Works for me.

Whenever we have an event like the inauguration of a new President there are concerns raised about the mixing of religion and politics. They are often inadequately expressed in phrases like “Church and State” or “God and Government”, but they are valid concerns nonetheless, directing our attention to a real and serious danger. And they are not essentially partisan concerns, expressions of anti-God or anti-religious bigotry, as many conservative Christians seem to think. Civil religion is a problem for thoughtful people, believers and nonbelievers alike, who take God and/or religion seriously. And it’s actually part of a larger concern.

A pluralistic democracy, something most of us take for granted in this day and age, is a very challenging notion indeed. How is it possible for government to express the will of a people when the people in question hold radically different, and mutually exclusive, fundamental values? Well, it’s done by a process of continual consensus seeking, not only in parliaments and legislatures, but boardrooms, union shops, community leagues, clubs and societies of all sorts. It’s supremely done through the public education system, which is why private schools are so controversial in a pluralistic society. And it’s done by forging common values of toleration and acceptance, by forging common interests, and ultimately by creating a common, non-religious, non-ethnic, non-racial, non-specific mythical being called a Canadian or an American. This being has hopes and aspirations, dreams and accomplishments, friends, relations, fellow workers, and fellow citizens, but no colour, faith, language, age, or even gender. This being is committed to a “way of life” which is about consuming, becoming whatever “it” wants to be, and letting everyone else consume and become whatever they want to be.

Of course, there are obvious problems with this notion of a generic citizenry. In our personal lives, i.e., our actual and real lives, each of us is a particular expression of all of the above; race, language, faith, ethnicity, gender, etc. And there are public occasions when it feels like a denial of ourselves to keep these personal qualities private. We want a Black President, or Prime Minister, or Governor General for a change. We want a Woman, or Hispanic, or Francophone, or Hindu; someone a little more like us, or perhaps a little more like these folks who haven’t had their turn yet.

And, when we come to these great and iconic public events, we want to reach deep, beneath that generic image we’ve created, to the sources of self that are somehow still essential to who we really are. And here is the problem: how do we acknowledge these ultimate differences, without being divisive or implying that they don’t really matter?

Well, we bring as many representatives of these things as we can accommodate, a Black, an Asian, a Christian, a Jew, an Atheist, a Woman, a Gay, etc. We invite them to come and be themselves on the condition that we do this together. None will be too stridently Jewish, Asian, Christian, Black, Woman, Gay. And if they are, or we personally think they are, we will, by tacit agreement, try not to notice. For we all know, of course, that even this display of personal uniqueness, is part of the overriding process of sublimation that makes a pluralistic democracy possible.

It’s clever, effective and, perhaps most of all, continual and pervasive. And, though we all find it a bit stressful and troubling from time to time, especially when we feel someone has overstepped a line, we all support it because we haven’t yet found a better way to keep people from getting shot.

This looks like a good thing to me

After watching the inauguration of Barak Obama I emailed an American friend whom I have not seen for many years, a professor at Baylor University. His response was very interesting. “When Obama won the vote back in November, I thought of Psalm 118:23 ‘This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.’ I still can hardly believe it has happened.”

Jim is not much given to civil religion. He would be the last to suggest that America is a uniquely Godly nation, or that whatever happens in America is somehow God’s will. But there are times in the course of history when we see the hand of God at work. And surely this is one of those times.

The Abolition Movement was, in very large measure, a movement of prayer, preaching, worship, and deep spiritual conviction. John Newton, the pastor and preacher who wrote Amazing Grace, turned away from participation in the slave trade to became one of the leading voices of abolition. This was the result of the deep spiritual conviction that accompanied his conversion to Christ. And William Wilberforce, who led the battle in parliament to outlaw the slave trade throughout the British Empire, and eventually slavery itself, did so out of the deep conviction that accompanied his conversion. And the civil rights movement, with Rev. Martin Luther King at it’s core, was, of course, a direct descendent of this spiritual revolution. So it would seem to me rather perverse to see an African American taking the oath of office for the Presidency of the United States without some acknowledgement that God just might have had something to do with it.

