Waiting for Christmas Day

For this week's Christmas song, I've decided to go out on a limb a little bit. The song for this week is "Christmas Day," sung by Dido for one of the "Very Special Christmas" compilations. This is going a bit out on a limb b/c it is not a Christmas song in the strictest sense of the word. The Song is about a guy who meets a girl and promises he'll come back to take her away on Christmas day. The rest of the song is her talking about how she's waiting for him to return. Therefore, Christmas day is more a point of time than it is a holiday. However, the song got me thinking since it talks about waiting, something the Holiday seasons seem about.
For those of you who have offspring of a young age, I can imagine they look forward to Christmas for several weeks leading up to the date (Or at least I did, maybe I'm more maladjusted than I've given myself credit for). My Mom has talked about how I was a kid and just couldn't wait for Christmas to come (now there are years where I can't wait for it to be over, go figure). I do remember us getting up very early to open gifts and my parents would tell me I had to wait until it was a reasonable hour (i.e. the sun was at least starting to rise).
Incidents that probably screamed "Emancipated Minor" to my parents aside, the concept of waiting remains a integral part of the Holiday season. In the Christian tradition, the time leading up to Christmas is known as Advent, a time that is characterized by "expectant waiting and participation" for the coming of the Christ. Although Hanukkah is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, it is a celebration of a wait being over. The holiday marks the re-dedication of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem after the Maccabean revolt was able to retake it and rededicated it after it was desecrated by the Syrians.
I find this holiday season's focus on waiting to be extremely interesting since waiting is something very few people want to do in this day and age. We want what we want and we want it NOW. Currently the political landscape comprises people who are promising to enact changes to help Americans sooner than their opponents. This is, of course, understandable since many Americans are in dire straits and anyone who could get them out of it faster should be in charge. Likewise, I can imagine Israel was getting a little tired of waiting around for God to send the messiah. They had to wander in the desert for 40 years, had been conquered many times, and the Romans had been added to the list of invading armies during the time of Jesus. Therefore, I can see how they appreciated God's love but still wanted to get the show on the road.
So if everyone hates waiting, why do we have to do it? I know it's a cliche, but perhaps we wait so we can "build character." A while back a preached a sermon at Spirit of Peace (and strangely enough it didn't start raining frogs) about how experiences both bad and good can shape us ways that make us a better person. The experience of waiting gives us a time to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead. If I had opted for instant gratification when I was a kid, would I have finally gotten it that the Holidays are not just about decorations and gifts but also about being together with those you love, about peace, and about hope? If we view God as a parental figure, the understanding that you can't have whatever you want whenever you want it is valuable life lesson. Furthermore, having to wait for something can make you value it even more. The current dedication to what is now the country if Israel I think, in part at least, comes from the memory that many times it had been taken away from the Jewish people or they had been without a nation of their own.
Getting back to the song by Dido, you will notice that she eagerly anticipates the arrival of her lover, but she doesn't chomp at the bit waiting for him to show up. Anticipation is a feeling we get around this time of year, but instead of holding out for what we're waiting for, enjoy the wait as well as the waiting to be over. So during this holiday season, enjoy the parties, the food, and all the other stuff that goes along with this time of year. However, realize that part of this season is about waiting so embrace the wait and look to see what you find along the way.

The Christians and the Pagans (and an uber-liberal folk singer thrown in for good measure)

In the second installment in my series of "non-traditional Christmas songs" I have selected a Song by the Folk Singer Dar Williams: "The Christians and the Pagans." Those of you who grew up listening to college radio are probably familiar with this song already, it is a song about a pagan lesbian couple (Amber and Jane) who go to visit their Uncle (Tim) and his Family. Being devout Christians, they are a bit hesitant to have 2 pagans over for dinner, but the evening ends well and the general message is that we all have common needs as humans that one person can get from one personal faith as much as someone gets from another. I picked this as my second selection because it is one of the only songs I can think of that actually deals with two religions during the holiday season and not just various reinforcer to Christians reminding everyone how great the holiday is.
Before proceeding, I should qualify by saying I like Christmas as much as the next person and a little reminder of why we like it should not be scoffed at. However, I also find it kind of interesting that a holiday like Christmas which is admired for how it brings families together to share in a common joy can serve to divide since a person may have a different religious belief or hold the holiday in a different regard from someone else. For example, in the song Amber calls her uncle to see if they can stay with him for the evening and he expresses reservation because it is Christmas and "...Our life is not your style."
I also think this song is apt because the modern celebration of Christmas has roots in the original religious practices of indigenous European people (which many modern Pagans draw influence from). The evergreen (the traditional Christmas tree) is a Celtic symbol of enduring life during the winter in which everything dies. The "Yule Log" (before being made into a desert) was a popular Christmas tradition in 17th and 18th century Europe is believed to come from the traditional beliefs of Germanic peoples.
At my church, when we do communion the pastor notes we are different but a commonality among us is our need for food and (therefore) why the symbols of bread and wine were used by Jesus during the last supper. Therefore, it is my hope for this Christmas season that I focus on not who celebrates Christmas and who doesn't but on what is common among all people and our needs that cause us to seek fulfillment in whatever religion. This is also in the song as Jane tells Tim's son that they are not Christians, but they love the world, their friends, and many other things Christians do.
In closing, I would like to share the last lines as the song which serve to tie the two faiths together by the similarities rather than their differences as food for thought:
"So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old, Making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold."

