Touching a leper

Statue at the St. Joseph Church on Moloka'i

In the time of rampant Anti-Catholicism among British as well as American Protestants a faithful son of the Scottish Reformation defended publicly a Roman Catholic priest against the slander by the Congregationalist clergyman.

            It happened in 1890. The defender was the author Robert Louise Stevenson. The Roman Catholic Priest was father Damien of Molokai who recently died and the slanderer was Rev. Charles McEwen Hyde, an elite clergy among Congregationalists who was educated at Union as well as Princeton Seminaries.

            In the center was Father Damien’s selfless work in the leper colony on the island of Moloka‘i. When father Damien came to Moloka‘i the afflicted people were more or less dumped in the secluded Kalaupapa peninsula and left there to die. Damien was deeply moved by the plight of those in the quarantine. He gave himself to them, lifted their spirit, organized the community and made sure that the outside word would not forget about people quarantined there.  While caring for those most vulnerable and shunned by the rest of society he himself was infected with the Hansen’s Disease and eventually died of it.

            Damien was accused by Protestants for being self-appointed, headstrong, reckless and dirty (not hygienic enough) friend of the lepers. R.L. Stevenson defended Damien’s intention, his good heart, his selflessness, his faithfulness to God while his squeamish accuser would not set even a foot in the colony. Writing to Damien’s accuser Stevenson also predicted “if (in future the) world at all remember you, on the day when Father Damien of Molokai shall be named Saint, it will be in virtue of one work: your (slanderous) letter.” That is exactly what happened in 2009 when Father Damien was canonized. 

            This Sunday we will see that Damien had a direct and heavenly model in his endeavor of returning dignity to the sick. This Sunday we will rejoice in Jesus who broke quarantine rules and yet also kept them. But he above all transformed and humanized quarantine rules. Join us in worship of Jesus in quarantine.

And here is the open letter by Robert Louise Stevenson.

St.Joseph church built by Father Damien in Moloka'i his statue is standing next to it.

   

Fragrance of divine love

On the south slopes of Mauna Loa, in the place appropriately called Wood Valley is this beautiful old Buddhist Temple surrounded with verdant tropical forest.

            We love to visit this little colorful temple. Once we even stayed there for few days in a room where the Dalai Lama slept several months earlier. We love to visit Marya and Michal, the soft and kind spoken temple keepers. We love to visit it for its unique atmosphere. For me that atmosphere is shaped by a mild yet deep whiff of incense. You can hardly recognize it directly in the air, but every piece of wood breathes out that ages old scent of prayers.

            Indeed, there is something to be said about fragrant worship! For starters it is a subliminal reminder that faith and worship is about more than just intellect. The Bible also takes incense burning for granted in both the Old Testament as well as the New one.

            AIR will be our theme this Sunday, and incense makes air visible and deeply sensual. Join us this Sunday, in this time of fear and anxiety, in a time of pandemic, join us again through our livestreamed video (https://livestream.com/rutgerschurchnyc) to worship with us, seeking together calm and hope.

            And if you want to actively participate, prepare a stick of incense of your choice, or a scented candle or just any candle as we seek reassurance of loving fragrant divine breath.

Holy Mountain?

On this video you can see remains after an Ancient Hawaiian industrial operation near the summit of Mauna Kea.
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What has been happening on Mauna Kea has been fascinating for any student of ancient and modern religion. "Protectors of Mauna Kea" can serve as an illustration example of the use of religion for political (nationalistic) ends.
My academic qualification has been in the study of the Ancient Near East bronze age religion (more specifically Ugaritic Mythology). Over the last decade (unable to travel to Syria) I have been studying Hawaiian religion. I visited Hawaii more than a dozen times and even started to learn the Hawaiian language to better understand the cultural and religious mentality. 

I have also visited the summit region of Mauna Kea a number of times and I know that there are geologic features closely associated with the Hawaiian deities and religion. To the best of my knowledge there were never any signs of ancient (pre-contact) religious structures in the summit area.
At the same time I know that the mountain was NOT untouchable and ancient Hawaiians (still living in stone age) used the summit region for a major mining operation - quarrying hard basalt rock for their tools (mostly adzes). Substantial mine dumps (tailings or spoil tips) near the summit can be still observed. On this video is a mine dump the size of about 5.8 acres and the total area with signs of mining covers about 100 acres! By the way - this can serve as a prime example of the environmental impact of even the stone age cultures!
Ancient Hawaiians used the mountain for a major industrial operation (within the context of their technology) and modern Hawaiians are in the process of turning it into an untouchable holy mountain and making it into a substitute issue to voice their political, national and religious grievances.
This is how religions evolve, morph and transform and respond to ideological demands, how holy mountains are born.
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#Hawaii #MaunaKea #HawaiianReligion

Close look at refuse chips from pre-production of adzes.

