Monday Music: Carolina in My Mind (Alison Krauss)

"Carolina in My Mind," by James Taylor is beautifully performed here by country recording artists Alison Krauss.

-

Saturday Haiku: Turning

Sometimes silently

the season turns, revealing

joy in the new day

_____________

Photo: Hayfield on a farm near Montevallo, Alabama

Credit: Charles Kinnaird

-

Friday Funnies: Oh Those Tantrums!

-

The Government We Get

If you look up to the tabs at the top of this blog page, you will see one titled, "Journalistic Poetry." I began writing those poems in January of 2016, in response to the new administration in the White House. There are currently 21 poems in that collection, most written during the first 100 days of the current administration. The following poem was first posted in September of 2017. ~ CK

Fas-cism: a political system based on a very powerful leader, state control of social and economic life, and extreme pride in country and race, with no expression of political disagreement allowed.  (Cambridge Dictionary)

The Government We Get

This is how the dread begins –

                    too easily.     

Fascism is too easily

Spoken.

The word itself

Suddenly stops

                   all examination

And hinders

                 possibilities.

It makes us think

                   in graphic images –

Lets us picture the other

As mindless oppressors

                   whose foreign tongue

And jack boot heels

Set perimeters of conformity –

And the other

                    is always the other.    

Fascism is too easily

Held

In times of hate

When the world becomes

                 afraid and uncertain.

It has been

Our default mode

Of governing

Ourselves – as if

                   we would be governed.

What harm is it

                   to want to be

With people who look like us?

Where we can speak with ease

                   and without care?   

We gravitate toward a system

                   that helps us

Not think

Not struggle

                   when times are hard.

We then hand it over

                   to those in charge

To set the perimeters of conformity. 

Just let me have

                    my own couch

And kitchen table –

And people like me.

It all seems natural

And normal.

Therein lies the problem.

This is how the dread begins.

                                              

                                                  ~ CK 

-

Monday Music: Saint James Infirmary (Hugh Laurie)

You may know Hugh Laurie as the actor who played Dr. House on the medical drama series, House. He is also quite an accomplished musician.

-

Saturday Haiku: Sunset

Here's another one from my archives

With the setting sun

     comes the call for inward sight

to pierce dark corners

___________________

Photo: Railroad Park in Birmingham, Alabama

Found at "Mule Wagon" on Pinterest

- 

Friday Funnies: Breakfast at Epiphany's

______________________

Cartoon by The Surreal McCoy



-

Joy Harjo, Our First Native American Poet Laureate

Last year during National Poetry Month (April), because I believe poetry to be more a thing to be heard than read, I posted a series to celebrate the spoken word. One of the poets I featured was Native American poet, Joy Harlo. This year, Ms. Harlo has been named the national poet laureate. In light of her new role, I am re-posting that entry from April of 2018. ~ CK

Celebrating the Spoken Word

Native American poet and performance artist Joy Harjo reads a selection of her work and discusses the variety of influences (including music) on her artistic development.

-

Monday Music: Bridge Over Troubled Water

It came to us during a troubled time in our nation and quickly became an anthem for our time, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," by Paul Simon, recorded by Simon & Garfunkel and released in January of 1970.

-

Saturday Haiku: Moonlight

This week's haiku is in celebration of the Chinese Moon Festival.

over all the land

the moon bestows her soft light

making the heart glad

________________________

Image above: "Full moon rises above the Chinese stone lions at Beijing" (Photo by Li Peng)

*   *   *

 Full moon rises over Barkol, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur (China Daily photo)

-

Friday Funnies: Now That's a Workout!

-

Religion and Culture

There is a debate out there about the growing acceptance of gay marriage among evangelical Christians.

I grew up Southern Baptist but found my way out back in the 1980s. I had been moving in a more liberal direction in my spirituality while the Southern Baptist Convention was moving in an even more conservative direction.  Nevertheless, I do have some fond memories growing up in that faith community, so I try to keep up with where they and other evangelicals are from time to time, even though my own path has taken me to other pastures.

An Evangelical Question

Roger Olson is one of the bloggers I follow (My Evangelical Arminian Musings at Patheos). He grew up Pentecostal then became Baptist and is currently a theology professor at Baylor University. I like his Arminian (vs. Calvinist) viewpoint and I admire his academic rigor. Though he is more conservative than I am, he is proficient in a wide spectrum of theological views (he says, “Before you can say, ‘I disagree,’ you must first be able to say, ‘I understand’ ”).

In a post this week, Olson poses a question of why, since 2015, are we seeing more evangelical churches adopt a welcoming stance toward same-sex marriage? He says he has not heard many biblical references from those advocating change, and is concerned that evangelicals, who have been noted for insisting upon biblical authority and resistance to culture, are now accommodating to the surrounding culture and neglecting biblical authority (see What Happened in 2015? at Roger E. Olson My Evangelical Arminian Musings).

A Non-Evangelical Response

I was actually somewhat encouraged by Olson’s question because I was not aware of the significant number of evangelical churches that are coming around to an acceptance of people in the LGBTQ community. Here is my response which I made in the comments section of Olson’s blog:

Are evangelicals accommodating to the culture, or are they modifying their interpretation of scripture? I think that you could make an argument for both, and it is not an either/or phenomena. We could be seeing both occurring simultaneously.

What happened in 2015 may be similar to what happened in 1964. In each case, there were legislative actions and court decisions* that (1) made discrimination illegal and (2) raised public awareness about how some sectors of the population were being unfairly treated.