Christmas Wrapping

In the first installment in my series on non-tradditional Christmas songs, I've decided to start with a song from the New Wave heyday: "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses. For those of you unfamiliar with the song, the gist is that the singer is resolved to spend Christmas by herself recounting how busy the year has been and how all the things going on in the year have prevented her from getting together with a guy she met earlier the previous year. She fixes a Christmas dinner for one but realizes she forgot the cranberries so she goes to the all-night grocery and ends up seeing the guy who is also spending Christmas by himself. For those of you who want the full song lyrics, they can be found at this website: http://www.hardcafe.co.uk/waitresses/xmas_wrapping.htm.
This song is definitely different from ones you hear on the radio since it tells a story of someone who is not having the stereotypical Christmas with all the gatherings and celebrations and also it ends with her celebrating her Christmas in an unexpected way. Most traditional Christmas songs portray a certain way the season should be celebrated and anything that deviates from that norm is totally unacceptable. My mom has recounted one year we spent with our family in NC and now lives in family history as "the Infamous Flu Christmas" since everyone was sick. Although I don't wish to get sick around the holidays (or any other time for that matter), we made the best of it we could and now have a bit of family memories to share.
Many cherished songs are cherished because they've been around for a very long time and, therefore, portray a very different life. However, in the current day and age, we are often having to "think outside the box" in many aspects of our lives. The tough economic times have limited the amount of gift-giving a person can do, decisions to go elsewhere for the holidays are tempered by rising costs of gas and airline travel, and doing our holiday shopping must be timed just right for fear of crowds looking for that one gift everyone wants as a zombie wants brains. Also, as someone who came from MI, whoever sung about a "white christmas" probably didn't have to drive in a lake-effect snow storm.
Does this mean Christmas is somehow an archaic anniversary we should just ignore and go about our lives? Of course not, but change is not always a bad thing. In my family, as we all age we are finding the need to get someone that special gift gradually diminishes. Both my Mom and my Aunt's prime choice of gifts are dishcloths which continue to be a hot commodity year round when trying to dry your dinner plates. Many people I know have done away with adult gift-giving and reserve it for their kids. Although I have many fond memories of Christmases of my youth, I am kind of glad that I'm of the age where my world doesn't crumble around me because I did not get the big Voltron toy I spent many a day at Meijer salivating over.
As we are a society that (I'd like to think at least) evolves over time, I would hope we would not view doing things differently as an automatic minus to our holiday season. I think at this point I should mention that Jesus (who many people feel is the 'Reason for the Season') was not the traditional leader people had come to expect, but his life and works showed people there is another way to live and, although different, I doubt any Christian would say they are worse off for it.

Songs about the not so silent night

Those of you who know me well know I'm not a huge fan of traditional Christmas music. I've never done anything that would cause my aversion like, say, work in retail where it's played continually from October to mid-January, I have never found it invokes the happy feelings or nostalgia that is the reason many people like it. I think it may be that the trappings of Christmas are only attractive to me if they are accompanied by the REAL reasons for what makes the season so great (being genuinely kind to others, spending time with family/friends etc). Perhaps it is potential inaccuracy, a popular Christmas song is "Silent Night." Although I only know a few people who have gone through childbirth, given the potential duration of the process and that this was before the development of anesthesia, said night possibly was very very NOT silent to those in earshot of the stable.
That being said, now I present to you my plan: to do a series of blog posts (1 per week) on various songs I've heard that relate to Christmas. To say that they are "Christmas Songs" may be a bit of a stretch since some of them deal indirectly with the holiday. I will be upfront that most of these songs are in the vein of alternative music since that is usually what I listen to as my sister and I heard REM one day and all was lost. Anyway, I plan to put up my first post tomorrow which will discuss the song "Christmas Wrapping" originally done by the 80s band The Waitresses.

What do you do???

