I forgot to set my alarm when I went to bed on Wednesday night. I woke up Thursday morning, too late to go to my usual Rotary breakfast meeting.

            I took the dog for her morning walk instead.

            And on that walk, I met a neighbour who was just taking her dog Jessie for what she was afraid might be its last walk. In a few minutes, the two of them were going to visit a canine specialist, to get the verdict on something filling her dog’s lungs.

            Her dog normally moves on an invisible trampoline, touching the ground just long enough to launch another sub-orbital trajectory. This time it walked. Slowly.

            “I’m a nurse,” my neighbour said. “This sounds terminal to me.”

            I gave her a hug. It was all I could do. It won’t heal her dog. It won’t erase her fears. But it was better than nothing.

Just coincidence?

            If I had gone to Rotary, I would have missed that encounter.

            Some, I’m sure, would explain those coincidences as evidence of divine planning. God intended me to forget to set my alarm, so that I could be there at that moment, on that morning.

            I don’t buy it.

            First, because I’ve given up believing in a God who meticulously organizes everything from the spin of quarks to the collision of galaxies.

            And second, because even if God does intervene in earthly events, I would much rather have divine attention focussed on the plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

            Or on chronic air pollution in cities like Delhi and Beijing, pollution now considered the world’s greatest single environmental health risk.

            Or on the leaders of the National Rifle Association.

            Even a minor improvement in any of those areas would produce far greater benefits than my missing a Rotary meeting.

No wrong answers

            If my morning encounter demonstrates anything, it’s the flow-chart nature of life. You know what I mean by a flow chart? It’s a graphic visualization of how computer programs make decisions. A “yes” to some option leads down a chain of further options; a “no” to a different chain of options. Each new option, again, offers “yes” or “no” choices, each with its own chain of consequences, leading off into infinity.

            Some people find flow charts terrifying. Too many options. Too little clarity. “Just tell me what to do,” they plead.

            I’m not suggesting we’re computers. Not at all. Just that until we developed computers, hardly anyone thought of life as a flow chart. Rather, we saw life as a straight line towards a destination. With as few detours as possible.

            Despite the “yes” and “no” labels, though, a flow chart really has no wrong answers. Each choice simply opens up a new range of possibilities which were not there before.

            “When one door closes,” says an old maxim, “another one opens up.” That’s flow-chart thinking, long before anyone actually defined a flow chart.

            I find flow charts liberating. Disappointments don’t have to be dead ends -- they can open up new opportunities. A “no” that shuts down one path opens up alternative routes that weren’t even on the map a few seconds before.

            If I’m open enough to see them, that is.

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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.

            To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

Last week I mused on rear-view mirrors, and a God who is always ahead of us. You seem to have liked it. No one wrote in opposition; Jeanie Lepper seemed to express the consensus: “Great column. Really enjoyed it and believe it!”

            Isabel Gibson liked the image of “God out ahead of the team/tour, saying, ‘Come on youse guys.’ Much better than feeling herded like a cat.”

Tom Watson played with the McLuhan phrase: ""We drive into the future using our rear-view mirror." Tom noted, “The 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once wrote something similar: ‘Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward.’ So even though you could see the road clearly through your rear-view mirror, you still had to make your way forward if you wanted to get home.

            “I see a connection between today's column and that from the previous week about lingering images. The candle flame dies but is still seen in the image of one's mind. Since I'm currently stumbling forward through the thorny thistles of grief, I find I am being carried along by so many thoughts, memories, images from the past, and they help me find my way into whatever the future brings.”

Cliff Boldt also had memories to deal with: “On Monday, my last remaining aunt on my mother’s side died at age 97. She lived a good life and her death was expected because of failing health and the onset of severe dementia. Much of yesterday was spent gazing into a rearview mirror.  And what a treat presented itself. Memories of Esther for sure, but then all the other characters in my past:  cousins, parents, grandparents.  Great moments in the rearview mirror of life.”

James Russell had his own interpretation of the McLuhan quote: “I read this as: ‘We imagine the future as an extension of what we have seen in the past.  But the future will surprise us because it is an evolution, not just an extension, of the past.’ I recall Alvin Toffler (author of Future Shock) once remarking, ‘Remember the sign on the rear-view mirror:  objects may be closer than they appear.’”

Krista Markstrom picked out my line, "We may recognize our encounters with God in our rear-view mirrors. But that was then; this is now. We learn from those encounters, so that we can look for God ahead of us, calling us onward to new ways of thinking, seeing, and doing things.”

            Krista continued, “I really like the visual you provided in today’s column. I’m a ‘looker backer’ to see if I can find any trace of a God encounter. In reflecting backwards, I’m not sure if I see God in almost every moment; however, my core belief is that no moment is without God -- even those moments we think back on and cringe wondering what we were thinking in our doing. For me, each of those moments have built upon each other and created an architectural presence of God: God as always present surrounding us dimensionally. (By the way, nothing like reading this to the music of Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar soundtrack’s main theme. So much more eerily coincidental to have Zimmer’s music playing than listening to the opening track of the Twilight Zone TV show.)”

Jean Hamilton wrote, “Hindsight led me to some long-unvisited memories today, when a packet arrived with suggested materials for Advent, including a box of olive oil, etc., to be sold to support the Palestinians in their struggle against illegal Israeli settlements. Being old and full of years, I remember Al Forrest, when he was editor of The Observer, being roundly criticized for suggesting that the Palestinians had a credible point of view.

            “Which reminded me of Rev. Ray Hord, another prophet in the United Church who was attacked for his statement that it appeared that Pearson was a puppy-dog for LBJ re the Vietnam war:

            “Now it seems that Greta Vosper is the most recent example.  How long will it take for her to be vindicated as well? ‘O Jerusalem who stones the prophets and kills those who are sent to you...’

            “So many of your blogs should be followed by a discussion group.  The format doesn't leave room for this, although you try your best, but maybe it's an idea.”

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PSALM PARAPHRASES

The traditional wording of Psalm 34 speaks of an external God, an almighty being out there somewhere who responds to desperate pleas from humans and intervenes to rescue them. I prefer to think of God as an all-encompassing reality, something like the swimming pool my daughter revelled in during her high school years.

Trust the water!

I love it! The water sets me free.

In it, I have no weight, no mass, no inertia.

Whether I race the butterfly

Or synchronize my movements with a team,

We are one, the water and I.

I dive in, and the water looks after me.

It buoys me up; it lifts me.

In it, I can gambol and swirl,

I can twist and whirl,

I am as free as a fish.

The water is my friend;

It will not let me sink

Into a sea of troubles.

Thrashing around simply makes froth --

It does not teach me to swim,

To trust the water with my life.

In the water, I radiate joy and freedom.

The water in me

resonates with the water beyond me.

We are one. I have no fear.

I trust the water.

 For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary (except this one, which is new), you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

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TECHNICAL STUFF

If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.

            To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an e-mail message to jimt@quixotic.ca. Or you can subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message or subject line) to softedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at softedges-unsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca.

            I write a second column each Sunday called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justice issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, jimt@quixotic.ca, or send a note to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

            I’m leaving out some of the links to other blogs and pages, to see if those links have caused the recent blockages, preventing some of your from receiving the columns at all, and preventing others from sending responses. We’ll see.

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PROMOTION STUFF

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols.

            Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at wwwDOTsinghallelujahDOTca

            Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://wwwDOThymnsightDOTca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)

            Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>

            I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom

            Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawoodATgmailDOTcom to get onto her mailing list.

            Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet