Advent Calendar: Beyond Glory

Twenty-five Days to Christmas

What I believe is so magnificent, so glorious, that it is beyond finite comprehension. To believe that the universe was created by a purposeful, benign Creator is one thing. To believe that this Creator took on human vesture, accepted death and mortality, was tempted, betrayed, broken, and all for love of us, defies reason. It is so wild that it terrifies some Christians who try to dogmatize their fear by lashing out at other Christians, because tidy Christianity with all answers given is easier than one which reaches out to the wild wonder of God's love, a love we don't even have to earn.

--Madeline L'Engle

Picture by pmPilgrim.

The First Sunday of Advent

(Image from FreeFoto.com)

Apocalyptic Visions

The assigned Gospel for this morning was one of those end-times apocalyptic passages. Having just been reading Frank Schaeffer's discussion of the Left Behind series I was particularly attuned to the way these passages are often used as blueprints, scripts, for something that Jesus has told us no one knows. Not even the Son. Yet here he says,

When these things happen, know that your redemption is near.

Huh?

Which made me think of another statement of Jesus:

[The end will be] just as in the days of Noah- people marrying and giving in marriage....

You mean it will seem particularly ordinary? You mean the signs have been all around for all the times since Jesus?

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs.
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign

So, if that is the case, I better hunker down and start getting ready or else.

But we never do that. Not really. When we get apocalyptic visions we want to hoard food or guns or ammunition. We want to build bomb shelters or find places far from the possibility of the dangers. We want to be bigger, stronger, better. We trust in the things of human hands rather than the things of God's.

What is this apocalyptic vision all about?

It will happen on a day just like today. "It" is the life of God coming into our lives and world. "It" is the possibility of the Kingdom of God being made more real than it has been before. "It" is the Kingdom of God feeling more remote in our lives that it has ever felt before.

"It" is life. In a few weeks we will celebrate that Life again. In a little baby. The pastor said this morning that "we" can't get ourselves ready. Only God can do that.

I think I will listen this Advent and see what God is doing to get me ready.

Advent Eve

The Season of Advent begins tomorrow. One of the traditions of Advent is a calendar. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the history of the Advent calendar.

The origins of the Advent calendar come from German Lutherans who, at least as early as the beginning of the 19th century, would count down the 24 days of Advent physically. Often this meant simply drawing a chalk line on the door each day, beginning on December 1. Some families had more elaborate means of marking the days, such as lighting a new candle (perhaps the genesis of today's Advent wreath) or hanging a little religious picture on the wall each day.

The 24 candles might also be placed on a structure, which was known as an "Advent clock". In December 1839, the first verifiable public Advent wreath was hung in the prayer hall of the Rauhes Haus (relief house) in Hamburg, although it had been a family practice in parts of German-speaking Europe since the 17th century.

The first known Advent calendar was handmade in 1851. According to the Austrian (NÖ) Landesmuseum, the first printed Advent calendar was produced in Hamburg in 1902 or 1903. Other authorities state that a Swabian parishioner, Gerhard Lang, was responsible for the first printed calendar, in 1908.
--Wikipedia

I thought I would do a pmPilgrim Advent Calendar this year. With the exception of Sundays when I will post a picture of the advent candles for the week, I will post different picture with some Advent thoughts for each day. While you may not have to open a door to see what the day's words and thoughts are, at least it will be a countdown for this special season. Check back in each evening for the day's post for the Advent Calendar.

Link to a traditional, yet web-based Advent Calendar

The Real Numbers

Last week, The Week Magazine had a quote from Steve Chapman in the Chicago Tribune. It made me think....

“Watching Fox News, you get the impression that huge numbers of Americans regard Obama as a Stalinist. Switch on MSNBC, and you would assume that most people want Dick Cheney sent to Guantánamo. You would be mistaken. Fox News averages just 2.6 million viewers on a typical weeknight, or less than 1 percent of Americans. MSNBC does even worse, with 831,000 per night. The three major network newscasts, which offer less overt bias, pull in a combined total of more than 20 million viewers each evening. The average American citizen, contrary to myth, is neither very angry nor very far to the left or the right. In a cluttered media environment, the most extreme voices tend to attract so much attention that it’s easy to forget something important: Most people aren’t listening.”

