Beyond Cynicism

Some readers of my blog know that I have been involved in local community theater at The Avenue Theatre, for many years. I'm getting ready to take a long hiatus from activities there, but I am currently directing the musical "The King and I" and I'm at the point in the process where it tends to be almost overwhelming. Bringing together nearly 50 volunteer cast (including almost 20 children and their parents) and crew members, keeping them informed about rehearsals and working around their busy summer schedules over several weeks is just a part of it. Yesterday involved a trip to seek out fabric and props and work on publicity and printing. Then there's the ever-present "vision" of the production in my head crowding out other thoughts. Thankfully, there's great team working on the project, and I'm certain the result will be wonderful. 

Sometimes something even as relatively small in the grand scheme of things as a summer musical can seem so daunting as to not be worth the time and effort it takes. I think of the great leaders and innovators through the centuries who have had a vision for change and what it took for them to impact their communities, their countries or the world. One thing they had in common was a lack of cynicism. Jesus, for example, knew not to trust certain leaders in the "church world" of his day, but he loved people and must have believed the best in humanity could prevail or he would not have gone to the lengths he did to change the way the world thinks and acts.

Cynicism is a blanket which is easy to crawl under. If we believe nothing is ever going to change or can change, it seems easiest to hide from the problems of the world and let the chips fall where they will. The problem is the chips fall on all of us. When no one steps forward to challenge the causes of the ills of society in areas where we're collectively headed downhill, then the downward trend will continue. Bad situations in churches, in government and other institutions don't turn around on their own. It takes hard work and dedication to make circumstances better. And we have to believe it's worth it. A flimsy blanket of cynicism does not protect us from anything. It's even too thin to keep us comfortable in our thoughts.

Over the years I have often been encouraged by the words of Jim Wallis, of Sojourners Magazine. A recent post of his has once again been inspiring. In it he speaks of "post-cynical Christians." Here is a brief excerpt:

"Skepticism is a good and healthy thing....Be skeptical and ask the hard, tough questions about our institutions — especially Washington and Wall Street. But cynicism is a spiritually dangerous thing because it is a buffer against personal commitment. Becoming so cynical that we don’t believe any change is possible allows us to step back, protect ourselves, grab for more security, and avoid taking any risks. If things can’t change, why should I be the one to show courage, take chances, and make strong personal commitments? I see people asking that question all the time.

"But personal commitment is all that has ever changed the world, transformed human lives, and altered history. And if our cynicism prevents us from making courageous and committed personal choices and decisions, the hope for change will fade. Along the way, I got to thinking how the powers that be are the ones causing us to be so cynical. Maybe that is part of their plan — to actually cause and create more cynicism in order to prevent the kind of personal commitments that would threaten them with change."

I'm posting the link for those who are interested in reading the rest of Jim's post because it's a good read. Let us remember that cynicism is an enemy of what is healthy and good. Stepping outside of cynical thinking always involves a certain amount of risk, but that which is worthwhile is rarely ever easy.

http://go.sojo.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=30341.0&dlv_id=35921

A Borrowed List of 10 Political Things You Can't Do While Following Jesus

My father has been gone nearly four years. I was fortunate to have a dad who was hard-working, generous and had a kind heart. He talked about religion only rarely, but he lived out the teachings of Jesus every day. He so often expressed dismay that people were not compassionate. It hurt him to hear of cruelty. He was a sweet influence in an often harsh world.

Because I have some other writing projects to tend to and am short on time, I'm taking the easy way out and sharing something I read this week. I'm doing so in honor of my father. It is a list I'm certain he would endorse because most of the items on it were issues he and I had discussed many times. I also agree with the list as it nicely sums up many things I've been writing about recently. Of course since this unabashedly combines politics and religion, it isn't doing too much to address my expressed desire from last week to try to separate my religious posts from my political posts. I am still trying to figure that out. It might not be easy for me to do.

10 POLITICAL Things You Can't Do While Following Jesus  

The following is by Mark Sandlin who currently serves as the minister at Vandalia Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, N.C. 

