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Ruth, Faithfulness and Stewardship

2009-11-08T21:32:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned regarding the sermon on Job posted earlier, I look forward to this particular section of year B of the lectionary. The last couple of weeks, we have had selections from the book of Ruth - the only time it shows up in the lectionary cycle. As with Job, we read several selections from Ruth during worship today in order to walk through the story as a whole. It was also our annual stewardship Sunday, in which we invited congregation members to come forward and make commitments of the time, talent and treasure for the coming year in our ministry.

“Faithful or Successful?”
Selections from the Book of Ruth
November 8, 2009

As we work our way through the three year lectionary cycle, which offers us a game plan for reading scripture in worship which results in hearing at least selected portions from the entire Bible over the course of the cycle, we come across moments that can’t be passed up. Last month we had readings from Job, and since Job shows up but one time in the three year cycle, I made sure to spend some time with that book. It is the same today – we get a couple of selected portions from the book of Ruth just once every three years, so I can’t let it go by without dealing with it. It’s not only a wonderful, inspiring story, but it may well offer a word or two that will be helpful as we prepare to make our commitments to the congregation for 2010.

Ruth begins in utter disaster. Naomi, Ruth and Orpah have all three lost their husbands. Well, they didn’t lose them … they were widowed. Because the place of women in our society in America in 2009 is quite different than in ancient Palestine, it may be difficult to understand what a disaster this is, beyond the obvious grief and loss present in the situation. According to the law, the only way that women had any standing in society was through their husbands; the only way they had any material possessions was through their husbands; the only way they had food and shelter was through their husbands; the only way they had any legal protection or legal recourse was through their husbands. It’s hard for us to imagine what it must have felt like for these three women to have lost, literally, everything. They suddenly found themselves without means of support, without food and shelter, without legal protection.

Naomi had moved to Moab with her husband and sons when a famine had struck Israel. While there, the sons had each married women from Moab – Ruth and Orpah. So when they found themselves bereft of all means of support, Naomi made the best decision she could – it’s time to go home to Israel. Surely there would be distant family members to connect with and rebuild life. There’s one problem. Her daughters-in-law are foreigners. Now, it might have been a bit easier if they were foreigners, but not from Moab.

Moabites – Oh! Those people! Here’s what was woven into the fabric of the people of God -- from the book of Deuteronomy:

“No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD, because they did not meet you with food and water on your journey out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.” (Dt. 23:3-4).

There was already an ethos that heavily prejudiced the people against intimate relations with foreigners, but here Ruth and Orpah are from a clan specifically named in the Torah as off limits and unacceptable. A prejudice that had been ingrained in the people for ages.

They prepare to leave, and as they do Naomi tells her daughters-in-law what the score will be in her homeland. She suggests strongly to them that they should stay behind in their own home. She urges them, telling them they have nothing waiting for them in her homeland. They would be better off staying behind. Ruth and Orpah both refuse at first … they had been sharing a household for a decade; they shared a love for Naomi’s sons with her; they had built a life together.

But Naomi insists again. Finally, in tears, Orpah agrees. She bids her mother in law farewell and goes her own way. But Ruth refuses to leave, uttering the words that are perhaps the most well-known from this book:

"Don't force me to leave you; don't make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I'll live. Your people are my people, your God is my God; where you die, I'll die, and that's where I'll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!" (Ruth 1:16-17).

It is an example of undying, unfailing, steadfast love. In the Hebrew, the word is chesed, translated as “loving kindness” or “steadfast love” when chesed is used to describe God. Here, we see it in Ruth. No matter what happens, Naomi; no matter where you go; no matter what the consequences; no matter what other people think; no matter where we are – I … will … be … with … you. The promise of the ages from God to God’s people here made from Ruth to Naomi. The same promise made between friends and family members as they move through the trials of life. The same promise made between those who are committed to living their lives together in partnership. The same words that Ruth Woodward and Bernie McDonald – both in their eighties – said to each other on their wedding day 8 days ago.

Where you go, I will go; your people will be my people; your God will be my God; where you die I will die; nothing can separate us.

Ruth returns with Naomi to her homeland – Israel. They arrive at the beginning of harvest season and find their way to the fringes of the field of Boaz. The Torah makes specific provision for this … that which grows around the edges of the fields is to be left for the poor. Those who were in need were free to glean what they could around the edges. As it turns out Boaz is related, distantly, to Naomi’s late husband. Ruth offers to go to the field and glean so they would have food.

When she does so, she quickly is noticed by the workers and by Boaz – she worked steadily, conversed easily, made sure not to be in the way. Soon she and Boaz strike up a friendship. One gathers in reading chapter two that there may be some flirtation going on here. Boaz makes arrangements for his workers to leave some of the best of the harvest behind for Ruth; invites her to hang out with the young women from his household, thereby offering her some protection. And he’s making that offer to someone from a clan that was systematically excluded in the Torah.

Where you go, I will go, she promised her mother in law; where you live, I will live; your people will be my people. It was extraordinary faithfulness which was now paying off. Naomi begins to get the feeling that perhaps there was an opportunity here for her to find a way to provide and protect her daughter in law. She coaches Ruth … at the end of the day, when everyone is exhausted, when Boaz has had a little too much to drink and passes out on the threshing floor, go to him. Lie down beside him; spread his cloak over you; make yourself ‘available’ to him. (Wink, wink; nudge, nudge) Boaz awakes and quickly makes arrangements to take Ruth, the Moabite, the excluded one, into his household. He goes through the provisions of tradition, checks with the next closest relative to Naomi and then agrees to marry Ruth, thus providing security, protection and standing in society to both women.

It’s a nicely written story. The faithfulness shown to Naomi by Ruth is inspiring. Even further, many scholars suggest that the story of Ruth became scripture at a time when God’s people were struggling with the whole idea of who can and should be included and who should be excluded; who was worthy of having access to the holiest parts of the tradition and who was not. And here is a clever and powerful story which suggests that if God’s people could not manage to find a way to include those who had been excluded, then perhaps it would be that the outsider would find non-traditional ways to find their way in … even if it meant taking an upstanding citizen for a roll in the hay.

But it doesn’t stop there! The end of the book of Ruth gives us a genealogy … the writers in the Bible love to throw those in … and wouldn’t you know Ruth, the outsider, the excluded, now accepted into God’s family gives birth to a son, Obed; Obed grows up and has a son named Jesse; Jesse grows up and has a son named David … yes, THAT David. The one who became King David. The one who is the ancestor of Jesus. And so it turns out that the royal line for the Israelites, which continues into the line which brings us Jesus, includes someone who is expressly excluded. If you take the mainstream of the tradition of the time seriously, then Ruth is not qualified. She shouldn’t count.

That radical faithfulness which results in the excluded outsider becoming part of the family of God … well, it’s still an issue today. As I did some advance study for this sermon, one of the longest articles offering commentary on the Book of Ruth spent the whole time explaining how it couldn’t possibly be that someone who was expressly disqualified from entrance into the family of God could end up being the great-grandmother of David, the ancestor of Jesus. In fact, this scholar spent 10 pages winding his way toward drawing the conclusion that in fact, Ruth was not from Moab, but was an Israelite after all. It seemed to be a stretch to me. I have a general rule for biblical interpretation that says that if our attempt to understand the meaning of a passage leads us to a conclusion that happens to coincide with an idea that’s a lot easier for us to live with than the alternative, then there’s a chance we may be remaking the Bible to suit our own needs. So, if it seems easier and more acceptable to find a way to understand Ruth which suggests that such an outsider couldn’t possibly be a part of God’s intent, then it may be we are avoiding an issue.

God makes a habit of including the excluded … at least in the Bible that I read. Rahab the prostitute helps the Israelites crossing into the Promised Land and is thereafter included (she shows up in the genealogy that leads to Jesus too, by the way!). Naaman the Syrian general … a man completely outside the faith tradition … finds a way to connect to God through a servant in his household (2 Kings). Then there’s Ruth. Then there’s Jesus having dinner with people he’s not supposed to break bread with; talking to people he’s not supposed to talk to; touching people he’s not supposed to touch.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a continuing education event hosted by Ginghamsburg UMC – a congregation just north of Dayton that began as a group of 75 people in 1990 and is now the largest congregation in the West Ohio Conference – by far – worshipping more than 4,000 each weekend. Those of you who’ve gotten to know me know that I usually avoid events like that. I think continually holding up mega-churches as models for everyone isn’t really helpful in the long run. Not every congregation is called to go in that direction, and not every congregation should. Plus it reinforces the notion that congregations like Good Shepherd – which is averaging between 125 and 130 in worship this year – are small, when in fact with that worship attendance we are actually larger that 85% of UM congregations. And that results in many very healthy and vital congregations feeling down about themselves because they don’t have 4,000 in worship.

BUT – I went this year because the speakers, preachers and teachers were to be focusing on urban ministry and poverty – topics relevant to our ministry here at Good Shepherd. And I got some good stuff by going. I’m glad I went. But I also heard a whole lot of talk among my colleagues – “well, I don’t know how we can do any of this, we’re not big enough” (from a pastor whose congregation worships 450 or so); “we’re trying to grow and grow and we can’t seem to get started” (from a pastor whose congregation worships 300 or so). And so on. We can easily get sucked into a mentality that forces us to focus on numbers and “success” rather than on being “faithful” to who God is and what God is calling us to do.

To be fair, Mike Slaughter, the lead pastor at Ginghamsburg, said exactly that during his teaching time – let’s stop focusing on numbers and instead focus on faithfulness to the mission God gives us. Of course many dismissed him with the words, “well sure, when you have 4,000 in worship you can afford to not worry about success.”

Why bring that up? In a few minutes, we’ll all have a chance to lay our estimate of giving cards and our gifts and talents surveys on the altar. There is significant pressure within mainline churches for pastors like me to push the people they serve to challenge themselves to grow significantly in what they commit to giving the church of their time or their treasure. I’m not going to do that. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that I don’t care what you put on the card or on the survey.

But I will say this – before you fill it out and come forward, I want you to consider taking the same risk that Ruth took with Naomi. She had no guarantee of success. In fact, the deck was probably stacked against her. She had no connection to the people in the place Naomi was taking her. In fact, she might have ended up an outcast. Instead, she said: Where you go, I go; and where you live, I'll live. Your people are my people; your God is my God.

When you fill out the card and the survey and when you come forward to lay them on the altar, all I want you to think about is the faithfulness God has shown to all of us here at Good Shepherd for the last 40 years. All I want you to think about is what our new mission and vision statement says – that we will live out the presence of Jesus in this diverse urban neighborhood. Don’t think about what living out that mission would look like if we were “successful.” Instead, consider what it will look like around here if we are simply “faithful” to what God has called us to do. Faithful – the way Ruth was faithful to Naomi; faithful – the way God has been faithful to us.

Think about that … THEN fill out the card and bring it up. Put on it whatever you will, but put something on it, throw your lot in with this group of travelers, commit to going together wherever it is that God will take us, promise to be faithful to our vision for ministry. Then bring up your envelope. And join me at the prayer rail to ask for the courage, strength, and faithfulness to live this mission we have been given.

Join me at the prayer rail because as we go forward into an uncertain and challenging future … I will go with you … where you live, I live … your people are my people … your God is my God.

No matter what God has in store for us – we will do it together. I will be with you. Just as surely as God is with us. And we will listen for God’s call to all of us and seek to answer it faithfully. And - together.

Amen.

Considering Job

2009-11-08T21:14:00.003-05:00

As we move through the 3-year lectionary cycle, there are parts of it that I look forward to more than others. The readings this fall are among those. In October, we had the good fortune of reading through the book of Job sequentially. I chose to focus on other lectionary readings until October 25, when we read representative portions of the whole book and I spent the sermon walking through the story.

I've edited what you see below to shorten it a bit (though it's still on the long side) and to remove a couple of stories that deal with a couple of friends' personal events. There is also an audio version similar to this text from three years ago on the Church of the Good Shepherd website - http://www.goodshepherdum.org/.

“The Impatience of Job”
Job 1:1, 2:1-13; Job 23:1-9, 16-17;
Job 38: 1-7, 24-42; Job 42:1-17
October 25, 2009

Yes, you saw the title right. Yes, I know that’s not what we usually say about Job. Usually it’s something like, “that Linda Wallick must have the patience of Job dealing with Don” – just as an example. But frankly, Job is not patient at all. At least not in the usual way we think of patience. Here’s what the dictionary says:

1. The quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.
2. An ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay.
3. Quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care.