Of course, there are those who will point out that many who carried on the battle to abolish slavery and promote racial equality over the years, even at the risk of their lives, did so out of different spiritual convictions, or no particular spiritual convictions at all. They simply saw the justice of the cause. This is an important point, and we who look to God in these things must not forget it. But it doesn’t follow that, in these folks, God was uninvolved. God is the God of everyone and everything; the Godly, the un-Godly and the non-Godly. He works in the lives of all his creatures, in all of nature, in all of history, and I believe has something to do with where everyone comes down in these things.

Whether Obama will be great, mediocre or dismal failure, only time will tell. But there is no doubt that with his election and inauguration an era has come to an end; the era when it was unrealistic to imagine that a black man could be president. But as great as this might be it’s only one of the things many are hoping Obama’s presidency will mean. The closing of Guantanamo and other "secret CIA prisons", the reassertion that America will not torture, and the humbler tone of rhetoric are music to the ear.

I, for one, am grateful to see the Bush era come to an end. I believe he was a disaster for the American people and for countless others in the world at large. But the upside is that democracy seems to work in the long run. And now we wait to see how up this upside might be.

What do you think?

No thanks, I have everything I need

In response to my New Year’s posting a friend shared some thoughts about depression and thankfulness. (see comment Jan.1) She got me thinking, as she usually does, and this is some of what turned up.

Many years ago a man in my congregation asked me to visit his wife because she was so depressed. The problem was that she desperately wanted a new house. It wasn’t that their house was inadequate, but some of their friends had bought new houses and she just couldn’t bear the thought of “making do”.

As I sat with her and her husband she poured out her heart. They had been negotiating on her “dream home”, and had been out bid. But this was not the worst of it. The man who had out bid them was a minister.

“Can you imagine a minister being able to afford a better house than we can?”, she asked indignantly. “No”, I replied, controlling my expression as best I could, “I most certainly can’t.” And I couldn’t. I considered contacting this guy to ask him how he did it, but I never did, so I still can’t. I’ve often wondered what passed between the husband and wife after I left .

One of the costs of our consumer economy is the constant pressure to buy things. For some this has become the meaning of Christmas; the last opportunity to give the economy a boost before we start a new year. But who of us will go out and buy things if we’re content with what we have already, or even worse, if we’re content with not having things? So, billions of dollars are spent every year to multiply our discontent. So, I don’t think this woman was entirely to blame.

Lesson 1 – Oprah Winfrey is absolutely right when she encourages us to cultivate an attitude of gratitude, even if she does have to interrupt the message from time to time for a word from her sponsor.

Well, here we go again.

As I sit here this morning, thinking about the new year, I’m reminded of a man I once heard of who became frustrated with his lack of progress in dealing with a particular sin in his life. He was Roman Catholic and had confessed this matter many times, but this time when he went to confession he poured out his frustration. “I’m completely fed up”, he said, “and this is the last time I’m going to confess this sin. If it doesn’t work this time I’m not coming back to confession.” The Priest thought for a moment and then replied gently, “Well, I suppose, if you think that’ll help.”

As I begin 2009 I find myself, as usual, thinking about resolutions. And, as usual, I experience mild exasperation as I notice that the things I’m resolving this year I’ve resolved before. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the word itself. Life being what it is, or more to the point, we being what we are, things that we solve seldom stay solved. We can expect to resolve them many times. To stop resolving is just giving up, and it’s hard to see how that will help.

Mark Twain said, “It’s easy to stop smoking, I’ve done it hundreds of times.” And, in the spirit of Mark Twain, I’m resolving to keep on resolving. I’m going to keep stopping the things I should never have started, and starting the things I should never have stopped. And I’m going to begin by stopping being frustrated that I started again what I stopped before, and that I stopped what I’d started.

Yes, I think I’ll start there… and stop here.

H a p p y N e w Y e a r ! ! !

Merry Christmas

Just a note to thank everyone who followed the Advent Blog whether day by day or more whimsically. And a special thanks to all who fed back words of encouragement. It was quite a challenge to put out something every day and knowing someone out there was actually reading what I was writing was a big help.

