The Songs of Israel: A People of the Covenant
Psalm 89: 1-6; 28-30; 34-37
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
July 24, 2011
One of the words that is used in the Bible is the word covenant.
In form, a covenant is an agreement between two people and involves promises on the part of each to the other. The concept of a covenant between God and His people is one of the central themes of the Bible. In the Biblical sense, a covenant implies much more than a contract or a simple agreement between two parties. The Biblical notion of covenant is amazingly profound.
Psalm 89, the Psalm we look at today is very long. One of it’s most common themes, however, is celebrating the concept of covenant, a covenant that exists between God and people, and people to people.
The first thing I want to look at is the covenant between God and people. In terms of covenant, in the Bible, there are numerous ‘little’ covenants made between God and people. There are, however, three really large, over-arching covenants.
The first is a covenant of identity. It is made between God and Abraham and is quite simply, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” It is a simple identification that there is the God of Israel and a people who are committed to God.
The second covenant is a covenant of law. It is made between God and Moses and builds on the first covenant. It embraces the identity of God and people, but now adds the Law. As a people of God, living within the parameters of the Law is the way of showing faithfulness unto God.
The third covenant is a covenant of grace that came in the person of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. It is the new and everlasting covenant and one we live in right now.
The Psalmist reminds us, over and over again, about the steadfastness of God. God keeps the covenant. God is our God and we are God’s people. God has given us parameters that not only demonstrate not only an obedience with God, but an ability to live in harmony with one another; and God has sent Jesus to save us because we fall short of God’s glory.
The covenant reminds us that living out covenant keeps us connected to God in special ways.
The second thing is the covenant we have with one another and I want to specifically talk about us as a church within the United Church of Christ.
As a church within the United Church of Christ, we are a church that has a special connection to the word and concept of covenant. The United Church of Christ is not a denomination built on being theologically doctrinaire ideals, but on a mutual covenant to walk together in faith not fighting over diversity and differences, but embracing them.
We are a very unusual denomination.
I was thinking the other day about the United Church of Christ, a denomination I serve as a minister and love deeply and something struck me. Before I tell you what struck me, please know you may need to stretch your theological imagination to keep up with me on this one. It is a stretch, but please hang in there with me because you hopefully will see the connection.
In 1978 a classic movie was released and it remains a classic movie. The movie was Animal House, and at its core, it was a movie that spoke of an intense rivalry between two fraternities and the mind set of the two groups. The conflict was between Omega House and Delta House.
It really, to me, in my admittedly strange view of the world, speaks of differing theological world views, one that is rigid and unbending, and one that speaks of connection to others as paramount.
The United Church of Christ is often the Delta House of denominations. I say this with a huge asterisk attached. We are not a place of drunken parties or of decadence and depravity not do we promote that in the least, though, in all honesty, the toga party idea sounds good...
But there are a couple of underlying things that were actually very interesting that were pointed out in the movie.
The first was the initiation process. Omega House had an ultra formal, rigid, and even painful and humiliating initiation that demanded the complete submission of its new members with an acknowledgment that there were people in charge, and others had little to no voice. At Delta House, they welcome their new people into their family, warts and all.
The second was, to me, something that very much describes us. One of the people in Delta House referred to his ancestors and the people in the room and said, “Our ancestors were thrown out of some of the finest nations in Europe.” Many of you have heard my semi-joke when I say, “Our members have been thrown out of some of the finest churches in town.”
We, in many ways, demonstrate there is more than a little truth to this. Many of us were raised in other traditions and many of us really could not go back into those traditions with great ease and or acceptance. Many of the traditions were grand and good in so many ways----but life has brought us to different places and we may or may not be welcomed back.
Except we are welcome here.
I was struck last week reading and seeing things about Holy Communion. I recognize that the average person does not read article on the Internet about such subjects, but I do. I found a contrast.
One denomination was concerned that reverence was being lost with how people participated in Holy Communion and who was welcome at the table. Clergy were being encouraged to vigorously defend the Table of the Lord so that people would not treat the Table of the Lord casually and the wrong people did not come.
On the other hand, the United Church of Christ has a video online that was called Flash Mob Eucharist. Flash mobs are those groups we see sing or dance or perform a scene from a play in the middle of malls, train stations, or what have you. In this, at the recent General Synod, there was a flash mob that celebrated the Sacrament of Holy Communion and assured EVERYONE they were welcome.
And it reminded me of the initiation in Animal House, living by rules, or by love and an embrace of one another.
To me, this is what covenant is all about, for us. It is an embrace of one another, everyone of God’s people as brothers and sisters.
I read a lot of religious blogs all written by Christians. The vast majority of them are about how to be stricter, harsher, and, frankly, more exclusive as Christians. I doubt the desire is to intentionally drive people away as much as it is to get people to conform, but the result us usually the same. We, as Christians, do have the ability to drive people away and it’s often because we want them to conform.
What struck me is that the problem is never God in covenant with God that is the problem. Sometimes it’s our ability to covenant with God that is the problem; but the biggest problem we have is our covenant with one another. So let us strive to be faithful not only to God and each other; let us strive to not only be steadfast to God, but to one another. And let us embrace one another and every single one of God’s people as our brothers and sisters.
Toga parties are optional.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Extremism and Terrorism
As I have watched the news stories come out of Norway they are speaking over and over again about the extremism of Anders Behring Breivik who is responsible for murdering over 90 people. The damage and death toll with the bomb was seven. At the summer camp 85 children and youth were murdered in cold blood. Early reports are saying he is a right winged extremist who wanted to destroy government buildings and kill people in the Labor Party in the city, and he murdered the children and youth at the summer camp as this was a camp sponsored by the Labor Party.
His ideology is really of little consequence to me. I know nothing about politics in Norway and his disagreements are not fodder for discussion now. He murdered at least 92 people and that’s all that really matters.
When Timothy McVeigh murdered so many people in Oklahoma City he was also referred to as a right winged extremist. Again, ultimately, his ideology was not fodder for discussion. He was a murderer and died for his crimes in 2001. Even people like me, who really disagrees with the death penalty, could muster little opposition to his death. He was, in so many ways, a walking argument for the death penalty.
Something was striking about McVeigh when they captured him. I don’t know if this will be true about Breivik, but it sounds like it might be. McVeigh was not crazy. He was a true believer in his cause and believed that people had to die and a violent war had to be waged. He saw himself as a soldier for what was right. The fact that he chose to make war on innocent people made little difference to him. His extreme views were, in his mind, principles that allowed him, even compelled him to commit violence.
Over the years these people have come out of the woodwork and committed grave acts of violence. There have been left winged extremists who have killed and right winged extremists who have killed. And, over the years, many have attempted to justify the actions because they are for the ‘cause,’ and there were issues...
Please.
The actions of McVeigh and Breivik are much like the acts of the people who bombed the World Trade Center or put road side bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc. We call those people terrorists. And they are. But so people like McVeigh and Breivik. There is no cause that justifies acts of terrorism. None.
We need to stop referring to these people extremists. It gives others an idea that these people are justified. They are not justified. We all know that. We all accept that. No matter how fervent people may be about their political beliefs, it is a very, very rare individual who is willing to kill others to put their view forward. For this we can be thankful.
But frankly, we need to stop calling these terrorists extremists. Their ‘extreme’ views are of little consequence. And act of terror is an act of terror and it should be called for what it is.
His ideology is really of little consequence to me. I know nothing about politics in Norway and his disagreements are not fodder for discussion now. He murdered at least 92 people and that’s all that really matters.
When Timothy McVeigh murdered so many people in Oklahoma City he was also referred to as a right winged extremist. Again, ultimately, his ideology was not fodder for discussion. He was a murderer and died for his crimes in 2001. Even people like me, who really disagrees with the death penalty, could muster little opposition to his death. He was, in so many ways, a walking argument for the death penalty.
Something was striking about McVeigh when they captured him. I don’t know if this will be true about Breivik, but it sounds like it might be. McVeigh was not crazy. He was a true believer in his cause and believed that people had to die and a violent war had to be waged. He saw himself as a soldier for what was right. The fact that he chose to make war on innocent people made little difference to him. His extreme views were, in his mind, principles that allowed him, even compelled him to commit violence.
Over the years these people have come out of the woodwork and committed grave acts of violence. There have been left winged extremists who have killed and right winged extremists who have killed. And, over the years, many have attempted to justify the actions because they are for the ‘cause,’ and there were issues...
Please.
The actions of McVeigh and Breivik are much like the acts of the people who bombed the World Trade Center or put road side bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc. We call those people terrorists. And they are. But so people like McVeigh and Breivik. There is no cause that justifies acts of terrorism. None.
We need to stop referring to these people extremists. It gives others an idea that these people are justified. They are not justified. We all know that. We all accept that. No matter how fervent people may be about their political beliefs, it is a very, very rare individual who is willing to kill others to put their view forward. For this we can be thankful.
But frankly, we need to stop calling these terrorists extremists. Their ‘extreme’ views are of little consequence. And act of terror is an act of terror and it should be called for what it is.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Random Thoughts
Wow. Brinksmanship is alive and well. There is the debt ceiling debate which is being played out to the final seconds; the NFL labor dispute is being played out to the final seconds. The NBA has a lock out and they probably won't even negotiate a settlement to the final seconds. Do good decisions ever get made as the result of brinksmanship?
Justin Rigali, the Cardinal/Archbishop of Philadelphia is resigning amidst numerous sexual abuse scandals in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Some of these Bishops really need to be criminally charged for covering up the crimes that were overlooked, covered up, or ignored. It's tragic when people are abused by clergy. Beyond tragic, really.
The women's soccer team should make us all proud. They probably inspired more people to sit down and watch a soccer game, in the United States, than ever before. Getting into the final game was amazing. And, hat's off to the young woman who was the goalie for Japan. She was outstanding and probably one of the biggest difference makers in the game.
It's probably not a great time to own News Corp. stock...
I think the Mets should trade Reyes to the Red Sox for some top flight minor league talent. They can either trade him to the Sox this year and get something back, or he'll sign with the Yankees as a free agent next year. The only NY hat he should ever wear is the Mets' cap.
Ever want some interesting reading, check out the Fox News website and compare it to the MSNBC website. They are diametrically opposite of one another. For all the abuse CNN takes, their website is dedicated to, ahem, news. The other two are busily doing their own thing. Any semblance to news either of them have is strictly because they had to include a couple of facts before spinning them.
Recently the United Church of Christ General Synod was held in Florida and it looks like it was an amazing event that I regret not having been at. We have a 2030 group of clergy, the younger clergy, who are really dynamic and amazing. It makes me wish I was that young again! We have a very cool denomination. We have a long history and tradition, but it's great to be part of a church that thinks beyond our own prejudices of here and now.
Justin Rigali, the Cardinal/Archbishop of Philadelphia is resigning amidst numerous sexual abuse scandals in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Some of these Bishops really need to be criminally charged for covering up the crimes that were overlooked, covered up, or ignored. It's tragic when people are abused by clergy. Beyond tragic, really.
The women's soccer team should make us all proud. They probably inspired more people to sit down and watch a soccer game, in the United States, than ever before. Getting into the final game was amazing. And, hat's off to the young woman who was the goalie for Japan. She was outstanding and probably one of the biggest difference makers in the game.
It's probably not a great time to own News Corp. stock...
I think the Mets should trade Reyes to the Red Sox for some top flight minor league talent. They can either trade him to the Sox this year and get something back, or he'll sign with the Yankees as a free agent next year. The only NY hat he should ever wear is the Mets' cap.
Ever want some interesting reading, check out the Fox News website and compare it to the MSNBC website. They are diametrically opposite of one another. For all the abuse CNN takes, their website is dedicated to, ahem, news. The other two are busily doing their own thing. Any semblance to news either of them have is strictly because they had to include a couple of facts before spinning them.
Recently the United Church of Christ General Synod was held in Florida and it looks like it was an amazing event that I regret not having been at. We have a 2030 group of clergy, the younger clergy, who are really dynamic and amazing. It makes me wish I was that young again! We have a very cool denomination. We have a long history and tradition, but it's great to be part of a church that thinks beyond our own prejudices of here and now.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
The Songs of Israel: Seeking Forgiveness from God
Text: Psalm 51
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
July 17, 2011
Rev. Michael G. Clark is a Lutheran Minister in Wichita, Kansas. Some years ago I saw him on television and my heart went out to him.
While no group of people can ever be totally lumped together or said to be all the same, most clergy have several tendencies.
A lot of us tend to be a bit on the neurotic side. We tend to take a lot of things personally, tend to take a lot of the issues of the world on our shoulders, and tend to be more critical of ourselves than people are of us. And the fact that we spend most of our lives in the line of fire, that’s saying a lot.
The other tendency many clergy seem to have is a need to be affirmed and liked. We want people to like us.
And thus, it was, Rev. Michael Clark was in a room and the previous President of his Church Council was praising him on national television, saying how Pastor Clark was his ‘main man’ and was a great inspiration to him and the Council President explained he wouldn’t be the man he was today without Rev. Clark in his life.
Rev. Michael Clark’s facial expression was one of horror because the speaker, the former Church Council President, was Dennis Rader, the infamous BTK serial killer. And Clark sat there, mortified.
But, in Clark’s lap, the entire time, was an open Bible turned to Psalm 51 which he was praying over and over again. Psalm 51 is a Psalm of repentance and forgiveness----and that was all Clark felt he could do. Pray for forgiveness that this monster before him had come from the congregation that he, Clark, was serving. And Clark never knew... and the guilt of being connected to this monstrous man was consuming him.
So he prayed a Psalm, a very specific Psalm of forgiveness.
Forgiveness and the stark, even harsh beauty of this Psalm.
Psalm 51 is an amazing Psalm that has the author begging God for forgiveness. When we ask forgiveness, it’s the ultimate way of saying, I’m sorry or apologizing. In the words of the Psalmist what God seeks is not a burnt offering or any other act. God wants one thing:
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart
A broken spirit, a contrite heart is a way of saying “I’m sorry,’ in a profound way.
It is learning to say “I’m sorry,” when we are wrong.
I have found that there is nothing as character building as apologizing. Having the humility and courage to admit that you are personally wrong and have made a mistake, is liberating. Often a good apology clears the air between people. Families who learn to apologize to one another, live healthier and happier lives.
One thing that is crucial, however, is learning to truly apologize as opposed to pretending to apologize.
There is several words in the English language that ought never be in an apology. The word is ‘but.’