These qualities do not, in any way, shape or form characterize Job. So, why we talk about the “patience of Job” is beyond me. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s walk through the story a bit.

“In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) It is critical that from the beginning we understand that Job is supposed to represent the best of who people of faith can be. He is “blameless and upright.” If the writer of Proverbs is correct, and the fear of God (that is, respect) is the beginning of wisdom, then Job is wise, too. He “feared God and shunned evil.”

The rest of the first chapter of Job tells us more about this man. He was wealthy and happy. He had many sons and daughters; daughters-in-law and sons-in-law. He had much livestock. His sons would host feast days to which the whole family was invited. After each feast day, just in case any of his children had done anything inappropriate during the celebration, he made an offering to God on their behalf to cover any potential sins. What a good dad!

Then the story takes a turn. “One day the divine beings presented themselves to God, and Satan came along with them.” Be careful – this is not the same character that developed in later years and the being that is red and has pointy ears and a tail and pitchfork and rules over hell. A better translation of this word, “Satan,” as it is used in Job, is “accuser” or “adversary.” The other ideas about this character come much later. Here, in this story, this adversary is one of the divine beings who are acting with God’s permission. The adversary says to God: “Sure, Job is a terrific person of faith, but I can guarantee you he will desert you the moment he doesn’t have all that stuff anymore.” God says, “You’re on! Do whatever you like, just spare his life. I am confident he will still be a person of faith.”

Job then loses his land, his livestock, his sons and daughters and their families and his home. Yet he maintains his integrity with God and continues to revere the Lord.

****

The Adversary returns to God and God says, “See … I told you! Job is still faithful.” The Adversary says, “Yes, but what if he were afflicted personally? It’s easy to let go of things, but not so easy to come to terms with one’s body falling to pieces.” God again sends The Adversary out but with the caution to spare Job’s life.

Now Job is afflicted with painful sores from the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet. Now, he goes to sit on a heap of ashes and scrape at his sores with a shard of pottery. Even his wife loses confidence in God: “Job – just curse God and die!” Job refuses.

For no discernable reason, a good man – a righteous man – loses everything. A man who had every reason to believe he had been blessed by God; a man who held to the traditions of the faith; a man who was a caring father and husband; this man loses everything: Land, possessions, children, wealth, and health. Murphy’s Law to the extreme – everything that could go wrong does and goes wrong to the greatest degree that it can. Job begins to mourn his situation. He tears his robes, covers himself in dust and ashes (a traditional symbol for repentance or mourning), sits down on the ash heap and starts scraping his sores.
His friends hear of his troubles and they come to be with him. They sat on the ground, covered them themselves with ash, tore their robes and sat with him in silence for seven days. How nice it feels sometimes for a friend to be present but not try to fix everything – especially when there’s nothing that friend can do to change anything at all.

But then Job’s lament begins. Clear evidence that while he may be many things, patient is not really one of them. Chapter 3 begins and the author of Job slips into poetry. And while Job does not curse God, he does curse the day he was born. “Perish the day on which I was born, and the night it was announced.” (3:3) Wipe that day off the calendar; let no one make a happy noise on that day; may the sun not rise on that day (3:4-10, paraphrased). Then he goes a step further: “Why didn’t I just die at birth; expire as I came forth from the womb?” It would have been better if I could just have been buried. (3:11)

These are not the words of a patient man. No, these are the words of a man who has taken all he can take; who has lost everything; who can’t understand why it has all happened; who has no recourse; who needs to let loose on someone or something. (Have you been there?)

Then Job’s friends, they who had been sitting with him in silence, begin to speak. In turn, they each offer Job timeless pieces of faithful advice which do not help him, not one little bit. Eliphaz is first. He suggests to Job that since he is such a wise and faithful person he should know that it is only those who’ve gone astray who are so afflicted, so what he needs to do is get right with God again. Lay himself down, set aside his self-concern and seek a renewed relationship with God.

***

Now, there is some truth here. Many faithful people, including me, and perhaps including some of you, have found new and deeper connections to our Creator in the midst of crisis. But the notion such crises can be explained by a lack of connection with God or that they can be resolved by a renewed connection with God … well, this leaves a little something to be desired. Having a relationship with God is not like having a magic wand so that if you just remember to use it everything will be OK in life. Thanks, but no thanks, Eliphaz. Your advice is not helpful.

Job’s next friend to speak is Bildad. Oh, dear we all know a Bildad. You know, one of those deeply religious folks who just have everything all figured out. Oy, they drive me crazy! Bildad suggests that since Job is a righteous man, it must be that his children sinned and he was being punished for it. After all, God would not rain down such calamity on someone for no reason, right? The Bildads of the world can make you crazy. It’s all so simple, so clearly laid out. There’s no room for mystery or uncertainty. Job doesn’t fall for it and neither should we.

Then Zophar speaks up. For Zophar, wisdom is the issue. He suggests to Job that he just doesn’t understand exactly in what way he’s a sinner. If he were to look closely enough, he could see what he’s done and make amends for it with God. It’s a bit of an insult really … sorry to rain on your parade even more Job, but you’re not very smart, either! Job doesn’t buy into that either.

Finally we get Job’s lengthy reply to his friends – a reply that becomes a tirade against God. “Today my complaint is bitter … if only I knew where to find [God]; if only I could go to [God’s] dwelling! Then I could state my case and argue. Would [God] oppose me then? No, [God] wouldn’t even press charges! …. But if I look to the east … or to the west … or to the north … or to the south … I cannot find [God]. [God] has made me faint-hearted and terrified me. But I will not be silenced by the darkness.” (Ch. 23, NIV and paraphrase)

Finally, we get to the core of Job’s complaint. It’s not so much “why is this happening?” and it’s not so much “what did I do to deserve this?” and it’s not so much “help me find my way out.” The core of Job’s complaint to God is: Where are you? Would you just speak up? Can you make your presence known? Job just wants an answer; he just wants to know God is still there. It’s not so much the injustice of it all; it’s not being able to hash it out with God in the midst of it – that’s the issue. Oh, how I have been at the bedside of so many who wonder in the midst of their crisis – not so much why is this happening or how do I get out of it, but “where are you, God?”

After a long section of railing at God, just wanting God to show up and say something – anything – God shows up and gives Job the answer to all the questions he didn’t ask. My, God has a habit of doing that. Jesus did it too. It must be a divine trait. Job has been railing on about this injustice and asking where God is, but God replies:

“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” (38:2-3) Where were you when the foundations of the earth were laid? Who marked off the dimensions of the earth? Surely you know, Job! Who spread the stars in the sky and makes the constellations come out in their season? Who sends the rain? Who controls the thunder and lightning? Do they report to you? Can you count the clouds? What about the animal kingdom? Do you help the lions? The ravens? Did you figure out how the mountain goats and the deer should give birth? Did you put the feathers on the ostrich? Can you make the hawk soar? Did you design the fleet leg muscles of the horse? And then my personal favorite, “Job, did you set the wild ass free?”

Job replies, “I think I’ve spoken enough here.” But God isn’t finished. Now God moves into the mythic and the fantastical by naming legendary monsters from Job’s time. “Take behemoth, which I made, like I made you.” Can you romp around in the wilderness playing with legendary monsters like I can? And then, “Can you draw Leviathan out with a fishhook?” Can you swim around in the oceans with mythic sea monsters, too?

It’s very interesting, this book. The suggestion is that God is the Creator of all that is good and right and just AND the Creator of that which is chaotic and even scary. God produces rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. God is seen in the fluffy bunny rabbit playing in the meadow and is seen romping around with sea monsters.

Maybe it’s a good suggestion. Maybe one of the points is that God is present in both. Maybe it’s a good reminder that God is a whole lot bigger and more complicated than we could ever figure out for ourselves. Perhaps it’s more helpful to understand that God may be there romping around in the midst of the chaos just as much as we know God is present when all is right with the world.

Job had been asking where God was and why all this had happened to him; what he got was a dramatic lesson in who created the universe. Job simply replies, “I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (42:3b, 5)

Sometimes one of the things we need in the midst of the chaos is simply a glimpse of the big picture. A reminder that in the midst of delight and in the depths of misery; in the process of celebrating life and in those moments we grieve over what we have lost; in the moments of great health and vitality and through the times of ill health and suffering – in the midst of all of it God is present and God is still God, no matter what.

But the story isn’t over yet. There is just a bit more. Scholars make a strong case that perhaps this ending of the book of Job wasn’t originally there. And it does seem out of character, doesn’t it? We’ve spent 41 ½ chapters as witness to abject suffering, Job railing and yelling and stomping his feet at God, a majestic Holy response from the midst of a whirlwind, and then we get this ending – “Oh, by the way Job got everything back times two and lived to a ripe old age.”

That’s too easy! It doesn’t fit! And we know it doesn’t really work out that way in life, does it?
Even those of us who move through incredible suffering in life, who have deep questions about the identity and presence of God and do so with our souls and spirits intact, know that that doesn’t make things easy in life. It’s just that now you have deeper and better perspective on it. In fact, if you’ve ever spent any time in Job’s shoes, it feels good to journey with him through all that anger and frustration with God. Finally, someone who understands real life! Then there’s this all-too-easy ending tacked on and you feel hijacked.

But you know what? I’m glad it’s there. After having lost everything in the most dramatic way possible; after suffering immeasurably from a physical affliction that must have been a nightmare to deal with; after finding out his dear friends were full of platitudes and wrong answers; after spewing all of his impatience and frustration and anger at God, it would take an incredible act of faith for Job to decide that he could take a crack at living life again. I mean, he was doing everything right in life and had all the marks of success before losing everything and suffering so. What a leap of faith it would take to take a stab at life again, knowing that all he had to go on, really, was that God was there in the midst of life somewhere, even when the obvious clues around him in life might argue against that. Apparently, simply knowing the Almighty Creator of the Universe was right in the middle of every sticky piece of life was enough. And so Job could go on and rebuild life.

Friends, I don’t know what life may be throwing you at this very moment. Well, I DO know about what life is throwing at some of you. And I don’t know what the future holds for any of you. None of us knows that. But let us hold tight to the sure and certain knowledge that God is present in the midst of all the seasons of life, even the icky seasons of life, and that if we look and we listen and we open our hearts and minds, we will understand that. And then we can take the next step in life, knowing God is right there with us. And that will be enough.

Amen.

An Octogenarian Wedding

2009-11-08T20:55:00.003-05:00

On October 31, I had the high honor of officiating the wedding ceremony of two 84-year old members of Church of the Good Shepherd. That's unusual enough, but there's more: I had also officiated the funerals for the couples' first spouses. I had walked with each of them as they cared for ill spouses, as they grieved the loss of their marital relationships as their spouses declined, as they grieved the actual loss when their spouses died, as they mourned and rebuilt life, as they met one another and began to keep company and finally when their relationship turned to romance.

I had wrestled for weeks with what to say to these two - they've been through so much, they have so much to share. Finally, I decided to play my indecision into a rhetorical device and the wedding homily was born:

“When there is Nothing Left to Say”
Wedding Homily for Ruth Woodward and Bernie McDonald
October 31, 2009
(ref. Colossians 3:12-17)

I put on my Facebook status earlier this week that I was working on the wedding ceremony for two octogenarians – which was a first for me. I got many responses: “Very cool;” “How sweet! This gives me hope” “An inspiration to us all!” And of course there was the one joker who replied: “Octogenarians? Are those like vegetarians?”

Bernie and Ruth – you are, well, unusual! This doesn’t happen every day. As I gathered the words I wanted to share with you on this occasion, I scanned about for other stories on the internet about folks in their eighties or nineties who got married. I did find one article about a couple in Miami who got married a few years ago – he was 93 and she was 86. And that’s it. I did find a number of online senior citizen dating websites. Oh, yes: www.datingforseniors.com; www.seniorfriendfinder.com; and the list goes on. And I found a lot of jokes about what it’s like to get married when you’re old.

One good one goes like this: A widower and widow who had known one another for a long time saw their relationship blossom into a romance. One night at a community dinner, the widower got up the nerve to ask the widow, “Will you marry me?” After about six seconds’ hesitation, she answered “Yes. Yes, I will.”

