See you later

I'm off to Ireland today and since I have only a desktop computer to reach the internet, I won't be writing here through Thursday. I'll miss it and promise to bring back lots of topics from the emerald isle.

Mean time, there are over 1700 posts here!

Go back a few years and sample them....

See you soon.

math and logic and the value of questions....

There is an internet firestorm about a question on a test for a 12 year old.

Here is the question: "Bob and John had pizzas for dinner. Bob ate 6 pieces and John ate four. John ate more pizza. How is this possible?"

The answer the kid's parents put on line was this: "John had a bigger pizza."

The teacher marked it wrong and commented: "It is impossible!!!"

There are many levels about what is wrong with that.

The first thing wrong is that the 'answer' is  more important than the 'question'.

The second thing wrong is asking 'how is this possible?" when the answer was predetermined that it wasn't.

The third thing wrong is the 'answers' eliminate 'possibility'.

Questions are always more vital and alive than answers since questions open up possibilities and answers shut them down. And "possibilities" are what makes life important and shimmering and remarkable. Questions are more important than answers every time.

I came up with a few other possibilities for the question.

"Bob's slices were smaller than John's."

"John took a few of Bob's slices."

"Bob left the crusts and John ate it all."

All of those are possibilities.

The question opened up a lot of logical possibilities. The teacher's answer--"It is impossible!!!"--shut down the creation of a new reality out of nothing.

The question wasn't about math or logic. It was about 'right answers'.

Right Answers are the booby prize of life. Once you have a 'right answer' that's all you have.

But if you live into and lean into and embrace 'the question', you have a whole created universe of possibilities.

I'm as pissed off as most of the people on line about both 'asking a trick question' and 'believing there is a Right Answer.

Avoid, flee from, reject, battle against, beware of "Right Answers".

They shut down the conversation and the possibility.

Rush to, embrace, welcome, dance with, embrace "Questions".

They open up the possibility of creating a future that wouldn't have happened anyway.

Ireland

I'm going to Ireland Saturday to help with a Making a Difference workshop.

I'll have a great time and learn so much about myself and love the Irish to bits.

And I don't want to go!!!

I'm old enough to tell the truth. I hate to travel.

I love being there, but getting there isn't 'half the fun' for me. I really don't like it.

I am, now I can admit, an unrepentant 'home-body'.

If someone told me I would never sleep another night that wasn't in Cheshire I would shake their hand and thank them!

Getting to and dealing with JFK airport is a nightmare out of the fifth ring of hell for me.

And though I don't mind flying, it does take up a lot of time and put me in discomfort.

I just don't get the mystery and wonder of travel.

Our vacation each year involves getting to a beach in North Carolina and staying there!

I like 'being put' is what it comes down to. Moving around the country and the world has no mystique for me.

95 Cornwall Avenue--now that's mystery and mystique and wonder to me. Right in our house I love so much.

That's what gives me joy.

Spring in New England

After a lovely, though early, Easter, winter decided to come back to New England.

Three days ago--on the 2nd Sunday of the Easter season, it snowed. Not a lot but there had been high winds and my driving on country roads to Killingworth was like like an obstacle course, dodging tree limbs in the road. By the end of the day--after a little more snow--it seemed to be over.

Oh, no, beloved!

Monday brought another inch or two of snow and by the end of the day several hours of freezing rain and sleet.

I went out on Monday early afternoon to run some errands (getting currency for my trip to Ireland among them, picking up our taxes from the tax lady for another) When I came out of Stop and Shop it was sleeting and I had to take ice from my car before coming home. Then, with my car still warm, the onslaught continued.

This morning, getting ready to go to my clergy meeting, I walked the dog and then turned on my car's motor (of course the dog jumped in the car and then didn't want to get out!) and went in to have breakfast.

Having the car running for 20 minutes weakened the ice enough so that it only took me 10 minutes to clear it away. I cleaned Bern's truck in no time became she hadn't driven anywhere on Monday and the ice came off with the snow beneath.

And it's going to be 19 degrees tonight.

March did 'go out like a lamb'. You know how the rest goes. Old sayings get 'old' because they have some truth in them. Sure worked this year.

Welcome to Spring in New England!

79%

Bern's birthday was Saturday.

She turned 66.

When we met (in Latin class for goodness sake!) I was 17 and she was 14. We've known each other for 52 years and come September will have been married 46 of those years. I've known her 70% of her life.

I actually once figured out we've had at least 6 marriages.

The first one too young (I was 23 and she was 20) in Cambridge, MA.

The second in Morgantown--with her in NYC acting part of that.

The third in Alexandria, VA when I was in seminary and she was acting to support us in the DC area.

The fourth in Charleston, WV and New Haven when the kids were young.

The fifth in New Haven  and then Cheshire, after a brief separation.

The sixth all here in Cheshire, in an empty nest that has been empty for going on two decades.

I've grown from them all and learned more about myself and her.

But this last and longest one--well, it has been the sweetest.

I wish her devoutly many more years and hope to spend as many of them with her as I can.

High School sweethearts sometimes work out.....

