IN THE BEGINNING...

Shalom!

And welcome to my blog!

My name is Drew Willard

and I - like you, have many labels I could go by for what I am and what I do. That of course is the ego-part of us that we must present to the world as a mask or metaphor. Frederick Franck, though he eschewed labels, himself, was someone who could be called an artist (the only one to attend Vatican II), a dentist (who worked with Albert Schweitzer in Africa), and a mystic (who was equally at home in Buddhist & Christian spirituality). In his books, which he hand-wrote and 'illuminated' with his 'seeing/drawing' emphasized the importance of not just looking at things and people (or people as things), but to see. And this is in keeping with the challenge made by Jesus Christ to his disciples and us all - to not just listen, but to hear; not just look, but to see. And isn't that the beginning of what it takes to love in this world? Isn't it to find empathy with others as being like "the you" that you are inside, too. And for that matter, reflecting the image of God - The "I Am That I Am" that we are, too.

The Great Commandment includes the "Shema" of the Jewish people - which I have adapted as follows:

"Hear, O Israel! Listen, O People of God!

The LORD our God is One Lord;

And you shall love the LORD your God

with all your heart and soul,

with all your might and mind;

And you shall love your neighbor

as yourself,love your neighbor

as being like 'yourself'-

as being kin..."

The sentiment at the top of the page was something I read in a Reader's Digest in the early 1970s and attributed as an "Indian proverb". At the time, I took it to mean what is meant now as "Native American" (there we go with labels again), but I suppose it could also mean "Hindu". Truth, no matter what package it comes in (and whether we like it or not), is still true. "Listen, or thy tongue will keep thee deaf" is a truth from my early life that I have only recently recalled. It came as an insight in the midst of intense distress, challenging me not to be distracted by the noise around - and within me, the voice of fear and self-doubt. It was like God had said this to me.

It so happened that "God is still speaking"became the current mission statement for the identity campaign of The United Church of Christ (in which I have been ordained as a minister and pastor since 1996). The idea was to have a recognizable logo (or 'label') to help distinguish the United Church of Christ from similarly named denominations. This was based on a quote by Gracie Allen discovered by her husband George Burns (who played the title in the "O God" films) after her death: "Don't put a period where God has placed a comma."

That clever moniker has helped me remember that I have heard God speaking in my life and that I know the difference - whether I like it or not. My hope is that in these pages as I share my words & images you will also realize your own dialogue with "The One Who Is" - in whose image ("I Am"age) that we are all created.

Shalom,

Drew