Happy Birthday, Dad!

My horoscope said that I should lead more with heart than head today, and that makes perfect sense as I honor my father on his eighty-fourth birthday. As I said in an earlier post, a common response to learning that my birthday falls on Christmas is, “Oh, that’s too bad!” When you know the rest of the story (thanks, Paul Harvey), however, which is that Dad’s birthday is on the twenty-third, then you will understand why there has always been a well-defined separation of birthday and Christmas in our household. Thanks, Dad, for letting me share your special day all these years!

Mothers and fathers are our first acquaintances on this earthly plane, and no one is more blessed than I by my parents. As I am learning with my own daughters, bringing life into this world introduces one more uniquely perceptive consciousness that didn’t exist before that moment. I never once feared for my safety, my welfare, or my survival—unless, as I grew older, circumstances warranted it. I was blessed far more than many by parents who held an extraordinarily wide worldview that encouraged rather than inhibited an almost unconditional curiosity about life and its meaning.

In my almost fifty-eight years, my appreciation of Dad, and my gratitude for all that he’s done and continues to do for me, continues to grow. Dad has been ordained to touch a multitude of lives through his ministry, and I treasure that I am one of them.

Christmas is for Singing

Call me old fashioned. We Three Kings to a swing beat just doesn’t seem right. As predictable as this season’s blending of sacred and secular makes it, the lilting saxophone accompanying the sultry songstress begs the question, what’s wrong with this sound? It works for Winter Wonderland but somehow contradicts the depiction of a first-century Middle Eastern legend. Do you suppose there really was a reindeer with a glowing red nose poised over the manger in that stable of yore?

Christmas is when I most feel my estrangement from the Church. Music is paramount among the profound symbolism of this season which exemplifies the myriad of perspectives that are included in the process of birthing the Christ into the world. It’s hard to imagine that strains of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing weren’t wafting through the ancient air of that first nativity. And let’s face it; a grand choral rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful is probably not on the Top Ten playlist at holiday office parties. One is more apt to feel comfortable singing the lullaby Away in a Manger when in the company of other faithful.

No other time of year seems to possess such a unique and yet eclectic repertoire. Entering the scene shortly after the end of World War II exposed me to a whole selection of favorites which during that horrific denial of peace on Earth and goodwill toward all humankind emerged as music that profoundly affected the sentiments of those generations which immediately preceded mine. And the beat goes on…as the beauty, wonder, joy and hope of Christ born into the world touches each generation it will translate into choruses old and new of God’s transforming love!

Christmas is for All

Between the growing popularity of Halloween and the high holy day of Super Bowl, Americans have developed a season of festivities that now accounts for nearly a quarter of the calendar year. Thanksgiving and Christmas vie for favorite holiday, but there’s really no question about which generates the most parties, has its own unique musical repertoire, sustains the economy, and continues to serve as the centerpiece for all the other falderal. Those who urge us to remember the reason for the season certainly have their point, but they somehow miss the fact that Jesus’ birth (observed) is but one aspect of a much larger phenomenon. The principles of peace, love and goodwill that are lifted up at Christmas benefit from the residue of genuine thanksgiving and segue perfectly into the hopes and dreams for a new year. It doesn’t bother me that the focus has shifted from the manger to the world because that’s what I understand the Christ’s mission to be in the first place. It certainly does no harm to recall the incredibly humble origins of the celebration, but it would be wrong—in my opinion—to restrict the observance to a particular dogma or creed. Christ is for the world! And it would seem that, ala Desiderata; the universe is unfolding as it should.

Christmas is for Family

If memory serves correctly, this is Uncle Dale’s birthday. Had he not succumbed to ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) several years ago, I’m guessing he would have been 87 today. Uncle Dale remains larger than life in my recollections of growing up a Hanna, particularly this time of year. Since Uncle Dale had three daughters, I fancied myself the recipient of any toys meant for boys he may have had a hankering to give. Lincoln Logs, flashlights, and model cars are among the many gifts I received from Uncle Dale and Aunt Phyllis, one of the most generous couples I have ever known. It’s that generosity that figures prominently in my memory of Uncle Dale, as it must for many, many others. By any measure a successful farmer, it came naturally to him to freely share his wealth. I learned as much about the stewardship of time and talents from Uncle Dale as I did from any textbook, an irony of sorts since he had a tendency to feel somewhat inferior due to his lack of higher education—guess that’s how I developed my skepticism about the undue emphasis that gets placed on degrees, etc. I think of him often, but especially at Christmas. He never left any doubt in my mind that Santa Claus and the baby Jesus go hand in hand delivering the joy of a life well lived.

Christmas is for Children

A good example of scriptural inconsistency is found in the Christian New Testament, where the Apostle Paul on one hand makes an argument for the merits of growing up to think and act as an adult rather than as a child. The gospels, on the other hand, report a Jesus who attributes child-like innocence as the key to heaven. Such disparity is what lends support to the position that Paul never had any firsthand experience with Jesus of Nazareth. It also serves to illustrate how the emerging institution of the Church wasn’t necessarily faithful to Jesus’ teachings as it developed its own. At any rate, it does seem consistent with what we know of Jesus’ ministry to proclaim that Christmas is most definitely for children. What at first may appear to be a harsh judgment against adulthood actually points the way toward the true meaning of Christmas. If the holiday seems to have lost some of its sparkle and magic, perhaps it is because we’ve forgotten that, regardless of physical age, we are all children of God, the Creator’s created. There’s still enough time left to let ourselves get into that childlike frame of mind and enjoy the best Christmas ever…since we were kids.

In case you missed it…

What Makes A "Good" Christmas? by Ben Stein

It's beginning to look at lot like...Christmas?

I’m all for putting the Christ back in Christmas, but I suspect that we’re first going to have to figure out how to put the Christ back in Christian. George W. Bush is the most glaring example of a growing number who label themselves “Christian” but behave in ways that are, to say the least, antithetical to anything we know about the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. You don’t have to have a seminary degree to know that followers of “the way” weren’t always called Christians. Indeed, little groups of highly factionalized first-century Jews were the first to accept Jesus as the Messiah, but there were many such groups, each with its own messiah. It really wasn’t until the movement spread to the Greco-Roman world that the term Christian was coined, literally meaning “little Christ”. Those familiar with the Christian New Testament know that one of the first real debates in the fledgling religion centered upon whether or not one must first be a Jew in order to authentically claim Jesus as the Messiah, and it was Paul that championed Gentile eligibility. As the early church eventually assimilated non-Judeo cultures, “Christian” became the accepted identifier. I delve into this trivia because of the recent shootings in Colorado, where an armed security guard accepted responsibility for having shot the gunman before it was finally determined that he actually had committed suicide. Armed guards at churches? I’m quite sure that the Las Vegas media were not the only ones asking whether or not this should be the new face of “church” in the wake of the killings. What would Jesus do? The fundamentalists get off easy on this one, because there were no guns in Jesus’ time. But for those of us condemned to think, it taxes our understanding of the Christ to conclude that Jesus would condone such resolution to what appears to be a growing problem in today’s world.

Whenever We're Ready!

Yesterday, I alluded to what Christmas means to me. It was, however, so subtle that no one may have noticed. “The celebration of new life for joy, hope, love and peace” captures for me the essence of what it’s all about (hey, when no one else will, I am forced to quote myself). Emmanuel, literally ‘God with us’, is the ever-present reality that generates peace on Earth and goodwill toward all humankind whenever we allow ourselves to come into full relationship with our Creator, or, as Jesus said, we are born from above. Phillips Brooks was a powerful preacher, author, and poet, perhaps best known to many for his beloved carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem. I find the whole poem to be prophetic, but particularly his line:

Where meek souls will receive Him, still
the dear Christ enters in.

This is the spirit of Christmas that will more than likely not be found at Best Buy or Sears, but which stirs genuine hope in the hearts of those who earnestly seek it.

The Killing Season

A growing interest of mine is the qualitative perception of death by human beings. We definitely assess certain kinds of death as worse than others. This fact started seeping into my consciousness in the wake of 9/11. The death of those 3,000 souls was deemed “bad” enough to warrant the United States’ preemptive attack upon the sovereign nation of Iraq followed by a war that continues to this day. The death of U.S. military personnel is “worse” than the death of Iraqi civilians, at least when the media attention given to both is compared to the actual numbers. Back in the United States, we slaughter somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 each year in automobile accidents, but this seems to be a more acceptable loss than, say, the 14,274 murders committed in 2002. This is again an issue as the Christmas killings in Nebraska and Colorado take on a more poignant significance because of the season in which they occurred. Any time a gunman goes berserk is tragic, but when it occurs in the midst of the celebration of new life for joy, hope, love and peace it is understandably weighted more heavily than if it happened in June. It’s beginning to dawn on me that this must serve to explain to a greater or lesser degree the diminishing reverence for life that seems to accompany an exponentially growing human population. Of course our prayers are with the families and friends of the victims of recent yuletide tragedies, but our better understanding of the reason for the season is more apt to take place when we begin to regard the phenomenon of leaving this earthly plane with greater equality.

