Unto Us A Child Was Born on The Second Day of Christmas

Merry Christmas to all who should happen to read this blog and a very Happy Birthday to our youngest son, Luke.  Some might say Luke was born “the day after Christmas” which sounds so anti-climatic and piddling.  And it just isn’t so!  There is nothing anti-climactic or piddling about Luke, in his birth, or in the journey he has traveled since.  Luke was born on the Second Day of Christmas!  Doesn’t that sound a whole lot better?  I think so.

“Unto us a child was born, a son was given” forty-six years ago on this Second day of Christmas. Needless to say, Christmas 1977 was an extraordinary one!  When Luke was born his brother, Paul, was eleven years old; his sister, Rachel Elisabeth, was ten. Luke brought a whole new dimension to our family and we are forever grateful.  

Happy Birthday, Luke.  May your day be a special one, as you have made all our days, since your coming, so very special.

Advent Hope: I Will Sing a New Song

 For many an Advent season, I’ve read Howard Thurman’s little book, The Mood of Christmas.   The book always lifts my spirit.  It helps me get in the proper mood for Advent.   I’ve always found synonyms helpful in getting at the “depth” of a particular word.  Synonyms for the word “mood” are: frame of mind, attitude, feeling, outlook, perspective, temperament, disposition, responsiveness, feeling, sentiment, emotion, etc.

Synonyms for the word “Advent,” help me get a handle on the real meaning of the word and the season:  

—something is “coming”

—something is about to “arrive”

—it is the “onset” of something new

—an “appearance” is about to occur

—something is “approaching”

—a new “entrance” is anticipated.

Thurman captures the “mood” of Advent in  “I Will Sing a New Song:”

The old song of my spirit has wearied itself out.

It has long ago been learnt by heart;

It repeats itself over and over,

Bringing no added joy to my days or lift to my spirit.

I will sing a new song.

I must learn the new song for the new needs.

I must fashion new words born of all the new growth

   of my life—of my mind—of my spirit.

I must prepare for new melodies that have

   Never been mine before,

That all that is within me may lift my voice unto God.

Therefore, I shall rejoice with each new day

And delight my spirit in each fresh unfolding.

I will sing, this day, a new song unto the Lord.

A Happy (Belated) Anniversary

 I’m not very good at remembering birthdays, anniversaries, and other such celebrations of life.  Through the years I’ve published and updated a family directory which includes birth dates, weddings, and other pertinent information for my family: siblings, their children, and their children’s children (including my own).  That should have helped me, but it hasn’t.  This year I wrote some of these important celebrations on my calendar hoping that would help.  It didn’t!  You see, for 57 years “ma Cherie” Cher always took care of that kind of thing.

So you can imagine the chagrin I felt on Thanksgiving Day when someone mentioned Paul and Helen’s recent wedding anniversary.  They were married on November 21st thirty years ago.  I was there!  I even took part in their wedding ceremony!  And I totally forgot their anniversary!

I have no excuse for my negligence (even though I’ve tried to find one). I forgot—totally forgot their 30th wedding anniversary!  

But I have not forgotten the thirty years of watching them grow in love together.  I have not forgotten what wonderful parents they have been for their two sons.  I have not forgotten the warmth of their home. I have not forgotten any of that—I just forgot the date.  I have not forgotten how much they mean to me, nor how much I love, care, and admire  them.  Happy (Belated) Anniversary, Paul and Helen.  

My New Year 2023 Begins Today: The First Sunday of Advent

 

My New Year 2023 begins today, the First Sunday of Advent.  I will light the first candle on the Advent wreath this evening. With the lighting this candle I will begin to prepare myself for the Christmas Promise—that Christ might be born in the Bethlehem of my heart in some new way.

Advent is the beginning of my new year, because….

Advent is a very special time... a time of promise

     it is a time of preparation for the new about to happen

     it is a time of new beginnings

Advent is a time of expectancy...a time of happenings  

    annunciations are heard if ears are opened   

    dreams are dreamed and guidance given

Advent is a time of giving birth to God

     we carry God around with us and do not know it 

      it is a time for a new birth within.  

Advent is a time of waiting, waiting

     for mountains to be brought down; hills to be brought low

     for valleys to be lifted up; crooked places to be made straight

 Advent is a time of moving...a time of transition

     it is not a movement backward, but forward  

     it is moving me, you, and the world to a place it has never been

Advent is about newness...a time for the "New Things"

     it is a season of receptivity and openness

     it is a time of new vulnerability for me, for you, for God 

Advent announces a Way...a time of new dreams

   it is a time to sing our own song, dance our own dance

   it is a time of searching and for finding

Advent is all of the above...it is kairos time

   it is a good time to start anew, to begin again.