Of course, if you are one of the partisans on either side you tend to watch the network that better describes your views. The truth of the matter is always that the vast middle ground is far larger than either of the groups to the right or left of them. But that is what makes the political scene so interesting is the ones who are off from the vast middle. Both sides claim, I know, a larger support base than they actually have.

But then both sides believe they are right.

Instead of speaking as if they are so sure of their rightness, it might be better to move toward an opinion-making understanding. It might even make for less hypocrisy.

But there I go again. Dreaming.

Hmmmm...To Think....Perchance to Dream?

Bill Kinnon hits it out of the park with this post that he developed from Dan Whitemarsh...

What we win them with, is what we win them to. Win them with entertainment, and you've created customers - who expect to be continually entertained.

Picking up our crosses and following Jesus is not particularly attractive. Buying into a worldview where the last are first, and the first are last doesn't win us any earthly popularity awards - and seems antithetical to the North American Dream.

So.

Please allow me to suggest.

If you insist on bragging about your church, don't tell us about the numbers. Tell us about how the Kingdom has come to your community. Tell us of the lame who walk, the blind who see, the debts that have been forgiven, the reconciliation that has taken place at personal, generational & racial levels, how the poor and the outcast are loved and taken care of, how widows and orphans are grafted into the church family, how your community is experiencing the Year of Jubilee - because of what the Spirit is doing in and through your church.

But if all you can talk about are your numbers, then, please...

...just shut up. It's long past old.

The Original Seattle Sound

This is hard to comprehend. On this day in

1942 Jimi Hendrix, born in Seattle, Washington rock guitarist,

That means he would be, yes, 67 years old. Sadly he is forever 27.

From You Tube: Purple Haze:



Here is his entire performance at Woodstock a year before his death.

It's the Day for Giving Thanks

Take the time today to give thanks.

Take time to review all in your life you are grateful for.

Do that everyday and you will be amazed at the list and the improvement in your life.

Even if it is good today, it will remain so, focused on gratitude.

No, this is not meant to be a "prosperity" Gospel or an exercise in denial. The possibility for change and growth only starts when we know where we are- and what we already have to be thankful for. It begins to change our perspective on our own lives.

That leads us to begin to change our persepctive on the lives around us. Before long we can begin to see the things we want to work on and change and how we can go about it.

Give thanks.

And Double A-Rod Does It Again

Green Bay Packers 34
Detroit Lions 12
Aaron Rodgers continues his high-quality outstanding year.

Has anyone else noticed that the Packers are a possibility (and a decent one at that) for one of the Wild Card spots? Might there be a return trip to the 'Dome in January?

Stay tuned.

Only One Today- It's Thanksgiving

The pro football team had just finished their daily practice session when a large turkey came strutting onto the field. While the players gazed in amazement, the turkey walked up to the head coach and demanded a tryout. Everyone stared in silence as the turkey caught pass after pass and ran right through the defensive line. When the turkey returned to the sidelines, the coach shouted, "You're terrific!!! Sign up for the season, and I'll see to it that you get a huge bonus."

"Forget the bonus," the turkey said, "All I want to know is, does the season go past Thanksgiving Day?"

And all the people said:

Burp!

Oh yes, and Go Pack.

Even More Worrisome?

I wrote yesterday about the Bishop of Rhode Island's stance that Rep. Patrick Kennedy not take communion because of his views on abortion. In some ways more personally disturbing was the following comment from the same Yahoo! News article:

[Bishop] Tobin told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday that he's praying for the younger Kennedy, who has been in and out of treatment for substance abuse, and said Kennedy has been acting "erratically."

Now I don't know if the relationship between Rep. Kennedy's public openness about his substance abuse recovery and behaving "erratically" was made by the Bishop or the Associated Press. In either case it is a sad connection. When challenging Kennedy or others in recovery it is not logical that acting "erratically" and "treatment" go together. Perhaps in recovery, one is able to think more clearly than before. Perhaps not. But the slam of that quote is not appropriate.

