Bearing Witness in the Midst of Life

Posted today from George Hunsinger on Inward/Outward:

Let us relinquish the future. Let us relinquish it to God, who upholds us in our pain, who frees us for doing what is faithful, but who frees us from the need to prevail…. Gathered around Word and sacrament, fellowship and prayer, a confessing church, in the midst of encircling chaos, will stand in the name of God’s peace. A community of reconciliation in the midst of division, of the cross in the midst of compromise, and of joy in the midst of despair, it will play its part by bearing witness to Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.

Source: Disruptive Grace

To which all I can say in this Lenten season is:

Amen and so may it be.

You Say You Want a Revolution? Well...

Michelle Bachman, Republican representative from part of Minnesota, has made herself well known in the past year. Her comments that then Senator Obama was un-American and a call to investigate the true patriotism of other legislators nearly lost her a re-election bid. She was at it again last week.

Appearing on radio with conservative commentator Sean Hannity she called for a revolution. She called for people to rise up in arms against the socialist agenda of the Obama administration. She even quoted Thomas Jefferson that every nation needs a periodic revolution to keep things going right.

Perhaps because I am also reading the book Nixonland, a review of the 60s political shifts, Bachman’s quote took me back those 40 years. First was her call for revolution. But even more reminiscent was the quoting of Jefferson. She actually sounded a great deal like those leftists of the 60s, right down to the Jefferson quote. That in itself was an eye-opener. Who would have ever expected to hear such left-wing rhetoric from such a right-wing conservative?

But even more surprising were the following thoughts:

1. Her party/ideology has been out of power for less than three months. She has not been in the wilderness, fighting a long battle against these supposed forces of evil.
2. The people she is yelling against were freely and duly elected. Yes, I know that Hitler was freely and duly elected. Election does not guarantee the right person. But after only a few short months we cannot know what will happen.
3. But what most shocks me is that the American system does not work. The election system that elected her, the patriotic American system, has failed. She believes this because the other side won. Her side lost. The system only truly works when my side wins.

Scary. Truly scary.

Lent 5

Rembrandt, 1511, Fresco
Sistine Chapel, Vatican

The Fifth Sunday of Lent, 2009

Jeremiah 31:33 - But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.



John 12:24 - [Jesus said] Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.


Cliches often occur because they express important truths- and then get over used. Photos like the crocus and snow to the left fit that category. We use them every year- or even every time we can- to portray the idea of death turning into life. Many of us go hiking around this time of year to find pictures like that- or to poke around for the signs that winter is coming to an end. Once again, life is winning.

As I thought about Lent today, the Crucifixion and Easter in two weeks, then thought about Jesus in the Gospel my mind naturally went to this idea. Lent, Easter, rebirth. Spring.

Over, under, and through it all this week was the death of the 23-year old son of a colleague and friend. I wrote my initial thoughts on Wednesday when I first heard about it. I have now lived with the thoughts and prayers of that most of my waking hours. Many of my Facebook friends are also of the same denomination as I am and have been posting thoughts and comments. We became a virtual community in our shared pain.

But that is for other times. What has been so powerful has been the continuing awareness of the truth of today's lessons. First is the knowledge that within God's people is the covenant. It is not external- if it truly ever was. It is written in the heart and soul of those he has claimed as his own. You and me. All those who God loves.

Therefore:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

But then it moves to the Gospel and the source of that promise for me. There, today, I find the very taproot of hope for me as a Christian. There is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. I don't know how it happens. I am painfully aware of the lack of a final answer. i am surrounded my the mystery of that activity of God that I will not, in this life, be able to explain to my own satisfaction, let alone yours. All I know is that it is real. I have been there, experienced that and know it is truth- the truth that has set me free.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

The words of this timeless and never failing hymn came out of a life of deep pain. The death of a son, the Chicago Fire which ruined him financially and then the death of his four daughters when the ship they were on sank. The song was his response.

As I think of Robert and the family and friends who now grieves his sudden loss I think of these words. When I think back to my nephew taken from us at 26 I cannot but ponder these words. When I think of the many close and wonderful friends who have gone before me, these words lead me deeply into the presence of God. When I think of the very real and inescapable fact that all life ends this way- all I can do is fall on my knees, bow before my maker and know that no matter what, it will be well with my soul.

I know my Lord lives and reigns and in all things, now and forever. Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

A 20-Year Memory: The Academy Awards

March 29- 61st Academy Awards:
*Best Picture- Rain Man
*Best Actor- Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man)
*Best Actress- Jodie Foster (The Accused)
*Best Supporting Actor- Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda)
*Best Supporting Actress- Geena Davis (The Accidental Tourist)
*Best Director- Barry Levinson (Rain Man)
*Best Original Screenplay- Rain Man
*Best Adapted Screenplay- Dangerous Liaisons

A 30-Year Memory: Three Mile Island

Picture of TMI, taken May, 1984
pmPilgrim

March 28 - A nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, causes a partial meltdown.

And I was there. Just 12 miles down the Susquehanna River in York, PA. It was a time second only to the Cuban Missile Crisis. We left town.

Thirty years later I am still incredibly grateful for the safe ending of the crisis. The great mystery as I understand it is not how it happened, but why, it appears that a growing bubble that could have exploded, disappeared.

I still have a certain amount of trepidation about the further development of nuclear power.

No duh!

We Get Different Answers

Walking through the bookstore the other week I saw a book that caught my attention. (Not a particular surprise in that!) The title was Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America — and Found Unexpected Peace by journalist William Lobdell. Lobdell was the religion columnist for the LA Times, a position he lobbied for after he became a Christian. He wanted to give a more fair and positive view of religion.

In the end he lost his religion.

I didn't buy the book, but I did some surfing on the web and found his web site and the article he wrote in the LA Times coming out of his now atheist closet.

He came to the conclusion that there is no God. It was a difficult move and he was afraid of telling people. Yet he felt there was no way around it. A couple of stories he reported on led him to this conclusion, most painfully the clergy abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church which he was going through catechism to join. That and TV evangelists on TBN including "faith-healer" (sic) Benny Hinn. Then finally covering a child-support case involving a former seminarian (now priest) who had fathered a child. He pleaded that he could not give support because he had made a vow of poverty. His plea was accepted.

In his several years of wrestling with these issues he had come across all the standard answers, the two most common being 1) to look at the God behind the very fallible human face of an institution and 2) God is so much beyond our understanding we just have to accept these paradoxes. (My words.) They didn't work.

God either doesn't care, is brutal and mean - or there is no God. It came down to that basic issue.
Lobdell felt that there was no God.

Clearly, I saw now that belief in God, no matter how grounded, requires at some point a leap of faith. Either you have the gift of faith or you don't. It's not a choice. It can't be willed into existence. And there's no faking it if you're honest about the state of your soul.

It is easy to understand Lobdell's conclusion. It truly is the only logical conclusion. It is the only one that makes clear A + B = C sense.

But I can't go there. It just doesn't work for me. I have tried to think that way since seeing the book and reading his essay. I read another similar book a few months ago, Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind by John Marks. He came to the same conclusion after seeing the cruelty and devastation of war and the treatment of children and women in war zones. I tried to imagine there was no God as John Lennon urged almost 40 years ago.