Sunday's sermon

Sunday's Gospel was about 'doubting Thomas'. I love, love, love Thomas. I thought I'd share my sermon, as best I remember what I said with you.

This is a tribute to Thomas and to 'doubt'....

Easter II- John 20.19-31

What I want to do today is deconstruct what we think about Thomas.

But this is such a rich lesson, there are a few things I want to mention first.

The 10 (minus Judas and Thomas) are in a locked room and Jesus is suddenly with them.

This tells us something fascinating about the Resurrected Body--it can pass through walls! Pretty cool, huh?

English is a wondrous language, but it sometimes is not a good language for translation. What the gospel tells us is that Jesus says to his disciples, "Peace be with you."

What he actually said was probably in Hebrew, "Shalom".

"Peace" in English, usually means the absence of conflict. "No conflict", we are at peace. "Conflict", no peace.

Shalom is much more inclusive and broader than that. Shalom is the totality of things in balance and together.

Shalom includes conflict and peace and brings them into accord. Shalom is completeness, all things included, nothing left out--and everything in balance. Whole.

Then Jesus breaths on the disciples. What an intimate thing--to feel someone's breath on your face. There is nothing so vital as feeling another's breath--a lover, a child, a grandchild.

And breathing is the essence of being. Stop breathing and you die. Breath is essence.

So Jesus gives them his essence and tells them the Spirit is theirs.

Now to Thomas.

In the other Gospels, we learn Thomas' name but he has no voice.

In John, Thomas gets all the good lines.

In Chapter 11, when Jesus decides to go to Judea and raise Lazarus, all the disciples know he will be in danger from the Jewish Authorities there.

Thomas says, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." Thomas is ready to go 'all the way', with Jesus. Thomas is without fear.

And later, in what we call 'the farewell discourse', Jesus tells the disciples he is going to prepare a place for them and they know "the way" he is going.

It's Thomas who gives voice to all their thoughts when he says: "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

Thomas isn't afraid to ask the hard questions. He is a seeker after truth.

Then, in today's lesson, Thomas comes back and will not accept the word of the others that they had 'seen the Lord'.

You know what Thomas is called--'doubting Thomas'. He gets a bad rap. He's just from Missouri--he wants to be 'shown' for himself.

This is just me talking--but I think 'belief' and 'doubt' are on the same spectrum. No 'doubt'...no 'belief'.

What most people mean when they ask if you 'believe' is 'do you KNOW for sure'. If you 'know for sure', you don't need to 'believe'.

"Belief" is about what we can't 'know for sure'. Belief is about mystery and what is unseen and unknowable.

And besides, the others were hiding behind locked doors. Where was Thomas? He was out and about. He wasn't afraid. He was taking the lay of the land and hearing what people were saying.

Now, here's the crux of the matter: John's gospel is not like the other three and has a totally different purpose.

Matthew, Mark and Luke are about Jesus' teachings and Jesus' 'doings'. John is about Jesus' IDENTITY. About his 'being'.

Remember how John begins? We all know it: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word WAS GOD."

John's Gospel is about Jesus 'being' God. All Jesus teaches in John point to 'who he is'. And the 'signs' he does point to 'who he is'.

It's all about IDENTITY.

And when Jesus shows up again a week later and Thomas is there (and I don't even want to imagine what it was like for that week: the ten full of Joy and Thomas not convinced!) it is Thomas who completes the circle of John's gospel.

When he sees Jesus, Thomas says, "My Lord and my GOD!"

Thomas is the only one in the whole Gospel who truly understands Jesus' IDENTITY.

God bless him.

And God bless each of us in our 'doubts' and our 'questions'.

Just me talking again: I think the questions are more important than the answers any day.

The questions lead us deeper into the reality and the 'truth' of belief. Not 'knowledge' but 'truth'--that's where our questions lead us.

We should all be proud to be doubters like our brother Thomas.

Amen.

Jim Bradley
padrejgb@aol.com

Stop the madness!

A republican Congressman from Alaska said that either Bernie or Hillary would practise "mind control" and tell Americans when to eat and what to eat.

A pastor from Texas accused Disney of declaring "war on Christianity" because the company objected to a vetoed bill in Georgia that was discriminatory against LGBT folks. He even wondered if you could still wear a cross 'outside your shirt' to a Disney theme park.

Donald Trump told Chris Matthews he wouldn't 'take off the table' using nuclear weapons in Europe and that women who got illegal abortions (which aren't illegal, by the way, Duh!) should be 'punished'.

Laws that restrict voting rights, access to safe abortions and rights for LGBT folks are popping up all over the country.

I mentioned all this to Bern. She just looked at me and said, "frightened white men".

Which may be true.

I abhor abortion but support a woman's right to choose to have one. I believe trans-gendered people should use which ever bathroom is most comfortable to them. I think voting rights should be expanded, not taken away. I think we should disassemble all nuclear weapons--all of us. I sometimes find Disney a bit corny but never 'anti-Christian'.

So, given Bern's explanation for all that stuff, I am either 'unafraid', non-white or a woman.

I'll go for the first explanation.....