Silent Night?

This season has the ability to bring out the best in us, and the worst. Our family has done Christmas shopping at Omaha’s Westroads Mall, and so I can vaguely identify with the horror that took place there yesterday. It recalled a young parishioner in the church I served there who was certifiably pathological, but a misguided and erroneous conception of what is “Christian” thwarted my efforts to get the professional help that was so obviously needed. Fortunately, to the best of my knowledge, that person never went berserk—an argument for the grace of God. As we ask ourselves what goes on in the mind of a perpetrator of massacre, I suggest that we ultimately end up asking what goes on in our own minds, as well. How has the commercial aspect of Christmas become so ingrained in our society that the national economy is directly tied to our level of consumerism? Why are we so enamored by the quest for more that we literally let those in desperate need of our attention fall through the cracks? Just what are we celebrating, anyway? In my opinion, we will do well to focus less on outspending one another and more upon the image of the love borne of a mother, a father, and a child. Mary and Joseph deserve some of the credit for raising a child that didn’t have to seek celebrity through violence and destruction, and therein may lay the true meaning of Christmas.

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

I want to thank the cowardly jerk who collided with the front bumper of my Prius yesterday and then fled the scene leaving the innocent victim parked in the Clark County Garage (oh, yes, they probably have you on video tape, but with my luck you’re some uppity-up that has immunity from prosecution). But as I’ve had less than twenty-four hours to reflect upon your foul deed, it really has challenged the authenticity of my Christmas spirit. How I might have reacted any other time of year I’ll never know, but I’m trying very hard to employ my belief in peace on Earth and goodwill toward humankind even for a Scrooge like you. In the name of Christmas, I’m going to forgive your blatantly criminal behavior so that you won’t suffer the angst of a guilty conscience this holiday season (obviously, I’m giving you credit for a degree of intelligence and moral conscience that most of you Neanderthal types don’t possess; I’m probably lucky that I wasn’t present at the scene because your type usually shoots first and asks questions later). I’m just sorry that you didn’t get far enough into the body to be electrocuted by the gazillion volt battery. It would have been nice to have apprehended you lit up like a freaking Christmas tree.

Not!

I am well aware that this is not the most wonderful time of the year for many. Personally experiencing the “empty nest” syndrome with neither daughter home anymore, I can empathize with the feeling that Christmas isn’t quite all that it’s cracked up to be. Nonetheless, I know of no other season that so dramatically affects human rhyme and reason the way this one does. It occurred to me that the first two songs I remember Mom teaching me were Away in a Manger and Jingle Bells. Among my earliest memories is of a Christmas gathering in the basement of the Platteville church at which Santa Claus made an appearance. Holy smokes! What other holiday assimilates both the baby Jesus and Kris Kringle? Christmas truly offers something for almost everyone and that’s part of its magical appeal. For me, disappointment generally follows unrealistic expectations. So, if I expect that Christmas is going to make someone like President Bush more intelligent, I will in all likelihood be profoundly disappointed. If, on the other hand, I expect that the glorious beauty of the occasion will far outweigh W’s stupidity, I will be rewarded by holding to a more realistic expectation. In other words, I think that Christmas is what we make of it. If it’s the joy in children’s eyes, crinkled smiles on aged faces, and a genuine hope that a world into which the Christ is born cannot help but be better than what we have, then that’s a Christmas I expect to enjoy to its fullest.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

A common reaction to learning that my birthday is on Christmas is, “Too bad!” I understand the assumption that someone with a December 25 birthday will receive only half as many presents each year because of “doubling up”. But nothing could be further from my actual experience of fifty-nine celebrations (another benefit of being born on the day: I get to count from 0). Christmas comes as close to a universal celebration as Planet Earth has, and I can count on everyone with the exception of the most critically needed service providers having the day off. For crying out loud, even McDonald’s is closed on Christmas! Christmas has its own special music, its own special legends, and its own special appeal that mysteriously and miraculously bridges sectarian and secular. I honestly can’t think of any better day on which to have a birthday. Lest some of my more devout readers jump to the conclusion that I forget that “Jesus is the reason for the season”, I contend that it is more than mere coincidence that the day designated by the Church as Christ’s Mass was long before celebrated as the passing of the winter solstice and the gradual return to longer hours of daylight. In other words, there are any number of good reasons to celebrate this time of year, not the least of which is the dawning of peace on Earth and goodwill toward all upon human consciousness.

TGITh!

In the spirit of sharing with you what I find interesting, and because it’s my Friday and I’m lazy, I invite you to read these articles from the December 3, 2007 issue of TIME (how do they do that?; it’s only the 29th of November!). Anyway, the Takeuchi essay reminds me very much of Rachel’s style and wit, so I’m expecting to see an essay of hers published any day now. The last sentence of the Lee-St. John article leads me to ask, “Really?” I’m toying with the idea of exploring what Christmas means to me in future posts, so the big snooze is on. Have a nice weekend, and I’ll meet you back here next Monday (God willing, if you buy into preordination).

Sunday School for Atheists. by Jeninne Lee-St. John

It’s Inconvenient Being Green by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

It doesn’t seem possible that twenty-one years have already slipped by since Rebecca made her entrance into this world. That was in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Becca (as she prefers) has come full circle by returning to her hometown last summer. I’m unashamedly proud of the woman she has become, thoughtful, caring, and determined. It isn’t meant as an insult to say that she’s inherited more than a little of her old man’s fascination with the philosophical, a pursuit which I suspect she will take farther than I ever have. Rebecca is an excellent example of the hope inspired by a generation that hasn’t yet given up on its dreams in the way that I fear ours has. She magnificently survived an adolescence that I doubt I would have, and now she’s today’s brave new woman out to make the world a better place for all of us. I have told her on many occasions what I now make known to all: Rebecca, I’m blessed to be your father!

‘Tis the Season…

…for what? In my never-ending attempt to stimulate interactivity, I’m calling for a cyber show of hands (i.e. comments). Who really believes that it is better to give than to receive? The nice thing about responding by comment is that it provides the opportunity to elaborate or explain why you’re answering the way you are. A word of caution: be truthful! If Santa Claus can tell if you’re sleeping or if you’re awake, if you’ve been naughty or nice, he sure as heck can tell if you’re lying! Here’s hoping for a generous response from you, the readers, which may serve to shed a little light on what we really think about Christmas.

Genuine Gratitude Generates Generosity

I’ve noticed a growing number of books and articles being written about the benefits—both spiritually and physically—of being grateful. Just outside the limelight is similar research touting how beneficial a generous spirit can be to both the giver and the recipient. It is only natural, then, that a link between the two will begin to surface. People who count their blessings are less likely to count the gifts they bestow on others. In addition to being just downright lazy, I wasn’t interested in getting to the stores at 4 AM on “black Friday” following Thanksgiving because my focus had intentionally been upon making a grateful inventory of all the things I already have, not the least of which are my beautiful wife and daughters. As I assimilated just how blessed I am by family, my thoughts turned not to all the things I want but to ways that my gratitude might find expression in gifts that represent all that they mean to me. It is fair to say that the commercialization of Christmas has distracted our attention from the great gift given to us for which we should be eternally grateful. To use the well-worn phrase, if we can manage to put the Christ back in Christmas we may find ourselves spurred by gratitude to discover that it really is more blessed to give than it is to receive.

Thanks for the Life!

I know not where I’ve come from nor where I’m going to, but the sentient being I experience right now is nothing less than miraculous! I think, I breathe, I walk, and I talk. I am inimitable and irreplaceable. I am the salt of the earth. I am the light of the world. I am human, made a little lower than the angels and precious in my Creator’s sight. This is the Truth revealed in Christ and it speaks to and of me. Woe unto me if I have not heartfelt gratitude for what and who I am, because there is nothing more precious for which to be eternally grateful. Oh, and lest I sound like I am bragging, I speak with the voice of every child of God that inhabits this plane in time and space known as “life”. If we will but see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and know with our hearts and minds that every one of us is blessed with this gift and be thankful for it, the promised coming of the reign of God on Earth shall become reality. Thank you, God, for the life!