In 1964, the Baptist churches in which I grew up had to face the fact that segregation was wrong (or at least illegal). Even then, many, many did not agree with the civil rights act. My home church continued to post a couple of deacons outside the church at each service to make sure no unwanted blacks tried to enter. Over time, most churches have come around to the fact that Jesus would not call them to exclude their fellow black Christians, though a hundred years of strict adherence to biblical authority had failed to get that across to the Southern Baptists of my childhood.

Today, we are being educated about the nature of sexual orientation and some churches are coming to realize that persons should not be condemned and excluded on the basis of genetic factors over which they have no control. Sure, there are still those who will stand guard to refuse acceptance of anyone in the LGBTQ community. Some will cite biblical references to back up their decision. Unfortunately, it is always easier to justify fear and hate than it is to take a close look at the person we are discriminating against.

Some will say that the church cannot condone sin, that Jesus said “Go and sin no more.” However, there is a difference in same-sex commitment in a monogamous relationship and promiscuous sexual behavior. Just as heterosexuals can live in faithful commitment to their partner or they can be promiscuous in their sexuality, the same might be said of those who identify as LGBTQ.  One way to view it is that the church does not condemn all heterosexual behavior because some are promiscuous, and neither should we place every person in a same-sex partnership in that “sinful” category.

Is this growing acceptance of people in the LGBTQ community a case of accommodation to culture, or is it re-evaluating biblical principles? Perhaps both things are happening.

The Real Cultural Accommodation

Unfortunately, there is a more troubling cultural accommodation on the part of evangelicals. The fact that the Christian Right has fully embraced a political party that has come to embody white supremacy and stands by a president whose demagoguery appeals to racist and xenophobic fears is an indication that evangelicals are willing to forfeit their core Christian beliefs in exchange for political influence.

I began my response above with a reminder that evangelical’s adherence to biblical principles did nothing to enlighten them on the evils of racism. It was only when society became awake enough to pass civil rights legislation that most churches began to lend their voices to the cause of racial equality. Even so, our country to this day has exhibited an extended reluctance to make good on the promise of freedom and justice for all.

Perhaps we Christians have always been more accommodating to the surrounding culture than we care to admit. In some cases, that is unfortunate, in other cases, at least we are moving toward a better understanding. In truth, most of us who practice our faith want a religion that gives us a sense of belonging and helps us through the rough patches in life but does not make too many demands upon us.

As people of faith, we hope that we are moving forward and that we can make a positive difference in the world. Historically, we have made that journey in fits and starts with mixed results. If we can bring some light into the world and get us closer to that beloved community, then we are making progress. Whether we get there by way of scripture or by way of culture probably does not matter in the end. I do know that often we can see justice more clearly only when the ground around us shifts.

Just as scripture can enlighten us in our interaction with the culture, our culture can also shed new light on our sacred scriptures. In any case, if we can be guided by compassion and justice, then we can manage a few steps forward.

Digging Deeper

If you really want to delve into the topic of religion and culture, you could find no better source that Richard Niebuhr’s seminal work, Christ and Culture. In that book, Niebuhr examines different ways that Christian churches have interacted with their culture.  He sees that there have been varying degrees of tension between “the church and the world.” His book outlines three different ways that Christians have approached that tension:

          1. Christ Against Culture

          2. Christ Of Culture

          3. Christ Above Culture

For a fine discussion of Niebuhr’s book, go to “Christ and Culture” – An Overview of a Christian Classic at https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/christ-and-culture-an-overview-of-a-christian-classic/

________________

*The legal scales were finally tipped to require recognition of gay marriage after years of debate. On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 5–4 decision that the Fourteenth Amendment requires all states to grant same-sex marriages and recognize same-sex marriages granted in other states. The church then either "followed" the trend, or reassessed biblical interpretation once it became recognized legally.

Photography above by Charles Kinnaird:
Top: Steeple of First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, Alabama
Bottom: Stained glass window at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Birmingham, Ala.


-

Monday Music: Coming into Being (Native American Flute)

Photographer Scott Wright has expanded his talents as he plays a Native American flute in his own video from SWP (Scott Wright Productions) along with his own photographs. A beautifully meditative piece!

-

Saturday Haiku: Storm

Today's haiku is from my archives, re=posted to acknowledge that there are people mourning their losses

Swirling wind at night –

      With daylight comes quiet calm

      As losses are mourned.

                                                                   

_____________________

Image: Oklahoma tornado (courtesy of Wikipedia)

-

Friday Funnies: A Backbone (one can always hope)

_______________

Editorial cartoon by Bill Bramhall of the New York Daily News



-

Leaning Donnie Fritz, an Alabama Music Legend

We lost a songwriter last week, Alabama's own Donnie Fritz, born in Florence, Alabama near Muscle Shoals, he was involved in many of the early songs and recordings created in the Shoals music industry. He formed his own bands and played keyboard for Kris Kristofferson. He also starred in a few if Sam Peckinpah's films. As a song writer, Fritts is known for "We Had It All", recorded by Ray Charles, Willie Nelson and many others, "You're Gonna Love Yourself In The Morning", "Breakfast In Bed", and "Choo Choo Train". (see Alabama Music Hall of Fame)

In the short film, Undeniably Donnie - A Film About Donnie Fritts, The Alabama Leaning Man, many musicians, from Willie Nelson and John Prine to John Paul White and Jason Isbell talk about the musician and his legacy.

-

Monday Music: Bread and Roses

Some music and historic footage to honor labor and the accomplishments of the Labor Movement on this Labor Day.

-