The church season of Epiphany contrasts our darker nature reflected in the recent words from our president about immigration. As a Christian, true religion is more about the “least of these” than the great, powerful, and rich. There is nothing profane about having privilege. What is offensive to the Gospel is the dehumanization of the vulnerable people in the world–be they from Haiti, El Salvador, or Africa, or even Norway. Our president at this moment appeals to the darkest parts of our human nature. This nature blames the blameless. It shames the shameless. The darkness of this type of power shreds the bonds that even Christians should have for one another. The survival of the fittest is not a biblically solvent idea and even a potentially genocidal policy. People win when we apply a “survival of the weakest.” This is what Jesus Christ modeled for us. The Incarnation brings a child into the world, not a powerful leader. A scandalous yet orthodox belief is the Incarnation. God entered his creation and now is one with human flesh–Jesus Christ, born a child. Nothing is intimidating and powerful about a newborn baby. This youngster fled, surviving as a time as a refugee in Egypt—as a foreigner! As Herod decreed the death of babies, Joseph took his young family to a place of Gentiles. As we celebrate in the…
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Current Affairs
Truth is not a sport that wins with the score of popularity or power won. In our postmodern world, we can believe what we want. We can pay a company to spin information or post fake news on social media. Consequences do not matter. We are driven to win at any costs. Knowledge used to be equated with power. Today, popularity is power, regardless of facts or truth. A post-truth, post-fact world is one we have embraced. Faith, not always built upon empirically proven facts, causes many to still sacrifice their very lives. The ISIS beheadings of Christians is proof of this. In America, would our form of Christian faith pass the martyrdom test? Would we survive in our current squabbling? When truth impacts issues of life and death, you would think we would carefully examine it and be open to mastering it. The Bible may not be a scientific book, but we observe historically and currently the adherence to it as a matter of life and death. For us in America, faith exists mostly as a matter of post-truth that must fit our desired behaviors. There are all sorts of truth. There is historical truth, scientific truth, emotional truth and even faith-founded truth. With a new year comes a new challenge. What is truth? And, if we answer that question, will it change our…
As we reflect on an election season, here is a psalm to help us focus our worship–loosely paraphrased from Psalm 21. My eyes see have seen The Hill, My ears of heard the POTUS proclamations, My Twitter feed full of hateful power. But, where does my help come from? Does it come from political power brokers, Or entertaining media outlets, My fellow voter and citizen? Where does my help come from? The data of my life is watched day and night, But, only my Maker truly can see who I am. My Lord never sleeps as he cares for me, His aim is to never harm. As I come to worship my God, The idols of power are clearly before me. But, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord!
Mystery cannot be contained by two dimensions. We seem to escape mystery within the walls of our binary reality. If life was as simple as a switch, we could simply turn off or turn on solutions. In fact, we do that very act every day to choose hot or cold water out of the faucet. We change the channel or swipe to the next stream of content on our smartphones with ease. Choices, no matter how full of first-world sophistication all reduce themselves to a binary question. With thousands of TV shows, hundreds of thousands of songs, and millions of click-bait articles to peruse, the choice is either a yes or a no. The muscle that might have once been used on imagination and wonder is now occupied to manage the firehose torrent of information and entertainment headed in our direction. Our schedule will not allow exploration, however. Reasonable people eventually see that there are more than binary choices in the complex landscape of our planet. We know, for instance, that our universe is in three dimensions and that cultures and climates color our patterns of thought and life experiences. If you happen to see the political postings on Facebook or Twitter this season then you are often led to believe that there are only two choices, regardless of who you may pick. Even the…
What strikes me is that every four years we go through a loss of memory as to how traditionally American it is to hurl personal insults and spin preposterous claims to your political opponent. This is not new, and politics have not really hit a new low with the likes of Donald Trump.
With hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees flooding Europe, our response as a nation has at best been tepid. We have 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., but many would rather build walls than talk about how humanely to deal with the small children caught in the political crossfire. This week a 14-year-old geeky student brought a homemade clock to school and was arrested for making a “fake bomb”—four policeman surrounded and handcuffed the confused, slightly built young man. He happened to be Muslim and “looked” the part. Why is it that people not like us bring out our dark side? I believe that fear for our safety seems to trump human dignity. But, should it? Would we put Japanese-Americans in concentration camps if we had it to do all over again?
In the news recently, Michael Gungor made some remarks that caused a backlash and disparaging of his character and even his intent. He said that Adam and Eve were not literal people we all came from, and basically that to think so is like believing in Santa Claus. Yes, I strongly do not agree with that part of what he claims. Even some scientists appear to disagree with him when you consider genetic studies that propose a “Mitochondrial Eve” existed–albeit not one they would claim is the Eve of Genesis. Yes, Gungor’s tone admittedly was defensive. But, why would Gungor not be defensive? Are we able to even talk about our differences without that being the case?
The ascetics of the early church lived in caves, whipped themselves, and made vows of celibacy or silence. Monasteries were founded. Many of these did some amazing work, from copying by hand the scripture to creating beer for the masses to make something useful and drinkable during the unsanitary Middle Ages. The dark side of monastic life is the whole idea of living in a conclave, removed from the world. To be “holy” literally means to be “set apart” for God. So, why not focus on the “ apart” part of it while living for God? Some brilliant things happen when sequestered to study and learn. University time does this. But, when and how do we forge a path in the secular as we grow in the sacred? And, our times these days are filled with technology that allows us a separate life. Do you live in a virtual monastery?
Yes, there are early voting booths and absentee ballots available for people who cannot stand in line at their local precinct. But, why do we insist on having elections on work days? Why is it that we seem to make it a barrier administratively for a voter to who may have a 12-14 hour work day plus commute? And, might it signal the value of civic duty to mandate that all industry stop to honor the responsibility of being a citizen? I argue that we should make one more national holiday–Election Day! Once a year, the public is tasked with a sabbath where voting is the only work allowed. People can still choose to not vote, however, a “Citizens’ Day” that squarely gives honor to our participation may bring us together regardless of our voting preferences. To meet your neighbors in the polling line and to celebrate with a neighborhood BBQ could become a tradition that transcends our cultural, political, and personal differences. Valuing the individual’s place in the process puts a “We the people” punctuation on our election process. Local issues, many times, are what can potentially change the quality of life for us. The idea of grass roots means something. But, we get trapped in the bigness of cable news polls and TV ads that bombard us. The idea that we make a…
One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. – Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) Neil Armstrong’s passing surely brings up childhood memories of space shuttles launching, and astronaut heroes. In the animated Pixar movie Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear even as a toy represents the best of an era that is no more. Space travel was cool at one time. It has fallen out of favor and is relegated to the very rich paying to be tourists who are now propelled to an international space station on Russian rockets. Save enough millions and you can learn what it is like to pee in zero gravity. Our giant leap lacks a stride. There is something about a man who dedicated his life in service, then ended up walking on the moon and into every child’s history books. We all want the right stuff. But, we all don’t have that. And, there is the other Armstrong–that biking guy–who is being stripped of his title because he allegedly doped and cheated his way to the top. Our heroes surely do not look like they did before. Black and white cowboy hats let us know who was good and who was not. Role models surely stood tall like the amazing man John Wayne was on and off screen. Flawed men we are, though. This perhaps is the lesson. None…
