Lent Begins Today

 

Lent begins today. Today is a day of ashes, of reflection, of Holy Communion. Ash Wednesday. Lent begins today.

This will be an odd season of Lent for me. I’m only going to be at my church for the first three Sundays of Lent, and then I am off for my Sabbatical. In 30 years I have never missed Easter Sunday at Worship as the pastor of the church. This year I will be visiting my daughter in North Carolina and sitting in a pew celebrating the resurrection of Christ.

I’ve never quite figured Lent out. We give things up, but that never seems to really be impactful. It’s a great idea, especially if it’s something we really ought to give up, but I wonder if it’s really the point of Lent.

A friend of mine wrote on Facebook to not give up butter; if we give up butter we give up the churning. I like that image. It is a season of churning. Things within us are turned upside down and we church with new and interesting things and we churn in new and fascinating ways. I do appreciate the imagery of that.

Funny thing about today, however, is that our church is abuzz with activity. We are having our second night, ever, of Logos, and in the next few minutes a bunch of kids will be here and having fun. We will pray, play, eat, sing, and Worship together. There will be a lot of laughing and joking and fun for everyone. It seems so very unlike Lent----but on the other hand, maybe it really is what Lent is all about. People of faith coming together, being together, growing together, and nurturing one another.

Sermon Audio February 10, 2013

Being Astounded by the Greatness of God

Luke 9:28-43

Rev.Dr. John E. Manzo

February 10, 2013

 

Audio Sermon February 3, 2013

Loving One Another

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

February 3, 2013

Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo

Legal, Ethical, and Wise. Ethical?

I’m troubled.

“These strikes are legal, they are ethical and they are wise. The US government takes great care in deciding to pursue an Al Qaeda terrorist, to ensure precision and to avoid loss of innocent life.” Thus were the words of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney during a briefing in Washington. The response was about using the drone technology in the war on terror.

I am not an attorney or know enough about the law to have some sort of idea if this is legal or not. As for wise, maybe, maybe not. I’m thinking it is logically wiser to kill people remotely without putting American troops in harm’s way, but I’m also thinking that we are not going to be the only nation able to kill others by way of drones. Maybe I am naïve in thinking this, but it seems to me that we are inviting others to participate in this process.

President Obama is on the receiving end of a great deal of rhetoric about being weak in terror and unwilling or unable to be a good Commander in Chief because he is so weak. He was, after all, opposed to invading Iraq. Wise? I don’t know, but that’s not my topic of discussion.

Jay Carney, when you remove the other verbiage is saying that drone strikes are ethical. The United States, he is saying, has an ethical right to track down people we perceive to be dangerous to us. That ethical bearing comes on foreign lands, and people of any race or nationality. It is ethical for us to unilaterally kill people we perceive to be our enemies.

Is it ethical? I have my doubts. To be honest, I’m being mild when I say I have my doubts. I think Carney and the President are flat out wrong. Sadly, this is not the first time we have seen the word ‘ethics’ thrown around flippantly.

I’ve always thought Thomas Aquinas’ Just War Theory is a good foundational document as it does require serious reflection before making war. It went something like this:

Just cause

The reason for going to war needs to be just and cannot therefore be solely for recapturing things taken or punishing people who have done wrong; innocent life must be in imminent danger and intervention must be to protect life.

Comparative justice

While there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to overcome the presumption against the use of force, the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other.

Competent authority

Only duly constituted public authorities may wage war. "A just war must be initiated by a political authority within a political system that allows distinctions of justice.

Right intention

Force may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose—correcting a suffered wrong is considered a right intention, while material gain or maintaining economies is not.

Probability of success

Arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success;

Last resort

Force may be used only after all peaceful and viable alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted or are clearly not practical. It may be clear that the other side is using negotiations as a delaying tactic and will not make meaningful concessions.

Proportionality

The anticipated benefits of waging a war must be proportionate to its expected evils or harms.

In modern terms, just war is waged in terms of self-defense, or in defense of another (with sufficient evidence).

According to the American Constitution the Congress has the right to ‘declare war.’ The last declared war the United States has actually fought in was World War II. It seems to me that we have given virtually every American President the right to wage war as he sees fit, since the last time Congress actually declared a war. Everyone has claimed it to be ethical.

Our most recent wars have been in Afghanistan and Iraq. One can make a coherent and ethical argument for our original endeavor into Afghanistan. I believe the argument gets diluted in time and our continued efforts in that region have, at least in my mind, less than ethical. The war in Iraq, the second war, seems, from any ethical premise, to have been very much unethical. That is not a defense of Hussein, he was horrible. I just do not believe we had a right to unilaterally invade a nation under what proved to be false premises. Additionally, the United Nations inspectors were demonized for finding nothing----and they were proven to be right. They found nothing as there was nothing to find.

And now we have drone attacks.

At face value, there is something good about these. American troops are not in harm’s way. The drones are controlled from places far, far away from the action. This is even safer than high flying aircrafts or missiles fired from ships. Those have to be somewhat in the region----but the drones are controlled from far away.

In seeing how the drones work, I was struck by how much it seemed like a video game. There were pictures on a screen, a comfortable seat, a control stick, and then you shoot. The difference is, however, that in a video game one gets points. In a drone attack people die. The ‘killer’ never sees the faces of the victims, never sees the blood. He or she simply goes home and eats dinner, watches television. Another day at the office is completed.

These attacks are on people deemed to be threats to the United States. What happens if the intelligence is wrong? How are we different from the terrorists? I truly grapple with this.

It may be legal. It may or may not be wise. Decreeing something to be ethical does not make it so.

Ethics seems to have morphed into an election of sorts. Majority rules. If the majority of people say something is ethical, then it is ethical. Or, if a person in power decrees something to be ethical, it is ethical. Or, if a church decrees something to be ethical or unethical, then that church is right and that church’s opinion should be respected over everyone else. And, if one church is bigger than another church that disagrees, the bigger church is right.

This kind of logic consistently gets us in trouble. Ethical behavior is not about majority rule; it’s about finding and living with time honored principles. And, yes, sometimes those time honored principles are inconvenient or disagree with our political perspectives.

But if we want to call ourselves an ethical people, we should live it even when it is amazingly inconvenient.

