The Journey

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In seeking some understanding of this issue, I am reading blogs from different people in the know on all sides of this issue. I want to be better informed. In that spirit, I offer yout the blog of Jeffrey Pugh, Professor of Religious Studies at Elon University in Elon, N.C. Please take what he has to offer in the spirit of seeking a better, wider perspective on the issues before us. Right now would be a good time for a community-wide study on the real deal of the Civil War… not its politicizing.

It was hard to see at first, but if you looked deeply past the swaggering, strutting, smirking and smug arrogance, the fear was visible in their eyes.

I’m not even sure they were aware of it, but it was there buried in their shouted slogans, angry and distorted faces. Fear is what possessed them to have so much artillery, so many guns, so many other explosives in their vests that no one in the media even now is talking about.

I saw them up close, standing right across the sidewalk from me. What madness brought this small and powerless band of clergy misfits to the front lines of America’s growing civil war? Why did I consent to standing here singing “This Little Light of Mine” while getting screamed at, called names, threatened with being punched or worse, and enduring the endless shouts of “f–k off f—-ts”?

Wish I knew the answer. I’m no hero, not a brave person. The Muslim woman on the line was the brave one; the Jewish brother wearing the yarmulke was the hero. I’m just an old man who doesn’t want his grandchildren to inherit a world where hate and fear rule our days.

I was not entirely ready for beating or arrest when the Nazis came to Charlottesville, but all of those misfits on the line singing about light knew it was a possibility. I saw the potential for much worse in the eyes of those I stood in front of because fear does that — it creates such chaos in our hearts that we desire to draw others into it because no one wants to live in that space alone.

Fear is a parasite that feeds on itself. It doesn’t have to take you unless you invite it in. It will batter at the door until you feel you’re losing it, but ultimately it can’t set up residence unless you invite it in for a spell.

And, oddly enough (and I realize I’m going to lose many of you here), this is when the compassion kicked in. As I stared at the spittle-flecked faces frothing hate in front of me, I was looking at separated sisters and brothers. We were not created for this moment, we were meant for something better than a standoff on dirty streets in a hot, sticky, thick-aired day.

When did fear and hate take them captive, imprison them so deep into their jails that they don’t even know they’ve already lost, no matter how much space — Lebensraum — in this world they think they need? Lost boys so fearful of losing their power to determine the world they will murder others with a car cannot be our future.

Heather Heyer’s memory deserves better than that. I struggled deeply with grace on Saturday, because what I would withhold from murderous souls, God continually offers.

But, make no mistake, the responsibility for our being on the streets of Charlottesville was not the Antifa folks, not the raggedy band of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and Atheists linking arms and singing about light. We are not the ones whispering in the ears of those who have every privilege denied to people of color that “those people” are trying to take what rightfully belongs to you.

Those who are inciting this are still behind the curtain, but they are cloaked with systems of power and wealth that bring this madness to our door. They could cut this short, but they chose not to. The shame of it is that they are bringing the coliseum they put us in to wage war down on their own heads.

There will be more to come because this is our life now. Charlottesville was only one of the fronts of America’s new civil war. It can be stopped, but it’s going to take millions of people to show up and tell their lost brothers and sisters that there is enough for everyone if they will only resist the fear and hatred seeking to infect their hearts.

I have often heard that the land doesn’t belong to us, we belong to the land, and if this true, we also belong to each other. That’s the story we need to be telling one another now because that’s our only way out of this.

Jeffrey Pugh (pughjeff@elon.edu) is the Maude Sharpe Powell Professor of Religious Studies at Elon University in Elon, N.C.

Grace and Peace

Steve

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Tonight I would like to share some words from days gone by which I rediscovered today… these words are so practical, down to earth, and full of common sense I couldn’t help myself but share them with you. The reason I want to share them with you is each one sounds like a wonderful sermon title in a series of sermons on “Advice From an Old Farmer.” Take a moment – or longer – stop at each one and imagine the sermon you would write or need to hear from each word of advice.

My hope is that the advice from an old farmer will be so real and practical that it will help us all to laugh, perhaps cry, but more than that help us to see our real walk with Jesus as he leads us to walk alongside our brothers and sisters in this world of need.

Please remember to take time to ponder….

• Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
• Keep skunks and finance companies at a distance.
• Life is simpler when you …plow around the stump.
• A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
• Words that soak into your ears are whispered… not yelled.
• Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight.
• Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
• Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
• It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
• You cannot unsay a cruel word.
• Every path has a few puddles.
• When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
• The best sermons are lived, not preached.
• Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
• Don’t judge folks by their relatives.
• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
• Live a good, honorable life… Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
• Don ‘t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t bothering you none.
• Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.
• If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.
• Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
• The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin’.
• Always drink upstream from the herd.
• Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
• Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
• If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around..
• Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply.
• Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
• Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.

