497!!!

There were 497 views on my blog on Saturday. I've never had more than a hundred a day before.

I wish I could figure out what they were looking at so I could write more posts like that.....

The Castor Oil Tree is not a mega-blog by any means. I usually get about 1500 views a month. Yesterday I got 497!

Email me at Padrejgb@aol.com to let me know what you were looking at. Please.

Amazing! 497 views in one day....

Reality Check

   REALITY CHECK

What was it Pilate said to Jesus?
"What is Real?" No, no not that.
"What is Truth?" more like it, as I recall.
But not nearly so interesting a question.

Truth, it seems to me, having learned it recently,
sounds forth like a gong in a gigantic marble room:
echoing and re-echoing with (what shall we say?)
integrity, constancy, eternity even,
that puts 'honesty' to share as the self-serving
little slave of convention that it is, truly.

Truth is self-defining: it gives life and hope and
possibility mother-wet wings most would deny.
Pilate should have had eyes to see and ears to hear.
Truth stood before him, stripped and raw.
Truth whispered in his ear and he heard not.

"What is REAL?" Now there's a query worth some salt.
There's a wrestling match worth of an Angel foe.
There's something to wake up just before dawn and parry with--
sword against sword, making sparks, drawing blood.
There's a nightmare full of incomprehensible images
requiring pause during a sudden afternoon rainstorm
with lightening, thunder and a touch of hail.

When someone drags "reality' into the field of play,
play stops.

'Being realistic,' someone told me recently--with
words that echoed like Truth off marble wall--'kills the Spirit.'

Poor dead Spirit, slain by Reality's arrows!

(Here's the secret Truth that Reality can never quench:
Ice water poured over you in sufficient amounts produces gratitude.
Gratitude is an alias of Truth. Truth is the twin of Love.
And there is this--the Spirit never dies....)

Finally, there's simply nowhere in the cosmos to cash a Reality Check.
There's no currency available. The banks are closed for the holiday.

jgb

Whoa, Rudy--you just went from 'America's Mayor' to 'America's A-hole'!

Rudy Giuliani said to a group of Republican Donors that he didn't believe President Obama "loved America". He went on to say that Obama didn't grow up like 'us'. (By the way, the President was born in Hawaii, which, last time I checked, is one of the United States.) He also said 'he doesn't love you and the doesn't love me.' Well, I think after today the only true thing he said was that Obama doesn't love him!

What has happened that anyone--even 'America's Mayor'--can say of the sitting President that he doesn't love America? I didn't approve of the second President Bush and disagreed with almost everything he did, but, never in a million years would I have even thought, much less said, I didn't think he loved America. Never. We didn't agree, but I am confident that anyone who was ever in the White House 'loved' America.

Obama is, I think, the first President that doesn't completely buy, as a matter of Creed, the notion of American Exceptionalism. He has the belief that America is one of the nations of a very complex world and that we, as Americans, can not claim to be pure, unblemished, totally moral in the midst of nations which are stained, blemished and, on ocassion, immoral.

And I believe that as well, in capital letters. Our claim to be a 'shining city on a hill' has been given the lie by income inequality, poor health care, diminishing excellence in education, unethically prying into other nation's business and...need I continue?

The one thing that makes Obama 'not like' Rudy--they're both lawyers, well-educated, well-heeled, well spoken men--is this: Obama is bi-racial.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think anyone in Rudy's position and of his stature would have ever dared say a white President didn't 'love America'.

The conversation we need to have, as a nation, about race, begins at the top. The respect due and most always given to a President doesn't exist for Obama.

And I can imagine no other reason--because a plurality of the people have always disagreed on many levels with whoever was president--is that he has Black blood.

How dare Rudy Giuliani question the love of country of the President of the United States?

Because he's Black is the only explanation I can come up with....

Ash Wednesday

 Today is Ash Wednesday. We had a wonderful service at St. Andrew's sitting around four huge tables pushed together and passing the bread and wine to each other. Today I'd thought I'd post two things--a message I sent to the members of the three Cluster churches I serve and (because the weather postponed church Sunday (the Last Sunday of Epiphany) I'm attaching a 14 year old sermon for that Sunday that I like...."Happy Ash Wednesday...."

A Modest Proposal: a 'kinder, gentler' Lent

Years ago, at a St. John's, Waterbury staff meeting prior to Lent, I suggested that we might consider “a kinder, gentler Lent”.

The two other clergy people were horrified at the suggestion. The six lay members of the staff thought it was a good idea. Ponder that.

