Trail of the Month on Rails to Trails

Click Here for this month's Rails to Trails Trail of the Month. My readers will know this one!

A Country for Geezer Athletes

This was the news over the weekend, plus one more from the Olympics:

• Lance Armstrong - age 37 - 2nd so far in Tour de France -
• Tom Watson - age 59 - 2nd at British Open
• Dara Torres - age 41 - Olympic swimming gold medal

My only complaint about the coverage of Tom Watson's run at the British Open Championship over the weekend is simple. The story became that he lost. He became a "loser" because he didn't make it a win. If he had won he would have been the oldest ever to win a major championship by 11 or 12 years.

I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like losing to me. At age 59 he placed 2nd in the tough British Open field that - get this - Tiger Woods didn't make.

As an older American myself, but 13 months older that Watson, that sure sounds like resounding win to me!

Congratulations, Tom.

Note: Tom Peters, management guru, agrees with my take. Link. Here's what he said:

I really hope Tom Watson inspired other baby boomers as well. This is the time we must use our experience, our will, and some unflappable persistence to turn this thing around and get one more win before the end of our careers. Our experience should help us remember it was hard work, real labor, that sustained the economy. Our will should be strengthened by a determination to leave a better economy for our children. And our persistence should help us remember we win this thing shot by shot, never wavering, playing the conditions dealt us, and knowing that we can still win this thing. Tom Watson didn't show up in Scotland to be a ceremonial icon ... he went to win! Thanks Tom! And damn it, I really wished that putt had fallen!

A 40-Year Memory: On the Moon

July 20 - Apollo program: The Eagle lands on the lunar surface. The world watches in awe as Neil Armstrong takes his historic first steps on the moon.

It was a Sunday. I was doing my regular summer Sunday afternoon radio program on WMPT in South Williamsport, PA. The TV in the production studio on the other side of the glass was on. We got the info feed down the radio line from ABC Radio network. We were given the time that the network would go live with the feed from around the moon.

From around the moon as The Eagle prepared to land on the surface of another cosmic surface.

Probably it was near 4:00 in the afternoon, maybe earlier, memory is vague on details, when I switched to the national feed to listen with the world. At 4:17 pm EDT time we heard the historic words that "The Eagle has Landed."

Six hours later, sitting watching a fuzzy black and white picture, we saw Neil Armstrong go where no one had ever gone before.

Even 40 years later the power, the awe, the unbelievability of the moment is still real. We have seen many space flights. One took off only five days ago. We have seen triumphs and felt tragedies. But the first one lives as none other can.

It was when the truth of Spaceship Earth actually hit home.

Lesson in Ministry and Life

It’s always interesting where you can find references to Jesus and his ministry outside the normal church-based places. As I was working on the sermon I preached this morning I followed a link on a study page and came up with an article by Martin B. Copenhaver from the Christian Century from 15 years ago, still posted on the Internet. The original location is not the surprise, obviously. It was that the whole article was posted on a business management reference library page. Jesus did not just teach us about heaven- he taught us about living everyday life here and now. In so doing, as the original article indicated, we also learn how to do ministry- and how not to.

The disciples need to get away.

Remember that they had just returned from their first mission trip. It had been their start at what was going to be a life-long journey and they discovered that in ministry they were able to do much of what they had seen Jesus do. They found power and hope, healing and strength. People responded. They weren’t just practicing in some training session- they had authority. They were successful.

But as they sat with Jesus they also found out that they were wiped out- exhausted. You can almost see and feel their strength seeping out of them as the adrenaline that has been pumping for so long disappears. They sink lower and lower into the ground.

Who among us doesn’t know that feeling. A long week at work or school or home. The boss is away and you have a crisis or three. One of the kids gets sick and the other two get ornery. The computer crashes just before you save the final draft of your homework. Find me the sofa, the remote, and let me become a couch potato.

So Jesus does what he knows is needed. He piles them on the boat and heads across the lake. Let’s find a deserted place where you can recuperate. It’s time for a retreat. Jesus knew what was going on. He himself has been careful not to let it happen to him. It is called, in our modern trend to give names to everything- compassion fatigue. It’s what happens when we just can’t muster even one more ounce of caring for anyone- often including ourselves.

A number of years ago we took a vacation to Jamaica to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We got a good deal at one of those all-inclusive resorts where you get your meals and refreshments and just about anything else you need in one package price. It was great- relaxing, refreshing, warm and sunny for New Year’s Day.

One day we took the shuttle into the nearby town to go through the local crafts market. Actually it was a section of a street set-aside with little shacks and lean-tos where local crafts people displayed their wares. They had some beautiful things, but all three of us were overwhelmed by the poverty and the begging that took place. Yes, some of it was part of the show- so to speak- but the poverty we saw was real.

All three of us had an incredibly strong reaction. Here we were staying at this great resort which did help the local economy, while within shouting distance was sorrow and fear that we couldn’t even begin to touch. We had compassion- but we were limited. There was only so much- and we weren’t able to give.

Even in the moment of their greatest success up to that point, they were stuck, too, when they got back home. No one, not even God’s appointed apostles can give constantly. Only God can do that. God never suffers from compassion fatigue. A wonderful gift He gave to Jesus.

