Don't Give Up Dear Friends!

That anyone would still support #tfg reveals a misalingment of character, so thorough and complete, as to defy my imagination.

At the every least, Republicans should be shaking their heads in bewilderment, even hanging their heads in shame; but, no, they continue to line up behind the monstrosity, bless his bluster, spin the Big Lie, and hamstring the nation. 

Why not just rename the GOP, the ANP, the American Nazi Party; wear the Brown Shirts and strut around the halls of Congress with jackboots. 

These are not nice people; I visit some hardcore Republican fb pages to take a peek, and evangelicals to boot, and come away sorrowful, in need of a hot shower and a thorough scrub with carbolic soap. There is no thoughtfulness, but only hatred. There is no compassion, but a lot of je-e-sus jabber. 

All of this renews my own efforts to:

1) stay informed with reliable writers who have taken up the apostolic mantle of truth-telling; 

2) keep in mind my own faith-commitments, and why I believe them to be true, and how they sustain me in the face of diabolical lies and disinformation;, 

3) remain prayerful, that strange and mysterious element wherein a single human being realizes the great host of witnesses that numinously live within and without, conveying the light of the universe, from its very origins, to these moments wherein women and men of conscience, and soul, struggle to find the way; 

4) refuse the easy way of ideology and remaining steadfast in using the gifts of The Creator - the mind and the heart - to think, ponder, consider, weigh up the claims and options, and then decide on behalf of things that seem right and just, kind and merciful, good for the nation, for the world, for the soul.

Don't give up, dear friends ... now, more than ever:

𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒,
𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑑,
𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒;
𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒, 𝐺𝑜𝑑'𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑀𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑎ℎ,
𝑂𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡,
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟
𝑇𝑤𝑖𝑥𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.

Art and Politics

It's all politics, really.
Art and preaching.
Writing and care.


It's how we think.
Shaped by the place of our birth.
The moments of hurt and happy.


The news we absorb.
The times, the stress and strain.
It's called history.


The stuff we live.
Our lives in private.
Or public.


The faith we profess.
Or deny.
Or somewhere in between.


We like a candidate.
They fit with our values.
What we hold to be true.


We see a world.
And say, "Go that way."
And that's politics.


Art is always expressing what the artist sees.
And what the artist sees is shaped by the soul.
A soul shaped by a billion small things.


A soul that can be dark and sad.
Or bright and confident.
Or, as is so much of life, somewhere in between.

Disliking or Liking tRump

Accurately, someone noted that I don't like tRump ... "really, really, really don't like him." Which is true, of course, but if that were the sum total of the deal, I wouldn't be worth my salt.

And if it were only a matter of liking or disliking, who really could care?

If such a person were my neighbor, someone I didn't like, I'd likely step around them and try not to engage. I might well conclude that the person in question is, in their own right, a good person, with family and friends, worth and work, a value to many others.
We've all known folks we just couldn't like ... call it chemistry, call it primordial nonsense, whatever ... it might be a teacher, a classmate, a student, a neighbor, even a family member ... we just don't like them. Maybe we put up with them, try our best, and console ourselves with the simple reality that this reality is all there is, and all there is is what's likely to be.

But me not liking tRump?

Is that the question?

In another world, perhaps, I'd like the man, if not as a friend, at least as an entertaining buffoon, but never to be trusted.

But like or dislike is not the issue.

Danger is the issue.

tRump is clear and present danger to my nation, and to my world ... he's a threat to all because of his pathological lying, his bluffing, a penchant for intimidation, his greed, his malice, his need for sycophants, his abuse of women and his general mean-spirit.

That he should be praised by so many Christians only heightens my concern ... but it's not the first time that Christians have been mesmerized by power and money.

The Jerusalem crowds decided that Pilate and his Temple cronies were right, and so the crowd joined in the chorus to "crucify him."

Down through the ages, history makes clear, painfully clear, that Christians have often been on the wrong side of history ... from the flat-earth gang to those who thought slavery was a godsend, Christians have backed the wrong horse, and have sided with evil.

So it is ... and whether I like tRump or not is beside the point.

What I care about is the welfare of my nation - equality, liberty and justice (which is not about punishment, but recalibrating the social scales so that everyone has a fair chance, and those who can't make it will be well protected and cared for).