But I could not. My mind will not allow me to go there. My mind will not accept the non-existence of God. I can porbably give you some "emotional" reasons. I may even be able to express some "intellectual" reasons. But for me it is not a matter of either of these even though many people will rely on those. For me it is part of a deep, inexplicable mystery that just is. It is the understanding that when Moses asked the God in the burning bush who he should say sent him, he was told, "I am." It is the knowledge that when Jesus was asked who he was he said "I am."

Simply, I believe God is. Period. And I try to live that way.

Again, the money quote from his column admitting his loss of faith:

Clearly, I saw now that belief in God, no matter how grounded, requires at some point a leap of faith. Either you have the gift of faith or you don't. It's not a choice. It can't be willed into existence. And there's no faking it if you're honest about the state of your soul.

While I may not accept the easy way out answer of you "either have it or you don't" is do agree it is a leap of faith. Faith. Unprovable, unseen but not necessarily beyond our awareness. You take the leap of faith and act "as if..." You move and live and act within the belief.

Is that faking it? Yes, it may be. But as you "fake it" you are also opening yourself to the possibility that it is real.

I need to work more on this, but this week, especially, in light of sadness and grief within my church's extended family, I am more convinced than ever that there is a God. I for one cannot imagine or understand life without God.

Razzle Dazzle is Too Short-Lived

It was Easter Sunday, March 26, 1989. I was five months sober, only four months out of inpatient treatment. Back in the month in the treatment center a fellow clergy who was in recovery at the time stopped to see me. As he was preparing to leave he got this smile on his face and simply said, "Just wait until Easter. You won't believe it."

Needless to say I had no idea what that would mean. I understood as another pastor that he meant resurrection- and probably even my feeling of resurrection. But there was no way I could have any inkling of what that would feel like. I thought of that a couple of times in those intervening 4 months but the preparations for Lent, Holy Week and Easter slipped them beyond consciousness.

Being a good Moravian church we went to the cemetery for our Easter Dawn service. We actually held the whole service there led by our brass, reciting our powerful creedal liturgy. Only there in the cemetery could we make that truly radical statement that death- the seeming victor- was forever defeated.

I remember a sunrise that year. That doesn't mean it was there. It might have been cloudy, but I don't think so. But as it stays in my memory nearly 20 years later, the sun began to peek above the farmland to the east as the band stopped playing its prelude hymns.

The Lord is risen
The Lord is risen indeed.

And it sent (and still sends) a chill up and down the spine and deep within my slowly blooming soul I knew it was true. True beyond words or explanation or doubt.

Meet the Author

My friend Larry Christianson will be having a book party on Saturday for his newest book, Obama Rising. It will be at the Mocha Monkey in Waconia, MN starting at 4:00 pm. There will be a reading starting at 7:00 pm. If you missed it, here's a link to my review.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Address: 115 S Olive St, Waconia, MN
It's in the western Twin Cities metro.
Link to map. (You'll need to zoom out.)

Life is Fragile- Hug Your Loved Ones

Earlier this evening I received word that the early-20s son of one of my pastoral colleagues in our denomination died earlier today. No one knows what happened or why at this point.

When the email came from our church offices- district and national- it was like getting hit in the stomach. I was overwhelmed and could only mutter "Oh no!" Our Moravian denomination is small. We could easily get an email like this from anywhere in the world- and we might very well know someone who knows the person. But here in the United States we are so tightly connected that these things are not some distant event. They hit home.

He had the world by the tail. Early 20s, a year out of college. He was a go-getter, a strong and powerful young man. He came from a family of strong and powerful people who have done much to make this world a better place.

But life. It is so fragile. So so so fragile. The phone lines in the Moravian world are buzzing tonight looking for support, looking to give support.

And we are all in prayer. Prayer for strength, prayer for support, prayer simply to be held in God's loving embrace.

I called a close friend and we talked. I called my daughter to let her know. But it was more than to talk. It was simply to connect. Community- family of choice and faith- is so real and so powerful. I don't know how people can live without it. Yes, I realize that is a value decision on my part. But I can no more survive without it than I can survive with food and water.

Right after I heard the news I had iTunes DJ shuffling songs. The first song that came up was by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. It says it all so well- the need and the promise:

"Let not your heart be troubled,"
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears:
Though by the path He leadeth
But one step I may see:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

A 20-Year Memory: Alaskan Oil

March 24 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaska's Prince William Sound the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (11 million gallons) of oil after running aground.

Some Old Pictures

I mentioned last week that I was scanning some of old slides into the computer. I thought I would share a couple of them with some comments.
Here is, I think, the oldest of the ones I scanned. I believe it is from the summer of 1952 or 1953. Yes, that's me, the captain of my fence at either age 4 or 5. In the early days, and some of the later ones as well, neither Kodak nor my parents put dates on the slides so I am guessing at the date. The earlier date is most likely.

This one is from November of 1953. My brother is just a little over 2 and I am 5. Notice the old Packard. Well, it wasn't old then. Already I was auditioning to be cool. Too bad I flunked the audition.

Big jump in time to August 1970. Yes that is the Brandenburg Gate in what was then East Berlin. And yes, that is part of the Berlin Wall. I am, in this picture, in West Berlin. The chariot on top of the Gate is facing east on the famous boulevard Unter den Linden. I believe it now faces west as originally designed.

Standing near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. It's 1973 and my wife and I spent a month in Israel. It is amazing how pictures truly do bring back feelings as well as memories. Oh yes, and memories of the heat, too.

In the Arizona desert in 1973. Two months in the desert that year, first in Israel and then Arizona. This trip was part of a Seminary cross-cultural experience on the Navajo reservation. Yes, that is the same person as the top picture.

I am now about 80% done with the scanning. So far I have added 1150 slides to my picture files. Yes, there were at least 11,000 originals. Probably more. I had gobs of "nature" and "people" slides that were so so. Why so many? Well, back in the old days I would put together slide shows with music and narration added. In reality, for those too young to remember, these were the pre-cursors to the Powerpoint presentations. (Only better?)

At least once a year- in the 70s and 80s, mind you- I would put together one of these mutli-media presentations for my church as my sermon for the day. No one complained. In fact some always wanted to know when I was going to do one so they could be sure to be in church that week.

Is it any wonder I call myself a post-modern Pilgrim. Been on this pilgrimage for years. Even before it wsa post-modern. (No that does not mean I am all that brilliant. Just a multi-media nut.

Another thought was looking at some of those pictures from 35 or more years ago and knowing that these pictures are truly but a mili-second in time. So much- SO MUCH- has happened since then. The slides from Berlin in '70 and Israel in both '73 and '80 show that. Time is moving. Always.

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ
1880 John La Farge
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Fourth Sunday of Lent 2009

Facing the Truth

John 3: 14 - 17 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Ice Out

I've been watching the area of ice on the little lake by my apartment today. This morning started with about 20% ice free. Now it's almost 80%. By the end of the day (temp is 62 F) it should all be gone.

Spring.

Longer Than Expected

The week was longer than expected. No, not in hours, but in what I felt like at the end of the week. For years as a pastor I would make visits to people post-surgery, either in the hospital (in long ago days when they stayed longer) or at home in more serious situations. One of those "Things To Say" at times like that was, "Well, it takes time to recuperate from surgery. Take it easy."

I had people telling me the same thing prior to surgery and then when people would call me to find out how I was doing. Yes, I believed it was true. Yes, I knew it takes time for the body to recover after the trauma of surgery. A lot of things happen to your body in even relatively simple surgeries like mine.

