THOUGHTS ON THE ‘SUPER BOWL’
Like tens of millions of others, there I was, yesterday at 6:00 eastern standard time, eating and drinking with friends in front of a huge TV, getting ready to watch the SUPER BOWL. I actually had seen part of the previous play-off games so I knew what teams were playing and the rough history behind the game, but me, a football fan? NOT! Some good friends were putting on the party so Judy and I were glad to attend and contribute to the fun. But we certainly didn’t care who won.
But Damn! Within a half an hour, there I was, as enthralled as the best (worst?) of them, whooping it up in favour of the New York Giants. Why not the Patriots? No reason at all, except that I’m usually in favour of the underdogs.
There’s no doubt that it was a great game. Good entertainment right up to the last second. But later, when I had a chance to digest the whole thing, I tried to figure out what it was that really made it so fun to watch. The outcome certainly wasn’t important in any real way, to me or to most of the other millions who watched. O sure, we had a betting pool going and someone won twenty or thirty bucks. There were certainly millions of dollars, maybe billions, changing hands over the outcome, but for most of us, betting was merely a way to increase the excitement.
It was not a spiritual matter. It was not a family matter, nor a national one like a World Cup Soccer match would have been. For the players and team, it was personal, kind of, but the pride and bragging rights were well encased with money. And six million dollars per half a minute per TV commercial time? There’s no doubt as to the reason for the whole affair.
Isn’t this symbolic of everything I’m against? How could I even attend in good conciounce? But there I was! And I’d do it again. Next year for sure.
I think the fact that it is basically meaningless is the very reason it is popular. There is no way that anybody will be offended. There is absolutely nothing there of value. The day is based upon pure materialism and frivolity, a show piece to parade the biggest and fasted and richest of our little boys who have spent their lives moving a little ball down a big field, thinking that it was the most important thing in the whole world. And for a few hours we are united in the hope that this lie is true. For that short time there is no more important purpose. No Truth. No better Way. No needy whose dying eyes and streching arms ask us to change. No earth in need of justice and clean air. Just millionair gladiators with their little ball. Pure escape. God knows, I needed it. The Romans had their circus’, we have sports. Great stuff!
As long as we don’t take it seriously.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The Jubillee Movement?
THE JUBILEE MOVEMENT January 31
As you know by now, words and names are important to me. They may be temporary and approximate, but they are helpful and often necessary for a time. I have been looking/searching for a name/concept, that is close to what my heart says my goal/calling is all about. For now I have found something that seems to fit.
The ancient Jews had a tradition of the Year of Jubilee, where every 49 (seven times seven) years most things were forgiven and set back to square one. Slaves were set free. Debts were forgiven. Land went back to the original families. Those working off debts could go home. Boundaries were re-established. This was to ensure that the wealthy could not go without limits, that there was at least hope for the children of slaves, that the accumulation of wealth would not forever be on the backs of the poor.
Historically, it is very doubtful if the tradition was ever actually practiced, certainly never in total. But the ideal was there. People knew what aught to happen, even if it didn’t. Because the wealthy always ruled, then as now, it was given lip service only. You can imagine what the reaction would be if someone had actually tried to enforce it. Here or anywhere else. In any time. No matter what so-called- tradition was on record.
The trouble was, it seems like Jesus of Nazareth took the whole idea seriously. In the Gospel we call Luke it is his first action in public ministry. He reads from Isaiah about the year of Jubilee (translated often as ‘The Acceptable Year of God’) and states, “This is the Year!” It’s no wonder he didn’t live long after that. All but the poor would have been correctly threatened by his intentions.
But what a concept! To return things to a way of justice and equity. To try to right the wrongs. To change direction. Really! Not to merely believe that it would be a good idea, something nice to pray about, but to really DO.
A JUBILEE MOVEMENT! Think about it. Is it a good name? It sounds happy to me. A good thing to consider. Not too scary. (Not until you start to actually move on it!) Sounds like fun. I think I’ll join!
“The world’s great religions, as they are now, are unable to cope with the almost overwhelming challenge presented by what we have done and are doing to the earth.” - Tom Harper
“People are very, very hungry for some kind of contact with a world greater than the one which they can immediately perceive.” - Robertson Davies
“Without VISION, the people perish.” - Jewish proverb
As you know by now, words and names are important to me. They may be temporary and approximate, but they are helpful and often necessary for a time. I have been looking/searching for a name/concept, that is close to what my heart says my goal/calling is all about. For now I have found something that seems to fit.
The ancient Jews had a tradition of the Year of Jubilee, where every 49 (seven times seven) years most things were forgiven and set back to square one. Slaves were set free. Debts were forgiven. Land went back to the original families. Those working off debts could go home. Boundaries were re-established. This was to ensure that the wealthy could not go without limits, that there was at least hope for the children of slaves, that the accumulation of wealth would not forever be on the backs of the poor.