 

An example of one smaller outlaying workshop with tailings of basalt chips.

Multidimensional Temple

This Monday I was in Hilo, Hawaii, preparing this Sunday worship while sitting on Moku‘ola (Island of Life) also known as Coconut Island in Hilo Bay. It was the original location of an old Heiau (old Hawaiian temple) and a holy place which was destroyed many years ago with only a few stones remaining. Yet that place still keeps a very special spiritual atmosphere.
    I was preparing a worship in which I plan to talk about an ancient Jewish Temple. And although it was a genuine Jewish Temple, it was not in Jerusalem, but rather it was on an island called Elephantine in the river Nile in South Egypt.
    There is not a single mention of this Jewish Elephantine temple in the Bible, because that was a great problem. You need to understand that a Jewish Temple outside of Jerusalem should had been an anathema it certainly was in the sharp contradiction of everything written in the Torah (Law of Moses).
     And furthermore, this temple was not some rough heretical operation at its time. The community gathered around this Egyptian Jewish Temple was in regular correspondence with Jerusalem and Samaria and existed with the support and blessing from Jerusalem. Any memory of this Jewish Temple in Egypt was almost entirely suppressed. We would not know of its existence if not for the so called Elephantine papyri that survived and were discovered in the late XIX and early XX century.
    For the biblical fundamentalists this ancient Jewish Temple in Egypt is an utter conundrum and a stumbling block for their hardened, harsh and often abusive religion.
    In reality it offers us an intriguing new and fresh perspective not only for our understanding of the Bible but it invites us to embrace an alternative, multi-dimentional, more tolerant and inclusive self understanding of our faith - broader and more tolerant than the biblical fundamentalism.
    Join us this Sunday as we embrace this new and broader vision.
And for those who want more information, here is an older article I wrote about this Jewish Temple in Egypt some time ago.

 

Special Grass

Grass near Pu'u 'Ula'ula of Mauna Loa

At least once a year my wife and I love to spend several days hiking in the Hawaiian snow. Yes, there is regular frost and snow in Hawaii. At 13,000 ft (4,000m) the air is thin, the head is spinning and the going is tough. All around is a volcanic wilderness with spectacular lava formations but completely devoid of anything alive except a few spiders persisting on insects blown up there by the wind. Even other hikers are a rarity - the highest number we had ever encountered were five in one full day. After the year-round crowds of Manhattan - this is our mountainous hermitage. Hiking cleans our heads and sharpens our senses. And then, after a few days spent in almost complete solitude without any telephone, electricity or running water we are ready and happy to return to civilization, but first we need to descend from this frozen high altitude desert. Coming down at the altitude of 10,000 ft we come across our first grass. Just a few small bunches of tenacious, hardy grass, but grass nevertheless. After days spent among just black, brown, gray and red rocks, the grass is so green and alive. Grass is so underrated! Every single blade is like a harbinger of life.
    Yes, I know that the Hebrew Bible grass has a reputation of ephemerality and impermanence. It is undeserved reputation and rightly corrected by the Synoptical Jesus who lifts the humble grass of the field above the beauty of the legendary monarch.

Come and join us this Sunday celebrating the beauty and diversity of grass, any life including the humankind.

Video version of this blog (with few more pictures and videoclips) is here on YouTube.

Tree friends

Trees are like people. They have personalities. In my childhood, besides human friends, I also had some tree friends. Specifically three climbing trees in a park just next to our home. I spent hours in their crowns observing life around the park. I knew every branch and twig of those trees and I also knew their different personalities. 

My childhood climbing trees

     Now much older I only seldom climb a tree, but we became members at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. I particularly love to visit their world-famous bonsai tree collection. And after a few years I start to recognize those more often displayed trees. One or two I knew in advance in Prague from photographs. It is a great experience to see them now in real life. Personalities of those bonsai trees are not artificial, as is often claimed, they are only made more visible. Bonsai masters observes their trees for long periods of times to figure out their natural desire. It is impossible to make a real bonsai into something it does not want to be. 

     But I also still have some real tree friends. Some right here in the Upper West Side, Some in NJ and some of them are very very far. On our first visit to Hawai‘i in autumn 2010 I met this Ohia Lehua tree in the Ka‘ū desert on the slopes of Kīlauea volcano. The second picture is from spring 2015.

