Did Jesus Have a SuperPac?

I wonder how he got as far as he did without the help of a SuperPac? It seems that no public figure these days can get by without the help of some really big money from who knows where. I mean we literally watch as our politicians are "bought" by various special interest groups. Everybody complains but the checks keep rolling in. Many people seem to think that all this influence money is not a good idea but nobody can do anything about it?

There is a line in the Book of Revelation about "the Beast." Most people remember the part about the "number of the Beast" which is 666. What we need to pay attention to, however, is not the number but what the people say about the Beast. Since the Beast is so powerful and mysterious the people say, "Who is like the Beast and who can fight against it?" The Beast is "given authority by the Dragon?" I know this revelation from long ago gets messy and mysterious with all the numbers and "angels and demons," but what I'm getting at (I know you're beginning to wonder) is that this Beast known as SuperPac seems to be impenetrable. Who can fight against it?

Jesus was offered help by a SuperPac, did you know that? Yea, it happened just after he was "elected" by voice vote. There was only one voice but it was quite a vote because it came in the midst of a clamp on thunder when folks who were lined up to get baptized thought they heard something that sounded like, "Hey listen up this is my special child. He's the one you've been waiting for. I'm so proud I can't stand it!" OK, the literal translation is, "This is my child, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased."

Jesus was then immediately offered the help of a SuperPac. Another voice, this time not from above but from "below" said, "Hey you need some help or you'll never get anywhere. Here, I've friends in 'high' places that can provide the resources you need to be powerful beyond measure. Without this help your new campaign will sputter out before it ever gets started."

Jesus, the story says, was in fact "tempted" to take the help of this SuperPac. After all, at that time in his campaign he did not even have a staff, no posters in anybody's front yard, and no War Chest from which to pull the needed resources for what looked to be a tough long fight to "win the vote."

It seems that major influence peddler from long ago set the precedent for the many temptations that come when you are offered power from places that can lead you away from what is most important. Jesus was offered a way to get things done by the voices of the power brokers of the day. Back then it sounded like; "Give me your allegiance and I'll give you all the bread you want...Jump when I say jump and you'll win the next primary...let go of those silly principals that are foolish and idealistic and let me show you what the people really want."

Too much money mixed with the promise of power have always been a volatile mixture. After all we are "only human." I think that was also one of the lines used in the wilderness with Jesus back then. I wish we could get rid of the funny money that leads to back room promises that end up affecting lots of people.

Jesus learned long before people wrote books about management principals that, "the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." High minded dreamers seem to end up in the wilderness as soon as they step off the bus in Washington. SuperPacs wait to greet them with promises and money. It was not good "back then" and it's not good now.

The Locker Room Floor

Well maybe it happens at the Beauty Parlor or the Coffee Shop but I know it also happens with us men types at the Y or Health Club locker room . I overheard it yet again the other day.

It comes in the form of glittering generalities about really complex and sometimes important issues. Whether you like it or not you can hear , because it echoes in those locker rooms for all to take in, one line comments about politics, education, how kids have no respect anymore, religion, and all kinds of comments on economic policy.

The other day one guy who was bantering on about how poor the quality of education had become rounded the row of lockers and left one last comment on the locker room floor as he left; "Well what can you do?" Well here is what I want to say, "Many times there is something you CAN do and it does no good to leave one line over generalized comments on the locker room floor and then walk away."

Do something to make things better. And quit the locker room talk. I don't want to over hear it because most of the time it is full of simplistic sound bites about some really important issues. Here's one, "Obama has spent more money than any other President we've had!" Well you know that might be right, but what does it really mean? I suppose this person does not like Obama or his policies but what locker room talk has become is like the sound bites on TV that simply make people draw lines in the sand and throw dirt at each other across the line.

It is not doing us any good. The issues facing America are not that simple and we are all going to have to learn to "play together in the sandbox" if we are going to keep talking and acting like children. These are grown up problems and our politicians need to grow up...but the truth is they can't as long as those to whom they talk still use locker room language and and act like we expect simple-sound bite-solutions to complex issues that require some painful compromise by probably all of us.