In response to my last article, “10 Things You Can't Do While Following Jesus,” I was accused multiple times of being political. All I was trying to do was follow Jesus. So, I thought it'd be interesting (and generate tons more hate mail) to show what a list would actually look like if I were being political intentionally. Like the first list, this is not a complete list but it's a pretty good place to start.

There will be those who comment and send me messages berating me for “making Jesus political.” It's okay. Fire away. Jesus didn't worry much about stepping on political toes, and the Bible insists that governments be just toward the least of these (the books of the prophets alone make this point very clear). Frequently, people who are the most vocal about not making Jesus political are the same people who want prayer in school and laws based on their own religious perspectives. By a happy little circumstance that brings us to my list:

10) Force your religious beliefs and practices on others.

One of the strengths of the faith Jesus taught was in its meekness. The faith he taught valued free will over compulsion – because that's how love works. Compelling people to follow any religion, more or less your personal religion, stands over and against the way Jesus practiced his faith. If you are using the government to compel people to practice your spiritual beliefs, you might be the reason baby Jesus is crying. This does get tricky. There is a difference in letting your beliefs inform your political choices and letting your politics enforce your religion. This article is about the first part.

9) Advocate for war.

There's a reason why he was called the Prince of Peace. Sure, you can quote, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword,” and even two or three other verses, but they don't hold a candle to the more than fifty-some verses where Jesus speaks about peace and peacemaking. It's funny how things keep coming back to love but it needs to be said, it is way far away from loving a person to kill them. I guess there's a reason why we say, “God is love.” In the end, love wins.

8) Favor the rich over the poor.

This is actually related to #4. Favoring the rich over the poor is a slap in the face of Jesus, his life, and his teachings. In terms of the teachings of Jesus, it is bad enough when we allow the rich to take advantage of the poor, but when we create laws that not only encourage the behavior but also protect it? Well, let's just say it becomes crystal clear how ironic it is that we print, “In God We Trust,” on our money.

7) Cut funding that hurts the least of these.

To some degree, this is the inverse of #8. Favoring the rich is despicable. We Jesus minions should avoid it. Hurting the poor? Well, that's just …  just ... um, something a whole lot worse than despicable. Despicabler? Über-despicable? When Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do it to me,” he meant it. When you cut funding and it hurts people, according to Jesus, you are hurting him.

6) Let people go hungry.

Well, well, well. What have we here? Is this an item from the original top ten list which I claimed was not politically motivated? Looks like I've stepped into my own clever trap! Muh wah ha ha! Seriously though, of course it's on both lists. It is a spiritual issue and it is a political issue. Spiritually, Gandhi said, “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” Politically, hunger causes problems with education, production, and civil behavior that are all necessary for a successful nation. More importantly for Christians, Jesus said when we feed the hungry, we are feeding him. So, yes, this item is on both lists – and I'm going to do it again.

5) Withhold healthcare from people.

This time I'm not only repeating an item, I'm repeating a lot of what I said. Did you ever play the game “Follow the Leader?" If you don't do what the leader does, you are out. Following means you should imitate as closely as possible. When people who were sick needed care, Jesus gave it to them. If we are following Jesus, we will imitate him as closely as possible. No, the government can't repeat the miracles he did but I've seen modern medicine do things that are about as close to a miracle as I expect to get. While the government can't do miracles, it can supply modern medicine. Every year, 45,000 people die in the U.S. because of the lack of healthcare. We Christians like to talk about “saving” people. Well, I know of about 45,000 people who'd love for us to do it and we should – because that's how love works.

4) Limit the rights of a select group of people.

Jesus loves everybody – but he loves me best. Kind of sits the wrong way with you, doesn't it? Well, it should and with good reason. If you spend any time reading the Bible you know that we all were made in God's image. Exactly which part of us is in God's image is less clear, but what is clear is that we were equally made in the image of God. Any law that doesn't treat people equally is as good as thumbing your nose at God. Even worse? Doing it in the name of God or based on religious beliefs (see #10).

3) Turn away immigrants.

