se·ren·i·ty
se·ren·i·ty (sə-rĕnʹĭ-tē)
noun
The state or
quality of being serene; tranquility
On Sunday’s I go to church and try to carry with me the lessons learned, and serenity acquired throughout the week. It seems inevitable that not long after the service is over and I see many friends I haven’t seen all week my sense of calm and tranquility vanish as if it were only a dream. The transformation from calm to chaos is usually facilitated by trying to catch a cab in Lower Manhattan to get home. Doing battle with tourist and residents of the area for the two or three lone cabs that may come down lower Broadway or go up Greenwich Street every 15-20 minutes or so. It’s a far cry from what it used to be in Lower Manhattan when my grandmother started taking me to church in the 60s.
Life was a lot different for me as a child as I’m sure it was for you too. Grown-ups worried about cabs and train schedules you as a child were just along fro the ride. This is not to say I had no interest in church as a child; it was and is the foundation for the theological study that I engage in to this very day. Yes, Like many of you Sunday school was the beginning of my understanding of God in Christ, and what that meant. Episcopal children are taught the same lessons as other Christian faiths, but we’re also taught to think for ourselves; to decide if we want to believe, or if we want / need to find another path to understanding what it is God wants for us or means to us.
Now, my grandmother “The Iron Episcopalian” had the ability to make you believe that Christ was coming any moment now, usually through some form coercion that I’m sure she learned from the grand inquisitor Tomas De Torquemada himself. It was not the best way to raise a God fearing Christian, but a great way to raise a grandmother fearing child. It took me a long time to realize what it was my grandmother was tying to instill in me. For the longest our relationship was adversarial to put it mildly. Eventually, though, I came to understand what it was she was trying to instill in me: respect for others and respect for myself. It took me a long time to figure that out, but she would be happy to know that I finally did, and that all the hard lessons that she tried to teach a head strong boy weren’t for naught.
When I watch children on the Bus, which is one of the reasons I take cabs during school hours, I marvel at the lack of self-control displayed by them. Sometimes even those with their parents present seem to have little fear of being reigned in. In those moments I can’t help but smile and think Rosebud, my grandmother, would have fixed that attitude quick, fast, and in a hurry; you would have feared God and more importantly her. Enough of that, though, I digress.
When I was a boy back there in the 70s, a priest, Fr. Bert Herlong, made a statement that I carry with me to this day. He said, “We don’t have all the answers.” I don’t remember what came before that statement or after it, but I do remember those words as clear as a bell. that one statement more than any other is what started me on my quest for God, and the true meaning of what is written in the Bible. It started me on my search for honesty, compassion, understanding and love for God as I see God, not necessarily as you see God. There is so much left to understand and I learn more everyday; about God, about the scriptures.
When I look at the state of things in various religions around the globe I am sometimes disheartened. I think to myself, I wonder if we will ever pull it together as the one single race that we are: human. Sometimes I think that everyone who practices whatever religion could have used a Fr. Bert Herlong when they were young to inspire them to look beyond that, which is written to that which, I believe, was intended: love of God, love of self, and love of neighbor. I’ve reached the conclusion, for now, that that’s all there is to the situation. God is mysterious. God’s intentions for us are not. Go forth in Peace Rejoicing in the Power of the Sprit (If you’re not Episcopal, the response to that is, ” Thanks be to God”).
Love Worf