Historically, it is very doubtful if the tradition was ever actually practiced, certainly never in total. But the ideal was there. People knew what aught to happen, even if it didn’t. Because the wealthy always ruled, then as now, it was given lip service only. You can imagine what the reaction would be if someone had actually tried to enforce it. Here or anywhere else. In any time. No matter what so-called- tradition was on record.
The trouble was, it seems like Jesus of Nazareth took the whole idea seriously. In the Gospel we call Luke it is his first action in public ministry. He reads from Isaiah about the year of Jubilee (translated often as ‘The Acceptable Year of God’) and states, “This is the Year!” It’s no wonder he didn’t live long after that. All but the poor would have been correctly threatened by his intentions.
But what a concept! To return things to a way of justice and equity. To try to right the wrongs. To change direction. Really! Not to merely believe that it would be a good idea, something nice to pray about, but to really DO.
A JUBILEE MOVEMENT! Think about it. Is it a good name? It sounds happy to me. A good thing to consider. Not too scary. (Not until you start to actually move on it!) Sounds like fun. I think I’ll join!
“The world’s great religions, as they are now, are unable to cope with the almost overwhelming challenge presented by what we have done and are doing to the earth.” - Tom Harper
“People are very, very hungry for some kind of contact with a world greater than the one which they can immediately perceive.” - Robertson Davies
“Without VISION, the people perish.” - Jewish proverb
Small, Personal Steps of Conversion
Judy and I are now making decisions based upon wants and needs. It’s not hard. But we started some years ago so it’s been a gradual process. We decided we didn’t need the house, so we sold it. We’ve given some money away and are trying to pay down debts to reach that freedom of thought that only comes without them. We had planned on sailing round Cuba this spring with a friend but canceled. It was a want. I hope to sail across the Atlantic this summer with a friend - a need. I took my van off the road and am now only using a bike and the T.T.C. It was hard to give away that power. But it feels good and I’m keeping in better shape because of the biking. A real win-win decision.
Life has never been better. Choices are so much more fun and even easier to make. I bought Judy a nice hat yesterday. It was definitely a want. A want on my part more than hers. I recognized it for what it was and it made it the more special. We can all live with so much less than we’re supposed to! It feels so good to laugh at the adds on TV. And it seems even sadder to see people taking them right in. And seeing the children being raised as they are.
But my life has never been so good!
Not that I'm suggesting that any others need to make the specific choices we have. It would benefit few if five million people in the Toronto area decided to live on boats! But I hope others will learn to live asking the same questions. What are needs and what are merely wants? And give away most of the money (power) saved to help meet real needs of others. Believe me, it is the only way to really live!
“Do not wear yourself out trying to get rich.” - Jewish proverb
“We may not all be guilty, but we are all responsible.” - Neil Bissonbath
Life has never been better. Choices are so much more fun and even easier to make. I bought Judy a nice hat yesterday. It was definitely a want. A want on my part more than hers. I recognized it for what it was and it made it the more special. We can all live with so much less than we’re supposed to! It feels so good to laugh at the adds on TV. And it seems even sadder to see people taking them right in. And seeing the children being raised as they are.
But my life has never been so good!
Not that I'm suggesting that any others need to make the specific choices we have. It would benefit few if five million people in the Toronto area decided to live on boats! But I hope others will learn to live asking the same questions. What are needs and what are merely wants? And give away most of the money (power) saved to help meet real needs of others. Believe me, it is the only way to really live!
“Do not wear yourself out trying to get rich.” - Jewish proverb
“We may not all be guilty, but we are all responsible.” - Neil Bissonbath
The Call to Conversion/Repentance
It’s like I’ve been out shopping for boots, footwear that I can use for all occasions and terrain. They’ve got to be durable, adjustable, waterproof, not encumbering and above all, comfortable. I’ve searched high and low and suddenly, there they are. I try them on and they fit. I walk around in them and they’re like an extension of my feet. They will be a part of me from now on.
Such it has been with the concept of REPENTANCE. In the four days since the last I wrote, when I introduced the idea, things have been turning over and over in my head/heart/soul. In the process, my Calling, the path before me, the wonderful possibilities, the nearly insurmountable obstacles, all of these have taken new forms. Bare with me as I try to share it with you, using words that are loaded with meaning, but often not the same for each of us.
For most of us, we have only heard the word REPENT on TV or in the movies. It is associated with Christian evangelicals who are ranting about leaving lives of sin and choosing to “accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.” I need to say that I’ve nothing against that. But it’s not what I am about here. But the form is true enough.