I care about our children and their schools ... women and their health ... our environment and our food supply ... I care about international relations, our treaties and our allies, and our enemies, too.

In all of this, I find tRump to be a clear and present danger, and more than a danger, but rather an active element in the deconstruction of our civil rights and the diminution of our democracy.

Whatever feelings I might have for the man are quite irrelevant ... it's the issues, the programs, the people he's appointed to critical agencies, and his permission to white supremacists and evangelicals to be as hateful as they want, and to arm themselves to the hilt.

He's a bad man ... and his cronies are crooks, if not in the flesh, then in the spirit, for they rob and pillage and destroy all along the way, in order to enhance their own bank accounts and promote their own safety, abandoning much of the nation.

So, that's the deal, as I see it.

I'd like to think that Jeremiah might pat me on the back and encourage me in my writing to stay the course, pay attention, be a man of prayer, read and study, and speak out where there is hurt against the vulnerable, where the powerful are stealing, where justice is threatened and peace ignored.

And if I'm wrong, then say a prayer for me, and offer pity ... defriend me, or simply scroll down and pay no attention.

With that in mind, until I sense something different in my bones, I will keep on writing.

What's Wrong with Creationism?

Creationism confuses the language of faith with technical language.

The language of faith points beyond itself, and leads us to places that cannot be grasped and manipulated, but grasps, and manipulates or changes, us.

Technical language points to an object of interest, enabling us to grasp it, manipulate it, transform it, use it, to enhance our life process.

The language of faith is seen in such words as:
Grace, mercy and peace ...
Faith, hope and love ...

Whereas technical language is revealed in such words as:
Height, length, breadth and width ...
Speed, temperature, density ...

I can use the phrase: The sum of all things ..." in either of these senses.

The sum of all things is faith, hope and love.

That's makes sense, in a faith setting, and everyone realizes the language is metaphorical, poetic, highly and imaginably expressive of things beyond our reach, things that reach us, with surprise and transforming power.

The sum of all things, referring to a list of numbers, or other technical factors, is 382 pounds moving at 23 miles per hour in a vacuum equals thus and so ...

That makes sense, too, in a technical setting, and everyone realizes the language is technical, scientific, expressive of encountered reality here and now, pointing to the object of our concern, which may reveal all sorts of strange and wondrous things to us about the nature of reality, yet the language remains focused upon the object at hand, that we might know something about it, and eventually use it.

Creationism confuses the two languages.

Perhaps, in part, out of fear. As the World of the Middle Ages gave way to the Industrial World, as the language of the poet, the saint, the mystic, gave way to the language of measurement ... as the focus of life shifted from "up there and beyond" to the "here and now," religion grew edgy, as it sensed its world diminishing, its importance shrinking, its influence declining.

Rather than standing firm on the mystery of faith-language, some sought to transform the language of faith into technical language (dogma), and what better place to begin then with the Genesis creation stories - here is the "beginning" of all things, and if these stories can be literalized, given "weight and substance, time and energy," things that can be measured and determined and added up, then we have found a means to yet convince the world that faith has meaning, value, relevance, because now it's "scientific," and not just "faith."

Such confusion destroys the language of faith, robbing it of its beauty, its ability to lift the human mind beyond itself to that which is genuinely mysterious and wonderful, that which transcends us, meets us in the unexpected, and comes to us in love.

Such confusion destroys as well the language of science, turning it into a matter of opinion, as if measurement of weight and height and velocity were now just so much "someone's point of view."

To confuse the two languages, which actually work rather well together when held in their distinctive abilities, is to lose both. Faith becomes something unintelligible to both the believer and those who hold other faith and life perspectives. And science also becomes unintelligible, because its meaning in terms of the measurable is destroyed as if measurement were simply just so many opinions of those who may, in fact, be quite wrong.

Indeed, scientific observations may prove wrong, as it has in the past, but the thrust of science has been accurate, and it has the ability to self-correct itself, which enables us to say what was just said: Science has proven itself to be wrong. But not entirely wrong, but in some of the details. The scientific effort is largely trustworthy and deserves our respect.

Even as the language of faith continues to inspire and lift and motivate. The language of faith is powerful and good - its the music by which dance, even as the steps we employ can be diagrammed on a piece of paper.

To confuse the two languages, both are lost ... and in such loss, the only outcome is more confusion, the loss of meaning, the loss of accuracy and the loss of inspiration.

