What Would Jesus Vote?



"I don't know. Ask my mother!"

What would Jesus vote? Now this is a conversation that needs to take place.

Politics…still a religious issue, two thousand years since the second temple and the Sadducees.

How is politics connected to religion? I mean, in America anyway, there is complete separation of Church and state.

I wonder if that isn’t the problem.

I don’t understand.

Politics is about the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. I can’t imagine any other process that is in greater need of moral standards, and a commitment to justice, pursuit of the greater good, and compassion for those in need. American jurisprudence has done itself and the American people a great disservice by separating religion and politics because many people cannot find a moral compass without a religious goal so to remove religious leaders from the conversation may be tantamount to removing moral values.

Well, actually, religion plays a tremendously powerful role in American policy making. But only one camp in the religious community has power and that is the fundamentalist, Protestant work-ethic, Prosperity Gospel preaching, right to life (for the unborn but not those sentenced to death in the legal system, members of non-Christian religions, or nations who have natural resources we want to take) Christian Right. And they truly believe they are the only ones who are right.

So where is the separation then?

Maybe it is a separation between politics and papists that they are really concerned about. But let’s get to the issue at hand. What would Jesus vote?

Isn’t one of the issues you have with the religious right that they assume their answer is the only truth?

Yes.

Well, how would it be if I were to tell people how to vote? Everybody must exercise their own best judgments and consider their own most important values, and they must decide when to compromise and what to compromise about. I cannot, and should not tell anyone how to vote.

So what do we do?

You make the effort to learn about each candidate; you decide on your moral principles and prioritize your values.

Tough.

If you care about your family and your children's future you will make the effort.

So -- Have You Danced This Week?

I know I am not usually the one to initiate our conversations but I was wondering how you've been doing this week? Did you stop reading all that bad news and did you go out and do something creative so you could experience and then share some joy, and by doing so maybe help the balance of good and evil move to the "good" side? No? So what did you do? Just feel sorry for yourself and carry on being angry with life? 

You say all that like it's a bad thing.

Ah, you're awake and so is your sarcasm. But really --- how has the week been?

OK, fair question. And now that you mention it, there have been a couple of good things. The weather has been gorgeous -- blue skies but not too hot. Fantastic really.

And have you enjoyed it or stayed inside with your metaphorical (or real) nose on the window, like a dog pining for the outside from her perch on the window bench.

Actually, I have been walking more. And today we drove to a renovated campground where my husband used to camp with the Boy Scouts. And we walked and I took pictures. I thought I might make a slide show for my brothers-in-law who all spent so many summers there. So I've been creative, too. Yeah me!

Good for you. I mean that; I'm not being sarcastic. Can I ask, what was the experience of your husband's family with the Scouting organisation?

Oh, they all had fantastic experiences, wonderful summer camps, swimming lessons. They all had oodles of badges and my husband went all the way to Eagle Scout and Order of the Arrow. He was and is very proud of that. He then went on to lead and encourage both his sons from Tiger Cubs all the way up to Eagle -- they both made it --and one of our sons even became scout master -- the youngest in the region. At 23 he took over the whole troop after Hurricane Katrina displaced all the regular adult leaders. He had been an assistant scout master so they asked him to step up. He did and he was fantastic. He led meetings, spoke to and even counselled parents of kids. He had been a great mentor to many of the kids on camping trips and in training for badges and they looked up to him. He also worked with some of them at a local summer camp.

There was a lot of chaos and separated families after Katrina, in fact my husband and I moved to Houston temporarily to serve the displaced student bodies from our respective schools. Similarly, lots of parents separated for months because of job or schooling needs. But the Boy Scouts kept gathering together and helped provide the kids with some sense of normalcy at least on Wednesday evenings. After a year my son passed leadership back to the returning scout masters; he was glad not to have the responsibility for it all : camping trips, badge advancements, courts of honor, but he saw that he was capable of such leadership and he saw how appreciative everybody was. I know it made him feel good.

My husband as a Boy Scout leader doing service in a homeless shelter.

Quite a story. I'm glad I asked. You loved your son a great deal. and were obviously very proud of him. He sounds like a fine young man. And the Boy Scout organisation has obviously had a tremendously positive impact on your whole extended family. I wonder how you all might continue to give back to the organisation so that other kids can have the same growth and leadership experiences your sons enjoyed. Just a thought. And ... by the way ... he's fine.

Really?

Really. And now I know why he is so good at building fires. He loves that, and gathering people together in the evenings. And there's this strange song he sings and dances, "Intermission."  He says you would know and he smiled. I really love his smile.