But I was feeling so good. Sure, there were times in those first two weeks that I would get really tired really quickly. But last Monday I knew I was ready to go back to work. I felt good. The pain was minimal. I spend a lot of time sitting at work- either in group or at my desk. My wife took me to the front door of the building and picked me up at the end of the day. I would wonder when a nurse at work would ask with surprise, "You're back to work full days?" Or another would stop by and ask if I was doing okay. Should be a cinch I thought.

In many ways it was. Until last night when I guess all the adrenaline and self-pushing finally came to an end. I was exhausted. It was not a difficult week. There were no more crises than normal. I really enjoyed it. But by last evening I was done. I had no energy. I sat like a blob for a while at the computer then went and did the same in front of the tube. I did some crosswords online.

And went to bed early. On a Friday night.

The moral of the story- pay attention to folk wisdom and the wisdom of experience and observation. Even when you already know it- pay attention. There is probably something to learn, a truth that is more important than facts - or even how you think you feel.

Oh, yes. Also pay attention to yourself and your body. It will tell you when you have hit bottom. Don't fight it. It's not worth it.

Health Care Reform

Economist and Princeton professor Uwe Reinhardt was on Fresh Air with Terry Gross last week. Some of what he said really hit home and expressed my gut feelings about why health care reform is not an option. He was talking about the simple fact that in a nation like ours it is unthinkable that people who need health care won't get it because they can't afford insurance.

Here are some quotes from the last part of the interview when Reinhardt got passionate.

You lose your job, you lose your income, you lose your health insurance. It's an accident of World War II that we have it the way we it is...

I grew up in a tool shed and I know how good it was that when we were paupers we had health insurance like everyone else in Germany. I would like the American people to have what I had as a kid.

Stay away from people who try to solve with cliches, ike this is socialized medicine and then you don't have to think about it anymore. Try to think through- what kind of country would you like to live in? Do you want to live in a country where someone who loses his job loses his insurance?

Do you want a system where kids get out of college and can't get insurance for ten years?

Do you want it that when a family member gets cancer you lose house or car?

We have that now. Lose insurance with job, lose house and go bankrupt over medical bills. No one in Canada or Germany has that happen.

What kind of country do you want to live in?

I had never heard someone put it so personally, passionately and succinctly. I had never had someone ask that powerful question:

What kind of country do we want to live in?

Some have criticized President Obama over his trying to tackle health care (and other issues) when the financial crisis is so deep. Well, as unemployment goes up, as more people are out of work, as income goes down for many, they can't afford health care. That is not an idle issue separate from others.

The health care system is as important to our national economy as auto or finance. (In some places like here in Rochester, MN, it is the center of our economy.) So what happens....

• All of a sudden more people don't have insurance.
  
• They don't go to the doctor for important check-ups.
  
• They get sick and go to a clinic or emergency room.
  
• They can't pay but rightly get treated.
  
• The institution eats the cost or gets minor reimbursement.
  
• The health care system loses money. They cut back on services or employees.
  
• And the cycle continues.

This is not a fantasy. It is already occurring. It will get worse. What if we get a flu outbreak or the dreaded bird flu pandemic? Even without that, the system is as tenuous as the financial system was 18-months ago, fragile, vulnerable.

What kind of country do we want to call home?

I don't know what such a system would look like. There are far more brilliant minds than mine working on it. Health care systems are working on it because they are already seeing the early signs. It is part of the spiral of recession and needs to be ready to be handled well, or we will all pay the price- literally with our health, the health of our children and communities, and the health of our nation.

A Move in the Right Direction

This from the Religion News feed of the Pew Forum:

New Mexico governor abolishes capital punishment

"Regardless of my personal opinion about the death penalty, I do not have confidence in the criminal justice system as it currently operates to be the final arbiter when it comes to who lives and who dies for their crime," Richardson said.

This, for me, is one of the basic issues. It is an issue of being pro-life and pro-human. It is an issue that will keep us in bondage to vengeance. I is also better that no one will be sent to death for something they didn't do.

Congratulations Governor Richardson for making a difficult choice that stands up for what is right.

Back To Work

Well, I'm almost done with my first week back at work since the surgery three weeks ago yesterday. Amazing how fas they get you back on the mend these days.

It has been a good and relatively easy time. There was some few times at the beginning of the week when my stamina/energy level slipped a bit. But I just sat back, took a breath and rested a moment or so and I got past it. Evenings were a little slow but I didn't start back to band practice on Monday but will probably go tonight.

Pain? not really. Some discomfort and tightness around the muscles of the lower back. I would guess that's still the healing process. I have been walking around and have had none of the symptoms I had before surgery. I am still unwilling to say it is better. Superstition I guess. I just say I continue to be cautiously optimistic.

One of the interesting things going back to work was that I missed working. No, not because I was bored, although there were days and times. But because

a) I like my job
b) I like the people I work with.

I don't see how it would be possible to be that "unstructured" (i.e. with no regular schedule or set of things to do.) For my entire working life there have only been a few times when I didn't look forward to work. Often because of being "underemployed" or mis-employed. I guess retirement can be good- but just sitting around is not my idea of fun. If you enjoy your life's work, who says you need to quit doing it?

Maybe re-arrange it a little or add some flexibility, but that's not where I am today.

So, one more day this week. Then a three-day weekend. (I have Monday off since I work next Saturday.)

I'm glad I had the surgery and the time off. It wasn't as bad as anticipated. But I am even happier that I am now back at work.

Next will be getting back to some of my exercising and then- Spring weather- and bicycling!

A 50-Year Memory: Making it 50

March 18 - American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.

Fifty-Five Years Gone

I have spent some time the past week sorting through boxes of slides from the past 55 years. Some were taken by my parents of my brother and me. But most were pictures that I took, mostly between 1970 when I went to Europe at the end of my senior year in college and the mid 80s.

I had several hundred of Europe in 1970 including the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. I had over 1200 from trips to Israel in 1973 and 1980. I had 1200 or more of nature pictures of all kinds from all season. There was a trip to Arizona in 1973 and another visit to Europe that same year. I know there are at least 5-6 more slide cases as well as a number of old Kodak slide carousels still lurking in the closet, maybe up to another 2000 or more.

So far I have digitized a little less than 700 of the 7000 I have skimmed.

What surprised me- though it shouldn't have- was how many I looked at and said- "Gee. I wonder why I took that?" At the time, riding a bus in Israel or up into the Austrian Alps it might have made sense, but unless you write it all down as you go, it is just one more slide of one more rock or desert scene. It almost reaches the point of "You've seen one desert picture, you've seen them all."

Of course that is how the best pictures are made. They are the 1 in 10 or 20 or even 100 where the right elements of light, focus, movement, color, etc all come together to make a special picture. Back in the old days of film, photography teachers used to tell students that film was the cheapest thing they had at their disposal. You needed to use a lot of it to get the pictures you wanted. Of the 700 I have digitized some are special to me because of my memory of the incident. Some are good. Some are of some historic value- the Berlin Wall for example.

The other surprise was how well I remembered some of the pictures. They were the ones that stuck in my mind from when I took them or looked at them back home. That's also how I know there are more out there that I haven't found yet- I remember the pictures but haven't seen them yet.

And finally, from this vantage point, the differences in the different slide films was amazing. Kodachrome was, without a doubt, a great film. Many of the slides from 1970 still have a strong sense of color. Ektachrome had its bluish cast, Agfa with a slight green and Fuji a blend of Ektachrome and Kodachrome. Of course I will be playing with the pictures and getting ready to post many of them over at my pmPilgrim photoBlog sometime beginning in April.