That's why Creationism is wrong ... it needs confusion to make its point, and in making its point, fosters greater confusion.

We can do better than this, and we must.

More Thoughts about Social Justice and Faith

Written for the August, 2013, church newsletter:

Dear Friends,

An extraordinary event is coming up for the Eggebeens - a reunion of a group of pastors with whom Donna and I began our life in the PCUSA. For all of us, it was our first time in ministry - we were all young, and all fresh out of seminary, and now we're all retired, at the end of our separate journeys, yet out time together in the West Virginia Mountain Project shaped us for the rest of our lives.

With one of the couples, we've been fortunate to stay in touch; with the other two, only marginally. But we're all getting together this September in San Jose where one of the couples live. The other two couples are traveling respectively from Pennsylvania and Virginia. 

We're writing reflection papers, and here's something I recently wrote:

Ever since my first pastorate (1970-71) in the coal fields of Southern West Virginia, I realized that Christianity and justice belong together, that Christianity has the wherewithal to deal with economic questions and the power to challenge the powers-that-be. 

Yet, I also learned, that American Christianity, under the Reformation notion of "salvation for eternal life," has been used to quiet people's unrest in the present order by offering them a sop for some future joy.

For those who lived in the powerful regions of the nation, with large homes and shiny cars, enjoying fine choirs and eloquent preachers, this was a convenient kind of Christianity. They, too, would be going to heaven, but, in the meantime, they were at liberty to enjoy the fruits of their labors - that such fruit was plucked out of the mouths of babes and out of the hands of sweat-drenched workers was of no account to them. Perhaps this is what God ordained.

These experience and observations have been the energy of my theology and sociology throughout my ministry. A Christianity that has the power to do something and chooses not to, opting for some sort of "inner peace with eternal hope" is no Christianity at all. And it's no wonder that most of the Western World, where this kind of Christianity has had the greatest influence, is rejecting it. And it can't happen soon enough.

With that, here are some further reflections: I have spent my entire ministry trying to put one-and-one together - social justice and faith in Jesus. 

Even in seminary days, I recall thinking: strong faith in Jesus equals strong social justice; they walk hand-in-hand with one another. 

To separate them does several damaging things: 1) though social justice can stand on its own - we all know what's right, and what fair means - nonetheless, without a faith-foundation of some kind, social justice can lose its bearings and its energy, though social justice without faith fares a whole lot better than faith without social justice. 2) Faith without social justice is no faith at all, but only Marx's "opiate of the people," mostly used by the comfortable to insulate themselves from reality, and to "calm the rabble," lest they demand from the comfortable their fair share.

No doubt, social justice doesn't need faith to survive, and God be praised for that. God sees to it that social justice can stand on it's own (though I believe social justice without faith is like song lyrics without the music). And if someone asks me, "What kind of faith" I reply, "Just about anything that has a transcendent dimension to it - that of a scientist in awe before the universe or a child's prayer before bedtime, and it's to be found, as well, in all the religions of the world."

As for faith, God designed faith in such a way that it needs social justice to be faith, and without social justice, God sees to it that faith becomes deeply twisted and malignant. Sadly, it creates terrible conditions for those who practice faith without social justice, and does great harm to those who are the objects of faith-preaching without social justice.

Of this kind of Christianity, God is cleansing the world, I believe. The demise of Western Christendom is very much the result of God's housecleaning.

I eagerly anticipate our reunion and hearing from my colleagues their stories of faith, hope and love.

Pastor Tom 

A White-Bread Boy

A White-Bread Boy, that’s what I am … to the core, pure, plain and simple.

Mom was of German ancestry, her family arriving here in 1848.

Dad was of Dutch stock, his family arriving here in the 1890s.

And we were racist to the core … deeply religious, too. We all loved Jesus, went to evangelical Reformed Churches, served the LORD and abided in God’s word … and racist to the core.

That’s how I grew up.

