A 20-Year Memory: The End of a Wall

Robert Frost knew that there is something that doesn't love a wall. That was as true for a government sanctioned wall as it was for one in a New England field.

(pmPilgrim Photo; August 1970)

It was twenty years ago this week that the Berlin Wall came down. A fact of life in Berlin for over 28 years and a symbol of the deep divide we knew as the Cold War, it seemed like a permanent fixture. We should have known better, of course, since history is not static and things change. But it was an image deeply embedded in our consciousness.


(pmPilgrim Photo; August 1970)

I spent the summer of 1970 in Austria and Germany. There was no way that I wouldn't go to Berlin. There is was. The Wall. There were places along the wall where you could get relatively close to it. I gather it became more formidable and seemingly stronger over the years. But even in 1970, nine years into its existence, it was still chilling.

(pmPilgrim Photo; August 1970)

Above is the American Checkpoint into East Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie. The Wall is on the far side of the checkpoint where there was an East German checkpoint as well.


John Kennedy visited and later gave his famous
"Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.




Ronald Regan visited and gave his famous call:
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."





But 20 years ago the world shifted. The Soviets were "suddenly bankrupt." Communism was discovered to be a failure in Eastern Europe where it had held such apparent power. We discovered that the Wall was a facade hiding pain and sorrow behind its brick, concrete, and mortar.

(Kennedy, Reagan, and student pictures from Wikipedia.)

I wasn't there in 1989 when it came down. A friend later brought me some pieces of the Wall to keep as a memento. The power of East European dictatorship crumbled and placed in thousands of containers to be remembered and no longer feared.

History should tell us that nothing is permanent. Even what we see as impossibly planted may one day, sooner or later, change. It may all be broken up and placed in containers for future generations to ponder as the living generation tries to understand it.

An important lesson.

Wikipedia on The Berlin Wall

Monday Morning Quarterbacking: No Comparison

Even in an ugly loss, Aaron Rodgers (our Double A-Rod) had more of everything than the Vikings Starting QB. Oh, that's right- the Vikings were off this week.

But the Pack is in trouble. There are tough games ahead and have obviously not solved their problems. So it goes for another week.

Check Your Maps

Since there is no comparison this week for the Vikings Starting QB, let it not be said that I would entirely ignore him. After all, we have to keep the hype going. So here, a correction from the LA Times:

FOR THE RECORD:
In an NFL column in Monday's Sports section, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre [sic] was quoted as saying, "It didn't seem weird until I got in near the pier," talking about his return to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. What he said was, "It didn't seem weird until I got in near De Pere," which is a town between Appleton and Green Bay.
- Link

Thanks to Regret the Error.

The Jesus Prayer

Back in July, Maggie Dawn posted as good a set of "instructions" for the Jesus Prayer that I have seen. They are simple, positive, and hopeful. They come from a blog by Kelvin Wright called, Available Light that seeks to follow a spiritual path of discipline. Since I have often found the Jesus Prayer a good practice, I thought I would pick it up from Kelvin through Maggie to you. Sometimes the path of a postModern Pilgrim goes through times and places that were more like today- but were in the pre-modern. Thus, the Jesus Prayer.

Sit somewhere where you are comfortable enough not to move for the duration of your intended meditation. Try and keep your back straight. Close your eyes. As far as you can, try to relax every part of your body; be especially aware of contracted muscles in the face, shoulders and neck. Silently repeat the phrase Lord Jesus Christ Son of the Living God Have mercy on me a sinner. If that seems too long, shorten it. Try just the first 8 words. Or even, just a couple of selected words: Lord...mercy... Repeat the words slowly giving equal weight to each word. I find it helpful to pace the words with my breath. Don't go theologising or thinking or trying to feel the presence of God. Don't worry that you suddenly remember that the washing machine needs turning on or the cat needs combing; it can wait. Don't get all excited by any mental pictures or "profound" thoughts that might burble up from the unconscious: that's just your brain having a dose of gas and it doesn't actually mean anything. If it really is a message from God, he knows your number and he'll get back to you later. If your mind wanders off, it's no big deal. Just pick up your phrase again and continue repeating it. Do this for a reasonable period; 10 minutes would be a good start for a newbie, but 20 would be better. Do it a couple of times a day. Do that every day for a week. See what happens. You might be surprised.

Elie Wiesel Speaks

Andrew Sullivan last evening posted a tweet from Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Holocaust survivor, and voice for a lost generation:

Withdrawal...

No more Cracker Jacks, let alone peanuts.

