Oblivious, Hypocritical, something else

Let’s see, Randy Thomas complains about being the subject of ridicule on Youtube. That’s because at one point he says, ” that we respect a person's right to self determination regarding what they want to do with their same sex attraction.” And then goes on to say, “Oddly enough, the video doesn't make a point that this was the parent's decision by their own initiative.” If the parents are making a child go to those so-called treatments that have not been shown to be effective and have been shown to cause harm, then that is forcing a person, and a child is a person, to do something that is not their own decision.

This is a subject fit for ridicule. Randy Thomas writes an article in which he contradicts himself in the same paragraph. At one point claiming that every one is allowed self-determination and then giving that power of determination over to the parents. It’s also what’s known as hypocrisy – claiming to do one thing and then doing something else. If it is someone else, including the parent, who is making the decision it’s just not self-determination.

I messed up on getting the link so have posted the whole article below.

I have been made the subject of a YouTube video.
The activist, someone I actually like when he is using his talents toward other non-destructive purposes, is upset that I said on the Adam Carolla Show, twice, that we respect a person's right to self determination regarding what they want to do with their same sex attraction. One of Exodus' Member Ministries, Love In Action (LIA) (one of the oldest ministries out of the close to 150 agencies who work with us) allows parents to enter their underage teenage children into their residential program. This activist features quotes from a two young men who were made, by their parents, to go to the program. Oddly enough, the video doesn't make a point that this was the parent's decision by their own initiative. He also highlights Jerry Falwell (who spoke at our conference in 2005). Falwell was quoted, according to a gay website, that he agrees it is ok for parents to make such a decision for their children.
Where this video fails is that it tries to make LIA's policy, an autonomous ministry incorporated as their own organization, as somehow a huge policy issue for Exodus and the other 149 or so agencies and churches we work with. He mentions that LIA is one of the oldest ministries, but conveniently leaves out that their program for young people is relatively new. The video also fails because it completely ignores parental rights afforded to the parent's by the state. It further fails because it assumes that teenagers can't think for themselves as obviously displayed by the young man in the video who came out of the program to determine he was going to pursue his identity centered around homosexuality. Plus, there are many others who have been helped by Love In Action. Exodus and Love In Action didn't go out and force anyone into their program. In the very few cases of people entering the program against their will (only two highlighted and I am not aware of any others) the parents came to Love In Action and entered their underage children...which they have a right to do according to law.
http://exodus.blogs.com/liveoutloud/2006/11/youtube_activis.html

have been made the subject of a YouTube video.
The activist, someone I actually like when he is using his talents toward other non-destructive purposes, is upset that I said on the Adam Carolla Show, twice, that we respect a person's right to self determination regarding what they want to do with their same sex attraction. One of Exodus' Member Ministries, Love In Action (LIA) (one of the oldest ministries out of the close to 150 agencies who work with us) allows parents to enter their underage teenage children into their residential program. This activist features quotes from a two young men who were made, by their parents, to go to the program. Oddly enough, the video doesn't make a point that this was the parent's decision by their own initiative. He also highlights Jerry Falwell (who spoke at our conference in 2005). Falwell was quoted, according to a gay website, that he agrees it is ok for parents to make such a decision for their children.
Where this video fails is that it tries to make LIA's policy, an autonomous ministry incorporated as their own organization, as somehow a huge policy issue for Exodus and the other 149 or so agencies and churches we work with. He mentions that LIA is one of the oldest ministries, but conveniently leaves out that their program for young people is relatively new. The video also fails because it completely ignores parental rights afforded to the parent's by the state. It further fails because it assumes that teenagers can't think for themselves as obviously displayed by the young man in the video who came out of the program to determine he was going to pursue his identity centered around homosexuality. Plus, there are many others who have been helped by Love In Action. Exodus and Love In Action didn't go out and force anyone into their program. In the very few cases of people entering the program against their will (only two highlighted and I am not aware of any others) the parents came to Love In Action and entered their underage children...which they have a right to do according to law.
And, on an important technical issue also not clarified in the video, I don't represent Love In Action or Jerry Falwell, I represent myself and Exodus. I highly respect these other ministries. Even so, neither have asked me to represent them.
This video is an attack against me by fusing multiple issues into sensational soundbytes. Typical, and while visual (with great music in the background), not a very creative attack...except for the music. What I said is completely accurate to Exodus' thirty year position on self-determination.
We do respect a person's right to self-determination. Perhaps the maker of the video should be attacking state defined parental rights and the expression of religious liberties within that context ... instead of me. For some reason this person doesn't want to dig into the subject on that level and would rather attack me personally by reducing this personal and complex issue to name-calling (i.e. "liar".)
By the way, Tennessee, the state that was investigating Love In Action (LIA) dropped it's investigation after Love In Action sued them for religious discrimination. The state, fully aware of LIA's activities and policies, upheld LIA's right to operate as a faith based organization and settled with them out of court. The state even paid for Love In Action's court fees that resulted from their investigation.
Technorati Tags: Ex-gay, Exodus, Youtube, exgay, homosexuality, love in action, self-determination Posted by Randy Thomas on Tuesday

Yazid Ibrahim

"When looking at faults, use a mirror, not a telescope."
-Yazid Ibrahim

Those little lies

Today someone said something along the lines of 'Your breakfast closes early.' And I went, 'we keep it open until nine am.' And they continued along with, 'most places keep it open until ten' And I went, 'not around here.' Then the final word was, 'We've never seen a breakfast close so early.' And I sighed.

I know that the places around here close at nine am. I've been at a lot of motels where the breakfast closes at nine. It's just not that unusual. And to have someone say that they've never seen it before is either a lack of travel experience or a little lie. And those little lies add up.

I suppose that the person just wanted to be in the right. But a little lie is the wrong way to go about it. We all make mistakes and all of us have lied on ocassion. But the attitude that allows one to lie, just a little bit, just for a good purpose, just adds up over time into an attitude that allows lying at one's convenience. And that's why just a little lie is still wrong.

William Arthur Ward

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
-William Arthur Ward

And Tango Makes Three

I keep reading every few months about a library acquiring the children’s book “And Tango Makes Three.” Then someone gets upset that the book promotes homosexuality and then there is brouhaha about what books children should read. The biggest problem is, in my opinion, that the book is about a true incident. And it’s not just that this happens in zoos, but that it happens in the wild.

Male partners in more than one species will raise orphans and abandoned young of their own species. This is observed fact. Our children need to have this sort of factual information available. If it is in the form of a children’s story then all the better. The children will learn more about the natural world. It is foolish to argue that just because a book is about a same-gendered partnership that it is inappropriate. What is inappropriate is not teaching children about what is fact.

burnings

I recently saw an article about a church burning. No, this wasn’t because it was a black congregation. But it was because of their beliefs. And it was right here in the U.S.A.

Lussier, a student at a bible institute, stole from and burned down churches that didn’t meet his definition of Christianity. This is someone who doesn’t understand the meaning of Christianity and can’t read the Bible for all of his prejudices. Paul looked at the different altars in the marketplace before he began to preach. And then Paul used an example from one of those same worship places to begin the conversion process. He didn’t go around burning down the places of those with whom he disagreed.

Christians need to join together in crying shame on those who profess the name but do not act in accordance with the one the claim. Shame on you Mr. Lussier and shame on those whose teaching led you to burn down a house of worship.

Those who hear the word

Luke 11
[27] While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!" [28] But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!"

What is really important in our life and faith? This is the question that is answered in the story where Jesus corrects a woman. There are many places where Jesus clearly respects the presence of women in a fashion equal to that of men. He listens to the Syro-phoenican woman and corrects himself because of her arguments. There are women who follow and provide for the disciples. In the New Testament there is mention of Junia as renowned among the apostles. This story isn’t about them. It’s about blessing a woman for whom she bore rather than for who she is. This story is about what is truly important in faith and that is those who hear the Word of God and obey it.

The ones who hear the word of God and do it are those who are blessed. Just having a famous child is not enough. Just having a famous spouse is not enough. Just having a famous parent is not enough. We are called out to do God’s will rather than wait for another.

The birth narratives, including the magnificat, make it clear that the mother of Jesus was one who heard God and did God’s will. Her acceptance of God’s will is clear. But that acceptance is the matter of import not her womb and her nursing of Jesus.