     I visit occasionally but as often as I can in the chill of the higher altitude which often happens even in the tropics, or under the beating sun, once even in approaching thunderstorm (yes, it sometimes rains in deserts). I have learned a lot about life from this my friend, about sturdiness and tenacity. It is almost impossible to put into words, but suffice it to say that my tree friend still puts up occasional bright red lehua flowers - as you can see on the second picture. 

Come this Sunday when a well known parable from Jesus will open to us new ways of seeing the Kingdom of God as an intricate tapestry of life. A tiny seed can grow into a big tree and become a habitat for birds and we are all invited to be part of this new vision of a beautiful and elaborate lacework of creation.

Ukulele Gospel

I love Hawaiian music. I love its unique musicality, its special, so-called, slack key tunings. Hawaiian songs are enchanting, whimsical even mystical. They are sweet and gentle, infused with tropical fragrance and inspired with the spirit of Aloha. I believe that the musicality of the Hawaiian language has something to do with it. It is one of very few languages with ONLY open syllables. Hawaiian words and sentences simply want to be chanted or sung.
    But if you look into the lyrics, you realize that words are not only melodious, they are like deep enigmas, they have layers and layers of meanings. Even the simplest songs are far from trivial. On the surface they are about flowers, beaches, waterfalls, breezes ... but underneath are hidden treasures of meaning. Stringing flowers in a cold night is about passionate love (Ahi Wela), clinking of shiny shells is not only an adorable lullaby but celebration of motherly love (Pūpū Hinuhinu). And these are just common and expected metaphors.
    We can progress and find a ditty about rains, breezes and other weather phenomena which captures the geography of the entire island (Hilo Hanakahi). And furthermore, a famous love song about Waipio Valley waterfalls (waterfalls stand for lovers) can also teach us respect and love of the local nature (Hi‘ilawe). And in another song, beach-sand is made into a reminder of Hawaiian patriotism (Hawai‘i Aloha) while a melodious song which opens with a line about “the Famous flowers of Hawaii” is in fact a powerful protest-song against American military occupation and colonialism (Kaulana Nā Pua).
    Even a Hawaiian Christian hymn or song often contains some surprising message. On the surface it might be just a simple paraphrase of the biblical text, but under the surface is this deep spiritual intuition and radical social justice message easily matching the cutting edge scholarship.
     Join us this Sunday as we open the “Ukulele Gospel” and let it reveal the new insights from the story of Jesus and the Rich Man (Iesu Me Ke Kanaka Waiwai).

Kumu Kainoa plays tenor ukulele and sings "Iesu me ke kanaka waiwai"

Exoplanets and Faith

This is Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Under its twin domes are two very powerful telescopes. They are responsible for many astronomical discoveries including finding a great number of exoplanets, planets around distant stars. At this time (September 2018) astronomers confirmed the existence of 3,800 such planets and are further looking into additional 2,200 potential foreign planets.
    Because of our instrumental and observational limits, astronomers predominantly find uninhabitable planets similar to our Saturn or Jupiter, but smaller rocky planets similar to Earth were also discovered. The search for exoplanets remains a cutting edge science, and yet it is ever more obvious that a large proportion of stars are surrounded with planetary systems. Considering an enormous number of stars just in our own galaxy, it is almost certain there is life outside of Earth.
    It was not a homiletic joke when Pope Francis asked in a sermon a few years ago: “If, for example, tomorrow an expedition of Martians came to us here and one said ‘I want to be baptized!’, what would happen? Martians, right? Green, with long noses and big ears, like in children’s drawings.” The Pope brought this theme primarily to highlight the need for spiritual openness towards people of different backgrounds, races and cultures. (By the way I believe that people should be treated respectfully regardless whether they ask to be baptized or not, regardless of their religion or non-religion!)
          While extraterrestrial life is almost certain, our chances of getting in contact with sentient beings are extremely slim. Distances between stars and planets are prohibitively enormous and cannot be circumvented. For instance all our electromagnetic signals from radios, TVs, telephones etc. traveling at the speed of light did not get further than to the few dozen nearest stars. We are almost certainly not alone in the universe, but in reality it is as if we really were!
    Notwithstanding theoretical nature of these realities they, nevertheless, raise some intriguing philosophical and theological questions. Join us this Sunday when we discern questions of Exoplanets and Faith.

HR 8799 - the first directly observed extrasolar planetary system.
This GIF animation was composed from Keck Observatory pictures. 