In Wisconsin and Western Michigan … I’ll not rehearse the ugliness of it all, but ugly it was, and I was pretty damn ugly, too, as were all my high school and church friends - the whole white environment, establishment, and their world of Christian Schools and Churches, filled to the brim, Sunday morning and Sunday evening, with Wednesday evening catechism and prayer meetings. Not a person of color to be found anywhere, except in missionary tales of Deepest Darkest Africa. Everyone was pious, and when I was 15 or 16, I bought me a big ol’ Thompson Chain Reference Bible, King James, of course, and in that Bible, I could find a verse for everything, but especially for proving how right everyone was, and I carried it to church, too. I was into god, and, yes, God was into me, too … in ways I would only much later discern, and for that, I’m grateful. That this innocent/guilty White-Bread Racist Boy was still the object of God’s mercy.

To make a long story a little shorter, it was in college, Calvin College, that I was converted. With everlasting thanks, I note two professors in particular who opened my mind and my heart: Professor Roger Rice, Sociologist, who had us read Michael Harrington’s The Other America. And Professor Donald Wilson, Anthropologist, who told chilling stories of missionary zeal and cultural abuse. To this day, I recall both professors, and give thanks for my conversion to a gospel that I had “known” all of my life, and with hymns, sung and fine doctrinal preaching; but, now, for the first time in my life, I saw a larger world, and the folly of my faith, the harm it’s done and the callous manner in which it sided with the racist patterns of America.

Maybe I’m alone in this - the way I raised, with plenty of religion and plenty of racism - and finally, by the grace of God, beginning to figure it out: that religion and racism do not belong together, and where there is racism, the professed faith is more an illusion than a reality, more about heaven, of course, and so little about this world, other than avoiding its taint, doing what could be done to convert lost souls and persevering to the end. Meanwhile, it’s okay to fear and hate your neighbor, if they’re persons of color, because they’ll come into the neighborhood, and there goes the neighborhood. And if met on the street, be careful - they’re all dangerous.

I’ve learned a lot over the years, and I’m still learning. 

When I was in Detroit, I learned that in the postal system there, well up into the 80s, white supervisors routinely assisted white applicants with the testing, even adjusting scores, while making it virtually impossible for African-Americans to enter the system.

Never once in my whole life have I been humiliated because of my color. Never once. Never once have I been denied anything because of color. Never once.

I now have African-American relatives, and I’ve learned a few things from them.

It’s not a pretty picture, and there’s no end to the humiliation they’ve experienced - centuries of it, to this very day.

Perhaps the Trayvon Martin jury decided correctly - it was just too difficult to prove, either second-degree murder or manslaughter.

But for many African-Americans, it’s just one more humiliation, one more moment in a long and sad history of discrimination - the failure of virtually every system in America - schools, churches and courts.

I was a racist, and though much of it has been removed from my life, the stains remain on my soul and in my memories - stains that can’t be removed, and that’s all right, because then I can never claim innocence. 

So I know racism, because shreds of it still flow around the dark edges of my spirit and mind. I hate it, but that’s the way it is. It’s my reality, and if there’s grace in this world, it can operate only in my reality. Grace, thankfully, doesn’t need a clean environment in which to do its work. Though grace cleanses, not even grace can remove the stains of the past.

So I know racism when I see it in others, because I know it so well in my own life.

The racist looks at the Trayvon Martin story and says, “Justice was done.” That’s that, and like Lady MacBeth, simply washes her hands, endlessly.

But I look at it and say, “It’s one more sad chapter in a story of unrelenting sorrow and humiliation.”

I cannot pretend this kind of hurt isn’t real. It is real, all too real, for millions of people.

I will not close my eyes to the sorrow of others, and though the jury may have rightly ruled, though I think not, many in our nation see this as one more episode of justice denied, a moment filled with all the usual suspects of hoodies, black teens, white women frightened, racist males acting tough with a gun in their hand, nonchalant police and courtrooms where defending white honor is more important than the truth.

That’s how I see it.

And don’t anyone tell me I don’t know what racism is.

America's Character

Great nations argue about their character with a rich range of voices, and right now, we're engaged in a mostly serious, and sometimes raucous, discussion about who we are.

At the heart of our conversation are two elements:
1. The long-standing conviction of some that America is always pure and clean, that we're innocent at heart, driven by the highest ambitions and the best motives.
2. Historians and essayists who do their careful work, who see not only our best, but our worst, who hold an honest mirror before us, celebrating our virtue and confessing our sin.

Christians, and all people of faith, have a role to play here - especially Christians of the Reformed tradition (read Calvin) who are no strangers to the pervasive power of sin - that relentless self-interest which destroys marriage and family, brings down great corporations and distorts a nation's purpose. Calvinists never flinch from the terrible realities of sin because of an overarching confidence in God's mercy.