It has been an interesting experience to immerse myself in all these pictures this past week. Yes, it's part of my cleaning house/downsizing movement. But it is also a way of pulling some of these various bits and pieces into today. We are all, as cliched as it sounds, made up of all these experiences. To review these times, to think back and reflect, to put all of one's times in perspective- that's part of our task. We do it for ourselves- finding answers and questions that apply today. But we do it for others so that we may share the story of our lives with them.

After all, we are all in this together.

What that means for all these slides I threw away and all the ones digitized, I have no idea. Any reflections?

Wearin' o' the Green

(Actual, unretouched photo.)

from pm o'Pilgrim

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

An Old Irish Blessing
May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!
--Island Ireland

Wow!

This was good to know- we actually do have more time than we used to.....

One second used to be defined as 1/86,400 the length of a day. However, Earth’s rotation isn’t perfectly reliable. Tidal friction from the sun and moon slows our planet and increases the length of a day by 3 milli­seconds per century.

This means that in the time of the dinosaurs, the day was just 23 hours long.
--Best Article Every Day

Book Recommendation: Obama Rising

(Disclaimer: The author is a close and long-time friend. I happen to think, however, that he has a lot to say and is well-worth reading and enjoying! My review and recommendation is done with full honesty about how I feel about the book.)

Obama Rising:
Real-time Reflections from
the Heart of a Poet

Personal reflections, political commentary and poetry at a critical intersection of history happening in the opening days of Obama rising down to earth, timely, insightful and quirky all in realtime from the heart of a poet.

Author Larry Christianson decided back in November that he wanted to reflect on the historic transition from Election Day to the Inauguration of Barack Obama as our first African-American president. As a poet, Larry has that special gift of taking the daily events and boiling them down into concise language that evokes feelings and reactions behind the events. But instead of just writing a series of poems he went deeper and wrote essays, reflections and commentaries on the events.

The book then is more than either a political treatise on the cultural shift or a poetic response to those two and a half months. It has become a point-counterpoint as Larry uses his skills to give us a sense of the roller coaster ride of those days. In looking back over those not so distant days it is amazing how much we forget- or maybe didn't even notice. Hence the poet will reflect on the fact that a donut costs more than the morning paper that is going into Chapter 11, the Nixonian undertones of Illinois governor Blagojevic's attempt to sell Obama's Senate seat, or the mundane problem of the new President keeping his Blackberry.

Larry reflects on the hope that Obama campaigned on- and the hope he embodies as he enters the White House. Larry also sees the problems and obstacles that Obama will have to face. He ties in his personal experiences and history of political involvement. He allows himself to push the edge a little, but never to a breaking point. The highest praise for any essayist or poet is that he makes you think. No, not by giving answers, but by allowing the words to become a path for you to find the answers for you.

In the end the book works on more levels than one might think thanks to Larry's skill as a writer. Poets do not themselves necessarily make successful politicians. They feel too deeply. But poetry about politics can open new possibilities and understandings and offer links we didn't see at first. This is not just another book on politics or Obama. This is personal and hopeful and filled with the excitement of the transition. I am glad that Larry managed to get it on paper. Too soon the glow will fade and the old politics as usual will work its destructiveness. This book should be kept and taken off the shelf on a regular basis so that we do not forget.

As Larry wrote at the start of the poem that he placed at the Inauguration.

Poetry.
Lying in wait -
hidden within kernels
of truth.

Such is the promise fulfilled in this excellent book.

(Use the link on the right sidebar to order the book from Amazon.)

Bernardino Mei
Italian, about 1655
The Getty Museum

The Third Sunday of Lent

"Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

Not your every day domesticated Jesus in this picture. How easy it is to calm Jesus down- or worse- to make him an angry militant. The first is what we do most of the year. The second is what we do when he gets into the Temple. For a brief moment we can stand up and cheer Jesus the way he should be- the OT-type prophet flinging things around in a great street theater sermon.

Over the years I have heard, read and preached various interpretations of this event. It is clear that Jesus' passion (or should it be Passion) is showing through. It is a reaction to the misuse and abuse of the Temple, especially in the Court of the Gentiles, where all the nations can come to pray. They can't go any further, so why not wring a few more shekels or denarii out of them.

But this passion is so alarming that none of us forget it. Nor can we internalize it with the rest of Jesus. But there it is. There it will always be until we get all the final answers. So what do I have to learn from this?

One I think is that we should be very cautious about making Jesus or spirituality or God a commodity to be sold on the open market. You can't buy God. You can't buy God's grace. Those who are trying to do so in even subtle forms are doing violence to the Gospel. Grace is always free.

Second I think we need to remember that prayer is central to the life with God. That sounds so simple, or even simplistic, but it is that basic. Prayer is nothing but the ongoing connecting with God. It is not a formula of words or styles or physical positions. It is being in the flow of God's love.

The money-changers, ancient and modern, are putting roadblocks in that flow. To do so is dangerous to ones soul.

Golden Parachutes

Short Rant Warning.
Read the following if you don't mind my ranting for a few paragraphs......

Last evening on the news I heard that AIG, the insurance giant that has received many dollars in Federal funds, is paying executives who ran the company into financial trouble bonuses and other financial incentives. They are contractually required to do so, they said.

Here's the head and lead from the NYT site:

A.I.G. Planning $100 Million in Bonuses After Huge Bailout
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and PETER BAKER
Published: March 14, 2009

WASHINGTON — Despite being bailed out with more than $170 billion from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, the American International Group is preparing to pay about $100 million in bonuses to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.

No one will do that for you or me. No one will do that for the retirees who are struggling with decreased investments that they expected to live on. No one will do that for those of us nearing retirement with not enough time for the stock market to regain enough to go back to what we actually put in.

If someone suggested that you or I get those bonuses and incentives for our support they would be shouted down as socialists.

If this is completely free market forces at work, why do we get the short end of the staff? Why do we pay for the losses through our taxes but don't get the benefits when things are going well. Only these executives get support either way.

I could be wrong, but it is not the way Jesus would want to see it happen. Where are the rising voices of moral outrage in the religious right? Where are those who will stand up and be heard that being a Christian is far more than the happy by-and-by. It is doing what is right. Here. Now.

End of Rant.

For now.

An Excellent Album

It's nine years old, but I just got around to hearing it.

Van Morrison's album The Skiffle Sessions. If you don't know about skiffle, it was a popular British music style in the 50s that was highly influential in the rock music that came. It was based on American "roots" music like rockabilly, country, and blues. Lonnie Donegan was THE British skiffle star.

In 1998 Van Morrison, one of the truly classic, great musicians of the past 40 years go together with Donegan and others for a 1998 live concert in Belfast. The result is an infectious album that could even have been an inspiration for Springsteen's Seeger Sessions of a few years ago. I remember when the album came out and it got decent reviews. I finally got around to it yesterday.

I missed out on nine years of fun.

Skiffle was never GREAT music. But it made for great times and music. (My foot won't sit still when I'm listening.) Morrison et. al. do skiffle its due and then some with songs ranging from Alabamy Bound to Frankie and Johnny and the Midnight Special. It's the kind of concert that turns into a party. I'm sure it was hard to sit still. It is just good fun and fun music.

Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish had an excellent post yesterday that summed up a great deal of how many felt with Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer on Thursday. Here for me are some of the money quotes from Sullivan:

Did you expect that? I expected a jolly and ultimately congenial discussion, after some banter. What Cramer walked into was an ambush of anger. He crumbled from the beginning...

Stewart - that little comic with the Droopy voice for Lieberman - is actually becoming an accidental activist. ... what Stewart has done is rip off that little band-aid of faux solidarity for a modicum of ethical and moral accountability...

It's not enough any more, guys, to make fantastic errors and then to carry on authoritatively as if nothing just happened. You will be called on it. ... [A]n insistent and vulgar demand for some responsibility, some moral and ethical accountability for previous decisions and pronouncements.

Braver, please. And louder.

Reading blog posts yesterday in response to the great CNBC/Daily Show debate was interesting. I agree wholeheartedly with Sullivan. The issue isn't conservative -vs - liberal or news - vs - comedy. If you are liberal you watch MSNBC. If you are conservative you watch Fox. If you want news maybe you watch the Evening News shows or CNN from time to time. CNBC and similar networks are promising information and news but have been giving us something else. Which is what Stewart called Cramer on.

Stewart was clearly angry, and as my wife commented, he was saying all the things that many of us want to say to people like Cramer. He never let Cramer off the hook until the very end when he accepted a sort-of promise from Cramer to do better. He kept saying over and over that this wasn't personally about Jim Cramer. It was about the promises of the network knowing the behind the scenes shenanigans and turning away.

We have found over these past 35 post-Watergate years that from time to time we are no longer giving that kind of a pass to presidents and other politicians as often as we used to. Now may be another turning point in calling those we thought we could trust with information on their crap as well.

The Sky Is Not Falling

The Best Article Every Day web site posted the chart to the left last week. It shows the times of expansion and recession over the past 49 years.

Several things jumped out at me immediately.

1. There's more green than red on the chart. In fact the average shows that red is 11 months and green is 71 months. Let me translate that. Recessions last around a year. Expansions around six years.

2. The issue of recession is obviously somewhat cyclical. That does not mean there aren't extenuating circumstances for them that could have been avoided.

3. We have survived all of the recessionary (contraction) periods and have actually done quite well afterward. Even the recession that was in progress at 9/11 did not continue past November of that year. There seems to be a resilience to the American economy. I remember a number of times when in our church we had to take some serious look at our budget in light of the economy. We adjusted, worked, and went ahead.

4. That is not to downplay either the depth or extent of this recession we are in. I do not know some of the issues of previous recessions any more. This one has some clear causes in greed, lack of oversight, and some of the basic difficulties with capitalism. Add to that the ongoing shift of world power and production and you have some serious things happening.

5. This contraction/recession will give us some opportunities to adjust and grow in new ideas and directions. One is health care. Another is the opportunity to do some work on the infrastructure. This is both a stimulus and a support system we sorely need. (More on another day.)

6. But looking at this chart gives me reason to hope- and to want to tell the news media and politicians on all sides to get their heads on straight and see that there is probably already a light at the end of the tunnel. We might be on a slow train heading that direction, but I have no doubt we are going that way.

Not Again?

Paraskavedekatriaphobia.

That was the word last month. It's back. Another day of fear and terror in the movie theaters and every Elm Street in the country.

No reason to point it out. Just a minor distraction on an otherwise nice day.

Just don't step on any cracks and remember to throw the salt over your right (or is it left?) shoulder?

Go Jon, Go

Wow.

Jon Stewart really put it together tonight with Jim Cramer on the Daily Show.

It is amazing that a "comedy" show takes The Business Network to task for its shortcomings because it is also entertainment. Jon is amazingly intelligent in spite of his self-deprecation.

Cramer did well, but I doubt there will be any change in his or any of CNBC's methods. But this whole situation may bring about a change for them, too. Maybe they will do what Jon is asking them to do- give us the whole story and what is going on behind the scenes doing real investigative reporting.

What is interesting is that Stewart has truly taken "comedy" to some of its roots- the fool who calls out the king or political humor of the level of Will Rogers. It has been interesting.

It's Anti-Christian?

Came upon this story last week from Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing.

"A retired barber named Joe Godlewski wasn't happy with all that 'Kosher salt' TV chefs use, so he's selling sea salt, blessed by an Episcopalian priest and marketing it as 'Christian Salt'. Of course, most chefs use Kosher salt because of its properties, and not because of any blessing which may have been given by a rabbi."
--Link to full story

I have nothing to add. Guys like this speak for themselves.

Okay- I'm Surprised- and Humbled Again

reflection of the past two weeks since my back surgery.

I admit being incredibly surprised at what has- and hasn't- happened.

• I am far better than I expected to be.
• The pain decreased remarkably.
• The pain was never as bad as expected.
• I was up and moving more than I would have thought possible.
• The return of stamina was slower than I would have believed. All of a sudden I would notice being very tired.

Remember, my only other experience with this was my wife having the same surgery 30 years ago when she spent a week in the hospital and four - six weeks unable to even be in the car.

But perhaps the biggest surprise that shouldn't have been a surprise- the cunning and baffling power of addiction. I have known for all 20 years of my recovery that surgery and the use of narcotic pain medication is always a slippery time even when narcotic addiction has never been present. The brain that has been "hijacked" by addiction, even "just" addiction to alcohol, is always a sitting duck. The inner workings of the brain that have been most affected don't know- and frankly, my dear, don't give a damn- which chemicals are used. If they do something that connects with that part of the brain- you are in dangerland.

That DOES NOT MEAN that you shouldn't use the prescribed medications when you have surgery. To not use them when- and as- prescribed would be foolish and even more dangerous. But they who go into the midst of addictive substances should go well prepared! It is a mental wilderness with wild beasts and things that go bump in the night.

I knew all that. I teach that to others. I understand the whole process from a professional standpoint. But- alas- addiction is a sneaky SOB. One must never, absolutely never, assume that addiction is under control. As the Big Book of AA says, it is only a "daily reprieve" based on my spiritual condition.

Of course spiritual condition includes dealing with the stresses and frustrations of daily life. It includes the ability to have acceptance of things as they are and the wisdom to know what you can and can't change. In the midst of post-surgical fog those things become all mixed up. Even when you "think" you're doing fine- don't bet on it. The brain has this great lack of insight called "denial" that prevents you from making wise decisions even when you think you are right on target.

I see this happen day in and day out in treatment. It is the common denominator of every- no exception- every alcoholic or addict I have ever known, been at 12- Step meetings with, or worked with in treatment. NO EXCEPTIONS! There will always be some form of denial at work. ALWAYS. Denial takes many forms, of course- minimizing, rationalizing, intellectualizing, out and out denial. In one form or another it usually says: "You don't understand. My situation is different."

Every addict and alcoholic on some level often believes they will never go back to using again. They are not like those other addicts who have no will-power. They aren't like those hopeless drunks. "I can handle the situation. I can say no. My will is strong." Unfortunately the point of having to say "No!" often sneaks in like a thief in the night. It is the end of a longer process (known as relapse process) that begins long before the actual relapse.

Okay- I'll stop beating around the bush. I am pmPilgrim and I am an alcoholic and addict. Regular readers knew that. But I was blind-sided again by old Slick over there on the shoulder.

I entered this whole surgery with all the awareness and knowledge that I have already talked about. Narcotics, legal or otherwise, were never my issue. I made clear to my doctor ahead of time that I am in recovery. He agreed that there was no way I would get any refills of any narcotics. In fact, I was pleased when the hospital did not have enough to even give me a full prescription. I only took it as often as prescribed for two days and then cut back. After four days I was off them entirely with left-overs to throw away. Which I have done.

But I forgot that recovery is being able to deal with life on life's terms. Recovery is acceptance of things the way they are. And even four days of narcotic use, even less than prescribed, can upset that whole apple cart. And you don't even know it because your brain is busy at work playing games with you and itself.

You see I was having trouble sleeping. Lots of reasons- pain, discomfort, the whole disruption of my normal life patterns, sleeping on and off all day. So four days after I stopped the narcotics I didn't realize that I was being played with by my own brain.

Frustration levels increased. I was becoming more and more irritable. Restlessness and discontent were at work. If only I could sleep everything would be okay. If only I could get a good night's sleep. Obsession began to sink in.

By day 5 post pain pills I began to dread going to bed.

Then I thought about taking an over-the-counter sleep aid. Something I hadn't done in 20+ years. I talked it over with my wife, briefly, and then said no, I haven't done it in 20 years.

But that was not what the hijacked brain wanted to hear. It was another bad night. I realized in the middle of the night that this felt like addiction at work, but "successfully" set that thought aside.

Day 6 was even worse. I made up my mind. Tonight I will take one of those OTC meds. Just get a good night's sleep and it will be all right after that. In the back of my head was the thought, "But what if I need it again the next night?" But I let that slip away. As it got closer to bed time I knew it was what I needed. So, come almost bed time I turn to my wife and say, "I think I will have one of those tonight."

I knew she would be supportive. She understood what I was going through. She saw my frustrations, etc. But she also knew more than I knew. She knew that was nothing more than a dry drunk at work.

"If you haven't needed it in 20 years," she quietly pointed out, " you don't need it tonight."

[Mumble] [Grumble] That sure didn't work out the way I expected.

Fortunately.

"Yeah, you're right," I said. And went to bed saying the Serenity Prayer and being grateful that I was able to now laugh at it.

I know many of you have no idea what I'm meaning in this. "What's a simple Benadryl or Tylenol PM?" For me they were part of the addictive process at work- back to an understanding that chemicals were the answer to all my problems. I am also sure that many people early in recovery would think I was crazy. "Hey, it's just this once" or some similar rationalization makes sense.

But my wife was right. If I haven't needed them in far more stressful times in 20 years, I sure don't need them today. Addiction is cunning, baffling, powerful-- and patient. Which is why one is never "cured." The possibility is always real and present. But with support and enough recovery in the bank you can get through them and back into the serenity that has kept you going.

A Time to Ponder

With today being the 2nd week after surgery, and feeling better, etc, the following quote at Inward/Outward was more than appropriate. So I thought I would share it:

Remain still. Do not desert your patch of sand. Bear the heat without and the cold within. Put up with the boredom of having nothing to do and the emptiness of having achieved nothing. Do not ask what you are accomplishing. What you accomplish is unimportant. Realize that the most extraordinary thing you can do is to pass the time which never passes. Hope can make time pass. Hope is indeed the true dimension of time. Time is also a factor in our exodus from the slavery of hurry to the promised land of hope.

Source: Alessandro Pronzato- Meditations on the Sand

Change is Changing

Last week I posted on how technology and information have brought about endless change. I also noted how fast change has been occurring. One of you posted an obvious reason for some of that- there are a lot more people today than there ever have been. That's why iPod and Facebook exploded. There were more people available to get hooked.

At any rate, the idea of such rapid change is still incredible. Its impact on how we live and work and play has been nothing short of amazing. I hinted that I hadn't even thought about the church in the midst of all that.

That wasn't quite true. I have thought about it many times in the past decade or so since I first heard of the doubling of information and technology rate. I also thought about it in other ways even longer ago that that.

I remember when we went to Disney World with our daughter in 1991. We did the ride inside that big geodesic globe which was essentially about the history of technology and communications, etc. The ride, as I best remember it today, made the point that the "old" spoken word and story telling by oral transmission was, naturally an early way of communicating. Now we have all these electronic marvels. (Even in 1991 the marvels were there.)

As the ride came to an end I remember that my wife (and co-pastor) turned to me and simply said:

We are dinosaurs.

Which I agreed with. Sort of. The idea of standing in a pulpit Sunday after Sunday, year in and year out, expounding in some form or another on an ancient text in a purely oral format did sound like antiquity. It was little changed in basic form since, well, since the church started.

Over the past 18 years a lot has changed- and preaching continues. We may use Powerpoint or video projectors but most of the time "the message" is still presented much like it always has been. We have moved into a "new" era, what has been called a "post-modern" era, moving beyond the supposed certainties and style of modernity. Things aren't supposed to be as "black and white" or "either-or" like they used to be. "Permanent" truths have been challenged.

But the oral tradition has remained the same- and even grown. Thanks to TV and movies the post-moderns are a story-telling generation. They can retell the most complex movie plot or throw movie quotes back and forth. Good storytellers- whether preachers, screenwriters or movie directors- are still doing what we have always done.

So why does the church membership remain overall stagnant? Why have the mainline, historic denominations which offer a sense of "roots" declined? Why has most of the "growth" in Western Christianity been transfer growth?

Oh I wish I knew.

Ten years ago I had all the answers. The answers were right.

But I wasn't.

At least it doesn't look like it. The changes in the church are among the most difficult to see, predict, or even analyze. I wish I had some of my own notes about the church from 25 years ago and what the experts were saying at that time. As I think back on it, one of the most insightful was Lyle Schaller. Schaller was The Leadership Guru of the church. He had a way of observing and naming trends he was seeing. Yet I do not remember Schaller being a "futurist" in saying that this, that, or the other thing was going to be the way of the future. As I think more about it today his was a fluid vision of the church. I think he knew better than most that to predict the ways of the church was to be on the same page as weather forecasting. Anything beyond the proverbial 36-hour forecast would be worthless.

Church change- lasting change- also takes place at a snail's pace, even in this day and age. There is a natural "conservative" tendency in such a large and diverse system as the church. There is a constant tension of the new and the old, a give and take between generations, the natural rhythms that life and death bring.

All of which is to say that change in the church is unpredictable. But then the whole premise of the book The Black Swan is that Big Change is almost always the result of unpredictable occurrences. The socio-cultural changes that will come from the current economic situation are beyond what we can even guess today. We can only think the way we have always thought- even when those ways don't work or got us into the situation in the first place.

So it goes in the church. But the important part is to be open to the possibility of change. God is at work. There is no doubt about that. But I for one don't have clue 1 anymore what that means in my day to day life, let alone the future of the church. Sure I have my opinions, but so do we all.

In the end my guess is we will all be surprised at what really happens.

Money Does What Morality Doesn't

From the religion news feed at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life:

After decades of moral arguments reaching biblical proportions, after long, twisted journeys to the nation's highest court and back, the death penalty may be abandoned by several states for a reason having nothing to do with right or wrong:

Money.

Turns out, it is cheaper to imprison killers for life than to execute them, according to a series of recent surveys. Tens of millions of dollars cheaper, politicians are learning, during a tumbling recession when nearly every state faces job cuts and massive deficits.

So an increasing number of them are considering abolishing capital punishment in favor of life imprisonment, not on principle but out of financial necessity.
--Link to complete article.

Blog-iversary

March 9, 2003 was the first post simply saying "Watch out! Here I come." Now- 2,788 posts and six years later- I'm still here averaging almost 500 posts a year. In addition, in my Anal-Retentive or OCD or ADD, I haven't missed a post since August 14, 2005 when my old laptop died on my way home from Florida. I have no idea how many posts that is and I am not OCD enough to go back and count.

What I do know is that I am most surprised at how I have managed to continue to do this. I wonder what I would have been doing with all those hours if I hadn't been writing a blog? Think of all the TV or movies I have missed or the book pages. Think...

No, don't think. I have enjoyed it. I still do. So on we will go.

James Tissot, French, 1836-1902
Brooklyn Museum

Second Sunday of Lent

Both Sides of Peter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On one hand:
“But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. (Mark 8:29b-30)

On the other hand:
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (Mark 8: 31-33)
I'm glad Peter is human. Actually, I'm glad they all are in their own ways, but as preachers have been saying for years, it is in Peter that we can probably most often see ourselves.

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say I love you right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
Ive looked at life that way

He stands and sees the awesome truth that Jesus is the Messiah. He can say it out loud even in the midst of uncertainty. Great insight. Great hope. Great faith.

Ah yes...

But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say Ive changed
Well somethings lost, but somethings gained
In living ev'ry day

He also has his opinions and expectations. And when this guy he called The Messiah doesn't live up to them, well, he is willing to express them.

Ive looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
Its lifes illusions I recall
I really dont know life at all

In the end even with knowing and experiencing "both sides" of life we realize that we don't know "life" or better, The Life, at all. We glimpse it as a reminder that it exists and then move on waiting for the next experience. Peter himself will have many of them, but in the end, amen, hallelujah, it's not about him and his "getting it." It will be, like for all of us, realizing that our understandings will often only get in the way of God's expectations.

I really don't know life at all. But I can trust and follow God.

Which is about all there is.

(Lyrics from Both Sides Now, Joni Mitchell)

It's in the Perspective

Copernicus died five centuries ago and we still say, “What a beautiful sunrise.”
--Len Sweet on Twitter

Suspending All That Makes Us Free

• Point One: Justice Department Over Past 8 Years

The release of memos this past week concerning the Justice Department's rulings that the President appears to have unassailable powers, esp. in times of war was a shock that didn't shock enough. We shake our heads and say, "Wow. We got out of that one."

Sadly this is one of those common threads of American history that we return to again and again. It could be Lincoln's suspension of Habeas Corpus during the Civil War, Roosevelt attempting to pack the Supreme Court, or Nixon's paranoia that equated his opponents with enemies of the nation. In all these (and other) cases there is an argument that in particular times and places the Constitution can be put on hold. And that decision can be made by one person- the President. That it can keep showing up and keep being accepted by even a small minority of legal writers, scholars, and practitioners is a reason why the Constitution should never be suspended.

• Point Two: Argument in Favor of Prop 8 in California

On one of the blogs at TPM, the following was posted after Kenn Starr argued in California the other day...

In [the] CA Supreme court case, advocating to uphold Prop8, Kenneth Starr argued that there are no inalienable rights for Californians. Under his argument, he admitted that free speech, racial discrimination, (presumably even voting rights themselves!) under the California constitution are subject to a simple majority vote, without any legislative process at all.

Sadly, Justice Kennard seemed to agree, and in her comments apparently felt that the inalienable right of the majority to be foolish at the ballot box trumps what the court previously found to be "a basic civil or human right of all people."

If Prop8 is upheld, as commenters expect, it is really a breathtaking precedent. WE HAVE NO RIGHTS that are safe from the rule of the mob, the tyranny of the majority.

And not just gays: any unpopular class, like immigrants, may also be at risk. Just wait till the Minutemen get going and start buying signatures to put an amendment on the ballot. They can do it, if the Supremes uphold this decision.
-- link.

Both these examples are more horrifying than anything Stephen King has ever written. They put the very basics of American democracy in peril. The bottom line has absolutely nothing to do with terrorists- domestic or international wanting to get rid of our precious freedoms. We will do it for them if we act this way. The greatest fear has nothing to do with people wanting to do something as mundane as getting married to a person of the same gender.

It has to do with the rights of people to be maintained and respected.

--Wikipedia: Martin Niemoller was a German pastor and theologian born in Lippstadt, Germany, in 1892. Niemoller was an anti-Communist and, for that reason, supported Hitler's rise to power – at first. But when Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion, Niemoller became disillusioned. He became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to Hitler. Unlike Niemoller, they gave in to the Nazis' threats. Hitler personally detested Niemoller and had him arrested and eventually confined in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. Niemoller was released in 1945 by the Allies. He continued his career in Germany as a clergyman and as a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after World War II.

Quite a Difference

Torture is the imagination of the state.

Eucharist is the imagination of the church.

--William Kavanagh, Torture and Eucharist
via Len Sweet on Twitter

ht to The Corner

What Does Water Have to Do With It

Here's a good one from the website (The Customer is) Not Always Right:

(I’m visiting a friend of mine at work when this exchange occurs.)

Customer:*notes my friend’s nametag* “Matt-ie-oh… what a neat name, where’s it from?”

Friend: “It’s pronounced mah-tay-oh, actually. It’s Spanish.”

Customer: “Oh, really? You don’t look Mexican.”

Friend: “I’m not, I’m Spanish.”

Customer: “Well, what’s the difference?”

Friend: “The Atlantic Ocean?”

Time Isn't What It Used to Be

Bob Carlton at The Corner posted the chart at left from The Trend Watch. It shows the length of time it took some technologies to reach the 150 million user mark. Facebook did it in 5 years compared to the telephone which took 89 years.

Take another look at that and you will also see that a mere decade ago, 10 years, neither iPod nor Facebook were even on our radar screens. Today they are two of the most ubiquitous technologies around. What took decades in the past now happens in almost an instant.

I remember a few years ago that people were talking about information doubling every 18 months to two years. Some of that was based on the famous "Moore's Law" which according to Wikipedia,

describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware. Since the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958, the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has increased exponentially, doubling approximately every two years. The trend was first observed by Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore in a 1965 paper. It has continued for almost half of a century and is not expected to stop for another decade at least and perhaps much longer.

Applying that idea to information it was said that we have more and more information to deal with more quickly. The graph at left also seems to indicate that we have more and more ways to access that information more and more quickly.

So in many ways it appears as if the arrow of time is still moving in only one direction but we are moving a lot faster than we used to. Change is now normal. Lack of change is, well, not normal. We are seeing things develop and disappear more rapidly than ever before. Just because we did it that way 10 years ago (let alone 50 years ago) doesn't mean we will be doing it that way as soon as next week.

I'm not sure where all this leads me today. A week after surgery I am grateful for the speed of change in medicine. In 1958 I had my tonsils removed. They used ether. I stayed in the hospital 24 hours and was in bed at home for a week. A doctor couldn't believe that they actually used ether.

In 1979 my wife had the same surgery I just had. She was in the hospital a week, wasn't allowed in a car (other than to go home) for six-weeks and was told to lie down and not move a lot for the first few weeks. They had me out of bed less than 12-hours post-surgery and home within 30 hours post-surgery. I am already allowed to drive now since I am not on any narcotics. "Walk," they told me. "Walk as much as you can."

So the chart is a framework for a lot of things, not just technologies. Are there dangers? You bet. The ease of lack of privacy is one. So is the ever widening gap between the haves and have-nots; the industrialized nations and the yet-to-be-industrialized nations. We may be overwhelmed by a lot of this change if we do not also maintain our soul. (And I haven't even gone to the impact on the church.)

Having said all that, it is still good to pick up a book and read. Just for fun. Like the sci-fi novel I am working on now about what happens when bio-nano-technology can build new people or rebuild old ones in a time after a cosmic power surge has knocked out technology as we know it today.

Ironic, huh?

It's a Good Day When...

• You get up and get dressed with relative ease
• You go out to breakfast with your wife
• You take a walk around the store
• You have no observable symptoms that had led to the surgery
  
• You go home and take a nap.

I guess I call it a day of "cautious optimism."

Afraid of the Extreme

I understand. After I moved away from an understanding of faith as fundamentalist Christian there always remained the gnawing fear that could they be right? To this day, decades and decades after I have moved away from the black-white approach of fundamentalism I still find myself cringing in fear. Or put more bluntly- what if they are right?

I have known "liberals" and radicals who seem to have the same determined certainty of belief that fundamentalists have. But there's often something different. Because the radical position is often the one going against the grain of accepted conventional wisdom in some way or another, that gnawing fear of being wrong is very present and very real.

I know there are radical leftist "fundamentalists." The Marxists often were that. Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro are certainly that. In their countries and situations they use the power of fear to maintain their power.

In our nation that is the power of the extreme conservative position. It is based on an incredible amount of fear.

Over the past few days there has been a remarkable soap opera playing out between Republicans and Rush Limbaugh. He has been elevated to a position of incredible authority and insight. One day important Republican politicians (an oxymoron at this point?) will say that he is an entertainer or he is divisive. Limbaugh gets on the radio that afternoon and tells them to shut up and do their job. He lambastes them-- and they apologize. We didn't mean it, they say. You are the one with insight. We are listening.

Scary!

My gut tells me that we are on the edge of a McCarthyism-like crusade here- except this time the lunatic fringe isn't even elected to any office. He is a radio commentator with a lot of opinions who has managed to hijack the Republican party out of fear.

What if he is right?

Sadly it is a matter of yelling louder to make your point clearer. It works- sort of. Just look at all the airtime this has generated on both sides of the political fence. We in general are afraid of the extremes because they always sound so convinced of their rightness. There is never, absolutely never any sense of doubt in anything they say. There is never, absolutely never the slightest hint that the truth lies somewhere closer to the middle than where they are. The rest of us get kowtowed by that. We feel doubts. We feel uncertainties. On some issues more than others, but most of us have no understanding of that sense of complete, utter rightness that the fundamentalist approach is built on.

I have strong opinions that I want to share, hence I write this blog. Over the years my opinions have shifted- sometimes softer, sometimes more stubborn, sometimes more convinced. I have come to the opinion, that no opinion, not even mine, contains all the truth. The polarization that occurs in a time like we are in now is nothing new, but it is always dangerous. I hope that President Obama and other clear-thinking people of understanding will take the time to step away from the precipice of rhetoric that we are at. This is not the time or the place to drive us further apart.

Yes, on some things the fundamentalists may be right-

But so are the rest of us.

Some Reflections

Looking back to surgery several ideas still strike me.

• First was the fact that it takes a lot, repeat A LOT of support of all kinds to get you into, through, and out of surgery.
  

It started with the admissions persons helping us all get to the right place. Then there were the hospitality people who took each group to the operating staging area. I was greeted by some assistant who gave me instructions. A chaplain came in and introduced herself and the chaplain's services after I had gotten out of my street clothes and into The Gown. Next the nurse came and did the questions that needed to be asked. Finally, stage one came to an end with another nurse came to take me to the pre-op room. We walked. That was six individuals helping me in the first hour in the hospital.

Then there were three nurses, the surgeon's nurse, the resident, and two anesthesiologists while in pre-op. It was the anesthesiologist who put my IV in and then took me to the OR. Now we are at 13 people.

I was aware of how relatively small the OR was. Since I was only having a relatively easy back surgery I guess the bigger size wasn't needed. While I was still awake in the OR there was a technician working on some wire connections at the wall at my feet and another technician getting things ready. That brought the total to 15. Then came the first drugs and ....

So that means for little old me there were 15 people involved in my care before surgery even started. How many were there with the doctor and then to take me back to the (now) post-op and finally to my room? No idea but I can vaguely remember three at the end. Not including the doctor and the actual OR staff, that came to 18 different people in the 6 hours between walking in the hospital and going to my room.

I know that there are 8 operating rooms in the neurosurgery hallway and 60 overall in the hospital. Being conservative if even half of those were empty (doubtful) that could mean a minimum of 30 operations with a minimum of 18 people taking care of those in the ORs. That would be 540 people at work in direct support of all the little old people like me.

(Not included would be the maintenance staff cleaning up the pre-op for turning it into a post-op, hallway cleanliness, computer techs, etc. etc.)

No wonder it costs so much for quality health care! It takes people- and people cost money. I for one wouldn't want to cut any of that. I for one am grateful that there are people who can do these kinds of jobs and take care of all the little old people like me. Who is qualified to decide who gets what kind of care? Who is ready to play God in those situations? Insurance companies do a lot of that. Doctors sure don't want to play that role. Government shouldn't be making those decisions.

No wonder it's such a quagmire of politics.

• The second reflection was the electronic support all this took. Lying on the gurney in the pre-op room I could see all the wires and tubes coming out of the back of the station at my bedside. That was one of at least 30 stations in the area used for both pre- and post-op. And it connects to the whole system throughout the hospital. It is why today more is being done more quickly and efficiently than ever before.

As an outsider, visitor, pastor, counselor and now patient (for the first time in 50 years) I have watched the whole health care system change. I have seen open heart surgeries and brain tumor operations become second nature. To watch it from this side was humbling, exciting, and greatly reassuring.

More thoughts as they come

A Dozen More (13 - 24)

MORE CREATIVE PUNS FOR "EDUCATED MINDS"

13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

14. I wondered why the frisbee kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, 'No change yet.'

17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

19. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

20. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

21. A backward poet writes inverse.

22. In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

23. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

24. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects!

The Temptation of Christ, ca. 1125
Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga, province of Soria, Spain

The First Sunday of Lent

Mark 1:9-15

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

To ponder this is too great for many of us. To be there with Jesus is beyond our imagination. Yes, but...

We must.

So I turn to the remarkable preacher and interpreter Fred Craddock for some reflections far deeper than we can get in one glance.

Whatever the ancient echoes, it is clear that Jesus is not on a pensive evening walk in the desert; he is being tested intensely.

Mark does not elaborate on the temptation. So what is happening? Obviously, Jesus was really being tempted. There is no need to protect Jesus by saying he only seemed to be tempted in order to set us an example. Anyone who pretends an experience in order to set an example is not setting an example. "We have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). Nor should one rob the event of its reality on the assumption that temptation is weakness. We are not tempted to do what we cannot do but what we can. The testing is one of strength, and the stronger, the more capable, the greater one is, the greater the temptation.

And if the temptation is real, it most certainly is deceptive. Temptation is not obvious, definitely not a caricature: "Hi, I am Satan; I am here to tempt you" The tempter often looks and sounds like a friend or relative. "Get behind me, Satan!" was not Jesus’ word to the local fiend but to his friend, Simon Peter.
--Link

I need to read that many times this Lenten season- and probably allow it to sink in each and every day when I am in the midst of temptation.