To REPENT is to change direction. Before you can do that you need to know where you are presently going and where you will be going after you’ve made the change. Using the old evangelical terminology, you were convicted of your sins, before you could choose and come to believe. Conviction, in our case is simply an understanding of things as they are, of the reality of the world and our part in it, an awareness of how each thing we possess, each mile we drive in each vehicle, hurts the earth. Of how each thing we use inevitably takes from someone else, of how our blind participation in this society promulgates injustice and poverty for many others, of how we ourselves suffer from illnesses and stress because of this way of life, of how we have become spiritually deficit to the point of being only nominally human. To those that do not realize this in at least some degree, a call to repentance will be meaningless.
This old and most destructive way of life must be named. “Materialism” is so overdone that it has lost much of its meaning although we all know how the acquisition of material wealth has ruled our lives and culture for many generations. But what we are against, what must be turned away from is even more than the worship of MAMMON. It is a life ruled by FEAR. Be it fear of self, fear of others, fear of inadequacy, fear of death, fear of poverty, fear of the loss of control, fear of responsibility, fear of life, FEAR itself now rules much of the earth and our culture in particular. Only the naming of that power, looking it squarely (or even obliquely) in the eye, seeing it for what it is, will give us the knowledge and wisdom to turn away and find a new path.
If repentance, as a term has too much negative baggage for you, try conversion. The same steps apply. A BEFORE and AFTER are needed. Lives are changed. Feet are moved. Action is necessary. Again, this is not a doctrinal issue. It is much bigger than that. We use the term as to ‘convert’ from the Anglican church to the Roman Catholic Church, from Christianity to Judaism, etc. That is not what we mean. We are calling for REPENTANCE, a CONVERSION from a life based on fears to a life based upon love. Leaving one set of assumptions and paradigms for a new ones.
Again, definitions and explanations are probably in order. LOVE is not meant in the romantic way (however great and possible that may be), but in the biblical sense, where there were many levels of love. The most basic level of LOVE in the Jewish understanding was JUSTICE. In that knowledge we can ‘love our enemies’ and even love all people. We might not know them, we might not like them, even hate them, but we can recognize them as other children of God with rights to life and to have their needs met. We can love others as we do ourselves, working toward wholeness in them the same as we seek/need wholeness in ourselves.
It is very hard to do that if we are fearful. Impossible, even.
If you are religious, think in terms of God calling the whole world to repent, to a conversion that applies to humanity as a whole. If your understanding does not include a God/Spirit entity, think in terms of the world as a whole, as the people present and in the future crying out for renewal and hope, for justice and wholeness. It matters not from where you are standing.
If, however, you think that the here and now for you is all that matters, that what you do and the suffering it causes has no results that count in any way, that you are important enough or deserving enough to warrant the consequences of your lifestyle, that the person who dies with the most toys really does win, go ahead and don't consider changing. But see and understand the facts. Choose as you will.
If you chose against conversion you will surely be in good company. Most will choose by not listening. The powers-that-be and the momentum of society are all against any repentance/conversion. Let’s look at just a few examples of that.
I’ve mentioned before, and you know as well as I, how we are bombarded 24/7 with the message that “ we ARE what material possessions we have. We ARE what we CONSUME. We are deficient unless we possess. We are not whole without this stuff.” What a new thought process we would need in order to ask ourselves that we really need, and buy no more. Do we need a bigger home? Isn’t the one we have now already much bigger than the one in which we were raised? Do we need a second car? Even one? Really need? Do we need to order in pizza every thursday? Do I need ten pair of shoes? Do I need a new party dress? Or are these merely WANTS? Are there people whose needs I can meet by denying my wants? How do I help them?
The most immediate consequence of conversion away from a life of fear to a life of love will be that you will have more money at your disposal. Even if you are living on a very limited income, you will have more. I know many who live near poverty who spend much of their spare time shopping the garage sales, getting more stuff and judging their week by how many "good buys" they made. Rampant materialism is not only for the rich or middle class. It may well be that future examples of CONVERSION of poorer people will prod and encourage the more wealthy to change. It really takes very little to meet the needs of life. We all need the same things, materially. We all need the same things spiritually and socially. Only together can we have all of these things.
At the same time as we “save” (divert, convert) money (power) away from wants born from fears, we must convert them to the direction of love. Not wait. Not hesitate. Not invest. But give them away. And not to some local church to be used to pay the heat or staff salaries. But to the poor and needy to whom it will make a real difference of life. To create a water source. For a screen to keep infected mosquitoes away while children in the tropics sleep. For start-up funds for a local business or farm. Only when you know that your money is doing more for someone else than it is for you, will you be encouraged enough to look for more wants that can be converted into needs.
