THE AMBIVALENCE OF LIFE

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back.  Let's think about joy and sorrow.

Mrs. Dubose, my gray bundle of feline fur, died early this morning. It has been a sad day for my wife and me.  It's not wailing sad...just sad.

And then, tonight we celebrated a Savannah daughter's graduation from SCAD.  The occasion was joyous and nostalgic.  Tears were shed for a loved one moving to other places to expand her futures.  

I suppose some of us can be joyful every waking minute.  If that is the case, surely another can be sorrowful every lasting second.  

For most of us, however, life pendulums between joy and sorrow. Its energy eases between the extremes in a middling kind of ambivalence that elevates life with splendid unpredictable imprimatur.  I would have it no other way.

Blessings...

RESISTING EVIL

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back.  Let's think about evil.

Today I saw a bumper sticker on a truck that said, "PRAYER IS THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON AGAINST EVIL."

Now, I just finished reading Twelve Years a Slave.  More than once Solomon Northrup writes of the prayers of hundreds of slaves that passed through their hearts and lips unheard.

I think about all those who prayed during the tremendous suffering from terrible wars.  How many prayed when Hitler's SS or Stalin's Red Army murdered millions?

Was it prayers that stopped slavery, Hitler, or Stalin?  Was it something else?

In recent American history, was it prayer that ended lynching and Jim Crow?

I would say three things stop evil.

1.  Being good.
2.  Knowing good.
3.  Doing good.

Prayer allows us to endure evil.  Maybe by enduring it, we defeat it.  I do not know anymore about the latter than did the slave who prayed for God to set him free all his life until only death liberated him from bondage.  
What would he say were he asked if enduring evil is a kind of victory?

Blessings...

LOVE'S PLEASURES AND HEARTACHES

In the beginning,the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back.  Let's think about cats.

I have a cat who is dying.  She will not be alive this time next week.  I've had this cat since the year 2000.

Her name is Mrs. Dubose.  She is a gray feline with green eyes and an perennial expression of sweetness behind her whiskers.

She's an old girl.  Her time has come.  

I brought her along from a broken relationship.  Originally, she was my wife's cat.  I took her with me so she would be cared for and loved.

Unlike my other cat, Atticus Finch, she does not like head bumping me or giving me kitty kisses.  She loves sitting near me and receiving the benefits of hour and hours of head scratches and light petting behind her ears.  

If I lose her in the house, I do the cliche whistle that men whistle when we see a good looking dame.  She comes every time.  

Having this furry critter and loving her is a remarkable experience.  The idea that rational human beings would co-habitate with animals seems strange to me.  I cannot recall a time in my life when I did not have pets.

Love strikes us with such a peculiar poetry of yearning.  I would have her live with me forever and care for her.  I will miss her when she is gone.

I do believe that every experience of love is knowing God.

Blessings...

REMEMBERING ANOTHER WHO SERVED

Welcome back.  Let's think about Tommy Cagle.

I cannot recall how old I was when I attended Tommy Cagle's funeral at Sawyer Road Community Baptist Church on Signal Mountain in Tennessee.  I may have been ten or twelve.  

My parents encouraged me to go because he died serving our country in Vietnam.  I had no idea at the time that we were at war, nor did I know about Vietnam.  I must have been very young.

I never knew Tommy Cagle.  I do not recall how many people attended the church service.  I never met any of his family unless I was introduced at the funeral service.  If that is the case, it has long since been forgotten by me.

After four decades I do remember his name.  I do remember he was an American soldier who died in an American war.  

His was the first soldier's funeral this Tennessee hillbilly ever attended.

The only other thing I recall about the funeral was the closed casket.  I had attended funerals where the body of the person was laid in state so people could pay their last respects.  

Tommy Cagle's casket was closed. Something happened to him in Vietnam that prevented his family from letting the public see him one last time.

I do not recall what happened to Tommy Cagle.  I only remember his name, the little white church, and how terrible it all seemed to me then.

Blessings...

REMEMBERING ONE WHO SERVED

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back.  Let's think about my grandfather.

My grandfather was in the Philippines near the end of World War II, presumably with General MacArthur.  He was a chaplain in the army.  

I asked him once what he thought about the atom bomb being dropped on Japan.  He said that he and other soldiers feared that Hitler possessed a secret weapon.  They all rejoiced to learn that ours was the world leader who possessed it.

He was a yellow dog Democrat, presumably because of FDR.  He married a Republican.  He told me once that I needed to get another job every time a Republican gets elected president.  

He was born in Alabama.  He was raised to be a fundamentalist and a segregationist, but life changed him on both counts.  Near the end of his life he admitted at a family reunion that he no longer believed Jesus would return during his lifetime.  