Reflections on Mea Maxima Culpa---the documentary

 

The other night on HBO I watched the devastating documentary, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God. The story focused on St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, and Rev. Lawrence Murphy who abused a number of boys at the school. The scandal of this and the inaction of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the further lack of action from the Vatican made this into a legendary scandal.

The documentary also delved into the story of Rev. Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ and a personal friend and favorite of Pope John Paul II. Maciel abused a significant number of young people and fathered children. His notoriety was legendary and ignored by the Pope. It was not until after John Paul’s death that Pope Benedictine XVI finally took action against him.

It would be easy to dismiss this documentary has a hack job against the Roman Catholic Church. When the director of the movie, Alex Gibney, appeared on Bill Maher, Maher’s classically snarky comments were very hack oriented. I regret that Gibney appeared on the show----but it was probably more a promotion piece than anything else, as both Maher’s show and the documentary are on HBO. It also gave Maher plenty of ammunition for his anti-religion crusade.

Gibney, however, had a couple of people who were very, very credible on the show. Richard Sipe, a former monk and psychotherapist is probably the leading expert on the subject, and Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Dominican priest, is the foremost Canon Lawyer on the subject. Add Patrick Wall, another former monk and expert on the subject, and you have a formidable group grappling with a dreadful subject.

The story of abuse is an ugly one. At first it was seen as an American problem and the media was being blamed for making it a bigger story than it really was. As it turned out, the media merely scratched the surface of a very deep, very tragic, very ugly chain of events. It then began to be obvious that it was not an American problem and not a media issue. Molestation is worldwide and, while present in all walks of life, it has been more common in the Roman Catholic Church than in any other denomination at this point.

Jesuit priest, later Cardinal, Avery Dulles wrote a landmark book, Models of the Church, and one of the models he listed was “The Church as Institution.” In many ways, that model proved to be the most dangerous of the models. It is often the prevailing model of not only the Roman Catholic Church, but many churches and institutions.

The dilemma is, when things go horribly wrong, to protect the institution first and foremost. Penn State University did this. Joe Paterno did this. They looked first to protect the University and the football program and overlooked the kids Jerry Sandusky molested. It did not end well for anyone. The children were victimized first by Sandusky, but then again by the institution protecting itself.

Sadly, I think this is part of the dilemma within Roman Catholicism. There was (and is) a reaction to first protect the institution from the scandal. The tragedy was there were victims of the priests who were devastated.

Additionally, my heart goes out to many of the priests who molested children. I went to school with a lot of these guys. We drank beer, ate pizza, discussed philosophy and theology and ministry. We all went on and lived our lives and in later years I read of absolutely horrible stories of my friends and classmates molesting children. What they did was monstrous. They were, not, however, in the days of our youth, monsters. They were ill, they were disturbed, and often their cries went unheard and their illness went undiagnosed and untreated. They were repeatedly placed back in positions of power to victimize others.

The real tragedy took place in the hierarchy. They sought first to protect the institution and did not take care of the victims, the victimizers, and were often the obstacles for justice and healing. And it was ugly and, frankly, downright evil. Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston was one of the worst defenders of the institution and chances were good that he was going to be arrested for obstruction of justice. He should have been. Instead, Law was REWARDED and brought to Rome by John Paul II where Law also was given diplomatic immunity. Maciel victimized so many people and John Paul ignored all the evidence and did nothing to stop it.

Some Bishops did well. Some stepped in and addressed problems and were as open and transparent as they were allowed to be. Rome, however, consistently blocked any hopes of healing. The institution had to be protected at all costs.

To his credit, Benedict XVI addressed the Maciel issue and seminaries are now beginning to deal with this in the education of priests. Accusations are taken seriously now, with priests being removed upon the accusation. It is actually probably unfair now, as priests are left in incredibly vulnerable spots. The Bishops, however, for their part, have excluded themselves from accusations and protect the institution at all cost. Benedict has dealt with his predecessor’s cold indifference to molestation by fast-tracking John Paul’s canonization. The horror of this is, in my opinion, unfathomable.

I do find great hope in the words of Rev. Thomas Doyle. He has been the Canon Lawyer for many, many victims and prosecuted dioceses. He has often been a witness against the institution. Yet, he states that he is never against the church, but always for it. In searching for truth and healing, he sees himself as doing the ministry of Jesus Christ.

I keep reminding myself that the church of Jesus Christ was never meant to be an institution, but a living, breathing movement of God’s people gathered in faith. The Head of the church is always Jesus Christ, always Jesus Christ, always Jesus Christ. When we fail to serve Jesus, when we seek to feed the institution first and foremost, we forget to do the ministry of Christ.

Censorship at the Super Bowl

 

There is a company named Sodastream and they make a device called Sodastream Jet Starter Kit that sells for under $100.00. It enables a home user to make soda or sparkling water. Add water and it will put the CO2 into the mix and allow a person to make their own carbonated beverage. The benefits are, of course, that it is cheaper than purchasing soft drinks and it enables people to choose their own flavors. It is also green. Coca Cola and Pepsi account for an incredible amount of the garbage we see in our landfills. It’s a neat idea.

http://www.sodastream.com/

Sodastream decided to make a national sales’ pitch and sought to purchase airtime for the Super Bowl. CBS turned them down and refused to allow them to purchase airtime for a commercial. Ultimately their reasoning was simple. Coca Cola and Pepsi purchase a great deal of airtime from them and they don’t want to offend these two companies.

For a nation that promotes ‘freedom of speech’ and decries ‘censorship’ we sure do tolerate a great deal of censorship or we practice selective censorship.

I am amazed, for example at the lack of censorship during election cycles. There has become an increasing amount of fact checkers and many election ads do poorly in the fact checking department. Very poorly, in fact. Many of the ads do not ‘ring false’ but are blatantly bogus. Yet, they are run in the name of free speech. We cannot deny these ads to run because we believe in freedom of speech, even if it’s a flat out lie.

The reality isn’t that they believe in freedom of speech, they believe in freedom of commerce. If they are paid enough money and it benefits them financially, they will run anything. We have all purchased products that were heavily advertised and those products proved to be awful, and the ads were actually pretty deceiving. They might not have been the outright bogus facts used in political ads, but they were close. Lots of amazingly delicious food we have heard about on television wasn’t nearly as delicious at home when we ate it. Many of those soups that were ‘chock full’ of delicious things weren’t nearly as chock full as we thought. Networks did not turn the ads down because there was a lot of money to be made.