When we say, “I am sorry for offending you, but....” When we say this, we are putting the issue of offense on the person we offended. We are trying to justify our actions.
“I’m sorry for hurting you, but...” You deserved it.
“I’m sorry for stealing from you, but...” I wanted the money more you needed it.
You get the point.
Or when we use the word ‘if.’
“I’m sorry IF I offended you, “ and we’re really saying you need to have thicker skin.
“I’m sorry IF I hurt you,” and we’re really saying you need to be tougher.
“I’m sorry IF you needed that,” and we really saying I needed it more.
True apologies end with “I’m sorry.” We can add, “Because I offended you, or because I hurt you, or because it was uncalled for, but we can’t use the word ‘but’ or ‘if.’
The words of this Psalm are a real apology to God and seeking forgiveness and it does so in gut wrenching ways.
And sometimes that forgiveness comes hard.
I was pondering the words from the Psalm:
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
Sometimes this is hard, teaching others God’s ways.
William Self, a Baptist Pastor in Georgia tells a wonderful story about Corrie Ten Boon.
Corrie ten Boon was a Dutch lady who during World War II hid the Jews from the Nazis in her home. When the Nazis found out, she was taken out of her home and placed in a concentration camp. When the war was over, she went around the cities of Germany and Holland preaching that everyone should forgive one another for what had happened during that terrible time.
One day Corrie was preaching her sermon on forgiveness in a Hamburg church. When it was over, the people were lined up to speak to her, and in the crowd of faces around her, she saw one particular face and a hand reaching out to her.
The man said, "Corrie, can you forgive me?"
This was the man who controlled the shower room for the women. Once a week the women were herded into a communal shower, they were disrobed, the water was turned on, and this man was perched above them on a platform where he could observe and control the room. He rather enjoyed the indignity of this moment as the cold water hit the bodies of the very frightened women.
Corrie said that of all the people in that prison, he was the one she hated the most.
She said she couldn't get rid of the hate she had for him and the look on his face as he leered at them in their humiliation. That's the face that possessed the hand that came to her, and he said, "Corrie, can you forgive me?" And she said, "I stopped and prayed and asked the Lord Jesus to give me the power and strength to forgive this man."
She said it was the hardest thing that she ever did.
This Psalm confronts us with the issue of sin, but more than that, apologizing to God, and asking forgiveness. It invites us to ask for forgiveness by breaking our spirit and will and apologizing, profoundly to God with know and’s, it’s or but’s. It reminds us of the power of being forgiven and healed from the burdens of our own failures.
And there is its beauty.
Text: Psalm 51
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
July 17, 2011
Rev. Michael G. Clark is a Lutheran Minister in Wichita, Kansas. Some years ago I saw him on television and my heart went out to him.
While no group of people can ever be totally lumped together or said to be all the same, most clergy have several tendencies.
A lot of us tend to be a bit on the neurotic side. We tend to take a lot of things personally, tend to take a lot of the issues of the world on our shoulders, and tend to be more critical of ourselves than people are of us. And the fact that we spend most of our lives in the line of fire, that’s saying a lot.
The other tendency many clergy seem to have is a need to be affirmed and liked. We want people to like us.
And thus, it was, Rev. Michael Clark was in a room and the previous President of his Church Council was praising him on national television, saying how Pastor Clark was his ‘main man’ and was a great inspiration to him and the Council President explained he wouldn’t be the man he was today without Rev. Clark in his life.
Rev. Michael Clark’s facial expression was one of horror because the speaker, the former Church Council President, was Dennis Rader, the infamous BTK serial killer. And Clark sat there, mortified.
But, in Clark’s lap, the entire time, was an open Bible turned to Psalm 51 which he was praying over and over again. Psalm 51 is a Psalm of repentance and forgiveness----and that was all Clark felt he could do. Pray for forgiveness that this monster before him had come from the congregation that he, Clark, was serving. And Clark never knew... and the guilt of being connected to this monstrous man was consuming him.
So he prayed a Psalm, a very specific Psalm of forgiveness.
Forgiveness and the stark, even harsh beauty of this Psalm.
Psalm 51 is an amazing Psalm that has the author begging God for forgiveness. When we ask forgiveness, it’s the ultimate way of saying, I’m sorry or apologizing. In the words of the Psalmist what God seeks is not a burnt offering or any other act. God wants one thing:
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart
A broken spirit, a contrite heart is a way of saying “I’m sorry,’ in a profound way.
It is learning to say “I’m sorry,” when we are wrong.
I have found that there is nothing as character building as apologizing. Having the humility and courage to admit that you are personally wrong and have made a mistake, is liberating. Often a good apology clears the air between people. Families who learn to apologize to one another, live healthier and happier lives.
One thing that is crucial, however, is learning to truly apologize as opposed to pretending to apologize.
There is several words in the English language that ought never be in an apology. The word is ‘but.’
When we say, “I am sorry for offending you, but....” When we say this, we are putting the issue of offense on the person we offended. We are trying to justify our actions.
“I’m sorry for hurting you, but...” You deserved it.
“I’m sorry for stealing from you, but...” I wanted the money more you needed it.
You get the point.
Or when we use the word ‘if.’
“I’m sorry IF I offended you, “ and we’re really saying you need to have thicker skin.
“I’m sorry IF I hurt you,” and we’re really saying you need to be tougher.
“I’m sorry IF you needed that,” and we really saying I needed it more.
True apologies end with “I’m sorry.” We can add, “Because I offended you, or because I hurt you, or because it was uncalled for, but we can’t use the word ‘but’ or ‘if.’
The words of this Psalm are a real apology to God and seeking forgiveness and it does so in gut wrenching ways.
And sometimes that forgiveness comes hard.
I was pondering the words from the Psalm:
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
Sometimes this is hard, teaching others God’s ways.
William Self, a Baptist Pastor in Georgia tells a wonderful story about Corrie Ten Boon.
Corrie ten Boon was a Dutch lady who during World War II hid the Jews from the Nazis in her home. When the Nazis found out, she was taken out of her home and placed in a concentration camp. When the war was over, she went around the cities of Germany and Holland preaching that everyone should forgive one another for what had happened during that terrible time.
One day Corrie was preaching her sermon on forgiveness in a Hamburg church. When it was over, the people were lined up to speak to her, and in the crowd of faces around her, she saw one particular face and a hand reaching out to her.
The man said, "Corrie, can you forgive me?"
This was the man who controlled the shower room for the women. Once a week the women were herded into a communal shower, they were disrobed, the water was turned on, and this man was perched above them on a platform where he could observe and control the room. He rather enjoyed the indignity of this moment as the cold water hit the bodies of the very frightened women.
Corrie said that of all the people in that prison, he was the one she hated the most.
She said she couldn't get rid of the hate she had for him and the look on his face as he leered at them in their humiliation. That's the face that possessed the hand that came to her, and he said, "Corrie, can you forgive me?" And she said, "I stopped and prayed and asked the Lord Jesus to give me the power and strength to forgive this man."
She said it was the hardest thing that she ever did.
This Psalm confronts us with the issue of sin, but more than that, apologizing to God, and asking forgiveness. It invites us to ask for forgiveness by breaking our spirit and will and apologizing, profoundly to God with know and’s, it’s or but’s. It reminds us of the power of being forgiven and healed from the burdens of our own failures.
And there is its beauty.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
The Songs of Israel: The Myth of ONLY Human
The Songs of Israel: The Myth of ONLY Human
Text: Psalm 8
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
July 10, 2010
Have you ever heard or used the expression, “But I’m only human?”
Chances are, we all have used that at some point because we use it to express our limitations at something. We are not God, so we are only human.
We sang a little in the Psalm today, using it as it was written, as a hymn of sorts.
We did things responsively, demonstrating the Psalm as a prayer of sorts.
And we saw the words.....and the words give an indication that being ONLY human is something of a myth. There is nothing ONLY about being human.
The Psalm begins as a song of praise to God for the creative power of God and then it asks a question:
What are human beings that you are mindful of them;
mortals that you care for them?
The Psalm goes on to tell us three things and all three things are pretty amazing.
The first is this.
You have made them a little lower than God;
and crowned them with glory and honor.
We are made a little lower than God. A LITTLE lower than God.
Genesis 1 tells us that we, people, are made in the image and likeness of God. At our best, we are much like God. It means we have the capacity to make choices and do things the way God would do things. It demands of us that we live lives with a sense of dignity that God has.
French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas, the author of such classics as, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, once had a heated quarrel with a rising young politician. The argument became so intense that a duel was inevitable. Since both men were superb shots they decided to draw lots, the loser agreeing to shoot himself. Dumas lost. Pistol in hand, he withdrew in silent dignity to another room, closing the door behind him. The rest of the company waited in gloomy suspense for the shot that would end his career. It rang out at last. His friends ran to the door, opened it, and found Dumas, smoking revolver in hand.
“Gentlemen, a most regrettable thing has happened,” he announced. “I missed.”
Somewhere, when faced with his mortality, it dawned on him that he had fallen prey to anger and envy and foolishness and none of these were worth losing his life over. Human dignity is something that makes us more like God.
People are like God because we can often do the opposite of what nature would seem to have us do. Birds fly north for the winter and south for the summer. Yet people have the capacity to travel south to beaches and Disney World in the summer, and travel north in the winter to ski and have winter vacations.
The Psalmist reminds us that human dignity is a godlike quality that we should never lose.
The second thing the Psalmist says is this:
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands.
Over the years people have misunderstood the use of having dominion over the earth as a license to do what we want with the earth. The premise was that the earth was going to one day be gone, so we might as well use it and abuse it while we still can.
But this came from a dualistic world view which saw earthly things and godly things as separate. There was the realm of God and the realm of people and nothing in the twain shall meet.
Instead of a dualistic world view, we need to have a holistic world view. The environment is a spiritual issue. There are issues of justice. My abuse and neglect of my environment has huge negative consequences for my neighbor not just down the street but around the world. My waste shows that I don't really care for what is right. I don't care about what is the Lord's. I don't really love my neighbor.
Dominion means to be in charge of something. It means to be responsible for something. The world is not our world, it is God’s world. God has given us dominion by giving us responsibility.
And, like we need to have human dignity, we need to treat God’s world with dignity and respect. That is what having dominion really means.
The last thing is this. The Psalm begins and ends the same way with the prayer:
O Lord our God, how majestic is your name over all the earth!
This is a little reminder of something.
There are two things that give me a sense of faith and security when I walk into the pulpit each Sunday.
The first is the strong faith there is a God; the second is the secure knowledge that I am not God.
I sometimes think of miracles that Jesus did. Turning water into wine and doing so quietly. Only his mother and the chief steward knew. If I had done that I’d have made sure everyone knew so that I would constantly be invited to dinner parties to provide the wine.
The feeding of the 5000? Only the apostles really knew what had taken place. If I had been Jesus I’d rent out our facility for banquets since it would take so little effort and expense to provide food for everyone.
And the really big ones like raising people from the dead, curing blindness, deafness, and people being lame.
Plus the self serving things. The Giants would go undefeated and the Dallas Cowboys would go winless. The New York Mets would be the first undefeated baseball team and the New York Yankees would be the first winless team ever.
You get the point. I thank God that I am not God; and really, we all should. God is pure goodness and pure love and we, despite being much like God in so many ways, are not.
Psalm 8 is a tribute to the dignity and goodness of humanity, but it is also a reminder that, as people we are always people. We are never ONLY human, we are grandly human----with a constant reminder that we are not God.
Text: Psalm 8
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
July 10, 2010
Have you ever heard or used the expression, “But I’m only human?”
Chances are, we all have used that at some point because we use it to express our limitations at something. We are not God, so we are only human.
We sang a little in the Psalm today, using it as it was written, as a hymn of sorts.
We did things responsively, demonstrating the Psalm as a prayer of sorts.
And we saw the words.....and the words give an indication that being ONLY human is something of a myth. There is nothing ONLY about being human.
The Psalm begins as a song of praise to God for the creative power of God and then it asks a question:
What are human beings that you are mindful of them;
mortals that you care for them?
The Psalm goes on to tell us three things and all three things are pretty amazing.
The first is this.
You have made them a little lower than God;
and crowned them with glory and honor.
We are made a little lower than God. A LITTLE lower than God.
Genesis 1 tells us that we, people, are made in the image and likeness of God. At our best, we are much like God. It means we have the capacity to make choices and do things the way God would do things. It demands of us that we live lives with a sense of dignity that God has.
French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas, the author of such classics as, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, once had a heated quarrel with a rising young politician. The argument became so intense that a duel was inevitable. Since both men were superb shots they decided to draw lots, the loser agreeing to shoot himself. Dumas lost. Pistol in hand, he withdrew in silent dignity to another room, closing the door behind him. The rest of the company waited in gloomy suspense for the shot that would end his career. It rang out at last. His friends ran to the door, opened it, and found Dumas, smoking revolver in hand.
“Gentlemen, a most regrettable thing has happened,” he announced. “I missed.”
Somewhere, when faced with his mortality, it dawned on him that he had fallen prey to anger and envy and foolishness and none of these were worth losing his life over. Human dignity is something that makes us more like God.
People are like God because we can often do the opposite of what nature would seem to have us do. Birds fly north for the winter and south for the summer. Yet people have the capacity to travel south to beaches and Disney World in the summer, and travel north in the winter to ski and have winter vacations.
The Psalmist reminds us that human dignity is a godlike quality that we should never lose.
The second thing the Psalmist says is this:
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands.
Over the years people have misunderstood the use of having dominion over the earth as a license to do what we want with the earth. The premise was that the earth was going to one day be gone, so we might as well use it and abuse it while we still can.
But this came from a dualistic world view which saw earthly things and godly things as separate. There was the realm of God and the realm of people and nothing in the twain shall meet.
Instead of a dualistic world view, we need to have a holistic world view. The environment is a spiritual issue. There are issues of justice. My abuse and neglect of my environment has huge negative consequences for my neighbor not just down the street but around the world. My waste shows that I don't really care for what is right. I don't care about what is the Lord's. I don't really love my neighbor.
Dominion means to be in charge of something. It means to be responsible for something. The world is not our world, it is God’s world. God has given us dominion by giving us responsibility.
And, like we need to have human dignity, we need to treat God’s world with dignity and respect. That is what having dominion really means.
The last thing is this. The Psalm begins and ends the same way with the prayer:
O Lord our God, how majestic is your name over all the earth!
This is a little reminder of something.
There are two things that give me a sense of faith and security when I walk into the pulpit each Sunday.