Dear Lord, help me to have enough common sense, humility, compassion and grace that I may allow you to live through me as you lead me to those in need around me. Help me always to listen to the wisdom of the advice of an old farmer, in and through Jesus. Amen.

Grace and Peace

Steve

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The Reverend Doctor James Howell quoted Thomas Merton’s famous prayer in his sermon today. It is a prayer for me, perhaps for you, maybe even for all of us as we stumble through life’s journey.

It is from Thoughts in Solitude(1958)

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that, if I do this,
You will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Does that sound like you? It sure sounds like me… I mean when I am really truthful and thoughtful about my life, who I am and what I am about. I seek to be what God wants me to be all the time, but, truth be known, I rarely get there. Truth be known, I am just like this prayer – I have no idea where I am going even though I think I am doing my best to follow Jesus. I do not see the road ahead of me… If I did I just might choose a different path… one more pleasing…comfortable… less stressful, less painful. And the biggie is I don’t even know myself. Is that ever true. I want to be like Jesus, sometimes I think I come close (like from the sun to earth close) but even that perception misses the mark by millions of miles. I think I am a peacemaker even when my real life reveals that I contribute to bigotry and hatred in very subtle ways. I think I am being kind and compassionate, when all along I am just trying to sooth my own guilty conscience.

Yesterday’s blog found me trying to give voice to my own frustrations about the sad events happening in Charlottesville, Virginia. One person took issue with me over this, saying that I shouldn’t be posting Martin’s beliefs on the Madison-Mayodan Facebook page. I am not sure he was correct, after all I am from Mayodan. I went to school there. I still have family living there. I don’t believe what I posted is against any rules set up by the site host.

My intention was to help us to seek to be peacemakers in this and all situations. I know there is a lot of pushback about removing Confederate statues in southern states. And I understand the reason why it is a tough issue. One side says it is a symbol of hatred, while the other side says it is a symbol of their heritage – which does not represent hate. A lot of southern people feel like their history is being erased statue by statue, building by building, street by street. Anyone who had anything to do with slavery should be stripped of any honor what-so-ever and their names be banished from all public buildings. If we do that, what do we do with the names of cities, places, schools and buildings named after George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, Zachary Taylor, Harrison, Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, James Madison, James Monroe, James Polk, John Tyler, Martin Van Buren – ALL of whom owned slaves. I guess we start with the Washington Monument and then move onto the Jefferson Memorial. And what would be the new name of Washington, DC?

You see, it is not an easy fix. People on both sides of this issue need to sit down and logically figure out how to honor our past while not encouraging any hatred today or in the future. So, let’s put our differences aside and pray together that cooler heads will come to terms with a treaty we all can live with.

People in our family fought in the Civil War and the Revolutionary War, but we don’t hate England, nor are we still fighting the north… at least I have never heard the subject come up at a family reunion.

I think we should fight… fight for peace on all sides, in all places, among all people. That is looking into the face of Jesus.

Grace and Peace

Steve

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I am amazed at the American People… how we think that our constitution gives us the right to hate other people… to hate them in such a fashion that we take the law into our own hands and not only protest… but protest with sticks and guns… showing up ready to do harm to those who oppose us. One would think that, after the light of truth was shown on the lynchings, killings and out-and-out hatred of the south in the early days of Jim Crow, we would have learned how to get along with one another. Seems to me that racism and hate is reproduced from generation to generation. If we don’t change inside now, our children are most likely to take upon themselves our own bigotry… perhaps in an even more aggressive manner.

So, what are we teaching our children about the love of neighbors… the acceptance of people of other faiths and races? Step back and take a look at your beliefs, jokes… what you consider important and what receives your blind eye. We are not only teaching them how to hate by our words, but also by what we don’t do, what we consider important and that which has no value. Back in the 30′ and 40’s black people were thought to not have souls… therefore they could be controlled and killed just like animals.

I was hoping that we would have learned by now that hatred of others… bigotry toward anyone was simply wrong. Many who are involved in this white supremacy garbage use religion as their basis for this action. I don’t know the faith they are talking about. It sure isn’t the Christian faith of the Christ of God who died on a cross for ALL PEOPLE. Somehow these people think Jesus’ words were only for white people. They still see Jesus portrayed as a blue-eyed white male. Sorry guys… you missed the boat on that one. Jesus was – to your surprise Jewish – middle eastern. His earthly mom and dad were Jewish. He went to a Jewish Synagogue or Temple to worship. I really wonder if these folks have ever really read the Bible, thought about the bible, spent time in meditation about the real, tough and compassionate words of Jesus? I don’t think they have. Maybe added a little proof-text to their reading – finding only that which could possibly (taken out of context) support their own bias.