God surely loves all of us as we are, and allows for a great deal of latitude in our growth and development - God's ways with us are gracious and kind, but God's love also holds a mirror before us, and for Christians, the mirror is Christ - in his face, we see a picture of humanity, a portrait of what it means to be a human being.

Though God's love for us is gracious and gentle, God's love is also honest and transformative - God loves us as we are, but God loves us too much to leave us as we are!

So it must be for Christians and their regard for the nation in which they find themselves.

The great sorrow of Nazi Germany is that too many Christians paid no attention to the drift into darkness - the Fatherland was their be-all and their end-all. Germany could do no wrong. Germany was under attack by Jews and Communists and homosexuals. Germany needed to do what it needed to do, to protect itself and provide for its people. The German Church largely failed - they were Germans before they were Christians, and Hitler and his gang knew how to manipulate people of faith. Much of what Hitler said had the ring of religion about it - God and country - what a powerful combination, and when the German Church closed its eyes and signed on with Hitler, the Church lost its way.

Christians are Christians first, before they are a citizen.

Yet in America, the distinction between Christ and citizenship has been terrible blurred in some churches - where the American flag and the cross of Jesus are intertwined in a strange form of piety and power - where guns and conquest are celebrated, where the nation is exulted, and like the German Christians, vision is obscured by power, and the church loses its way.

Some voice immediately: "We're not like Germany! It's different here."

Well, it's always different, that's for sure.

But here we are - debating our nation's behavior, our character, our soul.

And it's a good debate, and it's important?

Did we do wrong? That's the question.

If we exclude that question from our conversation, we do great harm to our soul.

As a nation, it's in our best interests to look honestly into the mirror of history, to listen to our allies, to seek the opinion of the world.

And if we're people of faith, to add to the conversation a special courage to face ourselves and, when and if needed, to fess up and make amends!

Great people do this all the time ... and so do great nations!

What a Baby Did to My Friend

I'm tired of the campaign, and all things related.

Blah, blah, blah ... and if truth is the first casualty of war, it's likely the second casualty of a campaign.

Anyway, a little diversion ... 

A good friend of mine and his wife had a child a bit later in life (for him especially) - it's his first biological child, and what a journey it's been. 

Lots of things he expected, but some unexpected developments as well.

He shares his insights HERE.

Stop by and pay Toby Jones a visit.

Science in Chains

The effort of Hitler's National Socialism to co-opt the universities and bring them in line with Nazi ideology is a chilling reminder to all of us about the importance of academic freedom.

Bush's effort to silence the voice of research on global warming and stem cell technology and to foist upon the nation's school children abstinence rather than sex education and the pseudo-science of creationism and intelligent design would be lauded by Hitler - this is the way it's done. Truth be damned. Everything in service of the state and it's program.

I've been reading some material on renown Old Testament scholar, Gerhard von Rad, who taught during the war years at the University of Jena in Germany. During that period of time, National Socialism sought to de-Judaize the church.

Denying the Jewish ancestry of Jesus, the Nazi ideologists sought to eliminate such words as "hosanna" and "hallelujah" from church creeds and hymns, launching a full-scale attack on the Old Testament, claiming that Christians only need to know and study the New Testament.

Their purpose: rid the country of everything "Un-German in worship and confession; liberation from the Old Testament with its Jewish morality of profit and its stories of cattle traders and pimps" (Interpretation, July, 2008, p.241, in order to shape the faith in the image of National Socialism.

To read how easily so many theologians and pastors caved in brings to mind the ease with which the Christian right aligned itself with the Bush Administration and its policies, doing much the same thing Hitler did - all in the name of morality, preserving the well-being of the nation and its heritage, protecting families and children. The neo-cons and theo-cons would felt at home in Nazi Germany.

