My wife Marian and I recently attended a 'celebration of passing' liturgy, held to prayerfully remember the life of our friend Kathy's father who had died rather quickly from cancer.

George was not particularly religious, as some would call it. Church would not be regularly on his top ten list of things to do on a Sunday morning. He hadn't really wanted a funeral to mark his death. What George wanted was a simple get together of family and friends to remember the good things of his life. He told his daughter Kathy that it would be OK, however, to have the commemoration at her church because her pastor was a 'kind man and would say some nice words.'

As several family members and friends stood during the liturgy to share anecdotes about their loved one, what struck me was the impact that George's life of humor had on them. Far from perfect, having battled alcoholism for a long time, George's true spiritual path though was one of bringing laughter into the lives of those around him with often-corny jokes. Our friend Kathy reminisced that her father had worn a toupee for decades, and not a particularly un-noticeable one at that! He used the excuse of his illness to finally shed himself of his rug, telling people that his hair had fallen out as a result of the chemotherapy treatments. A point of joy in the lives others, he was remembered not for his imperfections, but for his brightness.

One of the potential pitfalls of being actively engaged in any reforming movement is allowing oneself to continuously struck by the length of the journey still to unfold. Being further aware of the expansive sea of change we face at the beginning of this 21st century impacting the various spheres of religion, government, education, environmental, justice and global economic issues, just to name a few, life can be a bit overwhelming at times. This is particularly true if one is dancing as fast as one can, and seem to be getting nowhere fast! I find myself lately wishing more and more that I could be around 100 years from now to see how humankind weathers these culturally underpinning storms.

George's death brought me back to a remembrance of listening to the reflections of both Matthew Fox and Michael Morwood at the Call to Action conference in Milwaukee. Both of beacons of insight highlight the spiritual impact of living within the framework of a new view of the universe, a new cosmology... that God has always been / is forever with us as the life in which we live. Our expansive universe has always been, and continues to unfold as the original blessing we receive, a world of gift for which we just need to give thanks.

These three men, each in their own ways, have reminded me that I don't need to change the world! I just need to lighten up, smell more roses, and appreciate the fact that, as the bumper sticker I saw in the deep South recalled, that you and I were "Born OK the First Time."

Namast￩

Russ Ditzel Russ would love to hear your thoughts. He can be reached at crditzel@corpus.org