I am not particularly interested in purchasing a Sodastream Jet Starter Kit. I go through stops and starts with soda; sometimes I buy it and drink it, other times, not so much. Frankly, and probably sadly, if I want it I don’t want to go through the effort of making it myself. Sodastream is probably not marketing to me, however. They are marketing to people who would be actually very interested in this. Sodastream can be fun and it is very green and will not pollute the earth with the garbage others do. They do, however, have a right to promote their product.

During the Super Bowl Mercedes Benz has an ad of a young model washing a car. She is dressed in short shorts and the ad is being promoted as too sexy for the Super Bowl. Go-Daddy will have multiple tasteless ads. They are spending lots of money and CBS is hungrily willing to take as much dollars as they can. But Sodastream in an ad that actually makes fun of Coke and Pepsi and is totally harmless is banned.

In 2006 the major networks censored someone else. They censored the United Church of Christ. Our denomination ran an ad campaign with the tagline, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.” There was a bouncer outside a church and he was telling people they were welcome, or not. A gay couple was denied admission to the church. There was tumult and outrage. The United Church of Christ was being offensive and this blatantly open welcoming of gay people was so disruptive in society that the commercial was deemed too offensive to show most people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx1u1v7hAtY

Some claimed the ad was untrue as no church would deny people admission. They may not have bouncers at the front doors, but I know enough people who have felt unwelcome in churches that they know they do not belong. It is made clear.

And there were those offensive words, repeated every Sunday at my church and, I suspect, many other United Church of Christ congregations, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

The ad was censored.

When you are watching the Super Bowl and enjoying the commercials, be aware that censorship is alive and well. You are fine unless you have the audacity to provide alternatives to soft drink giants or promote churches that take welcoming serious.

Friday Randomness

Today it is cold.  I stopped to get gas for my car and the gas pumps were very slow and it took forever.  I finally sat in the car and waited for the car to fill up with gas.  I’m hardly ever cold and today it was cold.  I figured I need to share this incredible insight with everyone.

The other day I saw a billboard about a controversial topic and the topic, at least to me, takes a backseat to the billboard which proclaimed that there is ‘no gray.’  Answers are black and white.  I wish this was true.  The older I get and the more life I have experienced, one thing I have learned is that there are considerably few black and white answers to questions.  The world we live in is very, very gray.  I wish this was not the case, but it really is.  I suspect this was why Jesus was so adamant about not judging others.  We really don’t know what we are talking about.  Most of us learn this from better experience that we don’t know what we are talking about. 

I watched some of Chuck Hagel’s testimony before the Senate.  He was remarkably unimpressive.  I suspect he’s competent and was simply unwilling to take a lot of the questions head on, but it was not really an impressive performance.  The really sad thing was that a lot  of the questions were softballs from supporters and pitbullish by those who do not like him.  Senator John McCain’s insistence on a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer is not really relevant in a hearing.  That  is a legal tactic (which is a lousy tactic) in a court of law, but in a Senate hearing?   No one distinguished himself or herself.

Mayor Ed Koch died.  He was an amazing man.  A truly amazing man.  Koch was a truth teller in a profession of people who posture for a living.  He was one of New York City’s greatest majors and his legacy will live on forever.

The Virtue of Silence

 

If you know me you know that I am extraverted and have no lack of ability to talk. I may even talk your ear off. I’ve been accused on more than one occasion of talking too much. What you may not know about me, however, is that I love silence. People who know me very well, know this about me. I love silence.

When I drive I usually drive in silence. I do not listen to the radio. Ever. I will occasionally listen to music from a CD or talk while driving but I enjoy driving in silence.

Every year I tend to visit a monastery for a private retreat and spend most of my time in silence. Aside from some occasional small conversations or ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ I tend to spend the time in silence. Most often while working in my office I tend to keep it pretty silent. I will occasionally play music, but I do not do this very often.

While I am on my Sabbatical I am going to spend a great deal of the time in silence. I am visiting three Benedictine monasteries and will be silent most of the time I am at these places. One of the locales, Christ in the Desert in New Mexico, is located in a canyon where no one else lives. It is 13 miles away from the highway and very secluded. The monks claim it is so quiet there they can hear the birds fly. I am looking forward to being there.

We live in an incredibly noisy world. If you sit at home one day and turn the radio off and the television off you’ll find there is still a lot of noise. Dogs are barking in the neighborhood. Appliances make noise. Dogs are barking in the neighborhood. The heating or air conditioning makes noise. There is neighborhood noise. Dogs are barking in the neighborhood. There are cars driving by. Dogs are barking in the neighborhood. You may have guessed, we have some incredibly not courteous neighbors around us who leave their dogs out to bark incessantly.

We live in a world where information literally blasts away at us. We watch television and we are bombarded with images. We watch insipid ‘comedies’ where we never laugh. In reviewing the bulk of my television watching, virtually every show I see begins with a killing or some dreadful crime. Watching the news is often painful. It is most typically ‘opinion’ with some current events thrown in.

I will not listen to the radio. There are exceptions of course, but most of what I hear on the radio is a blasting away of opinions which may or may not be based on any particular factual foundation. There is music I’m not interested in listening to, and religious programming which often offends me more than it edifies me. I have eliminated the radio from my life. I know there is some good material on the radio but I will not even bother.

We receive information overloads constantly and we rarely have the opportunity to be still and be quiet and allow anything to penetrate our hearts, our minds, and our souls.

Often when I pray I like to be in a quiet place, pray Psalms so I’m not using my own words, and just sit still and be. Psalm 46 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Often we cannot ‘hear’ God unless we stop, sit still, and be silent. Silence is an amazing virtue and one I am enjoying exploring.

Audio Sermon January 27, 2013

 

The Spirit of the Lord is in Our Midst

Text:  Luke 4:14-21

Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo

Jesus and Guns

 

I have virtually nothing to say on the gun debate. Personally, I have no interest in guns and while I understand the Second Amendment, I have little understanding as to why people are so incredibly interested in guns. Having said that, however, as I have little understanding of this mindset, I’m not going to pass any judgment on it. People have a right to determine what is best for them and I’m going to absent myself from this debate, right or wrong in doing so.