   Advent is the time to follow your star. 

         

      

A Christmas Wish List for My Children

 Dear Paul, Rachel and Luke,

Last year, for the first time ever, I provided you with a Christmas Wish List.  I was so surprised when you provided every one of the “wishes” on that list.  The reading light, the pair of gloves, the furniture sliders, the step stool, the miniature file set, etc. (all easily ordered through Amazon) have all served me well throughout the past year.  Thank you so much for those gifts!

You told me how happy you were to have such a list last year and so, I’ve been working on a list for this Christmas.  Here it is:

1.  Two “Titan Acro Massage chairs for the Living Room.  This means I’ll need to get rid of the two sofas (each with two recliners) now taking up space that will be needed for the new chairs. I think “Taupe” would be the right color for these two chairs.

2.   One “Titan Acro Massage chair” for the new Garden Room.  The present “recliner” (and maybe the other two chairs in that room) will have to be removed to make room for the new.     “Gray" would probably look nice in this room.

 

3.  I think another “Titan Acro Massage chair” would be nice for my study as well.  Again, the present Lazy Boy Recliner will have to be removed in order to make room for the new chair.   “Brown” (like the present recliner) would be just the right color.

I’ve tried to make this list as simple as possible—four of the very same item.  The four items can be purchased locally at any Home Depot Store—and delivered.  (However, I’ll be depending on you all to remove the sofas and other chairs).  The other good news that the four chairs are on sale.  The original price was $5,199—now only $2,499 each.  That’s quite a savings.  You’ll only have to pay $9,996!

Unfortunately I've been unable to download a photo of this incredible chair.  You can find out all about it in the Home Depot holiday guide.

Give Thanks for Life!

 “Be always joyful; pray continually; give thanks whatever happens…” (I Thessalonians 5:18, NEB)

There is much spurious thinking among alleged Christians.  Many, influenced by the false prophets of our time, think that God exists to provide them personal advantages.  They expect God to heal “them” of their maladies, even though God doesn’t heal others with the same maladies.  Many of them claim to love God for what they think they can get out of such a relationship.  Meister Johannes Eckhart (1260-1327) wrote:  

“Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow and to love him as they love their cow—they love their cow for the milk and cheese and profit it makes them.  This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wrath or inward comfort.  They do not rightly love God when they love him for their advantage.”

No one is immune to life’s ups and downs.  Life is not a rose garden and life is not just continual chaos.  Life is a mixture.  Give thanks for the mixture.  Douglas Malloch’s (1877-1938) little poem, “Thank God for Life,” helps me remember this truth.

Thank God for life!

There! A meadowlark sings!  

Do you hear it?

For the sigh of the heart,

The contagion of laughter,

For the longing apart,

For the joy that comes after,

For the things that we feel

when we clasp, when we kneel—

Thank God for the sharing,

The caring, the giving,

For the things of Life’s living.  

Another unknown poet expressed it this way:

Thank God for life!

E’ven though it bring much bitterness and strife,

And all our fairest hopes be wrecked and lost,

E’ven though there be more ill than good in life,

We cling to life and reckon not the cost.

Thank God for life!

Grateful for "little Red Boots" and all else!

Made It! Now For The Next Step!

My brother, John, and I have returned safely home from our little jaunt across the pond.  I’m grateful that he was willing to take his “first step” and my “first step” with me.  Having lost our spouses nearly two years ago (a week apart) we are both living in a new and different kind of reality than we’ve ever known before.  We were both apprehensive about the trip to the UK, but we made it!  And we “made it” well!

Now, I must take my next step on my own.  That next step will be a solo trip to Flagstaff, Arizona, to visit my youngest son, Luke, and his family in a few weeks.  I’m very excited, but still a bit apprehensive, but I can do this—I know I can—and I must!

Who knows how many “next steps” there may be.  I have no idea, but I do know it is important to take as many as I can, while it is day.  

Is Love At The Heart of Things?

"And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rehab coming to meet him.  And he saluted him and said, 'Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?'  And Jehonadab answered, 'It is."  'If it be, give me thine hand.'"  (2 Kings 10:15)

“But although a difference of opinions…may prevent an entire external union, yet need it prevent our union in affection?  Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike?  May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion?  Without all doubt, we may.  Herein all the children of God (that includes everybody) may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.  These remaining as they are, they may forward one another in love and in good works.”