As we are in the holiday season, it seems I get invited to at least one holiday gathering every year where I only know one or two people. Given that I can wallflower at home, I try to talk with people I don't know and, through this, I have found an almost automatic question is "what do you do?" Although this question is perfectly normal and meant as a conversation starter, it does make me think about our view towards work and how we can ask what someone does, but asking something like how much money they make is walking into the mine field of invasive. It also reminds me of the line in the movie "Party Monster," the film about alpha NYC club kid Michael Alig, when the main character is asked "what do you do?" he answers "we don't do, we just are."
If we are looking for a way to get to know someone, asking their vocation is usually a pretty good way of doing that although maybe not for the right reasons. We make assumptions about a person based on their job: we assume a doctor is rolling in dough, a teacher is the reincarnation of our fifth grade taskmaster, and a social worker has a kind disposition. Also, we tend to associate certain people with their vocations and assume all people who fill those jobs are like that. Since Jesus was a carpenter, the profession of carpentry sometimes earns an extremely dignified place among career paths. First, current Biblical scholarship is led to believe Jesus was a carpenter because he made things out of wood and wasn't framing houses or installing cabinets (Sorry if I've destroyed your vision of Jesus as the Bob Villa of Biblical times). Second, one need only read the Bible to know that Jesus' ministry and sacrifice (i.e. what he's known and loved for) was mutually exclusive with his job as a carpenter. If I were a more daring person, I'd ask if Jesus was a tele-marketer or worked for a collection agency would those professions not earn the ire that they do now?
This is not to criticize any particular vocation or a person's choice of employment be it money, fulfillment, or schedule. However, we put so much emphasis on what a person does for a living and we tend to forget that there are other aspects to them. A friend of mine who went through a bout of unemployment, found a job, and then lost it due to downsizing. He received some grief from people he knew because he couldn't "keep" his job. This was like saying his worth as a human being seemed to be based on how well he crunched numbers and did spreadsheets and the fact that he is a cool guy was thrown to the wayside.
My Mom retired about 5 years ago or so from a long career as a high school math teacher (she currently moonlights and mine and my sister's moral compass)and, although most of her former students have only positive things to say about her, there were of course the occasional students who's feelings toward her were not, shall we say "fluffy bunny." Still, there are many teachers in the world and few would do some of the things that she did. She volunteered to help a student who would be out of school for months due to a serious injury with his mathematics because the teacher/tutor the school got for him was untrained in teaching high-school math. She wrote thank you notes to everyone (leads, chorus, band etc) in each of the school plays letting them know how much she liked the performance. If anyone she knows is going through a hard time, she is usually there to help out in any way she can. To me, that says alot about who she is even though it is independent of her ability to explain the quadratic equation.
I don't expect that people won't ask me "what do you do?" at parties. Getting back to someone saying, "we just are" I think that how I would like to be seen. I don't save lives as part of my job or make loads of money, but I think I would rather be judged based on how I do my job than what exactly that job is. I try to do my job honestly, with realism, and in gratitude for my boss' good treatment of his employees. This, I think, is reflective of the person I try to be and a value that defines me much better than my job.

After four seasons, a cadre of great actors, and quite a bit of dramatic license, the Showtime series “The Tudors” has now ended. Although the story of Henry the VIII makes for prime dramatic fodder, I do hope no one will think all the juicy bits of history ended with his passing. The power struggle after his passing was a series of events that would put any missing ballots to shame and the reign of his daughter, Elizabeth the I, has been the subject of numerous TV programs, books, film and even video games. Probably the most current well-known telling of Elizabeth’s story are the two films directed by Shekhar Kapur: “Elizabeth” and “Elizabeth: the Golden Age.”
As with many things that retell history, these pieces were not without controversy. One point of contention was the portrayal of the Catholic Church using ruthless tactics in an attempt to overthrow Elizabeth’s rein and portrayed her polices on Catholicism as being very moderate. Kapur has defended both movies saying that, although many policies during that time could be seen as punitive to Catholics, she routinely rejected calls from her advisors and parliament to wipe out all adherents to the “old religion” and make no concession for them. Although I’m sure people who’s knowledge of the subject comes from actual history and not from film could argue both sides of the issue until they are blue in the face, it did cause me to think about the subject of religious tolerance and what it means in this day and age.
Those of us here in the US are largely tolerant of beliefs different from our own and often point out that such tolerance is mandated by our constitution. I would go one step further and say that our religious freedom makes it so we often cannot fully appreciate how there are other places in the world where what you believe can get you into serious trouble. That being said, I don’t think any person can (and should be) completely tolerant to different beliefs. After all, many people try to use religion to justify their actions that would, otherwise, be completely unacceptable. The most obvious example of this is the tragedy of 9/11 that was carried out by Muslims believing it was ok to commit such acts because of their interpretation of the Koran. Another example is the persecution of Protestants in England in the 16th century by Mary Tudor (Elizabeth’s predecessor) as part of her attempt to restore England to a Catholic country.
Furthermore, even though religious tolerance is something that is part of our laws that does not mean that individual people treat you with the same tolerance the laws of our land would. An example of this was the well-publicized story of Jeremy Hall, a soldier serving overseas in Iraq, who encountered hostility from other soldiers for his Atheist beliefs. Although Israel is supposed to be a country for all Jewish people, stories have come to light of Ultra-Orthodox Jews vandalizing stores for selling items that don’t meet with their standards of modesty and attacking people who they feel are conducting themselves inappropriately. The 2006 case of Abdul Rahman brought to light that, even after the Taliban government was overthrown in Afghanistan, conversion to another religion from Islam remains a capitol offense in that country.
Getting back to the story of Elizabeth, in the beginning of “The Golden Age,” she is counseled by her advisors to regard every Catholic in England as a potential assassin given the Pope action against her and the attempts of other nations to raise Mary Stewart (a Catholic) to the throne. She disregards this advice saying that she will not punish her people because of their beliefs, only for their deeds.
You probably have your own ideas about God or a higher power and it is no my attempt to sway you one way or the other. However, my question to you is how do you act out those beliefs? Do you say: “Our God(s) loves the world so we should help those in the world who face difficulty, treat other people with respect, and show that love by being the best people we can be?” On the other hand, do you say: “Our God(s) loves the world so we should harass people who don’t share our beliefs, destroy that we believe are not acceptable, or make having a different belief illegal?” The former sounds like a better idea than the latter to me and, as Elizabeth pointed out, it’s what our faith moves us to do that makes a difference.

