahat Ali (The Guardian via AlterNet, January 4, 2016).
Here’s What Happened 30 Years Ago When Black People Tried Armed Occupation – Carimah Townes (Think Progress, January 4, 2016).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Something to Think About – December 29, 2015
• "We Are All One" – #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation: Photos, Reflections and Links
• An Update on #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation
• Quote of the Day – November 25, 2015
• Rallying in Solidarity with Eric Garner and Other Victims of Police Brutality
• Quote of the Day – June 19, 2015
• "Say Her Name" Solidarity Action for Sandra Bland
• In Minneapolis, Rallying in Solidarity with Black Lives in Baltimore

The Magi and Our Journey to Christ

In his contribution to the anthology Human Survival and Consciousness Evolution, John White reminds us that Jesus “taught and demonstrated cosmic consciousness, the Christic state of mind, the peace that surpasses understanding, the direct experience of divinity dwelling in us and all things, now and forever; creating us, living us, preserving us, urging us to ever more inclusive states of being.”

I find the story of the searching magi to be a fitting and powerful metaphor for our journey to Christic consciousness. I picture the magi as a caravan – one comprised of people of all races, genders, colors and orientations, bearing their gifts of self; encouraged and empowered by a deep longing for consciousness and wholeness. It is this desire which ultimately protects us from the unconscious, life-numbing states of being that fear and resist growth and change; states of being that are ultimately egocentric, corrupt and greedy. In today’s gospel reading, King Herod serves to illustrate such a state of being and its destructive and life-denying characteristics.

But let’s not forget that just as there's a part of us that yearns to journey, like the magi, to find and claim Christ, there’s also another part of us which, like Herod, wants things forever comfortable, forever under control, forever stagnant. Yet we can and must overcome such desires – within ourselves and within our church – if we are to follow in the example of our brother Jesus and be daily, living epiphanies.

– Michael J. Bayly
Excerpted from "What We Can Learn From the Story of the Magi"
(a homily delivered January 2, 2000 at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, Minneapolis)

See also the related Wild Reed posts:
• The Feast of the Epiphany
• Our Story Too
• We Three . . . Queens
• A Story of Searching and Discovery
• The Onward Call
• In the Footsteps of Spring

Left: Earlier this afternoon my housemate Tim and I marked and blessed our home. Since the Middle Ages there has been a tradition that on (or near) the feast of the Epiphany, Christians pray for God’s blessing on their homes, marking the entrance with chalk (an ordinary substance put to holy use). The front entrance of the home is marked with the initials of the legendary names of the Magi – Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar – written between the numerals of the new year. All the symbols are connected with crosses. Some suggest that the letters C M B may also stand for Christus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ bless this house.”

Following is the Epiphanytide doorway blessing from the book Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers (2012).

Welcoming God, bless this door.
May all who come through it find in our home
welcome, love and friendship.

Welcoming God, help us keep the door of our heart open.
Do not let fear, prejudice or hatred lock our door.
May we be hospitable to all as you are.

Welcoming God, bless our comings and our goings.
Teach us not to hurry through life's doorways
lest we miss You who beckon us at the threshold.
Never let us forget that where You are, God,
the door is always open.

Amen.

The Purpose of Art

Art cannot change events. But it can change people. It can affect people so that they are changed . . . because people are changed by art – enriched, ennobled, encouraged. They then act in a way that may effect the course of events . . . by the way they vote, they behave, the way they think.

– Leonard Bernstein

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Potential of Art and the Limits of Orthodoxy to Connect Us to the Sacred
• The Art of Dancing as the Supreme Symbol of the Spiritual Life
• The Dancer and the Dance
• The Premise of All Forms of Dance
• The Church and Dance
• The Soul of a Dancer
• The Naked Truth . . . in Dance and in Life
• Desert Dancer: A Story That Matters
• Memet Bilgin and the Art of Restoring Balance
• Love is Love

Image: A still from David LaChapelle's video of Sergei Polunin dancing to "Take Me to Church" by Irish musician Hozier. For more about this artistic collaboration and to view the video, click here.

Something to Think About . . .