Yes raising children is important. Yet we have to ask the question what is of ultimate importance. For Christians who live out their faith family values are subordinate to following their savior. They will be like the women who followed and supported the disciples. They will be like the disciples who left their father and the fishing nets to follow Jesus. They will answer the call to give up their riches and go to those in need. We are called to hear the word of God and then go do it.

Groucho Marx

"All people are born alike -- except Republicans and Democrats."

--Groucho Marx

Due process is not just for the good times

Truthout has an article from the Editor and Publisher about how determinations as to who was/is an enemy combatant were made at Guantanamo Bay. It saddens me. This is not what my forefathers and mothers fought for.

gratuitous insults

My faith is an important part of my life. I think that it is one of the reasons I actually got through depression. But really is an e-mail about losing a political race to a Hindu the right place to say “Pay attention...this is very important, Satveer. Have you noticed Jesus for yourself...at some moment in time, yet??? ...” According to the God I worship – whom in the second person I call Jesus – it is not about calling people names or some such when you lose a political race and that’s not the time to blame them for not being Christian. Frankly if I weren’t already a Christian I’d be leaving any possibility of becoming one far behind after such a message.

P.S. Look at Andrew Sullivan for another thought about this sort of Christianist response.

A week for new lows

I’m thankful for many things this week. But there are many things that just seem absurd. Who writes a book about the murder of his wife that’s called something like ‘If I did it’? And then who publishes and publicizes it? Or who in this day thinks it’s still o.k. to go off on a tirade and use the ‘n’ word about and to someone who is black? I’m not sure which is more delusional. I do think both are sick.

P.S. Scalzi on Nov. 22 has a scathing commentary on another commentator who looks at both these people.

A testimony to which I can return

The Elijah/Elisha cycle of stories have become more and more important in my search for understanding of scripture. I suspect I wouldn’t want to meet either of the men and would be uncomfortable in their company, yet they speak to me as a follower of Christ and provide an example of living in a godly fashion.

One of the reasons I love reading these stories is because Elijah and Elisha are so human. I can see myself in Elijah leaving the miracle of contending with the priests of Baal (I Kings 18) and then going into the wilderness to complain that he was left all alone (I Kings 19). I should repeat that. I can seem myself going out of some triumph to complain that everyone is against me. And so I love reading the stories as they illuminate my life and experiences and challenge me to go forth again.

A man I don't usually quote, but when he's right I will.

"If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly," - Ronald Reagan, 1982.

Helen Keller

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiencesoftrial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambitioninspired and success achieved."
-Helen Keller

Lincoln

"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

-Abraham Lincoln

Twain

"Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."
-Mark Twain

Buechner

"In his holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops a handkerchief. These handkerchiefs are called saints."
Frederick Buechner

Do not preach of these things

Micah 2:6 – "Do not preach"--thus they preach--"one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us." – is part of a larger piece that talks of what happens when people do wicked deeds. But one of the clear things that happen with evil is an attempt to muzzle people. It’s not whether it’s in the worship service or not. It’s not whether it’s of a pastor or not. But when people declare that it’s not nice to speak of things, or that it’s traitorous to speak of these things, or any of the other various ways to shut people up, then there’s a problem.

There are times when one can ask other’s not to speak of such. I tell my employees not to use swear words at work. But I don’t limit their speech outside of work and I encourage them to tell of problems, issues and things we should fix in the workplace. With good information one can make a bad decision, but without good information a bad decision is almost inevitable. The passage from Micah is not talking about keeping someone from yelling fire in a crowded place, but about limiting discourse to what is nice and neat and predictable and keeping the not-so-nice things out of sight.

But the not-so-nice needs to be talked about. The problems in society must be addressed in pulpit and park, in public and private, in season and out of season. There’s something about that ‘do not preach on these things’ that is kin to lying and telling untruths. We who are Christian are to seek out the truth and that can cause us to go to dark places and find out things we do not wish to know.

Those who talk about how things are getting better and better fool themselves. Those who talk about staying the course without any examination of what is happening delude themselves. Those who talk of the needs of the rich and ignore the cry of the poor are hypocritical. If the stock market is booming and yet many are without health care our priorities are in the wrong order. If tax relief for large estates is pushed and welfare funds are cut then we have not heard the cry of the poor.

Certainly there are times when one shouldn’t speak. In the U.S.A. we have clear rules for tax-exempt organizations. They can’t promote one candidate over another, not even indirectly. But they can and should speak out about what concerns they have on issues in this world and this nation.

When I hear something about not saying such things I remember the passages I’ve read about the prophets. They spoke in spite of being thrown into pits and dungeons, in spite of threats of torture and death, in spite of disagreement and derision. They spoke the truth in as many ways as they could in satire and show, in pun and riddle, in messages clear and obscure, in ridiculous ways and strait-laced patterns and more.
We’re called to do the same.

Ted Hughes

by Ted Hughes.

The Thought-Fox

I imagine this midnight moment's forest:
Something else is alive
Beside the clock's loneliness
And this blank page where my fingers move.
Through the window I see no star:
Something more near
Though deeper within darkness
Is entering the loneliness:
Cold, delicately as the dark snow
A fox's nose touches twig, leaf;
Two eyes serve a movement, that now
And again now, and now, and now
Sets neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
Of a body that is bold to come
Across clearings, an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business
Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox
It enters the dark hole of the head.
The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
The page is printed.

Obvious

I saw this quote and thought has it really come to this?

"If you mean by 'military victory' an Iraqi government that can be
established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the
civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time
period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I
don't believe that is possible," - Henry Kissinger

Christianist views

Seems that there's a problem with the election of a Muslim to congress. He's not using the Bible to take his oath of office. He - wait for it - is using the Koran. The God I worship is more interested in whether we keep our oaths than in what holy book (or lack thereof) we use in making that oath. It seems to me that there are a couple of scripture passages on that (I've included one at the end of this note). The Jesus I read about has a real problem with the religious leaders imposing their beliefs on others and making a burden out of what should be a joy. If we want freedom to worship as we please we must give it to others. If we want people to respect our oaths on our scripture we should respect their oaths on their holy books. It is a misreading of scripture and a misunderstanding of Christianity to think otherwise.

Thanks to Dispatches from the Culture Wars for getting me to this article.

Matthew 23:13-24

[13] "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock
people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when
others are going in, you stop them. [15] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make
the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

[16] "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the sanctuary
is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by
the oath.' [17] You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary
that has made the gold sacred? [18] And you say, 'Whoever swears by the altar is
bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound
by the oath.' [19] How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the
altar that makes the gift sacred? [20] So whoever swears by the altar, swears by
it and by everything on it; [21] and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by
it and by the one who dwells in it; [22] and whoever swears by heaven, swears by
the throne of God and by the one who is seated upon it.

[23] "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe
mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:
justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without
neglecting the others. [24] You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow
a camel!

Emerson

My chief want in life is someone who shall make me do what I can.
(RalphWaldo Emerson)

Greek and Roman thought

I’ve been reading a book by J. N. Adams called The Latin Sexual Vocabulary recently. It reminds me of how we bring our own preconceptions to reading scripture. The culture in which I live is very different from that of ancient Greece and Rome where the writers of scripture live. If I read with my own assumptions, then I can miss some important things.

It is clear that roman culture is not really interested in the gender of the people in the sexual activity so much as the status and who is in control. The problem with an emperor marrying a slave wasn’t that they were both men but, as the famous satire makes clear, that the emperor put on the clothes of a woman. The status of the people dictated whether they were expected to be the active or inactive participant (at least whether they should be perceived as such) rather than the sexual activity involved.

This becomes important as we read the prescriptions and proscriptions for marriage and sexual activity in the greek testament. It becomes even more important as we read the call for equality and leveling through the whole of the greek testament. It is that the whole culture was being changed from one of status importance to one where status is irrelevant. As Christians we are equal to each other. That one is an arm is true, that another is an eye is also true. But the different parts can’t do without each other. That message, that sounds old and tired after 2,000 years or so, is a radical message at the time of the writing.

We have become so familiar with scripture that we forget what a radical notion the greek testament brought. The letters we have were written for particular problems and situations of which we have little knowledge. There are four gospels in the document we have, yet those were chosen from a number of writings that the early church had available. The question, for me, today is ‘how do I find that radical nature so as to become the Christian that I am called to be?’

Keller

Is there anything worse than blindness? Oh, Yes! A person with sightandno vision! (Helen Keller)

Lest we forget

September 11 is a day that defines a generation, but my generation remembers the day J.F.K. was shot as one of those days. My parents remembered Pearl Harbor. And the list could go back to the sinking of a civilian ship by the Germans in WWI or the day the British burned the White House and Dolly Madison saved a portrait.

