Virginia Tech Shootings

There's been another mass shooting and more people saying, "How could this happen?" and "Change the gun laws." and more. There are interviews on TV with question being asked that anyone in their right mind knows cannot yet be answered. And I wonder. And I sorrow.

How this could happen isn't really a good question. The answers are before us. People who feel disenfranchised, persecuted, wronged or otherwise alienated sometimes take guns and shoot people. It's been happening for generations. The only thing that changes is the weapons. And what we can do is already being done by many. Teaching men that just because they have a breakup they don't need to kill their former girlfriend/wife. Teaching children that there are other methods of solving disputes. Working for equal opportunity. All those things are happening and all those things aren't happening enough.

But for today - instead of asking questions of how and why - perhaps we should pray for the families and friends who've survived.

False expectations

I've complained about it before, but it's one of the never-ending irritations. False expectations. And I had a couple of them today. Someone came down an hour after we had taken away the breakfast and wanted to get - just a little something for the road - breakfast. Then another person came down about 4:00 pm asking if I could have housekeeping clean their room - but they should have called us even with the Do Not Disturb sign on the door to let us know they were leaving - and couldn't understand why I let the housekeepers go when they had finished all their work around 11:00 am.

I don't have a housekeeper on all the time and I do post our breakfast hours by the front desk, over the breakfast counter, in the room and other places.

We are not the least expensive places as I provide a good breakfast - deluxe continental is what it's known in the trade - and offer a number of other amenities. But we're not the most expensive, so we don't keep breakfast on for all hours and we don't keep a housekeeper available all day and night.

We're not the most expensive of places so I look for people who are friendly rather than snooty as staff. We're not the most expensive of places so I look to have someone pick up guest laundry and clean it rather than do it on the premises. We're not the most of expensive of places so I have someone on duty at all times, but usually only one person so they just can't do all the little extras that some people expect.

Oh well, that's my job and most days I like it. But there are the days when the guest expectations are just a little unreasonable and then I complain.

Sex and inheritance.

I've been reading the Red Queen by Matt Ridley this week and then came across an article that points out what actually is the fact about parenting and raising children. And the fact is that many children are raised by men who aren't their genetic progenitors. And this is important because it shows us what is really happening. Monogamy, fidelity and chastity are ideals to which we should hold, but we should realize that they may not happen as much as some people claim. The question for us, as Christians, should be how do we live with what really is rather than how do we condemn that which does not live up to the ideal.

Yes, every child should know their real father and be raised with him in the picture (as long as he's not abusive). But that doesn't happen, so how can we support children as they grow is the more important question. And that question is where we should spend our efforts rather than worrying about whether this family or that family looks like what we think a family should be.

Truth in Love

At replace the lies with truth is an article about the use of Cameron' s statistics in the ex-gay movements. The turth is that those statistics have been discredited time and time again. The truth is that Cameron has used hateful speech about homosexuality, gays, lesbians, transgender and others with or percieved as being with other than heterosexual orientation. And the truth is if hate speech is used or if lies are told then the rest of the work is tainted. Certainly all of us make mistakes and for that should be willing to be corrected. But when the mistakes continue to be made in the same fashion, then they are no longer mistakes but lies.

Imus redux

Joe.My.God pointed me to a wonderful post about the Imus controversy. Harvey Firestein writes:

"America is watching Don Imus’s self-immolation in a state of shock and awe. And I’m watching America with wry amusement. Since I’m a second-class citizen — a gay man — my seats for the ballgame of American discourse are way back in the bleachers. I don’t have to wait long for a shock jock or stand-up comedian to slip up with hateful epithets aimed at me and mine. Hate speak against homosexuals is as commonplace as spam. It’s daily traffic for those who profess themselves to be regular Joes, men of God, public servants who live off my tax dollars, as well as any number of celebrities."

And that is so true.

Which is why I'm not so much worried about whether Imus loses his job or comes under fire for his comments as what our presidential candidates, such as Huckabee, say about the matter. Imus got checked for something he does regularly, but those who are not in his position should take a higher stance for not calling people names in any situation.