I am proud of my kind – my brothers and sisters in the clergy who took to the streets of Charlottesville in a silent, peaceful protest of the hatred, violence, the killing and wounding that went on there. The sad part is those streets should have been filled with clergy folks… and millions of the laity. Folks we simply must take a stand which says this country is not a country that tolerates hate of any fashion from any one, any place, any organization. It will not be tolerated from the poor house to the white house. It is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!! So let’s get on some praying shoes, some walking shoes, some Jesus sandals and let’s show the world BY OUR ACTIONS that hate will not win EVER!!! 

Our prayer has been not only the Lord’s prayer but the prayer of Saint Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that
I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Pray for those affected by the Charlottesville hate acts… and become people of peace where ever we go.

Grace and Peace

Steve

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We see ads for all kinds of products these days which show the “Before” picture and, to sell you on their product, they will produce an “After” picture. Don’t you just love them? Some, I am positive, are Photoshoped… just too good to be true. Many make the “Before” picture so noticeably unattractive that the “After” picture doesn’t have to produce much of a difference to look better. Some of these ads are actually spot-on in their presentation of the before condition and the after results.

The one thing they usually miss is the “During” part which is, in most cases, tough, rough and hard-fought – if you are going to get the promised results. The commercials that really get me are the ones who promise you are going to look like the guy on the right (above) with just taking some kind of magical natural herb… found only in the jungles of the Amazon by this one doctor who has been searching for the Fountain of Youth all his life. Now he has found it… and it can change your life for only four payments of $29.95. Many promise great result with little to no effort… and folks – we all know it ain’t going to happen… But we send in the money… we take the pills… we do their thing… and nothing happens. I wonder why?

In real life there is a before picture of us… and an after picture – what we have become. But often we are so caught up in the before and after that we fail to be in the “During.” I had a friend – a colleague – Reverend Eddie Black who use to tell the story of how people saw different preachers. Early on in his ministry people would say: “I bet you are going to be a great preacher one of these days?” When we are retiring they say: “I bet you use to be a good preacher.” He said: “I either use to be or are going to be, but never do I hear you are a good preacher now… never do I hear them talk about the present moment – the “During.” Truth of the matter is that to be a good preacher requires a great deal of study, preparation, self-evaluation, self-correction, and a ton of mercy and grace. In the Methodist Church our vows of ordination asks “Are you going on to perfection?” That kinda means I am going to work at growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ….

There is no magic potion, no talisman which casts some spell over our path and propels us to the after picture with no effort from us. I have a lot of health problems which are very serious. One requires that I eat less than one gram (changed today to 1/2 gram) of sodium per day to keep me from retaining fluid which affects my heart, liver, and kidneys… Plus eat less that 1,200 calories per day to ensure that I lose weight. I have heard all the commercials about weight loss and have determined that it all comes down to seizing the day (today) and do the tough, rough, hard-fight in the “during” stage while you still have the opportunity. Yes, I have to give up some things I really enjoy… but the benefits greatly outweigh doing the magical erroneous quick fix things right now.

We could apply this to almost any situation we face… the during is going to be tough… much tougher than the magic pill. Put your heart, energy and wisdom into your “During” moments and you just may see a much better real “after” picture.

Grace and Peace

Steve

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I have just received a “Proof” copy of my latest book. It is my second proof. Second because I have changed it since I ordered the first one. I ordered it because I not only want to see what it looks like in digital form, I also want to see the print on the page, see the cover, and actually feel the book in my hands. It is important to me to see and feel and experience the book first-hand before I actually publish it.

I ordered several copies this time because I am asking several people to give me their ideas about the book. You know, answering questions like: Is it a page turner? Do you want to find out what is going to happen next? Are you happy about the plot twists and turns? Do you like the way it ends? How would you change the plot to make it more exciting or interesting?

I have found over the years of writing that I really do need a proofreader… ’cause I miss a lot of errors when I read back over the stuff I have written. I think our minds just see, in most cases, what we intended to write and not what is really there on the page. I found a new trick my computer will do… that is I can get it to read the printed text to me. Many times I will hear the mistake when it is read. I found quite a few mistakes that way through the computer text read option. Other errors are found by my wife. She is an excellent proofreader. Her secret is two-fold; she is smart and she reads it backwards. Those two combined make for a powerful editing tool.