And Now Comes Winter

Well, I guess that takes care of November. The chart shows the high temps here in southern Minnesota for the month. Yes, it has been downright balmy.

But that is coming to an end. It's to drop below 40 today and the stay below the first 24 days for the rest of the month.

It was fun while it lasted.

Two a Day Until Thanksgiving (V)....

What did the turkey say to the turkey hunter?
"Quack! Quack! Quack!"

How do you keep a turkey in suspense?
I'll tell you at Christmas.

Crossing Lines?

The headline stood out on Yahoo! News from AP:

RI bishop asked Kennedy in 2007 to avoid Communion

My first reaction was a memory of a signicant event nearly 50 years ago. In a gutsy move, (as NPR summarized it):

On Sept. 12, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy gave a major speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, a group of Protestant ministers, on the issue of his religion. At the time, many Protestants questioned whether Kennedy's Roman Catholic faith would allow him to make important national decisions as president independent of the church. Kennedy addressed those concerns before a skeptical audience of Protestant clergy.

Here are a few snips:

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him....

Whatever issue may come before me as president — on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject — I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise.

These words are even more important today as JFK's nephew, Patrick Kennedy was/is pressured by the bishop of the state he represents in Congress. Bishop Tobin was reacting to Kennedy's challenging the position of some on the Catholic hierarchy who were calling for the defeat of the health reform bill. He shot back publicly and admitted that even before this he had suggested that Kennedy not receive communion.

It is, I think, a sad commentary on the changes since 1960. It may be a sign of deepening divide over religious issues. As someone I read pointed out, they are not making these dictates against communion for legislators who support the death penalty or enhance the wealth of the richest- both issues in which the bishops have taken significant stands.

I hope Rep. Kennedy maintains the high road and stands his ground. His conscience is what has guided him. My he remain true to it.

Two a Day Until Thanksgiving (IV)....

What's the best way to stuff a turkey?
Serve him lots of pizza and ice cream!

Why did the Pilgrims eat turkey at Thanksgiving?
Because they couldn't get the moose in the oven!

Update: Two days ago I asked what a space turkey would say- Hubble, Hubble. Another riddle had the answer "Gobble, gobble." So, ....

Just to clear things up- those are probably American turkeys since in Spanish turkeys have a whole different vocabulary:

gluglú gluglú

Just thought that would be a good cultural lesson for the season.

The Real Joe Says It's So

From Twins.Com:

Joe Mauer joined an elite group of players when he won his third American League batting title this past season.



Now the 26-year-old Twins catcher has become a member of another illustrious club -- that of MVP winners.

Mauer was named the American League Most Valuable Player by the Baseball Writers Association of America for the first time in his career on Monday, receiving 27 of the 28 first-place votes to easily beat out the Yankees' duo of Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter for the honor.

Mauer finished with 327 points, well ahead of Teixeira, who had 225, and Jeter, who had 193. Detroit first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who received the only other first-place vote, was fourth with 171 points.



Mauer became the fifth player in Twins history to win the MVP Award. He joined teammate Justin Morneau, who took home the honor in 2006, as well as Zoilo Versalles (1965) Harmon Killebrew (1969) and Rod Carew (1977).

He also became just the second catcher in the past 33 years to be named MVP. Texas' Ivan Rodriguez (1999) is the only backstop besides Mauer to take home the honor since Yankees catcher Thurman Munson won it in 1976. The last catcher to win National League MVP honors was Cincinnati's Johnny Bench in 1972.

Way to go, Joe! What an accomplishment.

Two a Day Until Thanksgiving (III)....

Why did the Indian chief wear so many feathers?
To keep his wigwam.

Why did they let the turkey join the band?
Because he had the drumsticks.

Two a Day Until Thanksgiving (II)....

What sound does a space turkey make?
Hubble, hubble, hubble.

Why did the police arrest the turkey?
They suspected it of fowl play.

Overheard in Recovery: Stunted Growth

The other week I heard someone describe the years of their active using as being:

curled up in a fetal position in the middle of an onion with layers of stuff stunting my growth.

For some reason the first thing that came to mind was the line I remember my parents and others saying about smoking cigarettes:

It will stunt your growth.

