PERFECT LOVE DRIVES OUT FEAR

Posted on April 16, 2013 by

If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.

–The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King

MLKToday, April 16, 2013, marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

There is an op-ed piece by Barnard College professor Jonathan Rieder in The New York Times which offers some insights into the thinking of Dr. King.  While I am not thrilled with the title of the piece, “Dr. King’s Righteous Fury,” it is nevertheless worth the reading. 

I was particularly struck by the quote which I used at the top of this entry.  It is a prophetic indictment of the state of our church today. It had been a while since I had read the letter, and I am amazed at how fresh and appropriate its content and comments remain today, 50 years after its first coming to light.

Sadly, the horrific events in Boston on Monday overshadow the opportunity for thoughtful reflection on King’s magnificent piece of prose, from which we also glean the well-known quote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

We pray for the victims of the senseless tragedy in Boston, that God’s abiding presence may bring comfort and healing to all who mourn. And we ask God to strengthen our faith, renew our hope, and liberate us from the captivity of fear, so that violence may not have the last word. By the power of the Holy Spirit, may we be encouraged to love our enemies, and strive for justice and peace in all the world.

 

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A NEW SEASON

Posted on April 9, 2013 by

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

John 20:19

Baseball and the BibleAs some of you may know, I love baseball.  As a youngster I lived for this time of the year. I was a terrible player.  I discovered very early in life that I would never become the next Roberto Clemente, so I did the next best thing.  I would buy every baseball or sports magazine there was to learn as much as I could not only about my favorite team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, but also about the rest of the teams in the National League.  I would eat, drink and sleep statistics – batting averages, home runs, RBI’s, earned run averages, and pitcher’s won-lost records.  I read about the players’ personal lives, their families, their hobbies and other interests.  In short, I had an interest and a curiosity that bordered on obsession.

Those of you who follow the Cleveland Indians are very well aware that they have a new manager who has two World Series rings to his credit.  The teams has been improved with free agents.  For the first time since he bought the club, the owner has opened his pocketbook and is actually paying competitive salaries for proven talent.  At least for the first few games, that investment seems to be paying off.  The home opener was this week and for the first time in recent memory, there was an enthusiasm and an atmosphere of expectation that perhaps this team and this town can once again experience the excitement that was felt in the late nineties when winning the division was almost routine.

This post is not about baseball. I merely wanted to draw you in a bit. However, in many ways we can make a direct comparison and contrast between baseball and faith.

The anticipation of winning that World Series championship comes around each spring with remarkable regularity. This hope that a new season brings is never destroyed, no matter how many disappointments we live through year after year after year.

Those frustrations that we feel when the Indians disillusion us, had to be in many ways the same way the disciples felt just after Jesus’ crucifixion.  This was the man they’d pinned their hopes on, the man who was going to take them to the World Series, metaphorically speaking, of course.  He was going to return the kingdom of Israel back to the Jews and drive out the Roman invaders.  But now he was dead, killed like a common criminal, on a cross.

So here the disciples were.  Huddled in a room behind locked doors.  Wondering what to do next.  Worried that the authorities were coming after them and fearful that they would meet the same fate as their leader.  And then the Gospel tells us that Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

And then, our Gospel goes on to say, the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Try to imagine that scene, if you will.  The disciples, once cowering in fear, upon seeing Jesus, in an instant celebrating, cheering, high-fiving each other with all the euphoria that comes from watching a star slugger hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. 

Jesus came and stood among them.  That is not so simple a statement as it may seem.  The doors were locked.   We don’t know how he entered. Yet Jesus came and stood among them.  But he not only stood among them.  He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Here is a new beginning. The Spirit, the helper, will help the disciples lay the claim of Jesus before people.  And seeing Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit made all the difference in their lives. 

The apostles were now speaking of grace and hope. They were the people of a new way. Their agenda remained the agenda of Jesus. But now the Spirit, as it inspired and empowered Jesus to bring goodness and hope to people, released the apostles from the powers that oppressed them, the power of fear, the power of sin, and showed them the way of peace.

