Sin just keeps popping up. Not so much in action as simply in conversation. It gets mentioned at church and in religious writings, but you have to expect that. It pops up in other places too. Just for one example, take the day my supervisor said in a humorous context: “…is God-given managerial talent, and it’s a sin to waste it.” Because of the various contexts in which the concept appears, and the ways people express their ideas about what it actually refers to, we demonstrate much disagreement about sin. It’s the “toMAYato, tomMAHto” thing all over again. And when push comes to shove, I can’t do anything but add my own opinions to the confusion.
Besides being a word that functions as noun and verb…what the heck is sin, anyway? Or…what is it not?
My first answer is this – I don’t think sin is just breaking rules. The people who “can’t drink” or “can’t dance” ” or “can’t play cards” because that would be a sin are barking up the wrong tree. Those kinds of rules attempt to address genuine issues, but wind up simply with someone controlling someone else.
I don’t believe it is a sin to make an honest mistake. No one can know all the consequences of their choices. You do the best you can with the information and wisdom you have, and sometimes you are wrong even though your intention was to do the right thing. No wrong was intended. And our motivations matter.
Nor do I think life is all about salvation that basically gets you out of “paying the price” for your sins. Among my objections to that: 1) It teaches us to be afraid of God and 2) It teaches us to despise ourselves. (Without wanting to open another can of worms, I have the feeling that those teachings are more about our fear of death than about the way we live our lives.)
I think life is about relationships. With God who is the Source of our lives. With ourselves. With our families, friends, employees, employers, fellow workers, neighbors, friends, enemies. With the natural world. With our houses, cars, trucks, boats, computers, books, pianos, guitars, lawnmowers. With the place or places where we worship. With our volunteering, use of our free time, our commitments, our recreation. With our sexuality, our bodies. We have relationships with all these things.
Furthermore, I think Jesus was talking about relationships. Relationships with God, with wealth, with those in need, with family and friends. Seek ye first…Do unto others…Give unto Caesar…The Sabbath is for man, not man for the Sabbath…Forgive seventy times seven…Turn the other cheek…
Does that mean I do not think sin exists? Or that it is not an important issue? Not at all. If life is about relationships, it would be sinful to do things that harm or hinder strong and positive relationships. Especially when the choices we make are deliberate and conscious, when we choose actions that we know will be harmful, destructive to others and even ourselves…and we choose them anyway.
People who are contemplatives or mystics realize that we actually are all connected. God is in each of us, and that makes all of us part of that vast Being that we call God. The belief that we are separate, rather than connected, is probably the root of most of our sins. It is our condition, not evil in itself, just how things are. But if we could grasp the truth that we are connected, it would help us correct our issues. No, it isn’t just “New Age claptrap”. Mystics from all traditions tell us the same things. Including those from the Christian tradition. That makes me want to take this concept seriously.
So let me name a few things that when we do them – or don’t do them – I think we are sinning. Missing the mark. Screwing up. It isn’t a comprehensive list, just enough to give the flavor of what I’m talking about.
Anything that promotes the illusion of separation from God or others would be sinful, for that strikes at the very basis of our relationships.
Anything that can divide us, such as discrimination or bigotry (especially in the name of the God of love) is sinful.
Failure or downright refusal to open oneself to spiritual growth is sinful, for we must grow, life is about growth, and this growth nourishes and enhances our relationships. (Is life about growth? Well, how many dead things do you know that are growing?)
Failure or downright refusal to trust our Creator is sinful. How can you have a relationship with someone you don’t trust? Take fear, for instance. Fear is a natural instinct, and it warns us of dangers, but neurotic and unfounded fears are different from the natural instinct. What does fear destroy? Physical and emotional health, our relationship with our Source, and many things that we want to do but are afraid to try.
Anything that can cause harm to another is a sin. This includes all use of sex as a weapon against other people. It includes pornography, which is deeply degrading. It includes child abuse. It includes use of “power over” someone else in an abusive and destructive way. Murder, greed, theft, adultery are all things that can cause harm to others and/or relationships. Addiction to anything, substance (cocaine) or activity (gambling) interferes with both human and spiritual relationships. The things themselves may be safe in moderate amounts; it is the addiction that hurts us.
Failure or refusal to help someone in need is a sin. If God is in each of us, then when we help another person we serve God. And, if you want to link these things with self-interest, helping another also helps you or me.