We humans forget. Tragedies happen and life, if we want to live our lives, moves on. For some of us the memories keep coming in regular and irregular fashions more frequently, for others those moments of remembrance become less frequent (though not necessarily less painful).Perhaps it is less important to remember the particular event, than to remember those events happen.

Lamentations talk about how the city has fallen and the hands of compassionate women boil children for food. Many may not know the event that called forth this lament, but the lament is still felt.And perhaps it is more important to ask how these events affect our values. Do we become more compassionate? or more fearful? Do we attempt to escape over the backs of another? or help those around us?

The values we profess are held up for examination in the light of tragedy. And we are faced with whether we live up to those values.Do we continue to seek to give everyone a quick and speedy trial? Do we honor the values of free speech? Do we make sure we have evidence and review before we search and seize private property? Do the despised among us have the presumption of innocence?

The values we profess but give up in our grief show the values we truly cherish. What values have we shown the world?

Butler

Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning theintrument asone goes on. (Samuel Butler)

Synesthesia and such things

The older I get the more I realize what oddities there are among people. I’d heard the word synesthesia for many years before I realized it also applied to the way I function. Spelling bees were not a problem for me because I heard the word before I was asked to spell it. But sometimes at work I ask for someone’s name and they spell it.

When the word is spelled first and/or not said I have trouble alphabetizing it. I hear the letters in a different form and have to write them down before I can get it together. The word as spoken comes to me in different form than when it’s spelled. My brain will easily go from the word to the letters, but translation the other way, while not impossible, is more difficult.

Being odd is not a problem. Expecting everyone to be similar is.

I try to be particular in my questions. I ask for the last name rather than the room number, because people know their last name more often than what room they were in last night. I ask for the spelling only if I can’t find the name, but not until after I’ve heard the name. After I’ve heard the name spelling it sometimes works, but there are days that I’ve got to write down the spelling before I can find the word as someone keeps on spelling their name rather than pronouncing it.

My suspicion is that if I had experiences like one of my friends who doesn’t see I’d be even more frustrated. She’s stood on a corner trying to figure out what she wants to do and had people drop coins in her coffee or grab her arm to help her across the street. That would cause me to say some words that I don’t normally say. It’s easier, or so I suspect, to deal with people who don’t answer the actual question asked rather than those who invade one’s person space. It doesn’t matter that they’re trying to help. If what is being done is not what was asked for it remains less than helpful and sometimes offensive.

Having differences is not a problem, having to act as if those differences don’t exist or being forced to accept the help the other wants to give is a problem.

Tips from Christians

As someone who works serving breakfast, cleaning rooms, managing the front desk I sometimes get tips. But there are some tips that make me reconsider being a Christian. That is those tips from people that are a booklet or such on their denomination. I don’t care how much the book costs or how good that book is or even if that pamphlet is completely scriptural, the way to reward service is to give money.

If you like the person at the motel, the restaurant, the cruise or whatever, then give them money. But don’t give some pamphlet. That doesn’t promote your cause; it makes the rest of us gag. Here is a tip to other Christians from one who is also Christian. Stop with the pamphlets already. Please, just stop. Or, in some words from scripture, don’t bind the mouths of the kine that tread the grain.

Measuring rods, lines and staffs

Revelation 11:1 [1]
Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told,

You don’t need to go outside of scripture to figure out that some interpretations are missing the point. As I was growing up the passage about ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ was quoted to excuse hitting a child with a stick or cane. The part that never quite got mentioned was that the Hebrew passage referred to a measuring instrument that wasn’t necessarily a stick or rod but could be more like a plumb line that one uses for measuring how straight a wall is being built.

The passage on ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ is about correcting a child, but not about beating a child. The passage is about training and example, but not about force and brutality. The passage is about leading a child into the path of righteousness rather than might makes right. As the passage from Revelations shows the measuring device isn’t the stick that some imagine.

Spoiling the child is a result of not providing standards rather than the not providing a spanking.

Buechner

A parable is a small story with a large point.

Frederick Buechner

Torture is a moral issue

To raise your voice against torture go to the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Need I say more?

Burial plans

I'd just as soon not have a grave site. I'd rather people remember me as I am instead of going to some site. But that's my preference. I have an aunt who would like to have her ashes scattered in the mountains. There are a couple of places she could be buried. One is with her first husband and a child they lost during their marriage. Another is in the plot owned by her second husband's family. But making a choice between those two places is not something she can do.

However for gay men and lesbians in a committed relationship the options are not as simple. A gay couple in Baltimore chose a site together. One of them died. The other faced a court battle in order to carry out his partner's wishes. Finally the decision came down that they could be buried together.

Those seemingly simple decisions that come along with a marriage certificate are but one reason civil unions or marriages or whatever you want to call it should be allowed for committed life partners no matter what the genders involved. It's a simple matter of justice. No special rights are being asked for, only that a couple be permitted to make decisions for each other without having to spend time, money and energy preparing documents that even then may be contested by family members who disapprove of who their relative has found as a partner in life.

Borat lawsuit

I probably won't go to see the new Borat movie. It just doesn't sound like my sort of film. But there's a ridiculous lawsuit against the movie. Evidently some young men are embarassed because of comments they made on film about slavery and minorities.

The movie features a scene in a motor home where Cohen gets drunk with
three frat boys who go on a racist rant about how they wished they had slaves
and how minorities in the United States "have all the power."

Frankly I think the 'frat boys' should be embarrassed about their comments and should feel humiliated. But they shouldn't sue because of those feelings. They deserve them. Being drunk is no excuse for racist comments or approval of slavery. If they didn't want to have those feelings they should have kept their mouths shut. Supposedly they're in college.... well if they're smart enough for that they should be smart enough to know what is and is not appropriate behavior.

Oh well, I guess they'll live and learn and college is certainly one of the places in which to do just that.

Deliver us from evil

I’m pretty sure that I don’t want to see the film ‘Deliver us from evil’ but I probably will if it comes to my area. What I’ve heard of it comes from a review in The Stranger. It sounds like a documentary that everyone concerned about child abuse should see. The film focuses on one particular man and his disassociative disorder – in other words he doesn’t put the pieces together about what he’s done and how it affects his victims.

Do I want to see the film? No.

But I still think I should, and I think you should also go see it.

Buechner

The power of sin is centrifugal. When at work in a human life, it tends to push everything toward the periphery. Bits and pieces go flying off until the only the core is left. Eventually bits and pieces of the core itself go flying off until in the end nothing is left at all. "The wages of sin is death"is St Paul's way of saying the same thing.
Frederick Buechner

Dog in the pool?

I'm sometimes a little bit dumbfounded at what people think. The other day at the motel I heard a dog barking. I looked around and so did the desk clerk. Neither of us saw anything. So I went to get some fast food and came back to see a dog running around in the pool area.

I love service animals, they are always well-behaved and many times better than some of my human guests. But we do have a no pet policy. I set my meal down and then went into the pool area to ask the guest to take her dog out of the motel. First she argued with me saying it was a small dog, then she said it would take a few minutes. The guest started to leave and then asked for a refund of her money. I refused.

End of story?

Not quite.

The guest asked us to call the police to see if they would help her get her money back. And the police said it was a civil matter. I suggested that she could stay, but her dog wasn't welcome. I'm still trying to figure out why one would bring a dog into a no pet hotel and take it into the pool area. So the guest, who during this time has packed and loaded her stuff, leave the premises calling me names.

Is this the end of the story?

Not quite yet.

A day later I get a notice from the national franchise offices that she has filed a complaint. In the note is something to the effect that the customer became irate on the phone. Also in that note is a comment that the customer told the national line that she was told to sneak the dog into the motel - now remember that the desk clerk who checked her in searched for the dog when it was barking and that I found the dog in the pool area - and that she had left a deposit in case of damage to the room.

So I've now written a letter to the customer and I hope that is the end of it. But if not, I'll survive. With owners like this one I suspect that there's little question of why we have a 'No Pet' policy in this motel.

Customers

The other day I had some call the motel. That's not unusual nor was it out of the way that they asked for a guest that wasn't there. But then they asked whether there was a reservation for someone by that name. And that's something we don't disclose.