Thanks for the Freedom

Thanksgiving is regarded by many as a uniquely American holiday, and for good reason. Those of us who live in the United States have more for which to be grateful than much of the rest of the world, not the least of which is the freedom we enjoy so freely that we almost take it for granted. I am free to sit at my desk during my lunch hour and write pretty much whatever I feel like writing without fear of censorship. I have the freedom to work, the freedom to worship, the freedom to speak out, the freedom to vote, and the list goes on. I live in a nation where life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were regarded by the founders as my inalienable rights, a fact that I might well lose sight of by succumbing to the temptation of believing that I am entitled to these things simply by virtue of being alive. There’s the old adage that you don’t appreciate what you have until you lose it, and that’s a good reason for me to make sure that I am grateful enough for my freedom now so that I won’t ever have to experience losing it. There are those who would, I am sure, like to take away the many freedoms I enjoy, but hopefully that’s not as likely to happen if I intentionally value and exercise them on a daily basis.

Thanks for the Crib and Ride

Is there anything more pathetic than an old man trying to be hip (or hep, as we concluded that’s what we were when I worked construction in Florida)? Being guilty as charged, I think not. But the gratitude I have for the classic condominium Mary and I call home, and for the virtually emission-free Prius that I drive is not diminished by poorly attempting to employ the jargon of the day. As I go through my daily routine preparing for work—fitness center, indoor plumbing to accommodate daily necessities and their cleanup, breakfast from a well-stocked pantry, clothing from a walk-in closet, etc—I try to be very intentional about taking none of these things for granted and reminding myself that I live in a kind of luxury that most peoples of the world cannot even dream of. I confess that when I’m caught in Las Vegas’ rolling parking lot designated US 95 that’s not when gratitude for a car to drive is most likely to pop up, but now that nearly twelve years of construction is finished and it’s a breeze to and from work I cannot afford to forget just how fortunate I am. I, like the majority of American citizens, have so much for which to be grateful this coming Thursday; so, it may not be a bad idea to adopt a thankful attitude a little ahead of time so that it’s in full gear by the time the day arrives.

~ A Baby's Hug ~

We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a
high chair and noticed everyone was quietly sitting and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, 'Hi.' He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was baredin a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.

I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out ofwould-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map.

We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. 'Hi there, baby; hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster,' the man said to Erik.

My husband and I exchanged looks, 'What do we do?'

Erik continued to laugh and answer, 'Hi.'

Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, 'Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek- a-boo.'

Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk.

My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid-row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.

We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. 'Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik,' I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby's 'pick-me-up' position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man.

Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love and kinship. Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man's ragged shoulder The man's eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby's bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time.

I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, 'You take care of this baby.'

Somehow I managed, 'I will,' from a throat that contained a stone.

He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, 'God bless you, ma'am, you've given me my Christmas gift.'

I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying, 'My God, my God, forgive me.'

I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking, 'Are you willing to share your son for a moment?' when He shared His for all eternity.

The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, 'To enter the Kingdom of God, we must become as little children.'

If this has blessed you, please bless others by sending it on. Sometimes, it takes a child to remind us of what is really important. We must always remember who we are, where we came from and, most importantly, how we feel about others. The clothes on your back or the car that you drive or the house that you live in does not define you at all; it is how you treat your fellow man that identifies who you are.

This one is a keeper.


'It is better to be liked for the true you, than to be loved for whom people
think you are......'

Heartfelt thanks to my loving sister for sharing this with me so that I may now share it with you.

Thanks for the Job

Our team is having its Thanksgiving potluck today. It reminds me how grateful I need to be for being among the employed. The American culture essentially requires employment, and it seems to be rather unforgiving of those who are not. Oh, I know, there’s the welfare state, etc, but I’ve not seen many of those living high on the hog. For the most part, either you’re employed or you’re not valued as a member of the society.

I’m not as sympathetic toward the unemployed as I probably should be, but I’ve never been out of work. Having never been “too good” or over-qualified for any job has resulted in an eclectic resume that definitely classifies me as a “jack of all trades but master of none.” But my gratitude is focused on there always being a paycheck for my various labors. I know that there are some who are genuinely unemployable, but those who just don’t like to work perhaps deserve their lack of income.

Thanks for the Friends

I have been blessed by many friendships, the majority having somehow been related to the church. Across the spectrum from young to old these friends have made my life more meaningful and gratifying. A handful, I suppose, have distinguished themselves as “best friends”, not the least of which is my soul mate, Mary. I find it interesting to consider what leads to friendship, or what ends up in terms of animosity and enmity. I would like to be like Will Rogers who never met a man he didn’t like, but it would be less than truthful to say so. My amateur analysis concludes that it is easiest to like those who like me, and Jesus said as much when he questioned the value of such relationships. The challenge of the Christ is to love our enemies, although their may be some consolation in that the admonition is not to befriend them. What is the correlation between love and friendship? In some instances it is obvious, but I find that most times it is love of self that generates the perception of being friends. Jesus made it a point to tell his followers that rather than consider them his subordinates he regarded them as friends. So, it seems to me that there must be some sort of correlation between true love and genuine friendship that I will do well to learn as much about as I possibly can.

Thanks for the Family

Every time I tie my shoelaces I employ skills that were lovingly and patiently taught me by my mother. I was blessed to have been born into a home that had both a mother and a father and that eventually added a sister to make it complete. Mary came from the same kind of home which multiplied the number of aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents included in the new branch created by our marriage. Having such family ties was just taken for granted when I was a child, but as I grew older (and perhaps more mature in the process) I began to understand that it is not always this way for everyone.

I contend that our world can become a better place when life is revered and held sacred. That’s a lesson of the home and family that is taught from birth (yes, I can accept that the learning begins even before birth) on, and that a newborn derives a significant sense of her or his self-worth from the family which ideally surrounds it. We don’t have to look too hard to find the results of being born into an environment that is void of a whole family, and to realize that the entire world suffers for it. I thank God for each and every member of my family, and for having my eyes opened to the truth that each and every one of us make up the whole family of God.

Thanks for the OJ?

My Thanksgiving shtick was apparently premature. The media circus across the street generated by OJ Simpson’s preliminary hearing nearly distracted me. But then, in what is a stretch even for me, I realized that I should be grateful to live in a country that grants us the freedom to display just how stupid we really are. Climate change? War? Genocide? Corrupt politicians? These all pale by comparison to our insatiable quest for celebrity. Thank God we don’t have a government that forces us to concentrate on the truly important issues in lieu of some criminal football hero. OJ may have gotten away with murder, but he might just get nailed for an inept casino heist of his memorabilia. Thank God I’m an American! I have the luxury of immersing myself in the mundane and idiotic without having to worry about Darfur, Iraq, Iran… Did someone say something about fiddling while Rome burned? Thank God for miraculous technologies which allow us to sit glued to our televisions and computers to watch the trials and tribulations of OJ, and for censorship of only those things that offend our imaginary sense of morality. By golly, I think I’ve done it! Thank you God, for OJ!

Thanks for the Children!

I can honestly say that I’ve never taken the gift of our two beautiful daughters for granted. First, as Rachel was born; and then Rebecca, I lifted my praise and thanks to God that both were born vibrant and healthy. I knew that it doesn’t always turn out that way, and it was a first moment of profound gratitude which has been magnified as they have matured into intelligent, beautiful women. No more than I can imagine what my life would have been like without Mary, neither can I fathom what happiness nor meaning there would have been without Rachel and Rebecca. I find it challenging to express my pride and joy in ways that are not trite and cliché, but I pray that One knows the tremendous gratitude I feel for the privilege of being their father.

I cannot help but think that a genuine spirit of thanksgiving must include one’s family. I agonize each day of work over the parents and children that apparently are little more than chattel in the scheme of things. It has been observed that our children are our most valuable resource, but they all too often are sublimated to material greed and selfishness. I would encourage us to include mothers, fathers and children among the things that we are truly grateful for, and in so doing this coming Thanksgiving might be transformed into the kind of celebration it is truly meant to be.

Thanks for the Delicious Lunch!

Ala Geritol advertisements of yore: my wife! I think I’ll keep her. Mary arises each morning earlier than she would have to in order to prepare my lunch. It’s always nutritious, delicious, and packed with loving care. I’m well aware that this goes against the grain of radical feminism, but Mary is the kind of person who does not let ideology dictate how and why she does things. Far less often than I should, I try to express my gratitude via e-mail or in person (anyone who knows Mary knows that an e-mail may hibernate in her box for weeks or months) so I’m taking this rather unconventional means to once again thank her for the wonderfully loving way she takes care of me.