Well, I am not sure that this was physically true, but little did they know the deeper psychological truth of that statement.

Addiction does stunt your growth. Addiction gets in the way of coping with emotions and problems and stress. Have a cigarette. Snort some coke. Down a couple beers and relax. We lose the ability to even learn how to get better at coping. It is so much easier to take some substance. We feel better. We decide that the answer lies in what we use- not who we are or what we are able to learn how to do.

Our growth is stunted. Emotionally. Psychologically. Socially. Spiritually. I may not have stunted my physical growth by smoking or drinking. But I was slowed down in a lot of other ways. Fortunately, unlike any physical stunting, you can start growing again. It takes work, sure, but it is not impossible.

Growing again is such a joy. What a gift to be grateful for.

If It's Too Good....

I was preparing to go to the gym for my Tuesday workout. Since I am trying to lose weight, I was surprised to see an ad in my spam email.....

Lose 4" of belly fat in just 4 days.
NO exercising needed.

Boy, was that tempting.

No, I didn't find out. In all advertising the maxim will always hold:

If it's too good to be true, it probably isn't.

Darn.

Two a Day Until Thanksgiving (I)....

Jokes that is. I will be posting two jokes a day through Thursday, right here on this pmPilgrim site, in honor of the day that honors the other Pilgrims. So without further ado, here are one and two.

Why did the turkey cross the road?
It was the chicken's day off.

Why do turkeys always go, "gobble, gobble"?
Because they never learned good table manners!

Playing for Change

Wow!

This is nothing short of neat! It is called Playing for Change and it is using music around the world to make a difference. You can watch the most popular of the videos below. You can go to the You Tube Channel and see all kind of videos. Then go to their website for more information.

A don't miss it opportunity.

You Tube Channel
Web Site

A 30-Year Memory: News and News

Yes, I am playing catch up. Two news events took place a day apart 30-years ago. The results of the first are still reverberating. The second, still keeping us up-to-date on those reverbs.

November 4 - Iran hostage crisis begins: 3,000 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (53 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former Shah of Iran back to stand trial.

November 5 - The radio news program Morning Edition premieres on National Public Radio.

Ten in Seven

From Newsweek, here is a look at the "aughts" in seven minutes. Hey, I was there...

A 40-Year Memory: It Was That Long Ago...

Another missed memory:

October 29 – The first message is sent over ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet.

Look what ARPANET has wrought!"

A 50-Year Memory: A Star Debuts

November 18 - MGM's widescreen, multimillion dollar, Technicolor version of Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, is released and becomes the studio's greatest hit up to that time. It is critically acclaimed and eventually wins 11 Academy Awards - a record held until 1998, when 1997's Titanic becomes the first film to equal the record.

A 40-Year Memory: Vietnam Protests

In the past five weeks I missed these two significant events in my 40-Year Memory.

October 15 – Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of people take part in antiwar demonstrations across the United States.

November 15 – Vietnam War: In Washington, DC, 250,000–500,000 protesters stage a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death".

I was not in Washington for the November 15 march. My college band was supposed to march at a football game that day at Bucknell- and I had written the drill for it. It was called The Spirit of Peace because that was the name of the march I found in the files to write it to. It was to be in honor of the protests that day. Unfortunately, there was bad weather and the band never went.

The drill was used the next week for the final game of the season against our arch-rival, Lafayette.

Behind the Scenes Video

After seeing a trailer the other week I have become intrigued by James Cameron's upcoming film, Avatar. Wired.com had this Behind the Scenes video last week. In theaters Dec. 18.



Link to official website.

Seriously Funny

The Best Article Every Day web site last week collected 40 print ads that really are ingenious, creative, and truly funny. As they said, print ads have to be catchy to really catch your attention.
Here are two I loved:
--Link

Monday Morning Quarterbacking: Why Did I Ever Start This?

Well, the first answer is that somehow or other I expected the Vikings' Starting QB to have begun to show the effects of his 40 years by now. The second answer is that I wanted to show that, from my totally unbiased position, the Packers' Starting QB was in the same high quality league as the guy who was his predecessor and now opponent.