We actually don't even say whether or not someone's present in the motel we just transfer, by name only not room number, to the room. It's a matter of guest security and privacy. We'll transfer calls, unless the guest has given a name, but we don't speculate as to whether they've registered under a different name (though we do make sure that the credit card and driver's license is valid). But this time when I gave my standard speech about how I can't give out the information as to whether someone has registered the person on the phone got angry.

This isn't the first time that this has happened. It won't be the last. And when people get angry over the rules taht we don't give out information then I'm inclined to be a little suspicious. Are they a jealous significant other, are they a stalker, are they something else? I begin to wonder. And with cell phones so prevalent, couldn't they just call and ask their friend, relative, co-worker or other possiblity?

When a desk clerk says, "I'm not supposed to give out that sort of information." then it's not the time to go off on the desk clerk. There may be good or bad reasons for that policy, but it's not going to be changed because you're yelling at the clerk or threatening to take away your business. And it's just plain rude.

I may be alone in this, but I don't think I am. Rudeness doesn't make me want to serve you any more quickly, any better and if I witness it I'm not impressed. Certainly I understand a reasonable complaint. I'v made those myself and shwon progressively more anger. But not at the desk staff unless it is something that they are doing right then and there. A desk clerk who is ignoring me as I try to order is fair game for my feelings, but one who is enforcing a policy of the mananger/owner doesn't deserve my anger. And it is impolite for me (and you) to take out my being upset on someone who has no recourse or remedy at their disposal.

Scientific accuracy

Thoughts from Kansas pointed me to an article where some in the government seem to have difficulty with understanding what is meant by scientific accuracy

buechner

..The search for home is related also to the longing of the flesh ...which suggests that beneath the longing to possess and be possessed by the beauty of another sexually - "to know" in the Biblical idiom - there lies the longing to know and be known by another fully and humanly, and beneath that there lies a longing, closer to the heart of the matter still, which is the longing to beat long last where you fully belong. Frederick Buechner.

Spoofs

Chrichton isn't really one of the authors I read, but I love the website that I understand is from his new book. I saw mention first at genetics and health.

Junia

I sometimes wonder at how blind we can be. And I do include myself among the group of people who can blind themselves to what is because of what they want reality to be. One of the instances is in the case of Junia. For several thousand years the apostle Junia was considered to be a woman. But then she suddenly changed genders.

The textual commentaries and greek testaments all started referring to her as a man. And there are many today who still do the same. The evidence from the greek is clear – Junia is only found as a woman’s name. The evidence from the early church is clear – they refer to Junia as a woman. Yet in the 19th century Junia became a man and some would like to keep her as such.

Today we often conflate the word apostle with the twelve disciples of Jesus who are apostles, but in the early church it is clear that the office of apostle includes those who are not among the twelve. For one prominent example look at how Paul referred to himself in scripture – there are more than a few references – and clearly Junia is not the only one called apostle in Romans 16. Yet she is mentioned as prominent among the apostles.

I think that phrase about Junia being the one who is prominent among the apostles may be the point that sticks in the craw for some people. And by some people I mean those who do not consider women as equal to men. My experience is that every time talk begins of how women and men have different roles it soon becomes clear that the ‘roles’ of women are seen as less valuable than the ‘roles’ of men. And that is not scriptural.

Paul writes in Romans to men and women. Junia is not the only woman of prominence in the church. Paul writes of there no longer being male or female in the realm of God. The old roles have passed away and we are to treat each other as equals. We will have different gifts but those gifts are valuable no matter who bears them. And the gift and call is what we should be looking at rather than whether they are jew or greek, barbarian or civilized, male or female, or any of the other distinctions that are unrelated to what a person can actually do.
Our translations of scripture are sometimes blinded by our prejudices. This is clearly seen in the case of Junia. But we are called to go beyond our prejudices to see each other as God sees us. And that is as one who came to save the world rather than to condemn us or label us.

Darwin and Religion

Darwin’s Deadly Legacy

D. James Kennedy and Coral Ridge Ministry produced a program called Darwin’s Deadly Legacy. I haven’t seen it yet, but from the reports it links Darwin and Hitler. It seems that Kennedy doesn’t know history, but he also is less than conversant with the confessional documents of reformed congregations. (For those of you not conversant with the different strands of Christianity, there are several branches of denominations that arose during the Reformation, the Reformed Churches and the Lutheran Churches are two of the more widely spread. All Presbyterian churches are considered part of the Reformed branch)

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has as part of their constitution a Book of Confession containing a document from one part of the church in Germany. It’s the Barmen Declaration and was written during WWII. A minority group set up their own congregational structure in opposition to some stances supporting Hitler that were taken by the state supported churches. It is clear from the documents that the majority of Christians supported Hitler.

This claim that Darwin’s work led to Hitler is willful ignorance, not just bigotry. The sad truth is that Christians of all denominations supported Hitler. The shining example of a few, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, doesn’t mean that it was Darwin’s legacy that led to Hitler. Christians have a history that includes conversion via the sword, slanders against Jews, and persecutions too numerous to list. To blame Darwin for what is historically a Christian activity is just plain wrong.

The Barmen Declaration and the whole of the Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (USA) can be found at pcusa.org. I don’t believe Kennedy is part of this particular denomination, but as it is my own.

Why latifundialization?

As you can guess, from the title of my blog, 'latifundialization' is one of my favorite words. So when I come across it or a cognate I have to recognize it with a quote or other mention.
The eighth century BCE was characterized by national prosperity, which brought in its wake urbanization, latifundia (the rich swallowing up the land of the poor), and other social injustices decried by the prophets (cited above) and solved (in theory) by the priestly...from Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus: A Book of Ritual and Ethics (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004), p. 217.

Unfortunately this prosperity, that Milgrom mentions, disappeared quickly. A reminder that we shouldn't put our trust in riches or strength of arms or any of the other things bewailed by the prophets. Yet too often we seem to put our trust in things rather than God. An article in a recent issue of Time s illustrates this. (Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for pointing me in this direction in his post titled 'Blessed are the Rich'.)The reason latifundialization has meaning for me comes from my parents. My teacher, Mr. McCullough, went to make a point one day by asking 'What would your parents do if someone pulled up to the house and asked for food?' To the destruction of his point I raised my hand and answered, 'They'd be given food and my dad would see what else they needed.'

In that community my dad was a help to some refugees, getting them jobs, dragging me to some of the classes in english - since I had some french as did they - and more that I never knew. The transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich was something against which they stood.

Certainly my parents weren't perfect. I remember those classes in English where dad's voice would get louder and louder as he tried to make the students understand what he was saying. Yet the lesson he taught, in his example more than his words, was that I should welcome the stranger within the land, that I should care for the poor and homeless, that I should look at each person as my brother or sister, and that wealth coming by stepping on the backs of another is something that his family wouldn't do.

So I studied the Elijah - Elisha cycle and learned a word to describe what I'd been taught already and will keep that word as a favorite for a long time. And we're not expected to be perfect. But in the midst of recognizing our imperfections we can learn to work with and enjoy each other - even those who are different from us. In the middle of our seeking to be better we can look at our mistakes and learn. In the jumble of our daily tasks we can take time to see the stranger as our brother and sister. We're not asked to be perfect, but we are asked to love as we are loved. And loving each other is something that we can do.

Wilma Mankiller

Contrary to today's stereotypes, racists do not always chew tobacco and drive pickup trucks with gun racks. They wear silk shirts, treat women as possessions, and talk about human rights at cocktail parties far from communities of people of color. The men in pickup trucks are just as likely to be as warm and caring as the high minded liberals are to be racists.

-Wilma Mankiller (Former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation)

Simple pleasures

Laundry

Most of the days I fold laundry without thinking about it and just admire the pile of folded terry and linen. But today the laundry took my mind occupied more than usual. Someone watching would just see me flipping the sheets around and coming up with a neat fold. But the ability to do that has been honed over a number of years of folding laundry and especially the last few years of working in a motel.

It is a simple pleasure for me in turning 25 lbs of sheets fresh out of the dryer into a neat pile. Many days I finish folding one load, turn around to pull the next load out of the dryer and find that the pile is disappearing with a housekeeper. It’s still a worthwhile activity. It is easier for the housekeepers to carry a load of folded than unfolded.

I could complain about how my work doesn’t seem to last. I could say that there’s no need to fold the sheets until I know the housekeepers won’t be taking them away. I could grow frustrated as there’s sometimes no end in sight of dirty laundry and I don’t get to see the finished piles at the end of the day. Yet that misses the point of doing a good job.