(I have not included our failure to take care of our soil, air, water, etc. Some think that is a sin; others think it is our right. For my purposes here, the entire issue deserves its own post.)
So there is my take on sin. Not the following of rules, but the harming of relationships. It’s at least as long as a list of rules, isn’t it? And just as challenging. But, I trust, more conducive to growth.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Copping Out
I was just getting ready to develop a book review of Three Cups of Tea when all heck broke loose over Greg Mortensen and the Central Asia Institute. I was going to do a very positive review of the book and state publicly that I was ready to donate money to the institute.
Now…well, I don’t know what I think.
I know Mortensen says the book is factual. I know fact-checkers say some incidents didn’t happen, several of the schools that have been built are going unused, and teachers haven’t been getting paid lately. I heard someone say on PBS that there are no receipts, no audit records, and Mortensen says he is probably not the best administrator for the institute.
For what it is worth, here are my responses to these statements.
I think most of us have noticed that writers cannot leave the facts alone. If they think it makes a better story to compress two or three incidents into one, they will do it. It is still true for them, even if it isn’t quite the way everything happened. It is called artistic license. Mortensen did not write the book by himself; one David Oliver Relin is also listed as a co-author, and I have no idea which man did what to the story between the actual happenings and the account we have read.
So we live in an excessively mean-spirited time, and I hope it runs its course quickly. We need to move on to better and more positive things.
As for the management of the Central Asia Institute, even I would know to leave paper trails, keep receipts, and so on, and it is only good procedure to have regular audits just in self defense, if there is no other reason for it. And the only training I’ve had in such things is what I have picked up in office jobs. I’ve had no formal training in administration of anything.
Mortensen has admitted he is not much of an administrator. If the portrait in the book shows him in anything resembling an accurate light, you couldn’t expect him to be a good administrator. That is not what he would be good at. That part of it did not surprise me. There are a number of poor administrators who have good intentions and simply know nothing about what good administration does. It does not mean they are dishonest.
Just recently I had looked up the Central Asia Institute online and found a rating site that gave this charity a four-star rating, which included numbers about how much of the money raised actually goes to its programs.
But then that person on PBS said there are no audit records.
And I heard someone say that for the CAI, “programs” includes promoting Mortensen’s books.
So I am not sure, now, what I think. I am going to shelve the book review and wait to see what happens. I found it an interesting and even compelling story when I read it. Right now, I choose to say no more until the situation becomes clearer.
I hope Mortensen and the Central Asia Institute are for real. We need people to do such work in the impoverished parts of the world.
Now…well, I don’t know what I think.
I know Mortensen says the book is factual. I know fact-checkers say some incidents didn’t happen, several of the schools that have been built are going unused, and teachers haven’t been getting paid lately. I heard someone say on PBS that there are no receipts, no audit records, and Mortensen says he is probably not the best administrator for the institute.
For what it is worth, here are my responses to these statements.
I think most of us have noticed that writers cannot leave the facts alone. If they think it makes a better story to compress two or three incidents into one, they will do it. It is still true for them, even if it isn’t quite the way everything happened. It is called artistic license. Mortensen did not write the book by himself; one David Oliver Relin is also listed as a co-author, and I have no idea which man did what to the story between the actual happenings and the account we have read.
So we live in an excessively mean-spirited time, and I hope it runs its course quickly. We need to move on to better and more positive things.
As for the management of the Central Asia Institute, even I would know to leave paper trails, keep receipts, and so on, and it is only good procedure to have regular audits just in self defense, if there is no other reason for it. And the only training I’ve had in such things is what I have picked up in office jobs. I’ve had no formal training in administration of anything.
Mortensen has admitted he is not much of an administrator. If the portrait in the book shows him in anything resembling an accurate light, you couldn’t expect him to be a good administrator. That is not what he would be good at. That part of it did not surprise me. There are a number of poor administrators who have good intentions and simply know nothing about what good administration does. It does not mean they are dishonest.
Just recently I had looked up the Central Asia Institute online and found a rating site that gave this charity a four-star rating, which included numbers about how much of the money raised actually goes to its programs.
But then that person on PBS said there are no audit records.
And I heard someone say that for the CAI, “programs” includes promoting Mortensen’s books.