Again and again I will stress the need to do this with others. You simply will not be able to sustain your conversion alone. The power of consumerism will beat you down and you will end up even worse off than before, for you will then be a failure. With others you will gain knowledge, wisdom and enthusiasm. The good news is that it takes the shared power of only a few to confront the powers of FEAR and materialism.
I mentioned before how stupid/wrong and self defeating it is for us to not be open to living in a more shared way. This topic brings out most strongly the fears we hold. In most areas of Toronto there are over twice as many bedrooms as there are people. How can we claim that we know anything about love and accept this? When many of us claim/assume it is our right to control space like this, in this time of need and crisis, it is a wonder that there isn’t far more violence and anger. Those that pride themselves in their large and empty homes are patently evil and blind. I think that I can say that beyond any doubt. Those of us who control and use more than we need are part of the problem that is killing. Period.
Again I remind myself and you that this call is not a matter of religious doctrine. It is bigger than that. The CALL for Repentance/Conversion comes from God, Allah, the Earth, our Children, the Great Spirit, your Consciousness, who cares? This repentance/conversion is beyond yet includes belief. It is the totality of our thought and actions. If we accept the CALL it will change all around us. It will disrupt the present economy, but we will survive. It will change how we live, but we will be more happy and secure. It will create enemies, but we will find ourselves in the process. Hope and purpose will replace fears. People of all faiths and no “faith” will have far more in common than could have been previously believed. Many faith communities (churches) will be scandalized by the idea that something claims to be more important than their understanding. Others will see it as complimenting their understanding. For all who answer the call, LIFE will be their goal. There will be something more important to them then mere living, but the goal of living more completely will be enough.
Hear this as a call to you and to all the world, a small call from the desert, perhaps, but hear it never-the-less. You will know if it is valid for you. But only if you talk about it with someone you know is wise. Don’t ask a fool. You know what I mean. The validity of your asking depends upon the company in which it is asked and answered. Choose for life. It is your own and for those who follow you. So-Be-It.
“The real superstition is thinking that you can reject things unexamined.” - Robertson Davies
“If we refuse to acknowledge the past, we conceal the nature of suffering and therefore cannot understand demands in the present.” - Hugh Brody
“Blessed and joyful are those who are without fear.” - Jewish proverb
“Spending money is how you really vote in this world. You do it every day and it alone determins how the world works. It is more significant than how you cast your ballot. - Michael Linton
Such it has been with the concept of REPENTANCE. In the four days since the last I wrote, when I introduced the idea, things have been turning over and over in my head/heart/soul. In the process, my Calling, the path before me, the wonderful possibilities, the nearly insurmountable obstacles, all of these have taken new forms. Bare with me as I try to share it with you, using words that are loaded with meaning, but often not the same for each of us.
For most of us, we have only heard the word REPENT on TV or in the movies. It is associated with Christian evangelicals who are ranting about leaving lives of sin and choosing to “accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.” I need to say that I’ve nothing against that. But it’s not what I am about here. But the form is true enough.
To REPENT is to change direction. Before you can do that you need to know where you are presently going and where you will be going after you’ve made the change. Using the old evangelical terminology, you were convicted of your sins, before you could choose and come to believe. Conviction, in our case is simply an understanding of things as they are, of the reality of the world and our part in it, an awareness of how each thing we possess, each mile we drive in each vehicle, hurts the earth. Of how each thing we use inevitably takes from someone else, of how our blind participation in this society promulgates injustice and poverty for many others, of how we ourselves suffer from illnesses and stress because of this way of life, of how we have become spiritually deficit to the point of being only nominally human. To those that do not realize this in at least some degree, a call to repentance will be meaningless.
This old and most destructive way of life must be named. “Materialism” is so overdone that it has lost much of its meaning although we all know how the acquisition of material wealth has ruled our lives and culture for many generations. But what we are against, what must be turned away from is even more than the worship of MAMMON. It is a life ruled by FEAR. Be it fear of self, fear of others, fear of inadequacy, fear of death, fear of poverty, fear of the loss of control, fear of responsibility, fear of life, FEAR itself now rules much of the earth and our culture in particular. Only the naming of that power, looking it squarely (or even obliquely) in the eye, seeing it for what it is, will give us the knowledge and wisdom to turn away and find a new path.
If repentance, as a term has too much negative baggage for you, try conversion. The same steps apply. A BEFORE and AFTER are needed. Lives are changed. Feet are moved. Action is necessary. Again, this is not a doctrinal issue. It is much bigger than that. We use the term as to ‘convert’ from the Anglican church to the Roman Catholic Church, from Christianity to Judaism, etc. That is not what we mean. We are calling for REPENTANCE, a CONVERSION from a life based on fears to a life based upon love. Leaving one set of assumptions and paradigms for a new ones.