What about us?  We who, like Thomas, were not there in that locked room on that first night of Easter.  What difference does Jesus and the power of the Spirit make in our lives?

We, too, are messengers of God’s salvation.  We are a faith community that is called to be a people shaped by Jesus’ gift of the Spirit given to us in Holy Baptism.  It is about a new beginning, a second chance to change direction (repentance) and to look to Jesus for leadership. It is also a chance therefore to find forgiveness for sins.

To spread a message of forgiveness, Jesus doesn’t call those who appear blameless or somehow most worthy. He calls those who truly know that they themselves have been forgiven.

Let us rejoice in the new beginning, the new season of Easter, the season filled with grace and hope.  Jesus is calling us, forgiving us, and sending us.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 

 

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WHO DO YOU TRUST?

Posted on February 21, 2013 by

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 27:1

There are several psalms that I always have at the ready whenever I visit parishioners in hospitals. Psalm 27 is one of them. The very first verse should give you a clue as to why. It is a psalm of absolute trust and confidence in God no matter what difficulties or hardships may confront us in life. They are words one needs to hear before facing surgery or while recovering from sickness.

Verse one sets the tone for what is to come. The remainder of the psalm is consistent in its mood. There’s not one shred of ambivalence, not one ounce of doubt, no swaying back and forth between despair, anger, and pleading. The psalmist is totally grounded in his assurance that God will always be present.

As I post this entry, I am anticipating arthroscopic knee surgery Friday, February 22, 2013.  I have never had surgery on any part of my body at any time in my life.  So despite the fact that this is considered “minor” surgery, it is a big deal for me.  My definition of minor surgery is when it is on someone else. Anytime one undergoes any medical procedure, there is always a risk factor. 

Given the age of our Covenant parishioners, a lot of them have gone through this experience many more times than I have.  Many of them had major operations: cardiac procedures and surgeries, joint replacements cataract removals, among many others. I have had the privilege of accompanying some of them and praying with them before their surgeries and praising God with them afterwards. I have learned so much from them and their situations to the point that I sometimes feel as if I could qualify for a license to practice medicine.  

I am grateful that some of them have trusted me enough to share their anxieties, their concerns, and their fears with me. Others have expressed a confidence so absolute that it is beyond admirable. But my one hope when I visit with them is to leave them with that assurance that God is present with them, with the surgeons and with the medical staff, no matter what the outcome.

What I’ve learned through my own personal encounter is that the greatest source of anxiety stems from our dread of not being in control.  As my family practitioner advised me, “You close your eyes and the next thing you know, you’re in recovery.  And for that unknown period of time you have turned your life over to the medical people, trusting that their skills will bring you through the procedure safely.”

That is a tall order for those of us who are not accustomed to letting others take charge, especially over our affairs, our health, or our lives.  We say we trust God, but do we really?  Our actions demonstrate quite the opposite.  We take matters into our own hands, behaving as if everything depends on us.

Throughout the season of Lent we follow Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem.  Jesus knew what his mission on earth was and, for him, it was not going to have a very happy ending.  Yet he trusted God every step of the way.  It is that trust that he modeled for us that we would do well to consider as followers of Christ and citizens of God’s kingdom.

During the season of Lent we stress the spiritual disciplines of fasting, and prayer and almsgiving.  One of the major reasons we do so is to develop a sense of trust – trust that God provides for our needs, trust to depend on God for everything and to ask for anything in prayer, and to trust that God’s abundance enables us to provide for others.

Two ways God makes God’s presence known is through prayer and the study of God’s Word, and through our community of faith – our church congregation. It is with those people with whom we gather week after week in praise and worship of God in the sanctuary that we receive the support and encouragement that enables us to withstand whatever feelings of fear, discomfort, despair and disappointment we may be experiencing. A few minutes a day spent in prayer and study; and an hour or so a week spent in fellowship and rejoicing just might give us that sense of God’s presence among us, that sense of trust and confidence that will overpower fear.