“Every wise man (person), therefore, will allow others the same liberty of thinking which he desires they should allow him; and will no more insist on their embracing his opinions, than he would have them to insist on his embracing theirs.  He bears with those who differ from him, and only asks him with whom he desires to unite in love that single question, “Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?”

“I do not mean ‘be of my opinion.’  You need not:  I do not expect it or desire it.  Neither do I mean, ‘I will be of your opinion.”….Keep you your opinion; I mine; and that as steadily as ever.  You need not endeavor to come over to me, or bring me over to you….Let all opinions alone on one side and the other:  only ‘give me thine hand.’

“…love me: and not only as thou lovest all mankind; not only as thou lovest thine enemies,…. I am not satisfied with this,—no; ‘if thine heart be right, as mine with thy heart,’ then love me with a very tender affection, as a friend that is closer than a brother…Love me as a  companion…”

Something Happened....

 

When I was 12 or 13 years old, “Something happened…and now (after all these years) I know, He…She (God, Jesus, Spirit, A Love at the Heart of things—Something?) touched me and made me….What?  The song says “and made me whole”. But, no, I’m still, even now, at nearly 80 years old, seeking wholeness.  No, He/She touched me and offered a way…a path…His/Her way.  I was to follow. But the nature of the adolescent years is to go “my way” and so I did.

Four years later, Something happened…and now (after all these years) I know, He/She touched me and reminded me of the path.  That second touch was convincing.  I followed as best I knew how, but often wandered off on my own (doing my own thing).

Another four years went by.  Then, Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me…again!  Unlike the blind man in the Gospel story, who required a “second touch” in order to see…this was my third!  (Or was it?)  I still couldn’t see clearly, but felt an overwhelming urge to enter the Christian ministry, and so I did.  Even so, the “following” was, and always has been a challenge.  

Seven years later, Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me…again. Another five years went by, and Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me.  Then, ten years later, Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me…urging me to follow more closely.

How many times has “Something happened…?”  I often think of only those “big moments”—those moments when Something happened that literally changed my life, my path, my journey.  

Something happened,…and now I know (after all these years) what Albert Schweitzer meant when he wrote:

“He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side; He came to those men who knew Him not.  He speaks to us the same word:  ‘Follow thou me!’ and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill in our time.  He commands.  And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn Who He is.”

My New Dog....

During the past year and a half many friends have suggested I get a dog, a cat, an aquarium of goldfish,  or something,  to keep me company.  I appreciate the concern and the suggestions, for I know they are offered with love and care.  But, a dog, a cat, an aquarium of goldfish, or whatever, would be an added burden, rather than a comfort.  

A dog requires food, a daily walk, and visits to a Vet.  Forget the cat—I’ve never cared for cats!.  An aquarium requires cleaning and fish need to be fed.  If I wanted to go somewhere I’d have to find someone to care for the dog (or take it with me).  Someone would have to feed the fish, too, for it is difficult to take an aquarium on a trip. Such responsibility and work is more than I want to take on these days.

Yet, I want my friends to know I appreciate their suggestions.  So, I am pleased to share the news that I now have a dog—thanks to my daughter, Rachel.  I asked her to find me a dog that would not shed, or require food, a daily walk, a bath, or visits to the Vet, etc.  Amazon had just such a dog and “Tipsy” arrived at my home last week.  

"Tipsy" 

Please be assured that I am not tipsy!

Another Definition of Inflation

We are currently experiencing economic inflation.  In the world of economics, inflation is a general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy.  When prices go up, our purchasing power is reduced.  Our reaction is complaint!  We feel the pinch and we don’t like to be pinched, especially in our wallets.

There are manifold reasons for this present dilemma. Whatever those reasons may be, they are not limited to the United States.  Economic inflation is happening around the world.

There is another definition of “inflation” that has nothing to do with economics, but has much to do with our attitudes.  It is the action or condition of being inflated, like the inflation of a tire or a balloon.  This definition applies to our American mentality.  We suffer from an inflated “right” to comfort, both in our lifestyles and in our wallets.  We are a spoiled people.  While folk in Europe and other places around the world have been paying a small fortune for gasoline for years, we have not!  “To Europeans $4 a gallon is nothing.”

This inflated “right” to comfort (in every sense of the word) has been with us for a long time.  We want everything, but we don’t want to pay for whatever that “everything” is!  Ninety percent of all the consumable goods produced on the earth are devoured by a fraction of the world’s people who live in one country:  the United States of America!  Enough said.

