Why?

Why?

Diamonds scattered among blades of green grass in the early morn,

Golden banners stretched across the evening sky--

When You spread such amazing riches here among us,

Why must we lust after the gems and minerals of the Congo,
Bathing its peoples in blood
Expelling its residents into nearby camps and
Creating a diaspora in far away lands?

How long, O Lord, will you hold back your hand of judgement from us?


On Refugees 

On Gold and Diamonds in the Congo

A Trimeric on Acrophobia:

 Terrorized Car Passenger High Above the Columbia River

Riding high above the water
Muscles tensing,
Mind predicting
Fearing falling, falling, falling

Muscles tensing
Fingers crooking
Grasping door handles
Shallowly breathing

Mind predicting
Calculating miles remaining
Computing the angle climbing
Estimating the distance down

Fearing falling, falling, falling
Stressing, distressing, why did I come
Wanting to jump out of my skin
How much longer?

Lost Sheep, Lost Coin - Who's Who

Our English Coasts or Strayed Sheep by William Holman Hunt

Attend a production on Broadway. You receive a program naming actors and their roles. This provides an on ramp to get up to speed quickly as the story unfolds. Sometimes we need a similar advance explanation when reading Jesus' parables. Luke 15:1-10 (Lectionary 19C) provides clues to create such a list of characters so we might better understand and apply the parable in our own lives..

For churchgoers, the parable of the Lost Sheep is familiar. The shepherd is Jesus.  But what about the sheep who has wandered off, the one we see hiding in the bushes above.  Look at the parable's context.  Jesus had been inviting the unholy, sinners, lowlifes, while the holy, the religious establishment, looked on in disgust.  So, it seems that the unacceptables were the sheep that the shepherd had sought. These sheep had responded and were listening to him preach about God's reign.  What is the point of the story? The central message is that God's delight in reestablishing a relationship with these scoundrels is so great that he has a big party, inviting everyone.  But who refuses to rejoice?  The religious power-brokers.  Where does that place them with God?  What about Act II, the Lost Coin. Here the woman is God, the coin is the person detached from God, and the party literally takes place where God dwells (heaven).  Church leaders, are you listening, or are you hiding in your sanctuaries of saved and safe people, preaching against the scoundrels outside?

"Making the Nation Great "

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; 
you shall cry for help, and he will say, 
"Here I am. 

If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 
if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, 
then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; 
and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. "

Isaiah 58:9-11(NRSV with punctuation and phrasing added by me)

Where We Need to Focus

Becoming more contemplative as I age (even me, impatient ActionNow child of the '60's), I am concerned over what I see in my country today.  Those with great talents flow toward excessively lucrative careers in finance and technology rather than professions giving service to fellow humans. Politics seems to draw the opportunists, unaware that theirs is a position of trust in a democracy, and that their job is to govern us well.  Their charge is to draw us together through inspiring words and to enable the machinery that benefits us all to work well: roads, schools, orderly immigration.

As a Presbyterian Christian, I deplore the way our Presidential candidates are treating one another, failing to recognize their opponents not just as flawed but also as made in the image of God and deserving of respect.  The end does not justify the means.  Winning at all costs is losing.  Process matters.

Many of our people are immensely frustrated by being unable to find work, or even if working, unable to afford housing or food.  Outside our nation exists groups dedicated to our destruction.

Let us pool our energies to solve these problems using the precious tools of democracy and not use the democratic process to pit us against one other and risk losing our democracy to chaos or authoritarian rule.

Lesson for the New Year

For Christmas, my son's family gave me a digital photo frame, an electronic viewing device on which family members can remotely post photos. Anxious to begin receiving pictures of my children and grandchildren, I attempted to set up the device as soon as I returned home. The quick start guide was easy to follow.  Just five simple steps, simple for a technology professional like me!

1. Attach the support stand
2. Turn on the device
3. Connect to Wi-Fi
4. Enter your code to claim your Skylight email
5. Now, ask loved ones to send pictures

All was well until I attempted to follow the details of step 4: "your personal 6-digit code, which is on the paper insert in the box." Wait! Did I miss the paper containing the code when I removed all the packing materials? Back to the box.  No, nothing there but styrofoam sheets.  How frustrating when I was so looking forward to seeing the show! What to do now?

I emailed the Customer Service Department, fearing the worst. There was no serial number on the device and since it was the holiday week between Christmas and New Years probably no one was in the office. Woe to me!

The next day, I began sorting through the holiday mess.  I spied the photo frame packing materials, looked through the box once more, and tossed it into the trash but then had misgivings about my actions.  Maybe I should keep the box in case I had to return the frame. As I picked up the box to take to the basement, I closed it and just happened to turn it over. Voila! Glued to the top of the box was the insert with my code and personal email address! Typing in the code, I was blessed to see many photos had already been loaded, (and later I found a note from customer service in my email.)

One little letter in one small word, "in" vs "on" and my brain had become trapped...inside the box.

May we all learn to think outside the box during 2016.  Happy New Year to all!

Reflection upon Reflection

Are my thoughts productive, the disturbance creating a resolution that goes beyond the original state,

     Milk into butter;

Are my reflections motion going nowhere,

     Turbulence that leaves passengers agitated;

Has this very process of turning thoughts over in my head become harmful,

     Picking at scabs, preventing healing, increasing damage?