To the first reason- so far it hasn't happened. I have actually enjoyed watching the Vikings' Starting QB play. He is as fun to watch as ever. He makes things happen. He has an exciting team around him and it is amazing to watch how he brings out the best in them. He has not shown the wildness that both endeared him to Green Bay fans- and drove us crazy. Just for the love of football, it is a pleasure to watch. (I just wish he was doing it somewhere other than the NFC North!)

To the second reason- Aaron Rodgers (Double-A Rod) has proven he is able to play on the same field as his former teammate. He is in the same league as any of the top QBs in the game today. He need not hang his head in shame. The Packers' management did not make a bad decision. We will probably never know what happened in Green Bay between the Old Starting QB and the team leadership. If they were truly looking to the future and wanted to plan for it, then they have done a great job with Rodgers. They need to develop some other parts of the team, but I think that will happen.

So, I think I will stop this series of Monday Morning Quarterbacking, keeping it in reserve in case the Old Guy in Purple begins to fall apart. I will just sit and enjoy the games.

By the way, did you notice that the Packers beat Dallas?

Throwing Us Into Life

A year or so ago I posted (Link) about one of the authors whose books moved and influenced my thinking in so many ways. Anthropologist and philosopher Loren Eiseley was a prolific and deeply thoughtful writer who looked at the world around him and was able to turn it into parables and portals about human existence, the evolution of life, and ultimately the cosmos.

One of his most famous stories is The Star Thrower which has become a story used by motivational speakers for the past 15 - 20 years according to Wikipedia. I don't know about that, but I do know that I first used it in 1976. For Easter.

Here's how Wikipedia condenses part of the story. The story

describes the narrator walking along the beach early one morning in the pre-dawn twilight, when he sees a man picking up a starfish on the sand and throwing it into the sea. The narrator is observant and subtle, but skeptical. He has the last word, a pessimistic conclusion. Some excerpts:

In a pool of sand and silt a starfish had thrust its arms up stiffly and was holding its body away from the stifling mud.

"It's still alive," I ventured.

"Yes," he said, and with a quick yet gentle movement he picked up the star and spun it over my head and far out into the sea. It sunk in a burst of spume, and the waters roared once more.

..."There are not many who come this far," I said, groping in a sudden embarrassment for words. "Do you collect?"

"Only like this," he said softly, gesturing amidst the wreckage of the shore. "And only for the living." He stooped again, oblivious of my curiosity, and skipped another star neatly across the water. "The stars," he said, "throw well. One can help them."

..."I do not collect," I said uncomfortably, the wind beating at my garments. "Neither the living nor the dead. I gave it up a long time ago. Death is the only successful collector.
—The Star Thrower, p. 172

The relationship to Easter is obvious, of course, with the theme of life and pulling the dying out of the mud and silt that can keep them from living. The Star Thrower as Jesus is powerful and has continued to motivate and inspire me for over 30 years now.

Well, this morning my pastor/wife used it for a celebration that Jesus is The Chief Elder of our church. A brief history:

Leonard Dober, one of the first two Moravian Missionaries was Chief Elder (head) of the Moravian Church, but it became too difficult for him and he thought of giving it up. He determined that at the Synod in London in September 1741, that he would relinquish that position. After prayerful consideration at the London Synod, Jesus Christ was unanimously declared as Chief Elder of the Moravian Church on September 16, 1741. The Synod knew that it would take a considerable amount of time to circulate the information throughout the Moravian World and so it was agreed that November 13 would be appointed as the day to celebrate the Chief Elder Festival. This celebration declares that Jesus Christ is Master, Head, Leader, Chief Elder and the Lamb that has conquered and so we will follow Him.
--Eastern West Indies Province

It's in that following that we were challenged this morning. Not by the Star Thrower himself, but by Eiseley who found he could not stay away. He could not be a bringer of death or even just be neutral. In being neutral we participate in the actions of death by neglect. If Jesus is our Lord, shouldn't we be following Him? If Jesus is who he says He is, shouldn't we participate with him? Life, in all its fullness beckons, yet many remain stuck in death. Their lives are often filled with anything but life.

