Will it never end?

I just watched a news video from the Colorado House where a speaker referred to a black member as 'Buckwheat' and then had the gall to call it 'a term of endearment'. The Speaker called a recess, Lord love her.

My three Baltimore grand-daughters are mixed race. Their mother (a Judge in Maryland, by the way) is a second generation Taiwanese American. I fear for her and her daughters during this time of Asian hate crimes.

I served churches for 30 years that were either African-American or had a large Black and West Indian membership. At St. John's in Waterbury we also had a Hispanic congregation and a Hispanic priest.

I have been part of a couple of Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Cheshire (which is, unfortunately 90% or more white) but most of the participants were white.

Not everyone white is involved in hate and racism, but too many are.

What did the last President call African nations? "Sh*t hole countries!"

Hopefully the Biden administration will make some progress.

But 'some' progress is not what's needed.

'Total elimination' of racial hate is what's needed.

Will it never end???

 

My cell phone

 I'm thinking about giving up my cell phone.

Almost nobody calls me on it, except my cousin Mejol, and she can use the land-line #.

Perhaps 2/3 of the calls I get show up as "Scam Likely".

I don't have email on it, on purpose, so that's no problem.

And it would save money for my old age home!

People do text me from time to time, but I never respond.

Plus, I seldom have it with me.

I take it on Sundays when I'm doing services, just in case something goes wrong with the car--but never carry it on short journeys, like to the stores.

Sometimes I forget where I put it for a few days and have to call it to find it.

Only thing I like about it is the alarm that I use when I need to get up for something earlier than I would naturally.

But I could get an alarm clock for much less than the phone costs.

Maybe I'll give it up.

I think I'd be happier without it.

It's mostly a pain to own....

Bern moved the plants

Bern moved the plants she keeps inside for the winter out on the deck a few days ago.

Our deck looks like a garden.

Vines, ferns, plants and flowers all against the side of the deck that looks East.

I have nothing to do with plants--all Bern's deal.

I remember when we lived in Morgantown and Bern went to New York to be in several off Broadway plays, I let all the house plants die.

She was pissed when she came back and saw the carnage.

Alas.

I also got offered a job as Priest in Charge today.

I accepted.

It's only year by year, which is good for me because I may be loosing my marbles before long!

I am old.

My knees make me walk like I'm drunk and I bump into things.

I should go have them looked at, but they don't hurt--just throw off my gait.

I sleep a lot--from 11p.m. to 9 or so a.m. each day.

And I often open a cabinet and wonder why I did--or open the wrong cabinet when I knew what I was looking for.

Age is not a gift in many ways.

But I think I know what I think and believe more clearly than I did as a younger man.

Some good stuff and some not so good.

But Bern's plants give me joy.

 

my name

 It's James Gordon Bradley.

I thought I'd look up what my names mean.

James, the name of one of Jesus' disciples, means in Greek, "replacer". But in Latin "Jacomus" means 'may God protect.

Gordon means "a round hill".

Bradley means "a broad meadow" or a "broad lee".

So my name means "May God protect a round hill in a broad meadow", or something like that.

Not bad, I think.

Not bad at all.

Some things to ponder

Ever so often, I like to share some of the quotes given me by the Mastery Foundation--for whom I lead "Making a Difference Workshops" for years, and soon again, I hope.

These are what I've chosen for this blog.

Don't just 'read' them.

Ponder them.

Spend some time with them.

Let them move and challenge and shape you.

Happy Pondering!!!

"Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you."--Jean-Paul Sartre

"Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness.--Rumi

"If one does not have wild dreams of achievement, there is no spur even to get the dishes washed. One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.--May Sarton

"The first duty of love is to listen."--Paul Tillich

"Our Druidic ancestors welcomed every child with the words: Here come God again.--Fr. John Cullen

"Imagination is more important that knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world...."--Albert Einstein

"When starting out to build a world, One starts first with oneself."--Langston Hughes

"Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God."--Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Religion isn't where your mind is. Religion is where your ass is."--Phillip Berrigan, SJ

"Make yourself a light."--Buddha's last words to his followers.

Ponder on....

 

This afternoon

I was out on the porch this afternoon and saw a huge-huge mosquito fly by.

Well, not everything about things getting warmer is good.

I also heard a bird call that, though I'm not a good whistler, I got to respond to my whistle three times!

I saw our next door neighbor, Mark, push his bike out in his bike riding gear. 

"Getting ready for the Tour de France?" I asked.

He laughed. "Not nearly," he said, though I know he rides more than 20 miles whenever he goes out.

I talked to Bern about 'ordering out' for dinner since she cleaned the house today and it's her turn to cook.