The Metrodome is only for football.

It doesn't look like this T-Shirt is true. Maybe Jesus doesn't hate the Yankees.

The Yankees are Champs. Again. For the 27th time.

I know it is free enterprise and all that- and I am not being a sore loser (for either the Twins or the Phillies)- but such a baseball machine as the Yankees are is difficult to watch. As someone commented - it is like having a year-round All-Star team. When they click, as they did the past month, there is no beating them.

Actually I am glad for Matsui and his remarkable MVP play. I am also awed by C. C. Sabathia and Mariano Rivera and their spectacular pitching. Jeter's OK, and I'm not sure how I feel about Damon, Teixiera and Posada. A-Rod is just odd.

Anyway, the season is over. There are still some award announcements coming. But it is into baseball hibernation we go. At least I still have the Packers.

I Guess I Was Right

I was surfing around my old files earlier today and came across some of the old posts here on Wanderings. Back in October, 2005, right as the White Sox were breaking their curse, I reflected on heroes. I said at that point that we need to have "real" heroes, not the easy way we throw around the term. In that post I referenced the "hero" of the game the day before who hit a home run in the 14th inning to win it. I said that in 50 years no one would remember him.

I was a little far off. It's only four years later and I didn't remember him. Hey, I hardly remembered the game.

Rosa Parks, who started the Montgomery Bus Boycott by refusing to move to the back of the bus, had just died. She was- and remains- a hero.

Here's what I wrote then:

A Little About Heroes
I said the other day that Rosa Parks was one of my "heroes." As I thought more about that yesterday I realized how easily we can use that term- and how few people really deserve it. Geoff Blum was the "hero" of yesterday's World Series game with a home run in the 14th inning. But in October, 2055, will anyone remember without looking it up in a record book?

Yet when Rosa Parks died just shy of 50 years since she didn't give up her seat, the headlines didn't need to send you to some obscure record book to find out what she might have done in 1955. Nor did anyone wonder who that Baptist preacher named Martin Luther King, Jr. was.

For me that's one possible angle on being a hero. There's a lasting impact. Another is that the world has changed in some way as a result. It can be in BIG ways like Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela. It can also be the unsung heroes of 9/11 who were willing to give up their own lives for the sake of others.

Or it can be the everyday people who change our individual worlds. It can be the family who invited me to church over 40 years ago that led me into the Christian faith and ministry. My world was never the same, thank God.

All this brings me to realize that I need to be cautious about how I use a word like hero. I don't want it to lose its power and importance. I want to be able to say what I say and have it mean something.

Tis the Season

Already.

I am at my favorite Caribou Coffee shop. And Seasonal music is in the mix.

At least it's after Halloween.

Reality

Alcohol the Real Date-Rape Drug, Study Says
Join Together Online October 29, 2009

Research Summary

Women who have lost control or consciousness due to excessive drinking have fueled what British researchers have termed the "urban legend" of drinks being spiked with so-called "date-rape" drugs, according to a new study.

The Telegraph reported Oct. 27 that Kent University researchers who studied 200 students found that many blamed their incapacitation on alleged spiking of drinks with drugs like Rohypnol or GHB when, in fact, they had drank to excess. Researchers concluded that many drinkers were in denial about their level of alcohol use and its debilitating effects.

See the full article at: http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2009/alcohol-the-real-date-rape.html

Neat!

Came across this on Yahoo! News today from the AP. What a really good idea.

Thank You, MLB, and World Vision for having a simple, yet important vision.

Each fall and winter for the last three years, World Vision has sent to the impoverished around the world thousands of team championship caps, jerseys and T-shirts produced before the World Series and Super Bowl and then rendered unusable for marketing in the United States when teams don't win the title.

Early Ending Too Late

Well, the baseball season is over. Don't get me wrong. I love baseball. It is the great American sport for me. But you know, when it ends after Halloween, TV revenue has taken over.

In any case, I thought I would do a quote post today from some of the great Quotables in the land of baseball.

Casey Stengel

"There comes a time in every man's life and I've had many of them."

"Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa."

"Can't anybody here play this game?"

"Don't cut my throat, I may want to do that later myself."

"Son, we'd like to keep you around this season but we're going to try and win a pennant."

Yogi Berra

"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going because you might not get there."

"We made too many wrong mistakes."

"It gets late early out there."

"I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."

"I don't know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads."

"If people don't want to come out to the ballpark, how are you going to stop them?"