In Praise of St. Martha among the Virgos

Since last Wednesday was St. Patrick’s day and, therefore, the celebration of a Patron Saint, I think now is the time to express my idea to make someone else a patron Saint. Although I am not Catholic or Anglican, I have always found the diversity of patron saints to be a very curious beast to wrap one’s brain around. In looking at a list of patron saints, I find it very neat that they not only have Patron Saints against serious diseases like cancer (St. Aldegundis) and AIDS (St. Aloysius Gonzaga) but also against more common problems like Headaches (St.Acacius of Byzantium) and earaches (St. Cornelius). Still, I do not mean to dismiss the impact people’s belief in the Saints have on their lives and the lives of others. After all, the actor Danny Thomas said a prayer to St. Jude when he faced a time of uncertainty (St. Jude being the patron saint of hopeless causes) and in gratitude of his success built a shrine to the saint which is now St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
I bring up the topic of saints because I feel it is time we consider a new patronage of one saint, St. Martha the Wonder Worker of Southern Gaul. A while back I wrote a BLOG piece about how Martha has become a patron saint of the type-a personalities out there. At the time I did not know Martha had already been canonized and is also a patron saint. However, she is the patron saint of those who do manual housework such as butlers, cooks, housemaids, and dietitians (the latter being kind of random, but who am I to argue with the Vatican?). However, I think Martha should also be called upon to be a patron saint of those who take on tasks and approach them with unflinching anal retention and attention to detail that most people take medication to stop. I even thought up a new name for her: “St. Martha among the Virgos” (Virgo being the astrological sign associated with intense attention to detail).
I’m sure most of you are familiar of the story of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus (all three of them have been canonized, a veritable Beatified Bunch) as detailed in the 10th chapter of Luke. While Martha, as only Martha can, works hard to prepare the house for their guest (Jesus), Mary is sitting around all the while listening to Jesus and Martha protests. Jesus tells Martha to not be mad but that only one thing is needed and Mary has chosen it. The fact that Martha listened to what he said and obeyed, in my opinion, speaks volumes about her faith. Had I been in her position I may have said: “Ok, then fix your own $%&# dinner!”
Although it is apparent the Bible story favored Mary in this case, Martha still personifies a vital part of any faith/belief that (at times) can get put on the side, putting your beliefs into action. In the new testament book of James, he writes that faith without action is dead. Islam dictates that all Muslims must engage in Zakat, a practice of charitable giving of money or deeds in an individual’s community. During my tenure as moderator of my church, I did try to make it my priority to not only talk about doing things but to do something even if it was not thought out properly and may not succeed.
Doing the heavy lifting in any group, spiritual of secular, seems to be something everyone stresses is needed, but nobody wants to do. This is understandable, it is easy to believe something but putting it into practice is always the hard part. St. Martha may serve us as an example of realizing the importance of those people willing to come forward and get their hands dirty. After all, Martha was mad because she was doing ALL the work, not because she was doing the work. Furthermore, Martha’s expression of her faithfulness was rewarded when Jesus brought her brother, Lazarus, back from the dead.
I close this post with asking you “are you a Martha?” If you’re not, that’s ok, but maybe you should think of who the Marthas are in your life and acknowledge their work and the impact it has on your faith and/or your beliefs. If you are a Martha, you may very well be overworked, under appreciated, and wonder why you are doing all this $%&^ for someone or something else. For you out there, I leave you with a writing that Mother Teresa kept on her wall at her orphanage in Calcutta that was based on “The Paradoxical Commandments” by Dr. Kent Keith:
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and your God. It was never between you and them anyway.

Who Needs Tongues of Fire? We have Rosetta Stone!