There is one exception to this and it is in reference to Jesus and God. Often Jesus and guns or more generically, God and guns get lumped together. It seems to infer that godly people like guns and people who don’t like guns are ungodly. Or, it infers that God is a big fan of guns. We’ve seen signs abound which indicate that Jesus would carry a gun if he was in our midst right now.

All of this I find offensive.

Would Jesus have carried a gun? The definitely answer is we do not know. No one really knows who invented the first gun but we do know that the Chinese invented gun powder in the 9^th Century after Christ. When Jesus walked the earth and when the Bible was written and compiled, there were no guns. If you read about guns in your Bible at home, purchase a new Bible as the one you are reading is inaccurate.

There is no mention of Jesus ever carrying a sword or any other weapon. We know that Peter carried a sword and used it on one occasion to cut off a servant’s ear when Jesus was arrested. Jesus strongly condemned Peter for the action, however.

Biblically there appears to be strong evidence in the Gospels that Jesus was, himself, a pacifist. He spoke of peace and love and his civil disobedience was distinctly non-violent. In the very early church there was a practice of pacifism, but after the time of Constantine Christians joined the Roman Army and only some branches of Christianity practice pacifism today.

Having said this, Christians have benefited from wars, sometimes in increasing the faith (which does not seem to be something Jesus would have approved of) or in protecting people of faith. In the United States we cherish a freedom of religion that is precious. No person of faith, however, can claim that this freedom did not come without the shedding of blood. It is part of our history.

All of this comes to one thought. If you want to own weapons that is your legal right. But don’t lump your weapons with Jesus. He never advocated for guns and there is nothing in the bible to indicate he did. When we do this, we are in the process of becoming offensive. Frankly, saying Jesus is opposed to guns can also become offensive. I can make a strong argument that Jesus was a pacifist and that his main teaching was pacifism. I cannot make an argument that Jesus would have never carried a gun, however for the same reason we cannot make an argument that he would. They didn’t exist.

Think of all the things we can ponder about Jesus if we allow ourselves to do so?

What newspaper would Jesus subscribe to?

Would Jesus watch Fox, CNN, or MSNBC?

Would Jesus wear Speedos?

What kind of car would Jesus drive?

Would Jesus wear a tie that said Jesus on it and it was decorated with dozens of little crosses?

Who would Jesus have voted for in the last election?

Who is Jesus rooting for in the Super Bowl?

Would Jesus like fries with that?

Take note of all these questions. They are all absurd to ask in reference to Jesus but people can actually insert whatever answer they want. They do already.

Thus it is with guns. I do not believe that Jesus would ever have killed anyone. He demonstrated a willingness to die for others and expressed no willingness to kill for others. That is what I believe. My only request is this. Don’t put something in Jesus’ hands that would never have been in his hands in the first place. It is unseemly and frankly, offensive. If you want to own a gun, it is your right. Please do not credit your desire for a gun to Jesus. When we do so, we are putting words or objects in Jesus’ mouthj or hands that were never there.

Audio Sermon January 20, 2013

 

A God of Abundance

Text: John 2:1-11
January 20, 2013

Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo

 

 

Journey Beginnings

If you are reading this on a Facebook link that happens to be as my Facebook and blog are linked.  I think.   In any case, if you are reading this on Facebook I have not broken my ‘Facebook fast,’ I’m merely blogging.

I am at a point of journey beginnings.  I am beginning my Sabbatical in March and it will be 12 weeks plus two weeks vacation.  During the Sabbatical a significant portion of the time will be pondering, reading about, experiencing, and living hospitality and spirituality.  I am not doing this in the abstract, either.  I’m actually going to be immersing myself in Benedictine traditions.  Benedictine monks are some of the most famous or common monks in existence.  They live and work in monasteries and in some affiliated ministries associated with their monasteries.

Different Roman Catholic religious orders are noted for different things.  Jesuits and Dominicans are often scholars. Franciscans are amazing at pastoral caring and preaching the good in Good News.  Benedictines are very much noted for spirituality and Worship.  They Worship multiple times every time with the Liturgy of the Hours.  It is not so much about theological teachings or positions, or anything like that.  They have developed amazing chants and experiencing these Worship moments is very moving.

They also practice hospitality.  Benedictine monasteries (and Trappist monasteries which also follow the rule of St. Benedict) all generally have guest houses and guest rooms for people to stay in.  You are housed and fed and it’s usually very comfortable.  It is not staying at the Ritz, but it’s very comfortable and one is well taken care of.

One thing I appreciate about their charism of hospitality is they leave you alone.  One is invited to participate in everything, but required nothing.  No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome into their monasteries.  Amazing people.

I feel I have much to learn from them.  I have been working on praying the Liturgy of the Hours myself every day and re-immersing myself in praying Psalms.

For now I will remain on Facebook from Sunday – Thursday, but take Fridays and Saturdays off.  I will be completely off when I am on Sabbatical.  To be honest, I love Facebook and with withdrawal has been difficult.  I found myself clicking the app on my phone and the link on my computer a lot yesterday.  Thankfully, I had logged out so I couldn’t get back in without logging in.  I’m realizing first steps on a journey are always the most difficult steps to take.  But they generally lead to better things.

Wondering About Rodney King’s Words

Rodney King will be remembered for two things.  First was getting the tar beat out of him, on video, by Los Angeles Police officers.  The second was his immortal question, “Can’t we all just get along?”

Rodney’s words are words we probably have all used at some point.  They became famous as King’s words because he had become famous by being on the receiving end of a savage beating caught on camera.  The subsequent trials, riots, etc., made him a household name.  He ended up having a short, troubled life and was famous simply for being famous.  But his words live on.  He asked a critical question.

I’ve been wondering about that of late.  Seriously.

Every day I read the news or watch the news and there is a new fight.  Congress is fighting with the President and among themselves.  The President is fighting with this person or that person.  Conflicts, personal and professional, run rampant.  The betterment of the country seems to be on the back burner.  Can’t we all just get along?

