Playing Catch

I played a game once with a young men’s group when I was in Northern Ireland. There were about a dozen of us, and as we stood in a circle, we tossed a small rubber ball around, across the circle, making sure that each of us had a turn.  Once we established the order in which the ball made it to every person, we repeated the pattern, increasing our speed, until we were comfortable with it. We always received the ball from the same person, and we always threw it to the same person. This helped us establish some non-verbal communication between each other, such as eye contact or reading each other’s movements, which helped us get better at both catching the ball, and making sure it was safe to throw. 

The game increased in intensity, as more and more balls were added to the mix, including differently shaped balls. Then, in an apparently sadistic act, the leader collected the balls, and got out a dozen raw eggs. One at a time, the eggs were thrown, very slowly at first, in the same pattern. They criss-crossed our circle, landing in our carefully cupped hands, being gently tossed as if willed through the air in as cautious an arc as possible. Over a few minutes, our confidence increased, and so did the speed of the game. As we got better and more comfortable with it, we added more eggs. Yes, we did lose one or two, but for the most part, we did pretty well.

I’ve repeated this game with a number of groups since then. I’ve learned some things, such as the fact that raw eggs don’t get along well with wedding rings. I’ve also come to see this game as a really great illustration of how life comes to us. (Except for the part that we always receive from the same person, and give to the same person. That’s not always the case.) But insofar as I have zero control over what comes at me, or how it comes at me, or the speed at which it comes to me, this game perfectly illustrates that this is essentially how we experience life. The ball (or egg) might be thrown high and slow, or fast and straight. All I can do is prepare as best I can, keep my eyes on the ball (egg), cup my hands, and hope to catch it. 

On the other hand, I have complete control over what I pass on to others. If I received the ball fast, I can pass it on slowly. Or if I received the ball from someone with a wicked slider, I can pass along a gentle underhand. If I receive someone’s anger, or frustration, or suffering, I can choose not to pass that along to someone else. The interactions that I have with people are just like this game, in that I can separate my individual response from what is being thrown toward me.

The grace is in God’s ability to help us with the courage, patience, and peace that we need to pass the ball to others with kindness, regardless of how we ourselves received it.

Marshmallows, Bagels and Brownies

I just read an article about a man who loved the marshmallows in Lucky Charms so much, that he bought 1,000 pounds of just the marshmallows, a semi-truck load, so that he wouldn’t have to fish for them in a conventional box of the breakfast cereal.

In the same article, two women collaborated to invent a tool that would scoop out the inside of a bagel. One of them had worked at a bagel shop in high school, and had burned her fingers several times, scooping out the innards of toasted bagels for folks who wanted to save a few calories.

Then there’s the guy who invented the brownie pan that ensures every brownie has some crusty edge on it. He’s already been approached by fans who want him to design other such items, like a pizza pan shaped like a doughnut to maximize crust.

Seriously? 

No offense to these people, who I’m sure are kind-hearted, generous, and are beloved children of God, but my goodness. At what point did they receive a promise that everything around them would be perfect? Who made that promise to them? 

In life, where most of the rest of the world lives, the sweet crunchy marshmallows are a treat, not the norm. If you want a bagel, you eat a bagel. If you want just the skin, try a bag of chips. And in every brownie pan, a little gooeyness must lie. 

Thank God that Jesus didn’t begin his ministry on earth, look around and see how messed up we all were, then said, “Pops, this ain’t going to work. Let’s just pack it in and try another planet.” No, we were created as imperfect. We were made from the dirty and flawed dust of the earth, and God loved us anyway. God then came to us in Jesus, and told us about love, forgiveness, humility, and grace. Christ showed us that in spite of our lack of sweetness, our bagely fullness, or our gooey centers - we are redeemable and we are worthy of God’s love. 

So if you’re tempted to buy sandwiches with the offensive crust already removed, think about your own crustiness for a moment. Then say a little prayer of gratitude to God who loves you anyway.

GOP Greed Breaking Fifth Commandment

Exodus 20:12, the fifth of the Ten Commandments, reads, "Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." (NRSV) Scholars tell us the honoring of one's father and mother is not actually about young children cleaning their rooms when their parents tell them to, the point is rather for adult children to take care of their aging parents. And if this happens, their "days may be long", because someone following this commandment is taking care of them.


So how would cutting Social Security and Medicare, two programs that directly help aging parents and differently-abled people unable to physically support themselves, fit with the fifth commandment?


It appears that Speaker Boehner and other House GOP leaders would rather cut aid to sick people and the elderly than dare to ask corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share. This is sinful. The GOP has lectured the country on moral values for a while now, but this stance shows their true colors - they have sold their moral integrity to the highest contributor. The would rather create public policy that rewards selfishness and greed, than balance the country's books and show some financial responsibility.


The GOP claims to want fiscal responsibility, but when they have an opportunity to make an impact on the deficit by ending the Bush tax cuts, they are too cowardly to do it. 


They claim to want fiscal responsibility, but when handed a surplus by the Clinton administration, the Republican White House and Congress turned it into a substantial deficit. 


I'm not so naive as to expect politicians to always tell the truth, especially when the truth contradicts their chosen narrative. But I do expect people who claim to be public servants to at least once in a while actually serve the public, and not throw our grandparents under the bus to save their contributors a few dollars. 


If we honor our fathers and mothers, we too will live long in this land we've been given. If not, well, here comes oligarchy. 

Why Did Jesus Die?