Christian heritage runs through Judaism. We are an immigrant people. Even our religion began somewhere else. Our spiritual ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, were told by God to pick up what they had and start traveling. Moses, Miriam, and Aaron led a nation out of Egypt, into the desert and ultimately to new lands. Even Jesus spent part of his childhood as a foreigner in a foreign land. As Exodus says, we know how it feels to be foreigners in a foreign land. If you don't think being foreigners in a foreign land is still our story, ask the Native Americans. At best, turning away immigrants makes us hypocrites; at worst, it makes us betrayers of our ancestors and our God.

2) Devalue education.

We learn in Proverbs that wisdom is something in which God delights daily. As a matter of fact, according to Proverbs, wisdom is better than gold. When you look at the percentage of our budget that goes to education and at what Congress is trying to do to student loans, it's pretty clear that delighting in wisdom is something our government no longer does.

1) Support capital punishment — execution.

Jesus died by execution. He was an innocent man. Every year, innocent people die by execution in our nation. It's time to be a shining city on a hill. It's time to express the fullness of love, to express the value of life. It's time to stop the government-sanctioned killing.

Separaton of Ideas

I asked a question this week on Facebook about my friends' thoughts on the government's monitoring of our cell phone records. One of my friends asked if my comments might be included in my blog. It led to an interesting dilemma for me. Some readers of my blog and my Facebook posts are interested (or at least lacking in anything else to do) in my comments on matters of the spirit. I also have discovered that some others are interested in having respectful conversations about what's going on in our country with regard to government and society, in general. Basically: religion and politics, two topics many people want to steer clear of, two topics I find myself inexplicably drawn to.

I absolutely believe in the separation of church and state. It is best for both institutions that one does not bleed over into the other. It has everything to do with freedom of religion and with good government. Citizens should be free to practice the religion (or non-religion) of their choice. Adherents of any religion must have freedom to worship. Just because I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus, that does not give me special rights, but it should give me equal privileges.

I find it fascinating that many want to call our nation a Christian nation, yet the definition of that often boils down to the ability to: display the ten commandments in public areas, pray in schools, declare war on those who threaten our American way of life and whether "in God we trust" remains emblazoned on our money. Oh, the irony. I think we are closer to a Jewish nation by those standards.

Jesus came to fulfill the law, in effect replacing the Ten Commandments with two: love God first and foremost and love your neighbor as yourself. He basically said if you do those two things, the ten (and more) will be taken care of. He told us NOT to pray in public! He told us to love our enemies, not seek retribution. Plus, patriotism toward one's country is not a point of Christian theology: we are taught that we are citizens of heaven and that labels are to be avoided because we are all united as one. And then there is that whole thing about giving Caesar his due. From what Jesus had to say about money, I have a feeling God might be insulted, maybe even none too happy, about having his name on it.

Then there is this interesting quote I ran across this week: "When religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one." – Benjamin Franklin

True Christianity can and should flourish without any outside help, especially from government.

But back to my dilemma. What to do about being drawn to write about both religion and politics? I think if political decisions/actions by Christians are not at least formed by one's faith, of treating all with love and respect, of seeking to be compassionate and to find a way to achieve peace with other nations, then our Christian faith is lacking, to say the least. So, I will always feel there is some overlap between the two, I suppose. But for readers of my blog, I think it would be fair to try to separate the two. That way, anyone can choose to read one or the other, both or neither.

I'll have to think on whether that will be two separate blogs or one blog with two clearly defined sections. At any rate, for now, I will share here my thoughts about the question I asked on Facebook.

PLEASE NOTE: The following is strictly political commentary, if you proceed, please do so with that in mind.

The question: I am curious if the majority of my friends think it is acceptable for the government to keep track of our phone records. Does it make you feel safer or does it make you feel as though your rights have been violated? 

There ended up being about 35 votes for "violated," 3 votes for "safer" and 6 somewhere in between. What I find interesting is that this is one issue which doesn't seem to have a clear division based on politics. Both certain Democrats and some members of the GOP are "blasting" the idea, while others from both sides are supportive. Knowing a little (or guessing) how most of those who commented lean politically, based on past posts and comments, my friends' opinions seem to be further evidence that this is the case.

