Elections and Government

The Primary elections are over, and we are moving toward the General elections. I am already weary of campaigning. If I believed the ads, I would conclude that all the candidates are crooks and need to be jailed rather than elected. I do not believe most of the candidates’ ads either about themselves or their opponents. Those ads tell half-truths if not outright lies. I fear large amounts of money given to political campaigns. I believe that such large funds have “strings” and favors attached. I am suspicious of individuals who spend a million dollars to secure a job that pays one-hundred thousand dollars. This math smells bad. I want to add my small voice to the principle of separation of church and state. I do not believe that partisan politics and political parties have any place in the world of religion with its Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, etc. I do however believe that our religious leaders must speak about those things that concerned Jesus such as how we as Believers relate to those in poverty, those who lack sufficient food, how we incarcerate individuals, the sick, those who lack inadequate housing, how we relate to other nations and ideologies, etc. Democracy is one way of government and if left in the hands of the people is effective but if taken over by the rich and powerful it is dangerous and ineffective. I believe in government of the people, by the people and for the people.

No Stone Throwing

It may have been a practice of stoning someone to death for violations of the Biblical law, but we do not stone folks to death anymore. I am thankful that we do not practice all the Bible’s prescriptions for some behaviors. We select which Biblical prescriptions we want to follow and which we want to ignore. In our contemporary world, we do not stone others to death, we kill with military purposed weapons which can be purchased by civilians. Unfortunately, we also throw verbal stones meant to destroy someone’s character or well-being. If you are not convinced that we do this type of stone-throwing, I would suggest that you watch the campaign advertisements. I would also suggest you listen to yourself when you talk about other people, particularly others with whom you are upset. We throw verbal stones at or about others which are meant to put them down or be-little them. Verbal stones usually have a “should” attached and are spoken or hurled with energy. Our verbal stones may not physically kill the other person, but they are meant to be destructive to the other’s character, motives, etc. I wish more of us were able to hear and feel the hurt when we hear anyone, or even ourselves, using stones or words such as “stupid,” “dumb,” “crazy,” “lazy,” etc.

Stone Throwing

There is an experience in John’s gospel which Jesus had with men who wanted to stone a woman as the Jewish law prescribed for her adultery (John 7:53f). Stoning someone to death for adultery is prescribed in the Bible, (Deuteronomy 22:21). It is interesting that the Bible prescribes that the woman is to be stoned to death but not the man. It helps to remember that men wrote the scriptures. This practice is in the scriptures, but Jesus did not obey it. Yes, Jesus did not obey the scriptures in this instance. First regarding the woman caught in adultery, I wonder if this was not a set-up by these men. At least it sounds like one to me. I wonder why these men were so determined to get rid of the woman. What was it that she knew that these men did not want to be made known publicly? Why were they there? Was one of them the man in the adultery incident? These men were self-righteous who thought they possessed the wisdom and ability of judging others. At least they were good at quoting scripture. The men wanted to stone the woman to death. Jesus wrote something on the ground, which the gospel writer John either did not know or could not remember so we do not have a record of what Jesus wrote. After Jesus’ dirt-writing, he said, “Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone.” (John 8:7). Jesus brings the Jewish practice of using stones to a better conclusion. That conclusion is to stop judging others. None of us know the other person’s story, history, experiences, etc. We do not know why others do whatever they are doing, so let us leave any judging to God.

The Cups and Religion

Judy and I have a large collection of cups. They are hanging on 18 hooks in our dining room. We have collected cups from our various travels. Those 18 cups have been gathered from our European, African, Middle East and Central America travels which were the result of our visiting missionary friends and seeing their ministries. Those cups are not only beautiful; they also remind us of wonderful families and their mission work. However beautiful those cups are, their real purpose is the empty space inside the cup. The purpose of the cup is to be filled with tea, coffee, water, etc. Without the cup, we would not be able to drink the liquid. I think of the cups as a metaphor of religion. The purpose of religion, church, denominations, rituals, music, sermons, etc. is to permit one to drink of the Living Water or the Divine I Am. Unfortunately, too frequently folks become so involved with the cup, its outside, and appearances that they fail to remember that its purpose is the empty space inside that is waiting to be filled with the Divine’s life-giving substances. The cup is important, perhaps not as important as we might think. Nevertheless, without some type of ‘cup’ we would not have anything from which to drink the Divine’s life-giving substance, but the life-giving substances need to fill and overflow the cup. Religion is not about the ‘cup;’ it is about the Divine’s living water becoming available.

Flying Loose

Thanks to Richard Rohr’s daily meditations (meditations@cac.org) for inspiring my thoughts today of “flying loose”. I recommend his daily meditations. When I was in college, I joined an airplane club and earned my student pilot’s license. I learned to fly in a Cessna two-seater. It was a simple airplane. I recall an early lesson about not keeping a tight grip of the yoke when the airplane was in a windy situation. I had to learn to trust that the airplane would pretty much fly itself, that is until it was time to land. I had to learn to not try to over-control, in other words, “fly loose”. Flying loose was an important lesson about airplanes as well as a valuable life lesson. The reality is that neither you nor I are in control of nearly as much as we think we are or want to be. This does not mean that in some situations we do need to have control; especially over ourselves, which is called self-discipline. However, we also need to learn the lesson of flying loose. When I learned the lesson of flying loose, I realized that I was able to look around from that small airplane and enjoy both the marvelous view and ride. Flying became a much more wonderful and relaxing experience. Life can become a much more wonderful and relaxing experience if we learn to fly loose.

Tea and Prayer

I am fond of drinking tea. I have several favorites such as Earl Gray, Darjeeling, English Breakfast, and Green tea. In the morning I choose teas that contain caffeine, whereas after lunch I choose decaffeinated teas or teas which have minimal caffeine, such as white tea. I am not a fan of teas that are fruit flavored. To make a good cup of tea requires hot water and waiting. The waiting is for the tea to infuse the water. I drop the tea leaves or tea bag into the hot water and wait while the tea infuses itself into the water. The longer I wait the stronger the tea becomes. Tea is a wonderful metaphor for one type of prayer. I show up, like a cup of hot water, and wait as the divine I Am begins infusing my thoughts, feelings, heart, soul, spirit, etc. with the divine presence. The truth of praying in this manner is that I may not know what the divine I Am has done. This type of praying requires silence and waiting, and a cup of tea helps me remember how to pray.