I trust that my surgery will go well.  I ask your prayers on my behalf.  And I will hold you in prayer – that you learn to develop an unfailing trust in God’s goodness and grace, and move forward in faith, not in fear, in ways that convince us of the reality of God’s presence among us.

 

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The Confession of St. Peter

Posted on January 18, 2013 by

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

[Matthew 16:15-16 NRSV]

A personal confession:  This text has deep personal meaning for me on a couple of different levels.  First, it was the gospel text that was preached on the day of my ordination, which fell on January 18th, 2003, the feast of the Confession of St. Peter. 

It’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years.  I can still remember the day as if it were yesterday.  I don’t remember what Bishop Marcus Miller preached that day.  I was so overwhelmed by the entire day that the details of the sermon were buried by other memories and the emotions I was feeling.

I wrote the following in my journal a couple of days later (I didn’t know what a blog was back then, so my thoughts were committed to paper).

clip_image002[4]It was absolutely the best day of my life.  I cried uncontrollably.  To see people whom I had known at various stages of my life all together because of me was overwhelming.  It was an affirmation that I had been seeking all my life.  I thank God for allowing me to witness what many people don’t see in their lifetime.

One of the most vivid scenes was the procession.  I had sensed at the rehearsal that I would cry at this point and sure enough, I did. 

At some other point I hope to reflect more on that day.  A lot has happened in ten years and I’m not where I expected to be at this point, although I consider it more important to be where God expects me to be.

The second thought this gospel brings to mind is the day of my first interview with the entrance committee shortly after I had declared my intention to be a candidate for the ministry of Word and Sacrament.  The conversation was going rather well and as the interview was about to end I was asked the question by one of the committee members, “Who is Jesus for you?”

“What a strange question,” I thought.  I began to stammer and stutter and, after what I thought was an eternity of stumbling, bumbling and fumbling for an answer, I began reciting parts of the Apostle’s Creed and everything else I could think of that mentioned Jesus.  Finally I just stopped and admitted that I really hadn’t given that question a great deal of thought.

Now you might think that a rather bizarre confession for a pastor to make.  But at that time, it was really something that I had never explored deeply.  I had been involved with the church for most of my life.  Since being baptized at seven months I have had a relationship that I felt was second nature with Jesus Christ.  As an adult I had been involved in teaching Sunday School, coaching youth basketball teams, doing some lay preaching, serving on church councils and committees, attending assemblies and representing my congregation in whatever capacity I could; but I had never given any real intense thought as to who Jesus was for me.

So I pose to you, the reader, the same question today.  Who do you say Jesus is?

I would suggest to you that that is the most urgent, the most relevant, the most essential question that confronts us today. Wherever we turn in life we are faced with the implications of this question.

Is Jesus your Messiah, or just some guy that lived 2000 years ago? 

clip_image004[4]Is Jesus Lord of your life, or a fellow whose name you mention on occasion, sometimes not in very flattering terms? 

Are you willing to confess Jesus as the Son of the living God at work, or at school, or in the mall, or merely within the safe confines of your church on Sunday?

Jesus is what makes us different.  Jesus is what keeps us alive!

Without a sense of who Jesus is for you, life is just something that happens to you while you are busy making other plans, to echo John Lennon.

Fortunately for me, the candidacy committee accepted my babbling response that day; and that cleared the path to my ordination ten years ago on this date.  I owe that all to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

On this day of the confession of St. Peter, hear again the question that Jesus asks us again and again, “Who do you say that I am?”

How will you respond?

 

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The Epiphany of Our Lord

Posted on January 3, 2013 by

“Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”

[Matthew 2:2]

Epiphany is one of my favorite church festivals.  It evokes an assorted set of memories.

The first one goes all the way back to infancy.  As a child in Puerto Rico, Epiphany was our Christmas.  We called it Three Kings Day or El día de los reyes.  On the fifth of January, the eve of Epiphany, we children would take a shoe box, fill it with grass, and place it under our beds.  This was ostensibly food for the camels, somewhat like leaving milk and cookies for Santa.  When we awoke, the box would be empty of grass, but somewhere in the vicinity under our beds, there would be toys or whatever gifts the “3 reyes magos” (three wise men) brought us.  All day throughout the neighborhood the burning question on everyone’s lips would be, “¿Qué te trajeron los reyes?” (“What did the wise men [or kings] bring you?”)