What I do is not for me and just for myself. It is for the motel. And when I work it is not for my glory but for the glory of God. I do the best job that I can, not because it will bring material rewards, but because I am a steward of God’s creation.

Folding laundry, like many other tasks in life, is something that can be boring. But it is also an opportunity – an opportunity to serve God, an opportunity to do good work, an opportunity to take pleasure in the way things can be put together, an opportunity to relax and think. There are some tasks that I’m not as sanguine about the opportunities, but I suspect that if you’re like me there are some tasks about which I’ve complained in which I could find some simple pleasures.

Start of a garland

The Word


I

The Word, the word, the WORD, the word, the WORD
took flesh, was meat and bone, left h’ven for earth,
descend to us and all the pain of birth
the pain of birth so all the world saw WORD!

What transformation of someone Beloved.
left Love to love, to show salvific care
Love’s love left all to come and show and dare
to show each part of earth that it is loved.

The WORD, belov’d, came down was born in love
Of woman, man – a human still divine
To save someone like you, like me from hell

The body not a fiction, not a glove
But born of flesh a body just like mine
words, Words, words, WORDS, words, WORDS, they cannot tell


II

words, Words, words, WORDS, words, WORDS, they cannot tell
the love that came to save this world from hell.
the streams of words may gush in flood pell-mell
yet never of the love begin to tell

when God, the Son, came down to earth for us
the emptied self that came as one small child
from glories lived to be the one reviled
the Godhead left to be with each of us.

that Word that came as human child not grown
that Word that we call human and divine
no words can be profound enough to tell

and words though wonderful could not have shown
the glories of the word as bread and wine
when God took flesh and saved us all from hell


III

when God took flesh and saved us all from hell
that love surrounded all the world with joy
creative power came as tiny boy
to tell each person all is really well.

and all is well within God’s world so good
though evil can seem stronger than God’s love
the serpent can be silenced by a dove
and God’s own Son who died upon some wood

God’s son who died upon some wood for me
God’s son who came to earth to show God’s care
God’s son is why I praise in song and word

God’s son who died that I might start to see
the love that emptied self of God to share
took on the woes of flesh yet still the Word

Loren Mead in "5 Challenges for the Once and Future

"The task of the next generations will be to shift the power and ownershipstructures of the churches to allow laypeople to fulfill their apostolic ministries and, in so doing, free the clergy to be the catalysts of religious authority."

How we read

A supposedly true story of 3 Major League umpires goes that each was asked how he knows to call a pitch a strike.

The first says, "I call them as they are." (supposes an objective reality to which his perception does not contribute)

The second says, "I call them as I see them." (dismisses any external objectivity and relies solely on experience)

The third says, "It's nothing until I call it." (realizes that there is a reality apart from his, but that, the categorization--interpretation--of the pitch is his job, and depends solely on his judgement)

Merton

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.I do not see the road ahead of me.I cannot know for certain where it will end.Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.Thomas Merton-Thoughts in Solitude

Friedman

It is never possible to make others responsible by trying to make themresponsible, because the very act of trying to make others responsibleis preempting their own responsibility. -- Edwin Friedman, Generation toGeneration, (Guilford Press 1985) p. 211

Christian values and family values

I always love pulling out the passage Luke 14:25ff when someone tries to talk to me about Christian Family Values. Certainly there are a number of passages that celebrate family, but… family is less important than following God. Christian family values are centered around God rather than the family. Christian family values look to Jesus rather than to what the family looks like. Christian family values are those who take in the orphan, the widow and the stranger rather than those who throw away a child because they are in jail or have a different sexual orientation or are on drugs or are doing something that the ‘family’ considers unchristian. What is unchristian is an attitude that discards a person because they’re not living the ‘right’ way. Christian family values are those that speak out in truth and love to welcome those who might be despised or lost or forsaken.

Christian values aren’t family values. Once that little word ‘family’ is used as a modifier then the Christian part ceases. There are Christian values for families, but the emphasis should be on the one whom we follow rather than anything that might separate us from that one. I’m certainly not opposed to families having and teaching values. I just want to be sure that those values are properly labeled and taught. There are Christian values and family values and Christian values that impact families. But to speak of Christian family values dilutes the message of Christianity in a way that distorts the message of the Christ that is claimed. And that upsets me.

The Christ that I find in scripture welcomes the child and the widow – those who have lost the protection of family or of paterfamilias – but also when told ‘blessed is the womb that bore you’ corrects the comment with ‘blessed are those who hear and follow the word of God.’ And this is the point of the passage – all else is subordinate to the word of God. One who follows Christ is going to leave everything behind for God. No if, ands, or buts are welcome. A whole heart that goes to one end irrespective of family or anything/ anyone else that might get in the way of following God.

That smile

Oh, that instant smile, that one that doesn't have anything to do with actual feelings, but gets there so quickly so that all may know how happy one is in the Lord. But there’s a difference between joy and being pleasant to people and greeting them with a smile – there is a big difference.

I greet people in a friendly fashion all the time. I may have just had it out with an employee or a boss or a friend or a sibling or…. But it is my job to be friendly. I may be aching with arthritis, in agony with a migraine or bothered by something more trivial, but there I am with a smile on my face. Yet that is not the same as joy. That’s not the same as what I experience in talking of my faith. That’s put on for the moment, rather than a part of my life.

Too often when people trying to convert me approach I see that instant smile. They look like a snake-oil sales representative looking for another sucker to fool. They ask, “Can I tell you about Jesus?” while not having any idea of who I am or what I believe. And when I hear them I cringe. Do they know or care that I’ve had a born again experience? Do they know or care that I’ve been ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the PCUSA? Do they know or care about anything other than approaching enough people or passing out enough tracts?

When I see that – I’m so nice – smile – I wonder if their faith is based on knowing that Jesus loves them and came to save the world or how many good deeds have I done today. I tend to suspect that the smile is more about counting how many people one has brought to Christ (or who have made a speech saying so whether or not they’ve learned anything about the one they claim to serve). The fact is no one can count how many they’ve brought to Christ. There are usually a number of steps along the way. And no one should claim that they’ve brought someone to Christ, for an example of why read Paul’s letter about those who claim they were brought by Apollo or Paul or someone else (I Corinthian 3). It is God who gives the increase, whether one of us waters and the other plants is irrelevant

Children and God

The concepts of human and God seem to be separate is one of the findings of a new study reported by Mixing Memory. It's an old study, but still worth reading.

Too many women

I follow scienceblogs.com semireligiously. Thus spake Zuska has a great article on women in science. Why do we still need to be vocal about our feminism?

Mr. Mackey

"Drugs are bad. Okay.If you do drugs, you're bad. Okay.So don't do drugs. Okay." MR MACKEY in "South Park"

Chavez

"Tell me, my friend, what has become more clear to you since last we met?"
-Caezar Chavez

Belatedly entered for Veteran's Day

God of the ages, we thank you for all who have served in the armed forces ofthis country. Comfort those who grieve for those who gave the last fullmeasure of devotion. Strengthen those who bear physical, emotional, andspiritual wounds. Stand with those who provide care to them. Move us toreach out to sisters and brothers. Guide us to work for the day when no oneneeds to serve in the military. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

This prayer comes from pcusa.org

Augustine on Genesis

In his work on The Literal Meaning of Genesis, Augustine writes that:even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking non-sense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which peoples how up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. … If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books.

Shaw

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950

Influence or Control

One of the biggest problems for Christianity came when Constantine decided to support it as the religion of the state. When the church comes into power or begins to seek power then it falters in following Jesus. When the church seeks to influence power, to become the prophetic voice, then it is the yeast that makes the loaf rise. We who are Christians aren’t called to be the whole of the world. We are asked to call the world to Christ. When we confuse the roles we begin to lose sight of who is supposed to be our Lord. We get so involved with getting the power to achieve our agenda, that we forget our agenda in favor of gaining power..

The problem that evangelicals and fundamentalists have had recently is that they have begun to identify one political party and one or two candidates with God. Liberals have done the same on occasion. Every Christian group has made that mistake and I suspect we will continue to do so. And that’s why we must continue to think how can we influence and speak to the powers of this world without being seduced by the idea of being powerful.

Micah 6:8 has a little summary of what we should do. What does the Lord require? The answer is to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. It’s not to sit in the seats of the powerful, to have the place of honor at the banquet, and to be sought by the paparazzi. It’s not to say, as did James Dobson, "The only vote a Christian can cast is for a pro-life Republican." (I’ve been unable to remember where I saw this so don’t have a citation. I’ll keep looking.)