The first is the strong faith there is a God; the second is the secure knowledge that I am not God.
I sometimes think of miracles that Jesus did. Turning water into wine and doing so quietly. Only his mother and the chief steward knew. If I had done that I’d have made sure everyone knew so that I would constantly be invited to dinner parties to provide the wine.
The feeding of the 5000? Only the apostles really knew what had taken place. If I had been Jesus I’d rent out our facility for banquets since it would take so little effort and expense to provide food for everyone.
And the really big ones like raising people from the dead, curing blindness, deafness, and people being lame.
Plus the self serving things. The Giants would go undefeated and the Dallas Cowboys would go winless. The New York Mets would be the first undefeated baseball team and the New York Yankees would be the first winless team ever.
You get the point. I thank God that I am not God; and really, we all should. God is pure goodness and pure love and we, despite being much like God in so many ways, are not.
Psalm 8 is a tribute to the dignity and goodness of humanity, but it is also a reminder that, as people we are always people. We are never ONLY human, we are grandly human----with a constant reminder that we are not God.
Sunday, July 03, 2011
The Songs of Israel----Choosing God’s Heritage
The Songs of Israel----Choosing God’s Heritage
Text: Psalm 33
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
July 3, 2011
One of my favorite parts of the Bible are the Psalms. The Psalms are usually called the Songs of Israel because they were, at their heart, songs or hymns about people’s relationship with God.
Psalms are not, like so much of the Bible, stories or things happening to people or explicit teachings about God. Psalms are more a reflection of where people were at in their journeys in their relationships with God. Years ago they were all attributed to David, but in reality they were songs that evolved over a period of time.
Last week I preached on a Psalm of lament, and this week is a Psalm of praise and petition. And the praise in this Psalm is really sort of unique because it speaks of the glory of God while asking for a blessing of a nation.
in many ways, about being a nation dedicated to God.
The Psalmist says, Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage and earlier states, simply how this happens by stating: For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
The Psalm says some other interesting things. Listen to these words: “The Lord brings counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the people.” In short, the opinion of people of God’s plans is of no significance; we most often interpret God’s plans according to our own will, not according to God’s. So God frustrates our plans.
I was thinking about this and I began, of course, thinking about the 4th of July.
July 4th, 1776 is the nation’s birthday and the marking of the reading of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. The 4th of July, however, in American history has an other interesting thing connected to it.
On July 4th, 1787 Philadelphia was again a gathering place and again, a place of crisis and change. The country was young and the guiding document of the nation, The Articles of Confederation, was, to be kind, a mess. So during a four month period of time a group of people, many of them leaders in the Revolution, were in Philadelphia and having clandestine and illegal meetings to overturn the Articles of Confederation and develop a new constitution. July 4th was a break day and they gathered for a prayer service at Race Street Church, now known as Old First Reformed Church, United Church of Christ, in Philadelphia. Many people from St. Marks have toured that historic church.
But what is telling is, that in 1787 the people in Philadelphia had come to a realization. In their yearning for independence and more rights, they found something out. They realized with freedom came responsibility. In many ways, when I read this Psalm and ponder what it reflects about asking for the blessing of a nation, it implies something very deep. It implies responsibility. And it implies, from a Biblical perspective, two kinds of responsibility.
The first is personal responsibility.
Sometimes it seems that we can be tempted to overdo faith. I say this very carefully, because it would probably be better to say that we often have a tendency to under do personal responsibility. There is really no way to have too much faith, assuming we understand faith the way God does. Often people view faith is doing nothing in order to let God do everything for them. For example, there is a story of an out-of-work man who believed that God was going to provide a new job for him.
An friend asked the man, "So, have you been looking for a job?"
The man said, "Nope."
"Well, do you have a resume?"
"Nope."
"Are you networking? Out trying to meet people?"
"Nope."
"Well, uh . . . what exactly are you doing?"
"I'm trying not to freak out while I'm hoping that God will bring me a job."
People do this all the time on so many different ways. It is so easy to pass off responsibility to another. Famous people say something really, really foolish or untrue and then claim they are victims of those who reported that they said something foolish or untrue. It is easier to blame others for our mistakes than it is to take responsibility for them.
But, one way we honor God and live as a nation that honors God is by taking personality responsibility.
The second part of responsibility is recognizing that we have responsibility for others.
One of the first stories of responsibility for others comes in the story of Cain and Abel. We all know that Cain killed Abel but that’s not where the story ends. God queries Cain as to the whereabouts of Abel and Cain asks one of the foundational questions in the Bible? “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The rest of the Bible is the answer to the question. It’s a very long answer, but it is an answer that can be summarized in one word. “Yes.”
We are keepers of our brothers and sisters. We are responsible for one another.
Some people have difficulties through their own actions or inactions. Some people have difficulties because of health, bad luck, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, etc. Some people don’t take the responsibility they ought to. The reasons really do not matter. The Bible never speaks of helping the ‘deserving’ poor; just those in need and it calls us into account when we do not.
Often this responsibility for others morphs into a political issue but it is not. The political issue is HOW we care for those in need, HOW we live that responsibility out. That we do is a matter of faith.
Tomorrow is the 235th birthday of our nation and amid the patriotic songs, the fireworks, and the cook outs, we hear the words of the Psalms:
Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage
We choose God’s heritage when we take responsibility both for ourselves and our brothers and sisters. That is the way we do and live lives of justice.
Text: Psalm 33
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
July 3, 2011
One of my favorite parts of the Bible are the Psalms. The Psalms are usually called the Songs of Israel because they were, at their heart, songs or hymns about people’s relationship with God.
Psalms are not, like so much of the Bible, stories or things happening to people or explicit teachings about God. Psalms are more a reflection of where people were at in their journeys in their relationships with God. Years ago they were all attributed to David, but in reality they were songs that evolved over a period of time.
Last week I preached on a Psalm of lament, and this week is a Psalm of praise and petition. And the praise in this Psalm is really sort of unique because it speaks of the glory of God while asking for a blessing of a nation.
in many ways, about being a nation dedicated to God.
The Psalmist says, Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage and earlier states, simply how this happens by stating: For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
The Psalm says some other interesting things. Listen to these words: “The Lord brings counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the people.” In short, the opinion of people of God’s plans is of no significance; we most often interpret God’s plans according to our own will, not according to God’s. So God frustrates our plans.
I was thinking about this and I began, of course, thinking about the 4th of July.
July 4th, 1776 is the nation’s birthday and the marking of the reading of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. The 4th of July, however, in American history has an other interesting thing connected to it.
On July 4th, 1787 Philadelphia was again a gathering place and again, a place of crisis and change. The country was young and the guiding document of the nation, The Articles of Confederation, was, to be kind, a mess. So during a four month period of time a group of people, many of them leaders in the Revolution, were in Philadelphia and having clandestine and illegal meetings to overturn the Articles of Confederation and develop a new constitution. July 4th was a break day and they gathered for a prayer service at Race Street Church, now known as Old First Reformed Church, United Church of Christ, in Philadelphia. Many people from St. Marks have toured that historic church.
But what is telling is, that in 1787 the people in Philadelphia had come to a realization. In their yearning for independence and more rights, they found something out. They realized with freedom came responsibility. In many ways, when I read this Psalm and ponder what it reflects about asking for the blessing of a nation, it implies something very deep. It implies responsibility. And it implies, from a Biblical perspective, two kinds of responsibility.
The first is personal responsibility.
Sometimes it seems that we can be tempted to overdo faith. I say this very carefully, because it would probably be better to say that we often have a tendency to under do personal responsibility. There is really no way to have too much faith, assuming we understand faith the way God does. Often people view faith is doing nothing in order to let God do everything for them. For example, there is a story of an out-of-work man who believed that God was going to provide a new job for him.
An friend asked the man, "So, have you been looking for a job?"
The man said, "Nope."
"Well, do you have a resume?"
"Nope."
"Are you networking? Out trying to meet people?"
"Nope."
"Well, uh . . . what exactly are you doing?"
"I'm trying not to freak out while I'm hoping that God will bring me a job."
People do this all the time on so many different ways. It is so easy to pass off responsibility to another. Famous people say something really, really foolish or untrue and then claim they are victims of those who reported that they said something foolish or untrue. It is easier to blame others for our mistakes than it is to take responsibility for them.
But, one way we honor God and live as a nation that honors God is by taking personality responsibility.
The second part of responsibility is recognizing that we have responsibility for others.
One of the first stories of responsibility for others comes in the story of Cain and Abel. We all know that Cain killed Abel but that’s not where the story ends. God queries Cain as to the whereabouts of Abel and Cain asks one of the foundational questions in the Bible? “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The rest of the Bible is the answer to the question. It’s a very long answer, but it is an answer that can be summarized in one word. “Yes.”
We are keepers of our brothers and sisters. We are responsible for one another.
Some people have difficulties through their own actions or inactions. Some people have difficulties because of health, bad luck, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, etc. Some people don’t take the responsibility they ought to. The reasons really do not matter. The Bible never speaks of helping the ‘deserving’ poor; just those in need and it calls us into account when we do not.
Often this responsibility for others morphs into a political issue but it is not. The political issue is HOW we care for those in need, HOW we live that responsibility out. That we do is a matter of faith.
Tomorrow is the 235th birthday of our nation and amid the patriotic songs, the fireworks, and the cook outs, we hear the words of the Psalms:
Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage
We choose God’s heritage when we take responsibility both for ourselves and our brothers and sisters. That is the way we do and live lives of justice.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Matthew Fox's Book, "The Pope's War"
I recently read the book, The Pope's War: Why Ratzinger's Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved , by the theologian Matthew Fox.
Fox was a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Dominicans and a prolific author and theologian who mostly covered the topic of spirituality. He was widely read and widely admired and was one of the favorites of many of us while attending the seminary.
When John Paul II was the Pope he revived a critical view of theological teachings and appointed Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the current Pope, to be in charge. In the mid 1980's seminary faculties were purged of professors and dozens of theologians had their work condemned and many of them were silenced. Fox ended up being one of them. Ratzinger ordered the Dominicans to review Fox’s work and they cleared the theologian. Ratzinger dismissed their work and ordered a new review and then, instead of allowing the new review to take place, banned Fox’s writings and eventually forced the Dominicans to oust Fox.
Matthew Fox was invited to join the Episcopal Church where he serves as a priest and continues his theological writing.
Fox’s book is essentially a chronicle of what happened to him and many others and how the traditional scholarly religious orders of the Jesuits and Dominicans were largely marginalized, and groups such as Opus Dei and the Legion of Christ, were thrust into prominence. Fox makes the argument, and I believe validates the argument, that John Paul and Ratzinger, in tandem, narrowed the diversity of Roman Catholicism, silenced talk of real ecumenism, and, with their leadership selections, assured that such Popes as John XXIII and Paul VI never appear again.
Fox, in my mind, makes some very compelling points. The Roman Catholic Church has lost a great deal of theological credibility by silencing, in many cases, its most brilliant theological minds, and has very much lost its moral credibility in terms of sexuality. Their silence, John Paul’s and Ratzinger’s ignoring of the many sexual abuses coming to them for a very long time, and ‘rescue’ of Bernard Law from Boston authorities when it was becoming painfully obvious that Law would be justifiably charged with a criminal cover up, are, in and of themselves criminal. Additionally, groups like Opus Dei and the Legion of Christ, raising money for the ‘poor’ and using it for political influence is obscene.
I had several thoughts.
One, while Matthew Fox is an Episcopal priest right now, and is grateful for the freedom he has now, in his heart, one has a sense he is still a Dominican friar who laments the loss of a lover who dumped him. I have seen this in a number of estranged Roman Catholic clergy who long to be clergy in Roman Catholic churches and no longer can be because they committed the unforgivable crimes of falling in love with women or men and chose to be honest about it.
Secondly, it is sad, tragic really, how these theologians have been silenced. While God is perfect, people are not, and our views of God are not. It really does not matter if we are a learned theologian, a member of the clergy, a random person, or the Pope, we all have imperfect views of God. It strikes me as impossible to condemn people for their points of view. Difference is not deficience, it is more about creativity and learning. Thomas Aquinas opened his mind to EVERYTHING that was written in his era. We should be able to do the same.
Thirdly, it reminds me that when I left the Roman Catholic Church, I left it. There are things about it I still love and cherish, but I am, at heart, a United Church of Christ minister. It was reminded, reading Matthew Fox’s book, how appreciative I am of m own denomination.
Ultimately, having said all this, there are many Roman Catholic people who are very happy with their denominational family and tradition. While many view the prospect of early sainthood for John Paul II as a travesty, others view it as wonderful. The Roman Catholic Church and Roman Catholic people have a right to who they are and what they choose to believe. Some of us are long gone. Matthew Fox reminds us that there are many people, standing on the outside looking in, and wishing it could be very different. While my heart ultimately breaks for Fox in reading this, down deep, I would invite him to embrace the people who have embraced him and not look back.
Fox was a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Dominicans and a prolific author and theologian who mostly covered the topic of spirituality. He was widely read and widely admired and was one of the favorites of many of us while attending the seminary.
When John Paul II was the Pope he revived a critical view of theological teachings and appointed Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the current Pope, to be in charge. In the mid 1980's seminary faculties were purged of professors and dozens of theologians had their work condemned and many of them were silenced. Fox ended up being one of them. Ratzinger ordered the Dominicans to review Fox’s work and they cleared the theologian. Ratzinger dismissed their work and ordered a new review and then, instead of allowing the new review to take place, banned Fox’s writings and eventually forced the Dominicans to oust Fox.
Matthew Fox was invited to join the Episcopal Church where he serves as a priest and continues his theological writing.
Fox’s book is essentially a chronicle of what happened to him and many others and how the traditional scholarly religious orders of the Jesuits and Dominicans were largely marginalized, and groups such as Opus Dei and the Legion of Christ, were thrust into prominence. Fox makes the argument, and I believe validates the argument, that John Paul and Ratzinger, in tandem, narrowed the diversity of Roman Catholicism, silenced talk of real ecumenism, and, with their leadership selections, assured that such Popes as John XXIII and Paul VI never appear again.
Fox, in my mind, makes some very compelling points. The Roman Catholic Church has lost a great deal of theological credibility by silencing, in many cases, its most brilliant theological minds, and has very much lost its moral credibility in terms of sexuality. Their silence, John Paul’s and Ratzinger’s ignoring of the many sexual abuses coming to them for a very long time, and ‘rescue’ of Bernard Law from Boston authorities when it was becoming painfully obvious that Law would be justifiably charged with a criminal cover up, are, in and of themselves criminal. Additionally, groups like Opus Dei and the Legion of Christ, raising money for the ‘poor’ and using it for political influence is obscene.