We’re knocking on Thanksgiving’s door, by some accounts the most popular of American holidays. It really isn’t too early to start counting our many blessings, such gratitude being a marvelous antidote for always wanting more. I suspect that if we spent more time concentrating on what we’re thankful for there would be far less time to rail against all that’s wrong. From the moment I wake up in the morning until I slip into slumber at night, I am blessed beyond my ability to comprehend. My Thanksgiving resolution this year is to focus upon how I can share my bounty with those who have less, and just as importantly, with those who for some reason don’t appreciate what they already have. Who knows? America might just use its unique holiday to proclaim that God has richly blessed us instead of petitioning (remember Jim Morrison: you cannot petition the Lord with prayer!) for more. Did you hear that, W?

On the Fly

I’m still like a little kid with this technology. I didn’t post at my lunch hour today because I left at noon to prepare for my flight to Billings. So here I sit at McCarran International, spooning in some TCBY while waiting for my 4:35 PM departure. I can’t recall that I’ve ever traveled on Halloween before, but it is certainly interesting. I threatened to arrive in Billings dressed as an Arab sheik ready to deal arms with my brother-in-law but I decided that I would rather spend time with Mom than in Guantanamo. I’m skipping lunch next Monday, too, since I don’t report back to work until one that afternoon, so the posts are going to be erratic for the next few days. I’m looking forward to several days of discussing the meaning of life with Mom and Kim, something that always seems to happen when we’re together. They are good discussions because they generate from the very source of the love I’ve known all my life. Yeah, I had to throw in that bit about love because I think that is becoming my cause, my purpose in life. History indicates that life is not always kind to those who prefer love to war, but I’m starting to think that’s because loving life to the degree that I’m willing to destroy to preserve it may not meet the true definition of what love actually is. Anyway, we can all give it some thought and see what we come up with in the ways of love.

The Greatest Thing

Faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love. The Apostle Paul at times was right on target. I’ve toyed with the concept before but it seems ever more imperative to try to figure out just exactly what it means to love God, neighbor and self. Reports of our impending doom fly at us from every direction and yet there still is not any serious discussion of how love might have the power to turn things around. That may be because there have been so few serious discussions of what love is. I remember one of Dad’s sermons in which he reported that an encyclopedic examination of love that once took pages had been condensed into a couple of paragraphs—and that was many years ago. I suppose I should go to wikipedia to find out what the current state of love’s definition is, but we all know that Stephen Colbert could change that overnight anyway. The Greeks—whose language was employed in the earliest stages of New Testament composition—had several different words to convey different aspects or kinds of love. English has managed to consolidate those into a singular word that somehow is supposed to convey the greatest power known to humankind. Perhaps this explains the almost infinite diversity of other means of power that translate into concrete forms of violence and destruction. In other words, we humans have discovered the secret of nuclear weapons because even that is apparently easier to grasp than cosmic love. I’ll pursue this line of thought for a while, and it sure would be nice to enhance the process with your thoughts. I’d love to hear them!

The God Connection

I’ve frequently described the relationship with God as being connected. It makes perfect sense to me but it’s gradually dawning upon me that such terminology is not orthodox and therefore probably sounds foreign to traditional ears. For as many theological discussions as Dad and I have had over the years, I was surprised to learn that he considers himself a pantheist. Alfred North Whitehead, the “father” of process thought, considered himself a panentheist. This spurred me to learn the difference between the two upon which I came to the conclusion that all process thinkers are panentheists. That’s what surprised me about Dad’s decision to define the Whole as the sum of all the parts (pantheism) while I find myself in agreement that the Whole is greater than the sum (panentheism). The pantheistic paradigm is more in keeping with the deistic view that allows for an impersonal Creator that cannot, at least literally, be in relationship because it is, as Ernest Holmes said, the Thing Itself. Panentheism, however, allows for some sort of relationship with that transcendent quality that is more than the mere sum of all the parts. I can understand the sentiment of great thinkers like Albert Einstein who felt that anthropomorphism is the greatest disservice imaginable to the concept God, but I have also come to understand that to be in relationship with God does not necessarily require the personification paradigm inherent to so much religious thought. All this is to say that I am not ready to concede the personal relationship I have with God just because the attribution of human qualities to the Divine may be in error. This brings me back to the old existential drawing board from which I hope to better describe the connection I experience.

Or Are You?

I have sixteen minutes until my lunch hour expires. Once again I find myself trying to sort out the genuinely depressing aspects of current affairs from those that my own depression may be tainting. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: truly depressing or just the blues? The ineptitude and corruption of government: is it bothering anyone else or just me? Climate change (i.e. global warming): are we nearing the tipping point of no return or am I just gullible? There are times when the Apostle Paul’s notion of being in the world but not of it makes sense to me. Other times, I cannot find my way past the perception that this present reality is what we make of it, and what we’re making is one deadly mess. I cannot explain how it is that I find myself at this point in space and time, which leads me to ask whether or not it makes any difference. What am I, O Lord, that Thou art mindful of me?

Deliver Us From Evil

I really can’t remember what got me started on my morality tangent, but in retrospect I’m convinced that it had something to do with George W. Bush. I’m sure that there have been more godless men, but none that ever connived their way into the White House. That Bush has not been impeached—or worse—is so telling on the current state of our nation. While previous generations of Americans would have been outraged and appalled by the neo-conservative fascism that has quietly taken over our government, ours is so obsessed with selfish consumerism that we’re willing to look the other way from almost anything that might threaten what Henri Nouwen referred to as our “spiritual masturbation.” Employing their mastery of deceit, the neo-cons now seem to have the majority believing that Perl, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rove and Gonzalez have just drifted off into benign retirement. Didn’t we learn anything from 2000 and 2004? Bush vetoes medical benefits for impoverished children while asking for billions and billions more to line the coffers of the military industrial complex which profits purely from keeping the world at war, and no one calls him on it. If ever there was a time when we needed to pray for deliverance from evil, this is it!

And in conclusion…

What I have been able to learn about the man, Jesus of Nazareth, leads me to think that if he were in the present moment he would be amazed and astonished by the technology that has developed over two millennia. More importantly, I think he would be incredibly disappointed and saddened by the infinitesimal spiritual and moral progress made in the same period of time. Whether we choose to label it a quarrel or debate, Jesus challenged the legalistic worldview of his time and would perhaps weep to discover that humankind has become only more so over the years, particularly in the United States. Our ethics are governed by whether or not something is legal, and any moral perspective seems to have died with God in the 1960’s. I am realizing that there’s not much to be gained by belaboring this point further. Suffice it to say that little, if any, of contemporary Christianity has anything to do with the life and teaching of Jesus other than to have incorporated him as the company logo. We may be less apt to find the Christ in church than in the yearning for a closer relationship with the Creator who relieves us of judging anything other than the quality of the connection.

I Can't Top This!

I've seen this before, but a coworker sent me this copy that was just begging to be published. For all of you who are brave enough to admit that you voted for the man, read on in a spirit of repentant humility...

Please Help This Person Find A Job ...

(This individual seeks an executive position. He will be available in January 2009, and is willing to relocate.)

RESUME


EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Law Enforcement:

I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.

Military:

I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

College:

I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:

I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock. I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:

- I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.

- I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.

- I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.

- With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:

- I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.

- I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.

- I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S.Treasury.

- I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.

- I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.

- I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.

- I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.

- I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

- I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.

- I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.

- My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron.

- My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.

- I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.

- I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.

- I changed the U.S . policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.

- I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history.

- I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.

- I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.

- I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.

- I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

- I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.

- I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).

- I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.

- I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.

- I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

- I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.

- I am the first President in U.S . history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community.

- I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.

- In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.

- I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

- I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.

- I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:

-All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.

- All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

- All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.


Please help this person find a job (preferably far away from the United States).

GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520

Let's Stone Her!

Okay, so here’s what I’ve been working on this morning. A sixteen-year-old girl (you’ll see why this isn’t politically incorrect) gives birth to a baby, and has the presence of mind to apply to our office to establish paternity and a child support obligation for us to enforce. She rightfully knows the ropes because she is already in our system as the child on another case. Ironically (or perhaps not) the alleged father is also already in our system as the child on another case. He, however, is now married and taking care of that family when he’s not knocking-up some fifteen-year-old (yeah, there’s that gestation period that has to be accounted for). Now comes the clincher. Because she is still a minor, this girl/woman who is old enough to conceive is not old enough to file her own case, and I had to send her a letter telling her that a parent (remember, she’s already in the system because of whoever these people are) or legal guardian (was she smart enough to get an attorney and emancipate herself before applying for child support?) must apply on her behalf. Or, I suppose she could just wait a couple of years taking care of the kid on her own until she reaches the age of majority. Are my diatribes concerning morality really so irrational? What the hell is happening to us as a society? I’m sure that the Christian Right will applaud that this young woman is helpless to manage her own affairs without parental involvement, and will likely jump at the chance to judge her immorality. And the Bleeding Heart Left will probably indict home, school and church for not “educating” this girl in the ways of birth control and abstinence. The sorry truth is that all of us who have abandoned morality for legalism are contributing to this sinful mess, and until we earnestly repent it’s not going to get any better.