Bob Uecker

"I didn't get a lot of awards as a player. But they did have a Bob Uecker Day Off for me once in Philly."

"I signed with the Milwaukee Braves for three-thousand dollars. That bothered my dad at the time because he didn't have that kind of dough. But he eventually scraped it up."

"One time, I got pulled over at four a.m. I was fined seventy-five dollars for being intoxicated and four-hundred for being with the Phillies."Source: Widely Attributed

"People don't know this but I helped the Cardinals win the pennant. I came down with hepatitis. The trainer injected me with it."

Mike Schmidt

"Philadelphia is the only city, where you can experience the thrill of victory and the agony of reading about it the next day."

"Any time you think you have the game conquered, the game will turn around and punch you right in the nose."

Satchel Paige

"Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter."

"Ain't no man can avoid being born average, but there ain't no man got to be common."

"I don't generally like running. I believe in training by rising gently up and down from the bench."

"Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching."

Wonder What This Will Be Like

I have been entranced by the ads during the World Series for the new movie from James Cameron, Avatar. I don't know much about it, but it has an interesting look to it. Time will tell. Is James Cameron still the King of the World?

Link

When the Urgent Sets the Agenda

Management/Business guru Seth Godin had another of his amazingly insightful posts a couple weeks ago. Specifically it was about the problem with cable news (of all political persuasions!) Here are a few of them:

1. Focus on the urgent instead of the important.
4. Unwillingness to reverse course and change one's mind.
8. Top down messaging encourages an echo chamber (agree with this edict or change the channel).
12. Unwillingness to review past mistakes in light of history and use those to do better next time.

Now, lest we think this only applies to news organizations like (both) MSNBC and Fox, Seth concludes:

If I wanted to hobble an organization or even a country, I'd wish these twelve traits on them. I wonder if this sounds like the last board meeting you went to...

It reminded me of a situation I heard of last week in another area where the "urgent" became the "important" with no sense of history, mistakes, or new ways of seeing things. From top down comes the edict where those who know the best can give the only right answer. Fear plays a huge part in this that Godin doesn't directly address but is implicit. The more fear we are given the more likely we will go along with it. We feel, and therefore act, as if we have no choice.

It is so easy to be sucked into the almost tornadic cycle that prevents change and instead ends up circling the wagons. It is sad for the organization; it is even sadder for those caught up in its impersonal result.

Conducting Yourself and Others

From TED Talks is this impressive presentation from Itay Talgam, Israeli conductor, who has shifted his emphasis to teaching others how conducting skills can be applied to business. His examples from great conductors may remind you of people you have known, or yourself in certain times or places. Stick with it to the end and you will be moved and richly rewarded with the power of no words and simple actions.

Overheard in Recovery: Tears and Wounds

From the Daily Reading on Thursday in a women's meditation book:

My tears can heal and
the wounded are everywhere.

Reminded me of the classic and ministry changing work of Henri Nouwen in The Wounded Healer. It has been around for over 40 years now and has not lost an ounce of its power. Being a wounded healer is the secret of the 12-Step movement. It is the way that the best ministers and counselors and therapists do what they do whether they verbalize it or now.

Do not be afraid of your tears. They will bring healing to you and others.

From Nouwen:

“When we become aware that we do not have to escape our pains, but that we can mobilize them into a common search for life, those very pains are transformed from expressions of despair into signs of hope”

Monday Morning Quarterbacking: An Odd Game

First it was the Vikings.

Then the Packers made a comeback.

First the Vikings' Starting Quarterback looked good, as did the Vikings defense. At the same time the Packers were falling prey to penalties and sacks. The announcers kept saying that the Packers had only looked good in previous games because they weren't playing anyone who could really beat them. (Yes, some truth in that.)

Then the 2nd half and Rodgers and the Pack looked like the team they really are. The Pack defense came alive and it went from a blowout to a football game.

In the end it was the disastrous first half for the Packers that gave the Vikings the edge. No doubt that the Vikings Starting QB is at the top of his present form. He continues to show the power that has made him such a presence even at age 40. In the end, the two QBs again were relatively even. The difference was in the teams. And the Vikings are a better team overall.

As a Packer fan, though, it was disappointing to watch.

All Saints' Day

There are people who find cemeteries uncomfortable. I am not one of those. They are hallowed ground, the locations of memory and grace and hope and sadness and grief. When we go to a cemetery we go to the place of the Saints. It is not a morbid fascination, nor is it a worship of the ancestors. But to visit the resting place of the ancestors can be a moving and spiritual experience.

