Sabbatical Journey Day 9

I don’t have that much to report.  I’ve been home several days now and getting into the rhythm of being home.  Nothing much exciting to say, but I do have some random thoughts.

First, not watching television and most especially ‘the news’ was such a blessing.  If you ever had a doubt that our political process is insane and irresponsible, take a few days off from it and see it with new eyes.  The House passed a budget that has no chance of becoming the budget.  The Senate passed a budget that has no chance of becoming a budget.  Both sides have buried their positions on concrete.  It’s like a double siege; two armies sitting in forts waiting for the other side to come out of their fort and neither side actually doing anything to the other to actually make them want to come out of their fort.  Everyone is well fed, plenty of to drink and there is no danger….except to the nation that has been hung out to dry.  Thanks leaders!

The two Popes met for lunch today.  Interesting meeting, I would imagine.  They both knelt to pray and the only thing I could think of was who was going to say ‘all done’ first?  I wonder if it became a ‘holiness competition.’

I was reading the other day about becoming great at humility.  It sounds rather oxymoronic to be ‘great’ at humility.

NBC seems to be sending Jay Leno out to pasture.  I was thinking that they did the same thing with Ann Curry and that worked out so well for them.  They seem to have an inability to deal gracefully with personnel transitions.

Meanwhile, some show interviewed Joan Rivers about Leno.  Joan Rivers has made a career of being nasty to people and saying nasty things about people.  She also hates Leno.  This gave her an opportunity to say venomous things about Jay Leno.  I hate when people feel a need to share venom; and even worse, for networks to encourage it.

In hearing about how poorly our veterans are being, and I use the phrase carefully, ‘cared for,’ after two wars, is a disgrace.  Politicians LOVE to send young people to war, regardless of the cost to those young people, and then show no willingness to care for those who were so grievously damaged by the way.  They do, however, LOVE to wear American flag lapel pins to show how patriotic they are, however…

And, let’s see. Lindsey Lohan was in court again today and Tiger Woods is dating Lindsey Vonn.  Why did we need to know this?

Sabbatical Journey Day 5

 

I have been mulling something since Sunday. I went to Mass at the Abbey and the homily was excellent. Of course, the Table was closed. The Table of the Lord was not open to those people who are not Roman Catholic.

In the midst of great hospitality, which I have received, and the spirit of most monasteries, there would seem to have a desire to fulfill the hearts and minds and spirits of all people who come in the door. When one has a feast and one invites people to the feast, it is presumed that all those invited will be welcome at the table. In this case, ‘sorry Charlie….”

People who are not Roman Catholic are always invited to come forward and when they get to the priest, cross their arms and instead of giving the person Holy Communion, the priest then gives the person a blessing. To me this is like, “Hey, glad you are here at the feast and I won’t feed, you, but I sure will greet you well!” I stayed in my seat. Frankly, it seems pretty patronizing to me.

Truthfully, the Roman Catholic Church has a different teaching on Holy Communion than Protestant churches do. This is certainly true, but does access to the Table of the Lord demand absolute adherence to a church’s theological perspective? Did I miss when theological perspectives over took faith? Did I miss in Jesus’ commissioning of eating his body and blood had the addition of a theological litmus test? I wonder what Jesus’ answer would have been at the Last Supper if someone had queried him about transubstantiation…

Did I miss, perhaps most of all, when the Table of the Lord morphed into the table of the church? When did it happen that this was no longer God’s Table, but now belonged to a church which had the right to pick and choose who came to dine?

I am a minister of the United Church of Christ for a variety of reasons. One is this. When we say the words, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey,” we mean them. When we invite you to the feast, you are always welcome at the Table of the Lord. After all, it’s only hospitable to do so.

Sabbatical Journey Day 4

 

This is my 4^th day at the monastery. Needless to say, I’ve spent a lot of time alone. I’ve had spiritual direction for an hour each day and today was the last day for that. Prayer time has been alone or in the church with the monks, but largely alone. I am working my way into a pattern.

One of the things I have been doing is reading and reflecting on the Rule of St. Benedict. His rule was written in the 6^th century and so it’s been around a while. His rule is interesting and, in many ways, is a classic rule on how people can live with one another and grow as people and as Christians.

Benedict sweated out details because he is looking to make life disciplined for people, but not so difficult that it becomes impossible to live.