How can you or I reach down and help lift them up? How can we be fellow Star Throwers? Such is the ending of the story....

Later, after some beautiful thoughts on our relationships to other animals and to the universe, the Eiseley looks again for the Star Thrower on another morning. As he walks along he, too, sees the starfish stuck in the waterless sand, dying. He reaches down, picks it up and then tosses it back into life.

..."On a point of land, I found the star thrower...I spoke once briefly. "I understand," I said. "Call me another thrower." Only then I allowed myself to think, He is not alone any longer. After us, there will be others...We were part of the rainbow...Perhaps far outward on the rim of space a genuine star was similarly seized and flung...For a moment, we cast on an infinite beach together beside an unknown hurler of suns...We had lost our way, I thought, but we had kept, some of us,the memory of the perfect circle of compassion from life to death and back to life again - the completion of the rainbow of existence"
—The Star Thrower, p. 181

Let us go and do likewise.

Beautiful

From Wired Science: This gorgeous image of a blue arc of the Earth against the blackness of space was captured by the Rosetta spacecraft as it swung by our planet. The spacecraft is on a comet hunting mission and did three swing-bys to give it momentum. It's last look back shows the earth in darkness with the exception of the south pole region. No matter what- this earth is a fragile thing of great beauty in a dark universe.



Link to Hi-Res picture.

A Personal Announcement

Yes, the sign is about brakes on the Hiawatha Light Rail in Minneapolis. But when I saw it I knew I had another use for it.

I'm (again) trying to lose weight and get back in shape.

(Abs - abdominals - see?)

I am sick and tired of hauling this extra weight around. A little over a year ago I did this. (As well as -- well, let's just say a number of times.) I got down about 20 pounds just as I finished up with my surgery back in February.

Then briefly plateaued.

Then slowly started back up the wrong direction.

I know it runs in the family. My body type looks like my Dad's and his Dad's. But it is too much. Body Mass climbed too high. Again. Carrying 20 - 30 pounds extra around all day is too much. I can hardly lift a 30 pound weight and carry it around the house for any length of time.

So on November 3 I weighed myself and went back to the gym plus went back on the NurtiSystem diet. In these past 11 days I have lost 7 pounds. From previous experience I know that those were the easiest of the pounds to lose. That means another 23 to go.

So far the abs have not improved. That's even more difficult, especially for one over 60. But you won't know if you don't try.

I will try to keep you posted- unless I get embarrassed because I start going the wrong direction.

To Consider in Silence

Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of sound and silence, there would be no rhythm. If we strive to be happy by filling in the silences of life with sound, productive by turning all life’s leisure into work, and real by turning all our being into doing, we will only succeed in producing a hell on earth. If we have not silence, God is not heard in our music. If we have not rest, God does not bless our work. If we twist our lives out of shape in order to fill every corner of them with action and experience, God will seem silently to withdraw from our hearts and leave us empty.

By Thomas Merton

Source: Inward/Outward from Through the Year With Thomas Merton

Geek Laws

Yes, there are all kinds of Geeks in the world. I am a Band Geek of many years standing. GeekDad at Wired.com posted 10 Geeky Laws That Should Exist, But Don't. Here are two of the Ten:

4. Somers and McCarthy’s Law: There is no dangerous unscientific theory so preposterous that no celebrity will espouse and advocate it.

7. Starbucks’ and Peet’s Law: C8H10N4O2, better known as caffeine, is the most wonderful chemical compound known to humankind. If the field of chemistry had never identified or produced a single other useful compound, caffeine alone would be justification enough for its existence.
--Link

Beware the 13th

All right. I didn't have a real black cat picture. So I found this one of my grand-cat sitting in our window one wintry day looking out at the snow.

A little work with Paint Shop Pro makes it about as scary as Loca can get.

So watch out for the real black cats on a Friday the 13th. Even if you're not superstitious.

(But who do you think you're kidding?)




On the other hand, this may be a lot more scary if you don't pay attention.

Anything But Temptation

Back in August I bookmarked a release from Eureka Alert that at one and the same time

• states the obvious and
• makes us stop to realize that we aren't as strong as we think we are.