In the early Moravian tradition in this country in Bethlehem, PA (above) and other places, all grave markers were flat. Every person, in death was equal with every other person. That later changed when some wanted to have more elaborate monuments than stones flat on the ground. Since these usually were people with more money and therefore "pull" the tradition passed. But not before leaving us with a special and faithful legacy.

In addition, families were also not buried together. The cemetery had different sections for men, women, and children. They were buried in the order of their deaths in the appropriate section. The picture above is of one of the places I find special and holy. Whenever I get to Bethlehem, PA, and can break away for even a short time I go to the old Moravian Cemetery and stop by this northwest corner of the graves.

On the left is the grave of Bishop Cammerhoff, one of the youngest bishops of the church. He died in his mid-30s. On the right is the grave of "John" a Mohican whose native name was Tschoop. Tschoop was the model for James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans. In that early Moravian equality these two very different individuals are buried in equality, the equality of the saints in glory. On the other side of the Bishop is David Nitschmann, founder of the city of Bethlehem, and after John are other of his people.

This is for me the power of All Saints' Day. It is the power of life redeemed and an essential equality that no one should ever take away from us. Recent studies in science and genetics has shown that there is no such thing as different races. The major differences in genetic makeup are between individuals regardless of "race" or "ethnicity" than between different "races." All Saints' Day and my Moravian theological heritage keeps me aware of that at its very deepest level.

But All Saints' is also a day of remembrance. Which is why is Latino cultures, for example, the care given to graves at this time is so important. One of the great hymns of the church speaks to this which reminds me- and I hope all- that we are not the first nor last of the company of the Saints. We are simply the present caretakers.

Ten thousand times ten thousand in sparkling raiment bright,
The armies of the ransomed saints throng up the steeps of light;
’Tis finished, all is finished, their fight with death and sin;
Fling open wide the golden gates, and let the victors in.

What rush of alleluias fills all the earth and sky!
What ringing of a thousand harps bespeaks the triumph nigh!
O day, for which creation and all its tribes were made;
O joy, for all its former woes a thousandfold repaid!

O then what raptured greetings on Canaan’s happy shore;
What knitting severed friendships up, where partings are no more!
Then eyes with joy shall sparkle, that brimmed with tears of late;
Orphans no longer fatherless, nor widows desolate.

Bring near Thy great salvation, Thou Lamb for sinners slain;
Fill up the roll of Thine elect, then take Thy power, and reign;
Appear, Desire of nations, Thine exiles long for home;
Show in the heaven Thy promised sign; Thou Prince and Savior, come.

You Can't Take It- But You Can Earn It

Since it is The Day of the Dead, I thought I would pass on the report from Forbes Magazine last week about the top earning dead celebrities.

Surprisingly, it is neither Michael Jackson nor Elvis.

It is Yves St. Laurent. Fashion wins out.

So does musical theater as the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein is #2.

Michael Jackson is #3 with his one-time father-in-law, Elvis Presley at #4.

Then you have

• Lord of the Rings author, J.R.R. Tolkien
• Peanuts creator, Charles Schulz
• Beatle John Lennon
• Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss
• Albert Einstein (that's a surprise) and
• author Michael Crichton.

From Ghoulies and .... Warnings

Over at Boing Boing Cory posts a passage from Lenore Skenazy at the Huffington Post about the true dangers of Halloween.

It's not that I'm cavalier about safety. I'm just a sucker -- so to speak -- for the facts. And the fact is: No child has been poisoned by a stranger's goodies on Halloween, ever, as far as we can determine. Joel Best, a sociology professor at the University of Delaware, studied November newspapers from 1958 to the present, scouring them for any accounts of kids felled by felonious candy. And...he didn't find any. He did find one account of a boy poisoned by a Pixie Stix his father gave him. Dad did it for the insurance money and, Best says, he probably figured that so many kids are poisoned on Halloween, no one would notice one more...

There are of course, real dangers out there in the world. Crazed politicians comes to mind. Drunk drivers also pops up.

Oh well. Happy Halloween, I guess.

This is Lance

Earlier this year, the Illegal Advertising Website posted a Lance Armstrong/Nike ad with his Livestrong theme. I thought I would post it this week after commenting on Lance's becoming a spokesperson for Michelob.

This is who I think of when I think of Lance.

Living Down to Expectations

Two news items in the past week:

Study: Parents' Expectations Can Influence Risky Teen Behavior
Join Together Online www.jointogether.org October 22, 2009

Research Summary

The more parents expect their teens to engage in risky behaviors such as drinking and using drugs, the more likely their teens are to follow through with those behaviors, Reuters reported Oct. 16.