Stereotypes aren't always true.

Another sterotype bites the dust, college students know more about politics than American Idol. And another stereotype bites the dust as men look at faces first and the rest of the body second. I wonder what else I've been seeing as the gospel truth and it isn't - probably more than I want to know about.

Hucabee and Imus

I'm more concerned about a presidential candidate, Huckabee, defending Imus than what Imus actually did. Imus was hired as a shock jock. It's his job to straddle the line between offensive and pertinent and offensive and degrading. What he said was about the Rutgers team was inappropriate and insulting. Imus has crossed that line more than once and with any job he gets will probably do the same.

Firing him because he's done too much is also appropriate. Imus has the right to say what he wants, but he doesn't have the right to get paid to say exactly what he wants. Certainly Rosie O'Donnell has taken heat for some of her statements and rightly so. Certainly Bill Maher has taken heat and lost his job for some of the things he's said. And that is part and parcel of the marketplace.

All of the people that Huckabee mentioned are in the business of giving their opinions. And there are a lot of other people doing the same thing. Some are pundits, some are humorists, some are talk show hosts, and I could name more professions. Part of the bane and boon of having free speech is that other people are allowed to call you on what you've said - and their allowed to do that even if they're completely wrong in doing so and have completely misunderstand your point.

But when you're hired to give your opinion part of the chance you take is that you will do more than what those who hire you intend or can stomach and then you lose your job. That's not always fair, but it is part of the marketplace. Huckabee doesn't seem to understand the difference between being able to speak your mind and being paid to speak your mind. And that's his loss

Missing e-mails

Another White House scandal, this one to do with e-mails missing. What next? Outing a CIA agent on active service? Oh wait, that already happened. Making up one's own rules for which parts of the legislation one intends to follow? Oh wait, those are called signing statements. We have a three-legged stool as our system of government, as the founding fathers did not believe in trusting to any one person or branch other than to look out for their own interest. Seems like the executive branch wants to go off by itself and play. And that just isn't the American way.

Vonnegut dead

Vonnegut is gone. And the world has sustained a loss. I hated some of his writing. I loved some of his writing. And his writings always made me look at the world in a new way so I am grateful for all of it.

Music soothes the savage commuter?

One of the world's greatest violinists on one of the world's greatest violins performed for commuters to see what would happen. In the article Pearls before Breakfast is what happened. I know I don't have links to all the responses, but it is fascinating.

Taking the Fifth

There's more and more talk about Goodling, but I was glad to hear this comment from a fellow student.

One third-year student, Chamie Riley, said she rejected the idea that any government official who invokes her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination could be a good representative of Regent.
As Christians, she said, Regent students know "you should be morally upright. You should not be in a situation where you have to plead the Fifth."

I disagree somewhat. I think one should be able to plead the Fifth when planning an event of civil disobedience such as what happend during the Civil Rights Era, but those events were to show the immorality of a particular law rather than to hide what one was doing. And in this case the problem is avoiding responsibility for one's actions as a government official.

Children in the Marketplace - Luke 7:28ff

We who are human don’t always want to grow up. We want to squabble like children over who did what to whom when the matter is trivial and avoid talking about it when the matter is serious. We act like children when we tattle to others instead of going directly to the other when we have a problem. We act like children when we blame the other for our own failings. We act like children when we don’t take responsibility for what we do. We act as children when we refuse to grow and mature. We act as children when we want simplistic answers rather than the simple answers that come from going through the complexities.

We are called to love God with our heart and soul and mind and body. We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. In these are contained the whole of the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37ff paraphrased) But too often I hear the words of love without love. What is said to be love is really self-deception and self-centeredness.

I hear groups like Focus on the Family and Love in Action saying they love the homosexual without listening to scripture or the homosexual. They spend their time promoting their own idea of family without looking at what families are actually like and the say that they love while causing hurt to many of the people who pass through their programs. They are like children in the marketplace pretending that something is wrong (like a funeral) when it is of their own imaginations and desires.