Again, definitions and explanations are probably in order. LOVE is not meant in the romantic way (however great and possible that may be), but in the biblical sense, where there were many levels of love. The most basic level of LOVE in the Jewish understanding was JUSTICE. In that knowledge we can ‘love our enemies’ and even love all people. We might not know them, we might not like them, even hate them, but we can recognize them as other children of God with rights to life and to have their needs met. We can love others as we do ourselves, working toward wholeness in them the same as we seek/need wholeness in ourselves.
It is very hard to do that if we are fearful. Impossible, even.
If you are religious, think in terms of God calling the whole world to repent, to a conversion that applies to humanity as a whole. If your understanding does not include a God/Spirit entity, think in terms of the world as a whole, as the people present and in the future crying out for renewal and hope, for justice and wholeness. It matters not from where you are standing.
If, however, you think that the here and now for you is all that matters, that what you do and the suffering it causes has no results that count in any way, that you are important enough or deserving enough to warrant the consequences of your lifestyle, that the person who dies with the most toys really does win, go ahead and don't consider changing. But see and understand the facts. Choose as you will.
If you chose against conversion you will surely be in good company. Most will choose by not listening. The powers-that-be and the momentum of society are all against any repentance/conversion. Let’s look at just a few examples of that.
I’ve mentioned before, and you know as well as I, how we are bombarded 24/7 with the message that “ we ARE what material possessions we have. We ARE what we CONSUME. We are deficient unless we possess. We are not whole without this stuff.” What a new thought process we would need in order to ask ourselves that we really need, and buy no more. Do we need a bigger home? Isn’t the one we have now already much bigger than the one in which we were raised? Do we need a second car? Even one? Really need? Do we need to order in pizza every thursday? Do I need ten pair of shoes? Do I need a new party dress? Or are these merely WANTS? Are there people whose needs I can meet by denying my wants? How do I help them?
The most immediate consequence of conversion away from a life of fear to a life of love will be that you will have more money at your disposal. Even if you are living on a very limited income, you will have more. I know many who live near poverty who spend much of their spare time shopping the garage sales, getting more stuff and judging their week by how many "good buys" they made. Rampant materialism is not only for the rich or middle class. It may well be that future examples of CONVERSION of poorer people will prod and encourage the more wealthy to change. It really takes very little to meet the needs of life. We all need the same things, materially. We all need the same things spiritually and socially. Only together can we have all of these things.
At the same time as we “save” (divert, convert) money (power) away from wants born from fears, we must convert them to the direction of love. Not wait. Not hesitate. Not invest. But give them away. And not to some local church to be used to pay the heat or staff salaries. But to the poor and needy to whom it will make a real difference of life. To create a water source. For a screen to keep infected mosquitoes away while children in the tropics sleep. For start-up funds for a local business or farm. Only when you know that your money is doing more for someone else than it is for you, will you be encouraged enough to look for more wants that can be converted into needs.
Again and again I will stress the need to do this with others. You simply will not be able to sustain your conversion alone. The power of consumerism will beat you down and you will end up even worse off than before, for you will then be a failure. With others you will gain knowledge, wisdom and enthusiasm. The good news is that it takes the shared power of only a few to confront the powers of FEAR and materialism.
I mentioned before how stupid/wrong and self defeating it is for us to not be open to living in a more shared way. This topic brings out most strongly the fears we hold. In most areas of Toronto there are over twice as many bedrooms as there are people. How can we claim that we know anything about love and accept this? When many of us claim/assume it is our right to control space like this, in this time of need and crisis, it is a wonder that there isn’t far more violence and anger. Those that pride themselves in their large and empty homes are patently evil and blind. I think that I can say that beyond any doubt. Those of us who control and use more than we need are part of the problem that is killing. Period.
Again I remind myself and you that this call is not a matter of religious doctrine. It is bigger than that. The CALL for Repentance/Conversion comes from God, Allah, the Earth, our Children, the Great Spirit, your Consciousness, who cares? This repentance/conversion is beyond yet includes belief. It is the totality of our thought and actions. If we accept the CALL it will change all around us. It will disrupt the present economy, but we will survive. It will change how we live, but we will be more happy and secure. It will create enemies, but we will find ourselves in the process. Hope and purpose will replace fears. People of all faiths and no “faith” will have far more in common than could have been previously believed. Many faith communities (churches) will be scandalized by the idea that something claims to be more important than their understanding. Others will see it as complimenting their understanding. For all who answer the call, LIFE will be their goal. There will be something more important to them then mere living, but the goal of living more completely will be enough.