Related Off-site Links:
A Grand Jury Just Decided Not to Indict the Cop Who Killed 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice – Jaeah Lee (Mother Jones, December 28, 2015).
What Everyone Should Know About The Police Killing of Tamir Rice (2002-2014) – Judd Legum (Think Progress, December 28, 2015).
Tamir Rice Family "In Shock" After Grand Jury Clears Police for Fatally Shooting Boy Holding Toy Gun – Democracy Now! (December 29, 2015).
No One Was Indicted In The Tamir Rice Case. That Was The Plan All Along – Cristian Farias (HuffPost Politics, December 28, 2015).
Nation Mourns Tamir Rice Case as a "Catastrophic and Pernicious Miscarriage of Justice" – Deirdre Fulton (Common Dreams, December 29, 2015).
How A Prosecutor Managed to Blame a 12-Year-Old for Getting Killed By a Cop – Daniel Marans (HuffPost Black Voices, December 28, 2015).
Tamir Rice's Death Resulted From "Officer-Created Jeopardy." So Why Were No Officers Indicted? – Leon Neyfakh (Slate, December 29, 2015).
Tamir Rice and the Value of Life – Charles M. Blow (The New York Times, January 11, 2015).
This Case Proves If Tamir Rice Were White He’d Still Be Alive – Dylan Hock (U.S. Uncut, December 28, 2015).
Tamir Rice Found Guilty of Being Young, Free and Black – Kirsten West Savali (The Root, December 28, 2015).
The Stages of What Happens When There’s Injustice Against Black People – Awesomely Luvvie (December 4, 2014).
The Tamir Rice Case Shows How Prosecutors Twist Grand Juries to Protect Police – Ari Melber (The Washington Post, December 29, 2015).
England Abolished Grand Juries Decades Ago Because They Didn't Work – Bradley Campbell (PRI, December 4, 2014).
Harvard Medical Scientists Say Police Killings Should Be Recorded As Public Epidemic – Dylan Sevett (U.S. Uncut, December 27, 2015).
American Lives: James Baldwin, "Lifting The Veil" – NPR (July 15, 2011).
Gay Will Never Be the New Black: What James Baldwin Taught Me About My White Privilege – Todd Clayton (HuffPost Gay Voices, February 12, 2013).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• "We Are All One" – #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation: Photos, Reflections and Links
• An Update on #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation
• Quote of the Day – November 25, 2015
• Rallying in Solidarity with Eric Garner and Other Victims of Police Brutality
• Quote of the Day – June 19, 2015
• "Say Her Name" Solidarity Action for Sandra Bland
• In Minneapolis, Rallying in Solidarity with Black Lives in Baltimore

Photo of the Day

Related Off-site Links:
Major Winter Storm Hits Home Late Monday – Paul Huttner (MPR Weather, December 28, 2015).
Finally, Snow! – Courtney Perry and Alex Kolyer (MPR News, December 29, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A Winter Reflection
• Winter's Return
• Winter Storm
• Just in Time for Winter

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

Quote of the Day

How will we as a church live with our gay, lesbian and transgender brothers and sisters? We are past the time of "love the sinner" platitudes.

. . . [Greg] Bourke and [Michael] DeLeon [right] are emblematic of this major challenge facing the church today, because they force us to ask not how will we live out a hypothetical situ­ation, but how will we live with Greg and Michael. They give flesh to an abstraction.

The answers [that members of] the church [hierarchy are] giving . . . are con­fused, uneven and often cruel. Greg and Michael – and countless gay, lesbian and transgender Catholics – deserve better.

For their historic roles as plaintiffs in Obergefell v. Hodges [which found same-sex marriage a con­stitutional right] and for their faithful public witness as gay Catholics, we name Greg Bourke and Michael DeLe­on NCR's persons of the year for 2015.

– National Catholic Reporter Editorial Staff
Excerpted from "Our Persons of the Year for 2015
National Catholic Reporter
December 28, 2015

Related Off-site Links:
Catholic Newspaper Names Same-Sex Marriage Plaintiffs "Persons Of The Year" – Amanda Terkel (HuffPost Gay Voices, December 28, 2015).
National Catholic Reporter Editorializes: "How Will We As a Church Live with Our Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Brothers and Sisters?" – William D. Lindsey (Bilgrimage, December 28, 2015).
Married Gay Catholics Chosen as “Persons of the Year” – Bob Shine (Bondings 2.0, December 29, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• U.S. Supreme Court Legalizes Marriage for Same-Sex Couples Across the Nation
• Progressive Catholic Perspectives on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 Marriage Equality Ruling
• Quote of the Day – June 26, 2015
• Something to Celebrate – June 27, 2015
• Questions for Archbishop Kurtz re. the U.S. Bishops' Response to the Supreme Court's Marriage Equality Ruling

Image: Michael DeLeon, left, and Greg Bourke, April 28, 2015, Washington, D.C. (Newscom/UPI/Pete Marovich)

Christmas 2015: Reflections and Celebrations

It's Christmas Day here in Minnesota, and although I miss spending this special time of year with my family and friends in Australia, I feel very fortunate to have many wonderful friends here in the U.S. with whom I'm able to celebrate all that the Christmas season signifies.