Holodomor

While reading The Trials of Harry S. Truman by Jeffery Frank last week, I became aware of the Holodomor in Ukraine (1932-1933).  It is amazing how much we don’t know!  I had never read or heard of the Holodomor—a term coined using the Ukrainian words for hunger (holod) and extermination (mor).

The Holodomor was a man-made famine.  It occurred when Soviet leader Joseph Stalin tried to collectivize agriculture in Ukraine (then a part of the Soviet Union).  The Communist Party forced peasants to relinquish their land, personal property and housing to collective farms.  This policy was resisted by the Ukrainians.  Rebellious farmers, towns and villages were prevented from receiving food (the “police” took everything edible from them).  They were not allowed to leave the Ukrainian republic in search of food.  

The result:  3.9 million Ukrainians perished from hunger.  Mass graves were dug all across the country—just as they are being dug today.  

Yesterday, May 8, 2022, 2:15 PM ET — “A UN official said that Russian forces are stealing and destroying grain in Ukraine, which may result in food shortages there and around the world.  Warnings of famine carry an echo of the Holodomor, when the Soviet Union’s decision-making resulted in the deaths of some 5 million people across the U.S.S.R., at least 3.9 million of whom were Ukrainian.”

Mother's Day 2022

My mother was also the mother of my six siblings.  She was born in 1919, and graduated to a new realm of existence in 2014.  Mom was unique, beautiful, wise and loving.  I miss her.

My Mother in 1960.

My mother in 2012

I’m grateful for the mother of my children today as well.  I use to tell my children, especially on Mother’s Day, that she was my wife, not my mother.  She was their mother, but on this day, I join my children in “missing” her.

Give Thanks for Everything

I’ve been cooking for a long time.  It isn’t a new thing for me.  What is “new” is cooking a meal for just me!  I’m not a big “left-overs” enthusiast so it has been difficult to cook for just “one,” and avoid eating the same meal for the next three days.  I found a solution to this problem when searching through the cupboards last year.  I found the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine.  My mother-in-law gave it to us years ago, but it never got much use.

The George Foreman grill is a portable electrically heated grill promoted by two-time world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman.  Introduced in 1994, over 100 million grills have been sold nationwide.  Foreman didn’t invent the machine—he simply endorsed it.  According to some, Foreman was being paid 40 percent of the profits on each grill sold, earning him $4.5 million a month.  His estimated income from the endorsement has totaled over $200 million.  Not bad!

After finding the Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine my dilemma about cooking just for me has been resolved.  A kabob, a pork chop, a few shrimp, a piece of chicken, a steak, a hamburger, a cheese sandwich, vegetables (like asparagus),  a hotdog, etc. “for one” are easily done on the grill.  Cleaning the grill is easy because of its non-stick surface.  It takes just minutes to grill almost anything.  No leftovers. No pots and pans to wash and dry.  The Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine has been a great boon in cooking just for me.  And…if a guest shows up, I can cook enough for two!

The Apostle Paul admonishes us to “give thanks for everything.”  I’m thankful this morning for the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine!

Shun No One!

 “Shunning can the act of social rejection, or emotional distance.  In a religious context, shunning is a formal decision by a denomination or a congregation to cease interaction with an individual or a group…”. (Wikipedia)

Jesus shunned no one as best I can tell from the Gospels.  William Stringfellow discovered this same thing. “He shunned no one,” Stringfellow wrote, “not even adulterers, not even tax collectors, not even neurotics and psychotics, not even those tempted to suicide, not even alcoholics, not even poor people, not even beggars, not even lepers, not even those who ridiculed Him, not even those who betrayed Him, not even His own enemies.”  Jesus shunned no one.  

The Bible, when really heard, speaks of this world in which you and I live—not some make-believe world, not some “not yet existent” world, not some imaginary world.  The Bible speaks of this world, the world we know and the world we live in, with all its goodness and beauty, with all its ugliness and filth, with all its confusion.  And—if heard—the Bible tells us, that it is in this world (and its history) where God is present and evident.  It is this world into which God comes, this world for which God cares, this world where God is with us, this world where God resides. It is into this world that Jesus came.  It is this world where Jesus has already lived our life, already died our death, and has already risen from our death.  God is here and may be known in the bedlam, in the ugliness, in the greed, in the goodness of this world where you and I live.  

