Coyotl or Ueoueocoyotl is an Aztec deity. The deity is depicted as a coyote and is from where the word coyote derives. In ancient Aztec it meant very old.
Coincidentally I was reading the book, “American Coyote” over a couple of nights when on one of those nights we were awakened by the barking and howling of coyotes just beyond the wall of our home. Suddenly I was not as enamored with this somewhat mysterious creature about whom I was reading.
Coyotes it seems were not to be found very much outside of Mexico or the Southwest from the time of European discovery of the Americas. They tended to be numerous where wolves were fewest. Wolves, it seems, do not like the competition for food which the presence of coyotes creates.
The thing about Coyotes, however, is their adaptability, their flexibility, and their willingness to take risks. Today there are coyotes in New York’s Central Park. To get there they had to take either a bridge for cars and trucks or a railroad bridge. Taking the Holland or Lincoln tunnels seem to most a more remote possibility. Imagine the risk involved in such exploration!
Originally the European settles and later Americans did not know what to make of these creatures. Were they just small wolves or jackals? Eventually they were seen as their own subspecies and given the popular name coyote.
In my years out West, it seems everyone has a coyote story. “American Coyote” makes the point that these creatures are much like us in their willingness to explore and in their ability to adapt. Originally it seems, coyotes were vegetarians. Later, when a new set of circumstances demanded, they became omnivores if not carnivores. Coyotes, you see, unlike wolves, have molars to chew, not just incisors to tear and shred.
Humans have had to adapt. While eagles have their eyrie, prairie dogs their holes and tunnels, humans live in houses of ice, sod, wood, straw, brick, stone, and, lest we forget, stucco to name a few types of housing that fit into the area in which we live. Some humans survived by taking from what was around them. They were always on the move following food sources. Others were able to grow some of their needs, built more permanent housing and stayed put.
We dress differently, eat differently, and speak differently depending upon what place we call home. We learn to live with cold, heat, rain, fog, and dampness accommodating ourselves to our surroundings.
Maybe we could stretch the point and say Christians need to be more coyote like; that is more adaptable and flexible. We see a different expression of the Christian faith among the Egyptian Copts, the various Eastern Orthodox groups, mainline Western European Christianity imported to the US, Canada, and beyond. Evangelicals, on the other hand export their brand from the US to around the world. Clearly there is a certain adaptability to the Christian faith.
However, what I am thinking is more chronological than it is geographical. It needs to adapt to the times not in a way that embraces the times, but in ways that understand the times and understand how they shape the views of all, even those opposing the times. This is to say that from generation to generation the church cannot operate the way it always has.
Do you know, for example, the current church structure in most churches as expressed in their constitutions comes from approximately one hundred years ago? Why would we think that would work just fine now? With today’s busyness, churches who always recruited people to be marathon runners, volunteering and helping for the long haul, need to readjust and look for sprinters instead. These are folks willing to help with a task or two, take time off, and then return to help out with some new short-term venture later.
How has technology changed the church? How is it continuing to change the church? What changes are truly an extension of the Gospel and Christian community? Which changes are harmful for these?
In a time of increased informality (it has been sometime since I have now seen ASU President Michael Crow wear a tie), how important is it for pastors to wear robes, organs to be the primary instrument, and paper the principal material for worship services? These, of course, are just a few of the lesser things which the church needs to consider when it reflects on what is truly central to the Christian faith.
Yes, here comes the usual part: But Jesus remains the same. That is all that we really need. Yes, but has Jesus really remained the same? A journey through the history of Christian art reflects different periods seeing and understanding Jesus differently. The very first form of Christian art was the Christus Rex…the risen and crowned Jesus on the cross with arms uplifted in glorious victory. This art form reflected a faith that understood Jesus as triumphant and in glory with the hope followers could share in this.
Some time later crucifixes emerged showing a tortured, pitiful, and twisted Jesus, tormented by his executioners. This reflected a faith that saw life as much misery,
guilt, and struggle, encouraging those so struggling to hang in there as Jesus understands a life that has many tragic moments.
Later works of art often have Jesus seated or calmly walking or standing. Jesus is portrayed as a very docile Jesus, merely comforting and affirming. The Christian life, then, seems to be portrayed as “Keep calm and carry on.”
By now you get the picture. Where do you and I and the church need to adapt even as we challenge? Where can we be like the adventurous coyote who risks and adapts yet continues to find ways to attack and survive, unafraid to move on?
Wile E Coyote of Looney Toons fame is not a good caricature of a coyote. I never understood, for example, why if he had all that money to buy those Acme products, he didn’t just go out and buy food. Those outside our suburban walls were better representatives. They tip toe around what had once completely been their turf, howl a bit to let others know at least part of it still is theirs, and find other ways to survive if not thrive.
Is that a bad image for the church? Church numbers may be in decline, but the world is still God’s turf. The church needs to adapt, be flexible, hang on to what is essential, and not be afraid to howl a bit at the world. If coyotes can somehow make it to and make it in Central Park, can the church find itself in surprising places?