Though we all cherish freedom, history proves how easily frightened people will trade their freedom for security. Eric Fromm, having witnessed first-hand the rise of National Socialism and the "escape from freedom," details the trade-off. In an attempt to "control" life and build security, instincts lead toward:

1. Authoritarianism: Fromm characterises the authoritarian personality as containing a sadist element and a masochist element. The authoritarian wishes to gain control over other people in a bid to impose some kind of order on the world, they also wish to submit to the control of some superior force which may come in the guise of a person or an abstract idea.
2. Destructiveness: Although this bears a similarity to sadism, Fromm argues that the sadist wishes to gain control over something. A destructive personality wishes to destroy something it cannot bring under its control.
3. Conformity: This process is seen when people unconsciously incorporate the normative beliefs and thought processes of their society and experience them as their own. This allows them to avoid genuine free thinking, which is likely to be anxiety provoking.

As I read the above, I couldn't help but think of Fundamentalist leaders like Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy, James Dobson and John Hagee ... and political leaders like Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush and their sycophants, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

With only the fewest of students enrolling for his courses, and during the war years, not one doctoral student, Gerhard von Rad nonetheless held forth, building his work on the book of Deuteronomy, and standing firm on the point: we understand Jesus when we understand the Book of Deuteronomy, and when we understand Jesus, the church stands free, a servant of God rather than a minion of the state.

Von Rad, though entirely a man of his times, stood for academic freedom against the heavy hand of the state.

These days, the state is likely to buy a university with money rather than coerce it with guns. The allure of big money - government and corporate funding for research (too often in the service of national security and profit) is leading us down a pathway growing ever-darker. Sadly, our universities are playing into this by catering to a student body intent on fun and gain rather than learning and virtue. Even our private Christian colleges have succumbed to the allure of money by stacking their trustee boards with the wealthy, who are often members of right wing cabals.

This nation needs a terrific housecleaning ... and people of good will and intelligence, people of faith, have to see the attack on our freedom and character and, like von Rad, stand against it, to stem the tide, and bring about a better day.

Right Wing Failure

I've never been able to calculate the equation: that anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-choice sentiments, added to pro-execution, pro-war, and pro-torture, add up to anything good.

Throw in a little Jesus-talk and vague references to prayer, and a lot of people go gaga!

But truth will out and the times, they are a-changing!

The failure of the right is painfully evident in the chaos of our country - an economy ever-weaker vis-a-vis the world, a national reputation ruined, 40 million uninsured Americans, the obscene gap between worker wages and CEO robber barons, the greed of celebrity preachers and the silly complaining of Christian talk show pundits.

I'm not expecting Camelot, but we can do better.

The rest of the civilized world has universal health care and enough taxes to care for the citizenry. Our allies work tirelessly at diplomacy, finding a way through a crisis, managing their world quite well.

It's time for America to be America once again ... to be utterly humble before the God in which we trust, to be loving and caring of one another - to strive for the public good and live with a little less.

New voices are heard ... there are stirrings of the spirit ... is this not of God?

I believe so.

Like the theo-cons, I have faith, too. And so do millions of Americans - not the scathing, in-your-face kind of faith touted by the right, but the faith taught by Jesus ... and Mohammed ... and Buddha ... and the Dalai Lama.

I'm a Christian, and the last time I read the Bible, it reminded me that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life ... not me, not my faith; not the church nor its many books, its prelates and its pronouncements.

That such things belong to Jesus is a freedom from spiritual bondage for all the world ... Jesus for all the world ... in every faith, in every heart ... in every decent act of kindness and mercy, in every calm thought and positive decision, in every prayer and every hymn ... in Tibetan prayer cloths and a well-worn prayer book ... in temple, mosque and church ... with rabbis and mullahs, priests and pastors.

A new day is dawning.

Until We Follow Scripture - Part 3

William White, early 20th century journalist, noted that friends often called him wishy-washy. But he wisely noted his “affliction” was the ability to see both sides of an argument.

To see both sides requires a great deal of work, intellectually and emotionally. In walking a balance beam, it’s much easier to step off to either side. Maintaining balance is a dynamic process of constant effort; we never reach stasis. On the balance beam, progress is defined, not by deciding to which side we’ll jump, but moving ahead, carefully maintaining our balance by refusing to step off to either side.

Even as I write these words, calling for kindness and regard for one another, I know that some of my colleagues are repulsed by such thoughts – both liberal and conservative, who conceive of victory only as the “foe’s” vanquishing.

But there are no foes to vanquish, only the self!

I don’t know the answer to our current dilemma, but I believe that both sides are peopled with women and men of good faith and good character, each opening their Text with prayer and love, each striving to discern the will of God, each taking the Text in hand and heart, working with it, interpreting it, and seeking to live for the Christ revealed in its story.