Sometime during the 1970s, he stopped using the N-word, and all of its variations, to describe black people, and not long after that he stopped using the world “colored.”  He would not have been happy if any of his family had married a person of another race, but I believe he would have accepted it.

He was not a great preacher nor was he a deep thinker.  In his personal library he owned no great books except a volume of Whitman's poetry.  He kept a set of the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible tucked away on a bottom shelf in his office.  When I began reading it, I saw no evidence that he had ever opened it.  Maybe he had, but he would not have liked what he read.

Like most of us, my grandfather was obscure and ambivalent throughout his life.  A lot of people loved him, but few in his family sought him out for company.

I spent a lot more time with him than most.  I tend to be amiable and to find something amiable in everyone.  He was grumpy, cantankerous, stubborn, narrow minded, yet I loved him when he could be happy.

He was a mystery to me, but I remember him at this time every year because he served during a bloody time in world history.

Blessings...

HEARD AT CHURCH

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back. Let's think about the world.

Often the spirit of the times changes, or a political mood grips the country, and then we find the powers of the world establishing a course that clashes with the rule of our God of love. Any progress towards the kingdom of God can be set back many decades when our churches are forced to deal with the consequences of bad politics.

To demonstrate what I mean, allow me to share my pastor's "First Thoughts."  That is the title of Dr. John Finley's weekly editorial that he writes in The Calendar, which is the church bulletin.

******

Some of you know that while Norma and I were in seminary, we served our first congregation in

Southern Indiana: an 1824 open-country Baptist church called Lick Branch.

They were sweet people, but even in the 1980’s, they could sponsor some wild and wooly religion. The chairman of deacons regularly served communion in his bib overalls with a large chaw of tobacco in his cheek, despite the fact that the spittoons had been removed in the early twentieth century.

A hundred years before that, the men of the church regularly brought their firearms to church, but at least had the good sense to leave them at the door. Frontier life could be somewhat rascally on the outside, but there still was general respect for a Christian church as a house of

prayer.

        Now comes House Bill 60 as passed by the Georgia State Assembly and signed by Governor Nathan

Deal. Dubbed the “guns everywhere” bill, this legislation opens the door for persons to carry guns and other

weapons into places of worship, bars, and schools.

Members of our Diaconate considered this bill at their May meeting, and guided by attorney Van Pool as their chair, looked at the portions of the bill that pertain to us.

These lines from Section 1-5 are especially important: “A person shall be guilty of carrying a weapon or long gun in an unauthorized location and punished for a misdemeanor when he or she carries a weapon or long gun while: (1) In a government building; (2) In a courthouse; (3) In a jail or prison; (4) In a place of worship,unless the governing body or authority of the place of worship permits the carrying of weapons or long gunsby license holders;…”

        As we understand it, weapons are still not allowed in houses of worship except in the cases of law enforcement officers, federal agents, and the like, but our deacons were of the opinion that First Baptist Church does not want to open the door to weapons of any kind on our premises.

Other congregations of various denominations are presently stating their own policies, among them our Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and United Methodist friends, and we intend to pay close attention to their responses to this legislation in forming our own.

Since this law does not go into effect until July 1, the Diaconate intends to make a recommendation to the church at its next Quarterly Church Conference on Sunday, July 20, 2014.

Watch for more information to follow as we attempt to live out our life together as a congregation which belongs, first of all, to the Prince of Peace.

******

I find it simply amazing that churches now must discuss a course of action in response to the politics of the great Christian state of Georgia. I can think of few things more truly anti-Christ, than the proliferation of weapons in our society.

How ironic that in my state, Georgia, our politicians turned their legislative back on the Common Core and the Affordable Care Act, but bear hugged legislation that effected the omnipresence of guns throughout the state--except in government buildings and courthouses.

How ironic that Georgia politicians are proclaiming that they are Christians in televised political ads—sometimes while they wield guns.

How ironic that Georgia fancies itself to be solid leather in the Bible Belt, yet to make citizens feel safe our state has turned to lead, not the Lord. 

The feeling of being safe is an illusion. People feel safer with guns in the house, but are they really safe?  I doubt if the reality of being safe is as tangible as the illusion.

Once I asked my mother why we did not have any guns in the house. She said, "We have a weapon far more powerful that any gun."

"Is it more powerful than a bomb?"  I asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Is it more powerful than an atom bomb?" I asked.

"Yes.”

I did not believe her. I thought she was pulling my leg.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"There's one in just about every room in our house.”

“What does it look like?” I asked. I could not think of one instance where I had seen a weapon more dangerous than a slingshot in our home.

“There's one on the coffee table in the living room."

I went into the living room to find this great weapon more powerful than an atom bomb. All I saw on the coffee table was our family Bible.

Blessings...