Above (from left): Kalvin, Kimaria, Tykia, Joan, Ian (with Sadie), Angela, me, Nathan, and George – Christmas Eve.


Right: With Brent, a wonderful guy I've been dating since October.


Below: A gathering of friends for the holiday party Tim and I hosted on December 16.

Above: At right with my good friend and housemate Tim and his girlfriend Colleen – December 16, 2015.

I share this evening a few images of some of the celebrations I've been part of, starting with a holiday gathering on December 16 and my Winter Solstice/Christmas party on December 18 and continuing throughout today. (And updated with images from New Year's Eve!) These images are accompanied by some reflections on Christmas – its meaning and significance. I also take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very happy Christmas and all the best for 2016.

God came to us because he wanted to join us on the road, to listen to our story, and to help us realize that we are not walking in circles but moving towards the house of peace and joy. This is the great mystery of Christmas that continues to give us comfort and consolation: we are not alone on our journey. . . . The challenge is to let God be who [God] wants to be. A part of us clings to our aloneness and does not allow God to touch us where we are most in pain. Often we hide from God precisely those places in ourselves where we feel guilty, ashamed, confused, and lost. Thus we do not give God a chance to be with us where we feel most alone. Christmas is the renewed invitation not to be afraid and to let God – whose love is greater than our own hearts and minds can comprehend – be our companion.

– Henri Nouwen

A Christmas that idolizes prosperity and ignores suffering is no Christmas at all. Pope Francis believes that Christmas is less about preaching tidings of comfort and enjoyment, and more about encountering and walking with those who are afflicted by discomfort and pain. For Francis, war-torn Mosul, impoverished Bangui, and struggling Juarez are the cultural centers of Christmas much more than New York, London, or even Rome. . . . The pope isn’t making this up out of thin air. Christmas, too domesticated and romanticized over time, is nothing short of a subversive and revolutionary holiday. To understand Francis’ war on the bourgeois version of Christmas, we must encounter the story once again with new eyes. . . . No one would have expected the messiah to be born in poverty, obscurity, and exclusion, far from the cultural and political centers of the world. But that’s God’s Christmas logic.

– Christopher Hale
Excerpted from "Pope Francis’ War on Christmas"
Millennial
December 24, 2015
p. 140

Human beings have proved their capacity to survive suffering, bad luck, poverty, isolation, natural disasters. Christ did, after all, and that's one of the rites we celebrate for each other at Christmas. We age and we die (old Christmas photos provide evidence), but we think about it, and at our best, sing about it. Christmas, much more than New Year's Eve, is the ritual that asks us to take stock, remember, allow our minds and consciences to be flooded with our own history. If we are honest, this will not lead us to back-slapping cheeriness, but it might bring us the quiet joy that we have done our job as human beings by living out our lives, however many Christmases we have marked off on the calendar.

– Bill Holm
Excerpted from Faces of Christmas Past
pp. 58-59

Let us be at peace with our bodies and our minds.
Let us return to ourselves and become wholly ourselves.
Let us be aware of the source of being,
common to us all and to all living things.
Evoking the presence of the Great Compassion,
let us fill our hearts with our own compassion –
towards ourselves and towards all living beings.
Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be
the cause of suffering to each other.
With humility, with awareness of the existence of life,
and of the sufferings that are going on around us,
let us practice the establishment of peace
in our hearts and on earth.

– Thích Nhất Hạnh

The incarnation is the irruption of God into human history: an incarnation into littleness and service in the midst of overbearing power exercised by the mighty of this world; an irruption that smells of the stable.

The Son of God was born into a little people, a nation of little importance by comparison with the powers of the time.

He took flesh among the poor in a marginal area—namely, Galilee; he lived with the poor and emerged from among them to inaugurate a kingdom of love and justice.

That is why many have trouble recognizing him.

– Gustavo Gutiérrez
Excerpted from The Good Life

Above and below: Photos from the December 16 holiday party that my housemate and friend Tim and I hosted for members and friends of our yoga group.

