Open up.....

 

"Read me Wacky Witch..." That was my refrain the majority of the bedtimes of my early childhood. Each night my mother would ask, "What book do you want me to read?"  Without a second thought, I would say, "Wacky Witch."  My mother tried...she'd say, "How about Dr. Seuss? Pippi Longstocking?"......I was having none of that...I was defiant ---- it was going to be "Wacky Witch" or nothing.  

In these times of book banning, I am confident my bedtime read would have been placed on the discard pile.  A witch??!!!  A witch with mental illness??? Hey, the witch is wearing a red hat with a yellow crecent moon, is this a Muslim witch??!!!?

What ridiculousness......

In my opinion, foundational to the banning of anything be it books, films, goods, persons.....central to these actions are arrogance and fear on the part of those who seek to ban. 

I was tuning my spiritual attennae to answering in the affirmative my call to ministry when the film THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST hit the theaters.  No surprise there was a major reaction from several faith communities --- protests, fiery sermons, marking director Martin Scocese as demonic.  At one meeting of menacing Methodists frothing over this film, I asked if anyone had seen the movie.  Pause. No one had. Someone actually shared she was afraid to see it. How can we know and then speak to what we have not bothered to see or read or learn?

Our nation is changing. Many are clutching and clinging to what is familiar and wanting to be in the "good ol' days."  Good for whom? We've progressed in our understanding, our inclusion, our diversilty. Going back is not possible nor healthy. Growing is painful, yet necessary.

When we are afraid we constrict and close in, we defend and fend off.  Conversely, to learn is to be open, to read and seek to understand a new story, to labor to understand a new perspective.

My Methodist roots were builders of the first Sunday Schools, we are big on education, study, learning.  There are a million examples, yet one of my mother's strongest attributes was that she kept learning, she studied, she taught, she read, she reflected.  

The film, CHOCOLAT, featueres a chocolatier new to a town where the leadership wants to remain guarded and closed by seeking to place limitations on what one can eat, where one can go and who is welcomed.  On Easter Sunday, the local priest, opens his sermon with these words:  

"Why do we choose to measure our goodness as to what we give up and who we exclude?

Why? When we shold measure our goodness by what we do and who we include."