The meal ended and they went to their respective apartments. The next morning, the would-be groom was troubled. Did she say “yes” or did she say “no?” Try as he might, he couldn’t remember. Full of anxiety, he went to the phone and called her. He explained that as he’d gotten older he just didn’t remember things like he used to. He reviewed the wonderful meal they had shared the night before. After gathering his courage, he asked: “When I asked if you would marry me, did you say ‘yes’ or did you say ‘no?’”

He was delighted to hear her say, “Oh, I said ‘yes’ and I meant it with all my heart.” Then she continued, “And I am so glad you called, because I couldn’t remember who had asked me!” I saw a few other good ones, too, but they weren’t appropriate to share in church. But that’s all I found – one news story, dating websites, and lots of jokes about getting old.

You are unusual. What does one say to folks in their eighties getting married? I usually tell couples to pay attention, quite literally, to passages like this one from Colossians – especially the exhortation to humility, patience and forgiveness. I tell couples – “you have no idea how much you are going to need those particular characteristics during your married life!” But the two of you already know that. You both have previously lived in long, wonderful marriages in which you learned that lesson and lived humility, patience and forgiveness every day. So I don’t need to tell you that. I’ll just remind you that you’ll need to do that again as you enter this new marriage.

I also usually call the couple’s attention to the “’til death do us part” section of the wedding vows and suggest that the commitment they are about to make is of the life and death variety. I go on to suggest that we never know when the death part will come our way and so they should hold on to this commitment and remember this shining moment when they have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death with their spouse. But I don’t have to remind you two of that – you have already done that. You know the gravity of the commitment you make and you know what it is to so commit your life to another person that you will walk anywhere they need to walk until the end of their days. So I don’t need to talk about that.

I also usually tell couples that they are not alone as they embark on wedded bliss. I remind them that all of these people gathered here have pledged to support you in your vows and help you find your way toward a truly loving and successful life partnership. But you already know that. You both have learned the importance of the loving support of friends, family and faith community. So I don’t need to tell you that. I’ll just remind you that it’s still true – even in your eighties. Maybe even more so!

So in a sense I have nothing to say to you. Nothing, except: Thank you.

Ruth and Bernie, in you, in this moment, you have given us all a chance to see what love and commitment really are. You have reminded us that as the decades pass for all of us, our call from God to live a full, active and vital life does not disappear or fade away – it is renewed with every gray hair and wrinkle that appears. By standing here today, you are striking a blow for courage – the courage to fully live all of life’s passions and emotions – no matter one’s age. By selecting that passage from Colossians, you have reminded us that the clothing that we are exhorted to put on – the clothing of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience and forgiveness never wear out – they are always made new in Christ! By taking this step in this moment, you are reminding us that it is never too late to sing songs of gratitude for the renewal of life and love that can come while living in the light of Christ.

So, having reminded you of things you already know and celebrating this moment which you share with all of us, I say simply: Thank you.

And thanks be to God! Amen.

And to prove my point of what an inspiration they are - they are currently honeymooning at Disney World! :-)

November 2009 Newsletter Article

2009-10-27T14:05:00.002-04:00

Below is the article appearing in the Good Shepherd newsletter from me this month.

“What Part of NO Don’t They Understand?”

We are just days away from the 2009 elections. In an off-year such as this, turnout is expected to light. But I hope all of you will get out and vote this year. There are some local officials to elect and there are several issues to vote on – none more important than Issue 3, which proposes an amendment to the state constitution that would allow casino gambling.

I generally refrain from advocating one particular side on an issue, though I am certainly free to do so (unlike the issue of endorsing particular candidates, which U.S. law prohibits clergy and churches from doing if they want to maintain their tax-free status). On issues, members of the clergy as individuals and congregations and denominations as a whole are allowed to advocate for or against whatever they like. Normally, I try to help people think through the possibilities and I ask questions designed to help people zero in on what they believe God may be calling them to do. On Issue 3, however, I am taking a different approach. I will be voting “NO” on this issue and I want you to know why.

Let me say up front that I am sensitive to the fact that thousands upon thousands of Ohioans need steady jobs. I am all for using government to support the development and maintenance of such jobs. This issue, among other failings, will not do that.

Here is why I’m voting “NO” on Issue 3:

1. Even if I were positively disposed toward the development of casinos (which I am not), I am stubborn enough to be fed up with various gambling interests coming back over and over and over again – even though the state has repeatedly voted “no” by large margins – to keep asking. What part of “NO” don’t they understand? Go away and leave us alone.

2. Nearly every full-fledged study I’ve read about that has studied the economic impact of casinos has come to the conclusion that they do not add jobs to the local economy. At best, they are job-neutral. What happens most of the time is that entertainment income that has been used on other things gets diverted to the casino, seriously hurting – or putting out of business entirely – the vendors that had been the recipients of the money before. The economic argument for building casinos is a lie.

3. Another thing most studies agree on: It’s the people who can afford it the least who are the ones who lose the most money at casinos. Why would we ask the poorest among us to subsidize the already giant profits these casino companies enjoy?

4. The notion that gambling profits will help fund our state’s education system is also a lie. This is the same argument put forward back when the lottery was started. What happened? Our state legislature at the time diverted the education money in the budget to other areas and replaced it with the lottery proceeds. Yes, the lottery profits when to education, but they added nothing overall. Do we really think it will be different this time? Much better, I think, would be to hold our state legislators accountable to the Ohio Supreme Court which has ruled our state education funding system unconstitutional several times while the legislature did nothing to fix it.

5. This is a constitutional amendment. Think about it. Constitutional amendments are like tattoos – once you add them they are difficult, if not impossible, to change or remove. It can be done, yes, but it’s difficult and sometimes painful. This amendment enshrines one individual and one company as the sole proprietors of casino gambling, locks in profit sharing terms that are just about the most lenient on the casino owners compared to other states, and allows changes to casino gambling in Ohio based on changes that happen in casinos in surrounding states. In fact, it was written by the folks who would profit the most from the amendment. Why on earth would we carve that into the constitution? Good grief! (I have nothing against tattoos, by the way!)

Gambling is one of the few issues that United Methodists – who are often deeply divided on any number of other issues – can agree on. Our 2008 Book of Discipline states:

“Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, destructive of good government and good stewardship …. The Church’s prophetic call is to promote standards of justice and advocacy that would make it unnecessary and undesirable to resort to commercial gambling—including public lotteries, casinos, raffles, Internet gambling, gambling with an emerging wireless technology and other games of chance—as a recreation, as an escape, or as a means of producing public revenue or funds for support of charities or government.” (¶ 163.G)

Don’t let the ads fool you – Issue 3 is a bad deal, a bad policy, a bad change to our state constitution, and will fix nothing in our economy or educational system. I hope to see you at the voting booth on November 3!

Peace always,

Dr. Don Wallick

On Getting Stuck in an Old Script

2009-07-30T10:57:00.004-04:00

Some thoughts on race relations have been percolating for some time. Here is the August newsletter article I wrote for Church of the Good Shepherd, UM:

In the last week one of those national stories that gets blown out of proportion by the relentless 24-hour news cycle caught my eye. You’ve certainly seen or heard it by now – Professor Henry Louis Gates of Harvard University was briefly arrested and charged at his home after exchanging heated words with an officer in the Cambridge, Massachusetts police department. Professor Gates had just returned from a long trip to China and was exhausted, coming down with a bad cold, and generally grumpy, when he arrived at his home to find that his door was jammed. He and the driver who was helping him with his bags worked to dislodge the door. A concerned citizen noticed the activity and thought there might be a break in occurring. The police responded to investigate.

What’s the big deal? Professor Gates is one of the foremost black scholars in the country. The police officer is white. Even after the professor showed identification to prove that he lived in that home, the officer asked him to step outside. Professor Gates lost his temper. The officer lost his temper back. The result was a black man was arrested on his own front porch by a white police officer. The story hit the airwaves; the president weighed in on the matter (using words that were, at the very least, ill-chosen); and now it’s everywhere. Perhaps by the time you receive this newsletter it will all have died down; perhaps not.

The whole episode has resulted in lots of discussion in the black community, in the white community, and in those few communities where both black and white folks live. One commentator suggested that it’s like we all get stuck in an old script when things like this come up – all of the usual arguments get shouted back and forth and there is little understanding shared between people.

Here is what I’ve observed: many white folks don’t understand that in fact, racial profiling does indeed occur on a regular basis and that many black folks have had experiences with the police where it seems the only thing wrong was that they happened to be black that day (I could relay to you story after story told to me by black friends who have been stopped by the police for no good reason. My favorite line said to a black friend by a police officer is: “You don’t look like you belong in this neighborhood.” My friend was driving to his house in his subdivision.)

Likewise, many black folks don’t understand that in fact most white folks are brought up to see police officers as friends and allies and can’t figure it out when others don’t see law enforcement officers the same way.
We get so stuck in that script that it is rare for anyone on either side to take a step back, take a deep breath and ask the other: “Would you help me understand why you feel that way?” But that would take us off script into new territory – which can be scary.

We have surely entered a new era by virtue of electing a black president. The ramifications of that will echo into the future. But that most certainly has not washed away all the old scripts that we cling to. We can’t know for sure who, if anyone, was at fault on that front porch in Cambridge, Mass. But we can ask ourselves: Have we bothered to examine the scripts we use when we talk about issues of race?

As we at Good Shepherd continue to reach into our neighborhood – into what is now a decidedly multiracial neighborhood – I give thanks that we have a different script to use with our neighbors: No matter who you are and what you look like, God loves you and we are determined to live out that love in the midst of this community. No earthly category can take away the one definition given to all of us by our Creator: We are ALL precious children of God.

As always, I am thankful to be serving among you in this place and in this time. We are called forward into a new future. We will respond together. And if we need to write a new script on race relations to do it, then by golly that’s what we’ll do.

A Few Thoughts about Swine Flu

2009-04-30T11:17:00.004-04:00

This is the text of an e-mail I sent to the congregation today.

We’ve been inundated the last few days with constant media reports about a new strain of influenza – the H1N1 strain, which has been dubbed the “Swine Flu” because the original virus was one that infected pigs. I know that many of you are concerned; I’ve certainly been paying attention, too. I want to say several things:

1. Keep in mind that the lifeblood of modern media is the continuous update and the usual mode of operation of modern media is to be as flashy and attention-getting as possible. This can turn what may be an important event into a cause for hysteria. You should check in with the world on your news channel of preference each day to see what the latest is – but then turn the channel to something different or turn the TV off. The constant flash and glitter only feeds the panic. The move toward this way of doing business is one of the reasons I left broadcast journalism 20 years ago. It does no one any good. Everyone take a deep breath.

2. That being said, we certainly need to take appropriate precautions. There is no need to panic. But as with any outbreak of the flu, we are well advised to wash our hands frequently, cover our coughs and sneezes (preferably with a tissue which we then throw away), and stay away from other folks if we are feeling sick (so that we don’t infect others). It’s a little more urgent since this influenza strain is new (and so there’s no vaccine yet), but doing those things will greatly assist as public officials try to slow the spread of it. Also keep in mind that two of the most common antiviral drugs – Tamiflu and Relenza – have already proven themselves to be quite effective in wiping out that virus. They will be used as needed to fight this outbreak. (As an aside: We will have antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer available for our greeters the next few Sundays so that we can reduce the chances that we will spread germs around here at church. I suppose it might even be a good idea to do that during the regular flu season too.)

3. I have begun hearing and reading things being said about this flu outbreak that distress me greatly. I’ve heard folks referring to “those dirty Mexicans” as a cause of the flu. I’ve seen folks write things like “that’s what we get for having an open border and being lenient on illegal immigration.” Come on, really? The various influenza strains that currently exist have originated on nearly all of the various continents around the globe. It’s no one country’s fault. It’s certainly not caused by one’s race or nationality. Do not allow bigotry and hate to overshadow appropriate discussion about health and hygiene. If there is any blame to be placed, it’s on nature: the random mutation of a virus is one part of the natural order. Since we live in a global society, anyone anywhere could pick up a new virus and it could spread.