So I am not sure, now, what I think. I am going to shelve the book review and wait to see what happens. I found it an interesting and even compelling story when I read it. Right now, I choose to say no more until the situation becomes clearer.
I hope Mortensen and the Central Asia Institute are for real. We need people to do such work in the impoverished parts of the world.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Paying the Piper
This blog is supposed to be a place for pondering spiritual/religious questions, issues, lessons, observations, and so on. It is not intended to be a political blog. I don’t even consider myself a political person. I tend to say I am more spiritual than religious. I don’t even think about calling myself political.
That being said, I see things going on in our country that I believe have spiritual/religious contexts as well as political contexts, and it is legitimate for me to comment on them from that viewpoint. I am talking about our nation’s debt. And the debts of many of our states as well. Contrary to what some might believe, I do not think it is a sin to be in debt. It certainly is not wise, however, to get into the position that we are in. The Christian Bible has a lot to say about money and money management, and the book called Proverbs has quite a bit to say about debt. One thing it says is that the borrower is the servant of the lender.
You see, our debt is coming due now, and the piper demands to be paid.
As individuals, we have spent probably five decades building up personal credit, borrowing money, not living within our means. Some of this debt is necessary if half a dozen expensive things (such as dental work and car repair and a child being sick) decide to happen at the same time. Some of our debt is simply a matter of convenience. But quite a lot of our debt has happened because we want something and we will have it whether we can afford it or not. And then something happens that we may not have control over and we’re plunged into a pit of deep…well, you know.
As individual householders, we know how it works. Income and outgo have to match. If our expenses go up we either go into debt or find more income and/or change some spending habits. We know that, as individuals, as households and families.
Whatever made us think government can do any differently? As a nation, we have been spending money we do not have. We have borrowed against the future, depending on the strength of our economy to support our recklessness.
Now we have a national budget deficit that scares us – it scares me, anyway – and we’re starting to criticize the President for it. I have news for all of us. So far he hasn’t done much to reduce the deficit, but he didn’t invent it. We have been doing this to ourselves for some 50 years. Presidents and legislators from both parties have been collectively responsible for it. And we as voters have allowed it.
Guess what! The future has arrived! We have to start paying our debt down before we capsize under its weight.
Guess what! The longer we put it off, the harder and more difficult our debt will be to deal with.
And guess what! Blaming others will not help! We have all done it to ourselves, and we will all have to suffer the consequences of our folly. Nobody likes to think of it. That includes me. I have little, and I don’t like the thought of losing even a tad of it.
Recently, we voted a whole bunch of people into office because they said they would cut spending and balance the budget without raising taxes. Of course we want a balanced budget, right?
Sure we do. Until we hear that the budget balancers are going to cut funds for things we want. Then we squeal. “Cut someone else’s thing,” we protest, “and leave mine alone.” Sorry, friends, it doesn’t work like that. Our situation is serious, and everyone will have to feel the pain in order to fix it.
Do we have the courage to make our politicians do what is necessary? Do we understand that the longer we wait, the harder and more painful it will be to fix this situation? Can we accept the teaching in our Bible about living within our means?
Do we?
Can we?
Doggone it, we had better! Do we really want to be the servant to our lenders? Of course not. So let’s buckle down and get to work!
That being said, I see things going on in our country that I believe have spiritual/religious contexts as well as political contexts, and it is legitimate for me to comment on them from that viewpoint. I am talking about our nation’s debt. And the debts of many of our states as well. Contrary to what some might believe, I do not think it is a sin to be in debt. It certainly is not wise, however, to get into the position that we are in. The Christian Bible has a lot to say about money and money management, and the book called Proverbs has quite a bit to say about debt. One thing it says is that the borrower is the servant of the lender.
You see, our debt is coming due now, and the piper demands to be paid.
As individuals, we have spent probably five decades building up personal credit, borrowing money, not living within our means. Some of this debt is necessary if half a dozen expensive things (such as dental work and car repair and a child being sick) decide to happen at the same time. Some of our debt is simply a matter of convenience. But quite a lot of our debt has happened because we want something and we will have it whether we can afford it or not. And then something happens that we may not have control over and we’re plunged into a pit of deep…well, you know.
As individual householders, we know how it works. Income and outgo have to match. If our expenses go up we either go into debt or find more income and/or change some spending habits. We know that, as individuals, as households and families.
