Wearing the Green

We had corned beef and cabbage tonight since Bern's group meets tomorrow evening and she likes to have an earlier Thursday dinner. She put kale and two kinds of cabbage in--a great idea. She also made horseradish sauce to stop your breathing--which it is supposed to do!

I'm not as Irish as I pretend to be, but I'm some so I love St. Patrick's day. I also love Celtic music, which much means my Irish DNA, though small, is strong--who, besides a Celt could possibly like that music?

Plus, I'm going to Ireland again next month to help lead a workshop. Eight or so years in a row now. This one has 6 (I think) Israeli rabbinical students enrolled. I have enough time with the Irish accepts--there are lots of them! Good luck to my Jewish brothers....

Also, good luck staying kosher. There is nothing even vaguely kosher about Irish food. They could live on the potatoes, I suppose.

The Irish all think I'm Irish though my DNA is 65 percent Scandinavian. Come to think of it, most of the Irish folks DNA is probably Scandinavian as well! Those pillaging hoards from the north left their mark in may ways on the British Isles.

But, even if you aren't Irish, it's fun to pretend to be for the day. Obama's Irish, so you can be too!

Tomorrow it's ok to hold grudges!

My maternal great-grandfather came from Ireland during some famine or another with his two brothers. They got into such a fight on the ship that when they arrived at Ellis Island they all gave false names so they'd never be able to find each other in this new land.

The family name, according to the lore, was O'Connor. My great-grandfather told them his name was Jones--a Welsh name to add insult to injury.

The Irish are good at many things--'grudges' are one of them....

Why Ted Cruz makes me Crazy

Ted Cruz said today that the only thing that could keep him from supporting Donald Trump if Trump is the nominee is if Trump actually did go out on 5th Avenue and shoot someone (as the Donald said he could do and not lose support)!

The only thing crazier than Cruz saying that is his reason: "When I give my word I keep it."

One of the things I admire most in human beings is when they are able to change their minds and admit a former mistake of judgment. That quality enables us to create new possibilities rather than grit our teeth and 'do what we said'.

The Making a Difference Workshop I help lead talks about 'being your word'. That's important. Very. But we allow for the possibility of 'being' your 'broken word' as well. Fessing up that you didn't keep it and 'being' the one who didn't slavishly follow through and changed their mind.

Given all that, I should admire, of all people, Donald Trump--since he's forever changing his mind and not keeping his word. But I don't admire him, of course, since he just 'says what he needs to say' without any inkling of the consequences.

I do admire Hillary for the very thing Bernie accuses her of constantly--changing her mind and apologizing for past positions. Bernie--though everything he says, I agree with--is too locked into 'keeping his word' and 'being consistent'.

Consistence, remember, is the hob-goblin of small minds.

Give me someone who takes risks, steps out, sometimes screws up and then is man/woman enough to admit they were wrong and have changed their minds.

Adaptability and being open to the new is much more important to me than 'consistency' even when it is Bernie Sanders' consistence.

I want a leader who can admit they have made mistakes and 'be' the person who made them and 'fess up' and move on.

That's what I want.

I don't long for 'perfection' so much as being 'human' and admitting it, taking responsibility for it and 'being' even your broken word.

Just so you know where I am on all this--unless something shows me I'm wrong, then I'll let you know and apologize.....

the neighbor

We have a neighbor down the street who has a lab mix I call "Good Dog" because she is so well trained and so sweet.

I won't mention my neighbor's name and I've forgotten 'good dog's' real name. But here's the thing: about 4 months ago, my neighbor and his truck disappeared. There is another guy who used to be there about half-the-time and his car is there in the mornings and late afternoons now.

And Good Dog is still there--but not outside as much since the guy there now obviously works and our old neighbor didn't.

So, back to the beginning. When the old woman who lived in that house either died or went somewhere to die, the new neighbor moved in. He was too young to be retired (late 40's to early 50's) yet he didn't work and he and Good Dog were outside a lot. Very friendly. We talked as I walked Bela and Good Dog never came near Bela. So we could talk and I wouldn't have to drag bad dog away down the street.

This was 4 or 5 years ago. I never asked him what brought him to Cheshire and he never asked me either. Some of our neighbors know all about each other and some don't. And we honor that--we live in Cheshire for a reason, after all! Privacy is honored. Friendliness doesn't have to go very deep.

So, in my head I started inventing background on my neighbor. He was ex-military (the easiest solution for his not working) and he was well built and healthy. Then I thought ex-CIA or ex-Secret Service--both entertaining ways of explaining him.

After the guy who lives there now started coming for a few days at a time, I assumed they were lovers or...OMG...my neighbor was in the Witness Protection Plan and the visitor was his contact who would come to let him know when he would have to testify.

That was full of adventure in my head, let me tell you!

But on 4th of July and Easter my neighbor threw huge parties for people with out of state license plates (I know, I know, I'm a creepy snoop!--but I walk Bela every day past that house, OK?) So, who were all these people? He couldn't be in witness protection unless the Federal Marshalls were bringing their families on holidays. So--back to ex-military, ex-CIA.