A Blog Entry to Ponder

2009-04-20T19:10:00.002-04:00

Friends,

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I have two what I guess one would call "essays" running around in my head that I'll transmit into the keyboard soon. In the meantime, I ran across this interesting Blog entry regarding multicultural ministry - enjoy: http://blog.sojo.net/2009/04/20/three-encouragements-toward-making-your-churches-more-multicultural/

Don

New Skills are Always Good

2009-03-05T10:01:00.004-05:00

This is the result of my participation in our morning UMW circle's cake decorating session last month just before Valentine's Day. I'm not quitting my day job, but I was proud of my hand-decorated mini-cake!

Calling All Phonies

2009-02-26T10:13:00.004-05:00

Sermon preached at Church of the Good Shepherd, United Methodist, Columbus, Ohio, Ash Wednesday, February 25, 2009.

“Calling All Phonies”
Isaiah 58:1-12; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

It is quite an indictment, isn’t it? “Shout out – don’t hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!” It gets one’s attention, doesn’t it? “Announce to my people their rebellion!” Isaiah is telling us: Sit up! Pay Attention! Listen with all your might!

Then, speaking for God, Isaiah lays out the problem: The people are complaining to God that despite their consistent fasting and prayer, they feel God is not listening to them. Isaiah has a different point of view: The people are a bunch of phonies and hypocrites.

Why? Isaiah says – you’re fasting and praying, but you still oppress your workers. You fast and pray, but you still quarrel and fight and lash out in anger. You fast and pray and genuflect and bow and wear sackcloth and ashes and make a big production out of trying to be holy and yet … and yet …

In today’s lingo, those gathered around and listening to Isaiah might well respond, “Oh, snap!”

But Isaiah goes on: You phonies! If your fasting and praying were genuine, you would be working for justice, trying to remedy oppression, and breaking yokes of bondage.

If your fasting and praying were genuine, you would be feeding the hungry – out of your own cupboard if you had to – and you’d be finding shelter for the homeless – sharing your own if you had to – and you’d be putting clothes on the naked – sharing from your own closet if you had to – and you’d find ways to remain close to your family and friends rather than pushing them away. THEN I’d know you were fasting and praying with honesty, genuineness, and a heartfelt desire to live in the light of God’s love.

“Oh, snap!”

It’s quite an indictment; and it should certainly get our attention.

There is a lot of baggage about Ash Wednesday and Lent. Some have been brought up with the tradition that what has begun with tonight’s service is a season of gloom and doom; a season of deep meditation on how awful we all are. Some, because they’ve been brought up that way, stay as far away from church as they can for the whole season. Others have been brought up with the notion that since there’s nothing about Ash Wednesday or Lent in the Bible, then we shouldn’t bother with them. That is correct – there is nothing in the Bible about this season. But neither is there anything explicit about our need to celebrate Christmas or Easter. Such traditions build up over time. The problem is they sometimes get distorted and their true meaning is lost (see the file marked “Materialism and Christmas”).

Very early in the Christian tradition, faithful followers of Jesus decided it would be important to remember the resurrection on a regular basis. Thus, Easter was born. To that we added a remembrance of the crucifixion (Good Friday), the last supper (Maundy Thursday), the entrance into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday). Marking that particular week in Jesus’ life became the central tradition in the Christian Church. Eventually, a season of preparation was added – what we now call Lent – in which Christians were to examine themselves, practice spiritual disciplines, and reconnect themselves with God. In addition, the season was a time for new converts to be trained and then be baptized on Easter and for those who had been separated from the community to make amends and return to the fellowship of the church.

In other words, one might say the original intent of this season was to strip down all the phoniness that we build up in life and “get real” with God. It was a time to return to being genuinely and thoroughly connected to God. It was a time to seek forgiveness, love, grace, and mercy. I suggest – even to those who have some negative baggage associated with Ash Wednesday and Lent – that these are good things. Even thousands of years ago, the earliest followers of Jesus knew of our capacity to deceive ourselves and try to dodge being closely connected to God. That’s why reading that passage from Isaiah became a tradition on Ash Wednesday, along with several other passages. It’s time to “get real” and to drop the phoniness that gets in the way of a genuine relationship with God.

How we ever got from that core principle to the shallow ritual of giving up our favorite candy bar for 40 days is beyond me. Well, maybe it’s not. Even Isaiah knew how good we can be at fooling ourselves. As one of my colleagues in the Columbus area said several years ago during an Ash Wednesday sermon, “If we give up eating Reese’s Cups for Lent only to find ourselves counting the days until we can eat them again, we’ve probably missed the point.” Now, if your favorite candy bar is really in the way of your relationship with God, then by all means – give it up! But give it up for good, not just for 40 days.

As you know, I am on Facebook and have had a lot of fun reconnecting with old friends and connecting together old friends and new friends. There is a movement afoot this year to ask Christians to give up Facebook for Lent. Now, there are certainly folks who are so distracted by and addicted to the internet that giving up Facebook might be helpful for their relationship with God. But mostly I think that if we have fooled ourselves into thinking that it’s Facebook that’s in the way of our relationship with God, then we have bigger problems than internet addiction. Those sorts of things kind of sound like empty rituals to me.

Jesus is getting at the same thing in the gospel lesson. “Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do …. And when you pray do not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray so that they may be seen by others …. And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting.”

Oh, snap!

So, it’s Ash Wednesday: “Calling all Phonies!” Don’t jump into this season with empty gestures and rituals. Don’t approach the next six weeks with the idea that we just need to find some simple thing to give up so we can say we did something. Instead, I challenge us all to a more courageous approach:

Do a thorough self-examination: What is the one thing in your life which pulls you away from living as the beloved child of God that you are? Why not try tackling that for six weeks and see where you’ve come out on Easter Sunday? Broaden the possibilities beyond just “giving something up” for Lent. What about trying to repair a broken relationship in your life? What about seeking to understand thoroughly a great social issue that causes hurt feelings and ill will – and then work to change it for the better? What about seeking treatment for substance abuse? What about exploring the wide variety of forms of prayer?

Those are just suggestions – you have to find your own way. Only you know what it is that stands between you and God this day. But I implore you – I implore us all – to approach this time in the church’s life with all the genuineness and authenticity that we can muster. Let’s not adopt a ritual or make an empty gesture just to fulfill expectations, but rather let us reconnect to God at such a deep level that our lives are changed forever.

When we do that – with all our heart, mind, strength and soul – then it shall be for us as it was promised to Isaiah’s people: When we do this, then our light shall break forth like the dawn … we shall be like a spring of water whose waters never fail … our ancient ruins shall be rebuilt and we shall raise up the foundations of many generations and we shall be called repairers of the breach, the restorers of streets to live in.

Drop the phoniness. Don’t engage in empty gestures. Instead, look deeply into your life. And seek to restore a connection to God in the place that is most broken.

Amen.

A Transfigured Life

2009-02-26T10:05:00.007-05:00

Sermon preached at Church of the Good Shepherd, United Methodist, Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday, February 22, 2009.

“A Transfigured Life”
II Kings 2:1-12; Mark 9:2-9
Transfiguration, “B”

For a moment, just a moment, just beyond the edge of awareness, just beyond my peripheral vision, just beyond where I could reach and touch it – there was the brilliant holiness of God, an eternal truth that went beyond words.

We had spent the day exploring the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We walked around in town, checking out all the tourist trap shops. We walked along the leisure path in the park that adjoins the falls and saw the falls, felt the spray, walked up river and saw the water that was making its way to thunder over the falls. We rode the Maid of the Mist and felt the incredible power at the base of the falls. We made our way back up to the park and had ice cream and watched a street musician perform. Then, as we walked back toward the van, tired from our day, we turned back to look at the falls and saw the most brilliant rainbow I’ve ever seen in my life stretching across the sky like someone had just flipped on a light.

For a moment, just a moment, just beyond the edge of awareness, just beyond my peripheral vision, just beyond where I could reach and touch it – there was the brilliant holiness of God, an eternal truth that went beyond words.

After Linda had been in labor trying to birth Joel for about 24 hours, the doctors at The Toledo Hospital decided that it was time to perform a c-section, as labor was not progressing well, had already gone on a long time, and Joel’s heartbeat inside the womb was dipping just a bit with each contraction. In what seemed like a whirlwind, the medical team tossed me some scrubs and told me to change, disconnected Linda from everything they could in the hospital room and we were suddenly rushing down the hallway to the operating room. Just a few minutes later, Joel emerged, a little bluish, and was handed off to the neo-natal intensive care team. He received some oxygen and then was just fine, though they monitored him for a few hours. Once his color turned normal looking, the nurse swaddled him up the way they do and handed him to me for a moment before they went ahead with cleaning him up and examining him more thoroughly. Here in my hands was this tiny bundle of life, which I had helped create, and which had just emerged from Linda.

For just a moment, just beyond the edge of awareness, just beyond my peripheral vision, just beyond where I could reach and touch it – there was the radiant holiness of God, an eternal truth that went beyond words.

Perhaps you have had those moments. I certainly hope you have. They can sneak up on you. I’ve heard stories about such moments happening at the Saturday evening candlelight on an Emmaus walk. I’ve heard stories about such moments at revivals as folks are somehow drawn forward to the altar at the end of the service. Or maybe it’s a moment on a wedding day, or getting a first look at one’s grandchild, or emerging from the fog of anesthesia after an operation and realizing that one’s life will go on and that healing has begun, or witnessing a moment of reconciliation or forgiveness among family or friends. If we are aware, if we are looking and listening, if our hearts are open, those moments do come.

And it seems that for just a moment, just beyond the edge of awareness, just beyond our ability to see, just beyond where we can reach and touch it – there is the radiant holiness of God, an eternal truth that goes beyond words.

Almost 100 years ago, the theologian and philosopher of religion, Rudolf Otto, tried to wrap our minds around this phenomenon with words. He called those moments an experience of the “numinous” – a moment that pertains to the spiritual and that goes beyond comprehension or understanding. Going a bit further, he described such moments as a fundamental religious experience which he named in the Latin, mysterium tremendum et fascinans – loosely translated, “overwhelming mystery and wonder.”[1] It’s an experience of God that’s so hard to describe we have to resort to Latin!

Not nearly so long ago, Abraham Joshua Heschel took a stab at it, too. Heschel was an Orthodox Rabbi & scholar who authored several books on philosophy, theology and biblical studies. He was also a civil rights activist who was often at the side of Martin Luther King, Jr. during the most dramatic parts of the civil rights movement in the fifties and sixties. Heschel suggested that before we could attempt to describe things religious or spiritual or the nature of God, we had to be in touch with this sense of something beyond our rational ability to understand. He writes, “Wonder or radical amazement … is … a prerequisite for an authentic awareness of that which is.”[2]

So those moments – when, for just a moment, just beyond the edge of awareness, just beyond our ability to see clearly, just beyond where we can reach and touch it – there is the radiant holiness of God, an eternal truth that goes beyond words – those moments are a part of the foundation of our relationship with God.

I have come to believe that at their core, our two scripture readings today are attempting to describe such moments in order to deepen our connection with God.

The story from II Kings is a familiar one. Elijah and Elisha have come to an important moment. It is time for Elijah to depart and for Elisha to succeed him. Elisha is so unwilling to accept this that he keeps “shushing” everyone who reminds him as he walks with his mentor to the river. He didn’t want to talk about it. Finally, they arrive at the Jordan, where they are to part ways. Elijah asks – what can I do for you before I am taken away? Elisha says, “let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.” Elijah says, “If you see me depart, it will be so.”

Suddenly, from nowhere, and disappearing just as fast, what appear to be horses and chariots of fire descend, sweep up Elijah, and ascend in a whirlwind. Elijah is gone. Elisha is left.

There’s no doubt that this was one of those moments for Elisha – flashes, flames, a mentor and friend is gone – and for a moment, just a moment – there was the brilliant holiness of God, an eternal truth that went beyond words. It is a testament to the power of that experience that thousands of years later slaves in the American South latched onto it in song – swing low, sweet chariot – not just a desire to escape the current situation, but a chance to proclaim God’s presence in the midst of struggle.

And Elisha, forced to accept Elijah’s absence, is – after a time of grieving his loss – renewed with strength and empowered to continue to answer his call from God to be a prophet to the people. Everything had changed now that Elijah was gone, but then again, because of that moment, that flash, that glimpse of eternal truth, everything was the same: The Creator God of the universe still called, the people of God still clamored for a prophet, and life continued on.