I will take a bit of a break now, and plan to be back at it in the new year. See you then.

God bless you all
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Jesus (from Joshua, Yahweh is salvation)

Twenty-Fifth Day of Advent

I hear James Taylor sing:

Who comes this night, this wintry night,
As to the lowly manger?
The Shepherd’s and the Kings did come
To welcome in the stranger. – lyric by Sally Stevens

But who is this stranger they come to welcome, and for whom we have been waiting through all these days of Advent? For some he is the King of kings, come to rule in the hearts of men and women everywhere, while for others he is a simple carpenter, overwhelmed by forces too powerful for him. To some he is a great teacher, even the greatest teacher who ever lived, while to others a misguided fool who imagines his martyr’s death will somehow bring the liberation of his people. There are even some scholars who claim to be his followers, and yet suggest he never actually lived at all. – I’m afraid that sort of thinking takes considerably more scholarship than I’ve been able to acquire. – But, one thing I think we can all agree on; he is one who, even after twenty centuries, still commands the interest of millions. I mean, how many people who died two thousand years ago can still make the cover of TIME and News Week twice a year?

But the question is as old as the Gospels, and every Advent brings it back again. Who is this baby born in Bethlehem over whom, after all this time, the world still makes such a fuss?

Well, John’s Gospel begins with as radical an answer as you could possibly imagine.

John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it.

John begins by introducing us to one he calls “the Word”. In Genesis, chapter one, we are told that God created everything by speaking it into existence, and John says the same thing in a new way. It was “the Word” that went forth from God and created everything. And this “Word” is the source of life for everyone who is alive, and of enlightenment for everyone who is enlightened. John would never have doubted for a moment that Socrates, Lao Tzu, the Buddha or Confucius might have been truly enlightened, but he would insisted that such enlightenment has only one source, the Word that comes from God. Regardless how much death and darkness there is in the world, life and light just keep on coming. Not just to Christians and Jews, or even believers and good people; to everyone.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This is John’s answer to the question “Who is this baby born in Bethlehem?” The Word that created the universe, that gives life to everyone, and is the source of all learning, all true knowledge, all understanding, has become a human being. And that human being is Jesus. He is quite literally the incarnation of the God of everything and everyone.

And why did God do this astounding thing? Well, John answers that question in the famous passage, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

You see, this was something the Word was always doing from the beginning; coming into the world, giving life and light to all who would believe, that is, receive. The incarnation simply takes this coming to another level.

But wasn’t God angry with the world and threatening to come in judgment? Well, consider the very next verse, John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Of course God has always been grieved and angered, as any loving father would be, at those things that abuse and destroy his creation, and especially his little ones. But never, never with the world.

Jesus is the Word of God, who actually is God, reaching out in a new and more profound way, to his creation, his world, to you and me. His desire is the same as that of any loving father, to embrace and restore his children. It is the same as that of any good shepherd, to recover his lost sheep.

I suppose Charles Wesley said it as well as anyone ever has.

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"

Jesus is the reconciliation between God and humanity, the place where we and God come together. And, if I want to be close to God, Jesus is the best way I’ve ever found. Or, better put, he is the way that found me. He is the Word who seeks out everyone with the gifts of enlightenment and life.

Love (1 John 4:16)

Twenty- fourth Day of Advent

John tells us that God is love, so this meditation might just as well have come at the beginning of Advent, as at the end. Everything, especially Advent of course, begins with God, and so with love.

Who doesn’t love a little baby? Well, there was Herod of course, but he had serious trust issues. And no one moved over to make room in the inn, but they were visitors too, and a long way from home. And, anyway, they were there first. And then, I suppose, there must have been some back in Nazareth who were embarrassed that he was coming quite so soon. You really can’t go encouraging that sort of behaviour in young people.

Come to think of it, this love thing’s harder than it seems. But if, as John says, God is love, this Christmas thing, and Advent thing, and Easter thing, and everything is all about love. So I guess we really need to learn to love.

God is love.

Whoever lives in love lives in God,

and God in him.

1 John 4:16

Everything, even the universe itself, begins and ends with love.