Ok, they look great at night but the next morning they're just plastic collapsed on the lawn.
Why can't they be inflated all the time, I don't get it.
On my way to Emmanuel, Killingworth I pass a house in--I don't know, Wallingford, I guess-that has about two dozen of the Santa's and Reindeer's and Grouch dressed like Santa and Angels and more stuff than anyone needs ever, in a billion Christmases.
And when I go by on Sunday morning it looks like a terrorist attack has happened, or a Zombie apocalypse or those left behind at the Rapture.
I would never own one of those lawn things which need both air and electricity, I guess.
But if you do, God love you, and keep them always inflated.
It's beginning to look a lot like deflated Christmas.
Just me talkin'....
Monday, December 4, 2017
Saturday, December 2, 2017
all new, all new....
I did a 'trade funeral' today.
A trade funeral is when the family wants a minister and doesn't have one so the funeral home calls around.
When I first retired, I got a lot of calls. Not so much recently--but Kevin knows me well and when a special needs man needed a religious person, he called me.
Christopher was born with many physical and some minor mental problems. His parents were told he wouldn't live until his 20th birthday. Instead he lived to 37, many of those years in a semi-autonomous way in a group home. He had jobs, was in the Special Olympics for years, touched many people.
I got there early to talk to his father and saw how many people came to the funeral home to speak to his family.
Christopher must have been 'special' in several ways to have so many people love him.
Even Kevin told me that in his conversations with Christopher's father he wondered 'who really gave the gift to whom'.
Christopher's mother is dead but his father was with him all the way. Learning as much, if not more, from his son than he taught.
I often quote St. Francis of Assisi in funeral sermons. Francis said, "death is not a door that closes, but a door that opens and we walk in all new...."
For us still on this side of that wondrous door, death seems like a door that closes. But my prayer is that for the one who dies, they enter into the presence of the One who loves them best of all and are made all new.
I certainly pray that for Christopher. That he was made 'all new'.
All new...all new.....
A trade funeral is when the family wants a minister and doesn't have one so the funeral home calls around.
When I first retired, I got a lot of calls. Not so much recently--but Kevin knows me well and when a special needs man needed a religious person, he called me.
Christopher was born with many physical and some minor mental problems. His parents were told he wouldn't live until his 20th birthday. Instead he lived to 37, many of those years in a semi-autonomous way in a group home. He had jobs, was in the Special Olympics for years, touched many people.
I got there early to talk to his father and saw how many people came to the funeral home to speak to his family.
Christopher must have been 'special' in several ways to have so many people love him.
Even Kevin told me that in his conversations with Christopher's father he wondered 'who really gave the gift to whom'.
Christopher's mother is dead but his father was with him all the way. Learning as much, if not more, from his son than he taught.
I often quote St. Francis of Assisi in funeral sermons. Francis said, "death is not a door that closes, but a door that opens and we walk in all new...."
For us still on this side of that wondrous door, death seems like a door that closes. But my prayer is that for the one who dies, they enter into the presence of the One who loves them best of all and are made all new.
I certainly pray that for Christopher. That he was made 'all new'.
All new...all new.....
Friday, December 1, 2017
Odder and stranger and closer....
Well, well, well, General Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Considering the other charges Mueller could have indicting him for you have to ponder what all he promised the special prosecutor to only be charged with that....
Murkier and murkier this whole 'witch-hunt' (as He who will not be named has called it) and closer and closer to the King himself. Jarred Kushner and Kelly Ann Conway seem to be persons of interest in a new way through all this.
Steve Smith, a Republican advisor (a 'real' Republican, not the type we see today!) said on CNN that what people should do is vote only for Democrats for House and Senate in 2018.
Let me repeat that--a man in the Bush 2 White House and the Romney presidential run is advising people to vote for 'only Democrats' in 2018. That's because he doesn't think Republicans in Congress will go along with any road to impeachment for the President should all this lead to that possibility.
And it might. And Pence and Sessions are treading water in the whole Flynn imbroglio as well.
Who becomes vice-president if the Speaker of the House becomes President? I have to look it up.