In Mark, we reach such a moment. Jesus and his disciples are well into their routine now … teaching and healing … there is Jesus asking the question, “Who do people say that I am?” and Peter answering, “You are the Messiah!” … there is the suggestion that political and religious leaders are moving toward trying to eliminate Jesus as a threat to their power … there is Jesus suggesting that his true followers would “take up a cross” in order to follow – hinting that for all who would truly follow God’s way may encounter suffering.

Then this passage today. As Jesus has done many times, he goes away to pray – this time up a mountain with Peter, James and John. Then – one of those moments – the gospels relay something mysterious. Jesus is ‘transfigured’ – there is dazzling light – there is the voice (the same as at Jesus’ baptism) – ‘this is my beloved son.’

For a moment, just a moment, just beyond the edge of awareness, just beyond where they could reach and touch it – there was the brilliant holiness of God, an eternal truth that went beyond words. Peter tries to lasso the moment by suggesting they camp out there together and just stay in the moment. Just as suddenly as it occurred, the moment was over. Jesus, Peter, James and John come back down the mountain where they face – crowds clamoring for healing and teaching; a journey continuing to draw opposition; just as before – but with new perspective: the wonder and amazement that no matter what life would hold for them, the Creator God of the universe traveled with them – even if just beyond words, just beyond touch, just beyond complete understanding.

Yes, there are moments, sometimes literally just moments, when, just beyond the edge of awareness, just beyond our ability to see, just beyond where we can reach and touch it – lays the radiant holiness of God, an eternal truth that goes beyond words. And it is in these moments that we are reminded in ways too deep for words and logic that no matter our journey, no matter the events of the day or the month or the year, no matter the state of our employment or the economy, no matter the state of our relationships, the brilliant, majestic, ineffable, incomprehensible, undying love of our God is the true support and foundation for all of life.

It is those moments we seek in worship – moments when we experience that mysterium tremendum et fascinans, overwhelming mystery and wonder, and we can almost touch the brilliant presence of God right in front of us. It is those moments of radical amazement that transfigure our own lives and they become lives shot through with divine meaning and holy presence.

And we get a reminder of God’s everlasting care for us – even if the world has turned upside down.

And we are able to live everyday life in the sure and certain knowledge that the Creator God under girds our existence with the dazzling light of hope.

And we – us, you and me, regular folks all – can become shining beacons of hope in a world that is burdened with struggle.

And as we seek to live our new mission and vision statement here at Good Shepherd, we are aware that just beyond our reach, just beyond our ability to describe, but with blazing and brilliant love, God is right there urging us along.

And as we head into Lent – a time when we seek to turn toward God and renew our lives of faith – there is the Creator of the Universe, just around the corner; just beyond our words and intellect – ready to comfort and inspire us to live the life we are called to live.

And that life will be transfigured before us – and radiate beams of hope; and blaze forth with flames of love – and we shall know once again and for certain that we are not alone, none of us is alone, and we move forward carried in the hands of a God who created us, who loves us, who calls us forward into new life.

May it be so – today and always.

[1] See Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy, first published by Oxford University Press in 1923.
[2] Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man is not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, first published in 1959, this quote from the first paperback edition published in 1976, p. 11.

When Exclusion Brings Inclusion

2009-02-20T15:08:00.004-05:00

Sermon preached at Church of the Good Shepherd, United Methodist in Columbus, Ohio on February 15, 2009:

“When Exclusion Brings Inclusion”
II Kings 5:1-14; Mark 1:40-45
February 15, 2009

When I arrived as the new pastor for a small suburban church in Toledo, I heard some concerns immediately. This church had come through some difficult times, including the sudden death of one of their pastors just a few years before. The person who followed as pastor was not universally liked by the congregation. Chaos ensued. I arrived on the heels of a person who’d been there ten months as an interim. Understandably, many in the congregation felt like they’d kind of been “on hold” for some time. So, Bob pulled me aside right away. “Don,” he said, “your predecessor really alienated a lot of people. A loft of families left. We still think there’s a chance some of them will return if you reach out.” And he had a list! Names, addresses, phone numbers, directions to their houses from the church (He was quite computer savvy and would have had mapquest maps printed for me if that service had been in business then – but believe it or not mapquest hasn’t always been there!) I told Bob I thought making a round of visits to as many as I could since I was new was probably smart to do anyway, and I’d be sure to include all these folks on my visitation schedule. So I did.

As I made my rounds to members new, old and presumed “former,” I made an interesting discovery. The folks on Bob’s list … the ones he (and I gradually found out – others too) thought had been alienated by one of my predecessors had a different view of reality. Now, I tried not to make any assumptions as I was visiting the folks on that list. But I guess I implied in some of my conversation with one such family that I thought this was the case. One man, in his late forties and having led a hard life, stopped me in mid-sentence. “Now wait a minute, pastor,” he said. “I don’t know what those people up at that church have told you but that pastor was the best thing that ever happened in my life. He visited me in prison. He helped me find an AA group when I got out. He helped me feel like a part of the congregation when I started attending. But those people … those people … they ran him off. I guess he wasn’t “big city” enough for them or he didn’t dress right or he didn’t talk real slick. I don’t know. But they treated him like dirt. They said terrible things about him. Said he wasn’t holy. Said he’d never bring new folks into the church. Well, what am I, I thought? Chopped Liver? If he’s not good enough for them, then I’m not good enough for them. I appreciate you coming by, but I won’t be going back in that building anytime soon.”

Oh … my … goodness. I tried not to make any assumptions as I continued my visits. And from everyone on Bob’s “the last pastor alienated these families and they left” list I heard the same story. From everyone who wasn’t on that list I heard, “I sure wish some of those families would come back now that <<>> is gone. Maybe they can reconnect.”

Then from one old timer in the church I heard about the family who left in the early eighties when the pastor at that time grew a beard (he assured me that my closely trimmed beard I had wouldn’t offend anyone). From another, I heard the story about the family who left when the pastor didn’t go visit them when their dog died. (I thought to myself, “gotta brush up on my pet funeral liturgy!”)

And I began to see the picture. The folks who stayed at this little congregation were, in many ways, quite wonderful. Full of life. Articulate. Witty. Eager to connect with God in new ways. But it sure was beginning to look to me like there was a long-standing pattern of exclusion in this congregation’s DNA. Now, this exclusion didn’t rise to the level of exclusion in Nazi Germany, Rwanda, Bosnia or Darfur. Certainly not. But clearly, at least to me it was clear, those who looked or acted differently or who had an “interesting” past or were without a very high level of education, had been cast out. Not in so many words, but they were cast out. This was going to be quite a revelation to the currently active members.

Our story from 2 Kings broaches the topic – what of those who are outside the boundaries that we tend to draw around our faith traditions? Is God present and active for them, too? If so, how? Is God even present and active with those who hold beliefs that are quite different – maybe even the opposite of our own?

Naaman is the commander of the army for Syria. As those who chronicled our faith tradition in 1 and 2 Kings have relayed the story, Syria had recently conquered Israel – God’s chosen ones. They had destroyed holy sites and captured Israelites as slaves. He is a powerful man, commanding the military of an enemy nation for God’s chosen people. But he has a problem. The story says he has leprosy. Now, you need to know translating the Hebrew word that’s used to the English “leprosy” is kind of a holdover from an earlier time. It really could be any number of skin diseases, though most of them look bad and in a pre-scientific worldview would seem scary and strange. In most societies at the time, those who were so afflicted were excluded from society in some way. But Naaman here was a powerful man bringing military glory to Syria.

He hears through the servant of his wife … a servant who happens to be someone captured in their recent conquest of Israel … that perhaps there would be a cure in Israel. Perhaps, if he were to give it a try something good would happen. Naaman goes to the King to ask permission to go. The King, who no doubt looked forward to finding a way to cure his commander so that a sticky social situation could be resolved, immediately gives him permission to go to the enemy and seek help. He even writes a letter of commendation for him to give to Israel’s King, along with gifts (bribes?).
Naaman heads for Israel hoping for the best. The Israelite King sees him coming (did he think, “Oh, no … not again!”). He receives Naaman and hears his request. He is appalled! “I can’t heal! Am I God? I can’t do this! Your king is trying to pick a fight with me and will attack when I haven’t been able to help!”

Naaman gets word of a prophet in the land who perhaps could help. He consents to go. Enter Elisha – he who succeeded Elijah as the “go to” prophet in Israel. A prophet who repeatedly called the people to faithfulness to their God – frowning especially on those who would intermix belief systems with other people in the land. Naaman heads for Elisha, who doesn’t even come out of his house. “Tell him to go wash in the Jordan and he’ll be fine.”

Naaman is outraged. I guess he was expecting a big show, people bowing down before him, Elisha waving his hands furiously over him calling upon the power of God. Instead, he gets “Ah, go take a bath in the river.”
One of his servants is the one to talk sense into him – “General … now if he’d asked you to do something difficult or complicated you would have done it, right? So this seems easy … why not try it?”

Naaman, to his credit, sees the sense of this and heads to the Jordan River, where, we are told, he experiences miraculous healing and is so moved to belief in the Israelite version of God that he wants to pack up some of the soil from the riverbank to take back home with him. He stops by to see Elisha afterwards. He offers Elisha his gifts, though they are declined. He professes faith in God, but also asks that he be forgiven for bowing in the house of his king’s religion – He had no plans to convert!

Elisha simply says, “go in peace.”

The one who is the outsider, the excluded, the one who is not of the “chosen band” that God delivered from slavery in Egypt – the one, in fact, who had led the military strike that had recently conquered these chosen people – this one is cleansed, healed and sent on his way in peace. And did you notice it was a servant who put him on the path to go to Israel in the first place? And another servant who talked him into trying what Elisha suggested he do? Not only is it the outsider who is on a fast track to experiencing God’s power and presence here, it’s a couple of “nobodies” along the way who point him in the right direction.

Those who had been excluded had brought about inclusion. Those who were thought to be “outside” were on the “inside” with God.

Our story from Mark has Jesus going about his early ministry. Word has begun to spread about his teaching. People are beginning to show up and gather wherever he goes. A leper approaches him.

Time out: By Jesus’ time the holiness code had been further refined and explicated. This man was to have stayed away from contact with others. Others were not to have contact with him. He was to call out the words, “unclean, unclean!” whenever he was near other people. Again, it’s a pre-scientific mindset – folks had no idea what caused this disease. But the social consequences for the person so afflicted were extraordinary. Can you imagine being forced away from your family, friends, vocation, and neighbors until such time as a priest declared you were clean? Can you imagine such a life?

A leper approaches Jesus and says, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Notice there is no doubt in this man’s mind about the power Jesus has. He’s suggesting that Jesus is quite capable of doing this. But he’s also suggesting that Jesus has a choice to make: Run up against his own faith tradition’s notions of holiness and risk making himself “unclean,” or cross that boundary – thus violating a key precept of what it meant in that time and place to be a faithful follower of God.

The received translation of the Gospel of Mark says Jesus was “moved with pity.” It seems pretty clear to those who’ve studied first century Greek and who have taken a look at the various copies and transmissions of the gospels that we are able to get our hands on that somewhere along the way, someone softened the words here. It really seems to say that Jesus was angry. In fact, many suggest that the Greek is something close to “snorted with indignation.”

“If you choose, you can make me clean.” And Jesus is indignant. And then stretches out his hand, touches the man and says, “I do so choose. Be made clean.”

Somehow, I don’t think he was mad at this man. No, it seems to me – especially when we weigh the rest of Jesus’ ministry in which he repeatedly reaches out to outcasts and outsiders – that Jesus’ deep emotion here had to do with those who would draw people close to God creating a situation that pushes those who most need to know God’s love further away. Here was a man with a dreadful, inexplicable disease. Someone in desperate need of human contact and care. Someone in need of the healing ministry of his faith tradition. Yet his tradition had excluded him.

Jesus tells him not to make a fuss about it, but to go and show himself to the priest. One wonders if there’s a little bit of Jesus wanting this man to go show the religious leaders what they SHOULD be doing! (I like to imagine the priests seeing this guy and being furious with Jesus for “not doing things the way they are supposed to be done.”) But instead this man goes all over the place talking about the amazing inclusive love of God as seen in this Jesus.

The one who had been excluded had brought about inclusion for others.

The one who was thought to be “outside” was on the “inside” with God.