These places do provide a relief. They may be the first place that someone can talk about their desires and hopes. But where they go wrong is in trying to fit everyone in a particular mold. God may will some people to have a change in orientation from gay to straight, yet that doesn’t mean that is God’s will for everyone nor that changing from gay or giving up same-sex sexual actions is right for everyone. These places go for the quick and simplistic rather than the thoughtful and righteous. Their love is in words, but not in their actions. And they are like the ones Jesus talked about who put heavy burdens on the back of others that they themselves are unwilling to bear.

We are called to grow up. We are called to become mature. We are called to take the road less followed and yet more beautiful. God knows that I adore the quick and easy answer myself. I would like to pick up any task and perform it perfectly in a short time. Yet there are some tasks for which I am not gifted and others which require much practice and sustained effort.

For every minute I spend preaching in a worship service or speaking in a public place, I spend one to two hours in direct preparation and more in continued work to educate myself. For every piece I perform as a musician I spend hours learning the notes, the rhythm, trying different ways, checking the acoustics of the performance space and more. In every piece I write or compose I spend hours re-reading and changing a word or a note, then changing it back.

And that what growing up is about. And that is what it means to become mature. We examine and look and revise and become who God creates us to be.

I adore the certitude of the fundamentalist and sometimes wish I could become that narrow. Yet, in my heart I know that I am called to examine doctrine and creed and interpretation of Scripture to make sure that I am following God’s will and not my own. And while I am called to look at the tradition which has been handed down I am also called to examine that tradition for where it has gone astray (I John 4:1 paraphrase). Too often I hear the Christianist viewpoint of those who believe that they are following the whole of the tradition when what they want is what they heard as children. And that wanting to have the same faith as what we heard as children is as empty as children playing in the marketplace.

Yes, we are called to have faith as a child, but we are called to mature and understand that faith as adults. We are in the process of being perfected rather than being already there. We who can call ourselves born-again Christians sometimes look back on that life-changing experience and stop there. But we are not to stop on the road to Damascus; (referring to Acts 9) we are called to go further in our faith to challenge ourselves and others to grow.

And then there’s the whole idea that being a Christian will bring health and wealth. Most preachers are more sophisticated than that and I don’t deny that some will find health and wealth in following the gospel, but more will face persecution and derision. The road of a Christian is that of being refined like gold purified in the fire. The road of the Christian is that of the athlete who trains daily to run the race and will be exhausted and sweaty with sore muscles and the possibility of strains and broken bones.

And while there are moments of perfect joy and completion in worship and work for God there are also dark nights of the soul where we cry out that we are alone and no other is left but us (I Kings 19) or when we say all that we have done is worthless (Ecclesiastes 2).

The road of a Christian is filled with thorns and brambles, with pits and traps, with sloughs and marshes. The path of a Christian is filled with longing for a home we have not known and a place we’ve never been. The task of a Christian is to be faithful in the midst of despair and a light in the darkest night. And none of that is easy. And all of that is work.

We want the quick answers, the childish tunes, the simplistic ways, but are called to go further into a deeper and richer world.

The one whom we come to follow was called a glutton and drunkard so we should look for those who are said to be promiscuous and unchaste and welcome them into the church and into our lives. The one we follow does not go around with a tightly pinched nose and a belly filled with triumph over another. Rather that one calls us to give up the riches and power to be with the poor in their slum and the prisoner in jail. The one we follow loves indiscriminately and does not count the words above the actions. The one we follow welcomes those of disparate lives – rich and poor, weak and strong, black and white, from all nations and races.

All are called to the feast, the table of our Lord. All are to come to the mountain where God dwells (Isaiah 65, 66). And in the end we will know the truth.

But we are not yet at the end of days even though we have been expecting it for over two-thousand years. We are in the time of ‘not yet’ where we know that God is coming – the signs are all around us – but are still preparing. And so for those who are Christian we live ready for a thousand years or a single day, for the next moment and for centuries of longing. And we work for the truth, to bring in the light.