I had several thoughts.
One, while Matthew Fox is an Episcopal priest right now, and is grateful for the freedom he has now, in his heart, one has a sense he is still a Dominican friar who laments the loss of a lover who dumped him. I have seen this in a number of estranged Roman Catholic clergy who long to be clergy in Roman Catholic churches and no longer can be because they committed the unforgivable crimes of falling in love with women or men and chose to be honest about it.
Secondly, it is sad, tragic really, how these theologians have been silenced. While God is perfect, people are not, and our views of God are not. It really does not matter if we are a learned theologian, a member of the clergy, a random person, or the Pope, we all have imperfect views of God. It strikes me as impossible to condemn people for their points of view. Difference is not deficience, it is more about creativity and learning. Thomas Aquinas opened his mind to EVERYTHING that was written in his era. We should be able to do the same.
Thirdly, it reminds me that when I left the Roman Catholic Church, I left it. There are things about it I still love and cherish, but I am, at heart, a United Church of Christ minister. It was reminded, reading Matthew Fox’s book, how appreciative I am of m own denomination.
Ultimately, having said all this, there are many Roman Catholic people who are very happy with their denominational family and tradition. While many view the prospect of early sainthood for John Paul II as a travesty, others view it as wonderful. The Roman Catholic Church and Roman Catholic people have a right to who they are and what they choose to believe. Some of us are long gone. Matthew Fox reminds us that there are many people, standing on the outside looking in, and wishing it could be very different. While my heart ultimately breaks for Fox in reading this, down deep, I would invite him to embrace the people who have embraced him and not look back.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
The Songs of Israel---Longing for God Sermon 7-26-11
The Songs of Israel---Longing for God
Text: Psalm 42
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
June 26, 2011
One of my favorite parts of the Bible are the Psalms. The Psalms are usually called the Songs of Israel because they were, at their heart, songs or hymns about people’s relationship with God.
Psalms are not, like so much of the Bible, stories or things happening to people or explicit teachings about God. Psalms are more a reflection of where people were at in their journeys in their relationships with God. Years ago they were all attributed to David, but in reality they were songs that evolved over a period of time.
What they are, at best, is a reflection of the journey of God’s people in relationship to God. Sometimes they reflect thoughts about God, most often they reflect feelings about God. Often they refer to feelings of joy or sorrow, or total frustration. They can be songs of joy or songs of comfort, or songs of despair----and this is what makes the Psalms so real. They reflect the real thoughts and real feelings of God’s people.
I knew a minister colleague years ago who, whenever you asked him how he was, would say, “Wonderful! This is the day the Lord has made!” He was either the most upbeat person of all time, or he, somehow refused to admit how he felt or was unwilling to admit how he felt. So I stopped asking him how he felt. The same goes for people who, when you ask them how they are, give you a 30 minute lecture on how miserable their life is. For some people, perhaps this is true, but most of the time when the response is a 30 minute lecture on how miserable life is most of it is just whining. I stop asking them how they are as well.
The Psalms reflect real thoughts and real feelings of real people. Today I’m starting a sermon series on several Psalms.
We begin with Psalm 42. It begins very poetically with the image of a dear longing for flowing water as the writer’s soul longs for God. Behind the poetry, however, there is the Psalm composer who feels very remote and isolated from God. Three times the writer asks the question, “Why are you cast down my soul?” Within the heart of the Psalmist there is pain and the pain is a sense of bewilderment asking the question: Where is God?
The author of the Psalm was probably in exile and he was recalling the days of life when life was good in Jerusalem. Now, he is far from the good life in Jerusalem and surrounded by people who hold him captive and mock him about his God. “If your God is so good, how did you end up as our captive?” The question would be asked mockingly, and the writer of the Psalm himself wonders, where is God?
There are several things to be observed in this Psalm.
The first is this. God allows us, even invites us, to be real.
First, this Psalms is a Psalm of lament. It is bemoaning what seems to be the absence of God in the Psalmist’s life. He laments and asks over and over again, where is God. He even says that the people who are tormenting him are asking him the same question. Where is your God? If your God is so great, how come we, with our allegedly inferior gods, have defeated you and that you are our captive???
Of all the things the Bible tells us one of the things the Bible never once tells us is that life is fair. In the Book of Ecclesiastes the writer tells us that the rain falls on the just and the unjustice; on the righteous and the sinners.
We live in a world where God’s will does not always prevail. We all pray for God’s will, but so often God’s will does not take place. The wrong people get jobs, some people do not get better, and injustice triumphs over justice.
In World War II, Arthur Harris, often known by his nickname, “Bomber” Harris, was the head of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command. He hated Hitler and Nazi Germany with a passion and was determined to bomb, and fire bomb, Germany into a pile of rubble. In 1945 he ordered what most historians would one day call a ‘raid too far,’ when he ordered the fire bombing of the German city of Dresden. Dresden had no military value. Germany was defeated and the city of Dresden was clogged with refugees attempting to flee the oncoming Russian Army. The city was destroyed and over 50,000 German civilians were burned to death in the bombing.
During this one man asked the question, “Why is God doing this to us?” Another man responded, “God is not doing this to us. People make wars.”
God allows us to lament because there are times when it is all we can do. We are allowed to be real with God.
Secondly, there are times when long for God because God seems to have been taken away from us by others. Often, there is injustice in the world and that injustice is blamed on God.
Most people are very aware that in the years leading up to the American Civil War there was a great deal of political tension within the United States. The country was being torn apart over the ethical issue of slavery. Was it legal for human beings to actually own other human beings? Did people of color have less rights than white people?
That debate took place in churches. Tragically people used the Bible as a battering stick against people of color. They found several passages and narrowly defined them to argue that slavery was God’s will, while overlooking the rest of the Bible that spoke of equality and justice for all people. It was tragic. Christians argued for inequality. Churches were split over it and many people abandoned churches where equality and justice were preached.
In the early part of the 20th century the debate lined up in exactly the same way. This time it was over the issue of the rights of women.
They found several passages and narrowly defined them to argue that misogyny was God’s will, while overlooking the rest of the Bible that spoke of equality and justice for all people. It was tragic. Christians argued for inequality. Churches were split over it and many people abandoned churches where equality and justice were preached.
And now, the debated has lined up in exactly the same way over the rights of all people to marry and have civil rights as couples. The legalization of marriage for all people that was passed in New York on Friday night was preached against, again, by many churches.
They found several passages and narrowly defined them to argue that being anti gay was God’s will, while overlooking the rest of the Bible that spoke of equality and justice for all people. It is tragic. Christians argue for inequality. Churches have split over it and many people abandoned churches where equality and justice were preached.
So there is a longing for God by people who are oppressed because, like the writer of the Psalm, they believe they have been abandoned by God.
The reality is that they are not abandoned by God; they have been abandoned by many of God’s people and it is tragic.
The last thing is this. When we lament, at its core, a lament is a cry of hope.
The Psalm is a calling out for God. It is a longing for God. It is a yearning for God. It is based on the premise and the heart felt belief that God is there, listening and caring. It is a recognition that there is a God who longs for us just as much as we long for God.
The last verse of the Psalm is this:
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.
It is a song, a reminder that our hope is always in God; and God will be our help.
Text: Psalm 42
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
June 26, 2011
One of my favorite parts of the Bible are the Psalms. The Psalms are usually called the Songs of Israel because they were, at their heart, songs or hymns about people’s relationship with God.
Psalms are not, like so much of the Bible, stories or things happening to people or explicit teachings about God. Psalms are more a reflection of where people were at in their journeys in their relationships with God. Years ago they were all attributed to David, but in reality they were songs that evolved over a period of time.
What they are, at best, is a reflection of the journey of God’s people in relationship to God. Sometimes they reflect thoughts about God, most often they reflect feelings about God. Often they refer to feelings of joy or sorrow, or total frustration. They can be songs of joy or songs of comfort, or songs of despair----and this is what makes the Psalms so real. They reflect the real thoughts and real feelings of God’s people.
I knew a minister colleague years ago who, whenever you asked him how he was, would say, “Wonderful! This is the day the Lord has made!” He was either the most upbeat person of all time, or he, somehow refused to admit how he felt or was unwilling to admit how he felt. So I stopped asking him how he felt. The same goes for people who, when you ask them how they are, give you a 30 minute lecture on how miserable their life is. For some people, perhaps this is true, but most of the time when the response is a 30 minute lecture on how miserable life is most of it is just whining. I stop asking them how they are as well.
The Psalms reflect real thoughts and real feelings of real people. Today I’m starting a sermon series on several Psalms.
We begin with Psalm 42. It begins very poetically with the image of a dear longing for flowing water as the writer’s soul longs for God. Behind the poetry, however, there is the Psalm composer who feels very remote and isolated from God. Three times the writer asks the question, “Why are you cast down my soul?” Within the heart of the Psalmist there is pain and the pain is a sense of bewilderment asking the question: Where is God?
The author of the Psalm was probably in exile and he was recalling the days of life when life was good in Jerusalem. Now, he is far from the good life in Jerusalem and surrounded by people who hold him captive and mock him about his God. “If your God is so good, how did you end up as our captive?” The question would be asked mockingly, and the writer of the Psalm himself wonders, where is God?
There are several things to be observed in this Psalm.
The first is this. God allows us, even invites us, to be real.
First, this Psalms is a Psalm of lament. It is bemoaning what seems to be the absence of God in the Psalmist’s life. He laments and asks over and over again, where is God. He even says that the people who are tormenting him are asking him the same question. Where is your God? If your God is so great, how come we, with our allegedly inferior gods, have defeated you and that you are our captive???
Of all the things the Bible tells us one of the things the Bible never once tells us is that life is fair. In the Book of Ecclesiastes the writer tells us that the rain falls on the just and the unjustice; on the righteous and the sinners.
We live in a world where God’s will does not always prevail. We all pray for God’s will, but so often God’s will does not take place. The wrong people get jobs, some people do not get better, and injustice triumphs over justice.
In World War II, Arthur Harris, often known by his nickname, “Bomber” Harris, was the head of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command. He hated Hitler and Nazi Germany with a passion and was determined to bomb, and fire bomb, Germany into a pile of rubble. In 1945 he ordered what most historians would one day call a ‘raid too far,’ when he ordered the fire bombing of the German city of Dresden. Dresden had no military value. Germany was defeated and the city of Dresden was clogged with refugees attempting to flee the oncoming Russian Army. The city was destroyed and over 50,000 German civilians were burned to death in the bombing.
During this one man asked the question, “Why is God doing this to us?” Another man responded, “God is not doing this to us. People make wars.”
God allows us to lament because there are times when it is all we can do. We are allowed to be real with God.
Secondly, there are times when long for God because God seems to have been taken away from us by others. Often, there is injustice in the world and that injustice is blamed on God.
Most people are very aware that in the years leading up to the American Civil War there was a great deal of political tension within the United States. The country was being torn apart over the ethical issue of slavery. Was it legal for human beings to actually own other human beings? Did people of color have less rights than white people?
That debate took place in churches. Tragically people used the Bible as a battering stick against people of color. They found several passages and narrowly defined them to argue that slavery was God’s will, while overlooking the rest of the Bible that spoke of equality and justice for all people. It was tragic. Christians argued for inequality. Churches were split over it and many people abandoned churches where equality and justice were preached.
In the early part of the 20th century the debate lined up in exactly the same way. This time it was over the issue of the rights of women.
They found several passages and narrowly defined them to argue that misogyny was God’s will, while overlooking the rest of the Bible that spoke of equality and justice for all people. It was tragic. Christians argued for inequality. Churches were split over it and many people abandoned churches where equality and justice were preached.
And now, the debated has lined up in exactly the same way over the rights of all people to marry and have civil rights as couples. The legalization of marriage for all people that was passed in New York on Friday night was preached against, again, by many churches.
They found several passages and narrowly defined them to argue that being anti gay was God’s will, while overlooking the rest of the Bible that spoke of equality and justice for all people. It is tragic. Christians argue for inequality. Churches have split over it and many people abandoned churches where equality and justice were preached.
So there is a longing for God by people who are oppressed because, like the writer of the Psalm, they believe they have been abandoned by God.
The reality is that they are not abandoned by God; they have been abandoned by many of God’s people and it is tragic.
The last thing is this. When we lament, at its core, a lament is a cry of hope.
The Psalm is a calling out for God. It is a longing for God. It is a yearning for God. It is based on the premise and the heart felt belief that God is there, listening and caring. It is a recognition that there is a God who longs for us just as much as we long for God.
The last verse of the Psalm is this:
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.
It is a song, a reminder that our hope is always in God; and God will be our help.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
God Bless Craig (Sermon for Father's Day!)
God Bless Craig
Text: Ephesians 6:1-4
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
June 19, 2011
In the Manzo family lore, there is a story, a true story, that has been passed on and it’s about my Dad.
My brother was born in August of 1957. Several weeks after his birth, my brother was Baptized and people were coming to our home for a party after the Baptism was held at church. My Dad went to the bakery and ordered a special cake in honor of the day. On the cake, he had the baker put the words, “God Bless Craig.” The baker wasn’t really sure how to spell ‘Craig’ so my Dad spelled it out for him.
The day of the Baptism came and the cake was taken out, and there, perfectly written on the cake were the words, “God Bless Craig.” Everything was great except for one tiny little detail. My brother’s name is Mark. I do have a cousin named Craig and evidently my Dad, who was legendary at messing up names, was thinking of ‘Craig’ and not Mark.
We never really knew how far this piece of family lore had gone until many years later when my Grandmother died in 1993. At the funeral home my sister’s childhood friend, Kelly, came to the funeral home and my sister was introducing her to family members. When she introduced Kelly to Craig, Kelly’s eyes lit up and she said, “Oh wow. God bless Craig!!!”
Dad died in 1997 and at the funeral home we were standing around talking and laughing, and thinking about his immortal blunder that lives on in the life of the Manzo family.
Sometimes, in life, the role of being a Dad is to bring comic relief to a family. The story of my Dad and the cake, however, is a story with humor, but underlies something much bigger. My Dad was a really good Dad. He cared for and loved every member of his family and took care of everyone with everything he had. That is why we found the story so much fun and endearing. It brings back great memories.