Tossing aside traditional boundaries makes some folks pretty uncomfortable. But when I read my Bible, I keep seeing over and over – the “unclean,” the “not holy enough,” the “not well trained,” the “unbeliever,” the “not scrupulous enough with their religion,” the “outcast,” the “outsider” – it’s with these folks that God shows up. In fact, it happens so often, one wonders sometimes how on Earth we’ve managed to miss that message!

Every time one of God’s children is excluded from human community, from relationship with God, from sharing his or her unique gifts, evil is afoot. And whenever we see it in the Bible, God steps in to say, “No.” “You ARE included. You ARE a part of God’s family. You ARE accepted for who you are.” Every time. Each and every time.

Being pure, holy, clean, righteous – these are not matters of outward appearance or religious scruples. They are matters of the heart. They are matters of compassion. They are the result of sharing the accepting, forgiving, merciful, compassionate, inclusive love of God.

I left you hanging with that little church! Well, a moment came about 6 months into my time as pastor there that one of the members of our Administrative Council asked at our monthly meeting – “Pastor, how have your visits been going with the folks who had left?”

“Funny you should ask, I said.” I told them how the visits had gone. And I relayed in particular the one visit where one of the faithful had sworn not to ever set foot in that church again. There was absolute silence … for a rrrreeeaaaalllllyyy long time. Then one member “harrumphed” and stormed out. Two others had tears in their eyes. Several objected: “No, that’s not how it was. Pastor <<<>>> just couldn’t reach them.”

“Well,” I responded, “I wasn’t here then so I don’t know. I’m just relaying what I’ve heard … and I heard a similar story from several people.” I waited a moment and then asked: “Is it possible there’s some truth in there?”

One young woman spoke up immediately: “Yes. I knew it at the time, but I didn’t say anything. I love all of you, but I can see where these folks are coming from.” She waited a moment and then added: “And as God is my witness, I won’t let it happen again.”

No more than a month later, that same young woman had an opportunity to live those words when two twenty-something folks riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles showed up at church. She went out of her way to welcome them – leather jackets, ponytails and all – and others followed her lead. They ended up becoming our youth leaders. And I’m here to tell you that our three or four youth thought hanging out with Harley-riding, twenty-something youth leaders was the coolest thing ever. And that little church began to grow. Not because of the Harleys; but because the church had broken through its unspoken barriers and decided to treat those who appear as “outsiders” as beloved children of God in their midst.

Here at Good Shepherd, we’ve been working at making connections in our community and working our way toward building relationships with those outside our walls. In the last two weeks, some things have started happening:

· Christi Mallasch has begun working on bringing a community garden space into reality on our grounds. She has talked with our Trustees and she has begun a relationship with the Sharon Woods Civic Association and will be building a team from inside and outside the church to make this happen. And at least a few of those who have been outside our walls, yearning for a relationship, will have that chance.

· We have gotten to know the principal at Beechcroft High School and had several conversations with him over the last two years. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve had additional conversations with their testing coordinator, who is planning to use space here at the church for some of the testing programs at Beechcroft. And we’ve also talked with one of the teachers who is leading a young person’s leadership group there and looking for service opportunities. It struck me that having some high school students holding shovels in a community garden might be a wonderful thing. And those who have been on the outside will be in relationship with those of us inside these walls – and we will be changed; and we will grow.

· We have also had conversation with the director at the North YMCA about how to manage reconnecting with a changed neighborhood, which that YMCA branch has done very well. I happened to run into him at another meeting this past week and we both realized there may be potential partnerships that the Y and Good Shepherd could form. If so, more folks that have been outside our walls will form relationships with those of us who’ve been inside the walls and we’ll all be changed.

Who knows where all these things will go? It’s too early to say what will happen. But it will be critically important that we keep in mind what God appears to think about “insiders” and “outsiders.”

We have recently approved a new mission and vision statement here at Good Shepherd. It does push us to consider the ways in which God is calling us to live out that extravagantly accepting and open faith – a faith that seeks to live the presence of Jesus in a changing neighborhood; a faith that understands we need to push ourselves to understand the variety of cultures, races, backgrounds and experiences of those who live here; a faith that challenges us to find the folks who are on the “outside” and learn how we can partner with them so we can all come closer to God. Take a look at that mission/vision statement again today – it’s on the back of your bulletin.

That does not mean we will always live it out in its fullest expression – but we can, and should, and WILL, try to do so. Those efforts will spur us all forward to share the great news of what God is doing through us. And those on the outside will be inside and our lives might be turned upside down, but we’ll be shouting from the rooftops about God’s love and healing in this community.

Because: It is amazing what happens when folks who’ve been told – for whatever reason – or have simply come to believe – by whatever thought process – that they are not welcome with God or loved by God or accepted by God begin to understand the truth – the truth Naaman experienced, the leper healed by Jesus experienced and told others about: The truth that ALL are loved, ALL are accepted, ALL are welcome.

Remember: Every time one of God’s children is excluded from human community, from relationship with God, from sharing his or her unique gifts, evil is afoot. And whenever we see it in the Bible, God steps in to say, “No.” “You ARE included. You ARE a part of God’s family. You ARE accepted for who you are.” Every time. Each and every time. Don’t you forget it. It applies to you and me … and it applies to everyone in our community who isn’t here yet, but will be in the future.

And you might mention it to someone you know who needs to hear it. Something amazing might happen! Amen.

Mission / Vision Statements

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I have always had a love/hate relationship with mission / vision statements. When they are done well, are easy to understand, and are relevant to the group of folks who created it, they can be a real help in accomplishing that which said group is called to accomplish. But when they are not done well, they can become vapid and meaningless, calling people to nothing at all.

I've walked with congregations three times through the development of new mission/vision statements. The first was Ottawa River UMC in Toledo. We spent a great deal of time in discernment, created a wonderfully catchy statement, and then I was moved two months later. That church later merged with another and its mission was subsumed by other priorities. The statement accomplished little.

The next time I had the chance to be involved in this was at King Ave. UMC here in Columbus. We spent some time in 2001 developing a new statement (which I think has since been replaced or modified). It was held up and proclaimed by the clergy and lay leadership of the church and the congregation lived into it quite well.

The latest opportunity has been here at Church of the Good Shepherd, United Methodist. We spent the last quarter of 2008 working hard on discernment. We spent time building a timeline of the church's ministry and celebrating all of the strengths that have developed in our 40 year history (The church is younger than I am!). We spent time considering the present situation of the church and our surrounding community. And we spent time looking toward the future considering what we think God may be calling us to do.

We then had a 1/2 day retreat for church leaders to walk through all of the notes and memories that had been produced in that process and narrowed down priorities based on them. Then a small group was appointed to take all of that information and create a statement that articulated the process we'd been through.

It's too early to say whether this mission/vision statement will be a helpful tool for us here at Good Shepherd, but we certainly intend for it to be. As of January, 2009, here is our mission / vision statement:

The Mission and Vision of
Church of the Good Shepherd, United Methodist
Columbus, Ohio

Our vision is to live out the presence of Jesus in a diverse and thriving urban neighborhood.

And we do so in this way:

· We ensure an atmosphere within the church which fosters innovation, pride, risk-taking, inclusion, diversity, faith, love and acceptance.

· We provide creative opportunities for our church family to serve others through worship, witness and mission.

· We establish, update, and maintain community relationships that result in partnerships for ministry.

· We empower church staff and leadership to anticipate and meet the needs and challenges of a multi-racial, culturally diverse community of all ages and lifestyles.

· We evaluate ministries annually and new directions are consistent with the needs and priorities of our church family and our community.

Silencing the Demons

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This is the text of the sermon preached on February 8, 2009 at Church of the Good Shepherd, United Methodist.

“Silencing the Demons”
Isaiah 40:21-31; Mark 1:29-39
Fifth Sunday of Epiphany, “B”
February 8, 2009

“And Jesus cast out many demons, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew him.” (Mark 1:34)

Oh, dear – what shall we do with this? Demons? Really? We got them last week, too, remember? Jesus cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue who interrupted him. What is this about? We just don’t think in those terms now. Does that mean we set aside each passage that mentions demons? If not, then what do we do? Does anyone else get stuck with images from The Exorcist in their head when they hear passages like that? Anybody else witness a tantrum from a youngster in a public place and think to themselves, “Well, I’m glad MY child isn’t like little Damien there?” Yet here we are with demons showing up in Marks gospel over and over, and yet the concept is almost a joke to us now. What to do? I’d like to walk through a possible interpretational lens for us to use which I hope will give a way forward that’s helpful.

How one deals with the subject depends greatly on how one understands the role of the Bible in one’s life of faith. There are some who take a more literal approach and say that since the Bible talks about demons as evil beings or evil supernatural forces that take possession of people, then that is how we need to see them too. And so those things that happen in life that are clearly outside God’s intentions for the created order, and those people who do things that are clearly in opposition to God’s intention, are being controlled by demons.

The way to deal with them is to confront them directly, perhaps even perform an exorcism. There are many people of faith who take that approach. There are members of the clergy who perform exorcisms. I know of at least one United Methodist pastor, now retired, who claimed to have exorcised any number of demons. And there are people of faith who say they have been cleansed of demons and have a changed life to show for it. That’s one view.

Another view is to understand the Bible as containing an ultimate truth for our lives, a foundational story about who God is and what it means to know God, filled with literature and metaphor that helps us understand God and our relationship with the Divine. Folks who adhere to this view would see the biblical talk of demons to be truth coming through metaphor than through literal reality. They would see such stories as pointing to the reality of evil in the world and would understand our role as people of faith to be one of facing down that evil, confronting it in our own lives and in society and in the world. You should not be surprised to hear that’s the view I take.[1]

In this view, demons are not actual beings or supernatural forces that inhabit others, but they represent real forces at work in the world. One might define “demon,” then, as a representation of that force which can move us away from God’s intention for humanity. In this definition, there is much meaning for our lives, for we all must face down this sort of demon in life.

Today’s gospel lesson gives us a glance at how this works in the ministry of Jesus. The writer of mark tells us simply that Jesus healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. In the time of Jesus, almost anything that might push a person out of the mainstream, perhaps a disease, perhaps odd behavior, perhaps crazy ideas, could be referred to as a demon. And though we have more sophisticated, and usually more helpful, ways of looking at such things now, in a certain sense one could see that evil could be at work in such situations.

Diseases that were misunderstood and untreatable caused the person who was afflicted to be cast out from society. They were “unclean,” or “impure.” Separated from community, it was hard to live a complete and full life. And sometimes that separation meant great suffering indeed. So Jesus would heal – and the recipient of that miracle would not only be better, but would be restored into the community. In the presence of Jesus, that which has been set aside or cast out is brought close to God again. In today’s gospel lesson, it’s Simon’s mother in law who is restored to her place of honor in the home. And Mark says many others were healed and many “demons” were cast out. And those who had been set apart, set aside, cast out, disenfranchised, removed from society, were reconnected.

As Jesus goes through his ministry, we see this again and again. A man is ostracized for odd behavior and sent to live on the fringes of a village. Jesus casts out the “demon” and he is returned to fullness of life in community.

Others surround Jesus, questioning his authority and debating with him, forming their own secret, evil plans for doing away with him. Suddenly someone brings a child who the gospel writer describes as being afflicted with a “demon.” Jesus heals him, and the gathering political storm around him is calmed.

A man is brought to him on a stretcher by friends and Jesus both heals and forgives the man – restoring him to a right relationship with God. Jesus suggests that it is the power of God in their midst which does this, not he himself.

Even with the disciples – when Peter claims later to know who Jesus is Jesus suggests that Peter is not seeing with God’s eyes but with human eyes. And Jesus says, at that moment, “Get behind me Satan.”

Over and over and over again. It is clear to me that when our gospel writers talk about “demons,” about the force of evil in the world; they are talking about much more than simply “evil supernatural beings that take over humans.” It is the gathering opposition to Jesus. It is the injustice of banishment or exile for those with illnesses that can’t be understood by first century knowledge. It is the almost deadly separation from the community endured by those who didn’t fit neat religious definitions of “holy.” It is the failure to see and know and act upon the presence of God in their midst.

For Jesus, casting out those demons means simply being who he is in the face of the opposition. It is setting right an injustice. It is restoring to community and to faith those who’ve been excluded. It is proclaiming the presence of God in our midst. It means not fearing to speak the name of the evil that is apparent – naming it and working against it.