These is part of Chapter 39,

We think it sufficient for the daily dinner,
whether at the sixth or the ninth hour,
that every table have two cooked dishes
on account of individual infirmities,
so that he who for some reason cannot eat of the one
may make his meal of the other
Therefore let two cooked dishes suffice for all the brethren;
and if any fruit or fresh vegetables are available,
let a third dish be added.

Let a good pound weight of bread suffice for the day,
whether there be only one meal or both dinner and supper.
If they are to have supper,
the cellarer shall reserve a third of that pound,
to be given them at supper.

But if it happens that the work was heavier,
it shall lie within the Abbot's discretion and power,
should it be expedient,
to add something to the fare.

Benedict wants people to have options because he knows that people can be picky. He also does not tell people that they must starve themselves to be monks. While he does, later on, have an admonition about heating meat from animals with four legs, he really isn’t interested in people fasting themselves miserably.

But that’s not really the point that has struck me as so fascination. Look at the last words:

But if it happens that the work was heavier,
it shall lie within the Abbot's discretion and power,
should it be expedient,
to add something to the fare.

There are always exceptions to the rule. He goes into great detail in the Rule to explain how the Psalms should be ordered and prayed. Then he ends it with, unless someone has a better idea, than use the better idea.

It reminds me of Jesus indicating that the Sabbath is for people, not people for the Sabbath. Rules, and the Rule is a guideline made for people and there are always exceptions to the rule. Whether one is a monk or a person of faith, no matter which faith one belongs to, the ‘rules’ are not there for their own sake, but to help us have guidelines for our growth. Everyone needs to live in some parameters, but the parameters need to be flexible.

Benedict remembered that he was a person with faults writing for people with faults. It’s a good lesson we all need to accept about ourselves.

Sabbatical Journey Day 3

One of the early Priors of the Carthusian Order, Dom Guigo wrote: Reading seeks, meditation finds, prayer asks, contemplation feels.

There are times when I get the impression that God is trying to tell me something. I was listening to a DVD by Tobias Colgan, one of the monks at Saint Meinrad and he cited this from Guigo. Last night, while reading the book A Litany of Little Hours again, the quote, Reading seeks, meditation finds, prayer asks, contemplation feels.

There is much to ponder.

Reading does seek. Sometimes we seek entertainment and we read books that may entertain us. Often, we read to learn things. We seek to learn and we seek to understand, and so we learn from reading. Often when we need to know an answer to something we seek it; and we often seek it by reading.

In the spiritual life, however, reading is not really adequate. If we read Scripture for example and we read it to ‘seek’ that is all well and good. However, if one approaches the Bible with any sense of humility and even reality, there is one thing evident about reading the Bible. The Bible often asks more questions than it answers. I have, over the years, listened to numerous sermons preached on the Parable of the Prodigal Son and am amazed at all the different takes people have on one story. I actually disagree with most people on how this story ought to be interpreted and so it always strikes me that so many people can disagree on what is, at face level, a simple story.

But meditation is that which finds. When we read we seek, but we really do not begin to find what we are looking for until we take the time to be still and reflect. When we meditate we begin to reflect on the words we have read and begin to understand how those words impact us. Those of us who preach often read the Scripture for the following Sunday, and read about it, but, at least in my case, it takes me a few days before I actually write something. A lot of time is spent meditating and pondering what those words mean. That is learning to find what we are looking for.

Then there is prayer. Prayer asks. Please God, help me….. Fill in the blanks. Please God, forgive me…. Please God, can you do something about the weather? There are all kinds of prayer, thanksgiving, praise, and petition. We often petition God. We ask. We may not always ask for ourselves and we may pray for others, but we usually always ask God. This is a good thing, by the way. I suspect if we are always asking for a new car it may not be all that great, but asking for God with open hearts and minds is a good thing.

Then there is contemplation feels…..

Contemplation is often using a breath prayer, or mantra, or focusing on an image and being completely still and empty before God. According to Guigo, this is the one way we actually feel the presence of God.

I have a lot of ponder…

The Loving Kindness and Mercy of Jesus Not Being Present

The last few days I have been at a monastery on retreat. In praying and reading I have been encountering and embracing the loving goodness, mercy, and kindness of God. Today I listened to a brilliant sermon about how Jesus was the only person who looked at the woman caught in adultery as a person. To others she was objectified as either a dirty sinner, an object lesson, or, in actuality, bait for Jesus to make a false move.

