Jesus Might Have Been a Liberal

I have been known to be accused of leaning to the political left, but really I am just a moderate. Now Jesus…I am not sure, but I think Jesus might have been a liberal and maybe even a Democrat. He didn’t seem to be much of a Republican “Why do you think that?” You may ask. Well just look at the kinds of causes he championed: Health care, gun control, anti-violence, and environmentalism. He sure sounds like a liberal democrat to me.

Universal Health Care:

Jesus had an amazing health care program that covered most everyone we read about who needed care. I mean, he even brought back a couple of guys from the dead. Now that is a liberal universal health care policy if I ever heard of one. Can you imagine how much damage that did to the enterprising funeral industry? If he messed up the free market, he couldn’t have been a Republican.

Gun Control:

Well perhaps we had better say weapon control since they didn’t have guns back in those days. He did seem to want to limit the amount of swords his disciples had around at the time of his arrest. And he disapprovingly told Peter to stop using his sword and that it was a way to get himself killed. Sounds like a democrat to me.

Anti-Violence:

Some might say that this could include war; others would argue that it was only personal violence. But pretty much everyone would agree that Jesus was a big proponent of turning the other cheek in the face of violence as opposed to fighting and responding in kind to the slurs and violence that came against him. Liberal propaganda.

Environmentalist Agenda:

On more than one occasion Jesus’ followers were known to pick up food left behind at huge picnics and gatherings. This demonstrates that Jesus must have had a concern for the environment. What is it that Rush says about these environmentalists? Wackos?!

So that about sums it up. Here are four big liberal agenda items that Jesus seemed to care about. Yep. He must have been a liberal. I sure hope those people over at FOX News don’t start dissing the good Lord over his political agenda.

Wow. My cheek is hurting. Must be my tongue sticking in it.

Peace,

Leon

They Baptized Jesse Taylor

It was early on Sunday morning when I woke up with the Johnnie Russell song in my mind The Baptism of Jesse Taylor. Talk about a blast from the past. There it was flowing like a rippling stream across my barely conscious brain. Good grief. I hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet. My eyes weren’t even open. Why that song popped into my head almost before I was conscious is still a mystery. I have no idea when I might have heard it last. And I didn’t even know who wrote or sang it until I washed the cobwebs out of my brain and with a strong cup of coffee and did a Google search.

(Parenthetically, the true effects of coffee are an illusion for me since I drink decaf due to a genetic heart disease. But it makes for a better story to say “I washed the cobwebs out of my brain with a strong cup of coffee.”)

In any case I found the words of the chorus running through my mind. “They baptized Jesse Taylor in Cedar Creek last Sunday. Jesus gained a soul the devil lost a good right arm.” Then I stopped. And a question began to form in my mind. Why did Jesus get a nebulous, non-corporal soul out of the deal when the devil lost a hard-living, cheating, drinking, fighting, complete with a body human being?

Maybe in my half-awake state I saw something not at all intended in the song, but why did Jesus not also gain a body? If the devil lost a good workman, did Jesus not potentially gain a good workman? Perhaps it is the unconscious view that permeates our religious thinking (even our civil religion) that God is primarily interested in saving souls. Why do we, too often, fail to think of God’s grace as transformation in action. God is not about saving souls. God is about bringing humans into communion with Godness!

I thought back to when I was a kid hearing people who said, “Given the choice between offering a starving man a piece of bread or the bread of life, we should offer them the eternal bread of life so when they die their souls will be saved.” I think that is a false set up and displays a lack of understanding of how our creator cares for the whole person. I remember watching someone pull a 12-14 year old kid out of a line in McDonalds, asking him if he was saved, forcing him to repeat a sinner’s prayer and then asking him where he would go if he died right now. The poor kid evidently get the right answer (to heaven) probably because he was no more saved after the prayer than the cars in the parking lot. But the “evangelist” continued to pressure him until he gave the right answer. Off to the side a group of people were chomping down on their burgers and fries, watching in admiration as their friend led this boy’s soul to Jesus. As soon as the kid said every thing he was supposed to say, the magic formula worked and his soul was saved.

