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Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Living in Troubled Times



Everywhere you turn, it seems, we are facing crises. Moreover, we see a polarized society that cannot agree upon how to go forward to address our problems. We have debated political points, economic policies, beginning of life issues, end of life issues, and the threat of climate change yet we remain in a quagmire. With the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, we are confronting a new unsettling threat on top of the many others that we have already proved ourselves to be ineffectual at addressing.

Political Challenges

We live in a time of political turmoil. Our society is more polarized than perhaps we have seen in our lifetime. Last week, David Linker wrote an opinion piece giving a dire assessment of a nation in decline. He points out how our presidential leadership has never been worse, yet the president's approval rating has never been higher.

For my part, by the midterm of Trump's presidency, what was most disheartening, even more than the president’s behaviors, rants, and actions,  was how many Americans were okay with that. When I watch political commentators and listen to some of my friends, there are many who keep hoping for a "wake-up call" and a "blue wave" in November. I can well understand that hope, but nothing that has been predicted by Trump's opponents (or by any hopeful liberals or reasonable voices) has come true.

The only bright spot for me is that, if polls are accurate, a little over half of the population claims a higher ethic and voices opposition to the appalling measures that the Trump Administration is promoting. It may not be enough to turn the tide on Election Day, but as they say, we must still try. And it is our civic responsibility, regardless of political affiliation, to remain engaged in the process and to make informed decisions in the voting booth.

Some Values Still Remain

Whatever happens politically, we must remember that there are still higher values being exhibited by humanity. When I went to the San Francisco Bay Area to go to seminary back in the late 1970s, that was the largest urban setting I had ever lived in. One of my professors, Dr. Francis DuBose, a pioneer in urban missions, told us, “In the city, you will find Man's (sic) greatest good and Man's greatest evil.” There was truth in that, and it may have helped this boy from Alabama come to appreciate the many good things that were to be found in The City.

Four years before that, as a freshman at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, I sat in my Western Civilization class and heard the professor, Dr. Leah Atkins, tell how Christians were so devastated by the collapse of Rome that Augustine wrote The City of God to reassure them that the end of Rome did not mean the end of Christianity. However one feels about Augustine or Christianity, there is a vital lesson to be learned from history. As an 18-year-old, for some reason, that information shifted my perspective and probably altered my worldview. 

I tried to put myself in those 5th century Roman's shoes: how would I feel if my country collapsed? How would it affect my faith? I made a conscious decision to make sure my faith was not oriented around the strength of my country. I nurtured an understanding that the USA could fail and we could still find a way to hold on to what is good and true. 

On the advice of St. Augustine, I purposefully untied the ropes that had lashed the two separate barges of God and Country together. In the event of the unthinkable tragedy of my country’s collapse, I saw the need to keep a sound footing on the ancient faith that I professed.

Understanding the Threat

I still tell myself all these years later that we can continue to champion what is good, even if society collapses and our institutions fail. We will likely see the best of humanity along with the worst, but that has always been true. Our current pandemic is forcing us to recognize our interconnectedness as well as the fragility of our infrastructures.

Like many of you, I have come to realize over the years that climate change is an increasing threat to our environment. I have been dismayed at our society's reluctance to address climate change and I fear that it could lead to our undoing. When I was in grade school, I saw how science alerted the public to the dangers of pollution. I saw news reports of smog in the cities and trees dying in the hills above Los Angeles. By the time I was in high school, I saw many of those effects of pollution reversed. With the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, we saw changes in industry and in automobile manufacturing that cleaned up the environment and allowed trees to grow again in the hills of southern California.

In light of that early success, it baffles me that with the increasing scientific understanding of climate change, we have not been able to bring ourselves to implement the changes needed to protect the environment. In fact, we are resistant to any change and reluctant to buy unto the warnings that science has given us.

We seem to be able to respond only when the threat becomes a catastrophe at our doorstep. Scientists tell us that we are nearing the point of irreversible damage to our environment.  It may be that our only hope is in catastrophe. Let’s hope that it is a survivable catastrophe.