The release was titled:

Research shows temptation more powerful than individuals realize.

The research underlines why people often fall prey to addictions, obesity or Ponzi schemes. The study was led by Loran Nordgren, senior lecturer of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. Here's money quote #1:

People are not good at anticipating the power of their urges, and those who are the most confident about their self-control are the most likely to give into temptation. The key is simply to avoid any situations where vices and other weaknesses thrive and, most importantly, for individuals to keep a humble view of their willpower.

To most of us who work in the addictions field, this comes as no surprise. Our lives our filled with the clients who walk out of treatment absolutely, positively convinced that they will never drink again. They got it. They understand it. They won't make that mistake again. They have found strength.

But it is not about strength. It is about underestimating how strong temptation is and overestimating the human capacity to overcome it. The truth is found in the old quote from Oscar Wilde:

I can resist anything but temptation.

But if it were only about addictions and drugs or gambling this would not be nearly as important to realize as it is.

Here's money quote #2 which takes it beyond what I do for a living to a much greater world.

A system which assumes people will control themselves is going to fall prey to ... restraint bias; we expose ourselves to more temptation than is wise... And, while our study focused on personal behaviors like smoking and eating, it is easy to apply our findings to a broader context. Understanding the power of temptation, you might also ask about the extent to which we need oversight or regulatory guidelines for business and political leaders.

Think:

• The market will always temper the extremes (will-power!)
• I'm hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
• How much is that Senate seat worth to you?
• It all depends on what your definition of "is" is.
• Send in your $$$ and we will pray for you.

I know, now I'm one of them meddling preachers. I guess this research shouldn't come as a surprise to those in the religion business either.

Makes Ya Think...

Whether the truth of the following headline will bear out in the long run, it still brings one up short. From Salon.com (and originally at Dissenting Justice.

Military Retains Psychotic Religious Zealot, But Gives Gays and Lesbians the Boot
The Army -- ever-vigilant about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- failed to follow up on suspicions about shooter
By Darren Hutchinson

In Memory for Veteran's Day

A War Reality

From TED.com, Filmmaker Deborah Scranton talks about and shows clips from her documentary The War Tapes, which puts cameras in the hands of soldiers fighting in Iraq. Powerful!

Music, Passion, and One Buttock Playing

Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, is a man of energy, joy, and passion. Thanks to Maggie Dawn I found this TED Talk. Be prepared to like classical music with shining eyes.

A 20-Year Memory: The End of a Wall

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

(pmPilgrim Photo; August 1970)

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


(pmPilgrim Photo; August 1970)

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

(pmPilgrim Photo; August 1970)

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


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




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





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

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

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

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

An important lesson.

Wikipedia on The Berlin Wall

Monday Morning Quarterbacking: No Comparison

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

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

Check Your Maps

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

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

Thanks to Regret the Error.

The Jesus Prayer

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

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

Elie Wiesel Speaks

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

Withdrawal...

No more Cracker Jacks, let alone peanuts.

The Metrodome is only for football.

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

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

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

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

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

I Guess I Was Right

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

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

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

Here's what I wrote then:

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

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

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

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

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

Tis the Season

Already.

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

At least it's after Halloween.

Reality

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

Research Summary

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

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

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

Neat!

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

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

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

Early Ending Too Late

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

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

Casey Stengel

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

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

"Can't anybody here play this game?"

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

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

Yogi Berra

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

"We made too many wrong mistakes."

"It gets late early out there."

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

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

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

Bob Uecker

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

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

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

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

Mike Schmidt

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

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

Satchel Paige

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

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

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

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

Wonder What This Will Be Like

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

Link

When the Urgent Sets the Agenda

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conducting Yourself and Others

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

Overheard in Recovery: Tears and Wounds

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

My tears can heal and
the wounded are everywhere.

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

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

From Nouwen:

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

Monday Morning Quarterbacking: An Odd Game

First it was the Vikings.

Then the Packers made a comeback.

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

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

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

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

All Saints' Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Surprisingly, it is neither Michael Jackson nor Elvis.

It is Yves St. Laurent. Fashion wins out.

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

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

Then you have

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