Jesus asked Simon Peter if he loved him and told Peter: “Tend my sheep.” (John 21:15-19) Ordinarily I don’t want to classified as a sheep, a follower to be herded around, but sometimes it’s comforting to be taken care of, just for a little while. I was reminded of this at a recent Second Saturday event when Marianne Borg, a retired Episcopal priest, talked about “the morning Marc died.” referring to her late husband, the well-known theologian and author Marcus Borg.
I met Marianne Borg for the first time at Westar about six weeks after my husband Brian died. I had decided I would rather be with people who cared about Brian and me than sit home and wish I were in Santa Rosa. At the hotel restaurant for breakfast on my first morning alone in California, I saw an acquaintance at a table with one extra seat, so I asked if I could join them and found myself across the table from a face familiar only from photos and videos. Upon learning of Brian’s death, Marianne Borg slipped into what I call “pastoral mode,” and made me feel cared for then and every time our paths crossed over the next five days. While I treasured talking with friends who had known Brian, it felt special that someone who had not known him was focusing on me and not half of the lost us.
On the second Saturday in November, 2020, the topic was “soft theology” as defined by philosopher/theologian John Caputo, another scholar I would have seen in March, but for the pandemic. To oversimplify, Jack Caputo posits that “hard theology” sees God as power while “soft theology” sees God as love, and, further, that this love appears bit-by-bit in a series of “events.” Our host commented that this view can actuallyopen our eyes to seeing God in a different, transformative way. She described several small, serendipitous “events” that comforted her on the day Marc died, including a patchwork quilt that brought to mind his comments that God appears in small things we can put together like a patchwork quilt. I found myself comparing my experience of such events, even daytime rainbows observed on cold winter days two years and 3000 miles apart.
I once again felt the comfort I experienced three years ago in on the other side of the continent and saw the true meaning of “agape,” the love by which we Christians want to be known.
Lyn Pickhover, Sheep for a Little While
“The doors are open wide” if you are interested in joining the free Second Saturday Conversations which are currently conducted via Zoom. You can google “Marcus J. Borg Foundation” to RSVP to the invitation,