As the Chinese say, "May you live in interesting times" as a curse, not a blessing. (Though, truth is, there is no similar saying in written Chinese. The closest is 'better to be a dog in good times than a human in trying times' or something like that. But people have credited Confucius with it for decades, no matter where it originated.)
These are, unfortunately for us, extremely 'interesting' times.
I truly believe our democracy is at stake. Mueller may be our lynch-pin to keep it all together.
I don't need Steve Smith to tell me to only vote for Democrats, but I admire his courage in doing so....
Murkier and murkier this whole 'witch-hunt' (as He who will not be named has called it) and closer and closer to the King himself. Jarred Kushner and Kelly Ann Conway seem to be persons of interest in a new way through all this.
Steve Smith, a Republican advisor (a 'real' Republican, not the type we see today!) said on CNN that what people should do is vote only for Democrats for House and Senate in 2018.
Let me repeat that--a man in the Bush 2 White House and the Romney presidential run is advising people to vote for 'only Democrats' in 2018. That's because he doesn't think Republicans in Congress will go along with any road to impeachment for the President should all this lead to that possibility.
And it might. And Pence and Sessions are treading water in the whole Flynn imbroglio as well.
Who becomes vice-president if the Speaker of the House becomes President? I have to look it up.
As the Chinese say, "May you live in interesting times" as a curse, not a blessing. (Though, truth is, there is no similar saying in written Chinese. The closest is 'better to be a dog in good times than a human in trying times' or something like that. But people have credited Confucius with it for decades, no matter where it originated.)
These are, unfortunately for us, extremely 'interesting' times.
I truly believe our democracy is at stake. Mueller may be our lynch-pin to keep it all together.
I don't need Steve Smith to tell me to only vote for Democrats, but I admire his courage in doing so....
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Not on the football field, but...
Did you know that the House Tax Bill rolls back the Johnson Amendment?
The Johnson Amendment, championed by LBJ when he was a Senator, prohibits religious groups and all 501 C3 non-profit and non-taxed groups from taking part in partisan politics--not in issues but in openly supporting particular candidates. Churches can discuss political issues but not openly endorse from the pulpit.
It's a horrible idea. I try not to be political in my role as a priest, though everyone knows I'm a yellow-dog Democrat. I don't tell them they should be too. That's as it should be. There are supporters of the President in the churches I serve. I must minister to them without label or politics, just as I must minister to anyone who disagrees with me, personally, about any thing. Plus, I love being with people who don't agree with me--that's much better than only being with the like minded. It is the way the family of the church--just like our biological families should be--'related' even when we disagree. Family first.
The Congressional Budget Office has suggested that if non-profits could make political donations--for example--it would cost the federal government at least $2.5 billion a year. People who give money to politicians (money that is taxed) would funnel it through non-profits and even get a tax deduction from the contribution.
And repealing the Johnson Amendment would politicize churches and non-profits. Instead of St. Luke's and St. Gregory's we'd have Episcopalians for Democrats and Episcopalians for Republicans.
I heard a woman on radio describe how her grand-father, a devout Protestant and Republican, rose and left their church back before the 1960 election when the minister told the congregation from the pulpit not to vote for a Catholic. He only went back when the minister apologized "from the pulpit" and told people to vote their conscience. Her grandfather voted for Nixon, but he believed in a deep-down-Constitutionally-valid way in the separation of Church and State.
I do too--to the bottom of my heart.
If churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and other places of worship want to get involved in endorsing candidates and giving money to campaigns they should hand over their tax-exempt status.
Conservative Evangelicals can rage all they want about stopping abortion and not letting gays marry (just as I can rail about a woman's right to choose and GLBT equality)--but we can't, under the IRS's rules under the Johnson Amendment 'endorse' candidates that support our views from the pulpit.
That is as it should be. And should remain. God and Common Sense prevailing....
(God will ultimately prevail...I'm not so hopeful about Common Sense these days....)
Pray, beloved, I guarantee you don't want me telling you who to vote for....