Every so often I turn on PBS just to justify my hours in front of the TV so I can say I watch things “educational.” On one particular evening, I turned on a documentary called “Scenes from a Parish,” which chronicled the attempts of a Catholic parish in Lawrence, MA to accommodate a population shift in its congregation from being primarily Anglo-American to a mixture of Anglo and Latin-American Catholics.
One thing that surprised me was the negative reaction the priest got when he tried to incorporate Spanish into some of the services. This is probably evidence that I am becoming more and more Texan. In San Antonio, you are hard pressed to find a Catholic Church that does NOT incorporate Spanish into some or all of its services and, if you go to the South Side of San Antonio, there are many churches (both Catholic and Protestant) that hold services in Spanish exclusively. To give you an example, the Catholic parish near my new home has four or five masses each week, of those only one is in English. Also, it doesn’t really fit with the stories we here in the Bible, much like the Pentecost where tongues of fire would touch people and they could understand everyone else. To be frank, if fire came from the sky and touched me, my first thought would not be “wow I can understand all these people.!” but “where’s the fire-extinguisher?”
Language is often an issue in our every day lives because it serves as something that can separate us from other people. Debates continue over the topic of bilingual education, being able to speak another language fluently becomes an increasingly marketable skill, and anyone who has traveled to a place and does not speak the language knows that it can be frustrating at times. That is probably why language plays such an important role in many evangelist’s training, there are even groups dedicated to translating the Bible into all the worlds languages. Furthermore, language is rarely something that is black and white. When KFC tried to market their restaurants in China, the mistranslated their slogan: “Finger Licking Good” so the Chinese slogan said, “Eat your Fingers.”
In looking for Biblical examples about what to do about language or anything else that divides us, I came upon Paul’s poetic words in Galatians 3:38: “There is neither Jew nor Greek…” Although Paul was quite the wordsmith, I must confess I find many of his writings too lofty and an example of how idealized people can sound if not talking to someone face to face (Why do you think I keep a BLOG?).
About now is when we ask that question: “What Would Jesus Do?” I honestly don’t like this question and prefer to ask: “what DID Jesus do?” Jesus did not focus on people’s differences, he focused on the things that we had in common. Many of the aspects of his ministry focused on common needs and concerns everyone has such as Food, Healing, Water, and (most importantly) the need for the support of others.
In 1974, the swami Srila Prabhupada who is known as the founder of the Hare Krishna movement saw a group of children fighting with dogs over scraps of food. This scene disturbed him (as it probably would many of us) and he told his disciples that no one within ten miles of a temple should go hungry. This mandate became the foundation for what is now Food for Life Global, a ministry of the Hare Krishnas that has helped people all over the world during times of crisis and every day someone doesn’t have enough to eat. The case of FFL, I think, is very illustrative of the power of our similarities over our differences. Food For Life has made an impact in places so diverse as Pakistan, Chechnya, New Orleans, Poland, and Nicaragua. As you may guess, Krishna Consciousness isn’t something widely popular or well known in these regions, but the simple of act of provided food in times of need has helped bridge that gap.
Therefore, I think I would like everyone to take one thing with them when reading this posting, instead of looking at people in terms of how different they are, try to see what you have in common with them and build on that foundation.

Shouldn't the Psychic Friends be the Ones to call you?