This kind of thinking nuances our words and the way we think about salvation. It moves us to enter a dualistic world where physicality is not considered good, but our souls are that part of us which are really important. It is a denial of the importance of matter But along with Saint Athanasius let me say that I too have been saved by matter. God so loved the created (physical) order that he entered it, and provided a way for us to have even our very bodies be part of the salvation experience; hence the resurrection. Furthermore a human body, albeit a glorified one, sits at the right hand of the Father. Sounds like whole persons are pretty important to God!

I am glad I have not been charged with re-writing the afore-mentioned song. I just can’t get the thing to both rhyme and have sound theological content. Well Johnny Russell was song writer, not a theologian. And now you know why I am not a member of the Grand Old Opry.

Peace,

Leon

Christ is Risen…and So Am I

Christ is Risen.

It was nearly midnight and I was staring into a dimly lit sanctuary. My sense of anticipation had been building all day. No, more than just today, anticipation had been building all year, intensifying during the Lenten season. For forty days, all during Lent and into Holy Week, God had been nudging me.

Sometimes when I would read scripture, the Word would be alive and filled with hope for my life. Not that I would read a passage and say “That is exactly what God is saying to me right now!” It was more like, “This reveals the nature of God in his interaction with humanity I am part of that humanity so I can trust God to interact with me in a similar way.” At points along the way, I became more deeply aware of my need for repentance from sin in my life.

The last few years had been brutal. My wife, Lena, died in January of 1999. By October, 2002, my role on the pastoral staff in the church I had served for 12 years came to an end. Both these events shook my life to the core. I lost the ability to dream, and wondered if God had simply placed me on the shelf like a child’s forgotten toy. I wondered if others in my life had forgotten me too.

But, entering this Lenten season, something was stirring inside me. I felt alive! God was always on the move, but now I felt him in ways I had not experienced in many years. I examined different aspects of my life and felt him nudging me to look behind the piles of rubble I found. As I picked up old stones and broken bricks, I saw ways in which I had allowed my self doubt to become a loss of confidence in God. The resulting attitude was “whatever!” While I still believed and I still prayed and I still desperately desired to follow God in faithfulness, I just couldn’t shake the thought that I couldn’t make a difference. I have been set aside.

At the bottom of the rubble pile, I realized I needed to repent before God. It was simply wrong of me to hold on to a sense of failure, or fear, or just to say “I can’t.” I held my sin before God and the more I repented, the more I felt him bringing new life. I wondered if Samson felt this way as he realized his strength was returning. And though I had no plans to pull the whole temple down on my head, it felt so good to feel alive again!

That night, the candles gently illuminated the icons in the room. I could make out the altar at the front, where the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord would soon be held. I stared hard, drinking in every aspect of that dimly lit room. So inviting. So welcoming. In the silence, someone came up and spoke gently to me. I was comforted, but I wanted only to drink in what was before me.

Come unto me all you who are tired and burdened. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn from me. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

On the previous two evenings, this room had been filled with people singing, praying, reading scriptures and prostrating themselves before God. I love the Holy Friday evening service. Such depth and beauty is indescribable and the hauntingly beautiful songs touched me at the core of my being. Like attending a funeral where you say goodbye to a loved one, I found myself bidding adieu to parts of my own soul. I said goodbye to hurt and woundedness. I said goodbye to despair. I said goodbye to the idea that God had set me aside and forgotten about me. That night, as we read the story of Ezekiel’s dry bones filling the valley, I was filled with hope that my dry bones could live again as the breath of God swept over me anew.

During those few quiet moments before the beginning of the paschal celebration, I stood in the dark and looked upon holiness.

God was there.

And, in the next hours, as we entered the awe and wonder of the resurrection, I realized that, I along with our Lord Jesus, had been resurrected.

Peace,

Leon

Obama Took a Potty break During the Pledge of Allegience (and several other important issues ABC missed)

www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/obama-took-a-potty-break_b_97516.htmlBuzz up!