Well and good – but what might it look like in real life?

**

I remember working closely with a doctoral student while I was doing campus ministry. Tessa had made the difficult decision to leave her PhD program and then became just one more person in the multitude of folks labeled “ABD” (All But Dissertation). If you have done graduate work or know people who have, then you know that even getting to that point represents a tremendous amount of work. But for my friend Tessa, working in the lab where her research was based, and most importantly, working for the person that was her primary doctoral advisor, finishing her doctoral work became one of those demons we must face down in life from time to time.

The lab was eating up more and more of her energy, her mind, and her emotional state. The demands placed on her were unusually severe (even in the already severe atmosphere of an advanced molecular biology lab), forcing her further and further away from her family, her new husband, and her church. The only positive feedback she received was when she, out of necessity, temporarily adopted the fairly ruthless outlook on life and work embodied by her supervisor.

Enough was enough. Tessa said to me, “In order to complete this work I will have to become a person I don’t like and I will not do that.” So she put in her notice and left the program. Some days later, we communicated by e-mail and I again expressed my concern over the grief and turmoil she was enduring. She replied, simply, “Please don’t be sorry for me. I smiled at the lab today for the first time in months.”

She had named the demon – a ruthless, competitive outlook on career advancement that was taking her away from what God had made her to be – faced it down and rendered it silent in her life.

**
I have had the privilege of walking with a number of folks through the part of their life journey which included facing down the demon called “addiction.” If you have ever faced this one yourself, or you are close to someone who has, you know how it can change a person; how it can take them far away from what God has created them to be; how it can turn even the gentlest soul into a violent and, well, evil human being. I have always been intrigued by the way Alcoholics Anonymous deals with this. Talk about facing down your demon and sending it away. Here are the “12 Steps:”

1. Admit you are powerless over alcohol – life had become unmanageable.
2. Come to believe that a power greater than yourself could restore you to sanity.
3. Make a decision to turn your will and your life over to God as you understand God.
4. Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourself.
5. Admit to God, to yourself, and to another human being the exact nature of your wrongs.
6. Become entirely ready to have God entirely remove these defects of character.
7. Humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings.
8. Make a list of all the persons you have harmed, and become willing to make amends.
9. Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continue to take personal inventory and when you are wrong promptly admit it.
11. Seek through prayer and meditation to increase your conscious contact with God, as you understand God, seeking only to know God’s will for your life.
12. Carry this message to other alcoholics and practice these principles in all your affairs.

Such power for transformation and healing! Notice that facing down the demon named “addiction” here involves personal healing, a renewed connection with God, repairing relationship, and seeking to share that healing and connection with God to others. That sounds an awful lot like what Jesus was up to most of the time.

**

In the last 2 ½ years, you have heard me talk a lot about the need for all of us – not just at Good Shepherd – but everyone all over the world – to seek to heal and restore the unjust and broken relationships across the racial divide. In fact, racism may be one of the most pernicious demons for us to deal with because it can so easily make us think it’s gone just by everyone using good manners. Politeness is only the first step in cross-racial healing.

Did any of you see the story this week on Good Morning America that dealt with this? Representative John Lewis, of Georgia, was a freedom rider with Martin Luther King, Jr. He took part in non-violent protests all over the segregated south as the civil rights movement gathered strength. In many places, he was attacked and beaten. In particular, in Rock Hill South Carolina in 1961, he took part in a protest at a lunch counter – where he and a number of others sought to be served at the white counter, though they were black. They were shoved out by a mob, which gathered in strength. At the bus station, the 21 year old Lewis was severely beaten by a young white man close to the same age.

That young white man, Elwin Wilson, who later joined the KKK, tells the story of tying up a black baby doll in his house and hanging it up as though it were a lynching, and even says that as late as the 1980s, when his parents had died and were buried in a cemetery where black persons had also been buried, he tried to get his parents’ bodies moved because he didn’t want them in the same space with black persons. Elwin Wilson could be any number of persons not only in the south, but throughout the country.

Two things happened to Elwin Wilson. He was asked one day at the lunch counter by a friend, “If you died today, where would you go?” He says he didn’t like the honest answer he had to give to that question. The other thing that happened to him was watching the inauguration of an African-American man as the 44th president. Those two things moved him to do something – he began apologizing all over Rock Hill, South Carolina, for all that he had done and said in the name of racism. And he wrote to Representative John Lewis and asked to meet with him.

This past week, on live television, Mr. Wilson apologized to Rep. Lewis for what he had done, told him he’d seen the error of his ways, and told him he now believes that everybody’s the same – no matter their color. Representative Lewis took Mr. Wilson’s hand, pulled him close for a hug, and said, 48 years after being severely beaten by the first that that white man’s hand had made, “I forgive you.” I’m pretty sure I didn’t see anything happen there that looked like an exorcism. But I’m also pretty sure that Elwin Wilson faced down his demon and banished it from his life. {A link to the video from GMA is at the end of this post}

**

Do you get the picture? Each time we are face to face with a force in the world that seeks to push us away from becoming or being the person God desires for us to be; each time we are face to face with a force that seeks to exclude or dominate a group of people in society; each time we are face to face with a force that opposes goodness, truth and beauty – we are called to silence those demons, not with force, but with love, with a commitment to live our true calling as Children of God, with a proclamation – in word or in deed – that God is present in that moment.

I do not suggest that it’s easy. I do mean to suggest that good comes from naming those fears, those evils, and standing firm in the knowledge of the goodness and mercy of God.

Isaiah proclaimed to the Israelites – facing down the demons of discouragement, despair and doubt while in exile – ‘Don’t you remember what you’ve been told and taught from the beginning? Don’t you remember who this God is that we worship? The One who spread the heavens like a curtain? The One who brought out the host of stars and named each one? The Creator of the ends of the earth? That God? Remember?’

Isaiah implores the people of God to face down discouragement, despair and doubt: ‘That God of ours hasn’t gone anywhere. God isn’t tired or confused. No, this God of ours, star-naming and heavens-creating, will be present with you … will renew your strength as when you were young … wait upon God … expect God … and you will run and run and run the race of life … and you won’t fall down, and you won’t tire out! You might even take wing and soar like and eagle as you experience a life shot-through with Divine, creative power!’

We each have our own demons to face. They may be at work or school; they might have something to do with our self-image, or prejudice or societal injustice, or chronic illness, or depression … you name it for yourself!

But name them you must!

Name them and enter the battle to become the person God is calling you to be, to help our neighborhood, our community, our society, to become what God intends them to be.

Name them!

Invoke the real presence, love, mercy, and justice of God in the mist of them.

And know that when you come to the end of the light you’ve been given in life, and the demon voices in your life are trying to push you away from continuing in your journey of faith, and the twin demons of fear and uncertainty have you afraid to take a step because you don’t know if, when stepping out into the dark, you might fall into an abyss … know that one of two things will happen: Either your feet will find solid ground or you will be taught to fly.[2]

[1] Background understanding of demons owes much to Paul S. Minear’s entry, “Demons,” in the Oxford Companion to the Bible. © 1996, Oxford University Press.

[2] Adapted from a benediction used by Dr. Heather Murray Elkins.

ABC News: Man Asks Entire Town for Forgiveness for Racism

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Ten Things on Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T14:42:00.005-05:00

Ten things running through my head as I watched the inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th president:

1. While I have no desire to belittle George W. Bush, I am relieved beyond words that we now have a president who considers rhetoric to be a worthy art.

2. I remembered back to my first semester in seminary when I took "History of the African American Religious Experience" and had my eyes opened to the anger and frustration that many of my black sisters and brothers in Christ had carried with them for generations.

3. I remembered that at that same seminary, all the executives except one were white and the entire custodial staff were black.

4. I remembered the lay leader at the church I served in Batavia telling me that the contractor who built the church building in the early 20th century was also a known leader in the KKK in Clermont County.

5. I was offended at the blatantly Christocentric prayer offered by Rick Warren. To my mind, this was an opportunity for someone in the evangelical wing of the church to offer a non-sectarian, multifaith prayer.

6. I was thrilled that Joseph Lowery quoted James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing." That hymn has been running in my head all day.

7. I remembered our son telling me at dinner before we moved to north Columbus (and thus into the Columbus City School district) that it would be nice to go to a school where there were more than just white people around. "Because that's the way the world is," he said.

8. I remembered hearing Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech for the first time in elementary school - with the sound on a 45rpm record and pictures in the form of a slide show! :-)

9. I recalled a recent conversation with an African American parishioner who told me he still couldn't believe Mr. Obama had been elected. In fact, he said, they were so sure it was impossible for him to win in November that they had voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary.

10. My children will never know a world in which it seems impossible that an African American could be elected to the most important job in the country.

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts ... but those are my top ten right now!

Anti-Gay Violence in Columbus

2009-01-14T13:23:00.004-05:00

Check out this news story here: http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/01/14/attack.html?sid=102

There are a lot of things in life that make me angry, but probably nothing more than senseless violence born of bigotry. Here a gay couple is simply walking down the street and they are attacked. Like many victims of anti-gay violence, they decide not to make a big deal of it and try to go on with life. Then this week, their SUV gets torched, so they finally come forward.

I simply can not wrap my mind around the violent harrassment of people who may be different from the majority. What, exactly, is broken inside that creates the desire to do violence to that which may be different? Which synapses have not connected?

I don't know this couple, but I hope they have a network of strong support so that they can move through this time in life successfully. And I will be praying for all the gay couples that I do know, as this dark little fear that lingers in the back of their minds ("someday that could be us") resurfaces and disrupts life.

And I pray - and continue to act each day - in the hope that such bigotry, fear and violence will be banished from our lives.

Karen's Big Adventure

2009-01-14T13:06:00.005-05:00

Last Wednesday, we had the good fortune to be able to share dinner with Karen Reider and her oldest son, Aiden. The next day, they left on a year long adventure - one of hope and healing; one of suspense and surprise; one of growth and challenge.

I have posted the link on the left to her blog - My Attempt at RTV - but she has also just posted the first video segment of their trip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYOfmqXehk4.

Karen - we send you love and prayers!

Replay This: Ditch Instant Replay

2008-12-15T19:44:00.004-05:00

In my ongoing attempt to deal with the critical issues of our day ...

After considering this for a long time, I've come to the conclusion that the NFL should do away with the instant replay for officials. You heard me.

In the Pittsburgh - Baltimore game of December 14, 2008, the game was decided on an official review and the overturning of a call made on the field. With less than a minute left in the game, Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes (Go Bucks!) caught what looked like a touchdown pass to give his team the lead. But while his feet were in the endzone and he clearly had caught the ball, when he came down the ball landed just short of the goal line. The two officials who were looking right down the goal line ruled that the ball should be marked on about the 6-inch line - short of a touchdown. The rule is that the ball has to cross the plane of the goal line. Two officials looking right at it ruled that it hadn't done so.

The play was reviewed automatically since there were under 2 minutes to play in the game. Now, the standard for overturning the call on the field is that there must be "indisputable video evidence" that leads to a different conclusion than what has been ruled in the game. Of course, the definition of "indisputable video evidence" is itself in dispute. The replays indicate that MAYBE the tip of the ball touched the plane of the goal line. But it certainly isn't indisputable. And if what you've got on video is a "maybe" weighed against the two officials who were looking directly at it, then it seems to me that the ruling on the field should stand.

To top it off, the referee's explanation of the ruling didn't even mention the ball crossing the plane of the goal line - which was the whole reason for review.

Pittsburgh was awarded the touchdown and thus won the game and might end up claiming home field advantage throughout the playoffs because they won. If the call hadn't gone their way, there was still time to either kick a field goal to tie the game or run a play to go for the win - and Pittsburgh's offensive line and running backs are solid so there's a good chance that play would have been a run into the endzone for that touchdown.

Instead, the game, and perhaps a decisive edge in the playoffs, both hang on a highly questionable use of the instant replay.

This follows two different calls earlier in the season in which the replay official misinterpreted the rule book while making a ruling about a call on the field.

And it comes in the midst of a trend toward NFL officials blowing their whistles to stop a play and then giving each other mystified looks wondering what call they should make until finally one of them makes a ruling just so there's something for the replay official to rule on.