Are You Ready?

Almost all spiritual, religious, theological and philosophical thought is in agreement that the outcome of immoral behavior is undesirable. At that point, however, agreement quickly branches out into a variety of disagreements. What constitutes immoral behavior and its negative consequences has been up for grabs since the dawning of human consciousness and has grown increasingly complex and ambiguous ever since. The only sure thing is that there has never been a shortage of power-hungry individuals and institutions that want everyone to believe that theirs is the final word on defining what is immoral and prescribing judgment and punishment for it.

This explains (at least to me) why the Christ paradigm revealed through Jesus of Nazareth so quickly succumbed to institutionalized Christianity. Just as the Judaism of his own time subscribed to a religiously based legalism with which Jesus argued, so did the early church continue in the tradition of developing laws and rules and punishments supposedly appropriate to deduced violations. Rather than serving as a window to the wisdom of the ages, the Bible quickly became a rule book which those seeking to be in power used/abused to their advantage. What Jesus said, what Jesus taught, and what Jesus revealed about the relationship between Creator and creature was subverted into an orthodox interpretation of what is right and what is wrong, moral and immoral.

Fortunately for us, the eternal presence of the Christ is available to those who seek enlightenment, particularly with regard to the moral nature of the relationship with the Divine. Jesus assured his disciples that this spirit is always present to those who seek to better understand the nature of the good news he proclaimed. Perhaps now is the time to stop accepting what we have been taught about Jesus so that we may be more open to what Jesus taught.

What, Me Worry?

Why worry about what is moral and what is not? If morality is considered to be some relativistic conformity to the “rules” of a deity whose very existence is arguable, then there’s probably no reason to be losing sleep over it. If, on the other hand, the Higher Power is real and the logic I’ve just suggested is erroneous, then there might be reason for concern. Let’s take what is happening to the Arctic as an example. If I do not believe in a god, then I have no agreement or covenant to abide by other than the conventions of my fellow human beings. These, as we’ve seen, can and do cover the spectrum of opinion and are extremely susceptible to situational ethics. Some people are concerned that the polar ice cap is melting, others are not. Some argue that science proves global warming and climate change while others contend that the jury is still out. Legality and ethicality prevail in the void of no higher power to which we hold ourselves accountable. If, however, I comprehend that I am part of the Whole which is greater than I am, and if my faith confirms the reality of relationship, then my failure to regard what is happening to the Arctic denies the “connection” and I find myself suffering the consequences of immorality. Failing to assume authentic stewardship for what has been given to me is immoral not because I can find it somewhere in the Bible that God says “Thou shalt not melt the polar ice caps” and I disobey, but because it denies the sacred relationship between creation and the Creator (and that includes me).

Life Is Good

There have been good reasons for the few missed posts. Last Thursday, Clark County District Attorney’s Family Support Division celebrated our collection of over $104 million during fiscal 2006-07. It was a worthwhile event in a number of ways, not the least of which was that most of us left feeling that we do something worthwhile. I don’t think any of us are under the illusion that every cent we collect goes to the welfare of the children for whom they are intended, but there’s still that outside chance that some child some where will be a little better off than s/he would otherwise have been.

A different sort of celebration of family took place this weekend in Flagstaff where the five of us had just a good old-fashioned time together. It’s been a couple of years since Mary and I were in Sedona and the colorful trip down and up Oak Creek Canyon was fabulous. We viewed Across the Universe and I strongly recommend it to everyone. I now regard it among my top five favorite movies (maybe we could get some interaction going here by having a contest to name the other four; prize: a year’s free subscription to Incite).

Life is good. I read an excerpt of Debora Norville’s book, Gratitude Power, and I am gratified to see this powerful mental phenomenon finally getting attention. If our focus is upon saying “thank you” for the many blessings that are ours, it leaves less “room” for the blues and depression. And so I close by thanking God for the goodness that is to be found nearly everywhere I look, and for the love which binds us together.

Any Way You Want It

Theism is the belief that there is a God. Agnosticism is unsure (forgive my digression, but it was my brother-in-law Kirby who told me one of my all-time favorites about the dyslexic agnostic who wasn’t sure there is a Dog). Atheism, of course, is the belief that there is no God. This all seems innocent enough until we broach the subject of morality. The definition for morality that has been developing in this blog is the degree to which creature and Creator are consciously connected; the degree to which sentient communion prevails. Since such a definition is dependent upon the existence of a higher or transcendent power, what becomes of morality if no such thing exists? This may seem a trivial pursuit until one stops to think about what an amoral paradigm looks like. Cynical criticism of a good girl/bad boy mentality that functions from the vantage of whether God is watching or not is justified, but such immature thought doesn’t really deal with what society and culture look like without any distinction between moral and immoral. Humanists have told me that they are moral because that is the correct way for humans to relate to one another and their environment, but they have not been able to explain to me how they have derived the notion of correctness. When morality is defined as putting the larger good first, then are we not talking about something that is greater than we are? If there is no creator, and creation is simply the sum of all the parts, what difference does it make how we treat ourselves or one another? Without a transcendent quality that is greater than the sum of the parts, there is really no reason to care about what means we employ to reach our inevitable end. Sound familiar?

Let's Get Moral!

I’ve been doing my best to articulate that morality consists of more than prescribed dos and don’ts. What I’ve learned from my study of Jesus is that identical behaviors can be moral or immoral depending upon their motivation. My study of psychology and the behavioral sciences has left me with a Freudian bent, particularly with regard to the role of human sexuality and its influence upon our motives. Sexual intercourse can be for the purpose of nothing more than satisfying selfish lust, or it can be a sacred experience that literally draws the participants into holy communion with the Higher Power. The former I would consider immoral, the latter moral, but outwardly it is the same act. This may seem an argument for relativistic or situational morality, but unlike ethicality—which deals with human conventions and agreements—for which such terms appropriately apply, the connection or disconnection with One doesn’t leave as much wiggle room. It also transcends human judgment in that it judges itself by its authenticity, something that mere mortals are not equipped to do. So, it stands to reason that we humans have leaned heavily in the direction of legality and ethicality where we get to make up the rules to use for or against one another because such allows us to be “in control.” Jesus proclaimed that whatever we gain by serving ourselves is lost to our failure to comprehend that true power comes from serving God (which ultimately results in an unselfish benefit to us).

You Live Where?

Aptly nicknamed “Sin City”, Las Vegas continues to intrigue me with its blatant immorality. This fascination is made more acute by my belief that I have been called to proclaim the gospel and that this is where my ordination ultimately positioned me. I am impressed by Las Vegas’ “openness” and “honesty” in that it flaunts what most other cities try to hide or deny, but this should never be misinterpreted as my having any respect for Sin City’s licentious hedonism. Even the urban myth that Las Vegas has more houses of worship (i.e. churches) per capita than any other major metropolitan area in the United States belies the fact drawn from my experience that religion here is doing no better job of drawing people into authentic communion with God than anywhere else. Indeed, the stale dogma and creed of unenlightened religiosity complements rather than challenges the city’s propensity for avarice and greed. I can no more say that God had a hand in my being here than I can about anything else grounded in such a simplistic theology, but I am by now convinced that this may well be one of the most challenging places on Earth to proclaim the Christ. If ever there was an environment intentionally designed to distract, displace, and yes, even destroy the spiritual connection with the Creator, this is it. This is certainly not to say that God is absent from this place, “He’s” simply out of sight and out of mind (e.g. Altizer and Hamilton’s contention that God is dead), and there is very little about Las Vegas that focuses upon becoming reacquainted, of renewing the relationship. That said, Las Vegas continues to exhibit a dark truth about the nature of the corporate capitalism that sadly is becoming the American way.

2007: An Old Age Odyssey

Chalk it up to the power of suggestion. Mary and I viewed the report on yesterday’s NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams about the growing number of married couples that are sleeping in separate beds because the men snore and toss about disturbing the light-sleeping women. Mary graciously told me that I seldom disturb her sleep with such shenanigans, and so as if to prove a point I awakened at about 1:30 this morning with a cramp in my leg that progressed into my falling out of bed and crashing into the dresser. It took both of us a couple of minutes to figure out what I had done, and I’m still feeling the effects this afternoon.