Hear this as a call to you and to all the world, a small call from the desert, perhaps, but hear it never-the-less. You will know if it is valid for you. But only if you talk about it with someone you know is wise. Don’t ask a fool. You know what I mean. The validity of your asking depends upon the company in which it is asked and answered. Choose for life. It is your own and for those who follow you. So-Be-It.
“The real superstition is thinking that you can reject things unexamined.” - Robertson Davies
“If we refuse to acknowledge the past, we conceal the nature of suffering and therefore cannot understand demands in the present.” - Hugh Brody
“Blessed and joyful are those who are without fear.” - Jewish proverb
“Spending money is how you really vote in this world. You do it every day and it alone determins how the world works. It is more significant than how you cast your ballot. - Michael Linton
A "Downer" in a successful church
Yesterday was my birthday and we attended a large local church that prides itself in good, modern preaching. The congregation is obviously wealthy (no homes less than $700k in the area) and worship was well attended. There were about twenty children in attendance. Good. I was hoping for a meaningful and challenging message, a change from the smaller congregations we have visited. I should have known better. (After all, they didn’t know it was my birthday.)
My first warning came in a line from the ‘Call To Worship’ -”God Justifies us by faith and not by works.” I’m not sure what that even means but it certainly doesn’t sound like God really want us to do anything, does it?
The service continued in a nice and predictable manner. The music was good, the choir excellent, but it should be, considering the money they’re paying the section leads.
The sermon started out as very promising. The speaker did a great job of telling us about what Jesus’ calling his disciples would have meant to them, how the power of the Romans and the priorities of that empire was against God’s kingdom, how the call to repent meant a complete turning against those values. I thought, O Boy! At last I’m going to hear something real!
But he just stopped. He gave some platitudes about how we are called to believe and do better. Nothing about how the values of our ruling materialism is just as powerful and insidious as Rome ever was, how we are lulled into following the current ways of death as truly as the ‘holy’ people were two thousand years ago. Nothing. No learning. No challenge. I wanted to leave after the sermon, but Judy wouldn’t have it. Not even on my birthday.
This congregation represents my last hope for congregations. Do any of you know of a place where I might find any truth preached? I don’t care what name is on the sign. Church, Temple, Meeting, Pub - I don’t care.
If I can’t find some existing group soon I will have to try and start a gathering of my own. I would much rather not. But as I’ve said, I need to be fed with community worship; things can happen there that are unique. But most of the time I attend worship I end up mainly frustrated and saddened. I can do that on my own, thank you very much. Really, I need some help here.
Thanks.
“I hate your solemn assemblies, filled with iniquity! I will not listen: your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your doing. Cease it. Learn to do good; seek justice. The land shall be redeemed by those who repent.” - the prophet Isaiah
My first warning came in a line from the ‘Call To Worship’ -”God Justifies us by faith and not by works.” I’m not sure what that even means but it certainly doesn’t sound like God really want us to do anything, does it?
The service continued in a nice and predictable manner. The music was good, the choir excellent, but it should be, considering the money they’re paying the section leads.
The sermon started out as very promising. The speaker did a great job of telling us about what Jesus’ calling his disciples would have meant to them, how the power of the Romans and the priorities of that empire was against God’s kingdom, how the call to repent meant a complete turning against those values. I thought, O Boy! At last I’m going to hear something real!
But he just stopped. He gave some platitudes about how we are called to believe and do better. Nothing about how the values of our ruling materialism is just as powerful and insidious as Rome ever was, how we are lulled into following the current ways of death as truly as the ‘holy’ people were two thousand years ago. Nothing. No learning. No challenge. I wanted to leave after the sermon, but Judy wouldn’t have it. Not even on my birthday.
This congregation represents my last hope for congregations. Do any of you know of a place where I might find any truth preached? I don’t care what name is on the sign. Church, Temple, Meeting, Pub - I don’t care.
If I can’t find some existing group soon I will have to try and start a gathering of my own. I would much rather not. But as I’ve said, I need to be fed with community worship; things can happen there that are unique. But most of the time I attend worship I end up mainly frustrated and saddened. I can do that on my own, thank you very much. Really, I need some help here.
Thanks.
“I hate your solemn assemblies, filled with iniquity! I will not listen: your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your doing. Cease it. Learn to do good; seek justice. The land shall be redeemed by those who repent.” - the prophet Isaiah
Warning In A Dream
As a youngster I don’t recall failing at many things. But one botched attempt stands out. We lived on a small farm and after butchering a cow I got permission from Dad to try to tan the hide. I had read up on the subject and was all excited with what I could do with the leather. It was the time when Davey Crockett story was popular and I wanted to look like him. I could make that leather outfit myself! (I was nine years old.)