I’ve watched little news. One of the biggest news stories has been the election of Pope Francis who has been a remarkable witness to the loving goodness, mercy, and kindness of Jesus. His thoughtful humility has been refreshing. My hope and prayer is that his message of grace and charity is one that permeates large amounts of discussion.

Several things in the world of politics were noteworthy, I would imagine.

One was Rob Portman changing his mind about gay marriage. He said the other day:

"I'm announcing today a change of heart on an issue that a lot of people feel strongly about that has to do with gay couples' opportunity to marry. I've come to the conclusion that for me, personally, I think this is something that we should allow people to do, to get married, and to have the joy and stability of marriage that I've had for over 26 years. That I want all of my children to have, including our son, who is gay. "

This was not a political statement, this was totally personal. His son is gay and he loves his son and wants everything in life for his son. He changed his position on the subject.

The response to him has been, in part, something very troubling brings me to the other observation. CPAC met this week. This is not a Republican group as much as it is a ‘conservative group’ within the party. I’m not sure it should be called CPAC as much as MPAC, with M being mean.

Many people responded to Portman telling him is he ungodly and unchristian and going to hell. There was not much of the loving goodness, mercy, and kindness of Jesus in many messages and responses to Portman.

At CPAC the loving goodness, mercy, and kindness of Jesus was not in session. Mean was in session. Some people spoke of their concern over some of the issues of the day. Whether one agrees with them or not is really not my concern. Many said it was ‘red meat,’ but I greatly disagree. It was a lot of mean spirited rhetoric. Jeb Bush, to his credit, did not fall into this trip when he said, "We're associated with being anti-everything . Way too many people believe that Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker. Many voters are simply unwilling to choose our candidates because those voters feel unloved, unwanted, and unwelcome in our party.”

He didn’t get nearly the applause lines that other people received. Many of those other people mocked and barbed people they did not agree with. It wasn’t so much political, it was personal. In many of the speeches, ‘Christian values’ were raised, minus the loving goodness, mercy, and kindness of Jesus.

There is no justice without mercy and there is no Gospel without the love, the mercy, and the kindness of Jesus at the center.

Over the years I have been mean to others and have used some amazingly cutting barbs, mostly written, at others. I’ve shared them on Facebook and probably on here. I regret that. The more I ponder being a person of faith the more aware I am that unless we embrace and live the loving kindness and mercy of Jesus, we are missing the mark.

Sabbatical Journey, Day 2

Some thoughts in terms of reflection and spiritual direction.

One connection that was made for me yesterday, and is resonating with me is the connection between the word ‘disciple’ and the word ‘discipline.’  I believe myself to be, and I strive to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  I am also, however, an incredibly undisciplined person.  To be a disciple of Christ requires a certain amount of discipline and that is something I greatly lack.  It is, obviously something I will be working on.

A second thought, something I have always felt, but never really put into words is seeing all people we encounter in a Christocentric way. This is a fancy way of saying that we see Christ in all people; and we treat people the way we would treat Christ.  There are, of course, lots of implications with this.

The third thought comes from reading the Rule of St. Benedict.  Benedict believed in moderation.  In my reading it is likened to the Talmud whereas if a person moves too far into the cold, one will freeze to death. If a person moves to far into the heat, the person will be burned to death.  The wise path is to walk in the center.

In our day and age of extreme polarities, it would seem that the center is the wisest place to be.

Sabbatical Journey, Day 1

I put this down as day 1 but I am not going to necessarily update this every day.  But today begins the journey.

I have been off for close to two weeks. I took two weeks of my vacation as a time to decompress before beginning this journey in earnest.  I have, however, been reading and reflecting a good bit.

I have done some odd reading, to be sure.  I read Mary Johnson’s An Unquenchable Thirst, which is the story of her 20 years as a Missionary of Charity.  This is the religious order of nuns founded by Mother Teresa.  Johnson’s journey was difficult and she left after 20 years for a whole host of reasons.  She does not view Mother Teresa in an unkind light by any stretch of the imagination.  There were times Johnson was frustrated, but she’s pretty honest that this is her frustration more than anything else.  Still in all, the book sadly concludes with her pretty much losing her faith.  It reminded me of Through the Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong. Armstrong began a long journey away from faith and has found herself a believer, again.  Interesting book, to say the least.