Right: With my friend and work colleague Julia – December 17, 2015. We're pictured with gifts for our TRUST Meals on Wheels clients provided through the Wreath of Love program.

On the evening of Friday, December 18, my good friend and housemate Tim and I hosted our annual Winter Solstice/Christmas party. Pictured above are friends Lisa and Brent and Colleen.


Left: With my friend Pete – December 18, 2015.

Above: Javier, Raul, Kathleen and Ron.

Above: Alfredo, Lisa, Rick and Kathleen.

Above: Kathy, John, Kathleen, Joan, George, Brent and John.

Above: Lisa and Brent.

Above: Tim, Julia, Edgar and Brent.

Above: Pete and Colleen.

Above: Margie and Alfredo.

Above: Brent, Kathy and Joan.

Above: Raul and Ron.

Above: Margie and John.



Right: George and John.

Above: Javier, me, Kathleen, Ron and Rick.


Left: Tim and Colleen.

Above: Joan, Brent and Kathleen.

Above: With Lisa and Brent.

Above: Alfredo and John.

Above: Kathleen and Joan – December 18, 2015.

Right: On the evening of Wednesday, December 23, my good friends John and Noelle invited me to be part of their family's annual Christmas tree decorating ritual.


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Above: Alicia and Scott.

Above: Friends Liana and Curtis with their beautiful little daughter Amelia.


Left: Brittany and Phil with Gordy.

Above: Scott and Phil.

Right: With Eddie.

For more photos of this handsome dog, click here, here, here and here.

Above: Liana and Amelia decorating the tree.

Above: With my dear friend Joan – Christmas Eve 2015.

Above: Tykia and Kimaria – Christmas Eve 2015.

Above: At Cecil's Deli, Bakery and Restaurant in St. Paul, where I had a delicious Christmas Day lunch with my friends Rick and Brian.

Above: Christmas dinner at the always welcoming home of my friends John and Noelle. Pictured from left: Alicia, Scott, Liana, Amelia, Curtis, Noelle, Ben, Phil and John.

Above: Little Amelia with her Aunty Alicia.

Above: With my dear friend Rita McDonald, CSJ, one of the renowned McDonald Sisters – Sunday, December 27, 2015.

Along with Marguerite Corcoran, CSJ, Rita was my “companion” during my CSJ consociate candidacy process in 2006-2007.

Above: Quinn – December 27, 2015.

Above: Celebrating New Year's Eve. With me from left: Brent, Tim, Colleen, Brian and Kelly.

Above: Seeing 2016 in with a vigorous game of table tennis!

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Christmas 2014: Thoughts and Celebrations
• Celebrating the Coming of the Sun and the Son
• Christmastide Approaches
• The Christmas Tree as Icon, Inviting Us to Contemplate the "One Holy Circle" of Both Dark and Light
• Quote of the Day – December 1, 2014
• Something to Cherish (2012)
• A Christmas Message of Hope . . . from Uganda (2011)
• Quote of the Day – December 26, 2010
• Christmas in Australia (2010)
• John Dear on Celebrating the Birth of the Nonviolent Jesus
• A Bush Christmas (2009)
• A Story of Searching and Discovery
• The Christmas Truce of 1914
• Clarity and Hope: A Christmas Reflection (2007)
• An Australian Christmas (2006)
• A Christmas Reflection by James Carroll

Recommended Off-site Links:
War is Over! – If You Want It: Christmas Celebrates Nonviolence – John Dear (Common Dreams, December 25, 2015).
Christmas 2015 – Why There Is No Peace On Earth – David Stockman (David Stockman's Contra Corner, December 25, 2015).
Cardinal Seán: Christmas Joy is About Solidarity, Rejecting Ayn Rand Extreme Individualism – Robert Christian (Millennial, December 28, 2015).
When Words Become Flesh: Risking Vulnerability in a Violent World – Parker Palmer (On Being, December 23, 2015).
Jewish Angels and Roman Gods: The Ancient Mythological Origins of Christmas – Valerie Tarico (AlterNet via Salon, December 12, 2014).
Pulling the Princes from Their Thrones – Mike Lux (The Huffington Post, December 24, 2014).
An Unexpected Revolution – Elizabeth Stoker-Bruenig (Democratic Socialists of America, December 24, 2014).

Images: Michael J. Bayly and friends.