I had no idea it would be so much work! The hide was huge! Surely it came from an elephant, not one of our cows! Spread out on the ground it was as big as a room. I never even got it really scraped clean. I was simply not up to the job. It ended up in the garbage for the wild animals to fight over.
Dad never said a thing about it and neither did I. Perhaps he knew all along what would be the likely outcome and thought that it would be a good learning experience for me and just let me go ahead and learn. One way or another, wit wouldn't cost anything.
In the dream, two nights ago, there I was again, with the chance to tan a cow hide, trying to figure out how much room I would need, if I had all the ingredients and equipment that was necessary. Would I try it? I didn’t really know. The dream ended there.
The dream experience was very sobering for me. Here I am, trying to keep up my enthusiasm, trying to share it with others in hopes that some change for the good can be made in lives. All I’m trying to do, really, is to change the world! And a small task like tanning a hide makes me question?
Sometimes (often) I marvel at my weaknesses. It was just a small dream. And it’s good and needed to be slowed down a bit, I guess, sometimes. But Hey, after all, it's not going to cost me anything to try, is it?
“Our future lies in group survival and success, not in individual achievement.” - David Suzuki
"If at first you don't succeed....."
"If at first you don't succeed, give up and watch TV." - Homer Simpson
I had no idea it would be so much work! The hide was huge! Surely it came from an elephant, not one of our cows! Spread out on the ground it was as big as a room. I never even got it really scraped clean. I was simply not up to the job. It ended up in the garbage for the wild animals to fight over.
Dad never said a thing about it and neither did I. Perhaps he knew all along what would be the likely outcome and thought that it would be a good learning experience for me and just let me go ahead and learn. One way or another, wit wouldn't cost anything.
In the dream, two nights ago, there I was again, with the chance to tan a cow hide, trying to figure out how much room I would need, if I had all the ingredients and equipment that was necessary. Would I try it? I didn’t really know. The dream ended there.
The dream experience was very sobering for me. Here I am, trying to keep up my enthusiasm, trying to share it with others in hopes that some change for the good can be made in lives. All I’m trying to do, really, is to change the world! And a small task like tanning a hide makes me question?
Sometimes (often) I marvel at my weaknesses. It was just a small dream. And it’s good and needed to be slowed down a bit, I guess, sometimes. But Hey, after all, it's not going to cost me anything to try, is it?
“Our future lies in group survival and success, not in individual achievement.” - David Suzuki
"If at first you don't succeed....."
"If at first you don't succeed, give up and watch TV." - Homer Simpson
On Bobby Fischer
Like many of you, perhaps, I had forgotten about Bobby Fischer, the chess hero/icon/ mystic of many decades past. His death last week brought his face and story to our attention once more. What a genius. How filled with hate and paranoia, unable to live without blaming his supposed worries on faceless others, refusing to take responsibilities himself. It is enough to really get one discouraged about the human species. If a genius like Bobby Fischer is that out of whack, what chance to we mere mortals have of getting it together?
At times it seems like reason and valid hope is as near as the person sitting next to you in a pub. And you regain hope. Then the smart of the world, the intellectuals, those in power or “in-the-know” do or say the most stupid things. Or, more importantly, they do not DO what needs to be done when they have the chance. Does the world have a chance? Are we as stupid a life-form as we appear? God, are we the best hope you have? (I truly hope that there are ETs out there - that we are NOT the most advanced life form in the universe.)
Bobby, you had it all. The world was yours. You blew it.
Isn’t he a paradigm for us all? The world is ours. We have all we need. We could feed the world’s starving on what is discarded from the tables of the wealthy. A fraction of the world’s weapons budget would literally solve the financial needs of the poor. But we don’t accept responsibility.. Fear rules us. We blame others. Just like Bobby Fischer.
But there is no cosmic Iceland to take us in and care for us. (The country of Iceland gave Bobby Fischer sanctuary.) We are on our own, assuming that there are no benevolent aliens to play the part. Imagine Bobby Fischer’s last years without an Iceland refuge. Those last years for him personally would have been much like the future years for the earth if we don’t change, if the ordinary person doesn’t start to act a bit more extraordinary and stop following the “know-it-alls” of the world.
“Most people want to find happiness but you don’t just find it anymore than steel is just found. You refine steel from the rough ore and in the same way you fashion happiness from life’s opportunities.” - Charles Templeton
At times it seems like reason and valid hope is as near as the person sitting next to you in a pub. And you regain hope. Then the smart of the world, the intellectuals, those in power or “in-the-know” do or say the most stupid things. Or, more importantly, they do not DO what needs to be done when they have the chance. Does the world have a chance? Are we as stupid a life-form as we appear? God, are we the best hope you have? (I truly hope that there are ETs out there - that we are NOT the most advanced life form in the universe.)