I am currently reading Joan Chittister’s book, The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century which is very much a part of my Sabbatical plan.  I’m also reading the book entitled, An Infinity of Little Hours:  Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World’s Most Austere Monastic Order.  This book was written by Nancy Klein Maguire and is the journey of give young monks in a Carthusian Charterhouse (a type of monastery) in England in the early 1960’s.  A Charterhouse type of monastery is a monastery that is really a collection of hermitages.  Carthusian monks are hermits who live in their own cells, but all under one roof.  They speak very, very little and their lives are austere.  Under my spiritual director here, I have watched the first half of a very fascinating movie, Into Great Silence.  The movie is set at the Charterhouse in France and is fascinating.  I haven’t seen the entire movie as of yet, but it is essentially a slice of life with the Carthusians.  It is visually amazing, but it’s a documentary and has virtually no speaking.

I am not a monk and will never been a monk so one might ask why this fascination with all things monastic.  The answer is very simple.  I am on a journey of grounding myself to my faith in some new and significant ways.  Being raised Roman Catholic and educated in Roman Catholic seminaries, I find myself spiritually nurtured by much the Roman Catholic Church has to offer in terms of prayer.  I live the Liturgy of the Hours.  I was never big into Marian devotion and so I do not venture there.  As for the Mass, again, that’s not something that really appeals to me.  Frankly, if it is a banquet that I’m invited to attend, but not invited to partake in the meal, I have little interest in that.

I realized this the other day.  I went to the Noon Mass at a church in Louisville staffed by Dominican priests.  I came close to joining the Dominicans many years ago and have always appreciated their intellect and their preaching.  I went to Mass in the  hopes of hearing a good sermon.   I had never heard a bad Dominican sermon before.  On Wednesday, however, that streak was broken.  His theology was, at least in my mind, shallow and the sermon was really a bunch of pious platitudes.  Furthermore, the blissful silence I was enjoying was broken by the rosary recited by the whole congregation.  I’m not Roman Catholic and haven’t been for a long time.  It had been years since I attended a Mass and the experience was not all that wonderful.  Oh, and the responses that were changed.  Ugh.  What a mess.

I am a United Church of Christ minister and I love my denomination a great deal.  The older I get, the more I appreciate the family of faith I have chosen to be a part of.  This journey is reminding my and nurturing part of where I am from; and affirming where I am now.

Random Musings for a Monday

I’m starting week 2 of  being off. On Friday I begin my Sabbatical journey in earnest by heading to Saint Meinrad.  I will be having a five day retreat with some intense spiritual direction, reading, and prayer.  I’m really excited about that.

My time off has been stepping away and decompressing.  It felt odd to not be out the door yesterday leading Worship and preaching.  But a good kind of odd, to say the least!

Lots of things going on in the world.

North Korea has tested a nuke and is working in missiles and making increasingly bellicose sounds.  They, just today, said, again, that the 1953 treaty between the two Koreas was invalid.  They seem to be wanting war.  I find this painful and, frankly counter-intuitive and evil.  The people of North Korea live their lives under really dreadful conditions.  There is not enough food and the regime is brutal.  Instead of trying to make the lives of the people better, they seem hell bent in trying to create a war and make the lives of their own people, as well as other people, a living hell.  Why?  I have no clue.  It is painfully tragic.

The President took twelve Republican Senators to dinner last week and they seemed to have a good time and everyone said nice things about one another. I sense that no one really likes the sequester, and no one has the willingness to bend to end it.  I keep thinking they should all read “Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” and learn some of the lessons.  It make help them move forward.

In other news, Valerie Harper was diagnosed with untreatable brain cancer.  She has been the epitome of class in her response to that and has been an inspiration to everyone.  Justin Bieber has been a petulant child.  It is not that any of this is news, per se.  Valerie Harper has always been graceful and class and Justin Bieber has always been a petulant child.

Meanwhile, in Rome, the Cardinals are going to enter the Conclave to choose the next Pope. I love press speculation on what is going to happen; like anyone from the press has a clue as to what is going to happen.  I suspect there has been a lot of discussion amongst the Cardinals already-----but one never knows what is taking place.  I have no clue as to why someone would want that job.  Seriously.  Whoever becomes the Pope inherits a difficult scenario and if that person takes it seriously, it will be an almost impossible job.

So It Begins

My Sabbatical has begun!  I have deactivated Facebook until June.  I shall keep my blog up to date, however!

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