Then what happens when they get to the other side? There were more people. It was endless. The needs go on forever. Literally, there is no stopping it. You help one person, two more are at your door.

This soon plays into a certain approach to life that can tear us apart. There are two conflicting thoughts- first- if it is to get done- I have to do it. The second- But I am sick and tired of doing it all the time.

How much more do we think we can do?

Sometimes the answer is nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’m done. Which is exactly what Jesus said to the disciples. When all those people showed up at the shore, now to see the disciples as well as Jesus, he told them to stay in the boat. Wait here, he says, I am rested and ready. You need to take a break. Let me do it.

In other words, it can happen without them. In fact many things do happen without us. Some of you may be familiar with the famous 12-step programs that have helped many over the past 75 years. The very first step of the 12- and the one that is often said has to be worked 100% is that we are powerless. Absolutely powerless over most things in our lives. I had one particular recovering friend who kidded himself about his old grandiosity and acting as if he had even the power of God. He would comment on how the world had changed- communism fell, the Berlin Wall was destroyed- all after he stopped playing God and let God do it himself. He was making a joking- but serious, commentary on our human tendency to want to control everything.

This is why I found the kernel for this sermon from a Christian magazine posted on a business/secular website. This is an important part of life- not just ministry. We cannot- must not- try to do this life alone. And by that I don’t mean that we just turn to God and ask God to give us more and more power to do it ourselves. We are not to forget that there are others to help us- and we are the others to help someone else.

God’s work as any work has to be a team effort. In the church we call this the mission of the community. We are in this together- not just the pastor or board members. We work in unity as Paul calls us in Ephesians: built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

A 30-Year Memory: Nicaragua Changes

July 19 - The Marxist Sandinistas take control of Nicaragua.

Talking About Work and Play (on a Saturday)

The book had a catchy title: Shop Class as Soul Craft. Never having been particularly talented at shop class but interested in "soul" stuff I wondered what Matthew Crawford had in mind. The subtitle: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work took it a little further. So I checked it out of the library.

Interesting premise. Crawford in a post-modern philosophy takes a step back into a world of craft and careful, care-filled manufacturing. He takes to task the western, capitalist corporate soul-less developments in manufacturing. He takes to task as well the Communist government controlled soul-less developments. At times I wanted to call him a post-Communist Marxist.

What gives him the credentials to do this? He is a PhD philosopher and thinker. And he owns a motorcycle repair shop doing true soul craft on engines. He uses his growth and experiences as a mechanic to highlight what he is talking about.

Through this he sets up several ideas that he works through:

• Leisure -vs- work
• Work -vs- vocation
• Meaning in work
• Soul craft in work

Work that is soul craft has to point outward

to, or serves, some more comprehensive understanding of the good life

than making money, or leisure, or whatever. He also says that

to be capable of sustaining our interest a job has to have room for progress in excellence.

So I pondered, what is work, vocation, soul craft. One thing came through that it is possible to lose one's my soul in any work, even "good" work. There has to be a sense of meaning and purpose, which Crawford makes clear he believes can be found in good, old-fashioned craftsmanship and careful manufacturing. As a critique of mass-manufacturing or collectivism he challenges some now deeply instilled values.

I am not a philosopher. As you all know I am more of a story-teller and I most appreciated his telling of his story. It illustrated the idea. But at the heart of the book is the challenge to find, in work, the same sense of growth and possibility that we often attempt to find in play. After all, why can't we find in work the same joy as we find in not-work?

Which led me back to a quite I found in another book from this past year, William Alexander's Hi, I'm Bill and I'm Old.

There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart. Pursue those.

--William Alexander, Hi, I'm Bill and I'm Old. Hazelden, 2008.

In Memoriam: Walter Cronkite

A 40-Year Memory: Chappaquiddick

July 18 - Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge on his way home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. Mary Jo Kopechne, a former campaign aide to his brother who was in the car with him, dies in the incident.

This took place right between the launch and landing on the moon of Apollo 11. In the days before 24-hour news it was a minor story at first until details (and media attention) moved to cover it. Today they would do split screen coverage and analysis. Although admittedly Gov. Sanford was briefly helped by Michael Jackson's death.

An Evening Spanning 40 (+) Years

Yes, I'm a couple years late for a 40th anniversary tour of Alice's Restaurant, but it's never too late (or early) to go to an Arlo Guthrie concert. It's been quite a few years since I was at one- it was back in Milwaukee a while ago. So when I saw that Arlo was going to be at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul on July 16 I had to go.



My wife doesn't quite get the allure of an Arlo concert.
(We've already seen him twice.
But that was a long time ago. So? And this from the person who watches reruns of her favorite TV shows over and over.
[Silence])

We went.

The Fitz (Garrison Keillor's home theater) is a wonderful place for a concert like this. Anywhere on the main floor is intimate and feels up-close and personal.

I was not disappointed.

The first bit of fun is naturally the crowd. A group that comes to see someone like Arlo has to be a little, well, different. Arlo has been around for over 40 years (which he loves to make fun of.) He goes back to an era that is better in memory than perhaps it was in person. He certainly gets into that in the concert, of course.

