Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Prayerful in Panjshir: Confessions and Ramblings of a would-be preacher and a sometimes diplomat OR why I named this blog the way I did

In June of 2009, I found myself in a 1970's era Russian Helicopter flying at about 8,000 feet through a 12,000 foot mountain pass (do the math) in a complete whiteout. Snow-capped mountains began to come closer and closer to patches of fluffy white clouds, that suddenly stopped being so fluffy and became rather ominous.

Flying right into...that.

me and ten companions; the engine so loud that you can't hear anyone, a pilot who speaks many languages but none of them english, and nothing but a glorious and terrible white all around us... as perfect an example of the beauty and terror of God as I have come across in my lifetime;

this was a powerful moment for prayer.

These were not prayers (entirely) for a safe passage; but prayers for my companions, a mishmash of Afghan government officials who have managed to survive 30 years of war and ethnic conflict and come out on top; U.S. Marines serving in one more dangerzone, tackling one more impossible mission with the calm and ease that I can only achieve making oatmeal; a group of former U.S. prison guards who suddenly find themselves responsible for rebuilding an Afghan Prison system that has in the very recent past served a parts gulag, death row, brothel and torture chamber (in short a job they are ill-prepared for... yet better prepared than anyone). Prayers for family and friends, and prayers for the wider world.

Something about that view, that moment. called into sharp relief the challenges of the 21st century and how we as a society are ill prepared to face a world that is increasingly different and increasingly closer every day.

Adding extra meaning is that we were flying over the Panjshir valley, a tiny province in North-Central Afghanistan that appears to never have been conquered by anyone, due in part to only having one road in and 12,000 ft peaks on either side. And in part to not having too much to conqueror in the first place. That we were here, in a place were by any account we really don't belong, trying to pass through a whitewash of cloud and mountain were you couldn't tell where one began and the other ended, with an eclectic group that represents the last 30 years of history in a place we all forgot about; was amazing to me. This was not the kind of existential spiritual experience that the Book of Common Prayer had prepared me for!

Yet this is exactly the kind of new spiritual experiences that are going to be confronting us in the next 20, 50, 100 years. While not always so dramatic, the increasing clash of cultures, traditions, economies, religions and politics is enough to make one question if God does exist... what exactly was he thinking?? That, I believe, is my calling, to work out the kinks in this transition; to continue to make the gospel, and God in general, relevant as we are pulled into an increasingly larger global community and made more accutely aware of our differences.

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