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And a few additional notes.

 

     Anthropologists and even a number of governments felt the necessity to protect the so called uncontacted tribes specifically from zealous fundamentalist Christian missionaries who are known to cause more harm (physical, cultural and spiritual) rather than good to those whom they want to “save”.  

And furthermore, SciFi writers sometimes imagine a greatly advanced extraterrestrial civilization looking at our planet and our specie from a safe distance with a similar mixture of curiosity and desire not to intervene like we do with those uncontacted tribes.
Well, we do not need to hyposticize any such extraterrestrial aliens any more. I know that the last few years our nearest neighbors and recent allies look at our national affairs and at our government with a similar mixture of curiosity, amusement and concern, not knowing what to do with the wild and irrational US administration.

Alpha Centauri

This sculpture represents a star named Rigil in the constellation Centaurus also known as Alpha Centauri. Polynesian sailors called this star Kamailehope, and as the second brightest star on the southern sky, it helped them to navigate safely the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean. Without any instruments and maps, but rather just observing the rising and setting of stars, the Polynesian navigators were able to find distant specks of land in the midst of endless ocean. Stars are indeed an amazing help for measuring time and space.
    This sculpture is a part of the world’s largest art and science installation. Alpha Centauri is at the ‘Imiloa Planetarium in Hilo, Hawaii, but it is also a part of the Carl Sagan Planet Walk in downtown Ithaca, NY. It is in scale model of our solar system and I walked it with my sons when we lived in Binghamton. The Sun is about a foot across right at the center of the town. Earth is about thirty yards away and about the size of a larger poppy seed. Pluto is 3/4 mile away almost at the shore of Cayuga lake.
    Now imagine you are smaller than a virus and standing on that tiny bluish poppy seed somewhere in downtown Ithaca, New York (but frankly, it can be anywhere in New York State) and looking across the entire continental US and once more that distance across the Pacific Ocean ... and there in that distance, on the slopes of active volcano on the campus of University of Hawaii at Hilo is our other nearest star! (Actually a system of three gravitationally bound stars.) From Ithaca to Hilo - it is indeed the largest art and science sculpture, but for me it is also a spiritual sculpture.   
    Carl Sagan once wrote “The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. ... It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.” Stars can indeed help us to navigate not only vast open oceans, but also our lives.
    Come this Sunday when we will celebrate such bright lights and hear an invitation to emulate stars shining in the dark.


And if you wonder about the location of Rigil (Alpha Centauri / Kamailehope) here it is, close to the Southern Cross. 

Mālama ‘āina

Rainbow over Ahu Tongariki on the eastern shore of Rapa Nui

Mālama ‘āina is a Hawaiian expression for the gentle, thoughtful and loving nurture of the land. Pacific islanders can indeed teach us how to live in harmony with our planet. Their islands are like small worlds with limited and finite resources. Polynesians had no other option but to learn how to be careful stewards of their small worlds and there were also some tough lessons.
    One such place that encountered a tough lesson was Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island) an island famous for its megalithic statues - moai.  It is just a speck of land, a lonely island of 60 square miles, in the middle of the ocean, thousands of miles from the nearest land (five hour flight from Santiago).
    In the last century Rapa Nui people were blamed for catastrophic deforestation of their island, supposedly in order to erect those famous stone monuments. But recently scholars had second thoughts about it. Deforestation was most likely caused by stowaway rats and extremely difficult environment with slow growth rates.
    Archeologists and anthropologists are actually discovering and confirming the resourcefulness of Rapa Nui people. They were thoughtful and industrious stewards of their small island. On this minuscule world buttered with constant winds and cursed with inferior soils, Polynesians perfected the skill of farming rocks. They grew their food in small rock gardens, they crushed old lava (an improvised fertilizer) to provide nutrients for their plants, they even used small stones as mulch to keep moisture in the soil and to keep precious soil from being taken by strong winds. In a small island with extremely limited resources these were examples of their Polynesian mālama 'āina - loving care for their land.
    This Sunday, as we continue our celestial theology, we will look up at the biblical rainbow and discern and be inspired by similar stark yet hopeful message of hope in finite world.