I say to the NFL: Stop it! Review the officials yourselves and fire the ones who get calls wrong. Give your officials tests so that they know what the ding-dang rule book says in the first place. Instant replay has created officials who are tentative, uncertain and mediocre.

Sure, mistakes will occur on occasion. They appear to be happening with the same frequency with instant replay anyway. Let the players play and the officials officiate and hold them all to standards of excellence so that mistakes are minimized.

The game should be won or lost by the players. It should not be muddled, distorted, delayed, slowed down, or decided by the officials.

Call me crazy if you want to (I've been called worse!): Ditch the instant replay rule. We'll all be better off.

Gil - I'll Miss You!

2008-12-12T13:28:00.006-05:00

Well, it happened. I suppose it was inevitable. I mean - it's been ten years for the guy and I imagine he is tired of the routine.

William Petersen, who plays Gil Grissom on CSI (the original one; not CSI: The Beautiful One [Miami] or CSI: The Bad One [New York]), is leaving the show. We've known this for some time, but last night was the episode in which Grissom announces to his staff that he's leaving. I admit - I teared up.

I have no doubt I'll keep watching the show because it's written so intelligently and I have always loved Laurence Fishbourne, who is coming on the show as a new character who will ostensibly replace Grissom.

But there is something about Gil that I'll miss terribly. Partly, it's the witty remarks in the opening just before we hear the opening bars of "Who are you?" by the Who.

Partly, it's the character being so well-read - philosophy, religion, Shakespeare - and his ability to deliver the right literary observation with just the right tone and texture.

Partly, it's his ability to find the humanity in characters we might often simply dismiss as evil or immoral. (I mean, who would get to know someone like Lady Heather and assume one could find some real human qualities there? Or become her friend?)

Partly, it's his penchant for off-kilter, but completely true observations about life. (Remember the episode in which the whole staff ends up investigating a strange murder at a brothel? Sara asks Gil if he's ever visited a brothel. He says, "I've never paid for sex ... it just seems so ... bleak." He could have said it's so ... wrong; immoral; risky; sad; oppressive. No - "bleak." Perfect.)

Partly, it's his blind spots - the difficulty communicating on a personal level with the staff; the near inability to be in touch with his emotions in key situations; his reticence to share much of himself with those closest to him.

Partly, it's his steadiness and comfort with the role of being an "anchor" for those around him - even with his failings.

So, I'll miss you, Gil. Do come back and visit from time to time.

Those blogs you see on the left

2008-12-01T19:39:00.004-05:00

You will notice that like many other bloggers, I have a list of blogs posted here that I encourage you to check out. They cover a wide range of interests and are on the list for a variety of reasons. Some are friends, some are folks I don't know but appreciate what they have to say.

I especially want to point you to the blog I just added to the list: my attempt at RTV, written by Karen Reider, life partner of the late singer/songwriter Katie Reider who died much too young this past summer. Karen and her boys are trying to pick up the pieces after Katie's death and this blog allows Karen to share the journey with us all. It's a gift to all of us who knew Katie and know Karen, and it's a gift to anyone who has lost someone they hold dear.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-28T17:48:00.008-05:00

Here is the menu from the Wallick / Van Sant 2008 Thanksgiving Feast:

Herb and Lemon Roast Turkey with shallot and white wine gravy*
Herb and Onion Stuffing*
Wild Mushroom and Spinach Stuffing*
Spiced Cranberries with Zinfandel
Whipped Yukon Gold Potatoes with Fennel and Rosemary Butter*
Traditional Green Bean Casserole
Traditional Sweet Potato Casserole
Citrus Glazed Carrots*
Green Onion and Pepper Buttermilk Biscuits*
Mixed Greens Salad
Persimmon Pudding - two varieties
Pumpkin Pie
Butterscotch Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie
Pecan Pie
Cherry Pie
Pumpkin Creme Brule*

*Indicates recipe is from the 2008 Bon Appetit Thanksgiving issue. The cranberry recipe is from the 2001 Bon Appetit Thanksgiving issue.

AND - we did not have to call the Fire Department! Woo Hoo!

Hoping for a Different Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T21:47:00.004-05:00

What you see here is how Thanksgiving 2007 began. Not good.

For a number of years now, we have spent Thanksgiving with Linda's sister and family, mostly at their house because it was easier to get to for most of the relatives. My sister in law and I have created a tradition of comparing notes on each year's Bon Appetit Thanksgiving issue, picked out our favorite recipes and created a feast for 10 - 20 folks. We LOVE doing it.

Last year was the first Thanksgiving in my sister-in-law's new house, so she was ready to have folks in and show the house and cook the traditional meal in her new kitchen (which, by the way, is spectacular!).

As is our usual pattern, we drove to Lawrenceburg, Indiana on Wednesday so we could settle in and begin making preparations. My wife, Linda, is the baker of the family, so she usually makes the desserts. Well, her brother-in-law, who simply MUST have a mincemeat pie each year, was a bit downtrodden because Linda's mom was past the time she could really do any cooking, so it looked like there would be no mincemeat. Linda and her sister decided to take a stab at the mincemeat themselves. So Wednesday evening, they put it together and baked it.

For whatever reason, and despite the fact that we are all experienced in the kitchen, no one thought about the fact that a mincemeat pie these days is basically a fruit pie with alcohol in it. You know what happens with fruit pies in the oven - they run over. But we didn't think about that. Everyone was just thrilled there would be a mincemeat pie after all (and by 'everyone' I mean to say Linda's brother-in-law).

The next morning at breakfast, Linda turned her sister's oven on to preheat so she could begin making the other pies for the Thanksgiving feast, including the traditional Wallick Butterscotch Pie (about which I will post separately). Linda trotted off to the shower as her sister and I finished breakfast. Suddenly, she looked up and said, "Um - I don't think there are supposed to be flames," and then ran over to turn off the oven. The mincemeat runoff, which included some brandy, had ignited.

Well, no big deal, right? You turn off the oven, the fire dies, you clean the oven, then start again. Not so fast. After letting the oven cool down, she noticed that the glass cooktop was still warm. She looked in the little crack between the cooktop and the oven and saw an orange glow. She called me over to look at it - "It's not supposed to do that, is it?"

"No. No it's not."

Linda's brother-in-law comes from a long line of firefighters in Indiana and their rule is, "If you think there's a fire, call the professionals. Don't mess around with it yourself." It's a good rule. So, my sister-in-law, just six weeks into living in her new house in a new development, placed a call to the non-emergency number for the fire and police. "We just need someone to come and take a look at this. No need to send everyone. No need to use the sirens. Just come have a look."

Well, they came - pumper, life squad, fire chief, sheriff - they all came - with sirens and lights.

It was as we suspected - the oven fire had ignited the burner elements and they were still burning - low, but burning. They took the oven outside and got to work. The result is the picture you see above.

Now, the real crisis: There was a Thanksgiving dinner to prepare! Without an oven! There would be no pies - except the mincemeat (now affectionately referred to as "that damn mincemeat pie"). But could we somehow make everything else? We took stock: Microwave; 2 crock pots. Oh, boy - what to do. Then my sister-in-law remembered - a relative had passed on her old roaster. It worked, but was it big enough for the turkey? We decided to give it a go.

We had to wrap bungee cords around the top of the roaster to get it to stay on so the turkey would roast, but we did it. So, with a 40-year old roaster held together with bungee cords, 2 crock pots and a microwave we created a feast to remember.

This year, we put a cookie sheet under the 'damn mincemeat pie' while it bakes.

Duh.

Advent and Christmas: Less Crazy; More Meaningful

2008-11-21T15:52:00.002-05:00

This is my December church newsletter article.

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes have trouble keeping my head together and my heart focused on God during Advent and Christmas. Mostly it’s because of all the noise and clutter and busy-ness. But it’s also because I often don’t take time to set my priorities before plunging into the season. Here’s a little list I developed a few years ago with some tips on making the season less crazy and more meaningful. Hope it’s helpful for you.

1. SLOW DOWN. When you find yourself anxious, harried, angry or frustrated because of the demands of the season, resolve to take 30 minutes THAT DAY to be kind to yourself. Take a bubble bath. Listen to music. Take a walk at Sharon Woods Metro Park. Drive around your neighborhood and look at Christmas decorations. Everything that’s got you uptight will still be there when you’re done, but you’ll have caught your breath and you’ll be ready to face them anew.

2. Consider giving alternative gifts to those who are on your list who might appreciate such things. A check in that person’s honor to Habitat for Humanity, Heifer Project, International Child Care, the United Methodist Children’s Home, or any other worthy cause, will not only save you shopping time but also make a difference in the world.

3. Try adjusting your thinking a bit the way we often try to do during Lent. In fact, Advent originally began as a “little Lent” – a time of spiritual preparation in advance of an important day on the Christian calendar. Why not pick up a devotional book when you’re out shopping? Take a few minutes to pause, reflect and pray each day. Maybe that’s a habit you’ll carry into the New Year!

4. Help the children in your life understand why you are doing some of these things. It’s a sneaky way to tell them about the real “reason for the season.”

5. If some of the rituals you have observed for years during this season no longer hold meaning for you, then stop it! Start something new; or – just reduce the commitments on your calendar. Why keep doing things you don’t want to do when we all have too much to do during this time anyway?

6. Remember that it is O.K. if you do not feel abundant joy and happiness during the holidays. In fact, many persons find themselves depressed. There can be many reasons for this, but quite often it’s a sense of loss of some kind – either the loss of a loved on or the loss of some other important part of life. If you usually have a ‘Blue Christmas,’ that’s O.K. Find someone you trust that you can share your feelings with. And remember it’s O.K. to have moments of encouragement and celebration even in the midst of loss and grief.

7. If you tend to feel disorganized and rushed during this season, try sitting down for a few minutes and organizing your thoughts, your plans, your activities and your celebrations. Often just having a game plan during a busy time can reduce stress.

8. Repeat the following phrase to yourself as often as you feel it is necessary: “I was not created simply to buy more stuff. There is more to life than that.”

9. Be gentle with the children who are around you. When we grown ups are stressed out, the kids around us often are the ones who suffer.

10.Come to church! (I suppose I get paid to say that, don’t I?)

The Booby Question

2008-11-20T07:36:00.005-05:00

Later today, I will speak at the funeral service for an elderly member of the church who died suddenly last weekend. Since she was the only member of her family who belonged to the congregation I serve, her daughter decided to have her own pastor and church handle the service. I'll just say a few words on behalf of Good Shepherd during the sharing time.

One of the things I LOVE to do at funerals is get people laughing. There is something truly healing about a well told story, with a well understood twist, which highlights a quirky part of the deceased's personality. Members at Good Shepherd know this about me, expect it, and look forward to it (I think). But since I'm not on my home turf today, here is a story I will NOT tell at the service for Jan Crusoe:

Just after I began my tenure at Good Shepherd, one of the saints of the church took me around to meet the folks on the "shut in" list. He planned for us to have only a quick visit - just a few minutes to introduce me. Soon after that, I scheduled additional visits so I could really get to know these folks. One of my first visits was with Jan. I was thrilled to learn that she was talkative and articulate. She had graduated from Michigan State University at a time when she was one of a small number of women on the campus. She was also an animal lover. She explained to me that she had joined a wildlife preservation organization (I think it was the World Wildlife Fund) and that in return for her membership gift, they sent her a small stuffed creature that represented an endangered animal. She pointed out to me several of these on her shelf. Then she asked a question that has burned in my brain ever since:

"You wanna see my booby?"

I'm not sure what it looks like when a new pastor, who is just getting to know his parishioner, is utterly and completely shocked, surprised, flummoxed and mortified - but that's the look I had on my face. Jan cackled uncontrollably, reached beside her chair, and pulled out ... another small stuffed animal - a bird - the Blue-Footed Booby - a tropical and sub-tropical sea bird which lives near the Pacific Ocean.

"Isn't he cute? He just came in the mail."

I'm sure it took most of the day for my blood pressure and pulse to return to normal. Over the two years I've been at Good Shepherd, Jan continued to enjoy yanking my chain. But nothing was ever quite as effective as the 'booby question.'

We'll miss you, Jan. Rest in peace.

A Fresh Start

2008-11-19T21:51:00.002-05:00

Hi all - Some of you may recall that I have tried this blogging thing before, but couldn't keep up. I've decided to give it another go. Stay tuned!

You can find my previous blogging attempt at: www.obthmu.blogspot.com.