God was in the world and the world knew Him not.  Jesus, however, knew God to be in our midst and helped us see what he saw and experienced.  What is God like?  The best I know is that God is like Jesus.  God shuns no one—not in the 1st century and not in the 21st century.  God does not shun Democrats or Republicans, not Trump, Obama, or Putin, not even Hillary, not even immigrants, not even homosexuals or drug addicts, not even you and me.  God  does not shun those who betray God or those who are enemies of God.  God  is like Jesus, and shuns no one.

Jesus did not try to disguise anything about this world as it is.  He knew there was darkness and light, evil and good, and said so.  He knew there was war, suffering, peace, disease, security, pain, health, lust, hate, arrogance, forgiveness and love, and said so.  His followers know this too—for they are given the gift of Jesus:  the gift  to discern God’s presence in the world, to live in the grace of the Resurrection and to know the secret of life, which is all bound up in that unequivocal assurance that we are loved by One who loves all others.  This enables me to love myself, frees me to love another, any other, and every other.   Hard as it is to do—we who claim to be followers of Jesus are not to shun anyone!

I'm Against Walls

 The America I have known, the Constitution that I gave oath to support is not about building walls of any kind, but about climbing over them or breaking them down wherever and whenever  they discriminate, produce hate, fear or ignorance; wherever and whenever such walls block freedom of thought or speech, justice, harmony and peace among peoples.  When we, as Americans, even think of building “great, great walls,” we have become what we have always been against!

I oppose the “great, great wall” on the southern border. I’m against building walls to separate white people from brown people and vice versa.  I’m against building walls to keep people in poverty.  I’m against building walls that intimidate, whether built of concrete, steel, attitudes, law, fear, prejudice, bigotry, lies,  religion or lifestyles.  I’m against walls built to keep people in and against walls built to keep people out.  I’m against walls of any kind.

For thousands of years, a wall of sorts has often been erected by secular and religious authorities to suppress views perceived as threatening.  This wall is the  banning and/or the burning of books.  Even though the First Amendment protects secular and religious books as “free speech” in America, churches and school boards have often ignored this important freedom.

Many books deemed to be damaging to faith and morals were banned by the Catholic Church in its Index of Prohibited Books (abolished in 1966).  All churches have done something similar. The Bible is banned in North Korea, and many parts of central Asia, not because it is a book of violence and “raunchy sex scenes,” but because it is deemed a threat to “national security.”  In May 1933, the first year of the Nazi government, there were book burnings (“Bambi” was banned).  In 2022, in Tennessee, Virginia and other places in America, books are again being burned and banned.  It is a wall.  I’m opposed to all walls!

"It's A Bust"

 D. Elton Trueblood’s Memorial service was held at Stout Meeting House in Richmond, Indiana in January 1995.  I was there to mourn and to celebrate the life of my beloved mentor and friend of nearly a quarter of a century.  Someone said at the service, “The first time I went to see him, I asked him ‘Who is Elton Trueblood?’  and with a twinkle in his eye he answered back, ‘Your friend.’”  Elton was that to me, “a friend,”and so much more.  

After the service I went to Teague Library (Elton’s study) across from the Earlham School of Religion which he had helped found in 1960. There on a bookshelf was a bronze sculpture of Elton, created by Jimilu Mason (1930-2019).  I was familiar with Jimilu through The Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C. and with her sculptures of “The Servant of Christ” and “The Parable.”

When “The Servant Christ” (Christ offering to wash the feet of the people who pass by) was installed at Christ House (a medical facility for homeless men) many people questioned why Mason would want to have the piece displayed outside “where it would surely be abused”.  She responded, “there is very little they could do to him that hasn’t already been done.”  “The Parable” sculpture at The Festival Center shows a man seated on a large cinder block and at his feet is a carpenter’s square.  Dressed only in a shirt and pants, his shirt sleeves rolled up above his elbows and his collar open.  His face wears a beard and mustache and his feet are shoe-less.  His arms reach out in front of him, and he looks as if in conversation.  Mason said, the sculpture “represents a Christ…teaching that there is more than brick and mortar to building a city.  The leaders must be good servants.”

I knew Jimilu through those works of art, but she was most famous for her “busts” of Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Sam Rayburn, and other notable personalities—including Elton Trueblood.  As I looked at the bronze bust, someone behind me said, “That should be at the Yokefellow Center.”  I agreed.

I carried the sculpture home in a carry-on bag.  It was heavy.  At the airport check-in, I was asked “what on earth do you have in the bag—a bowling ball?”  “No,” I replied, “It’s a bust.”  I’m not sure the fellow knew what kind of “bust” I was talking about.