Sadly, fatherhood is a tough subject. If there is a parent who bails on a family, most of the time it’s the father. If there is a parent who fails to take responsibility for the care, raising, and loving children, it’s usually the father. I read a statistic the other day that 47% of families with children at home are single parent families, with the largest percentage of the single parents being mothers. Often fathers make themselves the people out of the family picture.
And society doesn’t always treat fathers seriously.
In the early 1980's there was a movie made entitled Mr. Mom, and it was about the unemployed Dad staying home as the homemaker while Mom went to work every day. Mom, despite some starts and stops did just fine in the world of business, but Dad was seen as a total moron at home who could do nothing right. Dad was not taken seriously.
Recently AT&T has had a commercial that really drives me crazy. The Dad, in the commercial does not understand the wireless Internet service in his home and spends most of the commercial being lecture by his wife and daughter like he’s a total moron. Dad is not taken seriously.
St. Paul, in some interesting ways, helps redefine fathers, and in doing so helps redefine families.
Ephesians is, for many, a troubling letter when St. Paul begins speaking about family life. He precedes his words today with the famous passage on women submitting to their husbands----but it is, in many ways, a stunning passage.
When the letter hit the Ephesians they must have been shell-shocked. They wouldn’t have been shell shocked by women submitting to their husbands. Women were, at that time, property of their husbands. They had as many rights as a goat or a cow. Life for women in that era was, in a word, grim. Submission and often even abuse were part of their lives. It was a dreadful time for so many women.
But when the words of Paul came and read, “husbands, love your wives,” and later, “do not provoke your children to anger,” St. Paul was walking on new ground. People did not tell men, in that day and age, to live in a family in such a manner. Men were in charge. Real men didn’t eat quiche, didn’t love their wives, didn’t have to respect their children, or even have any emotional bond with their families at all.
But Paul is saying the opposite. Real men, do all these things. Real men do love their families and have emotional bonds with their family members. And quiche is optional.
But this day reminds us of things beyond Dads. It is a reminder to us about how we adults interact with children in our society.
This whole concept of ‘bringing them up,’ is not a passive process. It’s an active, every day kind of thing. Children do not raise themselves.
Here is one of the great myths of society. I have heard, many, many times, people make the statement that they were not going to raise their children in a church tradition; they want the child to grow up and make the decision for himself or herself.
It sounds good in theory but, in essence, when we raise children in nothing, they will choose nothing. If a child has never gone to church before then there is no reason to believe they will start going later. Increasingly, the younger generation is not only unchurched, but not even close to having a comprehension of a life of faith.
Every time we Worship and we pray, we end the Morning Prayer with the Lord’s Prayer. It is not printed in the bulletin and people do not ordinarily go looking in their hymnals for the prayer. We know it. We have been raised with it. The words are used in church so often that we pray the prayer by heart.
After Funeral Services, most Committal Services at the grave side end with the Lord’s Prayer. Most of the time, for these services, I have the words printed in the program because many people in younger generations do not know the words.
The Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer of Our Savior, the prayer Jesus taught us, is becoming less and less known. Increasingly, in our society, more people know what is on a Big Mac than they know the words of this prayer from Jesus.
The problem is at home and in church because we have forgotten to direct children to God as Paul reminds us. And part of the way we assure children are here is to be here ourselves.
A church in Florida had been having monthly family events for the whole community in an effort to reach new people. They were having a problem, however, with some parents dropping off children but not coming themselves.
To combat this problem, they issued the following announcement: "The Magic of Lassie, a film for the whole family, will be shown Sunday at 5 P.M. in the fellowship hall. Free puppies will be given to all children not accompanied by parents."
For the past several days I have been pondering being a Dad.
On my Facebook page I posted a picture back from 1977 when I graduated from college. My sister, who was just finishing the 8th grade was there along with my parents who, at the time, were both 46. At age 46 they were 10 years younger than I am now.
It was a big day for me but, I suspect, an even bigger day for them. Their oldest child had graduated from college, something neither of them or anyone in their families had done before. I had an opportunity they did not have and they supported me through it, as they did my brother and sister after me. It was a big deal.
My parents are both gone now. Dad died in 1997 and Mom died 5 1/2 years ago. It's hard to believe. You never really ponder life without your parents until they are no longer with you.
The biggest lesson I learned from them is this. Love your children. My daughters are now adults and neither one lives at home with us now. One lives in town and one lives 7 hours away. But they are still, in so many ways, at the core of my being, deep in my heart. I love them dearly and profoundly. And I learned to love them from my Mom and Dad.
In many ways, days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are universal days that remind us of love. Sometimes, for many people, the love of their parents was lacking or deficient or even gone. For others, it was profound. For each of us, no matter what our circumstances in life, we are challenged to love others. I learned about love, the love of God, the love of other people, the love of my wife and children, from my parents. And on this day, I celebrate and remember their love, as I attempt to love as well as they did.
Text: Ephesians 6:1-4
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
June 19, 2011
In the Manzo family lore, there is a story, a true story, that has been passed on and it’s about my Dad.
My brother was born in August of 1957. Several weeks after his birth, my brother was Baptized and people were coming to our home for a party after the Baptism was held at church. My Dad went to the bakery and ordered a special cake in honor of the day. On the cake, he had the baker put the words, “God Bless Craig.” The baker wasn’t really sure how to spell ‘Craig’ so my Dad spelled it out for him.
The day of the Baptism came and the cake was taken out, and there, perfectly written on the cake were the words, “God Bless Craig.” Everything was great except for one tiny little detail. My brother’s name is Mark. I do have a cousin named Craig and evidently my Dad, who was legendary at messing up names, was thinking of ‘Craig’ and not Mark.
We never really knew how far this piece of family lore had gone until many years later when my Grandmother died in 1993. At the funeral home my sister’s childhood friend, Kelly, came to the funeral home and my sister was introducing her to family members. When she introduced Kelly to Craig, Kelly’s eyes lit up and she said, “Oh wow. God bless Craig!!!”
Dad died in 1997 and at the funeral home we were standing around talking and laughing, and thinking about his immortal blunder that lives on in the life of the Manzo family.
Sometimes, in life, the role of being a Dad is to bring comic relief to a family. The story of my Dad and the cake, however, is a story with humor, but underlies something much bigger. My Dad was a really good Dad. He cared for and loved every member of his family and took care of everyone with everything he had. That is why we found the story so much fun and endearing. It brings back great memories.
Sadly, fatherhood is a tough subject. If there is a parent who bails on a family, most of the time it’s the father. If there is a parent who fails to take responsibility for the care, raising, and loving children, it’s usually the father. I read a statistic the other day that 47% of families with children at home are single parent families, with the largest percentage of the single parents being mothers. Often fathers make themselves the people out of the family picture.
And society doesn’t always treat fathers seriously.
In the early 1980's there was a movie made entitled Mr. Mom, and it was about the unemployed Dad staying home as the homemaker while Mom went to work every day. Mom, despite some starts and stops did just fine in the world of business, but Dad was seen as a total moron at home who could do nothing right. Dad was not taken seriously.
Recently AT&T has had a commercial that really drives me crazy. The Dad, in the commercial does not understand the wireless Internet service in his home and spends most of the commercial being lecture by his wife and daughter like he’s a total moron. Dad is not taken seriously.
St. Paul, in some interesting ways, helps redefine fathers, and in doing so helps redefine families.
Ephesians is, for many, a troubling letter when St. Paul begins speaking about family life. He precedes his words today with the famous passage on women submitting to their husbands----but it is, in many ways, a stunning passage.
When the letter hit the Ephesians they must have been shell-shocked. They wouldn’t have been shell shocked by women submitting to their husbands. Women were, at that time, property of their husbands. They had as many rights as a goat or a cow. Life for women in that era was, in a word, grim. Submission and often even abuse were part of their lives. It was a dreadful time for so many women.
But when the words of Paul came and read, “husbands, love your wives,” and later, “do not provoke your children to anger,” St. Paul was walking on new ground. People did not tell men, in that day and age, to live in a family in such a manner. Men were in charge. Real men didn’t eat quiche, didn’t love their wives, didn’t have to respect their children, or even have any emotional bond with their families at all.
But Paul is saying the opposite. Real men, do all these things. Real men do love their families and have emotional bonds with their family members. And quiche is optional.
But this day reminds us of things beyond Dads. It is a reminder to us about how we adults interact with children in our society.
This whole concept of ‘bringing them up,’ is not a passive process. It’s an active, every day kind of thing. Children do not raise themselves.
Here is one of the great myths of society. I have heard, many, many times, people make the statement that they were not going to raise their children in a church tradition; they want the child to grow up and make the decision for himself or herself.
It sounds good in theory but, in essence, when we raise children in nothing, they will choose nothing. If a child has never gone to church before then there is no reason to believe they will start going later. Increasingly, the younger generation is not only unchurched, but not even close to having a comprehension of a life of faith.
Every time we Worship and we pray, we end the Morning Prayer with the Lord’s Prayer. It is not printed in the bulletin and people do not ordinarily go looking in their hymnals for the prayer. We know it. We have been raised with it. The words are used in church so often that we pray the prayer by heart.
After Funeral Services, most Committal Services at the grave side end with the Lord’s Prayer. Most of the time, for these services, I have the words printed in the program because many people in younger generations do not know the words.
The Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer of Our Savior, the prayer Jesus taught us, is becoming less and less known. Increasingly, in our society, more people know what is on a Big Mac than they know the words of this prayer from Jesus.
The problem is at home and in church because we have forgotten to direct children to God as Paul reminds us. And part of the way we assure children are here is to be here ourselves.
A church in Florida had been having monthly family events for the whole community in an effort to reach new people. They were having a problem, however, with some parents dropping off children but not coming themselves.
To combat this problem, they issued the following announcement: "The Magic of Lassie, a film for the whole family, will be shown Sunday at 5 P.M. in the fellowship hall. Free puppies will be given to all children not accompanied by parents."
For the past several days I have been pondering being a Dad.
On my Facebook page I posted a picture back from 1977 when I graduated from college. My sister, who was just finishing the 8th grade was there along with my parents who, at the time, were both 46. At age 46 they were 10 years younger than I am now.
It was a big day for me but, I suspect, an even bigger day for them. Their oldest child had graduated from college, something neither of them or anyone in their families had done before. I had an opportunity they did not have and they supported me through it, as they did my brother and sister after me. It was a big deal.
My parents are both gone now. Dad died in 1997 and Mom died 5 1/2 years ago. It's hard to believe. You never really ponder life without your parents until they are no longer with you.
The biggest lesson I learned from them is this. Love your children. My daughters are now adults and neither one lives at home with us now. One lives in town and one lives 7 hours away. But they are still, in so many ways, at the core of my being, deep in my heart. I love them dearly and profoundly. And I learned to love them from my Mom and Dad.
In many ways, days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are universal days that remind us of love. Sometimes, for many people, the love of their parents was lacking or deficient or even gone. For others, it was profound. For each of us, no matter what our circumstances in life, we are challenged to love others. I learned about love, the love of God, the love of other people, the love of my wife and children, from my parents. And on this day, I celebrate and remember their love, as I attempt to love as well as they did.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Pondering Being a Dad
For the past several days I have been pondering being a Dad.
On my Facebook page I posted a picture back from 1977 when I graduated from college. My sister, who was just finishing the 8th grade was there along with my parents who, at the time, were both 46. At age 46 they were 10 years younger than I am now.
It was a big day for me but, I suspect, an even bigger day for them. Their oldest child had graduated from college, something neither of them or anyone in their families had done before. I had an opportunity they did not have and they supported me through it, as they did my brother and sister after me. It was a big deal.
My parents are both gone now. Dad died in 1997 and Mom died 5 1/2 years ago. It's hard to believe. You never really ponder life without your parents until they are no longer with you.
The biggest lesson I learned from them is this. Love your children. My daughters are now adults and neither one lives at home with us now. One lives in town and one lives 7 hours away. But they are still, in so many ways, at the core of my being, deep in my heart. I love them dearly and profoundly. And I learned to love them from my Mom and Dad.
On my Facebook page I posted a picture back from 1977 when I graduated from college. My sister, who was just finishing the 8th grade was there along with my parents who, at the time, were both 46. At age 46 they were 10 years younger than I am now.
It was a big day for me but, I suspect, an even bigger day for them. Their oldest child had graduated from college, something neither of them or anyone in their families had done before. I had an opportunity they did not have and they supported me through it, as they did my brother and sister after me. It was a big deal.
My parents are both gone now. Dad died in 1997 and Mom died 5 1/2 years ago. It's hard to believe. You never really ponder life without your parents until they are no longer with you.
The biggest lesson I learned from them is this. Love your children. My daughters are now adults and neither one lives at home with us now. One lives in town and one lives 7 hours away. But they are still, in so many ways, at the core of my being, deep in my heart. I love them dearly and profoundly. And I learned to love them from my Mom and Dad.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Be Careful Sermon for June 12, 2011
Be Careful
Acts 2:1-8, 11-13
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
June 12, 2011
The Gospel writer Luke, in his sequel to his Gospel, Acts of the Apostles, recounts for us a wonderful story of the coming of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, they were all gathered and the Holy Spirit moved through their midst. People were filled with energy, enthusiasm, and great understanding. People could actually understand other's speaking on foreign tongues.
Luke says that they were ‘amazed' and ‘perplexed' by all of these remarkable happenings.
We, in Christianity, have something of a dilemma with the Holy Spirit..
We officially like and approve of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, of God, and we officially like and approve of God.
We read such things of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, such as charity, joy, peace, etc., and they all sound good to us and we approve of them.
We read about gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as wisdom, knowledge, understanding, etc., and we approve of them.
So, Christianity officially approves of the Holy Spirit. Obviously. Easiest thing ever said from this pulpit.
Except.
Here’s the thing. Unofficially Christianity has worked hard to keep the Holy Spirit from running loose. Churches organize themselves so that the Holy Spirit doesn’t run amuck in them.
Popes surround themselves with people who will protect the Pope from people saying crazy, Holy Spirit inspired things, and the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church is established in a way that they don’t have to worry too much that the Holy Spirit is going to run amuck.
The United Church of Christ often seems to be the opposite of this because we are so loosely structured. But down deep, in churches, we work hard to structure and organize ourselves in such a way that the Holy Spirit doesn’t get loose. After all, when the Holy Spirit gets loose, strange things begin to happen. And churches don’t like strange things to happen. In all honesty, pastors don’t like strange things to happen at church.
For one, when the Holy Spirit gets loose, the Holy Spirit proves to be disruptive.