Researchers found that adolescents with mothers who expected them to be more rebellious and take greater risks reported higher levels of risky behavior than other adolescents during follow-up surveys.

On the other hand, parents may lower the rate of risky behavior among their adolescent children by expecting that they can resist negative peer pressure and instead engage in positive behavior, according to the study.

See the full article at: http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2009/study-parents-expectations.html

Makes sense- if you expect that they will do it, they will. It is not surprising then that (anecdotally) so many parents who get in trouble for drinking will often have parents who say, "Well, teenagers will be teenagers." This is different from a certain sense of reality that many young people may try alcohol or drugs, but with the right support and guidance that may not turn into something stronger. The influence of parents remains the #1 prevention tool.

The other item says the same thing from a different place- the college campus.

Party Colleges Do Little to Curb Drinking
By Tara Parker-Pope
New York Times October 19, 2009

Colleges with a reputation for heavy drinking and a party culture have been largely ineffective at curtailing student drinking over the past decade, new research shows.

University of Minnesota researchers tracked the drinking habits of students at 18 U.S. colleges with a reputation for heavy drinking. In 1993, 28 percent of students said they frequently binged on alcohol. A similar survey in 2005 found that 32 percent were frequent binge drinkers, according to a report last month in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

See the full article at: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/colleges-do-little-to-curb-drinking/

I went to college at one of those self-proclaimed schools with a hard-earned self-reputation as a Party School. I didn't know it when I first went there. In those days, in spite of urban legends to the contrary, there was no listing of the best party schools. And when I started I wasn't into partying. But it soon became a matter of pride and keeping up the old traditions. Also in those days (yes, it was that long ago) the schools were dropping their role of in loco parentis and giving us free rein.

But the school could have taken every step in the book- and it wouldn't have changed anything. We were indoctrinated already. We had already drank the (heavily spiked) Kool-Aid. No way would we let the reputation down. In this case it was the students' own self-identification that set the tone. The school did little to impact that.

Both of these stories hint at the great difficulty alcohol and drug abuse present to our culture. They also show that the places to start are at teh very basics- support of parents and community for a different approach.

Parents of toddlers and early elementary kids- now is the time to start.

College admins and student leaders- start now to hopefully change the image in 20 years. It is tough- you may have to keep alumni off campus. (Just kidding.)

But it is not impossible. If you would have told me 20 years ago that cigarette smoking would be as relatively rare as it is today, I would not have believed you.

Riding a Kaleidoscope

Another mind-boggling video. It has an interesting sound design that makes the video art even more intriguing.

Sound Design for 'Video Art' by Gyu Kim from Johannes Oesterle on Vimeo.

Pre-Sunday Quarterbacking

Now isn't this interesting. News from Packers.com:

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the Offensive Player of the Month for October, the NFL announced today.

• Rodgers led the Packers to a 2-1 record and posted an NFL-best 123.9 passer rating during the month.
• He passed for 988 yards in October and averaged a league-high 329.3 yards per game.
• Rodgers completed an NFC-best 74.5 percent of his passes (70 of 94) during October and his 10.51 yards per attempt mark led the league.
• He had a passer rating of at least 110 in all three games, including a near-perfect 155.4 mark in Week 7 at Cleveland, the highest single-game total in franchise history.

Rodgers has now posted a 110+ rating in four consecutive games, joining Pro Football Hall of Famer BART STARR (1966) as the only Packers to accomplish the feat. In his fifth season from California, this is Rodgers' first career Player of the Month Award. He is the second Packer to win a monthly award this year, joining CHARLES WOODSON (Defense, September). The last Green Bay quarterback to win a monthly award was BRETT FAVRE (November 2004).

Hopefully on Sunday the string will continue.

Gratitude

It was 21 years ago...

7,670 sets of 24 hours....

The day the music was reborn.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

I came to understand that life was not going where I thought it was. Today I understand a great deal more about addiction and alcoholism. I know the early warning signs that someone like me had- and was blind to.

Today I understand that addiction is a disease that has been set in action in some of the deeper parts of my brain. It is one of the physical consequences of the chemicals we become addicted to.

Today I understand that addiction starts by eating away the spiritual roots of life and turning inward in destructive ways. That it continues with the psychological barriers to its own discovery. Soon it hits the social networks that are essential to healthy human life. Finally it takes the physical and ends up tearing apart the fabric of life.