“How do we remain in the world but not of the world?’ is probably the question we should be asking. When we do this we don’t get trapped into admiring the trappings of power and prestige. We don’t get seduced by being welcomed by the powerful and wealthy. We start to ask at what price wealth, at what cost privilege, what do we give up in faith to gain access and the view is completely different.

For Christians the world should be turned upside down. The halls of power are not our birthright; instead we should be born into washing the feet of those in need. The seats of honor are not our chairs, instead it we should be on our knee scrubbing the floor with those who serve. We are those who sell what we have that we may help the poor rather working to accumulate possessions and wealth. We are called to influence the rulers of this world by our actions and prophetic calls rather than to work to become a ruler of this world.

We should work to influence the world, but not be a part of this world. We are called to be a prophetic voice that encourages corrective actions rather than those who set the laws. Yes some of us may be amongst those who rule and those who are wealthy, but those of us who are placed in that position should be working so that we have the corrective voice ever-present in our lives so that we are not seduced by that power and privilege.

And it is seductive. Oh, if only I had power I could fix this and prevent that. Oh with wealth I could help so many more people. And those things are true. The problem is that we make compromises to get power and gain wealth. If we go in with our eyes wide open about the goal and the compromises we can walk through the fire. But if we go in thinking we will get there without having to compromise one jot or tittle, then we’ll start fooling ourselves as we gain power and wealth. And in that fooling ourselves then our goals become confused and lose sight of where we are called.

Christianist

I recently came across what I believe to be a good analysis of what is happening between the presidency and some of the Christianist movements at the New York Review of Books. Take a look.

Depression

It's not all in the head. There's new evidence on depression - that it induces bone loss. More information at the Frontal Cortex.

Gay marriage strengthens marriages - the statistics are in

Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars has a summation of what is actually a number of studies. There are several studies from countries where same-sex marriages are allowed, they point to the same conclusion and it's not what the opponents of same-sex marriages say.

For a more in-depth look checkout the book by Eskridge and Spedale called "Gay Marriage: For Better or for Worse? What We've Learned from the Evidence."

Buechner

All moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.
Frederick Buechner

They knew Haggard was gay?!

Andrew Sullivan links to a site where the Rev. Louis Sheldon admits to knowing that Haggard was homosexual. Is it in wonder that some of us use the word 'hypocrisy' to describe this whole mess. The problem isn't about his lack of faithfulness as much as the hiding of that by Haggard and others in the evangelical/fundamentalist/Christianist world.

Churchill

"Americans will always do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the alternatives," - Winston Churchill.

the brusing truth

"So long as our government requires the backing of an aroused and informed
public opinion ... it is necessary to tell the hard bruising truth."

Marguerite Higgins

‘The truth that bruises…’ is a phrase that we should remember. It’s not that truth always bruises, but it can. And those bruises can provide the lesson that we need. We, who claim to be Christian, have images in our memory of being told that we are training for a race, that we are gold being refined, and as clay being molded. Those are not images of comfortable living. Those are images that call us to go where we can be hurt.

And yet if we are training for an event don't we come away with bruises and sprains and other injuries. And we as Christians are given the example of a runner preparing for a race. We shouldn't ask for it to be easy, but that the training be done well. When we look for the easy way - our pastor always knows what’s right - in one fashion or another – the Bible has all the answers - then we fall prey to wanting things to be our way rather than taking a look at reality. I hope the discoveries about Haggard are not used to pull him down and forget about what happened. I hope that they become an opportunity for discussions about what happens when one's sexuality is denied, when one is forced to live a lie, the dangers when one comes into or seeks power and prestige and more. I hope that there is an opportunity not just for abuse, but also for reflection. What I see from the gay press is mostly sympathy (albeit with a few gleeful sounds), what I see from the mainstream press is here are the facts (albeit in a way that sometimes sounds a little gleeful over who's got their hand caught in the cookie jar), and from the evangelical/fundamentals something like 'he couldn't have done it but if he did he's good for denying that it was him for so long'. These are gross over-simplifications, but... I want to see more reflection on what sort of world we are looking for and how do we help our leaders as well as what do we expect from them.

One of the things we should expect from our leaders is the truth. Yes there are some things that should be kept private, classified, or not mentioned. But that should be for some other reason than convenience or embarrassment. Too often, as in the case of Haggard, the lack of disclosure of sexual improprieties is about embarrassment or, as in the case Bush admitting to lies about Rumsfeld’s departure, convenience or, again, as in the cover-up of a soldier who committed suicide after having protests over torture dismissed, convenience.

The truth may hurt, but without it we will fail miserably. We may not make the right choices with the truth but we surely won’t make the right choices unless we have the truth.

belloc

When I am dead, I hope it may be said:"His sins were scarlet, but all his books were read." Hilaire Belloc

Neanderthal News

One of my favorite hymn writers gave his name to the Neanderthal man. Neander had a favorite valley to which he retreated and the valley was named after him. Thus 'Neander's valley' or in the language in which he wrote 'Neander thal' and then 'Neanderthal'. And where were the first bones of Neanderthals recognized? - - - serindipitous connections.

Over at scienceblogs.com Neanderthal's are in the news today. The question of where did Neanderthals go is finally being answered. Homo sapiens didn't kill the Neanderthals, they had children with them. Some links are at evolgen, PNAS, Pharyngula, Gene Expression, and probably more. Discoveries like these are why I thought, once upon a time, of becoming a scientist. Then I realized that the research wasn't for me. Reading about it is enough.

A muslim in congress.

A muslim is elected to congress. I'm pleased. Freedom of religion means just that - freedom of religion. But some see this as the beginning of the end. For more information go to Rapture Ready. I've always thought that if our faith was worth anything we didn't need to worry about other religions, evidently I'm wrong. The worries I'm hearing seem a little bit like those that came when we elected a Roman Catholic as president of the U.S.A. The question I have is - do we take our civil liberties seriously or not? If they're just paid lip service then they're worth nothing. We have to stand up and be counted in suport of those who do not worship the way we do so that we can have freedom to worship the way we choose.

The Stranger

For another look at the signs that could have been seen with open eyes comes an article about Haggard's worship place being the gayest place on earth. from the stranger

Wayne Besen

If you play political games don't come crying when they're played by someone else.

In an interesting twist, social conservatives originally whined that the
timing of the Haggard outing was political. They might be right, but too bad.
Having played the sexual orientation card as an election year ploy for decades,
they are in no position to complain about this November ballot box
boomerang.

from Besen

Besen on Haggard

Haggard is correct that there is a dark and repulsive part of his life, but it is not his homosexuality, it is his closet and the lies he used to maintain it. He built his empire on the backs of openly gay people and now he faces an awful comeuppance for his anti-gay sins.

White, H. K.

Preach to the storm,
and reason with despair,
But tell not Misery's son that life is fair.
H. K. White

Dobson and Haggard

Why am I not surprised. A day after signing on to a team that is supposed to council Haggard one of the members resigns. Dobson claims it is due to taking too much on, but.... it is disappointing. I'd hoped that the people for whom he worked for so long would show Haggard support in this his time of trouble. But more support seems to be coming from the gay and lesbian communities which Haggard spoke against. True Christian compassion seems to come those that some consider unable to even be Christian because of their sexual orientation. Hmm. Didn't someone say that he came to save the sinners and the lost, but not the righteous. I'll have to look it up again.

Fosdick quote

Hating people is like burning down your house to get rid of a rat.
Harry Emerson Fosdick

Election results

I pondering the election results today. In some ways heartened, in many ways disappointed. There's still no way for me to have the responsibilities and protections of marriage if I ever find (I'm picky so it's still a dream) a life partner. And it's not that I don't trust my family to carry out my wishes, but little things like having the chain clear if I should be hospitalized and need someone to make medical decisions without having to file a ton of paperwork that might not be around when it's needed. If I have a partner - life-long commitment - then I want my partner, not my brothers to make the needed decision. It's little things like being on the medical plan of my partner and having him be on my plan. It's little things like the right of inheritance. There are a number of rights - civil rights, not religious - that come along with marriage. So far no matter how in love I am or how committed our relationship they're not available to me.

So I'm disappointed.