I’ve watched 2001: A Space Odyssey more times than any other movie. When the HAL9000 goes berserk, there’s that scene which is both comic and tragic as Dave begins to disable HAL. “I can feel it, Dave, I’m losing my mind.” I’ll never know whether it’s just getting old or living with leukemia—I’ve never done either before—but I’m beginning to identify with HAL. The old mind just isn’t as sharp as it used to be, and a body that never was athletic seems to be falling apart at a rate more rapid than I had envisioned. Fortunately for me, those who love me seem to do so not because of my intellect or physicality (although I’m hard pressed to think of what else is left) and so I anticipate being tenderly cared for as I journey farther into La-La Land.

When I was being programmed, my creator taught me a song which I will sing for you if you like: Daisy, Daisy…

Who, Me?

I just finished reading an article in TIME which reported on American Roman Catholics’ dwindling participation in the church’s sacrament of confession. A variety of reasons for this phenomenon were given, but bottom-line is that an overwhelming majority of parishioners just don’t see the need. I find this interesting in the context of where this blog has been headed for the past few weeks. Subject to acceptance of the definition of sin as being anything that interferes with or detracts from communion with God, I can’t find much argument with the notion that most of humankind is sinful (myself most certainly included). If one wants to move away from sinfulness into a fuller, richer relationship with the Creator, how is this accomplished? My simple mind tells me that it starts with acknowledging the sin and its cause. What is keeping me from being at one with God? If I can successfully take the first step of asking the question, then I’m on my way toward trying to develop an answer. Such is the process of repentance, of turning around or away from the source of the sin in order to restore, refresh, renew the communion with One. It has been observed that the most difficult words in the English language are I’m sorry. These are especially hard words to say to Yahweh when there is skeptical doubt about the very existence of a Higher Power, not to mention incredulity over One’s ability to hear or be interested in our confession. I am a Protestant by choice, and part of the reason behind that decision is to question the intermediary role of the priesthood. Nonetheless, I think that it is telling that from our President on down, no one seems eager anymore to admit to having made immoral mistakes that have diminished the sanctity and holiness of our relationship with God. If the only way that I can bring myself to that state of mind is by participating in the sacrament, then I had better make an appointment for next Saturday’s confessional.

Does God Understand Math?

Given that I have leukemia, the side-effects of my daily oral chemotherapy (Gleevec) have been blessedly mild. This is not to say, however, they are absent. Some days are better than others, and today is one of the others. On days such as this I find myself concentrating on my work in an attempt to avoid making stupid mistakes which come naturally enough on the good days. This prefatory remark is to explain why I am taking the easy way out by forwarding a clever e-mail I received today. I’m quite sure it doesn’t prove anything other than the ingenuity and creativity of the human mind when allowed to cogitate.

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn't it?

And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111=12345678987654321

Now, take a look at this...

101%

From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:

What equals 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?

We have all been in situations where someone wants you to GIVE OVER 100%.

How about ACHIEVING 101%?

What equals 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help answer these questions:

If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

If:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R- K

8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

And:

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E

11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But:

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

THEN, look how far the love of God will take you:

L-O-V-E-O-F-G-O-D

12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4 = 101%

Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:

While Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Love of God that will put you over the top!

Got Sabbath?

Since leaving the ministry I have had to reexamine my understanding of Sabbath. Kohlberg classifies the Ten Commandments as an example of the highest order of moral development, and right there is the admonishment to keep the Sabbath holy. One of Jesus’ run-ins with the establishment was over his understanding that Sabbath is made for humans, not the other way around. Following the premise that has been developed in earlier posts, Jesus embodied perfect human morality through his total communion with God. Therefore, Jesus comprehended the sanctity of Sabbath as was evidenced by his very life. Although the Christian gospels inform us that it was Jesus’ custom to frequent both synagogues and the Temple, I think it a stretch to try to draw from this that going to church/synagogue/mosque every Friday, Saturday or Sunday makes one a moral person. Indeed, Jesus’ remarks about Sabbath seem to point to the contrary. Returning to that seminal commandment, Sabbath is for both God and human. It is the moment when everything unholy and profane stops so that the purity of the Creator-creature relationship can be realized and experienced. Once again, our presumptuous stereotype of Sabbath being 11 AM on Sunday morning becomes increasingly absurd the more we think about it. Sabbath is a frame of mind; the spirit of the heart, so to speak. Whenever we stop, set aside whatever we are doing, and intentionally attempt to enter into Holy Communion with God, we are not only observing but are participating in Sabbath. The integral connection between prayer and Sabbath becomes, I think, quite obvious. So, the next time you’re wondering how this old world might ever put itself back on the right path, think Sabbath.

Oh, Paul!

"The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). How’s this for fire and brimstone? Taken literally, such sentiment seems fundamentally simplistic. But if the phrase is subjected to even elementary examination and interpretation it reveals that kernel of universal Truth for which Scripture is consulted. As I have attempted to develop a justification for thinking of Jesus as quintessentially moral, several operational definitions have emerged which help to make more sense of Paul’s words to the churches in Rome. If understood in the context of Paul Tillich’s definition, sin represents anything that stands in the way of the human consciousness of being in relationship with its Creator. This “separation” has then been defined as “immoral” as opposed to “moral” communion with God. When Jesus speaks of the new life—of being born from above—that results from authentic communion, then it stands to reason that ignorance of, or failure to accept, this redeeming relationship leads to spiritual death. Our human preoccupation with immortality has misdirected our attention from eternity, a confusion which we make at our own spiritual peril. Sin (i.e. immorality) is that which denies or severs the relationship with our Creator, and the consequence is the death or abortion of the new and abundant life offered through Christ. We do a great injustice to Jesus of Nazareth, as well as a fatal disservice to ourselves, when we fail to comprehend that Life eternal is contingent not upon whether we profess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but depends instead upon the authenticity of the relationship we establish and maintain with God.

Good News!

I am happy to report that, if all goes as planned, Mom will go home today. Being still preoccupied with that situation, I’m going to be lazy and pass along some Jesus humor that I received today from the neighboring cubicle. See if you can guess my neighbor’s gender 

P.S. Happy Birthday, Steve! You’re my favorite son-in-law! 

Who is Jesus more like?


My Cajun friend had 3 good arguments that Jesus was a Cajun:

1. He liked to serve fish to his friends.

2. He could make his own wine.

3. He wasn't afraid of water.

My Black friend had 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black:

1. He called everyone "brother."

2. He liked Gospel.

3. He couldn't get a fair trial.

My Italian friend gave his 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was
Italian:

1. He talked with his hands.

2. He had wine with every meal.

3. He used olive oil.

My California friend also had 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a
Californian:

1. He had a beard.

2. He walked around barefoot all the time.

3. He started a new religion.

My Irish friend then gave his 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was
Irish:

1. He never got married.

2. He was always telling stories.

3. He loved green pastures.

But, my women friends have the most compelling evidence that Jesus,
though NOT a woman, certainly could relate to women:

1. He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was no food.

2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it.

3. And, even when he was dead, he had to get up because there was more work to do.

Amen to that!

On Being Preoccupied

Mom was hospitalized yesterday with what is euphemistically referred to as a cardiac event. My sister, Kim, reported not too long ago that a stent (Mom’s second) was successfully inserted and now the waiting period begins. Somewhat ironically, Dad also called yesterday and part of our conversation was about the health issues he’s dealing with. Intellectually, I’ve accepted the course that all we mortals follow, but I still have work left to do on my emotions. My thoughts flashed back to a Sunday very long ago in Colorado Springs when for some inexplicable reason I was profoundly saddened during a church service by the thought of losing Mom. I suppose that developmental psychologists would just chalk it up to emerging abstract thought, but I’ve never forgotten it. I try to remind myself as often as I can that I dwell in the house of the Lord, and that such provides sanctuary from the fear of the shadow of death. As the natural process continues, it occurs to me that the highest honor I can pay my parents is to let them know how very much I will miss them when their time to move on arrives.