It was not until we moved to the mainland United States that we learned of the custom of receiving gifts at Christmas.  Our thought on the island was, since the wise men brought gifts to the Christ child on Epiphany, it stood to reason that this day should be the day of giving gifts.

But my most bittersweet recollection took place as a junior in college when I was blessed and beleaguered to be in the right place at the right time.  I sang bass in the college choir, and the drama department needed voices to perform in their production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s Christmas classic, Amahl and the Night Visitors.  The script called for the one king, Balthazar, the bass, to be played by a black man.  I happened to fit all the demographic requirements but I was not the 1964 Amahl Photodirector’s first choice.  The original person cast in the role was white and the plan was to paint him with dark brown make up.  When some of the African-American choir members learned of this they were insulted, to say the least, and they made their feelings known.  The controversy spread to the rest of the few minority students on campus who requested a meeting with both the drama and choir director.  The result was that I was cast in the role.  The acrimony that stemmed from the incident was soon forgotten but the results could have been disastrous had I not performed well. 

I don’t know whether anyone was transformed or any attitudes were changed as a result of that encounter.  But the story of the wise men from the East is transformational in its message.  If you’ve read the narrative, which, incidentally, only appears in the Gospel of Matthew [Matt. 2:1-12]; you know that wise men from the East came to pay homage to the child who was born king of the Jews.  Among the messages one gathers from the story is that God’s love and salvation is available to all people, not just a select few.  The wise men were Gentiles, not Jews.  One can assume they were into astrology, which might explain how they received the news of Jesus’ birth by way of the star that was visible to them.

The good news of the Gospel reaches out to us in different ways.  The star in the east, that drew the wise men to Jesus; the angels who announced the birth to the shepherds; are all indications that there is no one way to reach out to those who need to hear the message.  There is no one style of worship that is better suited or more effective in attracting people to Jesus.  I am often reminded of this when I attend worship services of other traditions or hear a debate about liturgical versus contemporary worship.  We can sometimes get bogged down in details and forget the big picture.  It’s not about how we worship but how that worship speaks to us and how we respond.  The lives of the wise men were changed forever as a result of coming face to face with Jesus.  We are called to be that light of a star to others who may also need to come face to face with our risen Savior.  As Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:16 – In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Note:  The photo above is taken from a page in our college yearbook.  In case you can’t tell, I’m the guy in the middle! 

Posted in Christmas, Epiphany, Evangelism, Faith, Outreach, Religion, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

WATCH NIGHT

Posted on December 30, 2012 by

And God said to Moses:
I’ve seen the awful suffering
Of my people down in Egypt.
I’ve watched their hard oppressors,
Their overseers and drivers;
The groans of my people have filled my ears
And I can’t stand it no longer;
So I’m come down to deliver them
Out of the land of Egypt,
And I will bring them out of that land
Into the land of Canaan;
Therefore, Moses, go down,
Go down into Egypt,
And tell Old Pharaoh
To let my people go.

God’s Trombones
James Weldon Johnson[1]

This December 31 marks the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the eve of the Emancipation Proclamation that pronounced freedom to all those who were enslaved in the Confederate States of America.  President Abraham Lincoln, by executive order, made that pronouncement on January 1, 1863.  The actual abolition of slavery did not officially occur until nearly two years later with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December of 1865.  However, for the nearly four million slaves that had never known freedom in the so-called, “Land of the Free,” January 1 was a day of celebration. 

abraham-lincoln-picture

Abraham Lincoln

The anticipation had to have been at fever pitch the day before.  It has long been a tradition in the African-American church to hold worship services and prayer meetings on New Year’s Eve.  They are known as “Watch Night” services and though their origins in the Black community are vigorously debated, there can be little doubt that the significance of these gatherings took on new meaning after 1862.  According to Albert J. Raboteau, a scholar of African American religion, the slaves received three to six days off during the week between Christmas and New Year’s and were allowed to visit family and friends on neighboring plantations.  With the arrival of New Year’s the celebrations ended and another year of work faced the slaves.[2] 