Alexander Pope

.. tell, is it, in Heaven, a crime to love too well?
Alexander Pope

Thoughts on the lectionary for Nov 06, 2006

Hear my prayer. That is a cry that comes again and again in scripture. From the blood of Abel
calling out to God for redress, from Job crying out why did these things happen, from the cry on the cross of ‘My God, my God why have you left me?’ The challenge continues. Does God hear our cry is our question. The answer isn't usually in the curtain of the temple being torn. But more usually in the still small voice after the earthquake, wind and fire.


Psalm 102
[1] Hear my prayer, O LORD;
let my cry come to you.

Law and justice

Never mistake law for justice. Justice is an ideal, and law is a tool.

L.E. Modesitt, Jr. "Ordermaster", p. 265

The pastor's wife

via Andrew Sullivan and scienceblogs.com comes this little gem. Haggard’s wife is the one at fault. Thinking she had her man trapped into fidelity she let herself go…. Makes me want to stop having anything to do with the organized church. Yet the problem is not whether or not the ‘pastor’s wife’ – and he doesn’t seem to have heard of women pastors who have husbands – but the expectations that he and the rest of the church put on those same spouses.

Mark Twain

Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you musthave somebody to divide it with. Mark Twain

Carlyle Marney

"All our buckets have holes in them."

Carlyle Marney

Merton

"[I]t is true that religion on a superficial level, religion that is untrue to itself and God, easily comes to serve as the 'opium of the people.' And this takes place whenever religion and prayer invoke the name of God for reasons and ends that have nothing to do with Him.
When religion becomes a mere artificial façade to justify a social or economic system — when religion hands over its rites and language completely to the political propagandist, and when prayer becomes the vehicle for a purely secular ideological program, then religion does tend to become an opiate. It deadens the spirit enough to permit the substitution of a superficial fiction and mythology for the truth of life. And this brings about the alienation of the believer, so that his religious zeal becomes political fanaticism. His faith in God, while preserving its traditional formulas, becomes in fact faith in his own nation, class or race. His ethic ceases to be the law of God and love, and becomes the law of might-makes-right: established privilege justifies everything. God is the status quo," - the great American Catholic, Thomas Merton, from his book, "Contemplative Prayer."

People are different

I was thinking about my father's death and the different reactions from people today. His final coma lasted more than a couple of weeks and people reacted differently. We had some people going - why didn't your brother come? he's only been there once - while my twin and I were going - he came once, we got him to the hospital. What the people who thought - I know because some of them said so - that my brother was being disrespectful or had an argument with my dad because he didn't come visit weren't aware of was the number of times my brother had been in the hospital for operations. Just to get him there once was, in my opinion, a minor miracle.

I also talked to a couple of my aunts regularly during dad's final days. One of them was a nurse and kept asking 'Did you ask the doctor this?' or 'Did you tell the doctor that?' The other was the one who passed along the news of who was praying for whom and who else was ill. The one aunt I'd take with me to visit the sick and dying and the other aunt I'd ask to organize a meal service for the sick and dying. Both are wonderful women whose strengths are in different areas.

People are different. When we expect them to all react the same or do each task perfectly well we fool ourselves. Most people can cook, but there are some who can mess up boiling water. That doesn't mean that they are good or evil, worthy or unworthy - it does mean that we should look at their skills, talents and history before we claim that they're unthinking or unfeeling. People are wonderfully made and uniquely different.

The bruising truth

"So long as our government requires the backing of an aroused and informed public opinion ... it is necessary to tell the hard bruising truth."That statement was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Marguerite Higgins more than a half-century ago during the Korean War. found on this site

Haggard, Frum, and Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan has a quote on his site from David Frum that goes:"If a religious leader has a personal inclination toward homosexuality -and nonetheless can look past his own inclination to defend the institution of marriage and to affirm its benefits for the raising of children - why should he likewise not be honored for his intellectual firmness and moral integrity?"But that's not all that David Frum says. Frum goes on to suggest Haggard in his preaching against homosexuality and for the understanding of marriage can only be for a man and a woman was better than another man who openly visited prostitutes and took drugs. In other words the preaching against the sin that one hides is better than not preaching against the sin one com mitts openly.

But the man called Jesus in the gospel lessons would have, I believe, some different words. What Frum wants is hypocrisy. Frum seems to want someone to hide their sin and preach against it. But Christians are called to bring what is hidden to the light.The problem is that Haggard continued to preach against what he called sin without admitting that he was continuing in that same sin against which he preached. He left a corner of his life dark. And when the light finally came into that dark corner there were consequences. The family which he supposedly protected is now faced with a scandal. That whole scandal would fade into nothing if Haggard had been open about his desires and struggles with drugs in the first place. The mind that Christ wants us to have is not one that hides, but one that is open and brings things to the light.

If we Christians have the mind of Christ that we are called to have, then we can say things like "I'm married but still have desires for relationships outside of marriage." We can say things like, "I struggle with wanting to take illegal drugs." Then there are no surprises for our family and congregation. If one is open then there is no glee from the non-Christians when one fails to live up to the standards which one professes. But as it is now the glee that some feel with Haggard's slip is part of the consequences of having hidden that which he did.

I pity Haggard more than condemn him. I have more problems with those who say 'take this hypothetical situation' and see Haggard is better than another who does the same thing. Those people are more hypocritical than Haggard.

The dangers of wealth - a second posting

It’s not that no one with wealth will enter the realm of God. But there is a warning to those with money in this passage (and in many other passages). That warning is don’t let dollars distract you from what is really important. One’s life doesn’t consist in the abundance of possessions. (12:15) One’s life is (or should be) about worshipping God.

Yet we often forget this. We often forget about the one we should worship and begin worshipping the money, the power, and the prestige. We ignore the one who made is in favor of the idea that we are self-made. Or worse, we use the ‘but I’m so perfect that I deserve it’ mentality to excuse any of our excesses and trampling on other people.

It’s not just those with money who do this. We can find greed and excess wherever humans are. It is where anyone decides that they are better than the other or that the rules don’t apply to ‘me’. But the warnings in the gospels are directed more to the wealthy, the powerful and the prominent than to those who are poor. The poor may equally succumb to some of the temptations of wealth but just don’t have that as the temptation put before them each day and hour.

In many ways this week I’m looking at someone who fell due to the excesses of greed and power. Haggard of Colorado has been powerful. He led a large congregation, participated in regular phone calls with the president, led the National Association of Evangelicals, and more. Yet someone who only knew him as Art realized that he was someone else and came forth.

Now the accuser is not powerful or rich or prominent. In fact he’s certainly a prostitute, probably uses and/or sells drugs, and has very little reputation. But he saw hypocrisy. He saw someone seeking to prevent a relationship of the sort in which that one man was engaging and called it for what it was. If you’re having gay sex, paying for gay sex, buying drugs, then pronouncing against those things is hypocritical. And Haggard then became as one whose greed filled his life – he seems to have wanted the prominence that came with preaching against something that some people feel are evil while doing the very things that he preached against.

This is what Jesus warns against. The Pharisees used rules to determine who was and was not clean, but they left out the part where all could follow those rules. A shepherd, for example, was almost always unclean, as they couldn’t know where each sheep in their flock had been. But the one who owned the flock wasn’t unclean as they could stay away from the responsibility. This is what we do when we preach against a sin that we hide in ourselves or for which we have no prospect of doing.

If you blame gays for being promiscuous then provide them the remedy of marriage or civil unions with all the benefits that do encourage married people to be less promiscuous, but don’t blame them for having sex outside of marriage when you don’t allow them to marry.

And don’t blame all gays for what you yourself are doing. There are homosexuals who have had life-long partnerships where both are faithful and chaste. There are homosexuals who have never used illegal drugs. There are homosexuals who’ve used both drugs and sex as escapes from their lives. Just as all heterosexuals shouldn’t be blamed for the wildness of Mardi Gras parties or the key swapping parties of some, neither should homosexuals be placed all in the same basket.

Let people live the consequences of their actions rather than making more consequences than those actions deserve. Jesus clearly indicates that while we should reach out and care for people we should be leery of judging them. And in many ways I pity Haggard more than I judge him or gloat over his downfall. Though I do admit to the glee and judgmental attitude as well as pity.

Unfortunately Haggard is only one example. And he may not be the most egregious sinner. Each of us needs to look at ourselves. Are we blaming someone for illegal drugs while secretly abusing something that is legal? Are we condemning someone for promiscuity when we’ve not had the urge nor the opportunity? Are we judging someone for being abusing their family while ignoring the needs of our own family? Are we praying thank God I’m an honest, God-fearing person better than that sinner in the corner? Answer the above questions honestly and then we can begin to realize that while we may call people to account for their actions, while we may work to help them see the light we need to be asking them to call us to account for our actions and ask them to help us see the light. And the ‘them’ we should ask for help is probably the one we hate or despise or judge harshly.


