Day 12 - Let Us Slow Down
Living Christ Sangha - Advent Ango Practice Period
Readings
(click the header to view the readings)
Isaiah 7:1-9
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Luke 22:1-13
Reflection
What concerns are expressed here?
Today’s readings are complex. The reading from Isaiah concerns conflict in the land. Israel has been fractured into two kingdoms for some time, Judah includes Jerusalem and is in the south, and Israel in the north. The readings concern the alliance between the king of Israel and king of Aram (an area in modern day Syria) to try and take Jerusalem. The king of Judah is Ahaz (definitely not a paragon of faith, see 2 Kings 16), and he was greatly shaken by the alliance coming against Jerusalem. God sends Isaiah to him to convey the message that the alliance will not succeed in taking Jerusalem.
The reading from 2 Thessalonians concerns the second coming, and how it must be preceded by a rebellion and arising of the “man of lawlessness,” whom Christ will destroy upon his return.
The reading from Luke concerns two things: (1) Judas agreeing to betray Jesus to the authorities, who were plotting to kill Jesus, and (2) Jesus sending his disciples into the city to prepare a place for them to eat the Passover meal.
A common theme in these readings is the presence of menacing sources of adversity. In Isaiah, it is the allied kingdoms of Israel and Aram. Is 2 Thessalonians, it is the man of lawlessness. In Luke, it is the alliance of Judas and the religious authorities. Two questions arose for me upon noticing the common theme of adversity.
What does adversity ask of us?
How do we engage it skillfully, especially when it rises to the level of crisis?
Yesterday, a book of daily reflections that I read each morning gave me the seed of an answer to these questions. It said, “When we use trouble as our teacher, we develop the art of living.”1
What is requested of us?
I believe the request here is for us to learn the art of living, which Thich Nhat Hanh says is “discovering ways to handle life’s difficulties and generate peace, joy, and happiness right where we are, on this beautiful planet.”2 His life’s work was to give us a set of practices to help us do this.
Realizing the art of living is the highest pursuit in which we can engage, because the life we live right here, right now, with all of its beauty, pain, sorrow, and joy is the only life we have. Recognizing this, and learning to live this life with as much love and skill as we can is what it means to be faithful. Brother David Steindl-Rast teaches that faith is not a belief in something unbelievable, but a courageous trust in life.3
With a courageous trust in life, we no longer need to pursue control and attempt to always assert dominance in situations of adversity. Control and dominance are unattainable, and we harm both ourselves and others in their pursuit. Instead, we become “life surfers” who are unable to control the pounding, dangerous waves of adversity and crisis, but are able to ride them.
Philosopher Bayo Akomolafe has articulated an ethos he calls “post-activism” that is grounded in the idea that “the way we respond to the crisis, the way we attempt to defeat the monster, is the crisis.”4 In place of the urgent and often destructive actions that arise from the crisis mindset, he offers a saying he learned growing up in Africa: “the times are urgent; let us slow down.”5 He explains the importance of this practice, noting, “in ‘hurrying up’ all the time, we often lose sight of the abundance of resources that might help us meet today’s most challenging crises. We rush through into the same patterns we are used to.”
Where is the hope?
We are currently mired in what has been called a “polycrisis”—a set of interlocking crises that amplify each other.6 Given their ever-increasing urgency, is easy to get overwhelmed trying to understand them all and take action. Personally, I’m worn down and worn out by it all. Aren’t you?
Perhaps the answer to adversity and crisis isn’t a cortisol-filled war, so heated and chaotic that nobody has a clear view of the destruction and collateral damage accumulating as we fight battles day after day. The promise of faith, of courageous trust in life, of the art of living (which are all the same thing) is that there is a different way to respond to adversity and crisis. We are invited to stop, breathe, and take in the wider view. We are urged to tap into the ground of Life, that source of unlimited energy that powers compassion and loving-kindness. And then we are invited to act on behalf of all beings, not as isolated players on a heroic stage, but as participants in an interconnected web of being and belonging.
Prayer
Maker of Time, grant us grace to discover leisure as we seek to heal our world. For leisure is not the opposite of work, but the art of giving each thing the time it needs. Amen.7
Anonymous, Touchstones
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Living.
Brother David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness.
Bayo Komolafe, The Hero’s Journey Revisited
Bayo Komolafe, A Slower Urgency
The World Economic Forum, This is why 'polycrisis' is a useful way of looking at the world right now
The definition of leisure here is from Brother David Steindl-Rast.