Lest Blood Be Shed

Manna

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 08:22:07 -0400

First Reading: Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm: Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Second Reading: Philippians 1:21-30
Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Who are we? What is it that defines us a nation? What is it that defines us as a community? What is it that defines us as a church? What is it that defines us as families and friends? We are told, especially here in this cosmopolitan city, that whom we are is defined by the things we have and the size of the audience we can attract. We are taught to flit around like moths going from one glittery signpost to another finding the next best thing in our search of the brightest star in the sky. We avoid misery and hardship as if they were blights on our character. We live in a society of self-comfort. Everywhere we turn we are offered any number of new gadgets to make our lives easier and more comfortable. When the speakers of our elaborate entertainment systems aren't filled with the entertainment of our generations, endless voices try and convince us of a "once in a life time sale," "a new and improved" this or that, "which we can't live without." Walk down the bath aisle of any store and you will find row upon row of chemicals to increase our comfort as we soak in one of the tinier rooms of our living spaces. Somewhere it has entered the American psyche that self-gratification is the highest goal to be obtained and it is honorable to obtain it at whatever cost. Suffering is seen as a burden only carried by those that don't try hard enough or are lazy. You see tons of new-age self-help books nowadays, and even sometimes preachers, preaching a gospel of prosperity saying, "if you aren't prosperous, healthy and comfortable you are doing something wrong."

Fortunately for all of us life is a lot messier and complex than simplistic proclamations of American prosperity. "Why God won't you rid me of this disease?" "Why God won't you produce food for my family to eat?" "Why God won't you cure me from this addiction?" "Why God did you let that woman beat me and break my back and put me in the hospital?" These questions and many, many more much like them were asked of me every week while I was serving as chaplain at Bellevue Hospital in New York. Things only got worse as I finished my chaplain's education. The economy visibly tanked, millions have lost their jobs and livelihood, families are choosing between feeding themselves and healing themselves because they can't afford to do both. The list could go on and does as each one of us has our own personal storms that we are dealing with every day whether it is physical, mental or spiritual. What defines us as a community?

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Transformed in Blessing

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 08:41:03 -0400

As I was preparing for this weeks worship, I couldnÂt help but have a nagging voice in my head bring up last weekÂs sermon. Last week I talked about the struggle we all face in determining GodÂs will for us and how no matter what we have done in life, God is able to embrace us where we stand and comfort us. In fact, GodÂs love for us is so deep that God is able to use even what tradition may call the most wretched part our past and transform its purpose into a great blessing. A solid Christian doctrine, but the nagging voice kept telling me that I had described the process as being too passive and submissive. As if all we must do is realize we donÂt know GodÂs will and passively accept the Holy SpiritÂs correction.

This submissive acceptance of passivity in our relationship with God comes from many ancient and modern theologians trying to sanitize the God we encounter in the Hebrew Bible. God gets GodÂs hands dirty in the Hebrew Bible but we have accepted a cleaned-up version of God as described in the Christian Scriptures as being a transcendent parental figure whose only interaction with us is through an emissary. As much as we would like to pride our generation with coming up with a great Christian heresy, this sanitizing is not something new. As early as the first century of our common era, sects within Christianity were trying to distance themselves from the God described in the Hebrew Bible. In some cases, they went so far as to say that the God we encounter in the Hebrew Bible is actually not the same God as described in the Christian Scriptures. You may have heard other preachers talk about or more likely experienced yourself in your own study the tension between old and new. In response to this tension some preachers may just leave out the Hebrew Scriptures reading from the lectionary selection on Sunday because the God described is too harsh or the material talked about is too raw. We ourselves may simply not read that part of the Bible. ItÂs understandable that we would want to distance ourselves from a God that seems to be complicit if not intimately involved in genocide, infanticide, misogyny, slavery or a host of other things that offend us but what we are left with then is only one side of the story. This one-sided approach leads us down a path of passivity in our relationship with God and in how we react to injustice in the world.

