Sabbatical, week 2

Rereading the first few sentences of my last post, I sound rather out of touch, no gravity, like I'm floating around what's happening rather than participating in it, and my privilege is showing.  I've got no gears.  With no weekly mandate to connect scripture, faith, reason, heart with what's going on in the world, I read about what's going on, and it does feel like a lot of jabbering.  I realize that I don't have a lot of conversations about what some might call the petty things, transitions like menopause and sabbatical and getting older and theological shifts in my thinking.  But when I put it like that, they aren't so petty; they're foundational.  And that's one thing we don't do a lot of on social media is talk about the foundational stuff, what makes us who we are, our bone-deep identity.  Which makes me wonder - are we talking about it at all?

Sunday afternoon my husband and I went to see the movie "On the Basis of Sex", about the landmark case argued by Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the 10th circuit Court of Appeals in 1971.  So one of the on-again, off-again, might/might not happen things we jabber on about is the state of RBG's health.  We post memes about her cocooned in bubble wrap.  We hashtag her #NotoriousRBG.  "You can't spell TRUTH without RUTH."  She's raised dissent to an art form.  Every time she has a medical procedure, we hold our breath and pray, even those who don't usually pray.  Or believe in God.  We're scared to death what will happen without her on the Supreme Court.

We've elevated her to icon status with a cult following.  Which is the very essence of idolatry.  So what, you might say.  These are scary times, you might say.  And yet it's the same behavior, the same attitude of a Trump supporter.  Or a Bernie bro.  Or any of those throwing their hat into the 2020 presidential race.  When we look to any one person and give them messiah status (I'm looking at Jesus, too), expecting that one person makes all the difference in the saving of the world, we have handed over our will, our agency, our heart, and our brains to the lowest bidder.

On the flip side, we can't lean solely on our own will, agency, heart and brains, or our own clan or cohort, to get the job done.  It takes a village to save a village.  It takes a nation to save a nation.  It takes a world to save a world.

Ubuntu: I am because we are.  My identity is connected to your identity.  It's important that I say unequivocally who I am, you say unabashedly who you are, but at some point we have to move to who we are, this human tribe, that we're in this together.

I'm disconnected from my church clan, so no wonder I sound like an ass.  Maybe the next time someone else sounds off like one, keep in mind they might be disconnected from the ones who could help make them whole too.

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I'm off to Munich on Thursday night, then India on Monday, returning home on Feb. 1.  I may or may not have access to internet, so posting about weeks 3, 4, and 5 might be delayed.