The reason I mentioned Focus on the Family, Love in Action (and there are many more) is because of their emphasis that they have the answer in face of evidence to the contrary. Augustine in his book on the Literal Meaning of Genesis writes that there is nothing more damning to the spread of Christianity than those who take their self-understood views of what is in Scripture against the evidence that the pagan knows for it is in their field of expertise.

We see this happening also in the Creationist/Intelligent Design dressing up religion as science as well as the reparative and change therapies dressing themselves up as psychology. Even if they are correct the way in which they challenge other points of view without putting themselves under that same examination is anathema to following the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

We Christians are about the Truth even when it is difficult and hard. We Christians know that there are many who proclaim that they have the truth and who are unwilling to go through the effort of examination to see if they are following the truth or their own desires. We Christians test the spirit and examine the evidence. We Christians may express things simply but realize that there is more to know and deeper understanding to follow and that the simple expressions of love for neighbor are seen in the cup of water to the thirsty, the visit to those in prison, the walk with those who are stumbling, the clothes to those who are naked, the presence with those who are ill and more.

We are sometimes children in the marketplace screaming in anger that ‘they’ aren’t playing our game. But those who follow Christ give up that play time – though not the joy – in favor of learning more and being with and celebrating the love of God for each individual and the whole world.

We are sometimes children in the marketplace, but we Christian know it is time to grow up and become what God desires us to be.

We are children in the market place, but we are becoming mature and look forward to that day when we shall see in full.

Luke 7:28-35 [28] I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." [29](And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. [30] But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.) [31] "To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? [32] They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.' [33] For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a demon'; [34] the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' [35] Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children."

Equal rights

Gays should be flogged, says at least one religious leader in Russia. And while I've not really heard that extreme of opinion in the USA - though Phelps comes close - it is still frightening. It is less frightening than the rules now being discussed in Nigeria where any activity percieved as being homosexual may be grounds for prison, but still frightening.

If anyone wants to know why gays want equal rights, the question should be answered.

I misspoke

Pam's House Blend has this down better than I could. McCain misspoke about conditions in Iraq? What's that about - you were there weren't you?

Stupidity

And this site - the stupidity tracker - has some people who are just wierd, grotesque and the type you'd much rather hear about than meet.

I really debated before linking to this post. Hopefully no one will get any ideas from this.

Palindromes

A song composed entirely of palindromes? It's possible. And Weird Al Yankovich is the one who's done it.

Easter Sunday

Christ is risen.

Christ is risen indeed.

But on my Easter Sunday it's snowing and I'm working. In part I'm not averse to working on Sundays. At this point in my life it's painful to go to worship services. I still feel called to work in the ministry and in my love for sermons and worship. Yet since I have been out of the pulpit it is painful to worship in the congregation. Still, Easter Sunday and Passion Week are the most important events of the church year and I miss them even as I know it would hurt to go.

Christ is risen indeed. But the transformation of each Christian is still ongoing. I will continue to pray and work for that new earth that is coming into being.

Easter Vigil

One of the ideas I love, but rarely do, is the Easter Vigil. I tend to read the scriptures, but actually getting out and organizing the worship or attending it seems a bit much. Yet I still love the idea of spending time in silence and meditation and recounting the whole of creation history during the day. So here are some scripture from a lectionary for those who want to participate in thinking about easter for the day.

EASTER VIGIL LECTIONARY:
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26
Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13
Psalm 46:1-11
Genesis 22:1-18
Psalm 16:1-11
Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21
Exodus 15:1b-13, 17-18
Isaiah 55:1-11
Isaiah 12:2-6
Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6
Psalm 19:1-14
Ezekiel 36:24-28
Psalm 42:1-11 and 43:1-5
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 143:1-12
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Psalm 98:1-9
Romans 6:3-11
Psalm 114:1-8
Matthew 28:1-10

Iraq and McCain

It seems that McCain's visit to Iraq was just one more photo op. I wish for something a little more real. We seem to be in the same morass as Vietnam and I'm afraid we will see the same sort of air-lifts out at the end.

And the truth is not in them.

The holocaust didn't happen and most blacks supported slavery so the War between the States (more commonly known as the Civil War) was about state rights.

Right....

Evidence is faked by those who would deny the truth.