"Well what can you do?" You and I can learn the complex realities and start expecting more from our leaders. We can convey to them that they do not have to make us happy all the time and that we are willing listen to "hard" solutions that may impact our life style or even our pocketbook. It is time to quit acting like children.. in real life and in the locker room.

When was a kid playing football that kind of of talk was OK because after all I was a kid...but some guy I discovered a few years later coined a phrase that can be used for many different occasions not just religious ones: "When I was a child I spoke as a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned as a child; when I became an adult I put an end to childish ways."

Leave wet towels on the locker room floor, not trash talk about really important things...

Jody

Christmas Poem

Narrow Streets
A Poem for Christmas

Familiar but only in the
distant past
Were the narrow streets
in the place of his
birth

Now he brings his Mary
for another birth
But this was not her place
but his- and not
of his choosing

And then to hear those words
“no room”
Too narrow was this
place of origins
for new beginnings

But God crowded into the
narrow streets
For starlight was tired of
waiting for us to
create the space

So the child came into
our narrow streets
The creator of all born
in cramped quarters-
What is this?

Our too full lives and
narrow places
Cannot stop the expansive
love of a God who
so longs to
fill
our narrow streets
with love.

Jody Seymour, Christmas 2011

The Candidates Debate?

The words are forever etched in my generation's musical memory. "Going to the candidates debate/Laugh about it, shout about it till you have to chose. Anyway you look at it you lose."

It is the warning song for "Mrs. Robinson." Mrs. Robinson you remember is someone who gets lost on the way in the classic movie, "The Graduate." She becomes so self-focused that her longing for pleasure envelopes all who get caught in her web. Pretense becomes the order of the day. All is fine until love gets in the way. Mrs. Robinson tries to "hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes...put it in your pantry with you cupcakes." But it does not work. It never does.

Conflicting loves unwrap the cupcakes and throw open the doors of the pantry. Well, as I watch, or attempt to watch candidates debate and listen to those who used to be candidates but who are now "elected" offer their polarized talking points I want to announce that the gig is up. I want to be like old Dustin Hoffman shaking the doors at the back of the church in the movie as a horrified Mrs. Robinson looks on. I want to scream, "Stop it all for heaven's sake."

The song says, "We'd like to help you learn to help yourself." How many of us are screaming behind those doors for candidates and elected leaders to get a grip and quit acting like children? This is crazy. No one wants to talk anymore, they just want to make points. Well, we have to learn to live together and we have to learn to give and take. It was a lesson that parents were supposed to teach. Our leaders have forgotten both that lesson and have also forgotten their manners.

"God bless you please Mrs. Robinson; Jesus loves you more than you will know." Well God and Jesus please help our leaders come out of the bubble they must be in and see that we are tired of their childish "get my way or else" attitude. It is hurting the rest of us. Look to the back of the "church" and see that we are shaking the doors and yelling, "Stop."

The song ends with "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you/What's that you say Mrs. Robinson Joltin Joe has left and gone away." We do not need Joe DiMaggio. Our lonely nation is lonely for lack of leadership that possesses the depth and maturity to know that governing means working with those with whom you disagree. We don't need Joltin Joe, we need people with the vision to know that the issues with which we are dealing are not summed up in talking points but in negotiating the complexities of where we find ourselves. It is time to quit playing with our lives as they play with political agendas. Turn around, the doors behind you are shaking.

"God bless you please Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know...Heaven holds a place for those who pray..." I now direct this old song to our leaders in Washington. God help us do better than this.

Jody

The Black Hole

There is a black hole under the desk where I do much of my work. At that desk I ponder, study, and compose my sermons. She often accompanied me in my work from her place next to my feet. Cassidy, our family canine company for the last few years, was a "gift" from our oldest daughter.

She came first to us on loan. Abigail was moving to California for a "few years" and the place where she would live did not allow dogs so could we keep Cassidy for "a few months?" That was five years ago. She was black as night and unless she just returned from her trip to the groomer her long, thick black hair resulted in her resembling a small black bear with four legs.

She was a rescue dog that Abigail found beside the road. She was obviously abused and was very pregnant. Abigail cared for her and I suppose distributed the offspring. Cassidy had a good deal of Chow in her and an almost black with purple laced tongue betrayed her heritage.