I talked a while with the guy in that picture on the right. This was his first time seeing Arlo in person. He made the T-shirt just for the concert. (Yes, like many of us he does listen to Alice's Restaurant every Thanksgiving. It's tradition. But not tonight. Not even a hint.

(By the way, if you don't know the reference on the shirt, it was the Group W Bench at the draft center "where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly looking people on the bench there.")

There were also those who were obviously hippies and former hippies, gray long-hairs and once gray and once long hair. Some of us even looked respectable. But you knew that under many of us was someone that would be surprised as we are that this is still going on, still attractive, still calling us from some depth of our past. There were probably a hundred different reasons for being there- memories, lost thoughts, or perhaps even fulfilled dreams.

There were younger ones, too. Some looked perplexed at why a parent would want them to be there. Some looked out of place; others could have come from the 60s themselves. There some with canes and walkers and wheelchairs. There was one who looked like an escapee from a Z Z Top concert.

But we were there for this 2 set solo show from someone as close to history as we can get.


Arlo Guthrie.


An almost magical name for many. Mystical. Arlo would probably cringe at that. But he represents something that hasn't died from those days. He represents the voice of hope and peace, the voice of protest and change, the voice of fun and grace. He has never beed the Big Star like Dylan, for example. But he has had something that Dylan never had- and never will. Personality and rapport with the audience. Dylan's a music god; Arlo is the musical everyman, one of us who appears as surprised as we would if we were there on stage after 40 years as he is.

In that may be nostalgia. It may also be way of getting in touch with our own past and aging melding together into who we are today. But it is also a moment that maybe, just maybe, the world is a place where we can still have fun while also doing what needs to be done.

Arlo is probably the consummate storyteller-songwriter. He blends them together so well we sat and waited for the stories with as much anticipation as the songs. If he hadn't stopped in the middle of This Land is Your Land we would have been just as disappointed as if he hadn't sung it. Likewise with the stories of remembering Leadbelly or searching for his grave in Lousiana or reminiscences of Woodstock along with modern stories of meeting Secret Service agents in an airport or his rambling about writing songs with a pen that catches them as they float by. I laughed more and deeper than I often do as his stories touched many funny places.

Then there's his still plaintive voice. When he sings his father's songs you can hear the echoes of that unmatched voice. But it is still Arlo's voice - charming, haunting, carrying over the audience with a sense of simpatico as they say in Spanish.

There's an aging to it, of course. It is edgier now, more down-to-earth than ever before. It has aged well. The late-teen young adult of Alice's Restaurant and others of the first 20-years is still there. That fun naive sound. But the world-smarts come through. He sings Leadbelly and we know he has grown into it.

He is singing for us, in our name and for our sake. He gets the smile, a grin at a personal joke or the pleasure of just being there singing for us. That only makes his voice more graceful.

A friend recently used the word grace to explain Arlo's popularity and presence. It was the word I had searched for over the years. It is the right word. I don't know how much of what Arlo shows is an act and how much is really him, the Arlo I would love to sit down and just spend time visiting with. (Arlo- if you are reading this, please note the request.)

I can go on for a long time about Arlo. He still represents to me what many of us in our generation still hope and pray for. But he does it with the humility of one who knows that it is more important to do the small things that work for peace than for the big things that only a few can do. He reminds us that doing good is not an option and that we can and should have fun while we do it.

And in the end, never take yourself too damn serious.

Arlo- thanks. Don't lose it. We still need you.

Here's a video from several months ago of the close of his concert from You Tube.



-----------------------------------------

Arlo Net.


[By the way- there are many videos on You Tube of Arlo- old and new- posted by Jackie, his wife of 40 years. Here's a LINK to her You Tube Channel.]

A 30-Year Memory: Nicaragua

July 17 - Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida.

Supply - or Demand

I was listening to Marketplace on Public Radio Tuesday when they had a story about the 40th "anniversary" of the war on drugs. They pointed out that most of the money spent in this war has been on the side of stopping the "supply" side of the issue, that is keeping the drugs from getting to the US in the first place. The speaker noted that this has had the effect of giving Colombian and Mexican forces new toys to play with.

Yet most studies and "experts" tell us that the best way to "win" this "war" is through decreasing the demand, not the supply. (And you don't do that by upping the criminality, no-choice sentencing, etc.) You do this through prevention and treatment. Prevention is education and cultural shifting that reduces the numbers who start in the first place. No, this is not a pipe dream (oops, sorry.) If 25 years ago I had told you that smoking would be outlawed in many public places you would have called me crazy. (No, I wasn't crazy enough to think it possible.) Yet that is what has happened. Who says it can't happen with other drugs?


Then there's treatment. This means providing the opportunity for good, solid, effective treatment for those who abuse and get addicted. Even if only 10 - 15% of those in treatment "get it" and stay clean, that would be a significant reduction.

Now I work on the demand side of this equation. I see miracles each day as people discover a clean and sober life. I see more than 10-15% of people "getting" recovery. Perhaps it is time to get rid of the war language. To imply or work from a violent metaphor when what we want is a far different lifestyle is to be working against ourselves. No wonder there are drug wars to keep the supply going. It's just the other side of the war fighting back.