Whatever made us think government can do any differently? As a nation, we have been spending money we do not have. We have borrowed against the future, depending on the strength of our economy to support our recklessness.
Now we have a national budget deficit that scares us – it scares me, anyway – and we’re starting to criticize the President for it. I have news for all of us. So far he hasn’t done much to reduce the deficit, but he didn’t invent it. We have been doing this to ourselves for some 50 years. Presidents and legislators from both parties have been collectively responsible for it. And we as voters have allowed it.
Guess what! The future has arrived! We have to start paying our debt down before we capsize under its weight.
Guess what! The longer we put it off, the harder and more difficult our debt will be to deal with.
And guess what! Blaming others will not help! We have all done it to ourselves, and we will all have to suffer the consequences of our folly. Nobody likes to think of it. That includes me. I have little, and I don’t like the thought of losing even a tad of it.
Recently, we voted a whole bunch of people into office because they said they would cut spending and balance the budget without raising taxes. Of course we want a balanced budget, right?
Sure we do. Until we hear that the budget balancers are going to cut funds for things we want. Then we squeal. “Cut someone else’s thing,” we protest, “and leave mine alone.” Sorry, friends, it doesn’t work like that. Our situation is serious, and everyone will have to feel the pain in order to fix it.
Do we have the courage to make our politicians do what is necessary? Do we understand that the longer we wait, the harder and more painful it will be to fix this situation? Can we accept the teaching in our Bible about living within our means?
Do we?
Can we?
Doggone it, we had better! Do we really want to be the servant to our lenders? Of course not. So let’s buckle down and get to work!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
It Ain’t for Sissies
I saw an old family friend at the supermarket over the weekend. We greeted each other, hugged, and began to visit.
“Are you keeping them all in line at the Tower?” she asked, referring to the apartment house I live in, which at six stories passes for a tower in a small farm town.
“Well, I do my best but I have a lot of trouble with it,” was my reply. “They’re all at least as ornery as I am.” Then we got kind of serious as I added, “But you know, I really think you need to be ornery if you’re going to live as long as some of those folks have.”
“Yes, you do,” my friend agreed. “A good sense of humor helps too.”
That didn’t surprise me; this lady has always been noted for her sense of humor and zest for life.
“And also, don’t you think it helps to be able to give?” she went on. “To give and take? That’s important too.”
I agreed, thinking of the teaching I’d recently reviewed about the staying power of trees in a wind storm. The old tree, the tall and thick and inflexible tree, will be uprooted in a powerful wind. It’s the sapling, young and bendable and flexible, that will survive the storm. And it’s the same with people. You have to be flexible, to roll with the punches, to go with the flow – or the storms of life will uproot you.
We parted and went on our separate ways. Maybe she continued to think about the exchange we’d had. I certainly did. Now that I am getting into the upper sixties, the aging process has become more personal, and I often find myself thinking about it.
Old age really isn’t for sissies. We have to be tough to survive the pitfalls of life. We lose loved ones, we lose money, we may experience a career change we hadn’t wanted to make, maybe we’re in abusive relationships, maybe we lose our homes in a tornado, we have all kinds of setbacks, all sorts of challenges to surviving life. We have to be strong, tough, and able to take the punches and still get up and struggle on. Surviving – and living a good life as we do so – requires every ounce of strength we have.
In fact, a lot of us find that it requires more strength than we believe we possess. That is one of the things that drive us toward religion in any of its multitudinous forms. Belief in God – however each of us conceives and understands that Entity – helps us to handle what seems overwhelming, when we feel so powerless, so puny against the challenges we face. Those of us who don’t turn to that Entity, to the Source of All Things…I don’t know how they get through life. They must be stronger than I am. I tried living that way once, and it was the greatest mistake I’ve ever made.
Is there anything else we can do to help ourselves live and age well? It almost goes without saying that taking good care of body and mind helps. It isn’t a guarantee. One friend of mine spent her entire adult life doing physical and psychological exercises, only to fall to something that seemed to me like the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s.
Continuing to be active, to learn, and to play will also help us. It is important to keep growing. I firmly believe that the day we stop growing is the day we stop living.
We don’t even know that we will live long enough to reach old age. People in the prime of life get struck down by diseases like Parkinson’s or Lou Gehrig’s.