We don’t often like disruption in the church. I found a collection some time back of things to do during boring sermons. Listen to these for a moment:
See if a yawn really is contagious.
Slap your neighbor. See if they turn the other cheek. If not, raise your hand and tell the preacher.
Sit in the back row and roll a handful of marbles under the pews ahead of you. After the service, credit yourself with 10 points for every marble that made it to the front.
Using church bulletins or visitor cards for raw materials, design, test and modify a collection of paper airplanes.
Start from the back of the church and try to crawl all the way to the front, under the pews, without being noticed.
When you sing a hymn, sing the wrong verses and see if you can confuse everyone around you. Or, make up new words for hymns. Being in a Roman Catholic seminary we were not allowed to date or get married. There was a psalm response that went, “Arise, come to your God, singing your songs of rejoicing.” A few of us got creative and changed it to “Surprise, there is no God, you left your girlfriend for nothing.”
They stopped using that song.
Most of us wouldn’t do any of that stuff because we’d be afraid of disrupting the Worship Service.
The thing with the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit is disruptive, and not always predictably so. Sometimes the Holy Spirit messes with long held beliefs and such.
In the latter part of the 1940's a Christian ethicist named Bernard Haring began writing about Christian ethics in a way many people found troubling. Haring has been a Roman Catholic priest who was drafted into the German Army to serve as a chaplain. He spent most of the war in Poland as a chaplain to soldiers, but also serving several small churches as their Pastor.
Haring began to write after the war. He began to write that morality was not based on obedience but on personal responsibility and conscience. His observations of what happened in Nazi Germany, where people followed with blind obedience, was that blind obedience was never good. People had to develop their own consciences.
Since much of Christian ethics, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, was based on some sort of concept of obedience, his words fell like a bomb. As time went on, people began to realize the Holy Spirit was at work and individual responsibility and learning about conscience began to pervade teachings. Of course, Haring was loudly condemned by many because he was seen as disruptive. The Holy Spirit disrupts.
Today, two young women have made a decision. They allowed the Holy Spirit to disrupt their lives and they join with us, in celebrating the disruptive presence of the Holy Spirit.
So my words to them are simple. Be careful. When the Holy Spirit lets loose, things happens. Chaos reigns and the world is disrupted.
But God is served!
Acts 2:1-8, 11-13
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
June 12, 2011
The Gospel writer Luke, in his sequel to his Gospel, Acts of the Apostles, recounts for us a wonderful story of the coming of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, they were all gathered and the Holy Spirit moved through their midst. People were filled with energy, enthusiasm, and great understanding. People could actually understand other's speaking on foreign tongues.
Luke says that they were ‘amazed' and ‘perplexed' by all of these remarkable happenings.
We, in Christianity, have something of a dilemma with the Holy Spirit..
We officially like and approve of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, of God, and we officially like and approve of God.
We read such things of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, such as charity, joy, peace, etc., and they all sound good to us and we approve of them.
We read about gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as wisdom, knowledge, understanding, etc., and we approve of them.
So, Christianity officially approves of the Holy Spirit. Obviously. Easiest thing ever said from this pulpit.
Except.
Here’s the thing. Unofficially Christianity has worked hard to keep the Holy Spirit from running loose. Churches organize themselves so that the Holy Spirit doesn’t run amuck in them.
Popes surround themselves with people who will protect the Pope from people saying crazy, Holy Spirit inspired things, and the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church is established in a way that they don’t have to worry too much that the Holy Spirit is going to run amuck.
The United Church of Christ often seems to be the opposite of this because we are so loosely structured. But down deep, in churches, we work hard to structure and organize ourselves in such a way that the Holy Spirit doesn’t get loose. After all, when the Holy Spirit gets loose, strange things begin to happen. And churches don’t like strange things to happen. In all honesty, pastors don’t like strange things to happen at church.
For one, when the Holy Spirit gets loose, the Holy Spirit proves to be disruptive.
We don’t often like disruption in the church. I found a collection some time back of things to do during boring sermons. Listen to these for a moment:
See if a yawn really is contagious.
Slap your neighbor. See if they turn the other cheek. If not, raise your hand and tell the preacher.
Sit in the back row and roll a handful of marbles under the pews ahead of you. After the service, credit yourself with 10 points for every marble that made it to the front.
Using church bulletins or visitor cards for raw materials, design, test and modify a collection of paper airplanes.
Start from the back of the church and try to crawl all the way to the front, under the pews, without being noticed.
When you sing a hymn, sing the wrong verses and see if you can confuse everyone around you. Or, make up new words for hymns. Being in a Roman Catholic seminary we were not allowed to date or get married. There was a psalm response that went, “Arise, come to your God, singing your songs of rejoicing.” A few of us got creative and changed it to “Surprise, there is no God, you left your girlfriend for nothing.”
They stopped using that song.
Most of us wouldn’t do any of that stuff because we’d be afraid of disrupting the Worship Service.
The thing with the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit is disruptive, and not always predictably so. Sometimes the Holy Spirit messes with long held beliefs and such.
In the latter part of the 1940's a Christian ethicist named Bernard Haring began writing about Christian ethics in a way many people found troubling. Haring has been a Roman Catholic priest who was drafted into the German Army to serve as a chaplain. He spent most of the war in Poland as a chaplain to soldiers, but also serving several small churches as their Pastor.
Haring began to write after the war. He began to write that morality was not based on obedience but on personal responsibility and conscience. His observations of what happened in Nazi Germany, where people followed with blind obedience, was that blind obedience was never good. People had to develop their own consciences.
Since much of Christian ethics, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, was based on some sort of concept of obedience, his words fell like a bomb. As time went on, people began to realize the Holy Spirit was at work and individual responsibility and learning about conscience began to pervade teachings. Of course, Haring was loudly condemned by many because he was seen as disruptive. The Holy Spirit disrupts.
Today, two young women have made a decision. They allowed the Holy Spirit to disrupt their lives and they join with us, in celebrating the disruptive presence of the Holy Spirit.
So my words to them are simple. Be careful. When the Holy Spirit lets loose, things happens. Chaos reigns and the world is disrupted.
But God is served!
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Is There One True Church? If So, Which One?
There has been a great deal of effort made, over the centuries, to define ‘the one true church.’ Many groups have, at times, defined themselves as being the ‘true church’ because of various doctrinal items, historic precedence, and biblical interpretation. One of the things I appreciate about being a minister within the United Church of Christ is that it’s not a road we choose to venture.
I don’t believe there is such a thing as ‘one true church.’ I think every church, in some way, illuminates the truth of God; and every church, in some ways, falls way short of God’s glory. The Roman Catholic Church often sees itself as the ‘one true’ or, at least, original church. Early church history, however, is way too nebulous to make that claim with a straight face. Christianity morphed, in time, into what we now call the Roman Catholic Church, but there are many incredibly valid arguments which demonstrate a massive straying from the early church. But, in fairness, they are not the only ones.
The Orthodox Churches, however, not unlike the Roman Catholic Church make the claim they were ‘founded’ on the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost. Others point to 1054 when there was a split between East and West, both claiming to be the ‘true’ church.
Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches practice exclusive Holy Communion; only if you are part of that denomination may you come to the Table of the Lord. Within Protestantism, it varies. Most Lutheran Churches welcome everyone, but some do not. Several Protestant denominations have, throughout history, deemed themselves as being founded, also at Pentecost, and are the ‘true’ representation of Christianity.
I don’t believe there is any ‘true’ church and I think trying to demonstrate one truth at the expense of another. There are, however, certain aspects of Christianity that I believe to be important.
First is faithfulness. Often in our desire to be ‘true’ Christians, we forget, first, to be faithful Christians. Years ago the New York Giants drafted a running back who was not working very hard. He was very talented but was a great underachiever. The coach sneered at him one day that the road to the Hall of Fame started by playing well on the field.
Faith is a great deal like that. Often the desire to be ‘true’ means we take it for granted that we are right, that we are correct, to the point that we no longer reflect what Jesus taught.
Secondly, we are driven by real biblical values. Often what passes for biblical values are our opinions with scripture verses attached. Instead, perhaps we need to read the gospels and see where the Bible actually drives us. The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John speak often of a radical inclusion of all people and a caring for those in need. Until we live those callings, we are not really living biblical values.
Lastly, there needs to be a great sense of humility. There are two eternal truths that are real to Christians. There is a God, and we are not God. Presuming any of us are the real vessels of TRUTH is a foolhardy presumption. Only God is the Truth and we need to be humble enough to accept that.
I don’t believe there is such a thing as ‘one true church.’ I think every church, in some way, illuminates the truth of God; and every church, in some ways, falls way short of God’s glory. The Roman Catholic Church often sees itself as the ‘one true’ or, at least, original church. Early church history, however, is way too nebulous to make that claim with a straight face. Christianity morphed, in time, into what we now call the Roman Catholic Church, but there are many incredibly valid arguments which demonstrate a massive straying from the early church. But, in fairness, they are not the only ones.
The Orthodox Churches, however, not unlike the Roman Catholic Church make the claim they were ‘founded’ on the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost. Others point to 1054 when there was a split between East and West, both claiming to be the ‘true’ church.
Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches practice exclusive Holy Communion; only if you are part of that denomination may you come to the Table of the Lord. Within Protestantism, it varies. Most Lutheran Churches welcome everyone, but some do not. Several Protestant denominations have, throughout history, deemed themselves as being founded, also at Pentecost, and are the ‘true’ representation of Christianity.
I don’t believe there is any ‘true’ church and I think trying to demonstrate one truth at the expense of another. There are, however, certain aspects of Christianity that I believe to be important.
First is faithfulness. Often in our desire to be ‘true’ Christians, we forget, first, to be faithful Christians. Years ago the New York Giants drafted a running back who was not working very hard. He was very talented but was a great underachiever. The coach sneered at him one day that the road to the Hall of Fame started by playing well on the field.
Faith is a great deal like that. Often the desire to be ‘true’ means we take it for granted that we are right, that we are correct, to the point that we no longer reflect what Jesus taught.
Secondly, we are driven by real biblical values. Often what passes for biblical values are our opinions with scripture verses attached. Instead, perhaps we need to read the gospels and see where the Bible actually drives us. The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John speak often of a radical inclusion of all people and a caring for those in need. Until we live those callings, we are not really living biblical values.
Lastly, there needs to be a great sense of humility. There are two eternal truths that are real to Christians. There is a God, and we are not God. Presuming any of us are the real vessels of TRUTH is a foolhardy presumption. Only God is the Truth and we need to be humble enough to accept that.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Sermon for Sunday June 5, 2011
The Presence of Christ
Text: Acts 1:6-11
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
June 5, 2011
Up in the sky;
It’s a bird;
It’s a plane,
No, it’s------the Son of God being lifted up into Heaven, ascending into the clouds.
The apostles are standing there, mouths hanging open, gawking, looking at the sky and we have to cut them a break. It was the first time they had ever seen a person just float up into the sky. They stood, absolutely transfixed and bewildered until they are told by that Jesus was taken into heaven, but will come back some day. Of course, earlier in the passage, Luke, the write of Acts of the Apostles contradicts good old Harold Camper when Jesus tells us that no one knows when all will be restored. I’m guessing our rapture friend is missing this chapter from his Bible, but that’s a whole other story.
But they are asked, “Why do you stand there looking up toward Heaven?”
It’s really an amazing question that is pretty much a timeless question. Why are you looking for Jesus up there?
A little boy named Billy, who was quite a handful, by his parents, to a Christian school in the hope that they would be helpful in discipline. After the first day of school the boy came home in deep distress and went to his room, closed the door, and was hiding under his bed.
His Mom went and asked him what had happened. Billy said, “Well, in religion class the teacher began asking where Jesus was. I guess he’s missing. But then she asked me, ‘Billy, where is Jesus? Mom, she thinks I took Jesus!!!!”
It’s a silly story with many variations. One thing, however, is always a constant. People are always searching for Jesus. People try a variety of churches, read books, and take on spiritual practices in search of Jesus. And often we miss the fact that while we are searching the clouds for Jesus, Jesus is always in our midst.
There are two places we fail to look.
The first place we fail to look is around us. Every person here is a child of God and has the presence of Christ within them. Every person here.
If you go out to lunch, look around the restaurant. Every person in the restaurant is a child of God with the presence of Christ within them. As you drive your car and pass by people and have them pass you, take note every person you encounter on the road is a child of God with the presence of Christ within them. Even the one driving below the speed limit in front of you.
One of the great plights of civilization has been the plight of racism. If we had the ability to view every person, no matter what color, what nationality, as God views them, we’d see children of God with the presence of Christ within them.
If you are a Democrat, all the Republicans are children of God with the presence of Christ within them. If you are a Republican, all the Democrats are children of God with the presence of Christ within them.
When we look around us, everyone is a child of God with the presence of Christ within them. It does not matter if we are old or young, gay or straight, male or female, short or tall, bald or hairy, funny or serious, right handed or left handed. Everyone is a child of God with the presence of Christ within them.
Every year, when we have our faith statements, I’m very much reminded of this. Our young people get such a grasp on the presence of Christ in our midst that it inspires me. Today was no exception listening to these two remarkable young women share their journeys with us.
So don’t look at the sky. Look around you and you’ll encounter the presence of Christ.
The second place we look for Christ is when we serve others in Jesus’ name. The presence of Christ is so strong when people are served.
Jesus said that whenever we do something for the least of God’s people, we do it for Christ.
This corresponds with the first point of seeing everyone as children of God. When we see others as truly being children of God, we recognize that no one should go hungry; no one should be without clothing, no one should be without loving care. Every time we have Soup Kitchen, Christ is in our midst in a special way. Every time we have Clothes Closet, Christ is in our midst in a special way. The Health Fair, the trip to Kentucky, Repair affair, Operation Santa Claus, Thanksgiving Baskets, etc., etc., etc.
The presence of Christ is in our midst, in one another, and in our service to others. So don’t look in the sky! Look around you! The presence of Christ is here among us.
Text: Acts 1:6-11
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
June 5, 2011
Up in the sky;
It’s a bird;
It’s a plane,
No, it’s------the Son of God being lifted up into Heaven, ascending into the clouds.
The apostles are standing there, mouths hanging open, gawking, looking at the sky and we have to cut them a break. It was the first time they had ever seen a person just float up into the sky. They stood, absolutely transfixed and bewildered until they are told by that Jesus was taken into heaven, but will come back some day. Of course, earlier in the passage, Luke, the write of Acts of the Apostles contradicts good old Harold Camper when Jesus tells us that no one knows when all will be restored. I’m guessing our rapture friend is missing this chapter from his Bible, but that’s a whole other story.