I must give credit to Frank Schaeffer for the following post on his blog at Huffington Post. It is so rib-tickling funny that I was laughing out loud as I read it. I wanted to share it with you. While Schaeffer is an Obama supporter, his point on cheap politics (focusing on so-called issues while ignoring the really big ones) cuts to all sides. So as we prepare to vote on Tuesday do so in all seriousness and with a lot of laughter.

Have fun.

Leon

Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos did an outstanding job questioning Senator Obama during the PA debate. But even though they spent the first hour on many substantive issues–such as Obama’s pastor’s comments–they missed several key points that voters deserve to know.

Amongst them are these:

Obama took a potty break once in first grade during the Pledge of Allegiance.

In kindergarten Obama finger-painted an American flag with the incorrect number of stars.

Obama’s second grade teacher was quoted as saying “I think Switzerland is cleaner than America” and yet Obama still describes her as a “good teacher.”

The pilot of Obama’s charted campaign plane was at a baseball game three years ago and forgot the words to the Star Spangled Banner and yet Obama has refused to distance himself from him.

Obama’s fourth cousin was accused of shoplifting a pack of gum seven years ago, and yet Obama was photographed hugging him at a family reunion just four years ago.

Asked to respond to these new concerns Hillary Clinton remarked–

“The media continues to give Obama a free ride. How else can you explain that he isn’t having to explain this part of his public record? By the time I was in first grade I not only knew the correct number of stars on our precious flag I had sewn hundreds of flags with my father and mother to hand out to blind cancer patients in Altoona, PA on the Fourth of July. How can the people of Pennsylvania feel comfortable with any candidate who would think that a bodily function is more important than the Pledge? I think Obama shows disdain for working people who never go to the bathroom during patriotic moments. I once held it for 48 hours just because I was thinking about our brave war dead from Western Pennsylvania. And we all might have relatives with a past. But Obama has known about his cousin’s key role in organized crime and done nothing about it! This so-called cousin didn’t just steal a pack of gum, there were many packs taken by his friends. This is an insult to all those hard working ordinary law-abiding Americans in Philadelphia who play by the rules and that I’ve spent thirty-five years fighting for ever since I was born near where they live and loved it. And I want you to know that Bill and I once actually canceled a state visit by the pope because we remembered that I had inadvertently picked up a mint at a hotel lobby in Pittsburgh–one of 80 countries I’ve visited while under fire–and when we got back to the White House it occurred to me that I hadn’t paid for it so we flew all the way back to return it. It turned out the mint was free, but I live by an inner code and got that code from the gun owners of Western Pennsylvania when my dad took me bowling–which I do well, by the way, since it is a really American thing to do–to learn right and wrong from people who don’t “cling” to religion but love God, not because they are “bitter” but because they love America. You all in the media have sifted my record for 30 years now, it’s really time you look harder at Obama! What else did his teachers do?”

Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of “Crazy For God: How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back”

Obama Was Here

So the other day I went to hear Senator Obama speak. It was just down the road from my home here in Lancaster, PA.

The crowed was packed in the auditorium and the address got started late. Later I found out from a friend of mine who was not able to get into the building that Obama came out and spoke for about ten minutes to those who were stranded at the door. Then he greeted them, shook hands, and chatted before he came in to those who were inside. I like that he didn’t ignore those people. We had all braved the rain and stood out in the cold for an hour so at least those who didn’t fit into the building got to hear a little bit of the Senator’s speech.

I know politicians say all the right things, but in a appealing way the Senator was different. How you might ask? Well let me note a couple of ways others most likely have already noted, but this is my take.

Senator Obama always referred to his opponents in this race (John McCain and Hilary Clinton) by their names and not with the dehumanizing term “my opponents…” I like that kind of respectful demeanor. He clearly noted differences, but did it in a way that was respectful, and at time humorous. Once he referred to how the Bush administration had put his cousin Dick Cheney in charge of energy policy. He ruefully shook his head and said. “Man. That’s kind of embarrassing.” It was a Letterman moment that got a lot of good-natured laughs.