Bobby, you had it all. The world was yours. You blew it.
Isn’t he a paradigm for us all? The world is ours. We have all we need. We could feed the world’s starving on what is discarded from the tables of the wealthy. A fraction of the world’s weapons budget would literally solve the financial needs of the poor. But we don’t accept responsibility.. Fear rules us. We blame others. Just like Bobby Fischer.
But there is no cosmic Iceland to take us in and care for us. (The country of Iceland gave Bobby Fischer sanctuary.) We are on our own, assuming that there are no benevolent aliens to play the part. Imagine Bobby Fischer’s last years without an Iceland refuge. Those last years for him personally would have been much like the future years for the earth if we don’t change, if the ordinary person doesn’t start to act a bit more extraordinary and stop following the “know-it-alls” of the world.
“Most people want to find happiness but you don’t just find it anymore than steel is just found. You refine steel from the rough ore and in the same way you fashion happiness from life’s opportunities.” - Charles Templeton
Reflections on the Stock Market Downturn
Every week-day morning the routine on board the SWAN OF TUONELA , is this: the alarm goes off at 6:00, Judy and I snuggle for about five minutes, I get up and go to the galley, put on water for tea, come back to the aft-cabin and dress and then return to the galley to fix breakfast while Judy gets dressed. Due to the small floor space in the aft cabin it is easier if one of us gets dressed at a time. Then I bring the complete breakfast back to the cabin and we eat in bed while watching the morning show on CTV. A great way to start the day.
This morning the main story news was, of course, the near melt-down of most of the stock markets around the world. There were interviews of many people, a couple of which advised folks to just hang on for the world wasn’t really coming to an end. Others had lost tens of thousands of dollars and were very upset. I could identify with both. Judy and I have investments too.
But I felt so lucky. Lucky that our priorities were such that stock market gains or losses have nothing to do with what is important to our present and future. The question I ask of events is this, “Will it change what I have for breakfast in the morning?”. If the answer is no, then the problem/possibility isn’t important enough to get in a fuss over. Let’s be honest. For a vast majority of the investors, the funds they have in the market represent future spending on wants, not needs. They have put their resources where they did in hopes of getting more return than in secure investments. I did too. But I doubt very much of even losing a third of their funds would change what they have for breakfast. What is more important is who you are having it with and if they look forward to each day.
Very few of us will voluntarily change our way of living although we know, beyond a doubt, that it would be much better for us and the world, in all ways. We live in a world of constant change. The stock markets are great examples of institutions that are based on whim, greed, winds of chaos and whim. We need to view “market adjustments” like those of this week, as much needed reminders of what is real and what is illusion, of what is really important and what isn’t, what are needs and what are wants. Sometimes it takes a hammer to awaken us.
If you’ve lost a bundle, relax. It’s money you’ve never seen. Enjoy your breakfast, hopfully, with a friend or five.
“Those who trust in their riches will wither.” - Jewish proverb
“All day long the wicked seek more wealth.” - Jewish proverb
This morning the main story news was, of course, the near melt-down of most of the stock markets around the world. There were interviews of many people, a couple of which advised folks to just hang on for the world wasn’t really coming to an end. Others had lost tens of thousands of dollars and were very upset. I could identify with both. Judy and I have investments too.
But I felt so lucky. Lucky that our priorities were such that stock market gains or losses have nothing to do with what is important to our present and future. The question I ask of events is this, “Will it change what I have for breakfast in the morning?”. If the answer is no, then the problem/possibility isn’t important enough to get in a fuss over. Let’s be honest. For a vast majority of the investors, the funds they have in the market represent future spending on wants, not needs. They have put their resources where they did in hopes of getting more return than in secure investments. I did too. But I doubt very much of even losing a third of their funds would change what they have for breakfast. What is more important is who you are having it with and if they look forward to each day.
Very few of us will voluntarily change our way of living although we know, beyond a doubt, that it would be much better for us and the world, in all ways. We live in a world of constant change. The stock markets are great examples of institutions that are based on whim, greed, winds of chaos and whim. We need to view “market adjustments” like those of this week, as much needed reminders of what is real and what is illusion, of what is really important and what isn’t, what are needs and what are wants. Sometimes it takes a hammer to awaken us.
If you’ve lost a bundle, relax. It’s money you’ve never seen. Enjoy your breakfast, hopfully, with a friend or five.
“Those who trust in their riches will wither.” - Jewish proverb
“All day long the wicked seek more wealth.” - Jewish proverb
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