Hard times and the holidays...

The holiday season is here, heralded by decorations in stores, 24-7 holiday music on the radio, silly commercials- and we haven't even had our Thanksgiving turkey yet. There is a lot of worried hand wringing on the news regarding the impact of the current economic disasters in our culture and how it will impact shoppers and businesses this season. I feel for those who are feeling a drastic cut in their livelihood this year, and pray for their happiness. At the same time, I welcome them to the world of those who deal with bad times constantly. This is not a cynical statement made in bigotry against the comfortable, just a mild rant in honor of reality.

In thinking more about this situation, I think about our experience as human beings at this time in our culture. If we're lucky, we grow up in a world of marvel and fantasy as children, we then learn how things work and we go to work in relationship with things and people. We gather experiences, create hopes and dreams, some realized, some not, depending on what we've been taught, and what we've been willing to sacrifice for them. While we're doing all of this life passes by without notice and, suddenly, we're old. We fight our emotions, our mental illnesses, addictions, choices, and even if we succeed materially, we may fail miserably as humans, or at least, at what we believe a human being should be.

Along the way it is very easy to become despondent, to give up, to check out. Reference the young man who recently killed himself on line while countless others watched as if it were just another act, just another spectacle created for their viewing pleasure. No one intervened until it was too late, the tension was just too sweet to interrupt. And what of the thousands of people out there who reach this point and take their lives with no one watching? What of those we tend to think of as nothing more than human debris, those who pollute the web with every type of debauchery imaginable in search of - what? Something, anything. The prisoners, the junkies, the disabled, the cast offs of pop culture. What a downer to even have to think of them.

This holiday season, when its time to carve the big 25 pound turkey and chase it down with a few bottles of vintage zinfandel that had to be opened from the stash we were saving, we can thank goodness that at least we have our sanity. OK, I guess that was a little cynical. Sorry. There is just so much more than all of this. There is much more than to try and drink away the pain and heartache caused by the lost value of the old 401k or the shrunken equity in the overvalued, overpriced and over-commissioned house we live in. So much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving in times of economic despair? Yes! My wife challenged my family to cut up pieces of paper and write things we were each thankful for and put them in a bowl to be taken out and read during thanksgiving dinner. Two teenagers and two adults, suffering economic disaster like nobody's business, how can there be thankfulness? The bowl was not big enough to contain the slips and now they've moved into a large vase.

Happy Thanksgiving and God bless everyone.

And now, a word from James...

"Come now you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like a fire."

The stinging words of the author of the Letter of James from the New Testament. Appropriate for this day and this time? Sounds a little harsh. Is it more biblical justification that the rich are to be despised, that their wealth is a sinful shackle around their fat necks that can only be thrown off by relieving them of their riches and - what? Use them to enrich others? What good would that do?

The Letter of James, written to an unknown audience (perhaps not even a "letter" at all), was not considered part of the Church canon until the fourth century. Martin Luther tried to get rid of it because the author apparently does not believe in justification by faith alone, as did he and other reformers after him. So, why should we even consider it after all this time and controversy? Especially since it speaks with such class hatred of the rich?

It does seem that James is speaking to, comforting, a group of poor people, as alluded to later in the same passage, so it is understandable that he may point out the folly of riches to those who do not possess them. Pointing out the folly of placing one's hope in riches (not necessarily condemning rich people) is a common theme of the New Testament, one spoken to by Jesus himself on many occasions. Riches, material things, easily become a place of security, a place where we run for solace and protection against the inherent unfairness and confusion of life. Worried about recession and a crashing stock market? What easier way to feel better than to look in that hefty savings account, or the equity in the residence, or the collection of anything we've stored up for it's perceived value. Easy to look there first, and to think that when all else fails, I've got my stuff. Where is God in that?

The real message, in my humble opinion, is that things hold nothing for me in the way of salvation or comfort. Things do rot and rust. And when it comes right down to it, when there is nothing left but me versus death, the ultimate recession, what really matters? I never want to have God's love for me blotted out by the glow of a plasma screen television, or feel so connected to my SUV that I can't connect with another person, one who is most assuredly hurting in some way too, probably more than I am. None of this is easy for me, but it is worth trying.

What is needed...

Words attributed to Jesus, "fear is not what is needed, but faith". A little girl was dying, or thought to be dead, the family had given up. Jesus changed all that and brought her to them, renewed in life. Fear is not what is needed, but fear nearly always wins.