Jesus, I wish it really was you telling me this. I miss him so much. I know it's just my wishful thinking, but I like the idea you gave me about supporting the Scouts. A great way to add the "the positive" in the world and especially to help kids. Maybe it is time for us to get back involved. I'll have to see.

I'm not wild about his "dead baby jokes" but he does make people laugh.

Oh my Go...he still tells them?

Psych!! He knew that would get a rise out of you.

Damn it Malc! You haven't changed! Great. Can't wait to hear your jokes myself. Thanks Big J. You should ask him his euphemisms for the Eucharist...ha ha...

Already have --- nearly choked. Didn't let on to the big guys though.

God(s)?

No, the dead popes and cardinals. They really have no sense of humor about religion. I wonder if that has to do with them having to wear dresses and caps all the time. I can see how it would make a man insecure and push him to be excessively authoritative as over compensation.

Oh, popes and cardinals. I really want to continue that line of thought. Later, though!

Later!

Some Days the News Just Sucks -- Suicides, Homophobia, Callousness

Jesus, today was a tough day! I started the day reading about the suicide rate in the military being quadruple the national average, with four suicides at Fort Hood this past week. Then I read about a college student who killed himself after his room mate and another friend filmed and then posted on line his sexual encounter with another man. Humans perpetrate such evil against each other every day just for the twisted joy of causing someone a public humiliation. Can we really be God's children and be so base, so lacking in concsience, so callous about another person's feelings, struggles and social stigmas.

My first thought...stop reading the news. It will make your day less stressful.

Well, thanks for that. But I'm not sure that's much help.

What did you do after you read the news?

What do you mean?

Did you go out and treat someone you met with kindness and compassion, treat them as as if they were the young man who took his life out of shame?

No, I got in my car and drove to work angry and probably cursed out a few drivers on the way. Then I spent the day feeling angry about everything around me and how my boss doesn't respect my work and how life stinks.

So evil has won in you today. You allowed evil to become a part of who you are and you communicated anger and therefore brought more "evil" into the world around you.

The whole transference thing, huh! I'm sorry! What would you have had me do. Sing Kumbaya and hand out free cookies to the homeless?

You are obviously still angry. What does that say about you? Why are you allowing the evil done to someone else to corrupt your joy?

And what is wrong with singing joyful songs and giving something to eat to a stranger. I saw you yesterday at the Simchat Torah service watching the dancing. You didn't join in. Maybe you need to dance more, to create joy around you, and to join in when joy presents itself to you.

Perhaps this weekend you need to go and have some fun and be around art and music and creativity and people being good and kind. It will raise your opinion of the human race. Then maybe you should go to a service somewhere and sing, you know how good music cheers you up. And you must realise that if you drive a car angry and get in a wreck and hurt someone, it won't matter then what it was that made you angry in the first place, because now you have created a brand new evil yourself by your anger, not someone else's anger.

So...what you're saying is...I can't help that young student who killed himself but I can make sure not to hurt another young person struggling with his or her sexual identity by not participating in jokes aimed at minorities and gays. And I can choose to be joyful and kind and non-judgemental myself and not add to the anger and evil. And --- I shouldn't drive angry.

Sure, if that is what you heard me say, fine! It's a start.

Miracles

I've been thinking about miracles a lot recently. So many various viewpoints. From, It is possible to see God in all things, so everything is, in a sense, a miracle. To, A miracle is when God intervenes in our lives or in history and suspends the laws of the physical universe in order to bring about a different outcome than the one that was expected. So which one is right?

Maybe if you tell me what it is you are struggling with I can help.

How about a straight answer.

I think you are forgetting the basic premise of this conversation: I only know what you know.

Alright. Let's talk about your miracles, specifically. I know you have said that there were lots of people who were sick and hungry and suffering but are you saying you didn't heal anybody?

I don't want to make trite statements about what happened. These were moments of grace. There was a stillness in the chaos for just a moment. The "fear of the Lord" is the beginning of wisdom, according to the prophets, and I think some people were afraid. But what I felt in those moments, and what the prophets meant, was not fear in the "scared of" sense, but awe.

But these were rare moments. There were also times when I felt frustrated and impotent. I couldn't save John, my own cousin. I couldn't protect my mother from heart-break. Miracles, whatever one calls them, didn't define who I was. They were not ordinary or common events; they were the exception. Moments when God's love and healing broke through directly. I felt it, others felt it.

Is this the end of the world as we know it?