I am not someone who responses well to 'guilt'. I don't feel guilty about much of anything. I certainly don't need to grovel in my unrighteousness. When I do something that hurts someone else, I genuinely try to apologize and ask forgiveness and am humbled when I am forgiven. But I don't dwell on the bad stuff I do. I try to clean it up and move on. I don't dwell on the negative stuff of life.

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. Which always makes me think of the children's nursery rhyme:

Ring-around the rosie,

Pocket full of Posies,

Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down.

Do you realize that harmless little rhyme, that can be danced to with the kids falling down at the end and laughing, is about the Black Plague? Apparently one of the first signs of plague was a circular rose-colored irritation on the skin. The pockets of the clothing of plague victims were filled with flowers to try to overcome the stench. Finally, the undeniable truth that we are, after all, dust and ashes and we will die, we will die.

That's half of Ash Wednesday's wisdom, We will die, we will die. We are, after all, dust and ashes and we will, each of us, all of us, return to that state. I sometimes tremble when I administer the ashes on that day. “Remember, my friend, you are dust and to dust you will return....” What solemn, sober and grave words. And true, true ultimately.

But that is only half of Ash Wednesday's wisdom. The other half comes when we are called to the Table to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. We are called to the Table to remember, also, that we are the shining children of God, just a little lower than the angels, created in the “image and likeness” of God.

I have a big old raincoat. Ash Wednesday reminds me of that coat. My coat has two deep pockets. On Ash Wednesday, one is filled with ashes, dust, humus, dirt—that is part of who I am, who you are.

And the other pocket is filled with moon light and star-dust and wonder and magic and the fact that I am, you are, shining children of God, just a little lower than the angels, the very 'visage' of God, 'image and likeness'.

That's what makes me want to have a 'kinder, gentler' Lent. That's who we are too, not just dust and ashes and guilt and sinfulness—the very Children of God, loved to death by God, loved to life by God. Loved and Loved and Loved again....

Join your congregational family on Ash Wednesday to be reminded to remember 'who we are'--dust and ashes surely, not doubt about it...but glittering, shining, wondrous, much loved creatures as well...invited to the Supper of the Lamb, a special spot reserved at the Table, the best spot of all, blindingly loved and honored and accepted and included.

Let's remember that part during Lent instead of beating ourselves up. Let's remember how loved and cared for we are. Let's remember God is the One who loves us best of all, just as we are, just as we were created.

That's what I want to be reminded of this Lent—how much God loves each of us and all of us.

Join me in pondering that Love, that Love, that wondrous, incomprehensible Love.....

Happy Lent! (Is that a crazy thing to say....probably...but I say it none-the-less....)

Shalom, jim

Packing for the journey 1/25/01 (St. John's, Waterbury)

The hardest part of any journey is NOT “the beginning” or “the middle” or “the end.”

The hardest part of any journey is BEFORE “the beginning”. Somebody has to pack the bags….

We are at that awkward “Before the beginning” part of the long journey of Lent. This Sunday is the Last Sunday After the Epiphany. On Shrove Tuesday we’ll have a farewell dinner and on Ash Wednesday we’ll set off on our journey. Today is the hardest part. Today we have to pack the bags….

The Gospel reading for this last Sunday before Lent is always the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration. The Transfiguration event takes place on a mountain top, far above the concerns and needs in the valley below. Jesus is joined miraculously by Moses and Elijah who represent “the Law and the Prophets”—the gathering of the core of Judaism.

And what are they talking about—Moses and Elijah and Jesus? Luke tells us they “were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Jesus is on the mountain-top “before the beginning” of his journey to Jerusalem and the Cross.

Moses and Elijah are helping Jesus pack his bags….

The disciples are not ready to go to Jerusalem. They are full on anxiety about what lies ahead. Jesus has been hinting that betrayal and suffering await him in Jerusalem. The disciples don’t want to go.

MASTER, Peter says to Jesus, IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE. LET US MAKE THREE DWELLINGS—ONE FOR YOU, ONE FOR MOSES AND ONE FOR ELIJAH….

Peter didn’t understand. A cloud overshadows the disciples, some of the fog that occasions mountain-tops, and they are terrified. Their fear was well-founded. Before the journey’s end they would face many dangers. No wonder they wanted to stay put on the mountain.

But Jesus is ready. His bags are packed and he’s ready to go.

Today we are baptizing three children. Jacob, Austin and Tiffany are setting out on the journey of life. And before they depart, we will help them pack their bags. Through water and oil we will proclaim they are loved by God and “marked as Christ’s own forever.”

