It broke my heart today to see the second turn in the anti-woman part of the health care debate. A few weeks ago I heard a representative had objected to reproductive health care in a Health Reform bill, saying that as a man he had no need of that. The official he said that to said something to the order of “Well your mother did”.
Now I hear that there is a concerted effort to make sure no health reform money goes for women’s access to abortion and birth control services. Hmmm … so a woman will have to go to the back alley? That is a reform??? Is that what they are calling pro-life? Won’t that cost much more in the long run?
The problem isn’t just an anti-abortion consideration. It is that the whole definition of a sex, in this case the female sex, is about reproduction issues! To define those out from a health bill is to do something very, very disturbing.
In this blog on March 12, 2009 I gave some information that has been helpful to many of you about the subject of abortion. I’d love you to go there if you haven’t. But this is about more than that. It smacks of the 1920s debate about whether women should be educated about birth control options (which were few then). It smacks of misogyny.
I wrote my congressman and senators today. Maybe you will, too.
For good insight into this crazy turn of events, you can go to rcrc.org for conversation about the issues from a faith perspective. Of course there is good stuff at ppfa.org as well.
Why does history ever wax toward oppression of women? I know that seems like a silly question after all the material we have from the feminist perspective, but it still bugs me and it hurts all of us.
Paul quoted what was apparently a central hymn in the early church in Galatians 3:28 saying that we are no longer viewed as Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we “are all one in Christ Jesus”. The issue of women’s full place in church leadership was one of the main reasons the early church had its pivotal debate about what amount of Jewish law Christians would have to follow, recounted in Acts chapter 15. That debate is what freed us to come to church even if we don’t eat kosher, aren’t circumcised, or haven’t offered sacrifice at the Temple. The church lost its way on women’s issues for generations. We can’t lose our way again.
Hey, guys, we need to make some noise here. And women, God hears you. I hope congress will, too.
Do Well
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
EVOLUTION
Maybe the biggest trouble for the fearful side of the Christian family is the topic of evolution. Those of you who have started the Awed Life curriculum have already read some material on this. Here are some thoughts that might help.
No, evolution is not covered in the Bible text. On the other hand, neither is any scientific field. Why would they be? The Bible is not offering us scientific data, but a life with God! Wouldn’t it be a bit off the subject if suddenly the Bible gave us the Table of Elements or the Laws of Thermodynamics?
The difficulty for the fear-based Christian communities might be most related to a misreading of Genesis 1 and 2. Genesis 1 is a powerful theological argument that the creation is not scattered debris of a war between gods, as was the claim in the common myth of the Middle East in which Genesis was brought forth, called the Eneuma Elish. Genesis contends that the creation is one of extravagant kindness from a single lover that we can respond to without fear that other gods will be jealous and demand similar appreciation. But, fatefully, Genesis uses the scheme of the Eneuma Elish (seven cycles of creation) to tell its story.
The passage uses seven “days.” These are clearly used to argue for an orderly and intentional process, and a complete one, using the sane number seven of the Eneuma Elish, but with a different significance, since the Hebrews used the number seven to express complete and perfect. But did the Bible’s original authors and readers intend these days to be taken as 24-hour periods? In the passage, three of the days are before the creation of the sun, so there would have been no “day” possible in any technical sense at all!
Moreover, the Bible contains other creation stories that have different orders of what gets created, and none of these other passages uses days for a structure of the creation story at all. Examples can be found in Psalm 104, or Proverbs 8:22-31 [about the place of wisdom in the creation story]. In Jewish and historical Protestant and Catholic and Christian Orthodox churches’ intellectual communities, a sizeable majority of biblical scholars do not believe that the Bible teaches anything like a 6-day creation story. Why?
Not only for the reasons listed above, but for the persuasiveness of the emphatic Biblical argument that the creation speaks of the truth and glory of God! The Bible regularly asserts that the creation speaks the truth of Godl. I just looked up ten Psalms that have the point of view that the heavens and the earth speak God’s truth. The point is also made over and over in other books of scripture. When a scientist looks closely at a cell, a supernova, or a fossil, the creation speaks God’s truth.
This is not a point without nuance, since death is everywhere in the creation; God, from Genesis to Revelation is not a fan of death, and it too is a part of the world. But understanding that the creation is wounded, and therefore doesn’t speak with all the clarity we could long for does not negate is voice. The creation sings God’s truth. So evidence for the age of the universe in the stars or of the age of the earth in geology, or of the age and development of the species in anthropology and archaeology are the stuff of faith as well as the Word and reason and church.It is a crime that many people of faith keep their kids from learning science and “dumb down” the people whose faith could provide the most healing and positive influences in the scientific community!