We have control over our own responses and choices, and that’s all we have to work with. The only thing we can do is…our best. And hope it will actually make a difference
“Are you keeping them all in line at the Tower?” she asked, referring to the apartment house I live in, which at six stories passes for a tower in a small farm town.
“Well, I do my best but I have a lot of trouble with it,” was my reply. “They’re all at least as ornery as I am.” Then we got kind of serious as I added, “But you know, I really think you need to be ornery if you’re going to live as long as some of those folks have.”
“Yes, you do,” my friend agreed. “A good sense of humor helps too.”
That didn’t surprise me; this lady has always been noted for her sense of humor and zest for life.
“And also, don’t you think it helps to be able to give?” she went on. “To give and take? That’s important too.”
I agreed, thinking of the teaching I’d recently reviewed about the staying power of trees in a wind storm. The old tree, the tall and thick and inflexible tree, will be uprooted in a powerful wind. It’s the sapling, young and bendable and flexible, that will survive the storm. And it’s the same with people. You have to be flexible, to roll with the punches, to go with the flow – or the storms of life will uproot you.
We parted and went on our separate ways. Maybe she continued to think about the exchange we’d had. I certainly did. Now that I am getting into the upper sixties, the aging process has become more personal, and I often find myself thinking about it.
Old age really isn’t for sissies. We have to be tough to survive the pitfalls of life. We lose loved ones, we lose money, we may experience a career change we hadn’t wanted to make, maybe we’re in abusive relationships, maybe we lose our homes in a tornado, we have all kinds of setbacks, all sorts of challenges to surviving life. We have to be strong, tough, and able to take the punches and still get up and struggle on. Surviving – and living a good life as we do so – requires every ounce of strength we have.
In fact, a lot of us find that it requires more strength than we believe we possess. That is one of the things that drive us toward religion in any of its multitudinous forms. Belief in God – however each of us conceives and understands that Entity – helps us to handle what seems overwhelming, when we feel so powerless, so puny against the challenges we face. Those of us who don’t turn to that Entity, to the Source of All Things…I don’t know how they get through life. They must be stronger than I am. I tried living that way once, and it was the greatest mistake I’ve ever made.
Is there anything else we can do to help ourselves live and age well? It almost goes without saying that taking good care of body and mind helps. It isn’t a guarantee. One friend of mine spent her entire adult life doing physical and psychological exercises, only to fall to something that seemed to me like the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s.
Continuing to be active, to learn, and to play will also help us. It is important to keep growing. I firmly believe that the day we stop growing is the day we stop living.
We don’t even know that we will live long enough to reach old age. People in the prime of life get struck down by diseases like Parkinson’s or Lou Gehrig’s.
We have control over our own responses and choices, and that’s all we have to work with. The only thing we can do is…our best. And hope it will actually make a difference
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Role Models
About a year ago I joined the only adult Sunday school class that my church offers, which does Bible studies with material provided by our denomination. Most of its members are elderly, but there are a few younger members.
I love these people. They are my elders, people to look up to and respect. They were active, working and raising families, while I was growing up. They have known me and my family for probably 50 years. One of them, in fact, knew my parents when I was a toddler. Their beliefs are generally more traditional than mine, but there is still a lot that I can learn from them.
Some of the ladies take turns leading the class. Evelyn, a small woman with a soft voice, believes firmly that the Bible should guide us in all matters. Once in a class we encountered a situation where the Bible has two conflicting statements and while she acknowledged it, she did not really speak to that conflict. Each member just individually decided what we thought about the issue. I found myself wishing that the conflict – which is real – had been addressed either in Evelyn’s comments or in class discussion.
But, while I don’t always agree with Evelyn, I respect her enormously. She walks her talk. She is into mission – which is good and needed – and every winter, she and her husband tour down south as members of Nomads, a group that does volunteer projects. She works hard in the church, and she speaks up for what she thinks is right, and she and her husband are always ready to help someone who “isn’t like us”. I respect her witness and the way she lives her life.
What do I learn from Evelyn? I see that I need more courage to speak up for what I think is right; it’s especially important to speak out, not just in class discussions or normal conversation, but when silence can result in injustice. Right now I’m just picking my battles.