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Our Job as Mustard Seeds

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 08:43:00 -0400

Today is the first day in the history of New York State that same-sex marriage has been recognized by the civil authorities. This transition for some is a mark of great justice after many years of struggle and suffering while for others it is the sign of a corrupt and indulgently secular world despoiling yet another holy and sacred tradition. Whichever camp you fall into or on what part of the spectrum between the two extremes, this tension between progressive and traditionalist ideologies has been the overarching narrative through much of the history of the western world. The issues themselves change but the sentiment behind them is the same.
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New York Same Sex Legislation Fails

nospam@example.com (David) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:49:23 -0500

The New York Legislature failed to pass the same-sex marriage law today effectively killing any hope of passage this year. In response I have written an open letter to the Senate which I will be mailing to each senator awaiting a response. Here is the letter

Homemade Summer Forest Lye Soap

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:59:06 -0400

Trusting Jesus Doesn't Cut It

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:48:00 -0400

Our gospel lesson for today seems be a simple open and shut case for we preachers. The message almost shouts itself from the pages. The preacher says, "Just Trust Jesus and all of your problems will be solved, Amen" end of sermon. Now, we can all get back to our easy chairs and TVs or our gardens and lemon-aide. If only it really were that easy. If only all we had to do was 'trust in Jesus'Âwhatever that meansÂto live in perfect peace and ease. Fortunately, life is much messier and dirtier than that.

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Hate Crimes Bill

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 03 May 2009 09:39:27 -0400

There has been a lot of uproar by fundamentalist religious conservatives lately about the congress making strides to include sexual orientation and gender identity in the list of federally protected classes that already includes race, religion, national origin, and color.Â The two fronts [haven't they ever heard.. never fight a war on two fronts] the two fronts by which they are coming at this bill are saying sexual orientation includes pedophilia, incest,Â apotemnophilia, telephone scatalogia, toucherism and a whole list of others. The other front is that the bill will prevent religious organizations from being able to speak freely against homosexuals, transgender individuals and whomever else's pants they want to get into on any particular Sunday.

As to the free speech, I wonder if any of them have actually read H.R.1913 and the section that deals with sexual orientation. Here is how the bill stands now as it was passed on April 29, 2009 by the House:

In General- Chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
...(a)...(2)...(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerouse weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person--

(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and

(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if--

(I) death results from the offense; or

(II) the offense includes kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

The law clearly defines the limits of what can be considered a hate crime and unless the people who are scared this will limit their free speech are inciting people to rip arms off, beat people up or shoot people because of "religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability", their speech--however discriminatory it may seem--is not a hate crime. So, the Wesboro Baptist Church--aka the Fred Phelps family--can still protest funerals and claim that God hates this or that person or country without fear of committing a hate crime... that is unless they start throwing stones at people they perceive to be gay. I believe the real fear is that the fundamentalists know they are preaching hate from the pulpit and hate leads to violence.

On the pedophilia front--who thought I would ever say that--the argument has been filled with strawmen and delusion more than anything else. Now, follow me in this... let's suppose... just suppose that pedophilia would be considered "protected" as the republicans in congress and neo-conservatives have postulated this bill will produce. The example they have given is that a mother finds out her son/daughter has been raped by someone and the mother "slaps the pedophile with her purse." They say the mother would be prosecuted for a hate crime. There are 2 flaws in this logic. One the mother is not hitting the person because they are a pedophile but rather because the person raped her child. Now, what it would protect if pedophilia were considered protected is a pedophile that has served his/her time and is back out of prison and a random group of people come to his/her house and beat him/her to near death or shoot at the person. The second flaw is more of a legal argument in that the courts have always looked at mitigating circumstances when judging the merits of cases and the example given of a mother slapping the pedophile has huge mitigating weight. You see the mental and hypothetical twists and turns that one needs to do just to even hold up to reason the scenarios being postulated that this bill will produce. They are a fiction created by those that just want to oppose every socially progressive movement by this country without reasoning through.Â Now, even if this crazy scenario would happen it would not stop the prosecution of pedophiles for their crimes but the way they are spinning the language around this it would lead some people to think they are legalizing incest and pedophilia with this bill.Â Crazy talk!

What this all turns out to be is my complete and utter astonishment that anyone considering themselves to be following Jesus of Nazareth would try and stop a bill that tries to limit the effects of violence from hate. Are they afraid that love is just not strong enough to conquer hate that they themselves need to use fire to combat fire? Is the gospel message not effective enough that they have to use violence to spread the word? I'd really like to know because I really don't understand.