We Have a Heritage of Survival

Earlier this year, at the height of Australia’s brush fire crisis, I read an article that gave me a new perspective of hope. Australian writer, Jackie French, wrote the opinion piece, “From fire evacuation rooms, Diary of a Wombatauthor pens her message to Australia,” in The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia was facing the worst fires in its history. Whole towns were devastated and animal species (including the beloved koala) faced the threat of extinction, yet French offered a surprisingly hopeful word:

This is most Australians’ first taste of climate change. But we are the descendants of those who have faced Ice Ages, plagues, wars, famine. Most humans died. Our ancestors did not. When times are hardest, humans are capable of the greatest kindness and innovation.

Think about that!  “We are the descendants of those who have faced Ice Ages, plagues, wars, famine. Most humans died. Our ancestors did not.” I find it encouraging to realize that even if I do not survive the threats we face, our species has a history of resilience and survival. My own ancestors were able to come back from the brink extinction, and that gives me some solace.

Many of us can think of survival stories even closer to home in our own family histories. Stories of getting through the war, the Depression, enduring tragedies, finding small joys in times of hardship. We all have that in our DNA.  

Hold On to What is Good

Today we face multiple challenges: medical, economic, social, political, and environmental. Though the threats are real, there is no reason to give up. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we may see our economic and political systems pushed to the brink. We may see a series of successes and failures, but we can still hold to those values that are at the core of our humanity. We can carry forward that which is good regardless of the shape that our societal structures take. Jackie French reminds us, “When times are hardest, humans are capable of the greatest kindness and innovation.”

So let's hope for the best, work like it can happen, and champion the good wherever we can find it, even if the worst happens. It's time for some furious dancing.



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The Fifth Station of the Cross: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross

                                 [The following is from a series first posted during Lent in 2015.]


< The Fourth Station of the Cross                                                                                The Sixth Station of the Cross >

Soldiers force Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross


A wood engraving of handcuffed and shackled slaves passing the U.S. Capitol

According to tradition, Simon of Cyrene was a black man ordered by Roman soldiers to help Jesus carry the cross. In the United States, our own Empire was built in large part upon the backs of African slaves, forced to carry the burden inflicted by Empire. It is a blight we cannot erase, but slavery has been a common tool of Empire throughout the ages.  

Twelve American presidents owned slaves and eight of them, starting with Washington, owned slaves while in office. Almost from the very start, slaves were a common sight in the executive mansion. A list of construction workers building the White House in 1795 includes five slaves - named Tom, Peter, Ben, Harry and Daniel -- all put to work as carpenters. Other slaves worked as masons in the government quarries, cutting the stone for early government buildings, including the White House and U.S. Capitol. According to records kept by the White House Historical Association, slaves often worked seven days a week -- even in the hot and humid Washington summers. (From "Slaves Built the White House and Capitol" at Afrocentric Culture by Design)

We still struggle to overcome the inertia of slavery as we wrestle and argue over voting rights, racial profiling, and prejudicial hiring practices.


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Monday, March 30, 2020

Fourth Station of the Cross: Jesus Meets His Sorrowful Mother

[The following is from a series first posted during Lent in 2015.]

< The Third Station of the Cross                                                                            The Fifth Station of the Cross >


Jesus meets his mother, Mary, who is filled with grief

A woman cries after her son was killed in an airstrike in Basra

When a nation increases its strength and influence to the point that it becomes Empire, the primary concern becomes to preserve its own power and influence.  In Matthew 25, Jesus said that the true measure of a nation is in how it treats the weakest and most vulnerable within its borders. Empire, on the other hand, often relies only upon one tool – military power – to solve any problem. As such, the loss of innocent lives becomes collateral damage which, to Empire, is only to be expected.

When collateral damage has no face that Empire can recognize, then many mothers will weep in the wake of military campaigns, airstrikes, and drone attacks done in the name of establishing freedom and security.



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Monday Music: Murder Most Foul (Dylan)

For those of us who remember where we were on November 22, 1963, this new release by Bob Dylan is equivalent to Walt Whitman's elegy to Abraham Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d."





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Sunday, March 29, 2020

The Third Station of the Cross: Jesus Falls the First time

[The following is from a series first posted during Lent in 2015.]