In good synchronicity as I got up to get a coffee refill a moment ago I looked across the shop. There, sitting at the corner table, were two people in a significant discussion. On the table in front of them were two books- Alcoholics Anonymous (The Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. They were doing what this post is all about- staying sober. That is done with one alcoholic (or addict) helping another alcoholic (or addict) discover how to stay sober (and clean).

Isn't that a whole lot better sounding than waging war?

A 40-Year Memory: To the Moon

July 16 - Apollo program: Apollo 11 (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins) lifts off toward the first landing on the Moon.

And, for those of you who weren't around the first time- and for those who want to do it again- go to We Choose the Moon for a moment-by-moment recreation. It looks like a great site with sound and actual capcom and spacecraft communications.

Moving Across the Water

Mentally- and in my journal- I have been working for a while on a number of water-related writings. I have written before of Norman Maclean's wonderfully magical line of being "haunted by waters." I, too, am such a person. One of the places where that has been true in the past is the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota. They are a place of beauty made primal again by human withdrawal from their control. They are a wilderness returned from civilization to the wild. They are a place where soul can be enlivened. But not without work. Soul never is enlivened by sitting and doing nothing.

No, I don't mean some kind of "works" leading to "righteousness. I mean that work of being alive and allowing ourselves to become more alive. God calls us to work out our salvation in "fear and trembling" as Paul puts it. Nowhere have I discovered that more fully than in the Boundary Waters.

The lakes of the Boundary Waters are both the way to move- and the barrier to movement. You have to cross them to get where you want to go. In their reborn wildness they move us backward in time, even as we carry our modern conveniences of freeze-dried food and gas stoves. They move us to primal and primitive emotions.

On one of the trips we were faced on our journey into the wilderness with a howling gale force wind. It howled at and around us as we crossed the last lake of the day- working to stay upright against its own movement. It was a day we should have stayed at the camp. It was our civilized bravado- and perhaps impatience to get out into the wild. It was also dangerous bravado with relentless motion and feeling as if we were going absolutely nowhere.

Then we came to shore- the two of us in our canoe separated from the rest of the group. The two of us pushed into shore, paddling to little avail, afraid, but adrenaline pushing even harder as we fled the wind. We finally got to land- where we humans most surely belong. We rested before the very short journey across an inlet to rejoin our group.

In that was one of those unbroken circles. There was the power of the moving water which can change geography being pushed by the air moving across the waters. I no longer needed to ask why the ancient Hebrew word for Spirit was the same as the word for this fierce wind- ruach. It was this power- and much, much more out of which creation itself was born and is being reborn. Spirit was also in-through-with the water as well. The Spirit moves over the face of the deep forming and reforming- transferring the power of God to the creation.

It's been more than ten years since that wind-blown trip. It has become the stuff of myth. Not untrue, but truer than the facts; deeper than awareness allowed me at the time. At the end of the day - in wordless gratitude - one knew it was well with the soul.

It had to be because you knew that once you were out there, you still had to get back. You will once again have to push the body - against the elements- to make it back to the start. The middle of that trip was fine. Good weather. Good fishing. Good companionship. Good stargazing. But the week was always tempered by the unthought feeling- we have to go back.

Fortunately the wind, while back up was not what it had been on the way in. It took some work, but we were more ready. Isn't it odd, though, that I don't remember the return trip as well. Maybe it was because it ended back in civilized comfort.

Or maybe it was because the journey through the Spirit into the wilderness was what it was all about.

Computers Can't Do Everything?

From (The Customer is) Not Always Right:

(A customer walks in and places a box on the desk in our repairs center.)

Me: “Hello, how can I help you, sir?”

Customer: “Can you fix this for me?”

Me:*looking at box* “This is a toaster.”

Customer: “Yes. Can you fix it? It’s broken.”

Me: “I’m sorry, we only fix computers and computer peripherals here.”

Customer: “But if you can fix computers, surely you can fix a toaster!”

Me: “We don’t fix toasters, sir.”

Customer: “Please? I’m sure it’s easy.”

Me: “Even if we could fix it for you, you don’t have a repair warantee with us, so it would cost you £50 just for us to look at it. You could buy two new toasters for that.”

Customer: “£50?! What a rip-off! If it’s going to cost me that much, I’ll go elsewhere!”

Me: “Have you tried the store you bought it from?”

Customer: “Yes, and they wouldn’t fix it!”

Me: “So you thought a computer store would?”

Customer:*takes the toaster and walks out in a huff*

Another Baseball Book, Again

--from Wikipedia

Yes, I have finished another baseball book this summer. (I think that's four for the year. So far.) This one was a unique search centered not on baseball but on A baseball. The baseball that Bobby Thomson hit out of the Polo Grounds in New York in October 1951. It won the pennant for the then NY Giants over Dem Bums- the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was a walk-off, bottom of the ninth home run and became known in baseball lore as The Shot Heard 'Round the World.