I guess 'political statements' aren't ok on the football field but are fine from the pulpit!
The Johnson Amendment, championed by LBJ when he was a Senator, prohibits religious groups and all 501 C3 non-profit and non-taxed groups from taking part in partisan politics--not in issues but in openly supporting particular candidates. Churches can discuss political issues but not openly endorse from the pulpit.
It's a horrible idea. I try not to be political in my role as a priest, though everyone knows I'm a yellow-dog Democrat. I don't tell them they should be too. That's as it should be. There are supporters of the President in the churches I serve. I must minister to them without label or politics, just as I must minister to anyone who disagrees with me, personally, about any thing. Plus, I love being with people who don't agree with me--that's much better than only being with the like minded. It is the way the family of the church--just like our biological families should be--'related' even when we disagree. Family first.
The Congressional Budget Office has suggested that if non-profits could make political donations--for example--it would cost the federal government at least $2.5 billion a year. People who give money to politicians (money that is taxed) would funnel it through non-profits and even get a tax deduction from the contribution.
And repealing the Johnson Amendment would politicize churches and non-profits. Instead of St. Luke's and St. Gregory's we'd have Episcopalians for Democrats and Episcopalians for Republicans.
I heard a woman on radio describe how her grand-father, a devout Protestant and Republican, rose and left their church back before the 1960 election when the minister told the congregation from the pulpit not to vote for a Catholic. He only went back when the minister apologized "from the pulpit" and told people to vote their conscience. Her grandfather voted for Nixon, but he believed in a deep-down-Constitutionally-valid way in the separation of Church and State.
I do too--to the bottom of my heart.
If churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and other places of worship want to get involved in endorsing candidates and giving money to campaigns they should hand over their tax-exempt status.
Conservative Evangelicals can rage all they want about stopping abortion and not letting gays marry (just as I can rail about a woman's right to choose and GLBT equality)--but we can't, under the IRS's rules under the Johnson Amendment 'endorse' candidates that support our views from the pulpit.
That is as it should be. And should remain. God and Common Sense prevailing....
(God will ultimately prevail...I'm not so hopeful about Common Sense these days....)
Pray, beloved, I guarantee you don't want me telling you who to vote for....
I guess 'political statements' aren't ok on the football field but are fine from the pulpit!
Waiting in the dark
It's just past five and it's pitch dark outside. We are waiting in the dark....
That's what Advent is all about--waiting in the dark for the Light to come.
Advent should be a time of reflection, soul-searching and pondering life. Those are ways of being encouraged by darkness. And each day, almost to the end of Advent is a little darker for a little longer. Then on Thursday, December 21, the Winter Solstice, the tilting away from the sun of the Northern Hemisphere stops. It will be the longest night of the year--just 3 days from Christmas Eve, and the tilt toward the sun begins again. A little more light each day.
I've often pondered being a Christian in the Southern Hemisphere--how the symbolism of the church year seems all wrong.
Easter, in the southern part of the globe, comes in fall when the earth is beginning to die, rather than in the spring when the earth is coming back to life.
And Christmas, down beneath the equator comes just after the longest day of the year, when the world is brightest, when there is the most light. How do you talk about 'waiting for the Light to come' when you have all the light you need? And at Easter, how do you discuss the Resurrection of Christ and the world around us?
The symbolism seems much easier up here in the north.
It doesn't stop Christians down there. By latest estimates 1.3 billion of the 2.1 billion world wide Christians live in the global South while 860 million live in the northern hemisphere.
In 1910 2/3 of all the world's Christians lived in Europe. Now only 26% do.
Brazil (in the global south) has twice as many Christians as Italy and 1/4 of all the Christians in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa.
The North is diminishing while the South is growing strongly.
Still, those of us 'up here' have the climate that fits the symbolism best--for what that's worth...which obviously, given the numbers, isn't much....
Yet, I sit in the darkness, pondering it, waiting for the Light of Bethlehem's Star....
That's what Advent is all about--waiting in the dark for the Light to come.