In states it is much the same.  Governors right with legislatures and the legislatures fight among themselves. Can’t we all just get along?

I am struck on Facebook on how many mean posts there are.  And yes, I find myself cringing at my mean and sarcastic posts as well.  Can’t we all just get along?

That’s all.  Can’t we all just get along?

Audio Sermon 1/6/13

The Search for the Messiah

Text:  Matthew 2:1-12

Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo

Audio Sermon 12/30/12

Faciem Dei

Luke 2:22-39

Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo

How I Feel

In one of the many “Star Trek” movies, Spock’s mother, who was human, asked Spock how he felt. Spock did not understand the question. Spock after all was the quintessential thinker, he didn’t really understand feelings a great deal.

In the realm of personality type there are people who make decisions based upon personal values and tend to be more subjective than objective. These people are classified as “Feelers.” There are other people who decide based strictly on facts as they see them. They tend to be more objective than subjective and are classified as “Thinkers.”

I don’t always like the terminologies as Thinkers also feel, and Feelers also think. Additionally, people are not generally inclined to be totally one way or another. Spock, by the end of the movie, understood his mother’s question.

A great deal of the responses to the dreadful massacre of innocents in Newtown, Connecticut have been responses of ‘thinking.’ The questions of ‘why’ and ‘how’ and even ‘where was God” in all this are very common, rational questions that people are asking. There has been some of the finest theological reflection on this I have ever seen. There has also been some incredible bad theological reflection as well. It has all, however, been very theologically based, intellectual (sort of) responses.

But how do we feel?

In terms of this, please let me make a disclaimer. I tend to be a Thinking type person so in order to process how I feel, I have to do so logically. But despite the logical pattern of this, please note that I’m feeling these two things very deeply. (For people who know me well, that I feel TWO things is a stretch. I ordinarily would need to feel three things, so these are real feelings.

First, I feel rage. I am angry beyond angry at this. I am angry at the fact that a troubled young man had the ability to bring an assault rifle to school; I am angry that he murdered so many people; I am angry at so many of the responses. My anger is not really rational on this----I’m just raging over this.

Secondly, and most significantly, I feel profound sadness. I’m deeply impacted by Vicky Soto, a 5^th year teacher, 27 years old. My daughter is a 5^th year teacher and is 27 years old. My heart breaks for her family. My heart breaks for her loss.

There were also 20 children ages 6 and 7. I cannot get over some things. Many/most of these children still believed in Santa Claus. They were excited about Christmas coming. Their parents most probably had gifts purchased and hidden, excited for Santa to come and excited about seeing their children’s eyes light up on Christmas morning. The joy of purchasing those gifts and the excitement they had for giving those gifts to their children is shattered.

A little boy, hiding in the restroom with a very brave teacher offered to go out and subdue the gunman as this little boy claimed he knew karate. He was so incredibly innocent.

The mother of Teresa Rousseau, substitute teacher at the school who was killed said of her daughter, “I never thought in my wildest dreams that this would happen to my daughter, She was my little twinkling star, from the day she was born.”

I am a parent. I remember the days when my children were little; and I love them just as much now. My heart breaks for so many of these people.

This is how I feel about this.

The Blame Game and the Lesson from Job

Whenever something horrible happens, people begin to ask the questions: Why did this happen? Where was God in this? Whose fault is it?

Whose fault is it? This becomes a dangerous question.

Thus far the fault has been spread around far and wide.

It is the fault of not allowing God in the schools. If only we had prayer in schools, events like this would not be taking place.

It’s the fault of gay marriage. God is punishing society because we are allowing gay people to marry one another.

It is the fault of video games. Video games are so widespread and people become expert killers on the games that they want to do this in real life.

It’s the NRA’s fault. If it wasn’t for all the guns available these kinds of things might not happen.

It is the lack of mental health opportunities for people who are disturbed to get help.

What, people ask, is the problem with school security?

Everyone wants to pick and choose answers. They often fall along political ideologies that people have as well. Personally, I want to blame the guns. I have no interest in guns and I have no comprehension about why people love their guns. I am not going there, however. I’m not going to enter into this arbitrary blame game.

The young man who did this while disturbed, was rational enough to plan what he did. This was not a spontaneous event. He planned it well, he wore body armor and he had enough ammunition to murder the entire student body and put up a gun fight against law enforcement. Mercifully he took his own life before any more people died. The devastation was already too expansive to be anything less than a massacre.

The school’s security was a model for good security, the guns were legal, the young man had received treatment, God was present in the school, there were no gay marriage ceremonies going on in the school while this was taking place, etc. The fault in this scenario is obvious and clear cut. The fault lies at the feet of the gunman. He committed great evil.

This does not mean and I am not indicating there are not issues within society. I am avoiding the politics of this entirely. I’m more concerned that, instead of looking to blame someone or something beyond the obvious person of blame, that we reflect on evil in society.

There is evil in society and no matter how hard we attempt to explain it theologically, it remains an elusive mystery. We want to know, we long to know, why evil takes place. In a book from the Hebrew Scriptures, a man named Job had dreadful things befall him.

There were actually two authors of Job, or, at very least, two very diverse narratives. The beginning and the end of the book speak essentially of God and Satan making something of a bet. Satan says that he, Satan, could turn a person against God if enough evil had befallen on that person. God says, “No, there is this one guy, a guy named Job who is so good, that he could not be turned.” Satan then decides to see if he could turn Job away from God.

All sorts of evil befalls Job and Job remains faithful to God. “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” And this is when most people stop reading. The problem is there are many, many pages from this point until the end of the book where Job begins to question why this happened to him. Why does God allow evil to befall a good and noble person?

Three friends come and tell Job that God doesn’t allow things to happen to people unless they deserve it. The reality, they not so gently tell him, must lay with Job himself. Job must not be, they argue, nearly as good and righteous as he thinks he is.

Job argues back that he truly has done nothing to deserve what has befallen him. The friends argue vociferously, seemingly on God’s behalf, that he, Job, must have done something wrong. He Job, had to be a sinner, an unrighteous man. They are unsuccessful in changing Job’s mind. A fourth friend comes along, and joins the conversation. But Job insists, he is good and righteous.

Finally God responds:

Job 38:1-7

¹ Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: ² "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? ³ Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. ⁴ "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. ⁵ Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? ⁶ On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone ⁷ when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?