Song lyrics aside, is this the end of the world as we know it? So much chaos, destruction, disaster. In America alone we have forest fires and oil rig explosions and now threats of Qur’an burning. Fire and brimstone, indeed. What's going on, Jesus?

Did you know that they built a whole village in Russia in just one week following a recent disaster? The houses were even better than the ones before, now they have electricity and plumbing.

And did you know, oh Optimistic One,  that it looks very like it was just a big publicity stunt?

You mean there are no houses?

No, the houses are real but they have cameras all over the village so they can broadcast to the rest of the country how great the government is.

Well, it looks to me like the government did do something pretty damn good! Doesn’t it make you wonder how it is that in America the government can't build houses in Louisiana or Mississippi for those who were left with a slab of concrete and some MRE's? And doesn't it seem ludicrous in the land of milk and honey that it is the Hollywood celebrities (a group second only to politicians in the public polls of most likely to screw up morally and most superficial and self-serving) and not the government who managed to get something actually built?

Hmm! Bit political, don't you think?

If by politics you mean “concerned with the people” then yes. I am all about politics. But if you mean party politics, then no….party politics seems to be mainly a matter of public grandstanding for the sake of private gain. I focus more on the big picture. The advantage of distance, it gives one perspective.

So, back to the end of the world question.

I really didn’t leave the question. It’s all about big picture perspectives. If you focus on specific bad events you tend to miss all the amazing good events – the good news! There are people building houses because someone needs shelter. New drugs and treatment protocols for cancer and other diseases. People walking and demonstrating and donating to so many good causes, standing up to corruption, demanding justice. I see so much hope and virtue, courage and commitment to the good.

Wow! Hope and virtue. Not what most people see when they look at the world.

Ah … as a wise young man once said, “Perspective is everything.” 

And the end of the world, 2012, all that?

We’ll talk again later.

Anne Rice gives up on the Church

Anne Rice wrote about Vampires, you probably wouldn't approve. But she came back to the Church and to God and then she wrote a fictionalized account of your life. Now she has left the Church...again.

Yes, but you are missing the point.

The point?

Anne is still committed to me and to God. And she is committed to justice. Anne recognises that when it uses its resources within the civil arena to fight against justice the Catholic Church has lost its way.

I guess what you are referring to is the fact that Catholic bishops in the US have financed lobbying against the civil union of same sex couples, something that would provide them with civil rights not sacramental unions. And the fact that Catholic bishops have lobbied against extending the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases that would allow the prosecution of "credibly accused," even admitted, priest sex offenders.

The current statutes of limitations has created a situation where hundreds of these known and admitted offenders are being housed and supported by the Church, and many are still holding jobs in which they have the freedom to continue their pursuit of child victims. Yet the church is sending lawyers to lobby against the extension of the statutes of limitations whenever they are being challenged in the courts. I can understand Anne’s disillusionment.

Yes, that is indeed understandable. The behavior of the Catholic bishops, on the other hand, is not.

The Prosperity Gospel

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448,00.html

I have always had a problem with the concept of a "prosperity Gospel," associating it with media millionaires like Robert Tilton, who sold the idea along with prayer cloths that would bring healing to those who sent in their donation or "seed-faith" offering. Am I right to be cynical? Is becoming wealthy really a sign that we are doing God's will?

I find the concept disturbing. When did money and power become associated with being a follower of the Father? By the way, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with "follower of mine" it should be "follower like me" --of the Father. But it's too late to change that, I suppose. But I digress.

So, Jay, What is the problem with seeing prosperity as a gift from God?

Jay? Really? When people who describe themselves as ministers of my word build walls between themselves and the people I would have them serve, then there's a problem.

What kind of walls?

Well, you have the literal walls of large buildings with security police and body guards. And you have the material walls of excessive wealth and property. And then you have the spiritual walls of claiming to have absolute knowledge of God and absolute knowledge of God's Truth.

But aren't you the Way to the Truth? And if they are ministers of the Bible...

If I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life, why is it that those who claim to be closest to me have the least understanding of who I am?

Maybe they do in their heart?

Is that enough? Did I sit around feeling loving feelings in my heart? And how are other people meant to follow these ministers if they can't see the Truth in how they live? No one can read another person's heart, only the Father can do that.

But perhaps what they see, the big cars, large houses, expensive suits is EXACTLY what they want.

Then that is fine. But don't wrap it up as Christianity. It is not pure or virtuous; it is consumerism. Nothing less. They are worshipping the almighty dollar not the Almighty. And they are making "God" part of their sales pitch. A wise man once wrote, "Better to have little, with godliness, than to be rich and dishonest." Proverbs 16:8.