The Patriot Act was certainly "thrown together" (or so it would seem) and passed quickly after 9/11, which likely could have been an effort by the Bush presidency to legitimize many practices already in place as well as to legalize other issues which definitely sent us down the proverbial slippery slope. There were objections at the time, but the attacks of 9/11 achieved one goal for sure: As a country we were terrorized, made fearful enough that we did not rise up as citizens and say no to legislation that is not good for the country. The price, in terms of lost freedom and wasted resources, is far too high for the potential reward. Some would say we have no way of knowing how many attacks have been averted, but I would say we have no way of knowing how many innocent people have been harassed, arrested or otherwise had their lives destroyed.

Of course, in 2011 the Obama administration made the decision to sign a four-year extension of key parts of the act, so there's plenty of blame to go around, politically.

The Patriot Act is not patriotic at all, in my opinion. Patriotism is loyalty to one's country. Phone snooping (that's a BEST case scenario description of this issue) is not loyalty to the ideals we hold dear. All are innocent until proven guilty. As several pointed out on the original thread, this is fishing for "what ifs" more than for solid evidence of wrong-doing, and as such, it goes far beyond the scope of the rights we have as Americans.

By the way, just as an interesting note, the title of the act is a ten letter acronym (USA PATRIOT) that stands for Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. 

"Appropriate" is not the word I would choose for the "A."

Declarations

What we say about our lives and what is happening around us has an effect on us and others. I'm not talking about "name and claim it" which was a central part of the theology of a church I attended for many years. I'm not talking about "The Secret" or any of the other teachings which claim we can control every aspect of our lives and get anything we want by saying the right things and concentrating intently on what we want. I've seen many disappointing situations develop in the lives of people who buy into those notions with their whole hearts and souls. (If any of you can tell me you have received everything you've ever wanted and prayed for simply by saying you want it over and over again, I would like to hear from you. You probably have reached enlightenment, and I want you to be my guru.)

Having said that, I do maintain it is important that we declare what we want to see happen rather than what we don't want to see happen. I've been thinking about this in regard to war. Doesn't it seem as though war has invaded our way of thinking? The war on drugs, the war on women, the war on guns, the war on Christmas, the war on....well, you name it, I think there might be a war on it.

Attaching the word war to so many things reduces the impact of actual armed conflict where people are maimed and killed. No matter how many manger scenes are banned from public parks, there is no war on Christmas. Maybe you are offended by those who are overly politically correct, but don't try to elevate that to the same level as war. 

As a woman, I don't accept that there is a war on me. If I buy into that I become a victim, and I am not a victim.

The war on guns is an interesting case of irony, don't you think? 

Then there's the war on drugs, which has had real consequences for many, but which has accomplished nothing in the way of helping to "fix" anything. More and more people use drugs and end up in jail for it. Nobody can ever win this supposed war.

Hostility, violence and contention are part of war. Why do we want to declare those things? Let's declare tranquility on Christmas. Let's call a truce between men and women so we can start working together to solve problems. And can we please just stop talking about guns? Nobody is going to take them away. The war on drugs needs to be undeclared and a new plan needs to be put in place.

Of course I haven't mentioned the war on terror, but I would like to declare peace in the face of terrorism and work that angle for a while. Yes, yes, I know I am naive and all of the other things my Conservative friends continue to say. But you know what? I don't care. I'm going to talk about peace anyway. Because Jesus is the Prince of Peace, not a god of war. That would be Ares or Indra or take your pick from a long list, including the goddess Athena in the name of "equal rights." I don't worship gods of war, and I'm weary of war in its every form.

We need to start saying what we want, rather than what we don't want. It's not a magic path to anywhere, but our spirits and souls suffer when we allow ourselves to be under attack by a war of words, the ones we speak and the ones we hear. Changing our talk and our thoughts won't solve everything, but without making those changes first, we won't solve anything. What we declare matters.

Seeking Peace to Honor Those Who Have Fallen

Memorial Day is a tough topic for me. I always want to show gratitude to those who have served our country with honor, and I never want to be disrespectful. My father and his brothers served in WWII, one of them died in France. The war defined my family in ways which are difficult to explain. Such was the case for many families.