Anyone who has read the stuff I’ve written know that my tastes lean towards programming that gives TV its title: “The Idiot Box.” Since, the two Bible passages today deal with prophecy, it did get me to remember something that no longer appears on the televised landscape as frequently: commercials for phone-in psychics. 900 numbers featuring some Tarot card reader or D-list celebrity promoting THEIR psychics as being the ones that will tell you want you want to know. Although I have never called one of these numbers, I have always found many Christians’ aversion to all things psychic a bit curious since many of the people in the old and new testament were known for telling the future (albeit not for $1.99 a minute for entertainment purposes only). Furthermore, some Christians have interpreted events as signs of God‘s pleasure or displeasure, most recently of note Pat Robertson’s statement that the earthquake in Haiti may be because of a reported pact between the Haitian people and the Devil. Still, like all fads, the psychic hotlines have now disappeared due to allegations of fraud or people coming to their sense and people who interpret events as being God's wrath tend to move on once their name disappears from the headlines or they are presented with a plausible counter argument. A friend of mine once stated that: if these people are psychic and if they’re your friend, they should know you need help and know how to get a hold of you.
In the passages today we have both a prophet and someone fulfilling a prophecy. Jeremiah is called by God to warn Judah that they have broken the covenant with God by worshiping foreign idols and, as such, they would be invaded by the Babylonian army. In the gospel passage today, Jesus has just read one of the prophesies from Isaiah and tell the people at the temple that the prophesy has been fulfilled in their hearing, indicating that he is the Messiah. The people at the temple then become mad at Jesus because he will not perform the miracles that they’ve heard of him doing in other places. What’s more, he says that no one here will accept him and, like the prophets Elijah and Elisha, God has called him to people who are not part of the national of Israel.
Although Jesus and Jeremiah lived a few centuries apart from one another, I think some of the parallels in their stories bear remarking upon. First, both Jesus and Jeremiah are charged with telling people something that they really didn’t want to hear. A trait of the psychic hotlines is that they often advertise how their clairvoyants have told people of good things happening to them in the future. I think both had audiences that were content with the status quo and having someone saying everything would change didn’t earn them any popularity points.
Second, both were compelled by God to deliver their respective messages even though it would mean a great deal of grief for them. We hear in the first part of the passage in Jeremiah his protestations that he is too young to be any kind of prophet. However, God says he must go everywhere he sends him and say whatever God tells him to say. God then goes on to say not to be afraid and he will protect Jeremiah, if that is not foreshadowing that Jeremiah’s message would ruffle some feathers, I don’t know what is. Jeremiah was attacked, imprisoned, and even beaten by his own family for preaching that God was displeased with his people. It was only after Judea was invaded by the Babylonians, the Judeans were scattered all across the empire, and Nebuchadnezzar ordered Jeremiah released from prison did his persecution end.
Although there is no mention in the Bible of Jesus having reservations about being rejected In Nazareth, we do know what he said did not go over very well. The people of Nazareth were so angry at Jesus that they gathered to throw him off a cliff. Although nothing came of this threat, how many of us willingly invite that kind of rejection and contempt upon ourselves? Commentaries I’ve read on the passage in Luke say that the people of Nazareth were “too close” to Jesus and their inability to believe that he was the messiah was almost a given. I can certainly identify with this interpretation, if I went back to my hometown and started preaching that I was the messiah, my family and neighbors would probably think that vegan diet I tried in college must have had some strange side effects. If Nazareth's rejection of Jesus was so certain, why go there in the first place?
Lastly, unlike what we’ve seen in popular media, God did not tell people about what was to come in order to avoid it, but to explain why it had to happen. In the "Back to the Future" films, Marty McFly is shown his bleak future in order to prevent it from happening. However, God did not tell Jeremiah to say “Judah will be invaded unless…” but “Judah will be invaded because…” In truth, King Josiah was actually making reforms that would bring the kingdom back to the covenant with God but the sins of his father and grandfather were too severe for God to give them a pass. Likewise, if Jesus preformed the miracles in Nazareth, he probably would have won over the people (although it is a contradiction, I think we can all agree faith is so much easier when you have proof). However, Nazareth had to accept Jesus at his word and not based on any deeds.
Given all this analysis, we could ask why did God reveal to his people things that were going to happen if not to change them, knowing the message would fall on deaf ears, and all the headaches it caused for those charged with delivering his prophesies? I believe one explanation for why deals with the subject of experience.
Although we are of varying ages and backgrounds, I think all of us can remember a time where we had a very unpleasant experience that we would not want to go through again in a million years. However, that experience may also have been a valuable lesson to us in what we should do or not do and we walked away from it a better person. This may have taken the form of a job that didn’t work out, a relationship that ended badly, or maybe something we had thought we were meant for turned out to be not for us. My own experience was when I attempted graduate school many years ago. The faculty found my performance to be not up to their expectations and I was asked to withdraw from the program. Although I still remember that experience as being very negative, it also forced me to seriously look at my life and find that I really didn’t desire to be an academic; that maybe I was going to grad school because that’s what the other members of my family did; and I was able to direct my life in a different way and one in which I was able to find personal fulfillment through other avenues of life
All of you have probably heard of kids wanting to touch the heating elements of the stove despite parental warnings that it’s hot, yet only the experience of them burning their hand is enough to sate their curiosity. I am no expert in child development but I think the parents here can agree that at times failure, disappointment, and heartbreak were better teachers for your children than success and happiness.
Continuing in my portrayal of God as a parental figure, it is usually not enough to punish someone but to get them to understand why they are being punished. Those who still adhere to the use of corporal punishment state it is not enough to spank a child but they must know and appreciate why they are being spanked in order for them to understand what they did wrong. If you spank a child without making sure they understand why it is happening, it could serve to only punish and not to reform. Perhaps God called upon Jeremiah to deliver his prophecy of impending doom not to give the kingdom of Judah a way out, but so that they understood why what was happening needed to happen. Maybe it was this experience, along with many other trials God’s people endured, that strengthened them and made them faithful even in the most difficult of times. I do not mean to diminish or justify the oppression the Jewish people (or any other people) have endured at the hands of others for the sake of a “greater good,” but I find it an inescapable fact that the resilience and perseverance many people are known and admired for is usually developed through adversity and not through “smooth sailing” through life.
In the gospel reading today, perhaps it is not the people of Nazareth who need to experience something but Jesus himself. When he taught at the Synagogue in Nazareth, it was still very early in his ministry and, so far he had been very well received by all. However, as the Gospel tell us, that would not be the case in the future. Perhaps it was this initial experience of being rejected by people who may have been his friends and family that gave him the strength to stand up to those who constantly criticized and challenged him.
So we now have some ideas as to why God chose to tell people about what was coming or happening presently and not warning them to straighten up or else. So what does this mean for us? If someone claims to be a prophet should we automatically pay attention to them and follow their advice? The next time Pat Robertson says “This tragedy occurred because God is displeased with us!” should we start listening to him? I don’t think so because, if God inflicted great tragedy on the world every time people made grave mistakes, the ground would probably shake constantly. Furthermore, the situation with Jeremiah’s struggles as he tried to fulfill his role as a prophet shows that God does not promise life will be without struggle if we do what he tells us to, but that he will be with us when it occurs and support us during our times of strife. I think that all the people who have come forward to help during natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti are proof of that. Also, frankly, I think if God is looking for a Prophet he could do alot better than Pat Robertson.
So, getting back to the beginning of the sermon, maybe God is the actual “Psychic Friend” who tells us what we need to know, not what we want to hear; does not just let bad things happen, but lets humankind have the experiences that will make us better people; and he will call us and be with us through the struggles of life no matter if we think we are worthy or not.