Well, Brian Biegel, from a long line of Dodger fans goes on an investigative chase to find the ball, the actual ball, long missing from any collection or even awareness. He calls it the Miracle Ball. But as in so many baseball stories (Field of Dreams comes to mind) this one is about much more than baseball. It is about a son and his father; it is about family; it is about mental health and the power of meaning; it is perhaps deeply about the power of cultural myths.

What Biegel goes through in his search for the baseball is fun to read. He even hires forensic experts to search the old newspaper photo of the ball sailing over the fence. Maybe they can find the person in that grainy old picture who caught- and has- the ball.

There's also good baseball lore. A fun book and one that I found interesting on a number of levels. No one will ever convince me that sports writing is any less profound or able to share meaning than other writing.

The First Shall Later Be the Stars

I noticed the following on the This Day in History app over on the right today:

1967 The Who, opening for Herman's Hermits begin a U.S. tour

I then realized that the opening act was The Who, arguably one of the more important of the British groups ranking right there with the Beatles, The Stones, Led Zepplin and, well, maybe that's it. And Herman's Hermits? Let us just say they had their day while The Who continue to live on.

Sometimes the ones we think are the stars turn out to be simply setting the stage.

#@#$%^% Actually Helps

Yesterday on LiveScience they reported another one of those myth-busting and bad-behavior helping studies:

Swearing is a common response to pain..

"Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon," said Richard Stephens of Keele University in England and one of the authors of the new study. "It taps into emotional brain centers and appears to arise in the right brain, whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain."

Stephens and his fellow Keele researchers John Atkins and Andrew Kingston sought to test how swearing would affect an individual's tolerance to pain. Because swearing often has an exaggerating effect that can overstate the severity of pain, the team thought that swearing would lessen a person's tolerance.

As it turned out, the opposite seems to be true....

The researchers think that the increase in pain tolerance occurs because swearing triggers the body's natural "fight-or-flight" response. Stephens and his colleagues suggest that swearing may increase aggression (seen in accelerated heart rates), which downplays weakness to appear stronger or more macho.

"Our research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists," Stephens said.

--Link

Which may be why James Lipton on Actor's Studio likes to ask what his guest's favorite swear word is.

Truer Than Truth

I was watching one of the TED talks the other day from Isabel Allende, one of my favorite writers. She started out by quoting the old Hasidic Jewish question:

What is truer than truth?

The answer, as any longtime reader of this blog might guess is:

Story.

Only in story can we truly explore truth in all its dimensions. Only in story can we get to the heart of issues and concerns, told with a passion and hope and power that cannot be found when we have to stick to facts.

A number of years ago I was part of a long-running public discussion of homosexuality and the Christian response. Needless to say I was on the side of a more open and accepting approach. In the discussions I eventually got around to telling stories about people I knew and how they felt they were treated by the church. These were true stories, but I told it in a story format.

Was I taken aback when the other side of the discussion challenged me to stick to facts and not bring these stories of people into the discussion. "Why do you always do that?" they asked. They knew, they hinted, that it was hard to respond to issues of the heart. We were responding with emotion as can only be found in story. For people invested in "ministry" to people this was next to impossible to deal with. It becomes an easy cliche then to talk about loving the sinner but hating the sinner, which in the context of the story was hard to explain.

But as I pondered the quote from Allende's talk I found myself asking if it is possible for evil to take center stage in story. That's what, in so many words the others involved in the discussions I was in would have claimed. We were misusing story to further our own, to them wrong, aims.

Those who would ban books might say that it is possible for evil to be presented in story. That's why we must prevent some books from getting into the hands of young people or, in reality, anyone. Some have said that the Harry Potter books, especially in the early years were evil, promoting anti-God behaviors. They were evil.

I would guess that it is more than just possible that those with less that good purposes can write stories that promote bad or wrong or sinful things. We all might be able to name such books. But I am not sure that this as much a worry as we might think. I have a hunch that we know truth when we hear it, especially in story. In fact, probably more likely to be heard in story than in essay or oration.

In short, I think that in the end truth does win out. Even when we don't understand it on an intellectual level but on the level of truth truer than truth.

Story.

They Beat My Time

Saturday from the Tour de France:

They clocked 4 hours, 31 minutes, 50 seconds for the 110-mile trek along three big climbs from the Pyrenean principality of Andorra to Saint-Girons.

Let's see I did 31 miles in 3 hours 31 minutes. I wonder what my rank would be?

Would You Agree to This?

First, from Nadia Bolz-Weber on Theolog, the blog of the Christian Century:

I serve a funky little Lutheran congregation, a liturgical and sacramental emerging church. Someone recently asked, "Do you think the church you planted will, you know, get really big?"

I smiled broadly, looking up at the sky and then back at my friend. "Um," I said, "well...no." She looked at me, shocked at my seemingly low self-esteem. "There's just not a huge market for the message 'Jesus bids you come and die'," I explained. "People don't exactly line up around the block for that. But 'Jesus wants to make you rich!' seems to be doing really well right now."