My dad died on July 4, 2009. He did not like war. In fact, even though I never heard him use the word "hate" that I can remember, he felt what could be described as hatred for all of the wars the U.S. has fought/is fighting in the Middle East. "How can you fight a war when you don't even know who the enemy is?" he would often say. His disdain was directed at the leaders who have gotten us involved in these wars and not the men and women who are fighting them. Such is the case with me.

Military men and women sacrifice so much, emotionally, often physically, and sometimes they die, leaving behind grieving families -- mothers, fathers, wives and children. I think the greatest desire of all of us is that no such loss is in vain. Can't we use the memory of those who have fallen to question the policies which embroil us in one conflict after another? Is it unpatriotic to say the price is too high to fight with no clear goal in sight? Can we at least consider that the 'war on terror' may be counter-productive? 

I believe the best way to honor the memory of those who have died in conflict is to seek peace above all else. Somehow, there are those who seem to be, oddly, almost offended by the notion of mentioning peace on Memorial Day. They say talk of peace is naive and even misguided. But I call to remembrance the words of Jesus when he said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." He taught The Way of peace, not of war. He radically commanded that we love our enemies. 

I find Memorial Day to be the perfect day to talk about peace. My father who gave up so much, at so many levels, during WWII believed it was worth the sacrifice for his country to do what he did, knowing it was a necessary war if there ever was one. But it didn't make him love war. It didn't make him glorify combat. War is hell. Perhaps that's what we should remember.

What to Remember

Few things get to me on an emotional level like talking to WWII veterans about their wartime experiences. I spoke to three this week, including one Marine who lived through 41 days during the Battle on Iwo Jima. (History note: during "Operation Detachment" on Iwo Jima there were 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers entrenched on the island, nearly all died either from fighting or by ritual suicide.) Another veteran I spoke to had been a Navy ordnanceman who flew on missions to take photos of enemy territory. He was in a plane which flew 20,000 feet above the mushroom cloud to take photos after the bombing of Hiroshima.

Excerpts of the interviews are scheduled to be in a special section in the West Plains Daily Quill on May 21 for anyone who wants to read a bit more about their experiences.

My father was a veteran of WWII. He spent most of the war in relative safety in India in the Army Air Corps running the metal-working shop which repaired planes that had flown missions and been shot up. But even he had a horrible realization that he had been directly responsible for the deaths of other men. Like many veterans of his generation he never got over calling them "Japs," but he broke down in tears the one time he told me the story of going on a special detail to install guns on the fronts of planes to protect our pilots from the Japanese fighters. He read a story in an Army publication a few months after he'd done it that said "several Jap pilots had been killed" with the guns my dad and others had installed. He was proud he had been able to help protect the U.S. pilots, but the guilt of the deaths he felt responsible for was heavy on his heart nearly 70 years after the fact. In many ways, he felt he deserved no forgiveness from it.

My dad's brother James, who incidentally was my mother's first husband, was killed by a sniper at St. Lo, France shortly after D-Day. His brother Floyd received a Silver Star for bravery in Italy after running through enemy fire to save his unit after their radio had been destroyed and they had no way to communicate. To say that WWII was a time of honor, courage and grave loss to all sides is, of course, an understatement. It was for my family and it was for millions of others around the world. "You can't really explain it to civilians," said one of the 93-year-olds I interviewed this week.

Fast forward to 2013. On May 5 in my blog post I questioned the wisdom of arming school employees. Wondered what it might be doing to our national psyche. Dared to say it might be causing our kids to grow up in a culture of fear while taking a toll on what is beautiful and good about our country. I didn't say anything about curtailing individual gun rights in any way. That was not the point of my blog.

For the record, my personal belief: Any kind of gun control efforts are pointless. There are vast numbers of weapons and rounds of ammunition in this country, legal and otherwise. It is impossible to go back and un-ring the bell of nearly unlimited gun ownership, and I don't believe we should. My family has always owned guns and we always intend to. Furthermore, even if gun ownership was limited, it wouldn't matter. Guns aren't the problem and we're merely stirring up resentment and helping gun sales skyrocket with the constant political wrangling over them. It's what we do with guns, like maybe put them in the hands of school employees who are not law enforcement officers, that I see as the problem. It's the way a criminal or mentally unstable mind works which cannot be changed by trying to take guns out of the equation. It's that we have become a country of "us" versus "them" and half the time we don't even know who "they" are. There. Have I managed to offend my Liberal friends while at the same time still not getting through to my Conservative friends that I really don't want to see your guns taken away?