Cathy, a retired schoolteacher, wears a mop of white hair and walks with a cane. She too is soft-voiced. Her views, like Evelyn’s, are traditional. Cathy’s mind is still quite active, and I greatly enjoy visiting with her.
Cathy has become active in environmental issues, speaking out against long wall coal mining. She makes presentations, she writes letters, she attends meetings, she testifies at places. Cathy is very active in this movement. If you want to stimulate the conversation, just ask her what the latest developments are, and she’s off. The lady is a force of nature on the subject.
I learn from Cathy that life isn’t over at 65. She’s still going strong in her lower 80s, physically and mentally. She puts a lot of work and energy into protesting long wall mining. I’ve been struggling not to think that my life is over, that my best years are behind me. Actually, I’m in good health for my age and should still have time and opportunity before my body and mind start to wear out. Cathy is a fine example of the possibilities we can explore as we age.
The wisdom and example we can find from people like these help me get to church every Sunday, even for the early service, even when I’m not sure I belong there anymore.
Being in this class makes me feel a little like a “junior elder,” if there’s such a thing. These folks are strong examples of how the Christian life can be lived. I’m sure they don’t think of it like that. They’re just living their lives the best way they know how. Now that I am in a group of such strong role models, I feel challenged to new growth. Without trying to compare (which isn’t relevant), I feel challenged to become the kind of role models that they are. I take up this challenge because I admire these ladies and would like to truly be like them. It’s a tribute to them, really, rather than a ploy to get attention. You just make the decision to go for it, and put it away, and go on. So like them, I will try to do what they do. Live my life. The best way I know how.
I love these people. They are my elders, people to look up to and respect. They were active, working and raising families, while I was growing up. They have known me and my family for probably 50 years. One of them, in fact, knew my parents when I was a toddler. Their beliefs are generally more traditional than mine, but there is still a lot that I can learn from them.
Some of the ladies take turns leading the class. Evelyn, a small woman with a soft voice, believes firmly that the Bible should guide us in all matters. Once in a class we encountered a situation where the Bible has two conflicting statements and while she acknowledged it, she did not really speak to that conflict. Each member just individually decided what we thought about the issue. I found myself wishing that the conflict – which is real – had been addressed either in Evelyn’s comments or in class discussion.
But, while I don’t always agree with Evelyn, I respect her enormously. She walks her talk. She is into mission – which is good and needed – and every winter, she and her husband tour down south as members of Nomads, a group that does volunteer projects. She works hard in the church, and she speaks up for what she thinks is right, and she and her husband are always ready to help someone who “isn’t like us”. I respect her witness and the way she lives her life.
What do I learn from Evelyn? I see that I need more courage to speak up for what I think is right; it’s especially important to speak out, not just in class discussions or normal conversation, but when silence can result in injustice. Right now I’m just picking my battles.
Cathy, a retired schoolteacher, wears a mop of white hair and walks with a cane. She too is soft-voiced. Her views, like Evelyn’s, are traditional. Cathy’s mind is still quite active, and I greatly enjoy visiting with her.
Cathy has become active in environmental issues, speaking out against long wall coal mining. She makes presentations, she writes letters, she attends meetings, she testifies at places. Cathy is very active in this movement. If you want to stimulate the conversation, just ask her what the latest developments are, and she’s off. The lady is a force of nature on the subject.
I learn from Cathy that life isn’t over at 65. She’s still going strong in her lower 80s, physically and mentally. She puts a lot of work and energy into protesting long wall mining. I’ve been struggling not to think that my life is over, that my best years are behind me. Actually, I’m in good health for my age and should still have time and opportunity before my body and mind start to wear out. Cathy is a fine example of the possibilities we can explore as we age.
The wisdom and example we can find from people like these help me get to church every Sunday, even for the early service, even when I’m not sure I belong there anymore.
Being in this class makes me feel a little like a “junior elder,” if there’s such a thing. These folks are strong examples of how the Christian life can be lived. I’m sure they don’t think of it like that. They’re just living their lives the best way they know how. Now that I am in a group of such strong role models, I feel challenged to new growth. Without trying to compare (which isn’t relevant), I feel challenged to become the kind of role models that they are. I take up this challenge because I admire these ladies and would like to truly be like them. It’s a tribute to them, really, rather than a ploy to get attention. You just make the decision to go for it, and put it away, and go on. So like them, I will try to do what they do. Live my life. The best way I know how.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
When The Pastor is Away
What does a congregation do on Sunday morning when the preacher doesn’t show up? The church I attend suggested an answer to that question recently.
