OK, I hate the Boston Red Sox. Since my father, waiting to ship out to England at the beginning of WW II was given a ticket to a Yankee/Dodgers World Series game and decided to always root for whichever team won, he and then I have been Yankee fans. Even in southern West Virginia I would stay up to hear the sports on the 11 o'clock news to see if the Yankees won.
So, I tend to hate the Red Sox and everything about them.
So, that might explain why I hate their beards....
Now, this is from someone who has worn a beard since he was 23--which means I've had a beard myself nearly 2/3 of my life. And maybe it's just the clean-cut Yankee look that George Steinbrenner insisted upon, but, for whatever reason, I really hate the Red Sox players beards.
They look like that ancient baseball team of orthodox Jews called The House of David.
Maybe it's that the beards are really not trimmed at all and some of them look like follicle disasters, but I can't tell you how offended by those Boston beards.
It might just be that baseball is the issue.
I have no problems with players in other sports--football, basketball, etc.--having beards. But baseball is the game played without a clock on a diamond shaped field with foul lines and an umpire at every base--and down the foul lines in the playoffs--and a 4/3 ratio of balls to strikes and 9 innings--all mystical numbers. Baseball is simply the most orderly and yet tranquil of all sports. (I read somewhere lately that there is only 23 minutes of action in a 3 hour + baseball game.) Lots of time for reflection and pondering in baseball.
If the Red Sox had 3 day growths, like some male movie stars, I could take it. But these guys have beards that defy the orderly and tranquil nature of the game. Those beards are disorderly and disturbing--not something that works with baseball, in my mind.
Or then, maybe it's just because I hate the Red Sox on such a DNA level.
Whatever, "Go Cardinals!!" (Even though the Cardinals are in the bottom five of all baseball teams in my ranking....Go figure....)
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Lunch with the past
I had lunch today with Malinda, who was the best assistant I ever had as a priest. She was also part of the 'dream team' for an urban parish staff.
She's pretty much done with working in the church--which is a great loss for the church, which can't afford too many more losses--but probably fine for her.
She was, though, the best person I ever worked with in the church as a clergy person and the 'second best preacher' in the Diocese of Connecticut. (Course you know who I think is the 'best'....)
I am at a time in my life that I am in touch with my past more than I've ever been. For decades I've simply moved on from friendships and developed new ones. But now, maybe because I'm becoming an old white man, I'm staying in touch with folks from the last few decades of my ridiculously long life.
I like that, staying in touch, having lunch with the past....I like that about the 'me' I am right now.
She's pretty much done with working in the church--which is a great loss for the church, which can't afford too many more losses--but probably fine for her.
She was, though, the best person I ever worked with in the church as a clergy person and the 'second best preacher' in the Diocese of Connecticut. (Course you know who I think is the 'best'....)
I am at a time in my life that I am in touch with my past more than I've ever been. For decades I've simply moved on from friendships and developed new ones. But now, maybe because I'm becoming an old white man, I'm staying in touch with folks from the last few decades of my ridiculously long life.
I like that, staying in touch, having lunch with the past....I like that about the 'me' I am right now.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Sermon today
Today/s gospel was a parable from Luke I always found annoying.
Jesus is telling his disciples they should always pray and tells a parable about a judge who cares not for God or human beings who is confronted by a widow who calls for justice over and again. And the judge gives the woman what justice she needs just because she keeps coming back and he doesn't want to deal with her.
For me, that's a terrible image for God who gives his people what they want when they pray.
God doesn't always give us what we want--his will, not ours--but God, I think, doesn't live by the Gallup poll. Being persistent in prayer doesn't mean we'll have the answer we want. That, in fact, is a terrible analogy for prayer. Prayer for me is simply 'listening' to God, not making demands on God.
But there was also the lesson about Jacob, after he'd robbed his brother, Esau, of his inheritance, fleeing with his wives and servants and cattle and wrestling with God on the banks of the river.
Now that's something I can lean into and understand--wrestling with God.
Seems to me my whole life has been engaging God in a wrestling match, trying to do what I want and finally not being able to overpower God.
What Jacob gets is a new name--"Israel"--and a limp from his displaced hip.
Not a bad deal when struggling with God--a new name and a limp.