Do not be afraid. The creation sings. So do you. Use you mind and your heart to listen and study the world God has given us.
No, evolution is not covered in the Bible text. On the other hand, neither is any scientific field. Why would they be? The Bible is not offering us scientific data, but a life with God! Wouldn’t it be a bit off the subject if suddenly the Bible gave us the Table of Elements or the Laws of Thermodynamics?
The difficulty for the fear-based Christian communities might be most related to a misreading of Genesis 1 and 2. Genesis 1 is a powerful theological argument that the creation is not scattered debris of a war between gods, as was the claim in the common myth of the Middle East in which Genesis was brought forth, called the Eneuma Elish. Genesis contends that the creation is one of extravagant kindness from a single lover that we can respond to without fear that other gods will be jealous and demand similar appreciation. But, fatefully, Genesis uses the scheme of the Eneuma Elish (seven cycles of creation) to tell its story.
The passage uses seven “days.” These are clearly used to argue for an orderly and intentional process, and a complete one, using the sane number seven of the Eneuma Elish, but with a different significance, since the Hebrews used the number seven to express complete and perfect. But did the Bible’s original authors and readers intend these days to be taken as 24-hour periods? In the passage, three of the days are before the creation of the sun, so there would have been no “day” possible in any technical sense at all!
Moreover, the Bible contains other creation stories that have different orders of what gets created, and none of these other passages uses days for a structure of the creation story at all. Examples can be found in Psalm 104, or Proverbs 8:22-31 [about the place of wisdom in the creation story]. In Jewish and historical Protestant and Catholic and Christian Orthodox churches’ intellectual communities, a sizeable majority of biblical scholars do not believe that the Bible teaches anything like a 6-day creation story. Why?
Not only for the reasons listed above, but for the persuasiveness of the emphatic Biblical argument that the creation speaks of the truth and glory of God! The Bible regularly asserts that the creation speaks the truth of Godl. I just looked up ten Psalms that have the point of view that the heavens and the earth speak God’s truth. The point is also made over and over in other books of scripture. When a scientist looks closely at a cell, a supernova, or a fossil, the creation speaks God’s truth.
This is not a point without nuance, since death is everywhere in the creation; God, from Genesis to Revelation is not a fan of death, and it too is a part of the world. But understanding that the creation is wounded, and therefore doesn’t speak with all the clarity we could long for does not negate is voice. The creation sings God’s truth. So evidence for the age of the universe in the stars or of the age of the earth in geology, or of the age and development of the species in anthropology and archaeology are the stuff of faith as well as the Word and reason and church.It is a crime that many people of faith keep their kids from learning science and “dumb down” the people whose faith could provide the most healing and positive influences in the scientific community!
Do not be afraid. The creation sings. So do you. Use you mind and your heart to listen and study the world God has given us.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
WHAT IF YOU STUMBLE?
What if You Stumble?
When we started the Church of the Joyful Healer, we sang a song two or three times called “What If I Stumble?” Its central question was “will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl, what if I stumble, what if I fall?”
About five years ago, a close friend of mine did something real stupid and it got in the papers where he lives. Oh, and it was ugly and scandalous. His church family abandoned him and left him isolated and humiliated. I am still angry … not over my friend’s stupid actions, but about a church of Jesus the Healer leaving a wounded one out in the cold.
I appreciate that in United Methodism, there are teams for dealing with a pastor who fails to keep his or her integrity. When someone fails themselves terribly, often that means many are hurt and wounded along with them. They are responsible for much pain. There are always consequences. You know this. When you fail people they hurt. We all do this and we all grieve when we cause others pain and heartbreak.
BUT we are in the business of healing. Our United Methodist Church family has a commitment to be about resolution and restitution. We have the agenda of reconciling and redeeming. We will have times as a local expression of these values when we will feel conflicted and horrified at the behavior of one of our church friends just like we will over our other friends, coworkers, and family.
As much as we can understand the question of responsibility and consequences, we will also be the people on the cusp of the question of redemption. That is our responsibility. We are about a daunting, and sometimes agonizing task: not just to empower the ready, but to welcome the wounded, to heal the broken, and to restore the damaged. Some days that will be you.
May we be as kind to others in their failings as we will want to be to each other in our missteps. I say this today in the luxury of the hypothetical. But today, remember who you are, so that tomorrow, you will be ready to do your work and your call. Christ heals. Sometimes, Christ heals through us.