She said she couldn't think of anything she wanted but had some frozen bean soup from last week.

It was a good meal. Soup, salad, corn muffins and fried zucchini. 

I admired Bern's back yard, so full of flowers and bushes and other plants. Lovely.

The back porch and deck in the Spring is a great place to be.

 

my Sunday sermon

 (If you're coming to Trinity, Milton, don't read this.)

Easter 5, 2021

 

          Today’s lessons are rich and wondrous. Acts tells us of Phillip’s journey to a ‘wilderness road’ to baptize an Ethiopian eunuch who was in charge of the treasury of the queen.

          Phillip interprets Isaiah, baptizes the man and is mystically transported to Azotus, where he preached the gospel all the way to Caesaea.

          Psalm 22 has the beautiful and hopeful verse:

          “The poor shall eat and be satisfied,

          And those who seek the Lord shall praise him:

          ‘May your heart live forever.’”

          Then the Epistle of John teaches us about love. Love.

          And in John’s Gospel, Jesus asks us to ABIDE with him.

 

          Today, I want to talk about LOVE and ABIDING.

          You probably know that there are three Greek words that are all translated into English as ‘love’.

          (I may have even mentioned that in my first sermon with you. People often ask me about a sermon from several weeks before and I usually don’t know what they’re talking about! Sermons are ‘in the moment’ and I don’t often remember what I said.)

          The three Greek words that are all translated in English as ‘love’ are “Eros”, “Phileos’ and ‘Agape”.

          The words have very different meaning.

          “Eros” we can figure out—‘erotic love’…the love between two lovers.

          “Phileos” is ‘brotherly or sisterly love’—as in the city Philadelphia.

          But “Agape” is the love that gives itself away—love that is total and complete, love that knows no limits or bounds.

          Near the end of the Gospel of John, you might recall, Jesus asks Peter three times, “Peter, do you love me?” And three times Peter answers, “Lord you know I love you”.

          Seems odd in English, that exchange, but in Greek it is different story. The first two times, Jesus askes, “Peter, do you ‘agape’ me” and Peter replies, “Lord, you know I ‘phileos’ you.”

          The third time Jesus asks he says “do you ‘phileos’ me?” and Peter responds, “Lord you know I ‘phileos’ you.”

          Peter didn’t feel worthy to give ‘agape’ love.

          But ‘love’ in today’s epistle of John is always “agape”!

          We are to have ‘agape’ love for each other, for those around us, for everyone on the planet!

          We are to love without bounds, without limits, without any restrictions.

          And we are to BE ‘agape’ in the world because ‘agape’ is from God and ‘whoever does not ‘agape’ does not know God.’

          A heavy responsibility for us—to give ourselves away to ‘agape’ so we might know God.

          There’s so much hate in our country and our world right now that we are needed by God, to give ourselves away to love and love and love.

          And we must support and…hold each other in our hearts so we might ‘love’ as God calls us to ‘love’.

 

          But what I really want to talk about today is ‘to abide’.

          “Abide” has been a part of the English language since the 11^th century. It sounds a little dated, but it is a word I love.

          Webster’s dictionary has a lot of meanings to “abide”.

          One is ‘to obey’, as in ‘abide by the law’ or ‘abide by the court’s decision.

          But that’s not what Jesus meant.

          He meant “to wait or await”, “to continue in a place—to ‘sojourn’ there”, to “remain with and stay around”—or as teens would say, to ‘hang out with’.

          I grew up in Southern West Virginia and when I would walk around the neighborhood in Spring and Summer and Early Autumn, people would be sitting on their front porches and often they would say, “Jim, come up and ‘bide a spell.”

          Nothing was expected in ‘biding a spell.

          No questions were asked. No conversation was required. You were just invited to sit in a rocking chair and ‘abide’ for a while.

          That’s lovely. And that’s Jesus’ invitation to us—to come up on the porch and take a rocking chair and ‘abide’ with him, so he can ‘abide’ with us.

          Jesus invites us to be ‘a part of the vine’.

          I am someone who does not think ‘individuality’ is more important than ‘commonality’.

          The American concept of ‘individuality’ is the root of many of the problems in our country.

          ‘Individuality’ is at the root of racial inequality, childhood poverty, the divide between right and left, the lack of attention to the ‘common good’.

          We need community, we need to be ‘part of the vine’, part of the whole.

          And we need to ‘abide’ in the vine, ‘abide’ with all people, ‘abide’ with God, ‘abide’ with each other.

          I want to invite you for a few moments, just to ‘bide with each other. No expectations, no requirements. Just ‘be’ with each other in silence. Join me.

(silence)

Thanks for ‘abiding’ with me.

Amen and Amen.