We all need editors for the very same reason… we tend to over look our mistakes, seeing only what we intended and not what we said or did. Sometimes we think our beliefs are spot-on what Jesus would have us do. However, sometimes it takes Jesus walking in our shoes for us to understand that our thoughts and beliefs or actions and behaviors have not been what Jesus has wanted us to be. No matter how we rationalize it… if you don’t see the love, grace and mercy of Jesus in it, it most likely isn’t about Jesus.

All of us need a proofreader… taking a look at our work to see how right and how wrong we are. More than that, we need someone to let us know there is a Proofreader who offers us the correction of mercy, love and grace. He applies it to our lives and our story is lifted to a higher plane.

Grace and Peace

Steve

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After about 4 twelve-hour days working on this blasted website, I have had an Epiphany. There was no bright shinning star in the east, certainly no wise men around here, may have been at least one donkey (if you get my drift) in the story. The Epiphany was in the form of a realization that I could be spending my time more profitably. WOW!!!

Well, you don’t have to hit me with a freight train to get my attention… or maybe you do. I’ve been spending from 9am to around midnight the last four days working on this. Headaches, trouble sleeping, aching muscles (or whatever it is I have left of those things I use to call muscles), and just being more and more exhausted each day. I think the train came by sometime this afternoon… I didn’t even see it coming or realize I was on the tracks.

Have you ever been there? That place where you were just stuck. Didn’t want to give up and go back, but the way forward was really not the way you should be going at this particular time. I’ve been in combat and never felt that way. I’ve served the church for forty years and didn’t feel that way (came close, but never crossed that barrier). If I weigh what I am attempting to do with what I could be doing, there is no question… wrong path, dude.

Just think, I could be finishing my book. I am up to 360 pages right now and taking a little break while some friends are taking a look at the second proof. I’ll get back to it… I am eager to get back to it… I need to get back to it… I want to find out how it really ends. I could be spending some time at the old fishing hole, feeding the fish. I could be spending more quality time with my wife and family. There are a lot of better things I could be doing instead of working on a computer program which seems to change each time I load it.

Are you doing the better thing… the God thing? Don’t wait for the train to come rolling in… don’t waste anymore time on the lesser… reach for the heart of the matter. Walk out to Jesus on your troubled seas knowing that his hand is outstretched to you in every endeavor of mercy and grace.

Grave and Peace

Steve

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Matthew 14:22-33

I think I see light at the end of the tunnel. Just hope it is not a train!!! I’ve been, as you know, working on this website for several days and I FINALLY am getting some of it to work together. I’m still having some of it that refuses to work. There is a thing labeled a “Call To Action Button” that I have entered and formatted four times. Each time it worked once and then disappeared. There is another whole section that still doesn’t work. But, as I said last night… “In God’s good time.”

Have you ever worked long and hard on a particular task and, it seemed, the harder and longer you worked the worse it got? Someone once said “The faster I go the behinder I get.” There are hours, days, months and maybe even years where we seem to be working harder and getting behinder. There are times when we think we have the solution… there is light at the end of the tunnel… we are almost there… almost through… almost… but then we see that the light at the end of that tunnel is on the engine of a train. OMG! We are not getting closer to finishing. We are getting closer to being finished ourselves.

The lectionary text for this Sunday is about the disciples in that old rocking and rolling boat on the sea… scared to death that this would be their finish. But in the morning hours they see Jesus. Isn’t that the way it happens… the night-time is the scary time, the dark time, the lonely time, the time when we think too much? Something happens when we see the Son rising… there is a greater sense of peace and relief from the panic of the midnight.

In the morning Jesus comes walking on the water, bringing a word of calm to the restless seas of the night. Sometimes we just need to see that calming hand in the night soothing our fears and comforting our doubting faith. Yes, we are broken, but Jesus can mend that which is broken and make us whole again… and the seas became calm.

May God bring you a calming peace. Allow me to end with these lyrics as our prayer:

Come, Holy Spirit by Brian Duncan

Come as a wisdom to children
Come as new sight to the blind
Come, Lord, as strength to my weakness
Take me soul, body and mind

Come as a rest to the weary
Come as a balm for the sore
Come as a dew to my dryness
Fill me with joy evermore

Come Holy Spirit, I need you now
Come, Sweet Spirit, I pray
Come in your strength and your power
Come in your own gentle way

Come like a spring in the desert
Come to the withered of soul
O, let your sweet healing power
Touch me and make me whole

Come Holy Spirit, I need you now
Come, Sweet Spirit, I pray
Come in your strength and your power
Come in your own gentle way
Come in your own gentle way

Grace and Peace

Steve

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