Advent should be a time of reflection, soul-searching and pondering life. Those are ways of being encouraged by darkness. And each day, almost to the end of Advent is a little darker for a little longer. Then on Thursday, December 21, the Winter Solstice, the tilting away from the sun of the Northern Hemisphere stops. It will be the longest night of the year--just 3 days from Christmas Eve, and the tilt toward the sun begins again. A little more light each day.
I've often pondered being a Christian in the Southern Hemisphere--how the symbolism of the church year seems all wrong.
Easter, in the southern part of the globe, comes in fall when the earth is beginning to die, rather than in the spring when the earth is coming back to life.
And Christmas, down beneath the equator comes just after the longest day of the year, when the world is brightest, when there is the most light. How do you talk about 'waiting for the Light to come' when you have all the light you need? And at Easter, how do you discuss the Resurrection of Christ and the world around us?
The symbolism seems much easier up here in the north.
It doesn't stop Christians down there. By latest estimates 1.3 billion of the 2.1 billion world wide Christians live in the global South while 860 million live in the northern hemisphere.
In 1910 2/3 of all the world's Christians lived in Europe. Now only 26% do.
Brazil (in the global south) has twice as many Christians as Italy and 1/4 of all the Christians in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa.
The North is diminishing while the South is growing strongly.
Still, those of us 'up here' have the climate that fits the symbolism best--for what that's worth...which obviously, given the numbers, isn't much....
Yet, I sit in the darkness, pondering it, waiting for the Light of Bethlehem's Star....
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Enough Light to See
I wanted to share my sermon today at St. James, Higganum.
Matthew 25.31-46
Just an aside. This Sunday, the Sunday before Advent, has been called "The Feast of Christ the King". The Episcopal church, thinking people in America might not take to the idea of a 'king' started calling it "The Feast of the Reign of Christ" a few years ago. Yet today, on the insert, it merely says: "The Last Sunday in Pentecost" and is in Green when, as you can see, Christ the King Sunday is White in the colors on the altar and in my stole.
I'm usually in favor of all 'political correctness", I really am. But you and I are celebrating the Feast of Christ the King. OK?
I had a New Testament professor at Virginia Seminary named Dick Reid. One day he was lecturing about the limitless of God's forgiveness. God's forgiveness, he told us, was beyond what we imagine or even CAN imagine.
A student raised his hand. He was, let me admit, more conservative theologically than I was--but then so were most of the students at Virginia Seminary...
"Dean Reid," he asked (Dick was also assistant Dean of the Seminary), "what do you believe about the Last Judgement?"
Dick thought for a moment and responded, "I am a hopeful Universalist...."
That's me too. A 'hopeful Universalist'. There's no scripture to back me up, but I, like Dean Reid, believe God's capacity to forgive is beyond all boundaries.
Today's gospel isn't supportive of 'hopeful Universalists'. Christ the King comes back and divides the sheep from the goats, the blessed from the damned, the saved from the lost.
And the division between the two groups is over whether or not when they saw him hungry they fed him, or thirsty and gave him drink, a stranger who was welcomed, naked and clothed, sick or in prison and visited.
What's interesting is that both the sheep and the goats ask the same question when they are judged worthy or unworthy: "When did we see You like that and did those things?" the sheep ask. The goats ask, "When did we see you like that and didn't do those things?"
And the answer, beloved, is that Christ was present in the 'least of these' both groups encountered. The Blessed Ones served the 'least of these' and the Damned did not.
That simple.
I think this may be the most important part of not only being a Christian but of being a good human being--we must serve and minister to 'the least of these'. That may be the key to the whole thing.
I've tried really hard to not be political during the past year--I don't know if you agree that I've mostly been successful, but know I've really tried. And it's hard for me not to be political.
But I just want to ask now how we as a nation are standing up to Jesus' message that in serving 'the least of these' we are serving him?
The changes made in health care policy have hurt many and may hurt many more on Medicare and Medicaid in the future..
"I was sick and you took care of me," Jesus said to the blessed.
I heard on the radio coming to church that the Federal subsidies for the insurance coverage for poor children will stop in January. In Virginia alone that will affect 66,000 children since the states cannot do it without the Federal help.
