My Squeaky Shoes

There are surely numerous reasons why these shoes squeak. They are old. They are what I used to call tennis shoes, although I have never played tennis so I really do not know what tennis player wear. I will not throw them out because they are full of memories and meaning. They were my brother’s favorite shoes. He wore them all of the time except when we went to Church and I would not permit him to wear them there. My brother, Bobby who was developmentally delayed, died in September 1997, although it seems only a few months ago. The shoes were his. The bottoms of the shoes are usually called the souls. That seems appropriate as our souls are what hold us together. The souls of those shoes have come loose in several places. However, guerrilla glue seems to mend them back together very efficiently—at least in my opinion. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that the shoes squeak. Their value is related to my brother’s memories; otherwise I suspect they are worthless and need to be replaced. An important life lesion is that there are some things in life that you cannot simply replace—my brother’s shoes are a wonderful example.

Margins

As a result of reading Dr. Swenson's book, MARGIN, I have used the word and concept much more frequently. I recommend his book. I realized tht I've been practicing margins for a long time. I don't like to make meetings or appointments back to back. I may want to hang around and chat. Keeping a margin in my schedule give my the option of such time. I may want to give myself some time to process things--that's a margin. I like to arrive early for meetings so I'm not rushed and that is a margin I put in my schedule. I've said to myself and to many others that we need to make our schedules carefully, thoughtfully, and prayerfully. However, we do not to become so obsessed with our schedules that it feels like we have to go through an emotional divorce when schedules change--which they will. I hope we can give ourselves the grace of some margins in our schedules.

Silence in Prayer

When we pray, it is important that we try to be quiet some of the time. We, who are in the church world, seem to be fond of words--especially our own. In prayer it is important to confess and share what is on our minds, even though God probably already knows. It is also important that we give God an opportunity to share with us what is on God’s mind. Perhaps God has a matter which God thinks we and the Holy Spirit need to work on. Those matters are often an attitude, behavior, spirit, etc. which is in one of our blind spots and one which God seeks to redeem. In prayer it is important that we listen to hear what is on God's mind.

The old river birch tree in the backyard is gone now. We brought her home in our car many years ago. She grew big and tall and was a great shade for these many years. Unfortunately, she couldn’t withstand the recent ice storm and broke. She was cut down and hauled away by the folks who do that type of work. I miss her. Sitting beside her stump this spring, I can see the sap rising, pooling on the top of the stump and running down the bark into the ground. I can imagine she is wondering where all of her limbs have gone as she continues trying to nourish them with her sap. Life continues to be living even if the tree has been cut down and hauled away. Maybe that’s what Easter or First Fruits is about. Life continues.

An Observation From My Recent Worship Wanderings

These past few months I have been ‘visiting’ many different churches, thanks to virtual or YouTube’s worship services and the requirement of not gathering because of COVID. I must confess that I like visiting various Churches of different denominations and experiencing their worship styles. This ‘visiting’ practice has greatly enlarged my sense of worship. I have never considered myself a great preacher or even a student of great preaching. Nevertheless, there is one thing that I have noticed in my recent worship wanderings. It is difficult to find sermons that have a primary focus on national, social, or cultural concerns or what I would call the peace and justice issues. Things like our anxieties of the gay and transgendered issue; cultural or systemic racial prejudices; our anxieties about the foreigner or immigration policies; etc. The sermons that I have found seem primarily focused with personal or individual issues such as: hope, peace, forgiveness, redemption, joy, etc. There is nothing wrong with these issues. Who does not want these qualities? However, these qualities are also related to our larger world; not just me, my family, and our well-being. We are connected to each other. When one of us is hurting, all of us are hurting. The answer to the Biblical question, “Am I my brother’s (and sister’s) keeper?”, is “Yes.” Unfortunately, I have not yet found much of this from my recent ‘worship wanderings.’ I think it may have been William Sloane Coffin, former Pastor of New York’s Riverside Church, who said that he would stop preaching about social issues when politicians stopped making laws that affected God’s children. I believe in the separation of Church and partisan politics but not a hard separation of Church and State because we are in this world together.

Right To Life, cont'd

I am also a right-to-life believer when I think of the environment. We are killing ourselves and each other when we ignore the destruction of the environment which holds life in a delicate balance created by God. We must respect that delicate balance and not destroy the environment for the gain of cheaper oil/gas and lumber so that greater profits can be made for the large companies and our stock market portfolio and/or so that we can drive very large, gas-guzzling automobiles and live-in larger houses. I am a right-to-life believer in that I do not support the death penalty. The government does not have the right to take a life any more than to think a government can create a life. I am a right-to-life believer as I believe every person needs a salary from honest work that permits them to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which includes adequate food, clothing, and shelter. When large companies pay millions to their leaders who then say the company can only pay $11 per hour for those who help make them their millions, something is wrong and, I believe it is at right-to-life issue. My desire is that we are consistent when we use the phrase “right-to-life” and not make it a bumper sticker for only one issue, however important that one issue may be.

Right To Life

I believe in ‘right-to-life.’ I do not think abortions are to be used as birth control. Nevertheless, I do think that abortion is to be available to women and their families for those situations when to continue the pregnancy is a risk to the mother’s life; the fetus cannot live outside of the womb; the pregnancy is the result of rape and/or incest. I think such abortions are to be done in hospitals with Physician’s surgical assistance. I am a right-to-life believer if the mother chooses to carry to birth a child who is handicapped then the ‘government,’ and that means all of us, are to provide the necessary support, including financial, as that child and family develops.