Wednesday’s child

Monday’s child is fair of face
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe…
so goes the familiar nursery rhyme on fortune telling.

Some Christians shifted Wednesday’s woe to Friday’s because of Jesus’ crucifixion, elevated into religious dramaturgy by the faithful and into the realm of theological speculation in all its heavenly grandeur, especially when the discipline was still the queen of the sciences.

Wednesday’s Child programs in the United States are for children with special needs, the focus on the “need,” requiring emotive emphasis to get the requisite attention for sympathetic support to fund research and cure, in-kind donations of logistics, or just plain common sentiment.

April is National Autism Awareness Month, observed by some in the United States since 1970. Eliciting at the start condemnation for the so-called “refrigerator moms,” the post-WWII working woman whose attention is often broader than just raising a child, we now have autism gaining global concern for its epidemic proportion, with some still treating the phenomenon as befitting the hush-hush room at the back of the house, and others making it a boutique designers’ mind-robe to drape the Dustin Hoffman “Rainbow Man” category.

The child “full of woe” designation is the “child of stars” in Chinese nomenclature. Their glitter is transcendent and mysterious; it is special by immediate acclamation, the recognition of being is made before demonstration of specialty. The “child of stars” is neither hidden nor shunned. Special schools are emerging that recognize the “differently-abled” quality of children, rather than their alleged disabilities!

The word is out. Every child comes into the world already a “winner” in the sperm lottery of Dad, and the free decisive choosing ovum of Mom, and together, in a journey of just nine months, collaboratively crafted one of the most complicated and sophisticated organisms on the planet. Babes do not need to prove themselves; they do not need to pass tests to qualify as humans. They just need to be reminded that they can live the awesomeness of their existence in full celebration and delight.

“Out of the mouth of babes…,” we are oft to say when truth is reflexively blurted out from a child. One of my grandsons near Chicago was rushed to the ER showing symptoms associated with meningitis, and after a battery of tests and a three-day confinement for observations in the hospital, an identified infected lymph node got bombarded swiftly with antibiotics. A relieved Mama hacking her profession on her laptop at the hospital bundled off the young one, only to be asked by the nurse to have him say “Ah” one more time. My grandson stood up, looked the nurse straight in the eye, and boldly asserted: “Enough!” Smiling, he led Mom out of the room!

Something of that decisiveness must have infected the confidence and conviction of that carpenter from Galilee who stood up under the shadows of Solomon’s portico to say simply: “It has been said of old, but I say unto you.” It must have been words of arrogance at a time when the “experts” of the law were the recognized speakers with authority and finality. It is the ring of authenticity that delivers authority in our time, as I suspect was the same in Jesus’ time. Of course, we have made a mockery of the tradition from the Galilean hills’ pedagogue by making an icon out of His image. Like His disciples who witnessed transfiguration on the mountaintop, suggested that they construct a tabernacle rather than mingle once more with the world’s hoi polloi, we are often stuck with the protection of the cathedrals rather than promote the functions they serve. Our heroes are idols of adulation rather than trailblazing exemplars in forging the new!

The prophetic and messianic voice of Galilee, nevertheless, resonates among many folks today who find timber in their voices to say, “Enough already!” Ways of operating and visions of a previous time are to be respected, but the paradigm shifting required is more than just “occupying space” to demonstrate dismay. Sadly, paradigm shifters resign if they are MDs at CHC!

We require transformation in the way we operate and the way we create visions that guide our strategies, in our lifestyles as individuals, in the debilitating remains of hierarchical structures that define corporate organizations on a pecking order, and the sorry state of our ecology as we continue to prefer industrial gain and easy profit to the health of the planet and its citizens.

The United Methodist Church holds its quadrennial General Conference in Florida at the end of the month, a turning point as the denominations’ finance is fueled by methane, the tally of its members lost if unable to count beyond fingers and toes, and its “methodical” ways grossly stuck in 19th century evangelical movement of the American Midwest, particularly its foreign mission arm.

Remaining progressive voices can articulate the authority of authenticity, and with confidence and conviction similar to one who spoke in Jerusalem, declare the relevant struggles of our time, the responsible use of commons, the limits of private ownership, the effective human roles to be replicated, and the transforming story to be told appropriate for 2012.

What would Jesus say (WWJS) is not the issue. What do we say is.