Then he disappeared. And 'good friend/lover' moved in to keep Good Dog. I saw good friend the other day out washing his car and he looks a lot like my missing neighbor, so maybe he's a younger brother.

Every time the scenario changed, I lived out different former lives for my neighbor.

So where is he? Not in Florida for the winter since he'd have taken Good Dog in his Truck, that's also MIA. Recalled to the Military? Called up to be Secret Service for Donald? Federal prison for reasons I can't imagine? He died and his brother sold the truck and is devoted to Good Dog? And a dozen or more such stories.

I told a friend all this and he said, "why don't you just knock on the door and find out the truth?"

I thought about that for a long while and then said, truthfully, 'that wouldn't be as much fun!'

Before our cat, Luke, died, I used to realize I didn't want to be in his mind. I might never get out it would be so cat-like and Byzantine. I could get in and out of Bela's mind without much effort.

All this might tell you something: you most likely don't want to wonder what goes on in my head either....

Enough is enough....

Just for Donald Trump and all of us, here is the First Amendment to the Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Mr. Trump today blamed (of all groups!!!) Bernie Sanders supporters for having to cancel his rally in Chicago last night. And beyond that, the 'thugs' who are violating his 'first amendment rights'.

In the first place, the First Amendment is solely a restriction on the power of the Congress. The right to free speech or assembly cannot be revoked by an act of Congress.

I remember from Civics Class more than half-a-century ago, that the right to speak freely has limits. You have no right (the example was) to say "Fire!" in a crowded room when there is no fire.

That should extend to cover many of the things Mr. Trump has said about protesters at his rallies--like he'd like to punch them in the face. Free speech does not include threatening others verbally or inciting people to violence. Both of which the Donald has done time and again.

The First Amendment is also the part of the Bill of rights which protects protest in a peaceable way.

The semi-Nazi salute he's incorporated into his rallies--raising your right hand to promise to vote for him was almost enough. But orchestrating situations where peaceful protest is not accommodated and where repercussions toward protest are suggested is way, way over the line.

The comedy of this primary season has become a tragedy--for us all and for the American political process.

Enough is enough.

Well, I've done it again!

I'm over 1700 posts on 'Under the Castor Oil Tree' and have started repeating myself!

As soon as I hit 'publish' for the last post "Just to let it be known...", I thought--"I've posted that sermon before!"

Sure enough, searching my posts, I found it back in the Autumn of last year!

So, either I have to improve my memory or you're going to have to read some things more than once.

(Or, best of all, if you're memory is getting like mine, you won't remember reading it before!)

Just to let it be known

There's a lot of talk in the Presidential primaries about who did and who didn't support the war in Iraq back in the day. I came across this sermon and thought I'd share it to just let it be known where I was at the time.

FEBRUARY 9, 2003

AN INTOLERABLE VUNERABILITY

          Today’s Gospel finds Jesus in Capernaum—going to the synagogue for prayers, visiting the home of Simon and Andrew, healing Simon’s mother-in-law and the townsfolk.

Capernaum was a village on the Sea of Galilee—a village of those who fished for a living. First century Capernaum has been largely excavated by archeologists. When I was in Capernaum several years ago, I sat amid the ruins of the synagogue St. Mark talks about and visited the site of what may have been Peter’s house. The synagogue was smaller than the chancel area of this church—nearly as long but only half as wide. And the foundation of what could have been Peter’s house was even smaller. The houses were built almost wall to wall and the streets of Capernaum were only about four feet wide. What struck me about the town was how small and close it must have felt—how tight and confining.

          The house was only one room. Peter’s mother-in-law must have been on a mattress of straw in one corner of the room. It would have only taken Jesus a step or two to cross to her and lift her up, healed of her fever. Jesus and the four disciples with him would have taken up much of the house while Peter’s mother-in-law prepared a meal for them. Living in that house would have been much like sleeping and eating and washing and talking in a space about the size of a modern-day kitchen—that tight, that crowded, that close.

          When we’re told that the whole city “was gathered around the door”, we need to picture people crowded into a space about the width of a narrow hallway, stretching away in both directions. If Jesus sat in the doorway of Peter’s house only a couple of people at a time could have stood in front of him. A crowded, tight space—but not too crowded for the broken to find wholeness, for the suffering to find relief, for those in pain to find relief. So Jesus touched and healed until darkness fell and all who sought him had found him.

          Its little wonder then that Jesus rose before dawn to go outside to a deserted place to get away from the confinement and narrowness of the day. He needed some space, some escape from how crowded and pressed upon he must have felt in Capernaum.

                                                *

          I was having a conversation with a friend and parishioner this week and the conversation turned, as most conversations these days do, to what may or may not happen in Iraq.  I was saying that I was surprised and confused by how the coming war seemed so inevitable and that most people seemed almost to take it for granted.

          My friend told she’d heard someone say that since September 11, 2001, Americans had been living with “an intolerable vulnerability.” The American people, after that terrorist attack, had—for the first time in recent history—felt so “vulnerable”, so unsafe, so exposed, so frightened that it has seemed unbearable—“intolerable” to us. An intolerable vulnerability….