But they are asked, “Why do you stand there looking up toward Heaven?”
It’s really an amazing question that is pretty much a timeless question. Why are you looking for Jesus up there?
A little boy named Billy, who was quite a handful, by his parents, to a Christian school in the hope that they would be helpful in discipline. After the first day of school the boy came home in deep distress and went to his room, closed the door, and was hiding under his bed.
His Mom went and asked him what had happened. Billy said, “Well, in religion class the teacher began asking where Jesus was. I guess he’s missing. But then she asked me, ‘Billy, where is Jesus? Mom, she thinks I took Jesus!!!!”
It’s a silly story with many variations. One thing, however, is always a constant. People are always searching for Jesus. People try a variety of churches, read books, and take on spiritual practices in search of Jesus. And often we miss the fact that while we are searching the clouds for Jesus, Jesus is always in our midst.
There are two places we fail to look.
The first place we fail to look is around us. Every person here is a child of God and has the presence of Christ within them. Every person here.
If you go out to lunch, look around the restaurant. Every person in the restaurant is a child of God with the presence of Christ within them. As you drive your car and pass by people and have them pass you, take note every person you encounter on the road is a child of God with the presence of Christ within them. Even the one driving below the speed limit in front of you.
One of the great plights of civilization has been the plight of racism. If we had the ability to view every person, no matter what color, what nationality, as God views them, we’d see children of God with the presence of Christ within them.
If you are a Democrat, all the Republicans are children of God with the presence of Christ within them. If you are a Republican, all the Democrats are children of God with the presence of Christ within them.
When we look around us, everyone is a child of God with the presence of Christ within them. It does not matter if we are old or young, gay or straight, male or female, short or tall, bald or hairy, funny or serious, right handed or left handed. Everyone is a child of God with the presence of Christ within them.
Every year, when we have our faith statements, I’m very much reminded of this. Our young people get such a grasp on the presence of Christ in our midst that it inspires me. Today was no exception listening to these two remarkable young women share their journeys with us.
So don’t look at the sky. Look around you and you’ll encounter the presence of Christ.
The second place we look for Christ is when we serve others in Jesus’ name. The presence of Christ is so strong when people are served.
Jesus said that whenever we do something for the least of God’s people, we do it for Christ.
This corresponds with the first point of seeing everyone as children of God. When we see others as truly being children of God, we recognize that no one should go hungry; no one should be without clothing, no one should be without loving care. Every time we have Soup Kitchen, Christ is in our midst in a special way. Every time we have Clothes Closet, Christ is in our midst in a special way. The Health Fair, the trip to Kentucky, Repair affair, Operation Santa Claus, Thanksgiving Baskets, etc., etc., etc.
The presence of Christ is in our midst, in one another, and in our service to others. So don’t look in the sky! Look around you! The presence of Christ is here among us.
Saturday, June 04, 2011
Journalistic Integrity?
I often wonder what has happened to journalistic integrity.
During the past week there were major issues in the news, but they were largely overlooked by other things.
Mitt Romney announced that he was going to run for President. Whether you agree with Romney or like him, or not, Romney is a serious man with serious credentials and serious money behind him. His announcement is a big deal and his opinions on things are a big deal.
But, his announcement was overshadowed by Sarah Palin. We know that she ‘tweeted’ about the Statute of Liberty, ate pizza with Donald Trump (who used a knife and fork), and she did whatever one calls it with Paul Revere’s ride.
Sarah Palin did not announce where she was going on her special bus family vacation. She wanted to keep the news media in the dark. The news media, in their infinite wisdom, instead of NOT following her, followed her like a pack of lemmings. Of course, she ended up in New Hampshire on the day Romney was there and completely overshadowed him. So the journalists covered nonsense instead of the news.
Of course, this was overshadowed by Anthony Weiner’s alleged or hacked ‘tweet’ of a bodily appendage to a college student. Over the week, the news media covered Weiner’s appendage like it was the biggest story of the week; and Weiner’s incredibly bizarre responses helped keep a nonsensical story on the front pages. Of course, journalists covered all of this with vim, vigor, and glee.
Of course, we had side trips with the indictment of John Edwards and more stories into his sleazy affair and inept and potentially illegal cover ups. Despite all efforts of the people covering this story, this may actually be a big story.
Tim Pawlenty is trying to run a serious campaign from Minnesota, his home state. He is a thoughtful, serious guy. Again, whether one agrees with him or not, he brings some stature to the table. Michele Bachmann is also from Minnesota and she is the Bizarro World version of George Washington. She cannot tell the truth. She is an amazing dispenser of silliness. Pawlenty, of course, gets no media coverage whereas she gets a great deal.
Meanwhile, American soldiers are still in an active war, in an occupational action, and participating with NATO forces in Libya. The job reports was disappointing. The debt ceiling has been fodder for mostly ridiculous commentary by politicians on both sides of the aisle who never get called out for their ridiculous commentary because everyone is following Sarah’s bus and lamenting Trump’s eating of pizza with silverware.
It makes me wonder of journalistic integrity has become an oxymoron.
During the past week there were major issues in the news, but they were largely overlooked by other things.
Mitt Romney announced that he was going to run for President. Whether you agree with Romney or like him, or not, Romney is a serious man with serious credentials and serious money behind him. His announcement is a big deal and his opinions on things are a big deal.
But, his announcement was overshadowed by Sarah Palin. We know that she ‘tweeted’ about the Statute of Liberty, ate pizza with Donald Trump (who used a knife and fork), and she did whatever one calls it with Paul Revere’s ride.
Sarah Palin did not announce where she was going on her special bus family vacation. She wanted to keep the news media in the dark. The news media, in their infinite wisdom, instead of NOT following her, followed her like a pack of lemmings. Of course, she ended up in New Hampshire on the day Romney was there and completely overshadowed him. So the journalists covered nonsense instead of the news.
Of course, this was overshadowed by Anthony Weiner’s alleged or hacked ‘tweet’ of a bodily appendage to a college student. Over the week, the news media covered Weiner’s appendage like it was the biggest story of the week; and Weiner’s incredibly bizarre responses helped keep a nonsensical story on the front pages. Of course, journalists covered all of this with vim, vigor, and glee.
Of course, we had side trips with the indictment of John Edwards and more stories into his sleazy affair and inept and potentially illegal cover ups. Despite all efforts of the people covering this story, this may actually be a big story.
Tim Pawlenty is trying to run a serious campaign from Minnesota, his home state. He is a thoughtful, serious guy. Again, whether one agrees with him or not, he brings some stature to the table. Michele Bachmann is also from Minnesota and she is the Bizarro World version of George Washington. She cannot tell the truth. She is an amazing dispenser of silliness. Pawlenty, of course, gets no media coverage whereas she gets a great deal.
Meanwhile, American soldiers are still in an active war, in an occupational action, and participating with NATO forces in Libya. The job reports was disappointing. The debt ceiling has been fodder for mostly ridiculous commentary by politicians on both sides of the aisle who never get called out for their ridiculous commentary because everyone is following Sarah’s bus and lamenting Trump’s eating of pizza with silverware.
It makes me wonder of journalistic integrity has become an oxymoron.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Amazing Heroes
I just finished reading Jonathan Jordan’s amazing book, “Brothers, Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley and the Partnership that Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe.” The book is even longer than the title. I am a big admirer of Omar Bradley and his book, “A General’s Life,” is a classic on my bookshelf. I have read it numerous times.
First off, all three are amazing heroes. Ike and Bradley with classmates at West Point and Patton and Ike were old friends and former next door neighbors. The two of them were ardent supporters of armor and Bradley had a background in the infantry. They were all really amazing people who were very human and all made their share of mistakes.
Eisenhower had one of the most difficult jobs of the war. He was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He had some amazing bosses. Winston Churchill was, well, Winston Churchill. President Roosevelt was more patient than Churchill, but there was General George Marshall, who, in my opinion is the truly great American of the 20th Century and if you don’t know who he is, shame on you! Marshall was the brains behind the American military operations in both theaters and his confidence in Eisenhower was well placed.
But part of Ike’s problem wasn’t his bosses but his subordinates. Bradley was, in so many ways, the perfect general. He was quiet and unassuming and was, in so many ways, the finest American general on the ground in Europe in terms of combat operations. Patton was brilliant but often reckless. Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton could irritate each others and often did. They never lost focus, however, of their two great enemies: the Germans and Bernard Montgomery. Monty’s ego, portrayed in this book and many other places, was amazing. He made Patton look humble----and that’s saying a lot.
I learned some interesting things. Despite his gruffness, of the three, Patton had the most tender heart and was deeply sensitive. He was prone to fits of rage and tears. When the three visited a concentration camp, Patton was so overwhelmed with grief, he was the one who sobbed and vomited. He had a very big heart----something not always seen in portraits of him.
Bradley was a lot tougher than often portrayed. Unlike the others, of his subordinates failed, he sacked them. He felt war was truly a dreadful event and failure had to be addressed and soldiers had to be led by experience, capable leaders and not those learning on the job. And Bradley was the planner of Cobra which was one of the most devastating attacks on the Germans in the war.
Ike was the guy who held everyone together. He lived on coffee and cigarettes, and very little sleep. When he was President he had terrible health and, wow, you can really tell why. The poor guy was physically almost destroyed by the war and the stress. Interesting to note, that Bradley, in his book, dismissed Eisenhower’s planning ability militarily, but, in this book, we see his ideas very much come to light. Ike was quite a man.
It was awe inspiring reading about these three amazing heroes. They truly were brothers, rivals, and ultimately victors!
First off, all three are amazing heroes. Ike and Bradley with classmates at West Point and Patton and Ike were old friends and former next door neighbors. The two of them were ardent supporters of armor and Bradley had a background in the infantry. They were all really amazing people who were very human and all made their share of mistakes.
Eisenhower had one of the most difficult jobs of the war. He was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He had some amazing bosses. Winston Churchill was, well, Winston Churchill. President Roosevelt was more patient than Churchill, but there was General George Marshall, who, in my opinion is the truly great American of the 20th Century and if you don’t know who he is, shame on you! Marshall was the brains behind the American military operations in both theaters and his confidence in Eisenhower was well placed.
But part of Ike’s problem wasn’t his bosses but his subordinates. Bradley was, in so many ways, the perfect general. He was quiet and unassuming and was, in so many ways, the finest American general on the ground in Europe in terms of combat operations. Patton was brilliant but often reckless. Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton could irritate each others and often did. They never lost focus, however, of their two great enemies: the Germans and Bernard Montgomery. Monty’s ego, portrayed in this book and many other places, was amazing. He made Patton look humble----and that’s saying a lot.
I learned some interesting things. Despite his gruffness, of the three, Patton had the most tender heart and was deeply sensitive. He was prone to fits of rage and tears. When the three visited a concentration camp, Patton was so overwhelmed with grief, he was the one who sobbed and vomited. He had a very big heart----something not always seen in portraits of him.
Bradley was a lot tougher than often portrayed. Unlike the others, of his subordinates failed, he sacked them. He felt war was truly a dreadful event and failure had to be addressed and soldiers had to be led by experience, capable leaders and not those learning on the job. And Bradley was the planner of Cobra which was one of the most devastating attacks on the Germans in the war.
Ike was the guy who held everyone together. He lived on coffee and cigarettes, and very little sleep. When he was President he had terrible health and, wow, you can really tell why. The poor guy was physically almost destroyed by the war and the stress. Interesting to note, that Bradley, in his book, dismissed Eisenhower’s planning ability militarily, but, in this book, we see his ideas very much come to light. Ike was quite a man.
It was awe inspiring reading about these three amazing heroes. They truly were brothers, rivals, and ultimately victors!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Random Thoughts
Random Thoughts
Okay, first thought I’m going to share is one where I’m going to duck. I watched Oprah’s last show and her final monologue. She’s very accomplished and done well in life and I felt that she reminded us over and over again about this. I know many people were moved by this. I wasn’t. But perhaps that’s just me.
Sarah Palin is playing catch me if you can with the news media and her whirlwind tour. I’d say ‘why bother.’ She said she hates coverage from the mainstream media, so I’d say don’t cover her. Simple solution.
I don’t agree with him about much, but I think Tim Pawlenty is a pretty good candidate. I think the Republicans don’t have their strongest field, but I think he’s the best of the lot by far. Of the group right now, I think he and Romney are the only really serious one’s, and I think Romney has a problem with the base and will struggle in getting the nomination. As for Palin, I think she’s looking to run as a Tea Party candidate and morph that into a third party, but I could be way wrong on that.
I would not be overly excited about this if I were President Obama, however, George H. W. Bush, at this time, was facing a weak Democratic group and Bill Clinton came out of that. In politics, things change rapidly. And the economy is still bad.
I think Amanda Knox would have been acquitted had her first trial been in the United States and her appeal trial is demonstrating that she was railroaded. Could be wrong, but...
Snookie was arrested in Italy. Seaside Heights, New Jersey is praying she stays...
Tiki Barber compared himself to Anne Frank. Tiki used to be a smart guy. Notice the word ‘used’.
Adrian Peterson said that NFL players are treated like slaves. Peterson is an African-American running back who, perhaps, has ancestors who were, in fact, slaves. I wish they could have coffee or something so he could see the difference between being a multi-millionaire running back in the NFL and a slave.
And maybe, while he’s having coffee, Tiki can lock himself in an attack every day in fear for his life.
My patience with the moronic is getting smaller and smaller. You probably can tell...
Okay, first thought I’m going to share is one where I’m going to duck. I watched Oprah’s last show and her final monologue. She’s very accomplished and done well in life and I felt that she reminded us over and over again about this. I know many people were moved by this. I wasn’t. But perhaps that’s just me.
Sarah Palin is playing catch me if you can with the news media and her whirlwind tour. I’d say ‘why bother.’ She said she hates coverage from the mainstream media, so I’d say don’t cover her. Simple solution.
I don’t agree with him about much, but I think Tim Pawlenty is a pretty good candidate. I think the Republicans don’t have their strongest field, but I think he’s the best of the lot by far. Of the group right now, I think he and Romney are the only really serious one’s, and I think Romney has a problem with the base and will struggle in getting the nomination. As for Palin, I think she’s looking to run as a Tea Party candidate and morph that into a third party, but I could be way wrong on that.