That, it seems to me, is well worth the struggle.
Jesus is telling his disciples they should always pray and tells a parable about a judge who cares not for God or human beings who is confronted by a widow who calls for justice over and again. And the judge gives the woman what justice she needs just because she keeps coming back and he doesn't want to deal with her.
For me, that's a terrible image for God who gives his people what they want when they pray.
God doesn't always give us what we want--his will, not ours--but God, I think, doesn't live by the Gallup poll. Being persistent in prayer doesn't mean we'll have the answer we want. That, in fact, is a terrible analogy for prayer. Prayer for me is simply 'listening' to God, not making demands on God.
But there was also the lesson about Jacob, after he'd robbed his brother, Esau, of his inheritance, fleeing with his wives and servants and cattle and wrestling with God on the banks of the river.
Now that's something I can lean into and understand--wrestling with God.
Seems to me my whole life has been engaging God in a wrestling match, trying to do what I want and finally not being able to overpower God.
What Jacob gets is a new name--"Israel"--and a limp from his displaced hip.
Not a bad deal when struggling with God--a new name and a limp.
That, it seems to me, is well worth the struggle.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Lazy Day
OK, so I had all these plans for today. I was going to the hospital to see someone (but realized it would be better to do it tomorrow) and I was going to a movie (but our Puli dog, Bela, was having some diarrhea last night, waking Bern up twice and she took him out while I slept through it all and Bern had stuff to do so I didn't want to leave him) and I was going to the YMCA to walk on the treadmill (but Bern was out and I had a book I was reading and though I could have read it while I was walking on the treadmill, well, it just made more sense to read it at home).
So, I had what had seemed like a busy day but turned out to be a lazy day.
Not unlike many days I have as a retired person. I end up reading at least 5 novels a week these days (some of them walking the treadmill, some standing on the back porch or at a table in the kitchen or sitting in the dining room--I try to stand up rather than sit--or laying down on my bed). I love being retired and having more lazy days than not.
Sunday is never a lazy day since I have church to do. And Tuesday I go to my clergy group in the morning. And most Wednesdays I go to Higganum to talk to Bea about the Cluster I serve (very part time) and meet with some folks or visit someone. And these days I go on Thursday night to the book group at St. James where we're reading some of the chapters of something I've been writing. And on Fridays, at least for the next month, I'm teaching a class at UConn in Waterbury on the 'so called' Gnostic Christians. But every Monday is a lazy day and most Saturdays and none of the stuff above takes more than an hour or two.
I told someone the other day that if I knew how good I'd be at being retired I'd have done it decades ago.
Of course, decades ago I wouldn't have the Church Pension Fund sending me only a bit less than I earned working full time each month, or have Social Security or Medicare and the additional insurance coverage I have from, again, the Church Pension Fund. (No one, I suppose, becomes an Episcopal priest because of the Church Pension Fund--but it wouldn't be a bad strategy....)
Retired priests used to tell me they were better off than when they were working and I didn't believe them. But, the truth is, I made more money last year than I ever did working full time and I only do things I want to do (the Cluster ministry, teaching at Olli at UConn, doing Making a Difference workshops several times a year and having lots of Lazy days when I read almost all day and eat food I love and drink a little wine).
How good is that?
Sometimes I am startled that I'm 66 years old, have been married 43 years, have two children in their late 30's and three granddaughters. How could that be? I'm only just starting out. I feel 35 (except for the joint pain!) so how am I suddenly old?
Well, age has it's advantages--like lots of lazy days and doing only what you 'want' to do and not worrying about 'not being busy'--what a blessing that is!!!!
In five more years, I'll feel free to say whatever I'm thinking no matter what the occasion. I'm not quite there yet, but I look forward to being constantly inappropriate and when someone questions me about it I'll just say, "I'm old. Get used to it."
So, I had what had seemed like a busy day but turned out to be a lazy day.
Not unlike many days I have as a retired person. I end up reading at least 5 novels a week these days (some of them walking the treadmill, some standing on the back porch or at a table in the kitchen or sitting in the dining room--I try to stand up rather than sit--or laying down on my bed). I love being retired and having more lazy days than not.