< The Second Station of the Cross                                                                           The Fourth Station of the Cross > 

Weakened by torments and by loss of blood, Jesus falls beneath his cross


“It is hard to make a desert in a place that receives sixty inches of rain each year. But after decades of copper mining, all that remained of the old hardwood forests in the Ducktown Mining District of the Southern Appalachian Mountains was a fifty-square mile barren expanse of heavily gullied red hills–a landscape created by sulfur dioxide smoke from copper smelting and destructive logging practices. In Ducktown Smoke, Duncan Maysilles examines this environmental disaster, one of the worst the South has experienced, and its impact on environmental law and Appalachian conservation.” http://legal-planet.org/2012/06/18/how-to-turn-a-forest-into-a-desert/

Relatively early in our nation's entering into the Industrial Age, we saw the sheer havoc and destruction that industry can have on the landscape. The copper industry did much to build the country and move it into the modern age, but Empire often moves with callous disregard for the environment that should nurture all of its inhabitants.

Copper smelting—the process of separating copper from rock—is credited with doing most of the environmental damage in the Ducktown Basin in the 19th century. The process required wood to fuel the smelters, and there was no wood left in the area by 1876. Logs were floated down the Ocoee River from Fannin County, Ga., and about 50 square miles within the Ducktown Basin had been stripped of vegetation by 1878. http://nooga.com/165052/historic-ducktown-basin-a-landscape-transformed/

Ducktown was an early example of the Empire's crucifixion of the environment. Unfortunately, there is still resistance from corporations to make any changes in their practices which continue to pollute, continue to contribute to climate change, and continue to bring damage to the sacred body of the earth, our only habitation.


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Saturday, March 28, 2020

The Second Station of the Cross: Jesus Takes Up His Cross

[The following is from a series first posted during Lent in 2015.]


< The First Station of the Cross                                                                        The Third Station of the Cross >

Jesus willingly accepts and patiently bears his cross


© AFP Immigrant workers harvest grapes in California's Napa Valley

"We do rely on a foreign workforce. We really have an issue in terms of attracting domestic workers. They typically don't want to work in agriculture. It's out in the elements, it can be a hard job" http://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2013/03/california-harvests-delayed-by-shortage-of-workers

Many of us live in comfort in the Empire, taking our bounty for granted. It is a bounty that is largely dependent upon the work of immigrant laborers who are poorly paid, lacking in many services such as housing and healthcare, living in substandard conditions. We, in turn, denigrate the illegal immigrants upon whom we rely for the food and wine on our tables. Undocumented immigrants willingly take up the burden while Empire enjoys the bounty.



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Saturday Haiku: Rain

Since the proper haiku is set in nature and speaks to the season, I have written many with rain as a subject. here is one from February of 2015.


cold and wet
on pre-Easter ground
raindrops fall

                 ~ CK













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Photo by Dorann Weber
Gettty Images photo


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Friday, March 27, 2020

The First Station of the Cross: Pontius Pilate condemns Jesus to death

[The following is from a series first posted during Lent in 2015.]

< Introduction: The Hard Lessons of Lent                                                                The Second Station of the Cross >

"Pontius Pilate condemns Jesus to death."


A scene from an American Indian Boarding School
“Aside from the U.S. Government's Attempt at Genocide, what Has Caused the Most Egregious Cultural Harm to the Psyche of the American Indian People?”
The United States engaged in a systematic process of genocide in dealing with the Native American Population. Although today there is greater awareness and the boarding schools which sought to eradicate Native American culture are no more, Native Americans continue to suffer under the grips of a death-making Empire. On Native American reservations, people suffer the numbness of alcoholism and poverty which includes a poverty of income, a poverty of opportunity, a poverty of healthcare and a poverty of choices. Pilate, in his modern incarnation as representative of the Empire on American soil has condemned many to their deaths.


 The Second Station of the Cross >
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Friday Funnies: As we hunker down at home

In these days of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, many are having to make some adjustments:




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The Hard Lessons of Lent

[The following is from a series I first posted during Lent in 2015. Since most of us will likely be finding alternatives to public worship in the weeks ahead, I will be re-posting this 15 part series during the remainder of this Lenten season]


Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
                                                                                                 ~Psalm 44:22 (NIV)


One of the central devotional practices of Lent is found in the 14 Stations of the Cross. It is a practice of the Catholic Church that dates back to the fourth century when people would make pilgrimages to the Holy Land to retrace Jesus' steps to the cross. In church, the people walk to the various icons positioned around the sanctuary which represent each station of the cross while devotions and prayers are said.