God literally pounds question after question away at Job until finally Job responds to God:

Job 42:1-6

¹ Then Job answered the LORD: ² "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ³ 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ⁴ 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.' ⁵ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; ⁶ therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

God’s response is overwhelming to Job. You are not God, you cannot know. There are mysteries beyond human understanding that are beyond what human beings can experience.

God reminds Job of one simple HUGE thing. God is transcendent, beyond human comprehension. Our desire to put God in a box of place God into ‘bite size pieces’ we can understand ultimately leads us to a false sense of understanding that which is incomprehensible. And to those who blamed Job:

Job 42:7-9
⁷ After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. ⁸ Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done." ⁹ So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.

God understood Job’s questioning and Job’s frustration, but God was angry at the fools who dared speak for God.

Lest I be misunderstood, our society has issues on a whole host of levels. Let’s be careful, however, to not be so quick to cast blame on other than he who committed the heinous act, less we forget that, like the friends of Job, we not speak for God.

Finding the Hope and Joy in a Tragedy

Finding the Hope and Joy in a Tragedy
Text: Luke 1:46-55
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
December 16, 2012

    The other day Susan Adams, our Liturgist,  e-mailed me and asked which translation she wanted me to use to read the Scripture passage for today.    It is the well known passage called The Magnificat or The Canticle of Mary, her response to the angel of the Lord telling her that she was to be the mother of the Messiah.  The options were the New Revised Standard Version—the translation we most often use, or the King James Version so she could read from her mother’s Bible.  That sounded like a good plan.  Today it sounds like an even better plan.  Hearing ancient words in a very old translation feels right to me.
    Last week I had writer’s block for my sermon.  I had a lot of pieces I had been assembling for the sermon, but hadn’t been able to pull it together.  Actually, there are times when it seems that God is telling me a message and the message this past week was that I couldn’t pull it together for a reason.  There were other, more pressing things to say.  On Friday, the other, more pressing things, became apparent.
    In the Book of Exodus there is a story of a Pharaoh who orders children massacred.  This kind of slaughter of innocent children is heart breaking and heart wrenching.  How could someone do such a thing?  Unbeknownst to the Pharaoh, one baby escapes harm----and God would use that one child to shatter the next Pharaoh’s universe.

    In the Gospel of Matthew there is a new evil King, Herod.  Herod is threatened when he hears the birth of a child has taken place who is going to be the new King of Israel.  Herod is in a jealous rage and sets off soldiers to slaughter innocent children.  The story is again one of horror and despair.  And, like the evil Pharaoh, he misses the one child who will change the world. 
    On Friday the story was repeated.  This time it was not by an evil king, but by a young man who slaughtered innocents and repeated the horror again.     
    The one common denominator in all these kinds of killings there is a desire to smash and destroy hope.  Last Sunday we lit the candle of hope; and today we light the candle of joy, and there are questions: Where is the hope?  Where is the joy?
    Often the hope and even the joy are unseen this close to the event.  The slaughters of the past did not bring hope until decades later.  We don’t know where this one will bring.  It’s too early.  But we have faith, we have hope.  God is a God beyond our comprehension.
    There are things, I suspect that are festering.
    The first big question is why?
    Anyone who can tell you ‘why’ this took place is probably not telling you accurate things. The police may determine what kind of delusional motive the young man may have had.  But the answer ‘why’ remains a mystery.
    In the Book of Job, Job keeps asking God the question, why?  All sorts of terrible things had befallen Job and Job, a good and faithful servant of God, kept asking the question why?  Why me?
    Job’s friends kept telling Job that perhaps Job wasn’t nearly as good as Job thought he was.  Job must have done something wrong.  There HAD to be a rational answer to this question and the rational answer was that Job had sinned.
    I’ve heard several people come to this conclusion about the shootings in Newtown.  Some of them are political some of them are really bad theology, and at their core, they all have one common element.  Like Job’s friends, they point to some sort of sin that God is avenging.
    But God held Job’s friends with contempt.  He banished them as light weighted fools from Job and Job’s sight.
    God’s answer to Job was elaborate and simple----unless you are God who understands all things, you cannot even ask the question why?

    Job was brought to his knees by God’s answer.  It was a lot longer than I have made it out to be.  The reality is, however, the same.  The answer ‘why’ is beyond our comprehension.
    But there are things I believe that are not true.
    This was NOT God’s will.
    God does not will evil.  People often choose to do that which is evil, but God doesn’t will evil.
    We live in an imperfect world filled with imperfect people who do imperfect things.  We can all look within ourselves and at our own lives and know this to be true.  But in this imperfect world there exists evil.  God has given us the ability to make our own choices right and wrong; magnificent and tragic.  Sometimes those choices lead to horror as they are so awful.
    We celebrate the free will we have and often delight in it.  But free will has consequences.  Sometimes those consequences are difficult to bear.  But those consequences are not God’s will.
    We have to be careful about using “God’s will” as an answer to evil as it is, ultimately a cop out.  It means that absolutely everything is God’s will.
    So when we lie, we can say, it’s God’s will.
    When we are cruel to another person, we can say, it’s God’s will.
    When we steal, we can simply say, it’s God’s will.
    So much of life takes place outside God’s will.  In my heart and mind the first heart to break when the hearts of babies stopped beating because of a man gunman was God’s heart.  This level of evil is not the will of God; this kind of evil breaks God’s heart.
    Secondly, to say that this happened because God was not allowed in the school is offensive.  I have seen Facebook posts with shirts and banners that say:
    Dear God,
    Why do you allow so much violence in our schools?
    Signed, A concerned citizen

    The response:
    I’m not allowed in schools.
    Signed, God.

    Let me be incredibly blunt.  I find this to be offensive.  I find this to be very offensive.  I can’t even put into words how offended I am by this.
    First, it is not true.  There are, of course, legal limitations to the practice of religion in school.  There are no limitations, however, to people quietly reading their Bible, talking about God to one another, and praying.  People do it all the time and it’s not a big deal.
    But the bigger reason is this.  Someone said recently that God was not in the school because God is a gentleman and gentlemen don’t go where they are not wanted.  I’m trying to figure out which God they are referring to.  Here is what I know.  This is not the same God we Worship at St. Marks.
    We Worship a God who existed before time existed and who will exist long after the universe we are in is gone.  This is a God who is powerful beyond power and loving beyond loving.  
    And if the Bible teaches us anything about God it is that God does what God does.  God does not ask permission or seek approval.   If people believe that God is limited by human understanding and human laws and human wants and desires, we have grievously failed to reveal God to the world.