Today I also understand that addiction is not a death sentence and alcoholism is not a one-way ticket to the sanitarium. There is hope. Through help and honesty, humility and gratitude people every day are overcoming its hold on them. They can be in recovery.

Today I am grateful. Twenty-one years have come and gone and I do not regret one moment of those days.

And to all who have been part of this journey in one way or another, I offer you my deepest heartfelt thanks.

When Miracles Occur

We are no longer a people who believe in miracles. Not in the way we usually think of them. Mary Doria Russell in her book Children of God has a miracle occur. That is all I will say so as not to ruin the story. The miracle is not of the Biblical type, but is one that could possibly catch the attention of our modern age.

But would it? Russell describes the reactions this way:

...[R]eaction to [the event] had rigidified. Believers found it a miraculous confirmation of God's existence and evidence of Divine Providence. Skeptics declared it a fraud - a clever trick...Atheists did not dispute [its] authenticity, but they considered it just another fluke that proved nothing - like the universe itself. Agnostics admitted [it] was magnificent, but suspended judgment, waiting for who knew what?

The pattern was established at Sinai and under the Buddha's tree; on Calvary and at Mecca; in sacred caves, at wells of life, amid circles of stone. Signs and wonders are always doubted, and perhaps they are meant to be. In the absence of certainty, faith is more than mere opinion; it is hope.

--Mary Doria Russell, Children of God, p. 430.

There will always be true believers, skeptics, and deniers. But so also will there always be signs and wonders. The believers will see them, the seekers will look for them, the skeptics will question them, the deniers will say they didn't happen. It may very well be that miracles are only seen by those who have the eyes of faith. That doesn't mean that we see what we want to see. No, many times I have been surprised by what has happened and what I have seen. That's why it is a miracle.

But I was open for the possibility. I was ready in hope that somehow God will break through and remind me that God is God and I am not. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that these miracles are happening around me all the time and I am too busy to see them.

A Sign of the Times

The Buzz Log on Yahoo last week reported on how Rush Limbaugh got punk'd by a satirical blog post. I gather the post reported digging up a supposed thesis from Obama in college that disdained the constitution. It got to Rush Limbaugh where it was reported as true. According to The Buzz he discovered about half-way through his show that it wasn't true. He then defended himself by saying that is "basically felt true." (Emphasis mine.)

The writer of The Buzz commented that it was quite a feat for a lowly out-of-nowhere blog to make it all the way to a major media outlet.

Yes, that's true (and I am still waiting for that to happen.)

But more to the point, it says a great deal about

1. Rush Limbaugh's style when he reports on something that felt true. I guess that means you don't report on what doesn't feel true. Like what really is in the health reform bill.
2. The lengths Mr. Obama's detractors will go to find something to use against him- and take it as true because it is what they want to believe.

But then why bother with facts when my beliefs feel so much better.

Halloween Fears

iMonk posted one of his annual Halloween rants last week. He talks about how when he was growing up in a Southern Baptist community, the church was into Halloween.

From the late sixties into the early seventies, the churches I attended and worked for–all fundamentalist Baptists–were all over Halloween like ants on jam. It was a major social activity time in every youth group I was part of from elementary school through high school graduation in 1974.

We had haunted houses. Haunted hikes. Scary movies. (All the old Vincent Price duds.) As a youth minister in the mid to late seventies and early eighties, I created some haunted houses in church education buildings that would win stagecraft awards.

He then says that things changed. I remember that time. I remember the movement that arose in more conservative Christian circles to fight against Halloween as a devil-based holiday that good Christians should avoid. Halloween was Satan's way of sneaking in the back door. It wasn't far from Halloween to sex, drugs, and rock and roll. For some reason parents forgot their childhoods, or felt guilty about them, and decided to make amends through their children.

Evangelical parents decided that their own harmless and fun Halloween experiences were a fluke, and if their kid dressed up as a vampire, he’d probably try to become one. If there was a pumpkin on the porch, you were inviting demons into your home, just like it says in Hezekiah.

This is not to say that there isn't evil in the world. However you want to look at "satan" or "the devil" I tend to think that the paranoid fundamentalist leadership found a way to keep the flock in tow. It made sense, in a paranoid kind of way. But does it really?

iMonk continued:

It bothers me that any lie, exaggeration or fiction will find thousands of eager believers to pass it along.

That may be the money quote that underlies the issue. How easy it is to grab people's attention. Get them afraid. Work their fears. Stoke the fires of uncertainty under them. What is really scary is not the ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties but the power that can so quickly take away our ability to think.