Do well.
When we started the Church of the Joyful Healer, we sang a song two or three times called “What If I Stumble?” Its central question was “will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl, what if I stumble, what if I fall?”
About five years ago, a close friend of mine did something real stupid and it got in the papers where he lives. Oh, and it was ugly and scandalous. His church family abandoned him and left him isolated and humiliated. I am still angry … not over my friend’s stupid actions, but about a church of Jesus the Healer leaving a wounded one out in the cold.
I appreciate that in United Methodism, there are teams for dealing with a pastor who fails to keep his or her integrity. When someone fails themselves terribly, often that means many are hurt and wounded along with them. They are responsible for much pain. There are always consequences. You know this. When you fail people they hurt. We all do this and we all grieve when we cause others pain and heartbreak.
BUT we are in the business of healing. Our United Methodist Church family has a commitment to be about resolution and restitution. We have the agenda of reconciling and redeeming. We will have times as a local expression of these values when we will feel conflicted and horrified at the behavior of one of our church friends just like we will over our other friends, coworkers, and family.
As much as we can understand the question of responsibility and consequences, we will also be the people on the cusp of the question of redemption. That is our responsibility. We are about a daunting, and sometimes agonizing task: not just to empower the ready, but to welcome the wounded, to heal the broken, and to restore the damaged. Some days that will be you.
May we be as kind to others in their failings as we will want to be to each other in our missteps. I say this today in the luxury of the hypothetical. But today, remember who you are, so that tomorrow, you will be ready to do your work and your call. Christ heals. Sometimes, Christ heals through us.
Do well.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
MARIJUANA
Living in Humboldt County, USA is a constant reminder of the issues around marijuana use, and the industry behind it. Several of my friends are users, and some of them for no medical reason whatsoever. I know a few who grow and some who sell. And I am a pastor in a United Methodist Church, usually not the best connected to the marijuana community!
There are many questions related to its use that spiritual people are right to ponder:
First, there is a near-universal tendency of the human family to find pharmacological substances in nature and to use them with sometimes wisdom, and sometimes excess. Virtually every ancient culture has discovered and used substances in their environment to alter feelings of emotion, pain, and lethargy. From these we get most of our modern drug therapies and, of course, also the drug problems. This ranges from aspirin and caffeine to coca and opium.
Second, in the Jewish tradition there is a place for an occasional light buzz from alcohol as a tool of celebration, as you can see in my earlier blog on drinking. This can be easily transferred over to marijuana use, or other rather benign substances.
Third, excess in the Jewish Bible is condemned as damaging to life and to others. My big concern for non-medical marijuana use is around this topic. How often have you heard a frequent user brag on the non-addictive properties of marijuana? This is hard to hear from someone using it three times a day, or even three times a week. Deep breathing and exercise and play and reading and so many other things alter us for good without the downsides of drug use, and without requiring drug use. It is hard to admit when we have let ourselves slip into a dependency, and pot is a great one to suck us in.
On the legality issues, I always favor public acknowledgement and public tracking. With cigarettes legal, we can track the trade, tax it, watch for labor and producer abuse, and even use its income to seek to limit its use. With current marijuana law, none of that can happen. Many times you hear pot users compare its use to alcohol favorably. I understand, but those involved in alcohol production can be held to account and contribute to the public good whether they want to or not, and that is a fully appropriate societal demand. Anti marijuana laws have done much harm to individuals, and have produced very little benefit.
As to medical use, pot has some real benefit to those who have digestion problems and need palliative medical care. This seems to be an obvious place for support from the spiritual community at large.
Am I pot user? Nope. Have I ever inhaled? Yes, the last time was 34 years ago. Why not now? I love being alive, in touch with my ups and downs, and I don’t need help except from friendships, family, nature, and physical and mental work.
Do I have any … ANY interest in condemning others for pot use? Not a puff. Oh, forgive me for that. But do I hope my friends can do without, or use it very rarely, or use it in a nation with more sensible legal structures? Yes, and I’m not just puffing smoke.
(Oooh, am I going to get it for the puns)
Do well---
There are many questions related to its use that spiritual people are right to ponder:
First, there is a near-universal tendency of the human family to find pharmacological substances in nature and to use them with sometimes wisdom, and sometimes excess. Virtually every ancient culture has discovered and used substances in their environment to alter feelings of emotion, pain, and lethargy. From these we get most of our modern drug therapies and, of course, also the drug problems. This ranges from aspirin and caffeine to coca and opium.