    God WAS present in the school.  As people died at the hands of violence, God was there, in the midst of the horror and the terror comforting and embracing, and taking the spirits of those children with him. 
    God was also present in others.   Diane Sawyer interviewed a teacher, Kaitlin Roig, a First Grade teacher.  She crunched her entire class into a tiny restroom in her classroom to protect them and gently talked to them telling them how much she loved them.  If people cannot believe that God was present with her, then their God is not the same as my God.  Vicki Soto hid her class and took a bullet to protect the children.  The principal of the school ran down the hallway knowing she would be killed in order to alert others of the nation.  God was very present in that building.
    Okay, it as not God’s will and God was present.  But there is more.
    In this Canticle of Mary, this song, it is a song of hope and joy.  It has been revealed to her that the Messiah is coming and even beyond that, is present in her belly.
    And she is filled with hope and joy.
    Interesting thing, though.  Mary would have been around the age of a middle school girl of our era, probably 13 or 14 years old.  Maybe and 8th grader or a 9th grader.  She was engaged to a many her father had chosen for her.  She had no way of knowing if Joseph was going to be a good man or an evil man or if they would even ever love one another.
    She was now pregnant and not married.  She had no rights.  She belonged to a religion that gave her no rights.  She lived under a paranoid and evil king who would one day slaughter babies.  She also lived under an Empire based in Rome that saw her as little more than a bug on their dinner.
    Her life would be difficult.  The Messiah’s coming into the world was not going to make her life better in any way.  In reality, it was going to cause her hardship and pain.
    But she stops and shares a song of hope and joy.  In the context of things it almost sounds absurd----but it demonstrates an amazing faith in God.  Those first words, so remarkably elegant in Old English:
     My For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
    She is a girl of ‘low estate,’ yet all generations will called her blessed.  The hope and joy she has is not for herself, but for all those who follow.  In short, there may not be much hope and joy now, but it will come.
    This song is the consummate song of Advent.  It is a season of expectation.  It is a season of long dark nights and short days.  It is a season that is sometimes painful and difficult.  And this year, for many, more painful and more difficult than ever.  Hope and joy seem far away.
    But out of a slaughter, 3200 years ago, came a person who would lead people to freedom.
    Out of a slaughter 2000 years ago came the Messiah.
    Out of the slaughter of 2012, no one knows.  But God is present and when God is present, there is always hope and love beyond our understanding.

Jelly Doughnuts, Christmas Trees, and the Birth of Jesus

Every year with the inevitability of an unloved season this time of the year comes around and Fox News begins to tell us about the ‘war on Christmas.’ Every year I receive e-mail and read Facebook quotes that President Obama refuses to call the White House Christmas Tree a Christmas Tree and every year President Obama calls the Christmas Tree a Christmas Tree and every year Christmas goes off without a hitch.

One of my favorite theologians is Dr. Diana Butler Bass. She recently wrote an article, published on The Huffington Post that takes on Fox News. She bases it as a piece about the “War on Advent,” and speaks in terms of the tradition and customs of liturgical branches of Christianity and the Season of Advent. Christmas, she points out, is the season from Christmas to Epiphany. Her article is on the Huffington Post website. Here is what Dr. Butler Bass wrote, however:

************************************************

Fox News War on Advent

Dr. Diana Butler Bass

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Joyful Whatever!

With FOX News seeking to expose those who refuse to say "Merry Christmas" as secular collaborators to the War on Christmas, I confess that I am confused. FOX holds itself up as the network that stands by traditional values defending America and faith from heresies and infidelities of all sorts.

Did FOX get the wrong memo? According to ancient Christian tradition, "Christmas" is not the December shopping season in advance of Christmas Day; rather, it is Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the Twelve Days following that run until early January. During most of December, Christians observe Advent, a four-week season of reflection, preparation and waiting that precedes the yearly celebration of Jesus' birth. In many mainstream and liturgical (and even liberal and progressive) churches, no Christmas hymn will pass the lips of a serious churchgoer for another two weeks. If you wander into a local Lutheran, Episcopal or Roman Catholic parish, the congregation will still be chanting the ethereal tones of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" or "Watchman, Tell Us of the Night." There are no poinsettias, no Christmas pageants, no trees or holly, and no red and green altar linens. A few days ago, they might have preached about St. Nicholas -- but not Santa Claus. There are no twinkling lights or over-the-top Christmas displays. Just four candles in a simple wreath, two partially burned, two yet to be lit. The mood is somber as December moves toward deeper darkness, and the night lengthens. The world waits, and it is time to prepare for the arrival of God's kingdom. It is not Christmas. It is Advent.

During these weeks, churches are not merry. There is a muted sense of hope and expectation. Christians recollect God's ancient promise to Israel for a kingdom where lion and lamb will lie down together. The ministers preach from stark biblical texts about the poor and oppressed being lifted up while the rich and powerful are cast down, about society being leveled and oppression ceasing. Christians remember the Hebrew prophets and long for a Jewish Messiah to be born. The Sunday readings extol social and economic justice, and sermons are preached about the cruelty of ancient Rome and political repression. Hymns anticipate world peace and universal harmony. Churchgoers listen to the testimony of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who speaks of God:

He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.

Does FOX News want us all to say "Merry Christmas" so we forget about Advent? These, after all, are the four weeks that the Christian tradition dedicates to God's vision of justice for the outcast and oppressed, not to celebrating the sound of ringing cash registers or Victorian America values.

Ancient Christian saints, theologians and evangelists would be horrified that those who claim to stand for tradition have forgotten the most important aspect of it. Jesus Christ was not born that human beings would spend December shopping or saying, "Merry Christmas." Jesus was born to confront the rulers of this world with the love and justice of the God of Abraham -- that Jesus, the same Jesus who preached the the poor and marginalized were blessed, is the King of kings and Lord of lords. All earthly powers pale before him, the humble born one who will die a political traitor to Rome.