That some should be a Peter or a James, that some should be a Paul or Timothy, is no surprise, yet we are one great fellowship of love, and for such love the world waits.

That may be the greatest test we face, a world waiting for our light to shine, for us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Our current points of view ring hollow in the world’s ear, no matter how righteous they may feel to us, no matter how stridently we offer our “truth” as the whole truth and nothing but the truth and characterize those who challenge us as deluded, faithless and fraudulent.

The world waits to see an alternative – “the whole creation groans.”

Are we willing to embrace one another in order to show the world that our citizenship is in heaven, or will we continue to take refuge in our little castles, seeing one another as enemy and rejoicing in our paltry victories?

We have a lot of growing up to do. The Spirit is ready, and Jesus is in our midst – it is our Father’s will to give us the kingdom, if we but surrender our wills and embrace one another in the greater love that Jesus offers. “Love one another as I have loved you” remains the task and the test for those who claim the name Christian.

Remember Our Address

“In.”

A simple word, a preposition. “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our LORD.

I live in SoCal … I live in a home on La Tijera Blvd … I believe in love, goodness and justice.

Do you catch the drift? “I believe in” points to values or ideas that I claim, but “I believe in,” like “I live in,” also points to a place where I live.

One of the great truths of the Bible, “we are in Christ” – a place, a destination, a location, our home – you and I are in Christ. He’s our address!

“I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:26).

Yesterday, I had lunch at In-N-Out Burger by LAX. When I left, I noticed some wall posters featuring scenes from the 60s – and a slogan … “Southern California.” I read it, and for a moment, read it as outsider, and than whammo, it hit me, “I live here. I live in SoCal.”

No longer an outsider.

Paul writes: “You are no longer foreigners, but fellow citizens, members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19

You are in Christ! That’s where you live.

Have a good and productive day … and remember your address!

Fighting Atheist

Christopher Hitchens fancies himself a qualified critic of faith. Oh well, when my boy was six years old, he thought a blue cape could make him fly.

While raising some questions that people of faith need to consider, Hitchens paints in such broad strokes as to discredit himself. Like the very fundamentalists and such that he disdains, his method is precisely the same: there are only two sides, "theirs" and his. Whether it be the fulminations of a Rod Parsley (I love that name), a D. James Kennedy (God rest his soul) or Osama Bin Laden, the method of angry people is much the same: anger narrows the field to "them" or "us," or "everyone else" and "me."

For further review of this silly book, please see the review in the September 18 Christian Century:

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=3668

Read it for what it's worth ... not much ... but as a person of faith, I know that it's a good thing to know what someone like Hitchens believes and to honestly face faith's foibles and failings, for they are legion.

Writing the Future

Who hasn’t wanted to re-write the past?

But like a hand imprint in cement, the past is there, unchanging and unchangeable. Like the scars of Jesus. The past can neither be undone nor entirely forgotten.

But if God is at work in ALL things for good, if God can take the cross and all the horror associated with it and channel its terrible energy into salvation for the world, then maybe the past isn’t so severe after all.

Which sets up life for the really good news: we can write our future.

There is always time for new decisions, new attitudes, new choices.

Like the scars of Jesus, our past is our past, but nothing is so terrible, nothing so powerful, that it’s beyond the handiwork of God to channel its energy, negative or worse, into something meaningful and good.

Remember, God is on your side … not merely to please and satisfy, but to make all things new, to use your scars as reminders that God was there, even in the worst of times, and God is with you now, opening doors that you couldn’t open, and creating doors in blank walls, some of which we have to open with faith, hope and love.

Have a good day writing your future and those opening new doors!

Faith, Hope and Love

Faith, hope and love.

Faith in God, the God and Father of our LORD Jesus, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, the One who fashioned us out of the dirt of the earth and blew the breath of life into us.

Hope, indefatigable hope, because the One who created us is at work in all things for good, nudging all of us along the right road – the paths of righteousness.

Love, the consequence of the first two.

With our soul stabilized by faith, our spirit suffused with indefatigable hope, we’re free to love. Anxiety is the enemy of love; anxiety drives self-concern and a reduced awareness of others. But faith and hope set us free, free to give, free to live, and free to love.

Not a bad deal!

God be praised!