The Gospels contain many messages regarding fear, and why not? The early followers of The Way were persecuted, despised, hunted. Fear was part of their every day condition. They were reminded, that faith trumps fear, that living in Jesus, God's anointed, they had no reason to fear. As the psalmist wrote, "I am not afraid, what can a mere mortal do to me?" Many died believing and holding on to words such as these when there was nothing else to grasp, never recanting.

As the daily news brings stories that are rooted in fear, there is no other way than to remember God's word. We are after all, just a breath in time. Fear of leaders, financial ruin, whatever it may be, these things are nothing more than stand in's for truth. Things get bad, they get better. In the meantime, we all have to be. I choose to be, in the light of God, where I can live in Jesus and be fully free and fully myself, no matter what my portfolio contains.

Peace.

"...things around here hardly change at all"...

...A line from one of my favorite tunes by Don Williams. I thought of this when I came across the following scripture in the Daily Office last week: "Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds on their beds! When morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in their power. They covet fields, and seize them; houses and take them away; they oppress householder and house, people and their inheritance."

This reading came on a day when the pitch over the housing industry bailout was at its height, and people were losing trillions in the stock market because of the perceived collapse that was waiting around the corner. IRAs and 401ks were losing value, inheritances evaporating. The paper traders who had made millions for so many, the recent heros of Wall Street, were now the evil men of worthless paper, sellers of empty promises. The words of the prophet Micah sounded a little too familiar on that day, causing me to think, is it so easy to take words written thousands of years ago and lay across today's news because the words are indeed prophetic, or is it that people have changed so little, fundamnetally, that such words can still have meaning in a "modern" situation?

While a case can and will be argued for the former, I feel that it is the latter that makes more sense. One has only to look around to see that as people go, things are still valued (and worshiped) to the point that folks will base the security of their lives on what they can't understand or, in many cases, even see. The awaiting panic that will come from the loss of security will be driven by fear, the root of all violence. When, all that anyone really needs to be secure, and thus endure any man made hardship, is already available, free and incapable of valuation. The understanding of oneself in relation to God, releases the desire and the need to be materially secure. Not in an irrational way, we still have to eat and function in human society, but in a sane and reasonable way. We all choose, take the simple and faithful approach and live in peace and joy; or, go away sad becasue there are so many things to posses.

I think the prophet was Don Williams. Things around here do hardly change at all.

Peace.

Casting about

When Jesus told Simon and the sons of Zebedee to put their nets in the water, they replied that they had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. Their comment seems to ask a question, such as, we haven't caught anything although we've worked very hard, why should we even try again? I can imagine that there may have been what some would call a pregnant silence after Simon said this. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus said nothing more. Perhaps he greeted Simon with a look that told him it was OK, a look of compassion, a look that said, "Trust me". Because, Simon answered, "We will do it if you say so". They did, and the nets were so full that they nearly sunk two boats.

There is more to the story, but I like to stop right there. How many times have I tried and tried to accomplish something in my life and work, doing the same thing over and over again, getting the same negative result? I reach the point of asking the empty room, "Why should I even try?" The answer is in Simon's words "I will if you say so." Jesus doesn't look for an argument, he simply asks that his words be accepted on faith. And he asks me to accept them on faith because he is doing his Father's work, a Father who comes to us in love. I tend to forget that. I forget the role of Faith in being able to make sense out of this world and understanding the nature of my own simple humanity. That's why I need to keep trying. Maybe I will do something different, like, try casting the net off the other side of the boat. Maybe my net will fill with a catch so big that I can't even haul it in. With faith, it could happen. But it will never happen if I don't believe or if I don't try.

Politics and, well, politics.

It has long been my contention that politics is nothing more than base humanity fully exposed. Look at the political headlines any day of the week, listen to talk radio (of any kind), watch the evening news, etc. Lying, accusations, sex scandals, threats, power lust, avarice, insults, hate, and a the list just gets worse.

Of course, almost all of the positions and counter positions, verbal attacks, and lies are driven by one thing, fear. And, it appears to me, as a novice onlooker, that people become so calcified in their positions and beliefs, that fear pushes them to the point of dreading a life under the "control" of their political opposites. I've heard people on both the political left and right state that they would be forced, supposedly out of conscience, to leave the country if their candidate did not win an election. (So far, I am not familiar with reports of this actually happening).