Cheating on my blog

nospam@example.com (David) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:53:03 -0400

You know I love blog posts that inform you that no posts have been made to the blog in a while and that the author is totally sorry about it.Â Well, this is one such post but I'm really not that sorry about it.Â I've been having a wonderful time acclimating to the world here in NYC and really just haven't had time to post stuff.Â I will be making soap again soon so if you are here for that... stay tuned. Â

The real impetus behind this post is to link over to another blog post I did for a Presbyterian organization.Â You can read the post here: Psalms Modern Blog

Here's a taste:

God of Destruction

Amos 4:1
"Hear this word, you fat cows on Mount Samaria,
you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!" "

What a ride this week has been: from temperature swings of 50 degrees, finding out America tortures, to the PCUSA once again voting against inclusion. It all seems so tumultuous but then again that's what Spring is all about. We are changing seasons. We are moving from the cold introversion and self-reflection of winter to the warmth of rebirth and community. As I was laying in the sun basking in this new found change in the weather, I came to realize something about my theology that was missing. For all of this new Spring life to appear, something needs to be destroyed first. God is a god of destruction. At first this sounded blasphemous to my uber-liberal-god-is-all-love ears but the more I meditated on it and upon the prophet Amos, which I had been reading this week, I came to find peace and a sense of joy in God breaking things we hold to be unchanging facts. God destroyed death in the resurrection of Christ. God overturned life and walked with us. God destroyed the power of sin.

So I Got Fat

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:58:34 -0500

Since starting my new j-o-b I've found that my eating habits have changed drastically. When I was in Rensselaer the way lunch was coordinated was individualized. Our assigned lunch times were so different that we often ate alone. Granted we would break these rules sometimes and order a pizza or something. So for most days my meal consisted of soup and maybe a sandwich and a salad. Now that I'm in New York, I work though lunch and the department that I work in is very communal in its lunch time. Since we work through lunch we often order out for delivery. These foods are not the most healthy choices for sure and the portions are huge! I've tried to mitigate this change in diet by walking half a mile before and after work (to and from Grand Central). My belly has started to grow! I've never been in this situation where I didn't just eat what I wanted. I've thought about bringing my lunch but the peer-pressure is amazing... almost worse than church peer-pressure. It really is a tight-knit community. So, the next logical step is to exercise more. I already do yoga twice a week but obviously that's not enough. I'm really at a loss when it comes to "fitness." So being the flabby internet guy, I hopped onto youtube to see if there were any workout programs. I ended up finding a free site (sparkpeople.com
) that suggests workouts based on questions you answer. It even gives you a meal plan if you want one or you can just track your food intake. I'm still waiting to find a catch for it being free but it hasn't popped up. They must make all their money off of ads, which don't really interest me.

The Search is Over

nospam@example.com (David) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:36:53 -0400

Well that was a quick search. I have been offered a position for a "competitive salary" at an awesome place. I had 3 rounds of interviews and each one was fantastic. I start Thursday! They are fedex'ing me the official offer tonight!

The Job Search Begins

nospam@example.com (David) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:48:00 -0400

Now that CPE is finished I have to find a job. I've actually already posted my resume to monster and careerbuilder and it's crazy the number of agencies that place people that have called me. It's also crazy people from Buffalo, NY that try and get me to move! I didn't move to NYC to work in Buffalo. I think my toughest sell is going to be the salary that I'm requesting. Because the cost of living was so low in Indiana I got paid a fairly good wage but out here in NY that wage is nothing (as far as compensation for actual job/skill equality). I'm looking forward to the search.

In preparation for the "background" checks that the jobs are going to do for me, I've googled myself. It's actually kinda funny how old some of the stuff that shows up is. I think a big bonus is actually an article on this site. When I wrote Asterisk on OpenWRT, quite a few tech websites picked up the article and plastered it all over the Internet. My server actually went down (I was running it off a DSL connection) and I had to move it to a few T1s.

I can't wait to have my first NYC job!

Bellevue Chaplaincy Finale

nospam@example.com (David) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:49:41 -0400

Baptism Chaplaincy

nospam@example.com (David) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:54:34 -0400

How to Make Soap: Requests

nospam@example.com (David) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:13:31 -0400

Place your requests in the comments section

Time to Make Cake

nospam@example.com (David) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:12:00 -0400

It's my birthday Saturday... but Chaplaincy still goes on!