Elton’s “bust” had a home at the Yokefellow Center for 17 years.  Then, it was placed in a box and stored away in the garage.  A week or so ago, I decided that Jimilu’s art and my beloved mentor and friend’s bust should not be hidden away.  After all it isn’t a bowling ball, it’s a work of art, it’s a memorial, it’s a bust!

My Namesake

 The definition of "namesake" is a person named after someone.  I was named after my Uncle Harold B. Owens, born August 22, 1922.  He died in 1941 at the age of 19, just a year or so before I was born in 1943. I have a few pictures of my namesake, a birth certificate, his 1941 high school diploma, and some old postcards from his neighbors and teachers.  In my study I have a framed picture that hung in what was once his bedroom that we (nieces and nephews) remember from our earliest years when spending an overnight with our grandparents.

That’s it!  That’s all I know.  That’s all that has been left.  My grandparents never talked about their  loss and grief, nor did my father talk much about his brother.  And I, like so many of us, never inquired.  Apparently he died of heart complications (whatever that meant back then).  Uncle Harold never experienced these autumnal years that I now live.

My name might have been Ronald, Edward, or Samuel were it not for Uncle Harold’s untimely death.  Funny, I’ve never thought about that much until now.

As  I sort through the “stuff of my life,” trying to decide what to toss and what to save, I find myself thinking about what little I know about my namesake and what little I know about “those who came before me.”  What I do know, and feel most keenly, is that each person in that “family” contributed to my life in some way.  My namesake gave me a name!

The Demise of Veracity

 What happens if we lose veracity?  Veracity means “conformity to facts and truth”.  Veracity synonyms include words like accuracy, credibility, honesty, and trustworthiness.  What happens if we lose these things?  I suppose what happens is the opposite, when the antonyms take over.  Antonyms of  veracity include words like deceit, dishonesty, falsehood, lying, and inaccuracy.

Nearly all of the Ten Commandments are concerned ultimately with persons.  In each instance, an act is seen as evil, not in abstraction, but in its effect on human beings, who are precious because they are made in God’s image.  Killing, for example, is evil, because it is persons who suffer and die.  Theft is evil because it is taking something that belongs to another person.  Lying is evil because it harms one’s neighbor. 

All these moral laws are simply ways of showing what it means to uphold the dignity and value of human life, including that of others as well as our own.  All of us seek the dignity and value of our own lives, but the moral law says we ought to seek the same for other members of the human family.  The moral laws are detailed applications of what it means to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Unless veracity is part of the foundation of our society and democracy, we labor in vain.

Hodge-podge

 Hodge-podge is a soup or stew.  I like hodge-podge, especially at this time of year.  Leftover ham, with onions, garlic, celery, carrots, beans, and other mixed vegetables has become a favorite. The really neat thing about hodge-podge is that you can put it together with almost anything (and everything) that happens to be in the fridge or the pantry cupboards. 

I suppose that is why the word “hodge-podge” has come to mean “a confused mixture” (rather than a soup or stew) in our modern vocabulary.  Synonyms for hodge-podge include words like:  agglomeration, assortment, grab bag, melange, potpourri, etc.  

This writing is a hodge-podge—an assortment of things that cause annoyance; a mixture of things that rankle in my mind and irk my soul on occasion. And believe you me, there are many!

The first annoyance came in reading a FaceBook post that said:  “God is watching over you, I know because I asked him to.”  This blows my mind.  Does the person mean that God only watches over those for whom he or she asks God to watch over?  Does it mean that “my will, desire, wish” is the only thing that will cause God to watch over another person? Does it mean that God does what I want God to do?  What kind of God is that?  

Another thing that often disturbs me is the prayer:  “God bless me and my family.”  Even “God bless America” irks my soul on occasion.  Why?  Because it eliminates most of God’s children, most of God’s beloved community.  Is God around only to bless America?  Is God only concerned with your concerns (my family)?  What about all the other people, all the other nations of this world?  Do we want only to be blessed ourselves and not ask or seek God’s blessing upon everyone and every nation?

The New Testament is not afraid to use the word “all.”  And we should not be afraid  to use the word in our thought and prayer.  In fact, the New Testament focus is on “all” and not just some.  “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all (men) to myself.”  “…so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”  “God so loved the world…that he gave…”  “I have other sheep, not of this fold.”  Christ “gave himself as a ransom for all.”  

It is impossible to set limits to the grace of God—and yet we try to do so. Let’s stop doing it.