Politics, being a reflection of base humanity, must by its very nature then, infect everything that is human. Anyone who has attended school, worked in an office, been a member of a club, or a member of large family knows this to be true. Religious organizations are no exception, since they are, after all, groups of humans. Indeed, in the early years of Christianity, those who were not baptized and converted were believed to be driven by demons, while pagans believed that Christians would destroy the very culture of mankind. Justin and Origen's words in defending Christianity to the Romans could easily have been spoken my a Sunni Cleric defending Islam in this day and age. Roman persecutors used the same logic against Christians that Christians now use against non believers. And so it goes.

This political season promises no less than full scale hysteria, as once again, fear will be at the core of each side's political strategy. In a pluralistic nation where there is no single unifier, and now that patriotism has been diminished to nothing more than a cynical caricature of blind ignorance, fear will rule the day. How long until factions swell their ranks to the point of actually taking up arms against outsiders in this, the nation built on human rights? How long until fear driven race baiting brings back the days of violence against anyone who doesn't look like (fill in the blank) us? How long until the need to control everyone who is "wrong" by those who are "right" segregates this country into polar regions of groups claiming territories and fighting to the death to insure their protection within them?

Is all of this, as fundamentalists believe, a sign of the "end times"? Is there an invisible evil being capable of fighting for control of the cosmos against the Creator who has crafted this evil plan? Well, that's all really just fear too, in my opinion. Just ask the Muslims.

No matter how any of this turns out, my bet is always going to be on the Almighty and the teaching of Jesus that only through to surrender to God and living in His love will we ever see this state of humanity change. This and only this can allow anyone to see the folly of fighting for fear. It doesn't matter if you are a Christian, a Bhuddist, a Muslim, a Secular Humanist or just a wandering pile of protoplasm. There is no other answer.

What is it, anyway?

There are many, many people in this country who have pushed religion aside as a way to bring meaning into their lives. I have read many places that religion is dangerous, cult-ish, and that unchecked fundamentalism of any stripe is to be feared. At some levels, each of these assertions is true and can't be argued away. So be it. I believe, however, that religion, and the practice thereof, has been given a bum rap (pardon the seventies jargon), and that what passes for most mainline religion in the world is dangerous. Dangerous in the sense that people are separated, segregated and pigeonholed by it, mostly because of the idea that one is "chosen" along with one's sect, denomination or movement.

It isn't supposed to be this way, at least not in my view. In a world that is hardly predictable or always visible, how can people make such absolute statements that reach beyond anything in the observable, verifiable realm? Is it any wonder that science and secular humanism are so easily embraced against a backdrop of religious beliefs with their language and philosophy rooted, if not fixed, in the middle ages? God, the thing we describe with those three letters, can not be described, yet there are many who know with objective clarity what it is that this thing thinks and desires, and unless we follow along with them, we are dust.

Sorry. I disagree. The basis of my disagreement lies in reason. Is reason a gift from God or is it of the devil? Is there a devil powerful enough to create reason which may be used against God? Is there really any point in discussing these things at all? It always seems to end up turning a wheel that can not be stopped at any definitive point. Which brings me to Jesus. This, I think, is what he was trying to get us to understand. Turning oneself inside out over such matters is fruitless. Did not he not explain this to the pharisees and others? Are we, am I, any different when making absolute claims on behalf of the omniscient?

This stuff creates a major barrier between those of us who are search for meaning in this life, and those who are deluded by fear. More on this later. I invite comment.

Peace.

Letting it all go.

St. Paul wrote that one should come out of the darkness and put on the armor of light, to live in Jesus. For years, decades, I have struggled with the meaning of living in Jesus. I know that I have wanted to do this, I certainly have professed that this is what I try to do. But still, I haven't gotten it completely.

This morning, I visualized myself putting all of my concerns and worries in boxes, placing them on a tray and laying the tray at the feet of Jesus, an offering, the sacrifice of all these things and an mind open only to him. I don’t know what he did with that tray and I don’t know what he will do with me. But I give up. I can no longer find the will to commit to the world and be so into it that I can not see anything else.

God, you can do anything. Please bring me into harmony with myself, that is all I pray for, bring me into harmony with myself and into your light. Nothing else matters and nothing else will work. I am committed to the belief that God’s will can work in me.