The One True Enemy!

There are some armchair philosophers who will claim that there is no such thing as a "one true" of anything.  But there is one "one true".  It's the enemy. 

Look beneath the surface of any of history's long list of humankind's inhumanity to their fellow humans, you will find supposed root causes too numerous to list.  Yet at the root of the roots, you will find one common thread connecting them all, and that is the One True Enemy.

As often as not, it is the first thing that starts problems between people, and it continues to encourage the festering until there's some sort of an eruption.  And that is what makes it The One True Enemy.  It's something that you and I face every day of our lives.

It might even be said that if The One True Enemy can be finally defeated, most of our other problems would probably go away by themselves.

And what is the One True Enemy?  That is one of the Secrets In Plain Sight, waiting to be seen for what it is!

Of all of the rites one might conduct in the public eye, there is one which is the real test of priesthood.  Other than pre-printed rites that someone might recite, there is little written about how to deal with the rite and the situations which make it needed.  And yet, it is the one rite which every human being will be in the market for sometime.  That one rite is the funeral.

If you stumble while officiating at a wedding, they might laugh when they see the video and perhaps even invite you to the 20th anniversary party to be the butt of some jokes.  But if you do a questionable job officiating at a funeral - about all anyone can say is that you did have your chance to do it well.

There's a saying that "funerals are for the living," but that's not entirely accurate.  If you believe that death is not the absolute end, a well-done funeral in which some good farewells are said, at the very least you give the deceased a better chance to rest and move on.

Weddings are important too, and most states have qualifications which you must meet if you are going to officiate at a legally binding wedding.  But almost anyone can officiate at a funeral.  Yet a funeral is the last chance people routinely have in this lifetime to deal with someone they've known.  It needs to be done right.

Marketing, you ask?  We're talking religion and spirituality, aren't we?  Yes!  And we're talking about making all of our ministries as effective as possible!

Priesthood is something that you have.  Such things as ordination and lineage mean that someone has agreed with that to the point that they are willing to put their "seal" on it, but the fact remains that priesthood is something that you have.  If you didn't have it, you wouldn't be reading this.  Ministry is what you do with your priesthood.  And if your ministry extends anywhere beyond the door of the room where you keep your altar, this subject is important to you.  Of course you might have put a different label on it, but it's marketing your ministry.

Nothing irritates me quite as much as a news report in which one of our priests or priestesses is referred to as "self-styled".  And that's quite a statement to be made by a self-styled journalist whose qualifications might include literacy and a glib enough tongue to get hired.  And if you catch my drift in the latter, you've got my point about the former.  And the "self-styled" description is but one issue.  But I do love to point out that there's more reason that I am a priest than my claims.

And this is one of the ways to prepare for that and other challenges which I promise that you will face.

For all this time, we've talked about principles, practices, and the general field of applied theology and practical spirituality in today's world.  Due to circumstances which should never have been allowed to be, there is a situation which is begging for these principles to be applied.

When a member of the US armed forces dies on active duty, or when a veteran comes home honorably and lives out the course of his or her life, one of the basic entitlements is a memorial marker provided by the US Department of Veterans Affairs.  Religious faith is important to men and women who go into harm's way on behalf of their country, and the memorial marker can include an appropriate symbol representing the individual's religious faith - unless the person happens to be Wiccan or Pagan.  Why?

Applications have been "pending" at the Department of Veterans Affairs for nine years.  In that time, several other faiths have had theirs symbols approved.  In one case, approval came withing a matter of a few weeks!  Meanwhile, the Pentacle remains "pending".  Of course they can't disapprove of it!  To disapprove of it would be as wrong as racially segregating the cemeteries!  So, it remains "pending."  For all of the officials who claim to be "invesitgating" and others who claim "their hands are tied", two political appointees are in a position to take immediate action to correct the situation. 

It's time to take spiritual action, to call upon the Divine - in whichever names or forms each of us addresses our deities, and call for those two individuals to have the wisdom and courage to do what is right - and stop this daily insult to those of our spiritual paths who have served their country. 

A basic application of all the stuff we've been talking about.  And a time to apply it.

Blessed Be!