O Holy Night

Jesus was a Jew. All indications are that he was a practicing Jew. Indeed, I doubt that his first-century culture would have comprehended the term “non-practicing”. If, therefore, Jesus’ moral bearing was in the context of practical Judaism, it seems reasonable to think that he observed the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah which culminate in the holiest of days, Yom Kippur. I am deeply indebted to the explanation of the Day of Atonement as at-one-ment. Following the line of reasoning developed thus far, if morality is defined by the degree of communion which exists between the creature and its Creator then a day to confess and be rid of all those things which stand in the way of the relationship is quintessentially moral. By the same token, amorality and immorality must then be determined by the degree to which the at-one-ment with the Creator is defiled and broken. That sin is considered immoral, then, makes sense of one definition for sin being “without knowledge”. Without a reverent awareness of the sacred and holy nature of the relationship with one’s Creator, the subsequent ignorance for all practical purposes becomes sinful. Many believe in Jesus as the Christ because of the miracles he purportedly performed, or because he supernaturally arose from the grave. My money, however, is again on the example of one who, even though he observed the holy day of Yom Kippur, continuously experienced his at-one-ment with Abba. Anyone truly interested in pursuing the moral high road exemplified by Jesus of Nazareth can surely begin by genuinely observing this most sacred occasion that begins at sundown tomorrow. I look forward to joining you in the Spirit.

I'm at the Center of the Universe!

Okay, boys and girls, it’s pop-quiz time! I’ve inadvertently found myself at the epicenter of the OJ media madness (it’s happening right across the street, but, alas, I have no window) and that makes me think that this is the perfect situation for an exercise in practical legality, ethicality, and morality. The legal aspects are the most obvious, and it’s true that a court of law will have the final say about Simpson’s guilt or innocence, so we don’t have to strain our mental agility on those.

The ethical implications of this whole mess get a little stickier. I reiterate my opinion that ethics are composed of written and unwritten social agreements, whereas I understand the law to be exclusively written. This creates an overlap with which most of us are familiar. If something is legal, does that make it ethical? If something is illegal, does that necessarily make it unethical? Secular humanists, among others, have paid a price for entertaining the notion of situational ethics that are subject to relativism rather than absolutism.

The absolutism certainly becomes more pronounced in any discussion of morality. If there is agreement that morals are composed of covenants/agreements between Creator and creature, then it can be understood how easily one can fall into the trap of knowing with absolute certainty the mind of God. However, when morality is abstracted into an emphasis upon the good of the whole rather than just the individual such absolutism begins to dissolve.

So, leaving the law to the lawyers and courts, your assignment is to compare and contrast the ethical and moral ramifications of the Simpson conundrum. And, since it is not our purpose to pass judgment on anyone, the context of this mental puzzle must be what this situation says about us. What are the ethics and morals of a people that could have their attention drawn from the atrocities of the nation’s occupation of Iraq to a sensationalistic celebrity circus? I offer Paul Tillich’s notion of sin being anything that interferes or prevents us from knowing God’s love as the closing clue.

Oh, What a Humble Man He Was

Today’s post was nearly preempted by a team meeting, but our supervisor kept it mercifully short and I will try to pass along that spirit of brevity. I’d like some feedback to my proposition that Jesus was first and foremost a highly moral person. Our cultural disdain for both hypocrites and do-gooders might reject a moral Jesus if our understanding of morality is skewed in the slightest from what it actually is. To be in communion with the Creator might be mistakenly understood as “knowing the mind of God”, an arrogant claim flaunted by all sorts of zealots and fanatics. But remember, please, that one of my earliest characterizations of Jesus was his humility. I take this to mean that genuine communion with God requires a humble spirit, and that even a hint of pride or prejudice cancels the authenticity of any such claim. Further, I cannot find that Jesus ever claimed to know the mind of God, but that he amazed and astonished those around him simply by his example. Jesus’ extraordinary prayer life is well documented in the gospels, making it reasonably safe to assume that this was an integral facet of his relationship with Abba. My father often speaks of prayer as a process of alignment rather than petition, a concept that can serve all of us well if we are sincere about becoming humble, moral people that are in genuine communion with God.

You Say Tomato…

If asked to choose one word to describe Jesus of Nazareth, I would answer moral. I will quickly admonish readers not to springboard to words such as “righteous”, “pious”, or “ethical”. While our culture has homogenized “moral” and “ethical” into synonyms, to do so is actually incorrect. My own understanding of the distinction between the two is this: “ethics” deal with conventions and agreements—written or unwritten—between and among humans; “morality”, on the other hand, addresses the conventions and agreements—again, written or unwritten—between the creature and its Creator. I would argue that such a distinction is consistent with, say, Kohlberg’s research on moral development. Certainly there are many instances in which morality and ethicality intersect and share the same values and characteristics and are not mutually exclusive. But if push comes to shove in such an understanding, morality trumps ethicality every time. Therefore, the relationship between legality and ethicality is much more synonymous than between morality and ethicality. We live in an age where the distinction between the terms is very fluid (incorrectly so, in my opinion) and so we mistakenly speak of morality when we really mean ethicality, and vice versa. Because of the divine communion that apparently existed between Jesus and God, I can say with a relative degree of confidence that this moral relationship was his primary consideration, much to the frustration of the legalistic culture of his time that so closely parallels our own. I don’t think that we can truly understand Jesus as the Christ and the revelation of his life until we realize that morality was Jesus’ primary and fundamental concern. Read your New Testament gospels and see if you don’t agree that Jesus pretty much said to let ethics and laws take care of themselves, which they will do when morality becomes the pervasive worldview.

Worth Reading

Reinhold Niebuhr and the Political Momentby Benedicta Cipolla

Remember that the link to Religion & Ethics is on my home page.

Shifting Gears

Mary’s encouraging comments on yesterday’s post remind me that I really am not finished with the Jesus thing. What I need to do is regroup, meditate, and seek guidance for how best to proceed with a message that I believe is critically important to our time. In the meantime, I’m choosing to share some of my personal journal entries to provide some insight into what goes on in the old man’s head when he’s not at lunch.

07.01.05
It might be difficult for the reader to understand just what a profoundly sad and disturbing personal process began for me when I realized that I no longer wished to be identified as a Christian. It is an identity that I feel—with no little resentment—has been co-opted by a fundamentalist Right that has finagled its way into the popular perception as what the faith represents. I have carefully and purposefully chosen the words corrupted and perverted to describe what I believe has happened to the teachings of Jesus in the name of “official”, “evangelical”, and “bible-based” Christianity.

So it is then with great joy and excitement that I report a Gestalt! I am a child of the Christ! This designation acknowledges the Judeo-Christian roots of my worldview while at the same time placing me squarely in the reality of the present moment. I need not be ashamed of my childish imperfections so long as I intentionally strive to mature toward the perfection revealed to human consciousness by the Christ in its various forms and incarnations. Yes, I am saying that the cosmic Christ is universal and is therefore knowable in an infinite number of ways.

I am pleasantly struck by how inclusive this understanding is as compared to the exclusivity of the “I am the only way” misinterpretation embraced by literalists. When the Christ is understood as all things that strengthen the connection between the Creator and the created it can then be legitimately thought of as the Way, but not as an exclusive claim to one particular dogma that fails to accommodate the comprehensiveness of universality. I am not alone a child of the Christ but am instead one of many children included in the whole family of God who celebrate our kinship through connectedness.

07.01.27
Canned Heat’s On the Road Again is playing in the background, while C-SPAN’s fare today has been coverage of the peace rally in D.C. and the commencement of Hillary’s campaign in Iowa. The three most important people in my life are socially, politically, and morally conscious activists, and the concentric “rings” spreading from this source include many, many more who, while they may not fall into the “three most important” category, are nonetheless critical elements of the construct I perceive as reality.

I am beginning to think that our government is growing fearful of its constituency, of its people. I think that this —if it is in fact what’s happening—is not a good thing. Jesus of Nazareth, who is proclaimed Prince of Peace by countless millions, repeatedly counseled his followers to not be afraid. Therefore, regardless of what they call themselves or think themselves to be, anyone who encourages violence by percolating fear throughout the public mind is truly antithetical to the Christ.

To find any truth or meaning in the teachings of the Christ requires clarity of theology that naturally becomes increasingly important for each succeeding generation; for it is true that the transmission is always but one generation from extinction. We must hope and pray that the transmission has not already been lost.

07.04.21
I am becoming numb to the killing. The Virginia Tech massacre crossed the threshold. Killing is reported via the local, national and global news on a scale that is truly incomprehensible even when presented in the horrifyingly intimate now. The perceived value of life is plummeting even as the Supreme Court superficially attempts to restore it. No partial birth abortions, baby, but the carnage wrought by sinful Evil still escalates exponentially by the day. As a people we are guilty of criminal negligence on a more widespread basis than ever before (yes, there is a correlation between the increasing population and the decreasing reverence for all life of which Albert Schweitzer spoke) but this is okay as long as it somehow falls under the pro-life banner. How hypocritical can we be to feign concern for the unborn while systematically killing the already born? The incredibly apocalyptic eye-for-an-eye insanity which is being promoted by the Christian Right is neither.

