Shore feels safe, at least safer than the waves–but while a ship is safest in its harbor, that’s not what ships are for.
A recent PBS Newshour piece highlighted proposed changes in Sweden that would modify religious services to include feminine versions of God in their liturgies: for example, instead of the “Our Father” the prayer would become “Our Mother.” (The full piece is here)
One voiced dissent came from a pastor who said
Being part of a tradition means that you come from somewhere. You have a history, and that forms you and makes you what you are. And if you lose contact with your roots, you run the risk of losing your own identity. –Pastor Michael Lowegren
This fear is not to be taken lightly–if an organism feels threatened it will act, either defensively or aggressively, and neither attitude is attractive in a civilized setting. So the pastor’s fear–and the fear that he’s spreading–is that to lose one’s roots means losing one’s identity. What the pastor is not saying is how identities are fluid, amorphous fairy-tales; that no matter how stone-like they appear, change and growth are possible.
If our identity is precious to us, we have already lost–it means we are attached to a view of ourselves, a view of the world, or a view of others that we are hesitant to change, out of fear of “losing our identity.”
But only by losing sight of our own shores do we gain the possibility of discovering new ones.
Safe Travels, Sailors