In Defense of the Germ

Yes, it's that time of year, it’s cold outside in most of the country, everyone is cooped up inside, and if you sneeze there's a good chance someone will point their finger at you and scream "UNCLEAN!!!" Of course, I’m talking about cold and flu season. During this season, people flock to the counters for the latest herbal remedy to a cold, whoever invented Hand Sanitizer gets enough money to feed Borneo, and people would sooner kill you and burn your carcass than come within twelve feet of you when you utter the words "I have a cold." Of course, this year’s season has caused people to become increasingly vigilant given the scare over H1N1, the other day my coworker asked if he should bring in a gallon jug of hand sanitizer for our office.
According to an article in US Pharmacist, people get between 3-5 colds per year, colds are responsible for 2.2 billion in sales of over the counter medicines, and another 7.7 billion in doctor visits. While I do not mean to downplay what those who suffer from chronic and severe illnesses like Cancer, Lupus, and AIDS go through, I still find our preoccupation with illness and avoiding catching diseases like the common cold and flu a definite quirk worth writing about.
First, a little background info: the common cold, or acute viral nasopharyngitis, is an upper respiratory infection, usually caused by either the picornavirus or coronavirus. Viruses are, themselves, quirky things since there is some debate over whether they are living things or not. True, they are composed of proteins and other chemicals that are common in living things but are unable to reproduce on their own, thereby requiring the need for a host (i.e. us).
Although no cure exists for the common cold and no anti-viral medications have been approved for treatment, it remains a relatively benign pathogen. After all, smallpox is caused by another species of viruses (Variola) and it caused an estimated 60 million deaths in Europe in the 18th century and one third of the survivors became blind. Another example is the Bubonic plague, a disease caused by the bacteria Y. pestis, whose effects are well known in Europe as "the Black Death." It is estimated that 4.2 million people lost their lives to it in Europe during this time and, globally, is estimated to have reduced the world's population by about 75 million. It was rumored Queen Elizabeth the first would hold up in Windsor castle when the plague spread in London and anyone even coming from the direction of London was intercepted and executed on the spot. Given this background information, I think we can all agree that 7-10 days of stuffy noses and scratchy throats is getting off light.
Even though it is unlikely the common cold will decimate the Human Race anytime soon, I think we can also all agree getting sick is no fun. Furthermore, being someone who has reaped the benefits of embracing some aspects of healthy living, I think being healthy is preferable to be ill, as would anyone else. My mom, when referring to a former classmate of mine who has endured a series of orthopedic problems, reminded me that health is a gift. Isn't health, like any other good feeling, is something we want to maintain and keep indefinitely? We constantly fight against becoming ill, but it is the feeling of being sick that allows us to better appreciate the feeling of being healthy.
As a nation, we are living longer and gone are the days when whole blocks of cities would be isolated off because of diseases like Cholera, TB, and Smallpox. However, we are also becoming more obese, more sedentary, and allowing ourselves to create a society that stresses our body to the limit. Are we taking our health for granted? Is our lack of appreciation for health desensitizing us to people for whom threats of disease remain very real? After all, although AIDS exists in the United States in both urban and rural areas, can we really appreciate the plight of someone in Africa who has lost the whole of their family to the pandemic that plagues the continent? Overall, it is my hope that you will not agonize too much over the feeling of malaise that comes upon you when you catch a cold (mind you, I said "when" and not "if") but take care of yourself and realize that you will, again, be healthy.

Jesus didn't turn people away...but I'm not Jesus and neither are you.