I have friends and family who question why we continue to emphasize the crucifixion of Christ. Do we still think of God as a punitive deity who demanded the sacrifice of his own son to redeem the world? Well, no, I don't believe that, but I will not attempt to answer that question theologically in this brief space (see the writings of Jürgen Moltmann for a much more complete articulation of thought than I could give to the subject). Instead, I am inclined at this time to give a more visceral response to the question.

For all the good that humanity does, we are a people well acquainted with sorrow, suffering, and grief. Moreover, we continue to organize ourselves under empires that practice death-making and crucifixion as a method of control. I believe that we engage in the passion of Christ at Easter because we ourselves live with suffering and crucifixion and we find hope in the Christ who resisted Empire, suffered, died and was buried and transcended the soul-numbing forces of Empire.

In the posts that follow, we will walk through the Stations of the Cross with few words. From a non-traditional point of view, we will view images demonstrating how the way of the cross is manifest in our day and time. The following guideline is taken from Loyola Press at http://www.loyolapress.com/stations-of-the-cross.htm

Stations of the Cross

The 14 Stations of the Cross represent events from Jesus’ passion and death. At each station we use our senses and our imagination to reflect prayerfully upon Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.

1. Jesus Is Condemned to Death.
Pontius Pilate condemns Jesus to death.

2. Jesus Takes Up His Cross.
Jesus willingly accepts and patiently bears his cross.

3. Jesus Falls the First Time.
Weakened by torments and by loss of blood, Jesus falls beneath his cross.

4. Jesus Meets His Sorrowful Mother.
Jesus meets his mother, Mary, who is filled with grief.

5. Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross.
Soldiers force Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross.

6. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus.
Veronica steps through the crowd to wipe the face of Jesus.

7. Jesus Falls a Second Time.
Jesus falls beneath the weight of the cross a second time.

8. Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem.
Jesus tells the women to weep not for him but for themselves and for their children.

9. Jesus Falls the Third Time.
Weakened almost to the point of death, Jesus falls a third time.

10. Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments.
The soldiers strip Jesus of his garments, treating him as a common criminal.

11. Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross.
Jesus’ hands and feet are nailed to the cross.

12. Jesus Dies on the Cross.
After suffering greatly on the cross, Jesus bows his head and dies.

13. Jesus Is Taken Down From the Cross.
The lifeless body of Jesus is tenderly placed in the arms of Mary, his mother.

14. Jesus Is Laid in the Tomb.
Jesus’ disciples place his body in the tomb.

15. The Closing Prayer
Sometimes included as a 15th station, reflects on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.


                                                                                                                       The First Station of the Cross >
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Wednesday, March 25, 2020

A Nurturing God

[As the COVID-19 threat looms, most churches have canceled Sunday services. This is a re-post from two years ago - a happy surprise that I encountered which bears repeating.]

Grace Episcopal Church in Woodlawn (photo from the church's website)

Last Sunday, I made a return visit to Grace Episcopal Church.  It is a parish that is Anglo-Catholic in its liturgy and is committed to its ministry to the needy with a daily soup kitchen, food pantry, and other means of relief for the poor and the marginalized.  On cold winter nights, the church opens its parish hall to provide a warming station, giving the homeless and the needy a safe warm place to sleep.  

We are in the middle of Lent.  Many churches observe the fourth Sunday of Lent as Mothering Sunday.  Mothering Sunday is traditionally a time for people to go back to the parish where they were baptized to honor their mother church.  I wasn’t thinking of Mothering Sunday as I entered that sacred space.  It was simply a time for me to attune myself to Grace in its worship and ministry.

The Sacred Feminine

I found myself unusually moved at the close of the worship service with the post-Communion prayer. It was a prayer that called to mind the feminine aspects of God in a beautifully personal way.