He spoke about education in a way that I really liked. Noting how many kids in America are starting pre-school already behind in verbal skills, he called for parents to be real parents, to turn off the TV and video games and to read to their kids. “Make them do their homework.” He said. Sounded like the kind of common sense my dad would have touted. He spoke of making college affordable for all who wish to go, but not as a hand out. Rather students were called to give back to the community by serving in homeless shelters and doing community service. Makes sense to me. Society helps you get a good education, you pay society back by doing community service.

On health care he was also practical and down to earth. Even the drug companies and insurance companies will be at the table to discuss how a new health-care policy would be formulated. “But they won’t be able to buy all the seats at the table!” Furthermore he proposed having all the discussions, having to do with health-care policy that covers all Americans, on C-SPAN so the public could see what was happening and not be surprised by the end result.

Finally he called us all to work hard, because “…while we believe in change, it won’t come easy.” We all will need to become part of the solution in order to bring a change to how decisions get made in our country.

All in all it was a good day! I was a bit surprised that so many people in south-central PA were that excited to come out and hear a democrat. I guess it shows how much people are ready for a change in the business as usual approach to the political scene in our country. The gap between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama in Pennsylvania is narrowing, but she still leads in the polls. I really do hope he wins, but if he gets within five percentage points I will be very pleased.

Peace,

Leon

Just What Did Rev. Wright Say?

To be sure the upheaval over Jeremiah Wright’s statements will reverberate throughout this campaign. To be sure the statements we saw played over and over are inflammatory at best, and dangerous at worse. But I always find it a bit disconcerting when snippets of the whole are presented as the totality of what one believes and says. Think about it. The man does have 35 years as a minister, building a church and ministering to the poor. 15-20 seconds of ill-conceived statements cannot be all he is about.

The video below is one such example. It shows in context his statement after 9-11 on “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”  While I will not defend anyone’s hateful, racist, or derogatory speech, I will say that we all need to place things in context to better understand what is being communicated.

Peace,

Leon

No More War…Please

I was weeding through some e-mail files and came across something my son wrote which I had sent to my family. I thought I would share it here with you.

Several years ago my son had to write an argumentative piece for his English class. Unknown to us, he started off writing his passionate plea to end war. This was back when freedom fries were in and weapons of mass destruction were sure to be found at any moment. The mission had been accomplished yet my son’s best friend’s dad was deployed to Iraq for the second time (he is currently on his third tour). The hyper-nationalism that passed for patriotic fervor was frightening to say the least. I once walked into his school around Thanksgiving and there on the walls were reasons the kids submitted to be thankful. One child had written, “I am thankful to be an American, because we are not like those Afghan people.” My heart broke at how small this child’s world seemed to be.

It was into this context that our 8-9 year old son wrote the following. My commentary is in (parentheses).

NO More WAR!!!

BY (sorry I don’t do my kids names on the net) MILLER

I think war should stop.

Here’s why I think that. Bad things are happening to innocent people. Their being killed, badly hurt, and being arrested for things they didn’t do!

Another reason? People are losing their homes. That also means homeless people will most likely DIE because of it, cause they don’t have homes, money to buy food, and NO CLOTHES!

Next is that families are being separated. That’s really bad because they might not remember each other, families might not have the will to live cause families who might never see each other, might not live. (This child knows what it means to not remember his birth mom, and as I stated in the introduction his best friend’s dad was deployed so he saw first hand the pain of families being separated.)

Also there are people who are forced to be in the war. That should not happen because those people want to stay with their families, they know what could happen to them, and would not be able to relax. (Here he is referring to anxiety at the possibility of death. It has taken almost 10 years for him to relax when I go on a trip. He is concerned that I might die.)

And that is why I think war should stop. And don’t you agree. Now do you see what happens to people when war strikes? I hope so. Please change, then we’ll all come together.

I think war should stop,

When this assignment came home I was almost in tears as I read it. What longing for peace in our world. What a simple, tender expression of loving relationships. What wisdom and insight into how something as big as war, as an abstraction, boils down to death, the disruption of families, the loss of stability, or the lack of food. Living in the midst of a community where people speak of helping to send “them” to meet Allah, I would have loved to see his teacher’s face when she read this simple, yet profound cry to stop the insanity.