Another Monday- More Quarterbacking

Finally, the Vikings have lost. Not a surprise, actually, when they are playing a truly top-shelf team like the Pirates Steelers (oops). But what is surprising is that their Starting QB had impressive numbers: 34/51, 334 YDS, 1 INT. But nary a TD for the first time this season. Plus a fumble, three sacks, and two defensive TDs by the Steelers in the last 7 minutes- and you have a loss. Even the Starting QB couldn't salvage this one. Is this a sign of things to come for the Vikings? I think so, but never count out the Starting QB.

Final score:
Vikings 17
Steelers 27

Meanwhile in Cleveland the Packers were having a scrimmage playing in preparation for next week's home game against the Vikings. The Packers' Starting QB had another top quality start: 15/20, 246 YDS, 3 TD. What is better to note is that he wasn't sacked at all. Nada. That's after a league-leading 25 times sacked so far this season. (Note that the Vikings' Starting QB isn't all that far behind with 18 sacks.) For today Rodgers was better, the offensive line was better. But, yeah, they were playing the Browns.

Final score:
Packers 31
Browns 3

So through Week 7, overall the race between the Starting QBs is a virtual tie. Rodgers is 3rd top QB overall; the Vikings' Starting QB is 6th. The Packers seem to be slowly working their way together. The Vikings are showing their quality. But next week is the Big One. The two teams most likely to be tied for 1st in the division. If GB wins. We shall see.

Footnote: For the first time in NFL history there are three undefeated teams after week 7- New Orleans, Indianapolis, and Denver.

On (Not) Being Spiritual

Huh?

I was taken aback by some quotes and thoughts as I was reading the book Cloister Talks by Jon Sweeney. The book relates Sweeney's experience spending time visiting with monks for a deeper understanding of his "spiritual" life and more. Well, toward the end of the book Sweeney is having a discussion with one of his monk friends.

"Do you ever wonder what is the purpose of all of the spiritual exercises we do?" [Sweeney] asked...."I do so much, I try so hard..." [Sweeney] began.

"So what? What does that matter?" [Father Luke responded.]

"What do you mean what does it matter? What else is there?"

"Plenty.
"You don't make yourself spiritual," Luke said. "And you are thinking mostly about yourself if you are self-consciously trying for that. Prayer and lectio and going to church- those are duties, not spiritualities. You don't chart your own course to holiness."

"Then what do I do?" I say with more pleading in my heart than he can possibly imagine.

"You can keep loving."

--p. 136.

Interesting thought, I responded. "Keep loving" sounds about right. What is, it though, that Sweeney is trying to pass on to us? Spirituality has become one of those postModern buzz words. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it. It has just turned into part of a mantra:

• It's not about religion; it's about being spiritual.
• Religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell; spirituality is for those who have already been there.
• I'm not religious. I'm spiritual.

So I read on, knowing that for some reason these words had some truth to them, but were they a reaction to the postModern thinking? Spirituality is important. Perhaps religion is too.

Later, Sweeney points out that his friend Father Luke doesn't use the words spiritual or spirituality very often. He asks Father Luke what the words mean to him.

"Not much, to be honest with you."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'm not trying to be spiritual."

"Why not?"

"It's the wrong goal and the wrong path, both.
"The words of spirituality often don't ring true for me. They are always so comforting. But knowing God intimately isn't always a comfort. Anyone who has spent long periods of time listening for God's voice knows that the experience is not often warm or cozy or even inviting. It can be profoundly unsettling," he warned.

--p. 137

Ah, but there is more from Sweeney and his spiritual mentors:

Where does Jesus say to his disciples, "Be spiritual for I am spiritual?"

"Don't make prayer or service or study or whatever, something you set out to a do like a task. Love your neighbor to the point of giving yourself up to him. Then see what God would have you do next."

--p. 138

Do the next right thing, we hear in 12-Step meetings. That's God's will. Or as a late mentor of mine used to say, "When you come to a door, go through it. That's God's will." Back to Sweeney:

We aren't supposed to try and find spiritual experiences. We aren't supposed to measure our success by how we feel or what we've done. We are meant to become our true selves in Christ, which for many people may mean avoiding spirituality all together.

Each person discovers how he is an expression- a unique copy... of Christ in the world, with God's help.