Our pastor was on a mission trip out of the country, and our young youth leader (who is a senior in college) was scheduled to deliver the sermon in his absence. He called to announce that he had overslept, had just gotten up, and would miss the early service.
So there we were. No preacher. A retired minister and several official lay speakers were in attendance at the early service, but nobody was prepared to give an impromptu sermon.
What did we do? In the language of Christianity, the Holy Spirit visited us and urged several of us to go to the microphone and say things. We drew closer together as a church family. We learned about each other. By the time the organist got to the postlude, we all felt the thing had been worthwhile and were glad we had been there.
Yet, it was nothing you would call exciting. It was just regular ordinary people talking about daily living. A farmer told a story that led him to some observations about how we do, or don’t, give. A grandmother told us of her daughter in another state, surrounded by megachurches that did not appeal to her, and how a small congregation began to grow in her own town, and how it is prospering. One of the ushers gave a brief testimony of how his life had been changed when he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. And there were two stories about the answering of prayer. A young mother told a story of a friend praying for tomato soup and getting it under interesting circumstances (when she thought it was going to be a soup she didn’t like, instead); the story has added the expression “tomato soup prayer” to my vocabulary. And an aging data entry specialist (me) told her story of the time she had to drive home from work, a trip of over 50 miles, feeling ill, asking for help in getting home safely—and receiving it.
And there you have it. We had an excuse to just cut the service short and leave (unless we wanted to stay for Sunday school or the later service). That energy or force we call the Holy Spirit had other ways of handling the situation. (I personally think that when the Creator, the Source of All Things, makes his presence felt…that is what we call the Holy Spirit. I am not a Trinitarian—to me, the doctrine of the Trinity does not describe God but the various ways we experience God [or perhaps think we do].)
Be that as it may, the Creator is always ready to take an opportunity to help us grow, and that Sunday morning was a good example of how that works. It was good to have no sermon. I like good sermons, but there are other ways to learn also. We were blessed in other ways, instead. I was glad I was there.
Our pastor was on a mission trip out of the country, and our young youth leader (who is a senior in college) was scheduled to deliver the sermon in his absence. He called to announce that he had overslept, had just gotten up, and would miss the early service.
So there we were. No preacher. A retired minister and several official lay speakers were in attendance at the early service, but nobody was prepared to give an impromptu sermon.
What did we do? In the language of Christianity, the Holy Spirit visited us and urged several of us to go to the microphone and say things. We drew closer together as a church family. We learned about each other. By the time the organist got to the postlude, we all felt the thing had been worthwhile and were glad we had been there.
Yet, it was nothing you would call exciting. It was just regular ordinary people talking about daily living. A farmer told a story that led him to some observations about how we do, or don’t, give. A grandmother told us of her daughter in another state, surrounded by megachurches that did not appeal to her, and how a small congregation began to grow in her own town, and how it is prospering. One of the ushers gave a brief testimony of how his life had been changed when he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. And there were two stories about the answering of prayer. A young mother told a story of a friend praying for tomato soup and getting it under interesting circumstances (when she thought it was going to be a soup she didn’t like, instead); the story has added the expression “tomato soup prayer” to my vocabulary. And an aging data entry specialist (me) told her story of the time she had to drive home from work, a trip of over 50 miles, feeling ill, asking for help in getting home safely—and receiving it.
And there you have it. We had an excuse to just cut the service short and leave (unless we wanted to stay for Sunday school or the later service). That energy or force we call the Holy Spirit had other ways of handling the situation. (I personally think that when the Creator, the Source of All Things, makes his presence felt…that is what we call the Holy Spirit. I am not a Trinitarian—to me, the doctrine of the Trinity does not describe God but the various ways we experience God [or perhaps think we do].)
Be that as it may, the Creator is always ready to take an opportunity to help us grow, and that Sunday morning was a good example of how that works. It was good to have no sermon. I like good sermons, but there are other ways to learn also. We were blessed in other ways, instead. I was glad I was there.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Let it Snow!
When I was growing up, I kept hearing a song called, I believe, “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.” At least those words made a line in the song, whether or not that’s the title of it. I thought a lot about that song the other day during the Blizzard of 2011.