I pray that whomever we get as our next president can do something to move us in the right direction as far as our current/future engagement in war is concerned. If not for my generation, then let’s think of our children. Let’s give them a world where peace and justice can take root and bring about positive change. As my son put it. “Please Change, then we’ll all come together.”

In the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom one finds this simple, profound prayer. “For the peace of the whole world; for the good estate of the holy churches of God, and for the union of all men, let us pray to the Lord.

May it be so.

Peace,

Leon

 

The Color of Love

As a father with a daughter there are special moments in life that I’ll always remember.

I recall the 25 hours of labor that preceded the birth of our daughter and oldest child (actually that didn’t feel all that special). But I especially remember the joy and relief that followed when she was born whole and well. I was exhausted, but only managed to sleep about two hours and then I was right back in the hospital. You see, all babies look the same to me. They are kind of red and wrinkled and there is nothing all that impressive about them. But our daughter was amazingly beautiful!

I remember when her brother was born how she cooed over him and proclaimed him beautiful! She wanted to hold him and give him our special nose to nose kiss as a sign of welcome. Then she said, “He has such cute fingernails!” It was a precious moment.

I remember when her birth mom died (when she was only four) how I wondered who would guide her in the ways of becoming a woman. I don’t remotely understand women and I have been married twice. Back then I felt totally lost, realizing I was a single parent. But at least I had an idea what it meant to be a male and could be helpful to our son. My poor daughter was stuck with me to guide her into womanhood. To adapt one of her phrases “She was toast!”

But things have a way of working out and she was the one who informed me, referring to my wife and the mother of our two kids (who I was dating at the time), “You can marry Sue.” I found out later that she had told Sue soon after we began seeing each other that she was going to be her new mom. Children have a way with words.

So several years ago my daughter decided she wanted a radically new hair style. I took her to the stylist and in an hour we had a very new look to take home. But then a problem arose. She was too young to style it all by herself every morning and my wife’s work schedule didn’t allow her to do it. So I became the dad who spent 20 minutes or so every morning blow-drying my daughter’s hair and helping her to find cool things to do with her new do.

For months this tradition was part of our daily ritual. We didn’t necessarily talk a lot, but those moments in the morning were a great time of bonding. We would laugh as we tried new things. I almost always sprayed something other than hair with the hair spray. She always let me know I had sprayed her ear or face etc. Sometimes we grumped at each other, but this was one of the most precious memories I have of her childhood (thus far).

Now days I don’t generally come anywhere near her hair; she’s 13, what should I expect. But when she wants to have her hair highlighted she almost always comes to me and together we hatch a plan.

Yesterday she came to me and explained that she wanted auburn highlights for her dark blond hair. While I was pretty sure this would produce a memorable moment, I was not at all sure this would be a precious memory. But off to the store WE went together. I needed to pick up something at the other end of the store and told her to go pick out what she wanted as her coloring agent. She responded, “You meet me in the hair section. I want to run everything by you since you will be the one doing it.” Now that, my friends, was a precious moment! It meant that all those mornings spent styling her hair were being offered back to me in trust. Having her trust me is one of the most important gifts I could ever hold in my heart.

Long story short, the auburn highlights tinted most of her hair as it was hair coloring and not a, highlight do it yourself kit. And she is happy with the results (whew!). But what I treasure most is the fun we shared together shopping and coloring hair. It indicates so much more than a simple shared experience around hair. It indicates love and trust that has grown over the years. This is one special moment I will always treasure. I wish all fathers of 13 year old daughters the same happy realization: our daughters just might love and trust us more than we know at times.

There is something about shared trust with God within this hair coloring experience. It has to do with the dance of life as we move closer and farther away and then close again to our heavenly father. Children are gifts to us from God to teach us how to walk humbly with our God.

I am very happy to say that I am my daughter’s father and she has approved this post.

