In my ‘walk-around’ world, not the dream world I visit with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her friends in Nazareth, I am quite concerned and even worried about the so-called followers of Jesus and other so-called religious people. I hope to bring up my concerns to the wonderful folks in Nazareth and perhaps get some ideas from them.
And this evening, my vivid dreams landed me in Mary’s flower garden with John, Luke, and Ruth. John was getting used to fetching a chair so I could use ‘my’ chair. Mary, as usual, greeted me warmly and said, “Well, my old and young friend, you look a bit worried. What is it that makes you so heavy-hearted?”
“I’m so glad you asked, and I want to get some ideas from all of you about what to tell the so-called Christians in my time about how to help themselves and others.
They all looked puzzled, concerned, serious, and bewildered. Mary looked at her three friends and back at me, saying, “First, Don, that is a completely strange question. Here in our time, most women, more often must work hard to become pregnant and then keep a baby healthy enough to reach adulthood. Joseph and I wanted to have more than one child, but even having some fun trying, I never became pregnant after Jesus. How many times did your mother become pregnant? And how many lived to become adults, Don?
“My mom had twelve pregnancies and ten children. I was number nine, and two died in childhood, so eight lived to be adults.”
All four looked aghast at me, and Mary put a hand over her mouth, shook her head, and said, “Oh my goodness. How did she do that, and how did your family afford food and a home for all of you?
“Not well, we became quite poor and barely survived as everyone had to work as soon as they were old enough to do something useful. Both of our parents’ health failed by the time the three youngest children came along.” I never knew whether mom and dad knew how babies were conceived. Some priests and ministers say God blessed our family, and others say God cursed us. So?
John seemed as stunned as Mary and said, “Was that common when you were born, and is it still common for people to have that many children?” Before I could answer, he added, “A rabbi told me that some couples have eight or more pregnancies in hopes that two or three will live to become adults. So, survival now is far more important than prevention. Again, I’ll stress that Jesus repeatedly said that we must love one another, and that meant doing what was life-giving for all concerned. I don’t believe he thought that Yahweh was, in any way, a puppeteer creating and managing our lives. And Jesus did not dictate absolute 'shoulds' Yahweh wanted to be live-giving co-creators. So, please inform your fellow Christians to love one another, be life-giving, and work to choose positive, loving leaders.”
Ruth added, “I hope too that many of your leaders are women because we have a better built-in ability to love and to bring love to others.” Mary clapped and nodded. And I started to respond,,, and left again. Please watch a very good documentary on Prime - BAD FAITH
Think of what kind of world we need and how to be loving in it. Don’t eat the menu; enjoy the banquet.
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