Those of you who know me well know that my musical tastes are very eclectic. However, one type of music I have never really been into is music by people much younger than myself. Growing up, the big thing was "New Kids on the Block" which was probably one of the first boy bands and whose music, to me, is about as appealing as listening to hogs being slaughtered. Imagine my surprise when I heard a song on the Radio by a band called Eisley and I later found out that it was a quintet of people in their mid to late teens. The song was called "Telescope Eyes" and, if you listen to the lyrics, it deals with the feeling of being unwanted or ridiculed for being different. Although this song deals with the subject from the perspective of youth, it did stick out to me because one of the core beliefs of Christianity is to be welcoming to all, even those rejected by our society. However, many Christians would probably say that is one area that will always remain a work in progress. Yes, Jesus treated all with respect regardless of social status, wealth, vocation, or a litany of other deal breakers during Biblical times. However, how people today (both within Christianity and outside of it) put that idea into practice can serve as a reminder that you are not Jesus and neither am I.
You need only read one of the gospels to get a ample idea of Jesus’ acceptance and love to those unwanted. However, I would like to turn to the Book of Ruth as an example that you do not have to be God made Flesh in order to reach out to someone and have an impact. The book begins with Naomi (Ruth’s mother in law) losing first her husband and then both of her sons. Since, in Biblical times, a person’s family was their source of material support, this may be equated with losing your job, finding out your 401k has tanked, and getting all your possessions taken away. Naomi travels to Judah with Ruth and Oprah (her other daughter in law) and tells them: "Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show kindness to you, as you have shown to the dead and to me." This is basically a way of saying: "I’m nobody and nothing. If you stay with me I’ll be a stone that weighs you down. Go back to Moab where you can start over." However, Ruth says (in a passage that I would use in my wedding if I ever planned to get married):
Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. Where you die I will die, and then I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me (RUTH 1: 16-17).
For all intents and purposes, Naomi was a non-person in the eyes of her society and by rights should have been unwanted or undesirable. Despite all that, Ruth said that she mattered to her and, regardless of what happened, she would be by her side. The next part of the story reminds me of those commercials for an investment company or whatever where somebody does something good for someone else and it is noticed by another who "pays it forward" to someone else. In Judah, Boaz hears about what Ruth did for Naomi and praises her for it and lets her glean in his wheat fields, even telling his servants to drop some of their wheat to give her extra. The rest, of course, is history. Ruth marries Boaz and their great grandson is King David.
This story, to me, shows that Jesus’ message of acceptance is not an abstract idea that should be carried out by a particular church, denomination, or whatever but rather a simple but meaningful act of kindness that occurs between two individuals. My Mother, who (although retired) still has the full-time job of being my moral compass, once was at Meijers doing her grocery shopping when she saw a woman who looked very upset and crying. She asked her what was wrong and found out that she was supposed to go out of town with her boyfriend and he ended up taking all her money, dumping her in the parking lot. Since there was no one she could call for help, she would have to walk home which was way on the other side of town (for those of you unfamiliar with Lansing, that’s a 5 or 6 hour trek minimum). My Mom, despite her perishables in the car, immediately offered to drive her and provided a listening ear on the trip.
Now, my Mom was of course not richly rewarded for this act but, her telling me about it inspired me to reach out to others who be unwanted by someone or by society as a whole. Furthermore, it is my hope that me telling you about it will inspire you to reach out to someone. I leave you with two quotes from Mother Teresa: "One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody" and "it is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters."

We are all problem children of God

Recently, I came across yet another program that seemed mindless yet began to work its siren song on me so I couldn't help but continue watching. The program was "The World's Strictest Parents" and the premise is that two unruly teenagers are sent to live with a family who adhere to a very rigid code of conduct for their children. The result, most of the time, is that the teens are forced to reevaluate how they live their lives and return to their parents with a fresh outlook on how their lives can be. It is not my intent to dismiss the impact this show has, given that many of these teens have very destructive behaviors and any intervention that can be done before they make a serious mistake should be applauded. However, I mention it because it did get me thinking about another "problem child" the evangelist formerly known as Saul.
If you are looking for an example of someone who goes against his Father, Saul stands out as one of the prime examples. The book of Acts details out how he made stamping out the Christian church as his personal crusade and his approval of harassment and, sometimes, executions of Christian believers. In fact, he was taking his infamous trip to Damascus in order to round up more Christians to take them back to Jerusalem as prisoners. We are all familiar with the story of how he was struck blind on the road to Damascus after hearing the voice of Jesus asking why he was persecuting him. After a disciple healed him, he became someone who history credits as spreading Christianity further than it ever had. Something that does not receive quite as much attention is that, after his conversion, people were still very wary of Saul. In fact, the disciples didn't want to meet with Saul at first and it was only after Barnabas brought him to them and told them of all the things he did that the accepted him as part of their group.
In the show, something that stuck out to me was that the "strict" parents were ones who were willing to recognize good in the kids, help them foster it, and basically "give them a shot" to be themselves in a way that was less destructive. In one episode of the show, a teen that had run into legal problems for tagging had his talents as an artist acknowledged and not criticized by the strict mom. The show ended by her letting him paint one of their barns however he wanted as a more constructive outlet of his talent. In another episode, a teen who let his frustration in not finding a job turn into apathy was actually given responsibilities by the strict Dad and even offers to provide him a reference when he goes job hunting back home. Likewise, I think Barnabas gave Saul such as opportunity by going to the disciples and saying that, no matter what you'd heard about him, he has changed.
As with the strict parents, I believe God found Saul's (who should probably be called Paul at this point) zeal for what he was doing to be a positive thing but misdirected. So, as with the strict parents, Paul was shown another way and, with support, was able to help shape the Christian Church into what it is today. I think all of us have these talents that people don't easily recognize because they are directed elsewhere and only through mutual respect, love, and a willingness to vouch for one another can we fully realize the gifts that God has given us.