Sunday is never a lazy day since I have church to do. And Tuesday I go to my clergy group in the morning. And most Wednesdays I go to Higganum to talk to Bea about the Cluster I serve (very part time) and meet with some folks or visit someone. And these days I go on Thursday night to the book group at St. James where we're reading some of the chapters of something I've been writing. And on Fridays, at least for the next month, I'm teaching a class at UConn in Waterbury on the 'so called' Gnostic Christians. But every Monday is a lazy day and most Saturdays and none of the stuff above takes more than an hour or two.
I told someone the other day that if I knew how good I'd be at being retired I'd have done it decades ago.
Of course, decades ago I wouldn't have the Church Pension Fund sending me only a bit less than I earned working full time each month, or have Social Security or Medicare and the additional insurance coverage I have from, again, the Church Pension Fund. (No one, I suppose, becomes an Episcopal priest because of the Church Pension Fund--but it wouldn't be a bad strategy....)
Retired priests used to tell me they were better off than when they were working and I didn't believe them. But, the truth is, I made more money last year than I ever did working full time and I only do things I want to do (the Cluster ministry, teaching at Olli at UConn, doing Making a Difference workshops several times a year and having lots of Lazy days when I read almost all day and eat food I love and drink a little wine).
How good is that?
Sometimes I am startled that I'm 66 years old, have been married 43 years, have two children in their late 30's and three granddaughters. How could that be? I'm only just starting out. I feel 35 (except for the joint pain!) so how am I suddenly old?
Well, age has it's advantages--like lots of lazy days and doing only what you 'want' to do and not worrying about 'not being busy'--what a blessing that is!!!!
In five more years, I'll feel free to say whatever I'm thinking no matter what the occasion. I'm not quite there yet, but I look forward to being constantly inappropriate and when someone questions me about it I'll just say, "I'm old. Get used to it."
Friday, October 18, 2013
Merry-go-rounds and the eclipse of the moon
Tonight is an eclipse of the moon. That happens when the earth moves and spins in front of the sun and blocks out the light that the moon reflects from the sun.
At fairs and such, when I was a child, my parents always wanted me to ride the Merry-go-round sitting on a horse, spinning around. I always felt a bit nauseous on the ride, but I did it because it made my parents happy. (For many children, the pressure that you are the cause of your parents' happiness is a great burden. It was for me, an only child of parents in their 40's when I was born....)
The earth spins (I looked it up) at 1038 miles per hour at the equator, where it spins fastest. Here in Connecticut it spins about 750-800 miles an hour so it can spin between the sun and the moon and make a lunar eclipse.
Isn't it wonderful that we can't feel the earth spinning a couple of hundred miles an hour faster than an 727 flies? Otherwise everyone on earth would feel a bit sick at their stomach all the time: the stock market couldn't function, Congress couldn't...well, Congress obviously doesn't function anyway, spinning or not, life as we know it would come to a stop while we all thought about throwing up.
Merry-go-rounds probably spin at, at best 15 miles an hour. Imagine spinning in Costa Rica at 1000 miles an hour or in Cheshire at 775 miles an hour. Well, you can't imagine that.
I'm just pondering an eclipse of the moon, that probably won't happen before I go to bed though I can see the full moon through the hemlock trees to the east of our back porch. Actually, I can see the moon perfectly well from the window above my computer where I sit typing since that window faces east. If the moon starts to eclipse (though I think it will be most dramatic in Europe where the world--as it is here--is spinning at a breath-taking speed) I'll come back and tell you about it since I can see the moon through the upper right pane of my window.
I'm just glad I don't feel sick at my stomach from spinning so fast....
At fairs and such, when I was a child, my parents always wanted me to ride the Merry-go-round sitting on a horse, spinning around. I always felt a bit nauseous on the ride, but I did it because it made my parents happy. (For many children, the pressure that you are the cause of your parents' happiness is a great burden. It was for me, an only child of parents in their 40's when I was born....)
The earth spins (I looked it up) at 1038 miles per hour at the equator, where it spins fastest. Here in Connecticut it spins about 750-800 miles an hour so it can spin between the sun and the moon and make a lunar eclipse.
