Category: DOC Thoughts
Friday Words
My companion and I publish a weekly journal for those that prepare the children’s sermon. Our work is based on the Lectionary readings. The journal finds its way to the inbox of those that subscribe each week with a few words in the email. I call these Friday words. Sometimes they are more information than encouragement, more gratefulness than theological. Here are the words from the last two weeks.
June 17
“There’s a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.” (Charles M. Schulz)
I do not know the context for Mr. Schulz words, but given the work that I do with children, youth and the adults that work with them, it resonated with me. Pop-culture and Pop-Christianity work to reduce living to a bumper sticker size worldview, a cliche, a phrase, but living it is not that simple. Philosophy, theology, and wisdom are lifetime experiences that shift, change, and mature. Sometimes we are the teacher (master) and sometimes we are the student (apprentice). So, don’t rush when you are with children and youth. As best as you can, try to provide questions rather than answers which, I think, is the significant difference between philosophy and most bumper sticker or billboard wisdom that I see these days.
Jesus summarized his religious philosophy this way, LGLNAS.
love God and love neighbor as self
June 10
It is unimaginably hard to do this — to live consciously, adultly, day in and day out.” (David Foster Wallace)
As you work with and serve the children and youth in your midst I trust that you are aware of your own consciousness. The busy nature of post-modern life can distract a person from their own consciousness. People are now beginning to do “mindfulness” exercises. This can take many forms. For some it is prayer, meditation, or simply turning off all your electronic devices and sitting quietly. During the summer I spend a lot of time in my car visiting all the camp experiences that the Oklahoma Region offers. That first 30 minutes in the car after a day of photos, laughter, walking in the heat, problem solving, and conversations is my “mindfulness” time right now. No radio . . . no phone. Just the hum of tires on the road, bouncing off potholes from time to time and the sound of rushing wind past the car. I remember: thankfulness for the adults volunteering their time at camp; and for congregations that found money to help support the children and youth that attend.
I trust you find a quite, mindful, conscious time during the summer months that can help you center: on God, on your discipleship, and on the ministry to which you have been called.
Learning / Evolving
The summer months are busy for me. I manage and work with the volunteers that make the Summer (Outdoor / Camp) Ministry program happen here in Oklahoma for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Each week that camps are in session I visit for the day and help problem solve, meet the youth attending, support the directors and counselors, and take photos. It means that I am up very early and home late. So, I alter my reading and writing time for Davison’s Doodle, for Sacred Steps: Children’s Sermon Journal, and how I keep up with the news. Today, I’ve spent some time reading different opinions about the economy, catching up on the Daily Show that I missed this week, what’s happening in our own culture, and on the far side of the world.
And now some words that will read more like a rant than observations. Apologies. All the news about our nation is, well, questionable to bad right now. I don’t feel pessimistic. I am cynical and the fact that some citizens seriously listen to sideshow politicians at state and federal levels (Palin, Perry, and Gingrich) who are intent on building their own personal fortunes has ceased taking my breath . . . now I just roll my eyes. At least Trump admitted that he is all about the money which is why he is sticking with NBC rather than running or President. I’ve wondered if the first two decades of the 20th century were plagued with extremism in this country. History points to the robber barons and other lessons when government has needed to regulate unfettered greed, by individuals and corporations, which is why I continue to be astonished that the Republican party argues for more tax breaks and less regulation. Supply side and trickle down has not worked, but it has put us all in debt. The ideals of the Republican party seem intent to create a larger class (caste) of working poor to lure business back to the United States so that companies will outsource jobs here rather than China or India or some other country where there is no middle class (caste), no unions, and no workers rights. I do not understand why serious journalists don’t point out the “Lords and Serfs” ideology that is driving the Republican party and the discrimination that is an ingredient of the Tea Party movement. Probably, because corporations own the media outlets and control the news agencies that would do this reporting. Probably, because news is more about ratings and advertising revenue. Overt racism has not existed in such a public way since the civil rights era and no one has the national clout to call it what it is, not even a faith leader Christian or otherwise.
The Democrats are responsible as well and are so concerned with keeping or regaining power that they are bowing, in the name of consensus, to the business elites that have purchased our government. Our social contracts are being shredded through a war on terror in which the wealthy are sending the poor, working poor, and the middle class off to “defend our freedoms” while Santorum, McConnell, and other white males, in the name of life, are attempting to change laws about birth control and reproductive rights that will send women back to kitchens and back alleys. They argue that life begins at conception, but do little for policies that assist in the pursuit of life, liberty, or happiness once a zygote is breathing. It is irresponsible not to raise taxes on those that take from the bottom 98% unless the goal is to create a caste system that can only be breached by hitting the lottery or winning America’s Got Talent or some other controlled reality TV show. To this end I ran across this article in Bloomberg which speaks to the entertainment gluttony of our nation and our inability to hold elected officials accountable for the common good. I am cynical, but trust that people and elected leaders will eventually stop, think, observe, and plan before too much longer. It is called learning and evolving. BTW, I wrote this while listening to Nascar on my HD TV and the ending of “To Big To Fail” on HBO.
The Danger of Living on Bread and Circuses
by Alice Schroeder | Bloomberg View | June 1, 2011Rome in the first two centuries A.D. faced a yawning gulf between rich and poor. The mighty empire built on tribute reached its geographic limits. Its economy created few exportable goods. Slaves acquired by conquest built most of its bridges, roads and aqueducts and took jobs in farming, mining and construction. As this cheaper labor replaced Roman citizens, idle, unemployed, hungry people filled the capital.
The complicated causes of Rome’s decline have long fascinated historians, and provide a lens through which to examine the vulnerability of other dominant cultures. Americans’ addiction to entertainment has been compared to the circuses of ancient Rome. We can, and do, spend much of our free time watching dreck on TV like “Half Pint Brawlers,” about a company of self-styled “midget wrestlers” who attack each other with staple guns and broken bottles. In fact, in 2009, people over age 15 spent an average of 58 percent of their leisure time watching television, playing games and using the Internet — an increase of 16 percent from 2003.