Back to the point at hand. When I recited the Pledge of Allegiance at the MSU-West Plains graduation ceremonies on Saturday morning tears came to my eyes when I said, "one nation under God, indivisible." The division in this country is heart-breaking. I thought of those who had fought and died to "save our way of life" just to see us now behave with so little civility, respect and love toward our fellow Americans. My dad's been gone three years now, but I can tell you, he was disappointed in the way we treat each other. I thought of part of the thread of comments after my blog about guns in schools.

A friend said the following: "I'd love to see you folk armed with hugs and love and sunshine facing down an active shooter. I plan to use you as human shields while returning fire. Namaste." 

This is an actual friend from high school, not someone who has requested a Facebook friendship because he is a friend of a friend, but a person I have admired and loved since we met. He made our debate coach angry all those years ago by writing on the chalkboard in our classroom a quote from 2nd-century Church Father Tertullian, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church." He's always been what you might say quirky, but that he can now say something like what he said to me is baffling and appalling. Will he say he was trying to be funny? I doubt it. I think he meant it. But I don't think the men in my family who fought in WWII would be laughing even if it was meant to be a sick joke. I'm sure my mother wouldn't have thought it was funny.

Memorial Day, to remember those in the military who died while serving their country, is coming up. Here's what I suggest we remember. Remember how to treat other people. Remember how to be civil. Remember my Uncle Floyd who risked his own life to save the lives of his friends and fellow soldiers. Remember a guy who managed to survive a month on an island of pure hell where nearly 30,000 others weren't so lucky. Remember my uncle James who died in France, shot in the head by a sniper. He hadn't been able to give my mother a wedding ring when they got married because they couldn't afford it, but he had a wedding ring in his pocket when they found him which he planned to give her when he made it home. The wedding ring made its way to her, but he didn't. James and my mother already had three little girls. To honor his brother's memory, my father married his brother's widow to raise those girls as his own.

If we want to remember something on Memorial Day let's remember what honor means.





 

A Day for Moms

While there are certainly many mothers and fathers who share responsibilities of child-rearing, today is the day to celebrate motherhood, so I will laud moms in my comments while noting there are many variables in the roles which not so many years ago were divided much more strictly along the lines of “women's and men's work.” In fact, shortly after my daughter gave birth to her son one year ago last Friday, I gave her a “raising baby” book from the 1940s. The duties assigned to dad as described just 70 years ago mostly fell along the lines of staying out of mother's way while she took care of everything. Some families still operate this way, but in many cases that advice is quaint by today's standards.

Raising children is a tough job and an often messy business. Infants are literal mess-makers producing surprising and unpleasant natural by-products on a regular basis and delivering those things out of both ends of their tiny bodies. I know many moms who have to work past gag reflexes to get through this stage. Toddlers still offer plenty of body function unpleasantries while adding the element of being able to pull everything out of a drawer and throw the contents onto the kitchen floor with lightening fast speed. Picking up the debris left behind by tiny human tornadoes is an exasperating job often relegated to mom.

On a more serious note, the messes children create can often escalate as they approach their teenage years and into adulthood, but mothers tend to stand by their kids, no matter what. On the way to work on Friday, I saw a mother cat carrying a kitten across the road by the scruff of its neck. The kitten was well past the age of needing to be carried. But the mother dragged it along, stumbling because the kitten was so big. It reminded me of some human moms.

Moms who are present in the lives of their children are privileged to share a special bond with them through every stage of life and difficult situation. I believe one of the most important legacies a mother can give her children is spiritual guidance, helping to instill a sense of purpose and direction. A great gift for every child is to have someone to encourage them by example to show love and respect for others, to follow the Golden Rule and to not live in fear.