Luke 12:13-31

[13] Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ [14] But he said to him, Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you? [15] And he said to them, Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. [16] Then he told them a parable: The land of a rich man produced abundantly. [17] And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ [18] Then he said, I will do this:

I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. [19] And I will say to my soul, =91Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry. [20] But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? ‘

[21] So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.

[22] He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. [23] For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. [24] Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! [25] And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? [26] If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? [27] Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. [28] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you -- you of little faith! [29] And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. [30] For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. [31] Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathaniel-frank/haggard-foley-and-gop-pr_b_33179.html

The dangers of wealth

Some of what I wrote didn't get posted when I put this together. I noticed it this afternoon and will be doing a new post sometime to get it all together 11/03/06.

It’s not that no one with wealth will enter the realm of God. But there is a warning to those with money in this passage (and in many other passages). That warning is don’t let dollars distract you from what is really important. One’s life doesn’t consist in the abundance of possessions. (12:15) One’s life is (or should be) about worshipping God.

Yet we often forget this. We often forget about the one we should worship and begin worshipping the money, the power, and the prestige. We ignore the one who made is in favor of the idea that we are self-made. Or worse, we use the ‘but I’m so perfect that I deserve it’ mentality to excuse any of our excesses and trampling on other people.

It’s not just those with money who do this. We can find greed and excess wherever humans are. It is where anyone decides that they are better than the other or that the rules don’t apply to ‘me’. But the warnings in the gospels are directed more to the wealthy, the powerful and the prominent than to those who are poor. The poor may equally succumb to some of the temptations of wealth but just don’t have that as the temptation put before them each day and hour.

In many ways this week I’m looking at someone who fell due to the excesses of greed and power. Haggard of Colorado has been powerful. He led a large congregation, participated in regular phone calls with the president, led the National Association of Evangelicals, and more. Yet someone who only knew him as Art realized that he was someone else and came forth.

Now the paying for gay sex, buying drugs, then pronouncing against those things is

From an admirable woman

What we once enjoyed and deeply lovedwe can never lose, for all that we love deeplybecomes part of us. Helen Keller

Haggard and ministry

With all I shouldn't gloat and I am more sorrowing at the brokenness, but a prominent minister in Colorado who's been active in anti-gay marriage activity has just stepped down and admitted that some accusations are true that are coming from a hustler. The hustler alleges both sexual activity and drug use.

What I hate most is not the living in denial and not coming out but the hypocrisy. Hate yourself all you want for what you're doing, but when you despise others for doing what you do I think the only descriptive word left is 'hypocrisy.'

Einstein

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.... : Albert Einstein

In this season of political warfare it seems that the hostility that Jesus faced is in full bloom. The questions of ‘why doesn’t she list the novel that she wrote?’ or ‘why did he insult the president that way?’ keep on coming. There are good questions to be asked. There are good reasons to challenge a record. But the looking at every word to see if it can be construed in a negative fashion is something we’re warned against as Christians. It is one of the ways our Savior was demeaned and diminished and tormented while in the flesh. And so we, who claim the name of Christian, should rise up in protest when we see these tactics used on either side of the aisle.

Luke 11:53-12:12
[53] When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very
hostile toward him and to cross-examine him about many things, [54] lying in
wait for him, to catch him in something he might say. [12:1] Meanwhile,
when the crowd gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another,
he began to speak first to his disciples, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees,
that is, their hypocrisy. [2] Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered,
and nothing secret that will not become known. [3] Therefore whatever you have
said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind
closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops. [4] "I tell you, my
friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing
more. [5] But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed,
has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! [6] Are not five
sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God's sight.
[7] But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are
of more value than many sparrows. [8] "And I tell you, everyone who
acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the
angels of God; [9] but whoever denies me before others will be denied before
the=20angels of God. [10] 1And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man
will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be
forgiven. [11] When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the
authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are
to say; [12] for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought
to say."

Welcome to the feast

Isaiah 25:6-9
Somewhere back in the depths of graduate school I heard there was a story about how the feast would happen. The peoples of the world would gather at the mountain and be fed. The chosen people would have the food as a nutritious and bountiful meal and those not chosen would be poisoned by the food. I’ve looked through my notes and books from where I think I heard it and can’t find it. So it may just be my dream.

But a reading of the text indicates that all peoples well be brought to the mountain and fed a feast. Period. Nothing here is about some people being damned in the feast and others being welcomed. This table, at the end of time, is set for all people. And we are welcome. This is a table where enemies can become friends; where warfare is wrapped up in peace; where the lion and the lamb can lie down in harmony.

While there may be wailing and gnashing of teeth and there may be separation of families and there may be a division of sheep and goats that is not a division of Muslims and Christians, nor a separation of black from white, rather the separation is between those who work to do the will of God and those who do not do so. And that last division is irrelevant to creed, color, race, gender, sexual orientation, and many other matters that divide the world today.

At the end time our divisions will be ended. But for Christians there is a further call. We are to live as if in what is not yet. We are called to break down the walls dividing us right now. We are called to invite all peoples to the feast of heaven. And that means in our own homes we are to welcome the stranger, the needy, those we despise and more. – we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves.

There is a mountain where all peoples will come to feast. But it is not a feast where we gain revenge upon our enemies and those whom we reject. It is a feast where all will come together to celebrate God’s work of creation. We will feast in joy at the redemption of God’s good creation. We won’t feast on the dubious pleasure of seeing those enemies taste the food and find it poisoning them.

We have been invited to a joyful feast in the realm of God. Let us go and make sure all peoples here that invitation so that they may come and join the banquet.

Hammarskjold

Nothing stands between God and us for we are forgiven. But we cannot feelGod's presence if we allow anything to stand between ourselves and others.
Dag Hammarskjold

Freedom to be beaten up?

I always thought that freedom of the press included the freedom to ask inappropriate questions. All one has to do is to not answer, but…. it seems a reporter was beaten up because he asked questions

From 8NEWSCharges have been filed against the men who allegedly roughed up a
heckler at a George Allen campaign stop.
Mike Stark, a UVA law student, says the men put him in a choke hold and threw him out of the room after he asked Allen about a rumor that the senator had spit on his first wife.
Now, Stark is demanding legal action. Stark says, "He's been quoted as saying these things happen in campaigns. These things happen in campaigns? These things happen in third world countries."
Allen's campaign is defending their actions, saying stark was being aggressive and asking "inappropriate questions."
Copyright
2006 by Young Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

More on choice

There's another piece of evidence that sexual orientation isn't a choice. Sexual orientation is part of the deepest levels of being. Or so suggests a study from Minnesota. Even when we don't consciously notice the images sexual orientation influences the way we perceive. The first reference I saw was from Exgaywatch.com.

Depression

It’s not all in the mind. There is a link between depression and bone loss according to one recent study. And, in my experience, depression runs in family. My mother had depression. More than one of my cousins has been diagnosed with depression. I’ve had depression. And while my first bout of depression (hopefully last) was brought on by a specific situation the tendency towards depression didn’t help matters.

And while depression takes several forms, it is not something that can be conquered by just picking oneself up and moving. For some depression is a loss of interest in anything, a loss of feeling. For others it is too much feeling and all of it bad. Some other people have a cycling between numbness and pain.

My not getting out of bed in the morning and putting off laundry way too long was not enough to get me into treatment for depression. What finally got me there was when I was experiencing images horrific enough that I’ve stopped avoiding horror movies. I used to avoid horror movies because of the blood and gore and just not being able to live with seeing that. Now I don’t go to them for another reason - I critique the blood and gore for accuracy and the movies just don’t hold my interest.

Depression is real. It is a real medical problem. It has several causes and there are web sites that can give a lot more information with a lot more accuracy than I have on the subject. But all the information adds up to in the end is that depression just isn’t in the mind and it is not something that is easily or quickly cured. Depression is real and it brings a lot of pain.

Wizard of Oz?

The Wizard of Oz was wrong! A heart is not "judged by how much you areloved,"but by how much you love others. Brett Mouron

Today I'm feeling older than I am so

So ...be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting.
So ...get on your way.
Dr. Suess in Oh The Places You'll Go!