The Wonderment

Power of Connections

The second smooth stone of liberal religion is that mutual consent, not coercion is how we should be in relationship with one another. Another way to say this is: We freely choose to be in relationship with each other.

If James Luther Adams were writing the five smooth stones of liberal religion today, I think the second is the one he would change. He wrote the second stone to remind liberal religionists of the power of free associations coming together and to warn against totalitarianism. Mutuality and respect are more important than ever, but the need to live more connected to one another through mutuality and respect is even less of an option than it was when Adams first wrote these principles down. Our understanding of the interconnectedness of life means we’re not free to not be in relationship to one another. When we fail to remember that, then we create social and environmental injustices – as simple as tossing away something we call “trash”. Since we're interconnected, what we're free to do is change the quality of those connections and make them better.

 

Free associations are precisely what we need now: associations that help us strengthen and remember our connections to the planet and to all the peoples upon it, to the cosmos and to our peculiar part in it. These connections can create change in little ways and in big ones. Look to Peacetxt in Chicago, growing up from several associations – Ceasefire, Ushahidi, FrontlineSMS:Medic, & PopTech – to invite anyone with a mobile phone to be part of a proven violence prevention program and change a community. Reducing shootings 41-73% and retaliatory killings by 100% in five communities is real and substantial change – arising from the power of choosing more meaningful relationships with one another.

 

Or you can see the power of reinforcing our connections with one another and the planet through the rapid development of 350.org Take a peek at some of the terrific things individuals connecting more deeply for a better future made in 2010

Scientifically, we don’t have a choice about being connected – related – to one another. But we’re still free to decide whether we’re going to choose to strengthen those connections for the betterment of our communities and our planet. Showing up, holding one another accountable, holding each other with love and humility, courage and caring changes the world, one action and one day at a time.

How are you choosing to be part of making the world a better place?

Ultimate Optimism

Why is it that so many religious liberals and progressives I meet love Dr. Who? I don’t believe it is entirely that the good doctor is an alien trying to save the universe and enforce intergalactic law, or that there’s all kinds of good geeky gadgets and toys, although these have a certain appeal. I believe it is that both the long-running BBC television series and liberal religion are grounded in an attitude of ultimate optimism. Bad things happen on Dr. Who. From episode to episode our hero might not always win. People die. Terrible things happen to characters we love. Actors playing the doctor go on to other roles and new ones are cast. But there’s a tangible hopefulness pervading the series, the fans, and progressive religionists. We may not know how, we may not know when, we may in fact just be suffering painful defeats, but we are justified in keeping on our way creating meaningful change. Dr. Who may be creating that change across light-years and galaxies, but every religious progressive knows that social and environmental changes to the good can feel just as far away.

 

“…liberalism holds that the resources (divine and human) that are available for the achievement of meaningful change justify an attitude of ultimate optimism.” – James Luther Adams

 

We share a trust in resourcefulness, in creativity under fire, in unforeseen possibilities that create wonderful results, in companions and colleagues met along the way, and in what appears to be small outposts of safety being much bigger and more significant than they first appear, like the TARDIS.

 

I find that when my stocks of ultimate optimism are low, I’m probably in need of a change in perspective, reminding myself both of all kinds of good I encounter regularly (giving thanks for such blessings), in revisiting times when I’ve been part of achieving something good (I think of this as reruns), and in revisiting favorite texts that encourage and inspire me (stories in syndication). Just like watching Dr. Who, sharing and connecting to these resources in support of ultimate optimism is more useful with others – in person, by phone, in congregations, and on Twitter and Facebook. But trust in the resourcefulness of life to create good is at the center of ultimate optimism, whether one is a Time Lord or religious progressive.

(Let me be clear that Dr. Who has no known affiliation with any religious group. I was just wondering at the love for the show by many religious liberals and progressives. James Luther Adams, however, was a known and identified religious liberal theologian and ethicist.)