Which connected quickly in my mind with one of the cartoons this past week from David the Naked Pastor:

Sure makes sense to me. I have come to realize since I am not preaching week-in and week-out that most people don't think very often of the possible consequences of truly following Jesus. To be honest I don't think I thought very much about it when I was preaching. I'm not sure many ever do. At least those of us who live in places where we don't have to worry if we are Christian.

But then again perhaps preaching isn't about telling people they are putting their lives in God's hands when they become Christian. Not in these dangerous ways, anyway. That idea is for small supportive groups where Christians gather to be the community of Jesus. I am not sure that happens very often on Sunday morning. Worship has a strengthening and God-centered place. Then, we get together so we can discover how to live it.

What's So Odd?

Since I am from Wisconsin (though a non-native) the following headline on the Odd News on Yahoo! didn't seem so odd to me:

Drunk badger disrupts traffic

Then I realized it wasn't talking about the football fans at Camp Randall.

Steady and Sober

Periodically I get asked, sicne I work at a treatment facility, if we have seen an increase in treatment needs since the recession has started. Well, the answer is no. Things have been about normal. I came across this earlier this week in an email newsletter I get.

Drinking Habits Steady Amid Recession
Sixty-four percent drink, unchanged; beer is still the preferred beverage
Gallup by Lydia Saad
June 29, 2009

PRINCETON, NJ -- Despite some anecdotal reports of a surge in drinking accompanying the economic recession, Gallup's annual update on alcohol consumption finds little change in Americans' drinking habits. The percentage of U.S. adults who consume alcohol is fairly steady at 64%, and there has been little change in self-reported drinking volume.

The June survey interviewed over 1,000 adults nationwide and had a sampling error of three percent.

According to the June 14-17 Gallup Poll, the prevalence of drinking in the U.S. adult population is essentially unchanged compared with a year ago. Sixty-four percent of Americans tell Gallup they "have occasion to use alcoholic beverages." This falls within the narrow 62% to 66% range seen over the past decade.

See the full release at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/121277/Drinking-Habits-Steady-Amid-Recession.aspx

Several things to note:

• At this point it does not appear that a recession causes an increase in drinking. Now that may change if a person is out of work longer, doesn't have a family, or has other issues that the recession will make worse.
• No, the number of drinks is not increasing. The percentage of heavy drinkers remains about the same at around 14%.
• And perhaps the biggest surprise for those who don't know about these things, 36% respond that they abstain from alcohol. 36%. More than one-third of all Americans do not drink at all.

Ponder those figures next time someone says "Well, everyone drinks."

A Big Assumption?

Study: Cognitive Functions Can Recover After Methamphetamine Use
Join Together Online July 7, 2009

Research Summary

Researchers at the University of California at Davis reported that certain cognitive deficits resulting from methamphetamine use can be recovered, although recovery takes at least a year.

The researchers measured research subjects on their ability to direct their attention to specific tasks while ignoring distractions. They discovered that those who were recently abstinent (three weeks to six months) performed significantly worse on the cognitive test than those who had been abstinent one year or longer.

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

Of course my snide side wants to ask, "How much cognitive ability might there have been in the first place if they started taken meth at all?" But I'll be nice and not say that since I know it doesn't take much for some people to get hooked. But the temptation was real.

A 40-Year Memory: Vietnam

Ooops. I missed this on Wednesday.

July 8 - Vietnam War: The very first U.S. troop withdrawals are made.

Overheard in Recovery - Passion

One of the things people in early recovery are often told is that they need to be cautious of extreme emotions- being really UP or really DOWN. Addicts and alcoholics have craved those extremes as the reasons for drinking or what they hope to have happen as a result of their drinking. It soon reaches the point where the only emotions one can feel are the extremes, say rage instead of anger; ecstasy instead of joy.

In addition in early recovery the emotions are often bouncing all over the place. Just stopping whatever substances were being used will let things jump all over the place. This too is dangerous since we are not used to such swings.

So one evening I heard a question being asked.

With all this talk of remaining calm and not going to extremes, will I lose my passion for things?

I was struck immediately because true passion- caring deeply about things- is important. Recovery isn't about being dull or apathetic or boring. Recovery is about being "happy, joyous and free" as the Big Book says. Passion is not an extreme emotion. Passion is at the heart of enjoying life and caring for and about others.

The problem is that we have so misused and abused the idea of "passion" that it has taken on these erotic or extreme meanings. Suddenly it feels like something we need to avoid. Which of course we do if we see it as an extreme. But when we feel passionate about something or someone we are more likely to respond positively. Passion is not lust or extremism. Passion is deeply caring.

It used to be that Jesus' death was referred to as The Passion of Christ which of course is the title of the Mel Gibson film. While Gibson may have exaggerated the actions and made it more extreme in its violence and anger (or at least that's my take) Jesus' passion is not something to be avoided. It is an example of passion at its best.

Yes, I know it can be misused, too. We humans can take just about anything good and misapply and twist it to fit our human frailties. But that doesn't make it bad.

So in recovery passion- a passion for life- is one of the things we are looking for. Don't become an extremist, find balance and meaning, but don't lose passion. It's far too important.

Better Than Not At All

Last Saturday night was of course the night of the 4th of July.
And as usual for such events I took along my trusty camera.