In addition the country was at war over the very issue of slavery.  One can only imagine the jubilant reaction upon hearing the President’s proclamation:

“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”[3]

One could argue that not much has changed in one hundred fifty years.  Injustice and oppression are still significant issues for many people of color.  Though physical slavery is illegal, minority communities are still in bondage to the slavery of poverty, hunger, homelessness and violence. 

The latter point is one of most serious concerns not only toward people of color but among people of color.  The carnage such as what took place in Newtown, CT, on December 15, gets major coverage because it is unusual.  However, many urban communities live in what at times rivals a war zone in Afghanistan.  According to a Washington Post report, in the school year just ended in June of 2012, in Chicago, 319 school children were shot, 24 of them fatally.  I also borrowed this statistic from attorney and Civil Rights activist Ralph Wheeler. “The number of black children and teens killed by gunfire since 1979 is more than 10 times the number of black men, women, and children of all ages lynched in American history.”

One of the lines I quote most often is from the Sixteenth Century English poet John Donne:  “any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind…”

Our sense of community – any community, but in particular for people of color – is rooted in a sense of who God is for us.  The slaves, though oppressed, were held together by a deep and abiding faith in their Creator.  The Exodus story, told in rhyme by the poet James Weldon Johnson at the beginning of this essay, resonated deeply with the oppressed, enabled them to endure the inhumane treatment at the hands of slave owners, and fueled their hopes that someday they, too, would reach the Promised Land. 

What does that Promised Land look like for us today and what is God calling us, as God’s people, to do, not only to endure but to make it a reality in our lives?  I maintain that God is calling us to be more watchful, more observant of what our children watch; be more involved and invested in their daily lives; model for them those fruits of the Spirit that the Apostle Paul speaks so eloquently of in Galatians:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. [Gal. 5:22-23]

Our church has not observed a New Year’s Eve or Watch Night service for quite some time.  But I would encourage anyone who is preparing for 2013 to celebrate with joyful anticipation at some worship service this Watch Night, 2012.  One hundred fifty years later, may we anticipate a new emancipation – an emancipation of our Spirit ground in the belief that God is active and alive in our world and in our lives today.  And as I often end my sermons on Sunday, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.” [Romans 15:13]

Have a Happy, Safe, and Blessed New Year!

[1]   Johnson, James Weldon, God’s Trombones, Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. New York: Penguin Books, 1927, p. 46

[2]     Raboteau, Albert J., Slave Religion, The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978, p. 224

Posted in Civil Rights, Faith, Religion, Slavery, Violence | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Welcome Into the Body of Christ

Posted on November 27, 2012 by

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 2:9

I can’t think of a better time to resume blogging than the first week of the new church year.  I have neglected this blog far too long and if anyone was anticipating posts from me and sensed disappointment at not seeing them I apologize.  While I am not ready to admit falling victim to the deadly sin of sloth, I will readily confess that I have not given this task of blogging very high priority.  I can plead that writing a sermon and the preparation involved therein, in addition to my other numerous pastorals duties, have taken me away from any sense of devotion to this particular page; but that is a feeble excuse.  So as we say in the church as we begin worship, “I confess to God Almighty, before the whole company of heaven, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned in thought, word, and deed by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault…”

Let your light so shine before others

That out of the way, I can now jubilantly share the news that on Christ the King Sunday we welcomed five new saints into the body of Christ via the sacrament of Holy Baptism and one additional brother by affirmation of baptism.  It was a day of rejoicing at The Lutheran Church of the Covenant and most assuredly in the realm of heaven.  I said to the newly baptized in my sermon, “Our mission now is to be a royal priesthood, to be the bearers of God’s word to announce forgiveness and healing to those weighed down by the burden of sin, to share God’s love with all humanity, and to guide those same human beings into the glory of divine love.”