Poor children. Talk about the Least of These....
The proposed tax cuts will help corporations and the rich but do little to nothing for the poor. Food stamps are in big trouble. "I was hungry and you fed me" is in trouble as well.
Government policy is aimed at putting even more people in jail than are already there by tightening drug laws. And nobody is visiting....
And 'welcoming the Stranger"--the Stranger is the enemy, the stranger is feared, the stranger must be kept out of our boarders.
Given Jesus' requirements, our nation isn't doing too well right now for 'the least of these'. Judgement may be harsh.
Jesus IS 'the least of these'. That's what we must always remember.
I'll end with a story I've told before but it's one of my favorite stories and we can all hear it again and again....
A very wise rabbi teaches his students all through the night by a river. As dawn is coming, the rabbi asks one more question: "How much is enough light to see?"
One student says, "there is enough light to see when we can tell the lambs from the baby goats on the other side of the river."
The rabbi thinks for a while and replies, "no, that is not enough light to see."
Another student, after a pause, says, "there is enough light to see when we can tell the myrtle trees from the fig trees on the other side of the river."
The rabbi says, quicker this time, "no, that is not enough light to see."
The students grow silent and wait. Dawn comes closer. Finally the rabbi says, "there is enough light to see when you can look into the face of any human being and see the Face of God. That is enough light to see...."
Pray for enough light to see the Face of God in the faces of the "least of these" in our midst.
Pray that we might serve them as if they were Jesus.
Pray for enough light to see.
Pray for light to see.
Pray for light.
Pray to see....
Amen.
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Things to be thankful for....
Mimi and Eleanor came on Wednesday.
Tim came on the train to New Haven on Thanksgiving morning and John picked him up and they came here.
Josh, Cathy and the girls spent Wednesday night in Kent and were here at 9:15 a.m.
I picked up Hanna at 1:30.
We at at 3 or so.
Hanna is 92 so I took her home to Hamden before 6.
Our children and son/daughter in laws and 4 granddaughters were here until Saturday late morning.
And they taught me, along with Bern, what thankfulness is all about.
Friends, family, blood, children and food and drink a plenty.
Tim and Mimi and Eleanor will go to Florida at Christmas to visit Tim's parents and brother.
Josh and Cathy and the three Bradley girls will celebrate Christmas in their new house in Baltimore. It's time--the girls are 11, 11 and 8. Time to be 'home' at HOME for them. Bern and I stopped going to parents at holidays when I was ordained and Josh was a baby. I work on Christmas. We've been blessed to be with them this long at Christmas except the years they either went to Taiwan or California to visit Cathy's family there.
Soon, maybe, we'll go to them on holidays.
Which makes the magic last 4 days even more precious--knowing it won't be like this forever.
But what joy we shared, all of us.
I thank my lucky star and my God for them....
Tim came on the train to New Haven on Thanksgiving morning and John picked him up and they came here.
Josh, Cathy and the girls spent Wednesday night in Kent and were here at 9:15 a.m.
I picked up Hanna at 1:30.
We at at 3 or so.
Hanna is 92 so I took her home to Hamden before 6.
Our children and son/daughter in laws and 4 granddaughters were here until Saturday late morning.
And they taught me, along with Bern, what thankfulness is all about.
Friends, family, blood, children and food and drink a plenty.
Tim and Mimi and Eleanor will go to Florida at Christmas to visit Tim's parents and brother.
Josh and Cathy and the three Bradley girls will celebrate Christmas in their new house in Baltimore. It's time--the girls are 11, 11 and 8. Time to be 'home' at HOME for them. Bern and I stopped going to parents at holidays when I was ordained and Josh was a baby. I work on Christmas. We've been blessed to be with them this long at Christmas except the years they either went to Taiwan or California to visit Cathy's family there.
Soon, maybe, we'll go to them on holidays.
Which makes the magic last 4 days even more precious--knowing it won't be like this forever.
But what joy we shared, all of us.
I thank my lucky star and my God for them....
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