Second, in the Jewish tradition there is a place for an occasional light buzz from alcohol as a tool of celebration, as you can see in my earlier blog on drinking. This can be easily transferred over to marijuana use, or other rather benign substances.
Third, excess in the Jewish Bible is condemned as damaging to life and to others. My big concern for non-medical marijuana use is around this topic. How often have you heard a frequent user brag on the non-addictive properties of marijuana? This is hard to hear from someone using it three times a day, or even three times a week. Deep breathing and exercise and play and reading and so many other things alter us for good without the downsides of drug use, and without requiring drug use. It is hard to admit when we have let ourselves slip into a dependency, and pot is a great one to suck us in.
On the legality issues, I always favor public acknowledgement and public tracking. With cigarettes legal, we can track the trade, tax it, watch for labor and producer abuse, and even use its income to seek to limit its use. With current marijuana law, none of that can happen. Many times you hear pot users compare its use to alcohol favorably. I understand, but those involved in alcohol production can be held to account and contribute to the public good whether they want to or not, and that is a fully appropriate societal demand. Anti marijuana laws have done much harm to individuals, and have produced very little benefit.
As to medical use, pot has some real benefit to those who have digestion problems and need palliative medical care. This seems to be an obvious place for support from the spiritual community at large.
Am I pot user? Nope. Have I ever inhaled? Yes, the last time was 34 years ago. Why not now? I love being alive, in touch with my ups and downs, and I don’t need help except from friendships, family, nature, and physical and mental work.
Do I have any … ANY interest in condemning others for pot use? Not a puff. Oh, forgive me for that. But do I hope my friends can do without, or use it very rarely, or use it in a nation with more sensible legal structures? Yes, and I’m not just puffing smoke.
(Oooh, am I going to get it for the puns)
Do well---
Monday, August 31, 2009
SHIFT
Watching the wallflower is always painful, even if it is we ourselves. I recently watched a kid refuse to jump into a rambunctious game with friends for obvious fear. Then the friends wound up laughing their guts out and I saw the child who had opted out visibly grieve missing out on the joy.
We have all seen fanatics [remember the definition: someone who redoubles their effort after having forgotten their aim] in faith, and none of us wants to be associated with those people. But we have all also seen the awkward one incapable of jumping all the way in to the deep water, or into the dance, or the sport, you name it, and their over conservative approach keeps them from living fully in the moment.
There is no time like now to shift to a new level of faith living. No time like today to begin the real investment in looking for God in everything and everyone, in prayer, in church, in doing good. Changing gears always means some transition, and with new speeds come new risks, but life with no risks is not life, and faith calls us into a life of risk.
Please make a true Methodist pledge with me, too, on a related item: if you see someone going all out for their job, cause, faith, politics, you name it, please commit yourself to bless them for trying, for risking, for craving to be all in, even if it is not your cause, or perspective, or “thing”. Blessing fanaticism? No, not really--just cherishing that even the fanatic is trying to live out a call to passionate living. That doesn’t mean supporting their cause at all. [I bet you, like me, have even helped a few fanatics get into treatment or get arrested!]. A prayer like ….
“God, I see their desire for you and for living fully the life you gave to them. Help them, like me, aim better, and higher, but thank you for calling them, and me, to live truly alive. Lead me to the same passion for the best of your kingdom”.
Do well.
We have all seen fanatics [remember the definition: someone who redoubles their effort after having forgotten their aim] in faith, and none of us wants to be associated with those people. But we have all also seen the awkward one incapable of jumping all the way in to the deep water, or into the dance, or the sport, you name it, and their over conservative approach keeps them from living fully in the moment.
There is no time like now to shift to a new level of faith living. No time like today to begin the real investment in looking for God in everything and everyone, in prayer, in church, in doing good. Changing gears always means some transition, and with new speeds come new risks, but life with no risks is not life, and faith calls us into a life of risk.
Please make a true Methodist pledge with me, too, on a related item: if you see someone going all out for their job, cause, faith, politics, you name it, please commit yourself to bless them for trying, for risking, for craving to be all in, even if it is not your cause, or perspective, or “thing”. Blessing fanaticism? No, not really--just cherishing that even the fanatic is trying to live out a call to passionate living. That doesn’t mean supporting their cause at all. [I bet you, like me, have even helped a few fanatics get into treatment or get arrested!]. A prayer like ….
“God, I see their desire for you and for living fully the life you gave to them. Help them, like me, aim better, and higher, but thank you for calling them, and me, to live truly alive. Lead me to the same passion for the best of your kingdom”.