Our church’s motto is: Reaching Out, Reflecting Christ, Renewing Lives.  Our hope is to live into that motto, realizing that we have not and perhaps will not totally achieve it.  But  God’s grace is a mighty force that moves us through the power of the Holy Spirit to do God’s will and to grow the Kingdom here on earth.

I pray that God’s grace will also be with me as I attempt to attend to the duty of using this blogging space more frequently so that you, dear reader, will be filled with the joy and richness of realizing God’s love through these pages.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” [Romans 15:13]

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Sikhs, Sin, and Lack of Sensitivity

Posted on August 13, 2012 by

“So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.”

Ephesians 4:25—27

I was having lunch with two other clergy colleagues last Wednesday after which we decided to take a walk over to the Sikh temple in town and express our sympathy and support for them following the shootings that had taken place in suburban Milwaukee on the morning of August 5th. 

It was a brief visit.  We were well received and I sensed our gesture was very much appreciated.  The minister gave us each two small books, one which was the first chapter of their Holy book, and the other one which explains their Sikh faith.  We were invited back to their worship services at any time.  He indicated that it would mean a lot to the worshippers to see us there.  We shook hands and left, assuring that we would return soon, most likely not together since we each had different schedules.

Saturday night one of my colleagues received a phone call from the missionary at the temple invitinSikh_Memorial6d33a355-244a-4c60-9513-3dc475a2e1f60000_20120811230741_320_240g us to their candlelight vigil that evening.  So two of us went and following the worship service, were asked to speak along with other representatives from churches and faith-based organizations.  It was a powerfully moving experience for me, especially when the names of the deceased were read and a brief bio of each one was read.  I was especially struck by the ages.  Most of them were in their 40’s – the prime of life.  What had these people done to deserve such a cruel fate?

I admit that I knew next to nothing about the Sikh religion before last week.  I have learned a lot since then. 

Saturday evening, I received a first-hand education on how Sikh’s react to violence.  Other than the Amish, I know of no other religious community that would respond with anything less than rage. Yet here were these people welcoming us into their setting, their house of worship, explaining to us the essentials of their faith.  Instead of ridiculing our ignorance, they were rather apologetic for not having done a better job of educating the American public about just who they are and what they believe.

I sometimes write down words because they sound good.  In my Sunday sermon, I had borrowed the phrase, “anger has its place, but it also has its limits,” and then developed it further.  I obviously had written my comments before my encounter on Saturday night drove that point home ever so forcefully.  The tragedy of August 5th begs us as individuals to explore our own feelings – to struggle with our sense of fear and distrust of anyone different from us and to react in a manner that is welcoming, not disruptive, and certainly not violent.

No one should be the victim of discrimination, racial profiling, bullying, or shooting simply because they wear a turban or otherwise dresses or looks different.  I pray for our society.  That this country, which perceives itself to be the greatest in the world, can someday prove that by extending a hand of friendship to those whom we often vilify for no other reason than ignorance.  Bias, bigotry and hatred have no place in a civilized society, and certainly not among people who profess love of God and love of neighbor.

Posted in Faith, Religion, Sikh, Violence | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

CLASS REUNION

Posted on June 25, 2012 by
Clairton High School

The old facade of Clairton High School

I’m prepping for my high school reunion in late August. It’s a big one – the 50th – perhaps the last one I’ll attend.  I’ve been asked to give the invocation.  I’m a pastor, what else is new?

At our last reunion, in addition to the prayer, I took the liberty of delivering a personal reflection on the years after high school.  I borrowed most of my material from a Japanese author whose name I forget.  It was entitled, “A Room Full of Mirrors.”  I plan once again to take the same liberties.  If anyone has any ideas, I would welcome comments to this post.

Clairton High School Reunion

A few members of our high school basketball team

The small town where I attended high school, Clairton, Pennsylvania, is not where I was born.  We moved there when I was in sixth grade after a fire destroyed our home in another small town in western Pennsylvania.  I had only been on the mainland United States for three years, my family having come from Puerto Rico in search of a better opportunity. 