That will go with them through the years and decades ahead. Whatever dragons they must pass, whatever dangers they may encounter, whatever fears may grip them…they will not travel alone. God goes with them.

Even when they feel they are by themselves, God goes with them.

Even when those who love them cannot protect them, God goes with them.

Even when they experience life as a desert, filled with wild beasts, God goes with them.

Today we will pack their bags full of the love of God and the grace of Christ. They’re almost ready to go.

As Jacob and Austin and Tiffany depart, so must we. We will gather around the Table on the Mountain Top and take be refreshed by the Life of God. But we cannot stay here. The world waits for us outside those doors. It is a sometimes frightening, confusing, lonely world. But it is the world God loves, and we do not journey alone.

The Wilderness of Lent awaits our footfalls. We must pack our bags with Love and face the wild beasts there. It is almost time. Soon we must depart.

But before then, some bread and some wine to remind us we are never alone…some water and some oil to remind us we are “marked as Christ’s own forever.”

This is the “getting ready time”. This is the time before the Beginning. This is the “bag packing” time. Then we’ll be ready for where the road may lead us and what the journey will hold.

When it’s time to go, we’ll be ready….Amen.

Ashes, Ashes, drive right through...

I know some Episcopal priests who 'take to the streets' on Ash Wednesday to offer ashes at shopping malls and train stations. I like a little theater and cheer them on. I'm not sure I would do it, but not because it seems 'aggressive' but because I think there should be some liturgy.

We used to give out ashes all day in the chapel at St. John's, Waterbury on the hour and half-hour. But we had a confession and someone would say a little about why we wear ashes at the beginning of Lent. Not a full service by any means but a little more structured than random ashing....

But the Congregational church here in Cheshire is offering (no kidding!) 'drive through' ashing. Just pull your car in front of the church, roll down your window, take off your sock hat and someone will ash you right up. I've often joked about 'drive through communion' but it was always in jest. But the Congregationalists aren't kidding!

But here's the question behind why they would offer drive through ashes--what in the hell are Congregationalists doing with ashes in the first place? I didn't realize how high church they've become since I haven't been paying attention.

Maybe I'll give the congregationalist church here in town some holy water and incense too....

Welcome to New England

We specialize in winter here....

All three of the little churches I serve with two other 'Sunday only' priests have cancelled services for tomorrow. It is snowing now--a half-inch in the last two hours--and is supposed to snow all night and into tomorrow afternoon.

Another storm--4th in less than a month. And, watching the Local News a while ago, most churches in New England are cancelling for tomorrow...not that people in New England go to church--besides the Pacific Northwest, there is less church goers in New England than anywhere.

And I'm tired of the winter--but there's no where else I'd want to live. We have all four seasons (though this one is getting a tad tedious) and most all the states in New England are 'Blue States'. I want to be among Democrats. That's just the truth.

I was a bit anxious about the church closings. Back in 1978 (I think it was) the then Governor of West Virginia, Jay Rockefeller, went on TV to tell the citizens of that then "Blue State", now, nasty Red, that the storm of the century, or the millennium, was coming.

People raided grocery stores for hours...nothing was left...and no snow fell. The storm jumped West Virginia and did great damage further north.

We all felt a little embarrassed and a bit deceived. But WV as Blue enough then to send Rockefeller to the Senate for over a decade in spite of his over-reaction.

But it is snowing now and weather prediction has increased exponentially in 35 years, so they probably did what was right and safe.

And in New England, 'right' and 'safe' are the by-words. Really.

Comfort Food

We had ham and sweet potatoes for dinner tonight. Comfort food for Appalachians.

Comfort food becomes important in the frigid, white on white on white of winter.

What I miss is this: the open faced turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and peas and lots and lots of gravy from a restaurant in Welch, WV, the name of which I cannot pull from my contracting memory.

And a little cranberry sauce from a can--how good is that?

My mother would take me to Welch on occasion to shop for what I know not. Welch was the county seat--a metropolis of almost 5000 compared to Anawalt's 500. Lordy, lordy, 10 times larger!

And we'd always go to this restaurant and I'd always have the open faced turkey sandwich on safe, unquestioned white bread with all the rest. I think that's where I learned to eat pepper because I remember peppering everything on the plate and putting butter on top of the gravy on the mashed potatoes.

Pepper and butter and gravy--three food groups in my mind.

I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant, just so my memory would be complete.

(Every once in a while I try to recreate that dish. And I've never got it quite right. Probably because the gravy was home-made and not from a jar....)