In the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, used in Episcopal Churches across the U.S., there are two basic post-Communion prayers.  In my experience, those two prayers had been used interchangeably at the end of each service, giving thanks to God for feeding us with the sacraments, taking strength for going out into the world.  As in:

“...you have fed us with spiritual food
in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
Send us now into the world in peace…”

Or,

“…we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food
of the most precious Body and Blood
of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ…”
  
They are both beautiful prayers acknowledging God’s love for us and our role of service to humanity as living witnesses to God's eternal kingdom.* Like so many things that we say repeatedly or by rote, we sometimes fail to fully appreciate the beauty or the astounding impact of the prayers we pray in our sacred space during times of worship.

On this day, however, the post-Communion prayer had a definite impact upon me as I heard the words. It wonderfully reflected a maternal image of God.

Loving God,
as a mother feeds her children at the breast­­­­­
you feed us in this sacrament
with the food and drink of eternal life:
help us who have tasted your goodness
to grow in grace within
the household of faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The shift in that prayer got my attention and opened my heart in a new way. Knowing that there are maternal images of God in scripture that are often overlooked, I was thankful to have that loving and nurturing image brought forth in our time of worship.  In fact, I was so moved that I wanted to know where the prayer came from.

A Gift from the Anglican Communion

I asked the rector of Grace Church, Rev. Robyn Arnold, about the source of the post Communion prayer used that day.  She told me that it was from The Book of Common Worship, which is used by The Church of England.  I wondered if I had been blessed by this prayer because I just happened to show up on Mothering Sunday. Rev. Arnold told me, for my further enlightenment, that while it is especially appropriate for Mothering Sunday it works for any time the Church calendar or the scripture readings call to mind the nurturing qualities of God.

It is amazing what a shift toward the feminine can do for one's heart and psyche. I am reminded of such a shift that occurred for me years ago which I have written about before. That shift happened the first time I heard Bobby McFerrin,  also an Episcopalian, sing his version of Psalm 23. It was on a telecast with the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra. He used  the feminine pronoun in reference to God, and that one change moved me to tears as I listened. 

At this half-way point in the Lenten season, I am thankful for my Anglican friends who can call to mind the feminine, nurturing aspects of a loving God.





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* Post-Communion prayers from the 1979 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer:

Eternal God, heavenly Father,
you have graciously accepted us as living members
of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ,
and you have fed us with spiritual food
in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
Send us now into the world in peace,
and grant us strength and courage
to love and serve you
with gladness and singleness of heart;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

or the following

Almighty and everliving God,
we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food
of the most precious Body and Blood
of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ;
and for assuring us in these holy mysteries
that we are living members of the Body of your Son,
and heirs of your eternal kingdom.
And now, Father, send us out
to do the work you have given us to do,
to love and serve you
as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.
To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.



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Monday, March 23, 2020

Songs of Social Consciousness: Strange Fruit (Billie Holiday)

Previously scheduled songs of social consciousness were all from the 1960s, a time of intense social change and growing awareness. "Strange Fruit" was first recorded in 1939 by Billie Holiday. It protested American racism and in particular, the lynchings of blacks that were all too common. This song highlighted injustices that much of America was not ready to hear. In fact, the opening of The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, (also known as "The Lynching Memorial") in Montgomery, Alabama in 2018 demonstrates that our national awareness of racial injustice is long overdue.





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Saturday, March 21, 2020

Saturday Haiku: Willow


the supple willow
under a gunmetal sky
waiting for the storm


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Photo by Inna Giliarova



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Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Lenten Prayers: Prayer for the Soul




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Photo: Cana lily bud by Charles Kinnaird



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Monday, March 16, 2020

Songs of Social Consciousness: Blowin' in the Wind (Peter, Paul & Mary)

The folk music scene of the 1950s and early 1960s became a burgeoning conduit for social awareness and calls for change. Bob Dylan was one songwriter who tapped into that growing consciousness and the folk group, Peter, Paul & Mary helped to carry that awareness in concerts and on the airwaves.


From the YouTube notes:

"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962 and released on his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963. Although it has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war and freedom. The refrain "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" has been described[by whom?] as "impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind". In 1999, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2004, it was ranked #14 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

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Saturday, March 14, 2020

Saturday Haiku: Morning Moon




veiled by layered clouds
the moon shines before daylight
in pastel colors




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Photograph by Angela Stanton



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Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Lenten Prayers: Prayer for the City



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Photo: The Lyric and Alabama Theaters at night, downtown Birmingham, Alabama
Credit: Charles Kinnaird


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Monday, March 9, 2020

Songs of Social Consciousness: A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke)

"It's been a long time comin', but I know a change is gonna come." Sam Cooke's recording was released in 1964. His clear, plaintive cry epitomized the civil rights movement which was coming into full flower.