You Would Think They’ed Use Coffee

The last couple of days have been a lot of fun for me. My wife and I have been at Coffee Fest, a massive collection of like-minded individuals all of whom have something to offer the coffee industry. There are roasters, like myself, there are people who sell green coffee, there are people who help you set up shops, others who sell bags, still others who offer games, wi-fi, coffee tables, coffee machinery; literally hundreds of displays of anything you can imagine having to do with coffee.

Of course everyone is handing out samples, so at the end of the day I return to the room with bulging bags and an aching back. For coffee aficionados (or nerds) this place is nearing heaven. Yesterday I took in three seminars in addition to watching a latte-art competition, met someone from Reading who wants samples to see if I should become her roaster, networked with more people than I can remember, taste-tested pastries, smoothies, chocolate, and coffees of a multitude of varieties, lost my wife, found her again (she was not nearly so fascinated by it all and wondered off to a museum), and finally collapsed into bed around 8 PM. It has been a wonderful two days.

This afternoon Sue and I will return home to the kids, the dog and cat. Today is also the major NASCAR event, the running of the Daytona 500. I always find it silly that they advertise so much alcohol on cars that go 200 mph. The very thought of drinking and driving is just…WRONG! Yet here these guys go driving in circles at speeds that can make a car go airborne advertising mass produced, not very good tasting beer (ala Bud and Miller), and hard liquor that could be used as paint thinner.

You would think they could use coffee instead.

Filled with antioxidants, coffee is literally a health drink. It comes from the coffee cherry, so it is like drinking fruit juice. Studies suggest that numerous diseases and cancers are guarded against when we drink coffee. Some might say that caffeine is not good for you, but I think we should rename it as a vitamin. Not only that, when you are driving at 200 mph in close quarters with others, which would you want in your system: alcohol, a depressant that blurs your senses, or Coffee which offers the benefit of a sharper and focus and more energy? Just some random thoughts on coffee and racing

That’s all from D.C. for now.

Peace,

Leon

There Really is a Good Reason for the Super Bowl

There really is a good reason for the Super Bowl! No it’s not the game itself. Nope not the obscenely expensive, albeit, amusing ads. And it is certainly not the jolt of financial caffeine the local economy gets wherever the game is played.

No. The real purpose of the Super Bowl is the great excuse it offers to get together and have a feast. So at our house last evening, like we have for the previous six years, we gathered some friends together for a feast. This was not a feast to honor football, but to honor friends.

Some of the people who joined us had never come before. Others have been there every year. Everyone contributed to the bounty and it was a feast for the eyes as well as our tongues. Our family provided North Carolina pulled pork and baked beans. The pork was roasted gently in the oven for 12 hours, spiced just right with a genuine southern dry rub. Tender and juicy, it was bathed in a vinegar sauce that added just the right zing, and in true North Carolina fashion piled high on a bun with a dollop of coleslaw on top! Someone else brought a veggie platter; still another family contributed a fruit platter that looked like it came out of a coffee table book on healthy foods. Others contributed drinks, chips and salsa, and finally there was dessert; rich chocolate cake and monster cookies. And of course there was Monk’s Blend Decaf from Lonely Monk Coffees to finish off the bounty. (you can check out the offerings at lonelymonkcoffees.com)

So we sat together ate, chatted, made new friends and reacquainted ourselves with old friends. We caught up on life, watched kids who are growing, played with the dog, delighted ourselves in one another’s presence, and, oh yeah, we watched a little football too.

As the evening wore on several families needed to leave and get their kids to bed. In the end just three couples and several kids were left to watch the winning touchdown. Just as the last of the guests were leaving one of them asked a burning question dealing with matters of faith. So at 10 P.M. we started a half hour discussion about life with God. Not that the earlier chatting had excluded God, but this was more intense and personal.

After everything was cleaned up my wife and I collapsed into bed, exhausted around 11:30. As she climbed into bed my wife said. “Well I’d say that was a successful party.” And I couldn’t have agreed more. It was successful because friends from various parts of our lives came together to share a sumptuous meal, share their lives, talk about things that really matter, laugh a lot, and watch a bit of football. Yes. There really is a good reason for the Super Bowl! And I’m thinking there should be a Super Bowl at least once every three months.

Peace,

Leon