When I looked out my window at 10:30 that morning and saw some snowflakes in the air I thought, Well, it’s beginning.
When I looked out my window at 12:00 noon I thought, Okay, we’re settling in for the long haul.
But when I looked out my window at 1:30 I thought, Boy, am I glad I didn’t go to work today!
The storm developed much more rapidly than I could have expected, by 2:00 it was well established, and it only grew stronger and nastier throughout the afternoon. Some of my neighbors gathered in the community room downstairs and watched through the picture window. I, hermit that I am, stayed in my apartment and watched it from there. By dark, you couldn’t see much out of the window wherever you were watching the storm.
You really could call it a howling blizzard. The wind was blowing so hard that the snow fell horizontally, not vertically. And it was so thick that I could just make out the flag dancing and snapping around in the winds. The houses across the street were pretty visible, but beyond them the view was blurred.
I watched it and marveled. Truly, I was filled with gratitude that I wasn’t out in that storm. I wasn’t homeless. I wasn’t holding a job that forced me to be out in it. I could stay safe and snug in my tiny apartment. And I remained safe and snug because we didn’t lose our electricity.
One thing we can do in response to such a storm is take a moment to remember our blessings, and we all had ample opportunity to do that. I took full advantage of that opportunity as I watched the snow piling up on the ground below my fourth-floor windows.
And once again I was reminded how puny we humans really are. We have built all these marvels—highways, railroads, airports, machines to roll on the roads and rumble on the rails and soar through the air, power grids, telephone systems…All Mother Nature has to do is twitch, and we are paralyzed. We would really be in for it if Mother Nature fully unleashed her energy against us.
So I concluded that another response we can make in such a blizzard is to allow the fury of Mother Nature to humble us, to show us the true perspective of our achievements. I am not putting down our achievements; we have come a long way in the last couple of centuries. However, when all Mother Nature has to do is twitch in order to paralyze us, we need to realize that our achievements are nowhere near permanent.
Perhaps if we could think in terms of working with the natural world, rather than trying to oppose and dominate it, we might be in a stronger position when Mother Nature twitches. It would surely be worth a try.
When I looked out my window at 10:30 that morning and saw some snowflakes in the air I thought, Well, it’s beginning.
When I looked out my window at 12:00 noon I thought, Okay, we’re settling in for the long haul.
But when I looked out my window at 1:30 I thought, Boy, am I glad I didn’t go to work today!
The storm developed much more rapidly than I could have expected, by 2:00 it was well established, and it only grew stronger and nastier throughout the afternoon. Some of my neighbors gathered in the community room downstairs and watched through the picture window. I, hermit that I am, stayed in my apartment and watched it from there. By dark, you couldn’t see much out of the window wherever you were watching the storm.
You really could call it a howling blizzard. The wind was blowing so hard that the snow fell horizontally, not vertically. And it was so thick that I could just make out the flag dancing and snapping around in the winds. The houses across the street were pretty visible, but beyond them the view was blurred.
I watched it and marveled. Truly, I was filled with gratitude that I wasn’t out in that storm. I wasn’t homeless. I wasn’t holding a job that forced me to be out in it. I could stay safe and snug in my tiny apartment. And I remained safe and snug because we didn’t lose our electricity.
One thing we can do in response to such a storm is take a moment to remember our blessings, and we all had ample opportunity to do that. I took full advantage of that opportunity as I watched the snow piling up on the ground below my fourth-floor windows.
And once again I was reminded how puny we humans really are. We have built all these marvels—highways, railroads, airports, machines to roll on the roads and rumble on the rails and soar through the air, power grids, telephone systems…All Mother Nature has to do is twitch, and we are paralyzed. We would really be in for it if Mother Nature fully unleashed her energy against us.
So I concluded that another response we can make in such a blizzard is to allow the fury of Mother Nature to humble us, to show us the true perspective of our achievements. I am not putting down our achievements; we have come a long way in the last couple of centuries. However, when all Mother Nature has to do is twitch in order to paralyze us, we need to realize that our achievements are nowhere near permanent.
Perhaps if we could think in terms of working with the natural world, rather than trying to oppose and dominate it, we might be in a stronger position when Mother Nature twitches. It would surely be worth a try.
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