[Propertalk] 2 Lent a 2017 - part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

 “The man looks down and notices the feather. As it moves toward
him, he lifts his briefcase to let it pass. A smile forms on his face.
 “Then he begins to dance. He hops from one foot to the other in his
polished leather shoes, keeping time with the feather as though,
together, they are listening to the same imaginary song.”

	 In that Lent – or some New Yorkers may call it Purgatory – in
that Lent of silence, or inconvenience, yet of pregnant possibility
for thinking over one’s life; in that Lent, that man was able to
discover how to inject some pleasure, some sheer joy into his life.
There’s no telling who he was, but he DID have a briefcase, so maybe
he, like Nicodemus, held some sort of authority, no matter in how
small a jurisdiction. Maybe he was looking for some answers. Perhaps
he would have been glad to have found a Jesus somewhere with whom he
could sit down for some clarification of purposes in life.

	 I love that final comment to the newspaper column: the man and the
whirling, fluttering feather were listening to the same imaginary
song.

	 THAT’S what Nicodemus wanted and needed – to find the song for
his life. THAT’S what Sophie and The White Rose wanted and needed
– to find some dance steps which they could coordinate with their
belief in God that would enable them NOT to fit in to society, but to
help them transform society, to make it a safe place for everyone; to
make it a place where there would be justice for everyone; to make it
a place where people could dance different steps to the Song of the
Universe that Jesus sings, different steps yet ones which would not
make them feel awkward or self-conscious, but empowered, knowing that
they were all being born again.

	 Nicodemus was right at the point of admitting that he wasn’t quite
there. Abram – Abram must have had all sorts of thoughts that kept
him from even asking God where the nearest Arthur Murray School was.
But they, and those in Munich seventy-five years ago, were at least
willing to admit that even if they needed a few more dance lessons,
they were still willing to go out on to God’s dance floor, no matter
how dangerous.

	 These people recognized not only THEIR need to be born again, but
also the need of society to be born again. They saw the direction
their communities and countries were going.

	 Abram – well, maybe he wasn’t sure what was happening in his
homeland, but he had to leave.

	 Nicodemus – he saw where the occupying Romans were imprinting
their ways on every part of every culture, trying to stamp each into
conformity, and he saw how his own friends, the others who shared his
authority and privilege; Nicodemus saw the other leaders were falling
into lock-step and accommodating the Romans.

	 But Nicodemus couldn’t go along with that. He had to meet Jesus
and to apply His teaching. He had to discover, rather painfully, just
what it would mean to be born again, and how much of an effort it
would take to begin to reverse the direction that society seemed
determined to take.

	 Even IF Nicodemus were are the man on the New York train, even if he
were alone in working for renewal in Jerusalem and the whole country,
he discovered that he has to dance as that feather on the breath of
God, a feather directed to show joy in expressing and revealing love
in the drabness of a rail car.

	 Jesus challenged what Nicodemus thought were certainties. Nicodemus
thought he knew it all. Into that thought pattern, Jesus told
Nicodemus that he had to be willing to loosen up, to accept the
seeming uncertainty of a feather bobbing and gliding on a draft of air
in a train, of all places.

	 And this may be the gift of God to us this Lent – to discover the
possibilities, the contacts, the partnerships, as we work against all
that would try to contain the Spirit and prevent it from blowing into
every corner of every single person’s world.

	 “Sophie Scholl was an ordinary girl – devoutly Catholic, she
fell in love with one of her fellow conspirators, she loved the
countryside, she adored her parents. She was very ordinary, just very,
very brave.” 3 So was Nicodemus, when you come right down to it.
Neither of them ever had to give up having questions. That’s NOT
what Jesus asks, ever. But, for them – for us? – cover of darkness
worked, even as they were aware of the danger that would come when
someone would reveal what they were doing, how they were making
Jesus’ life and work the model for their own.

	 Maybe this Lent we’re waiting to find the feather. Maybe this Lent
we’re waiting to hear, for ourselves, the invitation to the dance.
Maybe we need to slip off quietly to some dance studio where we may
pick up a few steps, a few ideas, and find the courage to work in both
the dark places of this world and the light.

	 The music is playing.

	NOTES:

	[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose [1] 

	2_ 'This Is Canal Street', _Metropolitan Diary _The New York Times_,
14th February, 2017 http://p.nytimes.com/email/re… [2]

	3 _“__They were guillotined 72 years ago today. And they deserve
remembering.”_ Posted: February 23, 2015 Political musings [3] 
https://wellthisiswhatithink.com/2015/02/23/they-were-guillotined-73-years-ago-today-and-they-deserve-remembering/
[4]

Links:
------
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose
[2]
http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pgJ9vhMb7FAHiyIHe%2FiDN+fJvDBFSA5%2FRKbMsM3AYHT91PKKHvo7%2FIPNfSHiSjt0c4NH8GfSPwOTa9A5yg2vcnQyITfqjsUvO9LT9aGQX3OyRfa%2FXAsYLFEZG2hfbx+gqI&campaign_id=61&instance_id=92409&segment_id=103664&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[3] https://wellthisiswhatithink.com/category/political-musings/
[4]
https://wellthisiswhatithink.com/2015/02/23/they-were-guillotined-73-years-ago-today-and-they-deserve-remembering/

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