A SABBATH PRAYER

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back.  Hear my Sabbath prayer.

May the Lord be your guide and your protection. 
May the Lord deliver you from sorrow and pain.

May God uplift your heart through faith, thanksgiving, and grace to find an abundance in life that will bless you all your days.

Blessings...

A TIME OF KNOWING INFINITE GRATITUDE

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back.  Let's think about giving thanks.

Sometimes a prayer of thanksgiving to God gets strangled in the throat, stuck to the roof top of the mouth, and coughed past the lips.  That's when we thank God for those things that could have been a lot worse.

But sometimes, thanksgiving is so heart felt that just one breath launches us beyond all thought and time into an infinite, elevated multi-verse of thanksgiving.

Of course, I am thinking about summer break.  Never, in the annals of William D. Heard, have I yearned for the view of my school inside my rear view mirror.  Tomorrow is the next to last Friday of the most awful year of my professional life.

This time next week all of me, including my shadow, will tremble with joy inexpressible.  The nightmare will be over.  

And I thought last year was horrendous!

I am thankful for those long days of summer even though they pass as quickly as coffee pouring into a cup.  It's the only time in my life I catch a glimpse of the writer's life.  I can hardly wait.

So I say, "Praise the Lord!"

Blessings...

WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS: A REFLECTION

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back. Let's think about Where the Red Fern Grows.

My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Fowler read the book to us when I was in sixth grade. I liked it so much I read it again, maybe twice. I have never forgotten it.

My memory will always store the story of Billy Colman, Old Dan, and Little Ann.

 I have never forgotten how Billy Colman walked thirty miles to retrieve his dogs from the post office. I will never forget how the marshal of the town intervened with his boot against a gang of rowdy town boys bent on bullying Billy.

I will never forget how, on the way back home, the puppies bawled at a mountain lion. I will never forget how they treed the ghost coon and how Rubin Prichard died. I will never forget how they won a coon hunting contest and how they died.

I forgot a lot. I forgot how Billy came up with their names. I forgot how his grandfather helped him buy the puppies without his father finding out. I also forgot that Little Ann won a beauty contest.

I kept asking myself, “Why the title?”  I had to wait until the last chapter to rediscover it.

Obviously, I reread the novel recently. The story has a different affect on a fifty-seven year old reader than it had on an eleven year old boy.

There were many things I would not have noticed when I was eleven. The theology of the book was one. It was as unobtrusive as the paper bound within the novel covers.

God answers every single one of Billy Colman's prayers except the one that he prayed for Old Dan's life to be spared after his bloody fight against a mountain lion.

Billy experiences an amazing correlation between asking and receiving that people do not experience.

On the one hand there is no silly idea that God answers all prayers with either a "yes," a "no," and a "wait."   In the book, God only answers the prayers that come deep from the heart. On the other hand, there is the silly idea that all one has to do is ask, and one shall receive.

Sentimentalism abounds in this book. There are a lot of eyes weeping or welling up with tears in just about every chapter.  

The line, "I never saw anything like that in my life," is repeated numerous times. We Southerners love to say that about our possessions.

I also noticed that the writer was preaching to me. There are numerous places where the book sounds more like a sentimental gospel tract than a good story.

I noticed errors. Billy Colman says that "God helps those who help themselves" is in the Bible. Try Ben Franklin, Billy.

I guess I know too much in my old age.

Today, I prefer a book like Holes. It shows a providence that is not contrived. As I read Where the Red Fern Grows I kept hearing in the back of my head, "If only...if only..."

Wilson Rawls’ novel has so much about it that I love. The story is wonderful. The writing is splendid. Rawls includes details and similes in his narrative that are stunning.

For all its sentimental hogwash and evangelical fervor, I still love it. My eyes welled up more than once as I romped through the Ozarks with Billy, Old Dan, and Little Ann.

Blessings...

THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back. Let's talk about the world.

I saw on television recently that certain Southern pastors had formed a fight club. They hoped to increase membership and, supposedly, interest in faith by beating on other pastors. It is all good fun. Fightin' for Jesus!

The doctrine of the world is quite simple. What makes us unique as Christians, unique among other faiths, is not difficult to comprehend. It is so simple it seems foolish.

It is, in fact, the wisdom of God that makes the world foolish. It is the wisdom that shows the world’s wisdom to be inane and downright stupid.

I can spell this word of wisdom in four letters:  love.

We are the only faith grounded in a God of love. We are not believers, but a family, exceptional in how we love.

But are we?

Now, I do not believe in any Pollyanna kind of love. No hippie “Make love, not war” here!  Although that saying fits well Christian lips.

Love is tough. It’s hard to love mean people who suck at life. It’s virtually impossible to forgive an asshole 490 times. Still, we are commanded to do it by God!