Earth and Sky

Sunset at Mauna Kea - also known as Mauna Wākea

One of the oldest known Greek poets Hesiod tells the story of Gaia and Uranus (Mother Earth and Father Sky), how they gave birth to the whole Greek pantheon and thus indirectly begat the entire Universe. That is actually the original meaning of the word Cosmology - a story about the birth of world.
    Similar stories are known from around the world. On the very opposite side of the world, in Hawai'ian mythology I am familiar with a similar Polynesian myth about Papa (mother Earth) and Wākea (father Sky) and how they originated the birth of a habitable world, individual islands, human culture and even started famous royal families.
    As surprising as it might sound, the Bible also contains interesting traces of a similar story. These cosmogony stories are never really dominant in official religion, they live in the background of people’s worldview. In the biblical tradition this story got overshadowed with the “official” creation story (in six days) and possibly it even got censored for its unorthodox content. But it is still present, and most visibly in the context of the creation story. Just like Greek or Polynesian mythologies the Bible mentions a “Genealogy of Earth and Sky.” (Gen 2:4) And that is something you might not know about the Bible.

As we begin this Sunday a three month long series of Celestial Theology, we will start by looking closer at this genealogy of Earth and Sky and draw encouragement, joy and inspiration from their almost forgotten, yet powerful message.

Hawai'ian miracle

Symphony Grape Vines blooming at Volcano Winery

Aloha kākou (Greetings to everyone!)
As many might know we have just returned from Hawai‘i. There we came across a miracle, something highly unusual - a tropical vineyard. Grapevines do not do well in tropics as they came from and they belong to the temperate zone. Some would say that they do best in Mediterranean climate.
     This Hawai‘ian vineyard was just blooming and doing very well. It grows and prospers only because it is planted 4,000 ft above sea level just next to an active volcano and thus in cooler air.
      The Bible came to us from the cradle of viticulture. All the biblical authors and audiences were surrounded with vineyards. They understood them and took them for granted.
      And although we do not live in the tropics (or the arctics) and although New York State (especially the Finger Lakes Region) is famous for its wines, we are not truly familiar with vineyards, their work, culture and symbolism.
      Join us this Sunday in uncovering the deep meanings of viticulture. Join us in rejoicing in their mystical, ethical and emotional meanings.
      A hui hou (See you soon!)    

And a small geo-theological observation.

      Theologians and scholars have been paying attention to the historical setting (historical context) of the biblical message. (World view has changed over the past thousands of years). But what about the geographical setting and climatic context of the Bible?

      Polynesians are not surrounded with vineyards, Papuans don’t keep sheep, Chinese normally don’t eat bread, Inuit fishing certainly looks different from the one on the lake of Galilee... These are, indeed, extreme examples. But they remind us not to make simplified inferences and easy unreflected assumptions about climate and our most basic life experiences.

Aloha kākou!

Aloha kākou!  This is a beautiful and deeply meaningful Hawai‘ian greeting.
     Many people would know that Hawai‘ians are greeting each other with Aloha which means "love". But the meaning of this word actually encompasses a full spectrum of tender loving feelings from compassion, mercy through pity or sympathy to kindness and grace.
     The other word of this greeting, the pronoun kākou, is even more profound. It is an inclusive we (plural you and me). Aloha kākou should be interpreted as, "May there be love between us" when speaking to a group of people. While, Aloha kāua is reserved for greeting a single person.
     This "inclusive we" creates a spiritual space of mutual affection and friendship in which both the greeter and the greeted are united.
     Come this Sunday, on the brink of the Old and New Year, we will learn about and find hope not only in Hawaiian but also in similarly deep Hebrew (and Arabic!) greetings of love and peace.

Grammar of Happiness

In Hawaii there is a running joke about their two systems of time. There is a Haole (American) time and Hawaiian time. While Haole time is about plus minus five minutes, Hawaiian time is only suggestive and can mean almost anytime. These different concepts of time reflect different cultures, but they are in fact growing from the deeper and more profound linguistic roots.
   English sentence is unthinkable without indicating its temporal position - past, present or future. Any time we open our mouth, our sentences are chained to a definite position in time. Hawaiian language on the other hand is virtually tenseless. Hawaiian is rich in nominative clauses (sentences without verbs) and even verbal sentences communicate primarily the flow of action (grammatical aspects). Thus, while our European languages value punctuality, the tenseless languages highlight validity and fullness of time.
   Why am I writing all of this? Because the Biblical Hebrew is also one such starkly different and almost magical language. It is hardly ever mentioned and difficult to convey in translations. In the Biblical Hebrew tenses are almost an afterthought – time is relative, but aspects are important.
   This Sunday we will let the ancient Hebrew teach us a new grammar of happiness, or at least we will let Hebrew open our minds to a spiritual reality beyond and above our modern dictate of time.