I took lots of pictures and was pleasantly surprised by the wide range and styles that show up. Like the one above that made me think of Christmas with a Moravian star in the lower left corner.

Or the ones below that make a mixture of lines and stars that make it look like a bush or shrub.

The next one is exactly what it is supposed to be - a palm tree with its trunk.

But it was also tempting to take the picture of the little one with her sparkler.



Maybe some more at a later time. Perhaps in winter when I will be dreaming of summer?

Good-bye to an Old Old Cyber-friend

Cory reported the end of one of the first true cyber-communities- CompuServe. (To be honest I didn't even know it was still around.)

It started in 1979, 30 years ago as the forerunner to AOL and, in essence the World Wide Web. I first went on CompuServe in October of 1984. I bought my first "real" computer, a Tandy (Radio Shack) which was a surprisingly good computer. I bought a modem and the first night after purchasing a CompuServe membership I was online.

No graphics. Slow modem over a normal telephone line. Did I say no graphics? Just text on a blue screen (I think). But what a rush. It was the beginning of a long- and still active- hobby. Now we take it all for granted.

CompuServe- thank you. You were one of the true pioneers!

Birds and Bikes

Sunday was another great day for a bicycling ride. So I headed east across The River into Wisconsin to do 31 miles (roundtrip) on the Great River Trail.

It was a day for the normal,

but special birds seemed to be around. Familiar birds, of course...

But others as well including this "baby" Sandhill Crane

And Ma & Pa Crane trying to find him.

And if you knew where to look, maybe even a turtle sunning on a log.

Or on the far right center of this picture:

with his head just visible in the center circle of the wave.

On a Bumper Sticker - Dreams

Seen today on a bumper sticker:

Those who abandon their dreams will discourage yours.

All the "news"

As I worked out this afternoon riding a bike at the local health center over lunch I was honored with all the TV networks paying homage to Michael Jackson. From NBC to Fox News there sat these icons of newsiness waiting for the memorial service to start, showing family pictures, re-running the live video feed, etc. etc. etc.

I repeat, this is not headline level news. Sorry folks. It does not require the services of the top news anchors. It does not require the services of hours of commercial TV time. Yes, it is a story of interest, but to turn it into a world-class news event is going a bit far. Fortunately the sound was off and I had my iPod to listen to.

But I must admit I kept waiting to see if ESPN would switch to Jackson-mania. During my time, they did not.

After a Holiday

This Celtic Daily Prayer felt just right for the day after a holiday. We take holidays to unclutter and simplify. Then we go back to making things difficult.

Lord, help me now to unclutter my life,
to organize myself in the direction of simplicity.
Lord, teach me to listen to my heart;
teach me to welcome change, instead of fearing it.
Lord, I give You these stirrings inside me,
I give you my discontent,
I give you my restlessness,
I give you my doubt,
I give you my despair,
I give you all the longings I hold inside.
Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth;
to listen seriously and follow where they lead
through the breathtaking empty space of an open door.

Source: unknown

How Do They Do That?

Not being a bike trail designer, I have often wondered how they do the impossible:

Make a flat trail go uphill in both directions and then
Add a head wind for the last 4 miles.

Amazing.

Yesterday: 31 miles on the Great River Trail along the Mississippi in Wisconsin. Pictures later in the week.

Afflicting the Comfortable

And they took offense at him. (Mark 6:3)

Of course they did. He was Jesus ben Joseph, the carpenter's son. How could they not. They knew him too well.

That's the standard way of looking at the passage- and probably right on target. But there is something really odd about what happens as a result of their taking offense at Jesus.

Jesus did hardly any healings among them. I won't go so far as to say Jesus was powerless in Nazareth, but it was sure a dark black hole that seemed to suck away all his divine healing power.

It would be tempting to say that in order for his healing to work people had to believe in him. But the Gospel narratives sure don't support that. It might be that the Devil was at work taking things away, but that isn't what we are told. Considering how willing the Gospel writers are to talk about the Devil and his campaign against Jesus my guess is that the Devil isn't to blame.

Ah, there's a hint at why we may have trouble dealing with this- blame. We want to blame someone or something for Jesus apparent lack of ability to heal in Nazareth. Blame isn't the issue, I don't believe. Rather I think some kind of spiritual law may be at work here. It may simply be that the people

• didn't see the need to be healed (esp. by one of their own)
• didn't want to be healed (esp. by one of their own) and
• may not have been able to see healing even if it happened to them.

The spiritual law may be that people have to be aware of their spiritual needs and be willing to accept them as possible before they can receive them or see them at work. I remember an old pastor friend who told a story of a member of his church. The woman had a very difficult and often fatal form of cancer. The doctors had given up, although they continued to try things to keep the woman comfortable.

Then the miracle happened. The cancer disappeared. The doctors were pleasantly stunned. They had no explanation. My friend went to visit the woman as he had been doing on a regular basis. She gave him the biggest smile.

"Isn't it great what doctors can do today?" was the first thing out of her mouth.

"God sure helped, too," said my friend."

She gave back a condescending smile as if she were talking to some naive child. "No, pastor," she said with all the confidence she had. "If it weren't for the doctors, it wouldn't have happened."