--p. 138

The point, then, seems to be that spirituality is not a journey, a set of things we can do, or even necessarily the way to God. Spirituality has become a feeling issue and not a being issue. The discovery how we are each unique copies of Christ in the world, or perhaps, part of God's incarnation in the world. After all, isn't that who Jesus was- and is?

This is going to obviously take more time and pondering. But it is an interesting challenge to the postModern, self-oriented views that may have very well become, unknowingly, part of our understandings of our journeys of faith.

A Truism

Found on the blog- The Great Conversation

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream”
--C. S. Lewis

But then you see this headline on a NYT story:

The Number of Job Hunters 65 or Older Skyrockets

Or then this one on a Yahoo! News item a week or so ago:

How to Stay Healthy in Retirement: Keep Working

As one who deeply believes the truth of the quote from C. S. Lewis who was just shy of 64 when he died, I am struck by the importance of dreams. While some may dream of retirement when "work" is voluntary, I am not sure it ever truly is. We keep on dreaming and finding meaning and yes, working for pay or not, volunteering or fixing the things around the house still needing to be fixed.

Perhaps on some level, if we like our jobs, why not continue to work so Social Security isn't bankrupt? Why not pass that legacy on to our children? Maybe we can still work on that world-changing, life-changing dream of peace that so many of us lived under back in the 60s and early 70s. Maybe working with the younger generations coming up will give a chance to redeem the generation gap that we may have helped foster while also listening to them and giving them the ear we thought we wanted.

In short, age is not a barrier. Unless we let it be.

A Medical Emergency

Yes, the H1N1 flu is a medical emergency. If you don't believe it, go to the Flu Map at Weather Underground. There are only four states not reporting widespread flu activity: Connecticut, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Hawaii. As Jeff Masters comments:

I doubt the flu map has looked like this since 1968, the last time a flu pandemic swept the globe. ... [A] typical peak flu outbreak occurs in February or March, and at most twenty states are colored red.

The good news is, of course, that it is not at this point a particularly virulent strain. Just don't say that to the families of the now over 1,000 people who have died as a result of the H1N1 flu. No matter how you spin it, it is a major health concern that is not done yet. If it holds into the regular flu season, it could be a difficult illness and a long winter.

Like a Marching Band- But...

...with motorcycles. From the 1950s, a video of Italian police motorcyclists putting on a show. I was struck by how much it looked like the kind of marching drills we put on back when I was in college in the 60s. Except, of course, our band members ran on "ethanol" more often than gas.



So, here is a recent version of the best marching band in the East- the Lehigh Marching 97- still impressive but you should have seen us when there were 97 of us on the field. What a sight.

Not Bad At All

The Phillies are back in the World Series.

Second year in a row.

The first NL team to do that since the '95-'96 Atlanta Braves.

The 7th time the Phillies have been there in their history.

If they repeat as champs, they will be only the 4th NL team to do that.

• 1907-1908 Chicago Cubs
• 1921-1922 New York Giants
• 1975-1976 Cincinnati Reds

But that's getting ahead of the story. For now:

Way to go, Phillies!

I Am Deeply Saddened

Last Monday the Marin Institute, which calls itself an Alcohol Industry Watchdog had an article that Tour de France super athlete and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong has signed a deal with Anheuser-Busch (ABI) to sell Michelob Ultra

as a low-calorie beer for “health-minded, active drinkers.”

The article went on:

Does Armstrong not even understand the connection between alcohol consumption and cancer, or does he think low-calorie beer doesn’t count? There’s nothing healthy about beer, no matter how few calories a bottle may contain. The health myth, as it's been promoted by Big Alcohol, has been soundly debunked.

Of course, ABI wasted no time resurrecting the myth by saying: “Armstrong was the perfect spokesman for Michelob Ultra, which targets health-minded, active drinkers. Having dominated a sport that requires such a physical commitment, Lance is the perfect athlete to connect with adult beer drinkers who lead active lifestyles," said Vice President of Marketing Keith Levy.

Now, I know that there are lots of reasons why Lance, or any athlete would be an ad-man for beer (or any product.) But I do wonder about the advisability of something like this. I am saddened after the way Armstrong's Live Strong campaign has pushed health. And there are even strong connections between excessive alcohol consumption and certain cancers. Not to mention that alcohol-related illnesses may be as much as 20% of health care costs.

But this is of course Armstrong's choice. It doesn't diminish what he has done or the Live Strong campaign. I just wish he had thought a little more deeply about the issue.

Note: Lance does endorse other things. The Awesomer posted today about an indoor stationary cycle that he endorses. It appears to be a good, high-end that runs about $1,000.