Although things ultimately turned out fine for my siblings and me as adults, growing up in a strange land was challenging.  It was on the mainland, and specifically in this little town, that we first encountered racial prejudice and were forced to adapt to unfamiliar social customs.  Here, you were either white or black (“colored” was the fashionable term back then), with no consideration for your ethnicity.

Clairton Steel Mill 1

The irony is that most of the city was made up of immigrants – people whose parents came from other countries and other states to work in the booming steel industry that sprouted mills along just about every river deep enough to float a barge full of iron ore from wherever it was mined.  Usually, a city with such a diverse population is a pretty open-minded in its thinking.  But to read some of the things my classmates are posting on their Facebook pages these days makes me wonder what town they grew up in. 

I know those same prejudices existed, but were expressed only in subtle ways back then.  Now, however, technology has given humans the ability to express opinions openly without having to answer to anyone or having to apologize to whom one might offend.  It has given rise to a frightening lack of civility among people who are different or who hold differing viewpoints.

All this has made me rather apprehensive about my role in this reunion.  I had seriously considered not going, but thankfully I was talked out of it by a couple of people I am really looking forward to seeing.  Nevertheless I feel somewhat trapped by how my vocation forces me to look at this matter.  I am called to embody love and compassion for my fellow human beings, my spiritual brothers and sisters as it were.  The sinful human within me however, seethes in despair when thinking that no matter what I say, it will not change the beliefs of anyone.  Those who harbor old prejudices, bigotry and intolerance, will continue to do so.  It makes me wonder how, in my role for one night, I can make a difference. I pray for God’s guidance as I prepare for this encounter with my past.

Posted in Class Reunion, Facebook, High School, Prayer | Tagged , | 1 Comment

April Snows

Posted on April 24, 2012 by

On Sunday our church’s boiler malfunctioned and so we worshipped in frigid temperatures.  I am not nearly so affected by the discomfort of the cold since I am well outfitted by my vestments.  But as I greeted people at the end of the service, it was a shock to the system to shake so many chilly hands.

The forecasters were calling for snow on Monday.  It’s April.  What else is new?  If you live in Northern Ohio, you come to expect the weirdest weather.  A popular slogan around here is that if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes, it will change. 

Cleveland-snowOpening days of baseball season have been snowed out.  I recall one year in the late 1990’s, when I was working for the Cleveland Indians, walking around the ball park with an astonished wide-eyed minor league pitching prospect from Venezuela who had never before seen snow.  The Indians were playing an exhibition game in the less than two year old Jacobs Field amidst persistent flurries that approached near whiteout conditions.  He asked me if what he was seeing was typical.  I had to resist the urge to terrify him with a resounding, “Yes!”  So I simply explained to him that it does happen sometime. 

I remember seeing him the next year in Spring Training at Winter Haven, bathed in a pool of sweat in the humid Florida heat, and reminding him of what he had to look forward to in a few weeks.  Sadly, he never made it to the Major Leagues.

As I grow older I understand why people move to warmer climates later in life.  I was born in Puerto Rico, but have spent the bulk of my life in Pennsylvania and Ohio.  Though I’ve grown to love the change in seasons, I yearn for milder winters that don’t linger into early May.  Where is global warming when you really need it?

With one exception, Scripture always portrays snow in a positive light.  In most cases, is symbolizes purity, the outcome of the forgiveness of sins.  Leprosy is the lone negative.

So where am I going with this seemingly aimless rambling?  I really don’t know.  I simply felt like taking a page out of Mark Twain and talk about the weather.  After all, we can do nothing about it.  If I’ve stolen valuable time out of your day to read this post, I apologize.  But do me one favor – read Isaiah 55, especially verses 10 and 11, part of which appears below. 

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth…
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty…

May God’s word provide you with comforting thoughts for an otherwise gloomy weather day.

Posted in Baseball, Faith, Sports, Weather | Tagged | 2 Comments