It's Over Let's Begin

It’s Over Let’s Begin




The costliest election in our history is over so can we now begin? After watching the movie, “Lincoln” I am reminded that divisions within our country that again surfaced in the midst of the vitriolic rhetoric used by both sides in this recent political “fight” are not new to our land. Lincoln tried to lead a nation that was separated by ideology and strongly held beliefs in the rights of people.

But now our election is over so can we begin? The movie ends with the haunting words of Lincoln’s second inaugural address. Sadly these words echo in the theatre just after the scene where this tall man with big ideas is reduced to a dead president surrounded by shocked leaders who tell us that, “Now he belongs to the ages.”

Well, we are part of those “ages” and we need to listen to his words that he spoke to a broken and divided people at the end of the Civil War;

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right
that God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we
are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds…”



As a working pastor let me humbly offer a few thoughts on how we begin after this recent war of words:

Since we have work to do let’s quite bringing up the Bible like it was put together much like a brick is created. A brick is created by mixing together a prepared substance and pouring it into a mold in order to make a solid piece of building matter. A brick is the same all the way through because it is made of the same stuff.

The Bible is not a brick. It is not made of the same stuff. It is more like a woven garment that is composed of many different threads woven together over thousands of years by many different “weavers.” To take it literally means that often it cannot be taken seriously. In our need for a new beginning there is much in the Bible that needs to be taken seriously.

The woven garment of the sacred text known as the Bible is meant to be more like a family quilt pieced together by a loving grandmother from patches saved over the years rather than to be viewed as a solid block that can be thrown toward the person who does not seem to cherish the brick. A quilt on the other hand can surround the recipient with a sense of security and warmth even though you know it did not come from a factory and is quite home-made. The tatters around the edges of the quilt and the seams that are not quite perfect are what make the hand crafted creation so special.

My particular tradition states that the sacred text should be studied in light of experience, tradition, and reason. It is important to not just know what the Bible says but to know what it means. Quite frankly, the Bible says a lot that deserves study so that isolated words and phrases will not be thrown around like so many bricks.

So with malice toward none I offer the observation that to take a couple of bricks that seem to indicate who can marry who or to establish exactly when life begins as the only foundation blocks upon which to create a holistic world view might be more harmful than constructive. In the sacred weaving there are many more threads that portray the need to care for the sojourners and marginalized than there are threads about marriage and rights.

And in terms of the “street talk” theology that gets thrown around in election cycles let’s take off the street that often used expression, “God will never give you more than you can handle.” As a pastor I deal with countless people who come my way who are broken and beaten by life. These hurting people sometimes lift up this platitude that is, by the way, not found in the Bible. You might say they’ve been hit by a factory made brick when they need to be wrapped in a hand-made quilt.

Life will sometimes give us more than we can handle. Ask a man, who while hung out to dry by life and suffering, once uttered, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Yes, he was quoting scripture because you can find that line in the Psalms, but you can be sure he was not tossing bricks. He was offering some threads that the rest of us could weave together when we are given more than we can bear.

And finally, being quite aware that I am a pastor and not a politician let me say it’s time to begin again in the face of the Washington rock throwing scene about our economic “cliff.” I’m nearing the finish line and await the benefits of Medicare so let me be the first to say, “If you need to take a little away from my Medicare and Social Security benefit in order to fix this mess then for God’s sake and ours do it. We are in this mess together and we need to redefine what community means…and that is in the Bible.”

And so I will say to whoever are the rich…and they seem a moving target… now that I’ve “moved” you can move. Hopefully if all of us move a little bit we will not have to jump over the cliff together. That is sure no way to come together.

There is a sad and tragic scene in the movie when Lincoln slowly rides through the carnage of bodies after the battle of Petersburg. Those images of the vacant stares of the casualties of war must have been on his mind when he uttered his words of healing a few short days before he became one of those causalities.

I hope we can now begin and come together as a kind of wonderfully different community of people who know we need at times to be wrapped in quilts so that we can quit throwing bricks. We need to hear again the words of a man of great vision who learned from his pain:

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God

gives us the right to see, let us strive on to finish the work we are in;

to bind up the nations wounds…”

It’s over, it’s time to begin.



Jody Seymour

Sr. Pastor

Davidson United Methodist Church

Milepost 65

When I was a kid someone who was 65 was toast.  The next stop was "the Home."  Of course back then there were not that many "Homes."  Now there is an Assisted Living on every corner.

What's happening?  My grandmother held my hand and squeezed it as she looked up at me from her nursing home bed, "I need to go home."  She did not mean the overused word  "home" as it gets attached to "nursing."  She was referring to "that home not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

We both knew what she meant so I squeezed back and whispered, "I know grandma, but I hate to lose you."  That's when she said words to me that I have used many times.  This time the grip of her hand became even tighter as she said to me, "Boy I don't want to outlive myself."

She was 92. She died the next year.  I figure she "outlived" herself by about 3 years.

Why am I reflecting on all this?  I registered for Medicare last week.  Milepost 65 is now in the rear view mirror.  I did not even slow down as I pasted the marker.  How can I be going this fast at 65?  From my viewpoint as a child a 65 year old was a slow-poke...ready for the farm...worn out...spent.

How much time will there be between 65 and that time I come up against "outliving myself?"  One never knows.  They tell me that 65 is the new 45.  We'll see.

My friends in AA have the best attitude when it comes to all this age and time stuff:  "One day at a time."  As I pasted the milepost I wonder if I remembered that there have been 23,725 of those days?

OK...it's time to go home but alas this time I simply mean the house in which I dwell....thankfully.

Jody

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