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Saturday, March 7, 2020

Saturday Haiku: At the Library



wisdom of ages
on musty library shelves
awaiting our view


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Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Lent: It's about Paying Attention

[Today's post was first 2014. It is a reminder for me to let Lent be a time of self-examination, a time to stop and pay attention.]

For some, the Lenten season is about sacrifice, some focus upon the liturgical aspect of penance, others call to mind the scriptural reality check from Ash Wednesday to “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” There is a place for all of the above, but for me, the healthiest way to come through Lent is by paying attention.

Distracted by the Process of Living

It is easy to be so busy with life that we avoid paying attention. One of things that Alcoholics Anonymous does with its Twelve-Step program is to show people who have been caught up in addiction how to pay attention. Buddhist spiritual practice can be seen as a valuable method for getting off the treadmill of life long enough to pay attention. The easiest thing to do is to not pay attention to ourselves, our loved ones, and our lives as a whole. Distraction seems to be the preferred method for getting through life, though anyone who has been forced to stop and pay attention will tell you about the valuable lessons learned. Sometimes it takes being blind-sided by illness or tragedy. Sometimes it is addiction that brings a person to the very bottom before they see the necessity of paying attention to his or her life.

“I don’t really have time for that right now,” is a common reaction, and one that I must confess to falling back upon quite easily. After all, we have commitments, obligations and deadlines. In addition, there is always something we would rather do than being still and alone with ourselves. Because distraction is so often our default setting, the arrival of Lent is an excellent time to bring ourselves back to some degree of self-examination, to make “a searching and fearless moral inventory,” as one of the Twelve Steps of AA suggests.

Taking Time to Be Still

Several years ago, the rector of the church I was attending gave some very helpful advice about what to give up for Lent. “You might try something as simple as giving up cream in your coffee. That way, you are reminded each morning to spend some time in spiritual reflection.” I thought it was a good idea. At the time, I took my coffee with cream and sugar, so I decided that I would make black coffee without sugar my Lenten discipline. As my rector had suggested, it was a very effective means to provide a daily reminder that this is a season to be spent in reflection. With that first sip of coffee in the morning I was reminded to turn my mind toward God. When I took that coffee break at work, I could not help being more conscious and circumspect. Throughout that Lenten season, I was not saddled with the notion of sacrifice, nor was I pounded with the idea of being “a miserable sinner.” My Lenten discipline did help me to pay attention in a meaningful way. (And on Sunday, when there is no fasting is to be done since every Sunday is liturgically Easter, that warm cup of coffee with cream and sugar delightfully said “He is risen indeed!")

I have tried that same Lenten discipline on occasion since that time and it has always served as a healthy reminder to take stock of my life. This year, I have decided to make black coffee my practice once again.  Those who are observing Lent have, of course, already begun their practice. Whatever you are “giving up,” be sure to let it remind you to pay attention. This is not about an endurance test, is a time of renewal and reflection.  Lenten practice does not have to be harsh to be beneficial. If you are not observing Lent, it is never too late to take some time away from your routine to pay attention. If all you do is sit quietly for fifteen or twenty minutes in the morning, that is a good start. Learning to sit and count your breaths in order to still the mind is a helpful form of meditation that anyone can begin right away. At any rate, you will be glad you stopped to pay attention to life now, while you have a moment to reflect.





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Photo: "kaffe" by cyclonebill from Copenhagen, Denmark
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons


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Monday, March 2, 2020

Songs of Social Consciousness:The Ballad of Ira Hayes (Johnny Cash)

Ira Hayes was one of the soldiers who raised the flag in that iconic photo of Iwo Jima during WWII. In 1964, Johnny Cash, in what was seen by some as a risky move for his singing career, recorded a concept album, Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian, to raise public awareness about the plight of Native Americans. "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," written by Peter LaFarge, reached #3 on the Country Singles chart that year, and certainly brought some education and awareness to the airwaves that year.




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