Isn't it wonderful that we can't feel the earth spinning a couple of hundred miles an hour faster than an 727 flies? Otherwise everyone on earth would feel a bit sick at their stomach all the time: the stock market couldn't function, Congress couldn't...well, Congress obviously doesn't function anyway, spinning or not, life as we know it would come to a stop while we all thought about throwing up.
Merry-go-rounds probably spin at, at best 15 miles an hour. Imagine spinning in Costa Rica at 1000 miles an hour or in Cheshire at 775 miles an hour. Well, you can't imagine that.
I'm just pondering an eclipse of the moon, that probably won't happen before I go to bed though I can see the full moon through the hemlock trees to the east of our back porch. Actually, I can see the moon perfectly well from the window above my computer where I sit typing since that window faces east. If the moon starts to eclipse (though I think it will be most dramatic in Europe where the world--as it is here--is spinning at a breath-taking speed) I'll come back and tell you about it since I can see the moon through the upper right pane of my window.
I'm just glad I don't feel sick at my stomach from spinning so fast....
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Ireland 4 and last....
Ok, so I've heard from one of the participants who read an earlier blog and recognized himself. We've exchanged several emails and all it well, but I'm going to bring this conversation about the Making a Difference workshop in Ireland to an end with this post.
And this post is about Centering Prayer. Centering Prayer is the heart of the workshop and what most people take away that lasts. The Language-ing of the workshop fades fast if you don't use it. It's simply too disruptive to remember if you don't have someone to remember it with. The Language is wondrous and vital but it is contained and lived into in Centering Prayer.
The language is about 'being' and Centering Prayer is a prayer of 'being'. So the prayer keeps the language alive in a subliminal way.
Here's the way we see Centering Prayer in the workshop. It is bare bones and blue collar.
"Put your butt on the chair and intend to be with God for 20 minutes."
That is the whole thing in less than 20 words.
"Intention" is the key. "Intend" to pay attention to the God who dwells within you in the silence of your life and you will get what you get.
There is no 'right way' or 'wrong way' to do centering prayer, which drives people crazy since they want to 'do it right' and 'be good at it'. Vain hopes.
Sit down. Intend to be with God in the silence of your soul.
Take a prayer word (can be anything, best something that doesn't give you emotional content--mine is 'abba', Jesus' name for his father...more like, 'Daddy', but it is a foreign word...Aramaic, and with no emotion in me attached to it.)
Be still and silent and intend to be with God. And whenever anything impinges on your silence and intent, simply and gently use your prayer word to return to the Center and your intention and God.
That's all there is. There ain't much more.
Try it. It's easy. And you get what you get. No one is 'grading' you on how well you center. If you 'intend' to be with God, you will be. And it might not be what you wanted or needed. 'Want' and 'Need' have nothing to do with it.
Put your butt in the chair, shut up, listen for God. That and that only.
And what you get is what you get AND what you GET is your prayer, whatever that is. You're not being graded.
God is simply waiting for you to put your butt in the chair and shut up and listen for 20 minutes or so.
That's all. No strings attached. Nothing that comes up in the silence of the 20 minutes matters....let it be and it will let you be....return to the center.
Just like that. Really.
So, I'm through with Ireland for now. Thanks for enduring my reflections about those days in the Old Sod.
And this post is about Centering Prayer. Centering Prayer is the heart of the workshop and what most people take away that lasts. The Language-ing of the workshop fades fast if you don't use it. It's simply too disruptive to remember if you don't have someone to remember it with. The Language is wondrous and vital but it is contained and lived into in Centering Prayer.
The language is about 'being' and Centering Prayer is a prayer of 'being'. So the prayer keeps the language alive in a subliminal way.
Here's the way we see Centering Prayer in the workshop. It is bare bones and blue collar.
"Put your butt on the chair and intend to be with God for 20 minutes."
That is the whole thing in less than 20 words.
"Intention" is the key. "Intend" to pay attention to the God who dwells within you in the silence of your life and you will get what you get.
There is no 'right way' or 'wrong way' to do centering prayer, which drives people crazy since they want to 'do it right' and 'be good at it'. Vain hopes.
Sit down. Intend to be with God in the silence of your soul.
Take a prayer word (can be anything, best something that doesn't give you emotional content--mine is 'abba', Jesus' name for his father...more like, 'Daddy', but it is a foreign word...Aramaic, and with no emotion in me attached to it.)