          Since September 11, the US government has been granted wide latitude by the public for anything that claims it will reduce this “intolerable vulnerability” and make us feel somehow safer. With almost no opposition either within or outside the government, there has been serious, perhaps irreparable, erosion of civil liberties and constitutional guarantees.  All the government has needed to convince us to give away precious rights is to appeal to our fears, our vulnerability. We are promised that arrests without sufficient evidence, illegal searches and imprisonment without the due process are justified because we will be safe from terrorists. We are being “closed in” by our fears and vulnerability.

                                                          *

          Jesus escaped to the open places outside Capernaum while it was still dark. He went away from the crowds and the tightness and the confinement and close quarters so he could pray. But when his disciples came searching for him and found him, he returned to the people, to the crowds to proclaim his message—the message he was sent to bring.

          The Collect for today reminds us of Christ’s message. Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life you have made known to us in…Jesus Christ….

       Jesus’ message is the same today as it was in Capernaum. We are FREE from Sin and given the LIBERTY of Abundant Life.

          Freedom and Liberty are the enemies of fear and anxiety and that intolerable vulnerability. Abundant Life is life lived fully in spite of fear. Abundant Life is life lived with the courage and safety only God can give.

                                      *

          Personally, I question the morality of the coming war. I oppose it strongly. It is, in my mind at least, a war that will be waged, not out of a longing for justice and righteousness, but out of our intolerable vulnerability.

However, I also believe most of those who support military action in Iraq are convinced of the rightness of their point of view. Saddam Hussein IS a tyrant and a monster to his own people. But there is much that can be done to oppose and weaken him short of unleashing our nation’s military might. I believe we need to act out of courage rather than fear.

          We will be no safer after much blood has been spilled and Iraq is defeated. The damage that this coming war will wreck will inflame and embolden those who wish us harm.

          As a Christian, I feel I need to cling to “the liberty of that abundant life” Christ makes known.

          Abundant Life is life lived fully in spite of fear and danger. We cannot ever be safe. But all that is most precious and most real cannot be taken from us by violence and terror.

          In fact, I think there is freedom and liberty found in facing our feelings of vulnerability.  Vulnerability teaches us humility. Vulnerability opens us to possibilities beyond returning violence for violence. Vulnerability can give us access to transformation, to newness, to hope. Living an abundant life takes much more courage than dealing death.

          Perhaps the most troubling part of our current quandary is how inevitable the coming war seems. Even people who oppose military action in Iraq seem defeated. “It’s too late to do anything,” a friend told me about the coming war. “Too much is in motion,” he continued, “it’s simply too late….”

          The vulnerable people of Capernaum—those sick and weak and possessed of Fear—sought out Jesus. Their brokenness was intolerable to them, so they sought out Jesus. And Jesus offered them freedom from sin and fear—he offered them abundant life.

          He offers us no less.

Christ offers us that abundant life which empowers us to live courageously in spite of fear and danger, to live with hope and restraint and faith in a time of intolerable vulnerability. Christ offers us freedom and liberty, and it is never too late to seek him.

          It is never too late to seek peace—though our country’s leaders seem committed to a fight to give us the illusion of safety at the expense of our national honor and integrity. It is never too late to bring the Light of Christ to this fearful, darkling world.

          It is never too late to seek Christ and to seek peace….It is never too late….

The Rev. Dr. Jim Bradley

St. John’s on the Green

Waterbury, CT 06702

I love adversity

So, we show up tonight for Cluster Council--or, at least, I show up first with a Chicago hot dog and a strawberry milkshake I bought at Sonic on the way. But there were cars in the parking lot. Instead of eating in the car, I go in to eat with the early arrivals.

But when I open the door to the room where we meet at Emmanuel, the room is dim and half-a-dozen folks are prone on the floor.

Confused I am. I retreat and Ted comes out to tell me there is a Yoga class in the parish hall. I am terrified I went to the wrong church for the meeting, but when the door opens and three other from the Council come in I am not only relieved, but intrigued.

You see, I love adversity, which is a not bad personality trait since the cosmos throws adversity at you so often. But what intrigues me is how the Cluster Council folks will deal with this alteration, this curve ball, this minor adversity.

You see, I like to find out how people adjust to the unexpected. That same cosmos is expert is giving us the unexpected.

By the time the 12 of us are in the church, it is clear to me that these are people I want to be around. A few murmurs about 'why wasn't it on their calendar?' but people then pile the food they brought on the piano--even pizza delivered to what is 'the wilderness' of Emmanuel Church--and people are finding chairs from all over to set up a meeting place in the back of the sanctuary in spite of the slight chill and the dim lighting. Someone even found a table for the clerk to take notes and we ate and had a great meeting.

These are the kinds of folks I want to surround myself with--folks who make the best of a bad situation, who are not cowered by the unexpected, who forge on into adversity.

I was blessed to be with them. Blessed.

Adversity, you don't have a chance with the folks of these three churches! They're up to it....

Maybe it's because of the 'night prayer' we always end with.

I refer you to the post before this to read that prayer--or 'pray' it, if you will. Gives the lie to the power of adversity, that prayer does.....