“In the temple precincts [Jesus] came upon people selling oxen and sheep and doves, and bankers were doing business there too. He made a whip out of rope and drove them all out of the temple area, sheep, oxen, and all; then he knocked over the bankers; tables, and set their coins flying. And to the dove merchants he said, ‘Get these birds out of here! How dare you use my Father’s house as a public market!’” (John 2:14-16)

There is a lot of imagery during Holy Week, of Jesus as the “Lamb of God”, an innocent, being led calmly to slaughter on the cross. During the passion readings, which you will hear on Thursday evening and Friday at noon, Jesus is, actually, fairly calm and non reactive.

But in this story, which happens at the beginning of the week before his death, Jesus is anything but lamb-like. 

Jesus is angry. Jesus is reactionary and violent. Jesus goes into the area around the Temple in Jerusalem, and sees merchants trying to sell animals for ritual sacrifice, and the money changers exchanging foreign currency to buy these animals, likely at unfair rates, and Jesus flips out. He yells at them (according to Matthew 21:13), “My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are making it a den of robbers!”

In the typical Christian experience of Holy Week, we start with Palm Sunday, the pageantry and expectation of the Messiah, the Anointed, coming triumphantly into Jerusalem, only to die and then be resurrected on Easter. Many Christians miss the death part, if they don’t come to church on Thursday or Friday, and so they miss out on the emotional roller coaster that Holy Week can be. 

But even more so, if we skip the stories of that week, we miss the point that Jesus’s death wasn’t just for later Christians to make theological points about salvation. Jesus’s death was because he was angrily shouting out for justice, turning the tables over on systems of inequality, and crying out for a new relationship with God--ironically one of reverence and piety, not sacrifice.

Make no mistake, this week is about the brokenness and pain of Jesus’s suffering and death. But we should never forget the very human events that brought that death about. Jesus gave his life because he was unafraid to cry out against injustice, to call people to account for their oppressive actions, to fight for a transformation of the world toward greater justice and mercy. 

May this be our guide as we follow his example.

On Wisconsin

Last night, the Wisconsin Senate spat in the face of every working family in their state. I'm angry, and terribly disappointed in their sinful act.


Governor Scott Walker was quoted by the BBC as saying, "'This is about protecting the middle class and doing it in a way that avoids massive tax increases and massive lay-offs.'"


First of all, the middle class only exists in this country because of collective bargaining. Second, tax increases and lay offs were already avoided because of the concessions the Governor got from the unions through the process of, say it with me, collective bargaining. 


(CBSNews.com reported 2/22, "Public sector unions have conceded to Walker's proposal to roll back their benefits in order to help balance the state budget.")


More to the point, I get that the GOP's endgame is to cut the Democratic party off at the knees. Unions have given an enormous amount of financial and political support to the Dems over the last several decades. 


But here's the important question that no one seems to be asking - why? Why do unions support more Democratic candidates than Republican? Because the Democratic party has enacted policies that support working families. That's why. 


When the GOP stops being the party of "no" and starts being the responsible, values-based party their rhetoric suggests, enacting policies that are pro-family and pro-workers, my guess is that the Union money will start to be a little less partisan. 


My heart goes out to the good people of Wisconsin. They do not deserve such callous and hateful leadership.

Christmas Isn't Just A Day

When the song of the angels is stilled, 
When the star in the sky is gone, 
When the kings and princes are home, 
When the shepherds are back with their flock, 
The Work of Christmas begins: 
To find the lost, 
To heal the broken, 
To feed the hungry, 
To release the prisoner, 
To rebuild the nations, 
To bring peace among brothers and sisters, 
To make music in the heart. 
Then indeed we shall be blessed! 
—Howard Thurman

Peace Be With You

A young man recently tried to explode a bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, OR. North and South Korea seem to be at very high tension. Violence continues in Afghanistan and Iraq. Israelis and Palestinians seem as far from peace as ever. And now we enter the season of Advent, which is when we’re supposed to talk about peace and love, but end up having arguments about decorations, hear complaints about keeping “Christ” in “Christmas”, fight each other in shopping malls and dread the inevitable family tensions that seem as ubiquitous as Santa Claus himself.

So, where’s the peace?

I don’t have a quick and easy answer, unfortunately. Peace is hard. It takes work. It takes patience. It takes a tenacious commitment on the part of all parties to love and respect one another in spite of the differences that are present. Peace is not mere tolerance (although tolerance is a start), but it can only really take root when we see each other as fully human, and respect each other’s vulnerability enough to not take advantage of it.

Peace also takes an acknowledgment and confession of the wrong we have done. If I cannot admit how I have hurt another, how can I expect them to be at peace with me? 

Frequently, there’s also an imbalance of power in a conflicted relationship - whether between co-workers, couples or combatants. Whichever party has less power (political, economic, physical, etc.) needs an assurance of safety and self-determination in order for peace to be realized.

And all of this is needed in spite of the reality that conflict is inevitable. Peace is not a destination, it is a commitment. When conflict arises, if committed to peace, we will interact with each other in an honest and mutually respectful way in order to find a mutually agreeable solution.

Okay this seems hard. How are we supposed to do this with any measurable impact?

It seems to me that the only answer to this is, “one step at a time.” It starts with our relationships between each other - between spouses or partners, co-workers and neighbors. Our children are watching how we deal with conflict with one another. Rather than avoiding it or escalating it, we could try communicating with each other, working through it together. Our kids will see this and learn from it. 

And peace just may become a little more possible.