She was about the gentlest dog I've ever met. The only time she would bark was if the door bell rang. She gave up running years ago even before she tore an ACL that prevented her from hopping up the steps. Often she would collapse spread eagle on the floor as her legs gave way. We would have to either help her up the steps or pull her up from her flattened position on the floor.

She was completely deaf, partially blind, and as I just mentioned could walk around only within limits. Of late she started pacing a lot like she was looking for something that she could not ever find. She ceased to be a pet a few years ago and became someone we needed to care for. But then that is the fine print of the whole pet thing. They give unconditionally to you and the favor is one of return.

Sometimes she would look up at me from under the desk with a look that said something like, "You know you are intruding on my space here. This is not really a desk, it is 'my black hole' and I do not remember inviting you here." She was so black herself that she almost disappeared in that recessed space just beyond my feet. Once in a while her snoring reminded me she was there.

We did the merciful thing the other day and "put her down." That is such a strange phrase but it is applicable because to put her down was to somehow put us down too. Though she was often invisible in her hole she was quite present in our lives as only an animal can be.

So now we have another kind of black hole in our lives for a while at least. I keep looking for her under the desk. I can still smell her. She left me with the scent of a memory and she left me with more. She left me with those penetrating eyes that seemed to say in her last few years, "I know you're having to take care of me and I appreciate it." Can any creature on this tiny speck of dust show more appreciation than a dog?

So now Cassidy you've gone beyond that black hole to wherever place it is that souls like you go. Heaven may be full of such love as you gave. I'll continue to look at that dark space under my desk in days to come...and I'll remember.

Jody

The Sky is Falling
(ok here is a “poem” based on the satellite that fell on us recently…It inspired some rather childish thoughts on my part.)

Space junk up in the sky
Falling our way, my O my
Millions of dollars burnt right up
While smiling TV faces tell us “to duck”

Seems everything thrown up
Must come down
Speaking of throwing up
The S&P doth make me frown

The Sky is falling yes indeed
Doomsday predictions are the latest creed
News from Greece jerks the chain
And the screams from traders inflicts great pain

Tell those guys on Wall Street
To quit watching the news
They’re playing with my money
They aim to confuse

Let’s all calm down while looking on high
Not at space junk up in the sky
But to One who is smiling at our need to control
The One who planted down deep in our soul…

The ability to wonder what it’s all about
I wonder if God is about ready to shout,
“Hey kids settle down and take a deep breath
You’re always acting like you’re scared to death

The sky is not falling in spite of your ‘junk’
Though in your test of faith you often flunk
I’m still in love with your speck of dust in the sky
And you’re still my children, my O my”

Jody

September 11 Remembering the Right Things

I offer this prayer as we remember September 11


“Remembering the Right Things” by Jody Seymour

God of all people, part of us does not want to remember that day and the other part of us knows that we must. So we call to mind first those whose lives were lost to terror but who were only flying to a destination or working at their desks or simply living life that day.

We remember those who pushed aside their own safety and who did what they felt they had to do. They were firefighters, and policemen, and all those in a uniform or not who stepped into the smoke of uncertainty to offer hope and help.

We take a deep breath and offer you our helplessness as we remember husbands, and wives, and children who did not see the horror on TV as something to be witnessed but who lost part of themselves that day as they lost the people they loved. Bring them comfort as only you can, O God, into those spaces that are still vacant.

You must do something for us God that we often cannot do for ourselves. Lead us away from anger that seeks revenge for the rage of that day seemed almost contagious. Our understanding fails us so you must grant us a vision that goes beyond our understanding of it all. Your resurrection hope can arise in the midst of fallen towers and we ask for that hope this day of remembrance so that we can remember the right things rather than the wrong things.

Your child, O God, spoke words of forgiveness as he looked from his cross into a sea of terror and fear. How did he do that for we struggle so hard to even understand our enemies much less forgive them?

Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

O God of all the nations, even those who claim you not, we need your wisdom and your strength to remember the right things.

“Blessed are those who morn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Those are his words….your child’s words. Bless us this day, O God, as we try to believe them.

O God our help in Ages past, our hope for years to come; help us remember the right things this day. Amen.

jody