She might have fit in well in Nazareth that day. You don't know it's happening if you don't know where to look.

Happy Birthday, USA

pmPilgrim photo, 1983, Washington Monument.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.


--Link

Open Again

They are re-opening the crown of the Statue of Liberty today, July 4.


The picture on the right was taken when a group of us went to the top back in 1993. We took the picture to prove that we made the hike- successfully.

More Singing of the Anthem

I guess there's been one of those periodic attempts to think about changing the National Anthem from The Star-Spangled Banner for any one of a number of reasons. Then last Sunday was a good op-ed piece in the Star-Tribune by Trudi Hahn Pickett. She writes:

What I'd really like to do is sing "The Star-Spangled Banner," preferably 1) in public, 2) with no microphones and 3) with a large group of fellow citizens.

Currently, this is next to impossible for an American adult.

She goes on to say that this has become impossible because there are always guest singers doing it for us.

Thanks, Trudi. The last time I went to a ballgame at the Metrodome it was Memorial Day. I was actually looking forward to singing the Anthem that afternoon, joining with the 20-30,000 others on a special day for our country. But I didn't get the chance. I don't remember who sang it or why. I was disappointed. That was part of the joy of the game- singing the Anthem at the start (along with Take Me Out to the Ballgame at the 7th inning stretch, but that's another story.)

Yes, I know that it has a militaristic side to it. Even as a pacifist I still know that we didn't get to be the nation we are without the unfortunate of war. As Francis Scott Key sat in Baltimore harbor watching Fort McHenry the very existence of the nation was in doubt. Would we survive? Could we survive? The symbol of our nation was still there in the morning. Yes, we can.

So I agree with Trudi. No it is not an "easy" song to sing, but that never stopped the crowds at those high school football games I used to help announce at. It is not meant to be a performance to move us. It is a community event to remind us of who we are and how we got to be where we are. It is the American Community joining our voiced together not for some celebrity or other to show us they can sing a capella and reach the high note without cracking.

Give me the crackling crowd, imperfect but trying, as we celebrate the United States.

Finally a Winner

Al Franken at Olmsted Co. DFL Convention, 3/29/08.
pmPilgrim picture

At long last Minnesota has two senators.

Al Franken (right) was finally certified this past week.

We wish him well and hope he can show the quality that we need in a senator taking back Paul Wellstone's seat.

Evolution or Revolution

Again I was listening to Speaking of Faith and again I was struck by an insight. The guest this week was Xavier Le Pichon who is one of the world's leading geophysicists, and his pioneering research on plate tectonics revolutionized our understanding of how the earth works. He has also spent decades living in community with people and families facing disability and has emerged with a rare perspective on the meaning of humanity — a perspective equally informed by his scientific and personal encounters with fragility as a fundament of vital, evolving systems.

Somewhere along in the show there was discussion on evolution and revolution.

Mr. Le Pichon: Communities which are very strong, very rigid, that do not take into account the weak points of the community, the people who are in difficulty and so on, tends to be communities that do not evolve. And when they evolve, it's generally by a very strong commotion, a revolution, I would call them in French.

Ms. Tippett: You make that distinction between systems that incorporate fragility and evolve and then systems that become rigid and need revolutions to move forward.

Two things jumped out at me in the conversation, or better put, two ideas came to mind. First was the idea of evolution vs revolution. It is an old sermon illustration to contrast the rigid trees that will sway in a wind storm and not break versus those that re overly rigid and tend to crack in those same winds. This week we in the US celebrate a revolution. Probably the first successful and democratic revolution. There was a rigidity in the British monarchy/parliamentary system in 1776 that made revolution the only viable way.

But what probably allowed that revolution to succeed where so many others have not is in the foundation that Le Pinchon described- an awareness and acceptance of fragility. The American Constitution was built on a mixed view of humanity and on the need to take care of the weaker members. They built checks and balances into the Constitution because humans are very fallible and someone had to watch out for sin. But at the same time they were aware that the majority can be overpowering to those who are not.

This is based, of course, on the underlying Anglo-Saxon/Magna Carta society. There was already a semblance of caring and support that the American revolutionaries built on.

For Le Pinchon it all comes down to an understanding of God and society that he first learned in the slums of Calcutta and then in religious communities for handicapped people. The man who discovered plate tectonics then applied the difference between fluidity and rigidity in the earth's plates, went on to live in a powerfully humble way.

Mr. Le Pichon: Human people are not adults in full possession of their means. Human people, it starts with babies, it continues with growing people, it continues with adults, it continues with older people and with great age and people who die. All of that is part of humanity and humanity is not complete if you have some of the spots out.

And the way to build the society is the way to integrate these people in a way in which they can interact and each of them can find out that they have their place, that their life has a meaning, that they are needed by the others. So often I have found, for example, among very old people that they have the impression that they are not useful anymore. You know, nobody needs them. And then they want to go. They want to go. So there is this problem that the society cannot live by itself, if it doesn't recognize that it heterogeneous and highly diverse.

And that the weakest have to get their place in there.

--Link to Transcript