Do well.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
HABITS
Habits are more than just our junk food or 12 step-worthy problems; they keep us alive. From eating regularly to brushing our teeth, from calling family each month or birthday, to shopping weekly, basic, committed rhythms are what keep us from meltdowns into unstructured and disordered living.
We all know most of our bad habits by name (although our spending habits are curiously often hidden from ourselves … hmmm).
My first question is Do you know your good habits by name? If you feel like it, would you type a list of your good habits? If you’d like, click comments at the bottom of this blog and we can compare notes, or keep them to yourself. See if you can name 20 habits, and yes, you can use the suggestions in the first paragraph. Many of my readers have begun to keep a Sabbath every week, including recreation, church gatherings, and rest. Don’t forget to put that on your list if you are locking that one down.
Second, do you know how you created those habits? When? Did you do it on purpose? Were others involved in helping you shape a habit or two?
Third, which new or renewed habit would improve your journey now? Which new habit is most realistic to begin building into a routine now? What would it take to lock this in as successfully as you did others in your past?
Last, is there a habit that is destructive that you are ready to be done with? Instead of getting all pumped up to “finish it off” like we get pumped up to take on a new diet, with all the usual two weeks that it takes to lose the whole effort, is there a gentle, simple way of peace you can begin that would help you end it?
In the name of full disclosure, here is a list of 20 of my habits, and it is really hard to get to 20 without dipping into more embarrassing material!
Reading before sleep
Reading in the tub
Reading the Bible in the morning
Reading in the bathroom (yes, it is a habit!)
Reading a news magazine before Sunday morning
Reading a Daily paper at breakfast
Reading the daily news on the computer (usually in the later afternoon)
Checking my favorite team scores at night (in baseball and football seasons)
Working out each day (usually in the late afternoon)
Hugging my family members before bed
Praying when I wake
Praying when I hear a siren
Praying at meals
Listening to the morning news on NPR (Picking only one item to pray about from the news. It is a rule I keep to not be overwhelmed.)
Doing the bills on Saturday
Family meals for dinner (my four family members are all together for this only about four times a week!)
Worship every week
Brushing and flossing
Bathing
Shaving
Have fun with this, but I hope it kicks off a renewal of commitment and an appreciation for wisdom you have received into yourself already. “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self discipline” II Timothy 1:7.
Do well.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
PIOUS ANYONE?
One word I struggled to understand growing up was pious. It was used as a criticism but could also mean focused on God and spirituality. Now I get it.
When spirituality is used as another way of being self obsessed in a consumer culture, it is one of the ugliest things in the world. Whether it is used this way in the language of fundamentalism, where the world’s only issue is the salvation of my individual soul and maybe that same concern for others, or in more New Agey “the only thing that matters is my sense of personal space and peace”, a spirituality that doesn’t embrace activism and work and community service is just another name for narcissism.
I want so badly for you and me to be alive in the love of God. I want you to be full and free. But I know that will always be a chimera if it is not deeply connected to your giving yourself and your gifts to the world God loves. Let’s build homes for the destitute, feed some hungry people, and get involved in politics and healing projects. Let’s give gifts of craft and love for kids, let’s support people’s health efforts, let’s get people (and ourselves sometimes) into support groups. Let’s pool our money for these and other projects from here to Darfur.
This will be a part of your prayers and your Bible reading, or really Bible living. These will balance and compliment, but also be the very foundation of a love for God and a spiritual life. Let’s do it together and not ignore the social and communal aspects of life in God’s love and spirit.
Do well.
When spirituality is used as another way of being self obsessed in a consumer culture, it is one of the ugliest things in the world. Whether it is used this way in the language of fundamentalism, where the world’s only issue is the salvation of my individual soul and maybe that same concern for others, or in more New Agey “the only thing that matters is my sense of personal space and peace”, a spirituality that doesn’t embrace activism and work and community service is just another name for narcissism.
I want so badly for you and me to be alive in the love of God. I want you to be full and free. But I know that will always be a chimera if it is not deeply connected to your giving yourself and your gifts to the world God loves. Let’s build homes for the destitute, feed some hungry people, and get involved in politics and healing projects. Let’s give gifts of craft and love for kids, let’s support people’s health efforts, let’s get people (and ourselves sometimes) into support groups. Let’s pool our money for these and other projects from here to Darfur.
This will be a part of your prayers and your Bible reading, or really Bible living. These will balance and compliment, but also be the very foundation of a love for God and a spiritual life. Let’s do it together and not ignore the social and communal aspects of life in God’s love and spirit.
Do well.
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