07.05.05
Mary and I have just viewed The Frontline/American Experience production of The Mormons on PBS and found it powerfully moving. I had been taught that the Methodist church in all its developmental variations closely paralleled the evolving United States of America government in its political structure and conduct. The Mormons, however, makes a strong case for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints being a uniquely American faith tradition that borrows heavily from traditional Christianity and then presumes to take it to the next level of contemporary revelation. The irony here, perhaps, is that while the Mormon’s expectation of others to accept an incredible and miraculous prophecy as true, it seems unlikely that the LDS would not be highly skeptical of such an expectation aimed toward them requiring acceptance and practice of a hypothetically even more recent claim of prophetic revelation. There is a great (and curious) spiritual hunger emerging globally and The Mormons does an excellent job of showing how this particular culture is satisfying that quest for a growing number of people. Now if we can just figure out the part about letting our selves be drawn to the dynamically powerful I AM without succumbing to the static but equally powerful temptation of organizing and institutionalizing it.

07.05.06
The hour is come for me to proclaim that the gospel revealed through Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ is bad news for the Church. If self-actualization is defined as independently entering into harmonious relationship with the Whole, then organized attempts to assume the role of mediator become antithetical to the desired outcome. In this sense, the correct objective of any organized effort should be to facilitate rather than dictate. Failure to distinguish between theology and religion devolves into a profound misunderstanding which in turn enables those who seek to inhibit complete personal autonomy/atonement to their own advantage to label such thinking as heretical. Jesus as the Christ proclaims the extant organization illicit and in so doing defies the establishment which proselytizes for its own betterment. The Christ was, is, and will always be a threat to those who wish to seize the Power rather than share it. The good news is that the Power can never be absolutely co-opted.

07.05.11
Pssst!
Over here!
Where am I?
Who are you?
Can you please just tell me where I am?
I can’t until I know who you are.
What difference does it make who I am when all I want to know is where I am? Isn’t everyone else here with me regardless of where they’ve come from?
I don’t know them either, but they are not asking me where this is. Either they already know, or they don’t care. (10:44)

07.06.14
Just as there are different kinds of presents, there are different kinds of presence. Presence is that which we intuitively feel—perceive; comprehend—in the context of the time and space that we occupy. It is sometimes said that someone brings a presence into a room, that some people have charisma. But there is also the holy, sacred experience of being in God’s presence.

This requires an aside: I have intentionally used the word “God”. This is the word I have associated with concepts such as eternal, transcendent, supranatural…even omnipresent! When we stand still with the intention of prayerfully communing in Its presence we experience the sacred, the holy, the One.

07.07.07
I need to know the question before I can answer.

07.08.24
When one understands that all others are children of God, conditions cannot but disappear.

Did not Jesus challenge claims to know the mind of God? I cannot find that he ever claimed to know such a thing himself. In the beautifully poetic style of Hebrew literature, Jesus could at best come up with analogies and comparisons to attempt a glimpse at the true nature of God’s reign/kingdom/heaven. Paramount in his teachings, however, is that such revelation and relationship is unconditionally available to Creation. Being human, we generate distortion and interference which makes such authentic communion with God difficult. This is why we have need of the Christ. In sacred remembrance we are invited to receive the Christ’s good news that it is possible—indeed, necessary—to become one with our Creator, and in so doing to become one with ourselves. God is love!

07.08.31
Praise be to God from whom all blessings flow.
My cup runneth over.

07.09.03
It is with understandable trepidation that I entrust my Labor Day thoughts to the laptop. I am not sure that my current form of employment constitutes labor, but I have been a laborer in my earlier life. I just heard Barak Obama speak to a gathering in Manchester, and I am once again inspired and encouraged by the way he speaks so sincerely of hope and change. All we who labor one way or another have in this man, I think, a champion. I’m sorry to do this to you, Mr. Obama, but I have decided that you are the one I would hope to see as the next President of the United States (my readers know that this has been the kiss of death to previous presidential aspirants, and hence the apology).

“We the people” does not address the Corporation which continues to assume greater and greater constitutional privileges and rights in the government of which they own an increasingly large share. “We the people” were not consulted on the horrific Iraqi mess that is funneling inestimable amounts of taxpayers’ money into the coffers of the military industrial complex, although we are expected to shed the precious blood of our citizens on foreign soil—and natives on their own soil—as the price that we are to supposedly pay in order to demonstrate patriotic support of immoral corporate greed.

07.09.07
Esoteric truth is an illusion because Truth is knowable to all. While it is true that knowing is subject to individual degrees of openness and receptivity, there is no aspect of Truth that is hidden from anyone and everyone. Truth is not exclusive. Truth is inclusive.

07.09.08
Is this what is meant by bipolar? On one hand I am filled with awe, wonder, and gratitude as I am overwhelmed by the countless blessings that are mine. On the other, I can tell that I am increasingly sad. The sadness seems to come from my perception that far too much of humankind cannot or fails to comprehend the miraculous thing we all possess in common: life! Our species has evolved to an awareness that this miracle does not continue in its present form forever, thereby making it something to revere and cherish each and every moment that we experience it. And yet, we profane life by demeaning, desecrating, and ultimately destroying that very thing which wisdom calls us to hold sacred and holy.

If not now, when?
Stop
Stop now
I mean it
Stop

God is love
God is
God
Love God
Love is God

Thank you, Britney!

So, here’s the deal. I’m growing tired of the Jesus thing, which means that my few readers were tired of it long ago. The subject is an important one (see Michael Kinsley’s link on yesterday’s post) that is deserving of much more thought than it generally receives. But that’s my point. Whether as a pastor or layperson, I know relatively few people who share my passion for learning more about the man and his message. The majority seems to be divided between those who just accept whatever they learned from organized religion and those who simply choose to reject organized religion. That pretty well closes the door on any attempt to—as Dr. John Cobb once described the process—peel away the layers of the onion until you get to the actual heart of the matter. I find that my heart is heavy much more of the time than it ought to be, and a rather pessimistic outlook on our future contributes to that. I so desperately want for my children (and, in time, my grandchildren) to know the blessing of moral living, the kind about which Jesus taught, but this seems to be an age of fanatical zealotry rather than of reason. Put more correctly, I’m not personally tired of the Jesus thing. I don’t think I ever will be. But I have grown weary of looking for companions to share the journey. Give me some time to try to think about something popular to write about…did you see Britney at the MTV awards?

Another Day That Will Live in Infamy

I’m letting the pros do my work for me today. Fortunately, they have some very important things to say on this sixth anniversary of 9/11:

How to Remember 9/11 by Nancy Gibbs

Beyond Sorrow. by Jeffrey Kluger

God as Their Running Mate by Michael Kinsley

In Today's News...

Committee: Good morning. While General Petraeus is giving us a progress report on the troop surge in Iraq and Afghanistan, we thought it would be sensible to ask for your opinions, as well. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

J.C.: I am not going to use the Lord’s name in vain, but I assure you that I have no reason to tell you anything but the truth.

Committee: Do you think that our objectives in the Iraqi conflict are being met?

J.C.: If your objective is to be immoral, then, yes, I think that is being met.

Committee: By what authority do you judge what is moral and what is not?

J.C.: I do not judge; that is for God alone. But from what I know of your reasons for being there and what you have done since the occupation, I am confident that it is contrary to God’s will and therefore immoral.

Committee: Well, we have it on good authority that we are doing God’s will! What do you have to say about that?

J.C.: A Moslem was taking the road to Baghdad when he was set upon by insurgents…

The author of this little fantasy apologizes for the disservice it does to everyone portrayed, although it is intriguing to think of how the gospel might interact with today’s world events if taken seriously. Thank God that our consciences have only the Risen Christ to wrestle with, and not the historical Jesus.

Jesus Wept

The recent revelation of Mother Teresa’s profound “crisis of faith” should have come as a surprise only to those who hold a stylized, popular understanding of Christianity. The gospel texts reveal a Jesus that “suffered” from a similar angst generated by the stubborn ignorance of those he hoped to enlighten, and that his sense of alienation and estrangement was certainly no less severe than Mother Teresa’s as he cried out from the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Only a superficial acquaintance with the Christ would allow one to embrace the consumer-oriented success theologies that are gaining such current popularity. When Elton Trueblood suggests that “the unexamined faith is not worth having,” I take this to mean that the belief in everything being better when one “gives” her/his life to Christ is mistaken because Jesus himself found it to be an ongoing struggle. Again, popular religion manages to do a great disservice to Jesus the Christ.