Have you ever had to reinvent yourself? The phrase has a peculiarly American flavor, but the experience to which it refers has always belonged to the human predicament. Of such is the story of Arjuna—Odysseus—Jacob—Job—Jesus in the wilderness—Jesus before the Cross. Re-invention comes to this. . .
We have been working with the great challenge of our times, the news that climate change will bring no more normal now—that everything will change, and we must change. Our species has no experience with demands so implacable. Our whole world view evolved on a hospitable planet and presumes its continuance . . .
A film from Danish director Lars von Trier received little notice in 2010, but I hear of it more and more now. It is called Melancholia. A heavenly body—far bigger than an asteroid—has appeared in the night sky. Is it moving? How? Will it fly by Earth? Will it . . . ?
We say we seek unity, community, love, peace—a new heaven and a new earth. But we cannot get to unity through our longings. We are too disordered by our own worries. Therefore, profound experiences of joined humanity usually come only in the face of mortal danger. . . . Still, sometimes there is a shift in how we see . . .
In the last hundred years, humans have so altered the earth that ours is no longer the same stable planet upon which civilization took root ten thousand years ago. A different world is coming.
Jesus’ hour has come. All the gospels use this word—the hour—for Jesus’ passion. They mean not sixty minutes, of course, but the time of decision. None of the other words we use to measure time denotes the seriousness of decision—not “just a second” or “in a minute”; not “this week” or “this month” or “next year.” Not even this life, this age, this era bring us to decision. But, the day dawned, and his hour has come.
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