What’s easy is being pious. If only being a Christian were all about being pious. 

Don't or do?  Don't have fun or love?  Which truly distinguishes a person? Makes him or her holy?

Okay, so being an ascetic is hard, but anyone can do it if they set their volition to it. 

However, something supernatural is required when we turn the other cheek again and again. A dedication beyond the will to power, beyond right and wrong, beyond good and evil, beyond self flagellation is commanded of us.

Yes, it is easy to be pious, but it is hard as hell to love poeple during every second of every second of our lives.

Did you know that for the first two hundred years of Christianity's emergence on this planet not one Christian joined an army?  Christians separated themselves from the world to await Jesus’ return. They formed loving communities. They were too busy loving rather than too busy killing.

But Jesus never returned and the task of being Jesus in the world loomed large and nigh improbable over time.

After Christianity became seduced by the enticement of power and domination when InConstantine became emperor, the faith that preached "God is love" became just another worldly belief system. It became just another religion. 

If our faith is not about our God of love, about love, about the love Jesus preached, then it might as well be Islam. Indeed, hearing some Christians preach, it is very Islamic.

I mean that with no disrespect to those Muslims who believe that Allah is love.

You don’t have to be a Christian to love. God’s love reaches out through many vessels—sacred and profane. Indeed the opposite seems true. I could argue that being a Christian means throwing up all kinds of obstacles (or stumbling blocks to use Biblical language) against love. I could cite many instances in church history to prove that to be true.

Consider that we have had two presidents who refused to tout violence as solutions to our national problems:  Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. They were and are reviled among certain evangelicals who have neither the brains nor the faith to comprehend them. Moreover, they are arcane to this lousy world in general.

That is because our world preaches an anti-gospel. It preaches domination and violence are God's way of being in the world.

Yes, the world is too much with us. We see it in our weapons of mass destruction, our wars, our retributive justice, and our pugilistic pastors.

The world is too much with us. Peace through strength. Might makes right. He who has the gold makes the rules.

The temptations that come with the domination forces in our society entice so effectively that we twist our faith into a camel that fits rather easily through the eye of a needle.

Blessings...

THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US II

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back.  

I remember my favorite classes at the university were my fiction writing classes.  In one class there was a student who wrote a story about a Christian young man, who, like himself, was struggling with his faith in the world.

The young man in the story, like the writer, had been attending the local fundamentalist Baptist Bible, but the world was persecuting him because he lived in a way he deemed faithful to the Lord.

In the story, the primary conflict was between an unholy world and a holy young man.  

His holiness made him separate, unique, and not like the worldly people who lived a secular existence.  In their eyes, he was a fool, but in God’s eyes, he was a genius.

In other words the young man believed his piety consecrated his existence.

During the question and comment session, our professor pointed out that piety did not make anyone unique.  It was rather common in life and literature.  There was really nothing special or holy about piety. People of faith in other religions, even agnostics and atheists, could be pious.

The young writer had accepted a certain Baptist teaching about the world.  This doctrine of the world is all wrong.  There are two aspects to this doctrine.  One has to do with piety.

The world drinks alcohol, cusses, fornicates, masturbates, watches movies, goes to the theater, smokes, drinks alcohol, doesn't go to church, and drinks alcohol.  In other words, most people in the world are not pious.  A very few are pious, and that narrow road Jesus spoke of is their lonely highway to heaven.

Unfortunately, being pious is a personality trait.  It suits well certain personalities with a low capacity for fun and sex.  It elevates personalities wracked with guilt and a yearning to be ever in conflict with themselves.

Some pious people wrote scripture, but so did a lot of impious people.  For example, concerning the latter, the Song of Songs was hardly written by a pious person.  I see no piety in Koheleth--the so-called book of Ecclesiastes.  Job argues against the purpose filled living of a righteous life insofar as it means suffering will not happen to the pious man.  The gospel of Mark is not very pious.  

Indeed, Jesus hardly acts pious at all.  He was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard.  At a wedding where all the wine had been consumed, he created wine that was better than what the host had served. 

The second aspect of the world doctrine has to do with the wisdom of the world versus God's wisdom.  The belief is that Christianity must be totally absurd so God can prove scientists, historians, and other thinking people to be absurd.  The wisdom of the world is foolish before God.

Fundamentalists willfully and ignorantly cling to ignorance because they believe the sillier their knowledge seems to the world, the more valid it is in God's eyes.

Thus, we get terrible superstitions like biblical inerrancy, the Rapture, Millennialism, guns in church, the Curse of Ham, and young earth creationism…to name a few.

Scholarship is ignored for the sake of dogmatism.

Next time I will write how we Christians are not of this world.

Blessings...