Be still and silent and intend to be with God. And whenever anything impinges on your silence and intent, simply and gently use your prayer word to return to the Center and your intention and God.
That's all there is. There ain't much more.
Try it. It's easy. And you get what you get. No one is 'grading' you on how well you center. If you 'intend' to be with God, you will be. And it might not be what you wanted or needed. 'Want' and 'Need' have nothing to do with it.
Put your butt in the chair, shut up, listen for God. That and that only.
And what you get is what you get AND what you GET is your prayer, whatever that is. You're not being graded.
God is simply waiting for you to put your butt in the chair and shut up and listen for 20 minutes or so.
That's all. No strings attached. Nothing that comes up in the silence of the 20 minutes matters....let it be and it will let you be....return to the center.
Just like that. Really.
So, I'm through with Ireland for now. Thanks for enduring my reflections about those days in the Old Sod.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
I know you didn't ask me, but...
It was so good to be in Ireland during a big piece of the government shut-down and the run up to the debt ceiling. It was so good not to have my intelligence and patriotism challenged by the likes of Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the Senate and Louie Gomes (R-Texas) in the House. In fact, I would urge Texas to secede from the Union as their governor, Rick Perry (R) has somewhat recklessly mentioned from time to time. But only if Austin could be a part of Oklahoma or Louisiana. But when I think about it, those two states could secede to and become the country of "Ok-Lou-ass" with all their combined problems about poverty, lack of education and asshole politicians. God love them--and it wasn't so far out of the triangle, my home state of West Virginia could make them "West OkLouass".
The Wall Street Journal poll (that's the friggin' Wall Street Journal, not the New York Times or the Washington Post or MSNBC) this week said that only 24% of Americans polled had a positive opinion of the Republican Party! Let's have the 2014 election next week, for God and Country's sake....
This has been, without a doubt in my mind, one of the most foolish events in all of American history (and we've had a few....) It started about the Affordable Care Act--we'll shut down the government of the greatest nation on earth and default on our debts if Obamacare is not defunded" and ended up being something about 'being fair to all Americans", whatever that meant and which certainly didn't include the 800,000 federal employees out of work for two weeks.
And can we get something straight: The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, passed by Congress, signed by the President, approved by the Supreme Court. What in the hell would move you to shut down the government and defy the Constitution's guarantee of the 'good faith and credit' of the United States because you don't like a law that is a friggin' LAW and are angry you lost the 2012 election which was, in essence, a ratification of that law? For God sake, get some common sense!!!
I am so sick of these people--and I know you didn't ask me, but I needed you to know that I have been paying attention to the idiocy that's been going on and, hopefully, is over for a few months after tonight. I am a priest of the church and have vowed over and again to be compassionate to all people.
Well, that vow doesn't extend to Ted Cruz or any of the Tea Party.
You didn't ask me, but that's the truth....
The Wall Street Journal poll (that's the friggin' Wall Street Journal, not the New York Times or the Washington Post or MSNBC) this week said that only 24% of Americans polled had a positive opinion of the Republican Party! Let's have the 2014 election next week, for God and Country's sake....
This has been, without a doubt in my mind, one of the most foolish events in all of American history (and we've had a few....) It started about the Affordable Care Act--we'll shut down the government of the greatest nation on earth and default on our debts if Obamacare is not defunded" and ended up being something about 'being fair to all Americans", whatever that meant and which certainly didn't include the 800,000 federal employees out of work for two weeks.
And can we get something straight: The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, passed by Congress, signed by the President, approved by the Supreme Court. What in the hell would move you to shut down the government and defy the Constitution's guarantee of the 'good faith and credit' of the United States because you don't like a law that is a friggin' LAW and are angry you lost the 2012 election which was, in essence, a ratification of that law? For God sake, get some common sense!!!
I am so sick of these people--and I know you didn't ask me, but I needed you to know that I have been paying attention to the idiocy that's been going on and, hopefully, is over for a few months after tonight. I am a priest of the church and have vowed over and again to be compassionate to all people.
Well, that vow doesn't extend to Ted Cruz or any of the Tea Party.
You didn't ask me, but that's the truth....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)