Perhaps FOX thinks it might be best if Christians did not spend too much time contemplating a Savior who promised to overthrow the powers-that-be in favor of a kingdom where the poor are blessed and the last shall be first. That's probably bad for business and does not exactly fit with their favored political philosophy.

And maybe, just maybe, the real war of this season is the War on Advent.

************************************************

This year many people within Christianity are pushing back about this war on Christmas nonsense as within this ‘war’ there is a context of pushing faith off to the side in some very profound ways. It has even impacted people of faith.

My Mom died seven years ago on December 19^th. We packed up and flew to New Jersey for her funeral. My Mom was Roman Catholic and so the Funeral was going to be at a local parish. Truth be told, my Mom may or may not have ever set foot in that church and if she did, it was very infrequently and had been a long time. Perhaps the last time before that was for my Dad’s funeral in 1997. In any case, my Mom was not a church goer and the priest who officiated at the funeral did not know her. Most clergy who can walk and chew gum at the same time have learned the art of doing pretty generic funerals with a scant amount of knowledge about the person. In a Roman Catholic Church this is not uncommon and, in essence, less vital as the Homily is not as significant in a Mass as a Sermon is within a Protestant Service which rests almost entirely on the officiant’s words.

We were off to a bad start before the Mass began as he didn’t know the gender of the deceased and asked my sister if she was the wife. It was a grievous gaffe, but, oh well. The Homily, however, was a joke. Instead of weaving the context of new life, resurrection, love, and the season, he spent the majority of his time speaking about the war on Christmas. Had it not been for family and loved ones who had come, I’d have stood up and told the guy he had audacity to pull such nonsense at Mom’s funeral and refer to him as a moron of some sort. I behaved and fumed. I behaved out of respect for the people in the pews, not for him. I have no inherent need to render such respect on incompetent clergy but I do have a great respect for the love and care of the others. But, the war on Christmas? At a funeral? Seriously?

This ‘war on Christmas’ is hailed as a war because some people and some places say such dreadful things as “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Perhaps more grievous offenses take place like not having crèche scenes up.

In our nation ravished by this ‘war on Christmas’ I’ve noticed some things. In stores, Halloween decorations come down and are replaced by Christmas décor. November usually comes in and we are seeing Santa Claus, Rudolph, and snowman displays. Thanksgiving has been pre-empted by Black Friday---which had crept into Thursday, and the following Monday is now called Cyber Monday. Christmas trees are up. Colored lights are up and everyone is geared for the holiday that has a war attached to its name.

Funny thing about Christmas. As Dr. Butler Bass points out, the Christian Church doesn’t really acknowledge Christmas until Christmas Eve. We have a season called Advent. In our tradition we have decorations for Christmas, but the poinsettias wait. We have Advent hymns and some Christmas carols mixed in. But Christmas is Christmas. In years past Christmas was not always celebrated the way we do now.

The Puritans and early Congregationalists did not really celebrate Christmas. They acknowledge the birth of Jesus but did not go over the top and make it a big holiday. Their fear was that it had become far too secular a day. In Germany, at that time, it was both a secular and religious holiday and Christmas trees, etc., were the new norm. These new traditions had crept into English Christmas celebrations and the Puritans wanted no part of it. This no nonsense view of Christmas was very present in the Colonial Army and George Washington, whose army had a

lot of very sober Puritans in it, used this sobriety to his advantage to cross the Delaware River and attack very hung over German Hessian soldiers in Trenton on December 26, 1776.

Which brings me to jelly doughnuts. If you are like me, you may enjoy on occasional jelly doughnut. I have enjoyed some jelly doughnuts over the years. Jelly doughnuts have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. Nothing. The birth of Jesus and jelly doughnuts are both things in my life but they are not things that have any inherent connection to one another.

Christmas trees, Christmas lights, snowmen, and even Santa Claus have to do as much with the birth of Jesus as jelly doughnuts do. In fact, they may actually harm the story. So many people are busy looking at the lights, celebrating, being merry, saying ‘ho, ho, ho,’ that they may miss a couple wandering into town looking for a room. I suspect Jesus would be born in a stable again as so many people are celebrating ‘Christmas’ so hard that they miss the story once again.

As for me, I think this is a good time to stop talking about this specious ‘war’ and begin focusing on the coming of the Prince of Peace.

A Neurosurgeon’s Journey

In 2008, neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander contracted a rare form of bacterial meningitis that shut down parts of his brain, put him in a coma and nearly killed him. During this time, he says, he saw heaven. He wrote a book about his experience. Interesting this is that his vision of God as not as male or female but God was pretty much formless, but with a very amazing and peaceful

 

presence.

Alexander was a skeptical Christian before this and is a church goer now, but has an interesting critique of religion. He says that when we believe we have a superior understanding of God than anyone else, we are missing the point. God is all love and all goodness and none of us really has a grasp of the power and magnitude of God. Hearing him says this reminded me of Thomas Aquinas who stopped writing, lecturing, and preaching after an experience of God calling all his previous work, straw.

It has been interesting that Alexander has become a disturbing presence to many people. Many in the science community have, in their own wisdom, been able to disprove the existence of God. This ‘God talk,’ to them, is disturbing. If they have empirically disproven something then who does he think he is by suggesting they might be wrong?

He is not met with much better acceptance by the religious community as well. After all, theological types make their living and write and read books as to why they are right and others are wrong. This idea what my particular set of beliefs may not correspond with a real idea of God is just wrong. Or so they say.

We have a problem with God, or perhaps better said, we have a problem with our conceptualizations of God. We often like to limit God to our own understanding. We often do this with the Bible. We limit the Bible to our understanding of it. We like to fit God into the view of God we have.

Interestingly enough this is also the case with many people who are not people of faith. They cannot comprehend of the notion of a God, and so they nix the entire idea. People who broach the subject of faith are sometimes met with ridicule. Sometimes. Having said this, I have found many non-believers are more civil with believers than believers are with non-believers. But that is a whole different story.

Is Alexander correct? I don’t know. I’m not even going to venture a guess. It does remind me, however, that any approaches to talking about God need to be taken with a great sense of humility.