I would not be overly excited about this if I were President Obama, however, George H. W. Bush, at this time, was facing a weak Democratic group and Bill Clinton came out of that. In politics, things change rapidly. And the economy is still bad.
I think Amanda Knox would have been acquitted had her first trial been in the United States and her appeal trial is demonstrating that she was railroaded. Could be wrong, but...
Snookie was arrested in Italy. Seaside Heights, New Jersey is praying she stays...
Tiki Barber compared himself to Anne Frank. Tiki used to be a smart guy. Notice the word ‘used’.
Adrian Peterson said that NFL players are treated like slaves. Peterson is an African-American running back who, perhaps, has ancestors who were, in fact, slaves. I wish they could have coffee or something so he could see the difference between being a multi-millionaire running back in the NFL and a slave.
And maybe, while he’s having coffee, Tiki can lock himself in an attack every day in fear for his life.
My patience with the moronic is getting smaller and smaller. You probably can tell...
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Real Lawn King
God said: "Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the
world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the
dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago? I had a
perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of
soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the
long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of
songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I
see are these green rectangles."
St. FRANCIS:
It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They
started calling your flowers 'weeds' and went to great lengths to kill
them and replace them with grass.
GOD:
Grass? But, it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract
butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive
to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass
growing there?
ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it
green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any
other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD:
The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast.
That must make the Suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut
it-sometimes twice a week.
GOD:
They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS:
Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
GOD:
They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS:
No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
GOD:
Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow.
And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS:
Yes, Sir.
GOD:
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on
the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves
them a lot of work.
ST. FRANCIS:
You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so
fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can
continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
GOD:
What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer
stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the
spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they
fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the
soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life.
ST. FRANCIS:
You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As
soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to
have them hauled away.
GOD:
No!? What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter
to keep the soil moist and loose?
ST. FRANCIS:
After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which
they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the
leaves..
GOD:
And where do they get this mulch?
ST. FRANCIS:
They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
GOD:
Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're
in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
ST. CATHERINE:
'Dumb and Dumber', Lord.. It's a story about....
GOD:
Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis
world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the
dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago? I had a
perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of
soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the
long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of
songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I
see are these green rectangles."
St. FRANCIS:
It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They
started calling your flowers 'weeds' and went to great lengths to kill
them and replace them with grass.
GOD:
Grass? But, it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract
butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive
to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass
growing there?
ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it
green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any
other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD:
The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast.
That must make the Suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut
it-sometimes twice a week.
GOD:
They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS:
Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
GOD:
They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS:
No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
GOD:
Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow.
And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS:
Yes, Sir.
GOD:
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on
the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves
them a lot of work.
ST. FRANCIS:
You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so
fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can
continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
GOD:
What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer
stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the
spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they
fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the
soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life.
ST. FRANCIS:
You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As
soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to
have them hauled away.
GOD:
No!? What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter
to keep the soil moist and loose?
ST. FRANCIS:
After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which
they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the
leaves..
GOD:
And where do they get this mulch?
ST. FRANCIS:
They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
GOD:
Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're
in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
ST. CATHERINE:
'Dumb and Dumber', Lord.. It's a story about....
GOD:
Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis
Friday, May 13, 2011
Justice without Delighting in It
Like many others, I have spent a great deal of time contemplating the demise of Osama Bin Laden. There has been a great deal of discussion about the event, the morality, and the credit.
First off, I think most of the conversations about the credit are misplaced. The Intelligence Services, the Navy Seals, and the Army helicopter pilots obviously deserve a ton of credit. Three American Presidents have been trying to get to Bin Laden and he has been one of the most elusive people in the world. All three, Clinton, Bush, and Obama deserve credit for the hunt. Ultimately it doesn’t matter who was the President when the job was finished; they all deserve credit. Obama was the one who made the final call; a call any of them, I believe, would have made. So, enough about the credit.
As for the morality of all this, there is a simple fact to be viewed: Osama Bin Laden made war on the United States. He launched attacks against us in the Middle East and on our own soil. Many have wanted to call him a criminal and I greatly appreciate the desire to do so as what he did WAS criminal. He was an avowed enemy, however, of this nation as he made war on us. It was and is a deplorable kind of war that sinks to the lowest form of human behavior, but he made war on us.
In classic morality, when one makes war on another, one loses one’s right to life. It is a harsh reality of war.
In 1943 the American military had learned that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of Japan, the man who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor, was going to be in an airplane flying from one base to another. The approximate route was calculated and a group of American fighter planes were launched with the hope of finding Yamamoto’s plane. They did and he was shot down and killed. He had made war on the United States and our military tracked him down and he died.
Interestingly enough, the stories of getting Yamamoto and Bin Laden are a great deal alike. Justice, it can be said, was served.
But justice should not be celebrated.
Again, during World War II, there was another battle in another continent.
After D-Day on June 6th, the often untold story is that the United States and the British were trapped in Normandy for weeks. After a devastating attack to break out, the British were north and the American Army was south. General Omar Bradley was the overall ground commander and he watched how things developed.
The German Army was told by Adolf Hitler to not retreat and not give up an inch of land. That always sounds ‘tough’ but it’s an incredibly stupid strategy for victory. In fact, the ‘never give an inch’ mentality generally is a successful model for defeat as a strategic, well planned retreat often allows people to regather and come back.
In any case, the German Army was staggered and pushed back and they finally came up with a really amazingly bad plan. They counter-attacked into the center of the American and British line. The German Army believed the best trained, best disciplined, and best equipped army would prevail. The Germans were correct. The best trained, best disciplined, and best equipped army did prevail when the American Army stopped the German Army after the Germans had pushed themselves into a deep pocket.
Bradley, who is vastly under-rated and often unknown, saw that the Germans were in a deep but narrow bulge trapped by Americans and British in the west, the north, and the south. There was only a gap near Falaise, France. The American and English Armies began to close the gap. Estimates say that 10-20,000 German troops got out, but the bulk of the German Army was trapped. 50,000 German soldiers surrendered, and between 20-30,000 of them died in the center of the trap.
The German Army in France was essentially destroyed and an entire Army Group was wiped off the planet.
General Dwight Eisenhower, Bradley’s boss, was thrilled and toured the battlefield where so many German soldiers had died. What he saw appalled him. There were no signs of life. French life stock was dead. Horses that pulled German Army items were dead. Thousands and thousands of young German soldiers were dead. It was said that even the flied had not survived the carnage. There was nothing but death.
It had to have been done. The dead soldiers would have done that to American soldiers if the shoe had been on the other foot. But Eisenhower was greatly disturbed. There was no elation----just the grim reminder and fact that was is a brutal business.
Osama Bin Laden was a man of brutality who died brutally. Jesus observed that those who live by the sword die by the sword. If one calls violence on another, that violence will be returned. But we must not delight in it.
In the Jewish Seder Meal there is a moment when people dip their fingers in the wine and drop drops of wine on their plates ten times to remember the ten plagues against Egypt. It is a reminder of the blood of one’s enemy that was shed so the Israelites would be freed. The drops of wine are dropped but there is a command. You must not lick your fingers afterwards to delight in it.
Sadly, sometimes people die for justice to prevail and that is part of the world we live in. But let us never delight in it.
First off, I think most of the conversations about the credit are misplaced. The Intelligence Services, the Navy Seals, and the Army helicopter pilots obviously deserve a ton of credit. Three American Presidents have been trying to get to Bin Laden and he has been one of the most elusive people in the world. All three, Clinton, Bush, and Obama deserve credit for the hunt. Ultimately it doesn’t matter who was the President when the job was finished; they all deserve credit. Obama was the one who made the final call; a call any of them, I believe, would have made. So, enough about the credit.
As for the morality of all this, there is a simple fact to be viewed: Osama Bin Laden made war on the United States. He launched attacks against us in the Middle East and on our own soil. Many have wanted to call him a criminal and I greatly appreciate the desire to do so as what he did WAS criminal. He was an avowed enemy, however, of this nation as he made war on us. It was and is a deplorable kind of war that sinks to the lowest form of human behavior, but he made war on us.
In classic morality, when one makes war on another, one loses one’s right to life. It is a harsh reality of war.
In 1943 the American military had learned that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of Japan, the man who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor, was going to be in an airplane flying from one base to another. The approximate route was calculated and a group of American fighter planes were launched with the hope of finding Yamamoto’s plane. They did and he was shot down and killed. He had made war on the United States and our military tracked him down and he died.
Interestingly enough, the stories of getting Yamamoto and Bin Laden are a great deal alike. Justice, it can be said, was served.
But justice should not be celebrated.
Again, during World War II, there was another battle in another continent.
After D-Day on June 6th, the often untold story is that the United States and the British were trapped in Normandy for weeks. After a devastating attack to break out, the British were north and the American Army was south. General Omar Bradley was the overall ground commander and he watched how things developed.
The German Army was told by Adolf Hitler to not retreat and not give up an inch of land. That always sounds ‘tough’ but it’s an incredibly stupid strategy for victory. In fact, the ‘never give an inch’ mentality generally is a successful model for defeat as a strategic, well planned retreat often allows people to regather and come back.
In any case, the German Army was staggered and pushed back and they finally came up with a really amazingly bad plan. They counter-attacked into the center of the American and British line. The German Army believed the best trained, best disciplined, and best equipped army would prevail. The Germans were correct. The best trained, best disciplined, and best equipped army did prevail when the American Army stopped the German Army after the Germans had pushed themselves into a deep pocket.
Bradley, who is vastly under-rated and often unknown, saw that the Germans were in a deep but narrow bulge trapped by Americans and British in the west, the north, and the south. There was only a gap near Falaise, France. The American and English Armies began to close the gap. Estimates say that 10-20,000 German troops got out, but the bulk of the German Army was trapped. 50,000 German soldiers surrendered, and between 20-30,000 of them died in the center of the trap.
The German Army in France was essentially destroyed and an entire Army Group was wiped off the planet.
General Dwight Eisenhower, Bradley’s boss, was thrilled and toured the battlefield where so many German soldiers had died. What he saw appalled him. There were no signs of life. French life stock was dead. Horses that pulled German Army items were dead. Thousands and thousands of young German soldiers were dead. It was said that even the flied had not survived the carnage. There was nothing but death.
It had to have been done. The dead soldiers would have done that to American soldiers if the shoe had been on the other foot. But Eisenhower was greatly disturbed. There was no elation----just the grim reminder and fact that was is a brutal business.
Osama Bin Laden was a man of brutality who died brutally. Jesus observed that those who live by the sword die by the sword. If one calls violence on another, that violence will be returned. But we must not delight in it.
In the Jewish Seder Meal there is a moment when people dip their fingers in the wine and drop drops of wine on their plates ten times to remember the ten plagues against Egypt. It is a reminder of the blood of one’s enemy that was shed so the Israelites would be freed. The drops of wine are dropped but there is a command. You must not lick your fingers afterwards to delight in it.
Sadly, sometimes people die for justice to prevail and that is part of the world we live in. But let us never delight in it.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Random Thoughts
It's always fun coming back to work after being away. Graduation and moving my daughter to Cleveland was exciting, fun, sad, and exhausting all in one. I have a bunch of random thoughts.
Newt Gingrich tossed in his hat to run for President. I think there are two groups of people seeking to get the Republican nomination, at least in theory:
The jokers. Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Sara Palin, and Newt all fall into this category. For all of them there are serious character issues, most especially in terms of honesty. Frankly, the more time, energy, and money focused on them is good for President Obama.
The really serious people. Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, and potentially Mitch Daniels. I may not agree with them but these are serious people who have good character and actually have leadership skills. They also have a history of honesty.
I pretty much dismiss Rick Santorum who has the charm of a gila monster, but I am intrigued, always, but Ron Paul. His is a wile card as I don't consider him to be a major player in getting the nomination but I do see him as a person who may actually help focus the agenda on real items.
A part of me, by the way, thinks either Trump, Palin, or both will run as a third or fourth party candidate.
I am becoming short tempered over the feuding over which President deserves the credit for getting Bin Laden.
First, off, between Intelligence and the Navy Seals, that is who 'got' Bin Laden. President Obama gave the order. Would President Bush have given the order? Of course. I have no reason to believe otherwise. End of story.
Thinking about parenting. You are a successful parent, it seems, when your children grow up and leave home and begin to make their own mark on the world. I'm proud of both of my daughters because they are doing this right now. It does make me sad, however, because I miss having two little girls in my house. It is a reminder how fast life flies by...
Newt Gingrich tossed in his hat to run for President. I think there are two groups of people seeking to get the Republican nomination, at least in theory:
The jokers. Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Sara Palin, and Newt all fall into this category. For all of them there are serious character issues, most especially in terms of honesty. Frankly, the more time, energy, and money focused on them is good for President Obama.
The really serious people. Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, and potentially Mitch Daniels. I may not agree with them but these are serious people who have good character and actually have leadership skills. They also have a history of honesty.
I pretty much dismiss Rick Santorum who has the charm of a gila monster, but I am intrigued, always, but Ron Paul. His is a wile card as I don't consider him to be a major player in getting the nomination but I do see him as a person who may actually help focus the agenda on real items.
A part of me, by the way, thinks either Trump, Palin, or both will run as a third or fourth party candidate.
I am becoming short tempered over the feuding over which President deserves the credit for getting Bin Laden.
First, off, between Intelligence and the Navy Seals, that is who 'got' Bin Laden. President Obama gave the order. Would President Bush have given the order? Of course. I have no reason to believe otherwise. End of story.
Thinking about parenting. You are a successful parent, it seems, when your children grow up and leave home and begin to make their own mark on the world. I'm proud of both of my daughters because they are doing this right now. It does make me sad, however, because I miss having two little girls in my house. It is a reminder how fast life flies by...
Friday, May 06, 2011
Random Musings
My daughter graduates from college tomorrow. I'm very proud of both my daughters. In my family they are only the second generation of college graduates. It is a big deal.
I read that some of the 'birthers' are now becoming 'deathers.' I mean, what can you say. Cognitive dissonance is not easily cured.
I have been reading the most excellent book, "Brothers, Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley and the Partnership that Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe." It's a very unvarnished and honest portrait of these three incredible man. If you are a person interested in World War II, this book is a must read.
Of the three, the most interesting, to me, has been Eisenhower. The others were great generals, but Ike had the weight of the world on his shoulders and was often the ball in a soccer game. His easy smile and public charm often gave the portrait of a shallow man who seemed to know less than others. Actually, the opposite was true. He definitely had an easy smile and charm, but he was very, very smart and insightful. He had to deal with the politics of two nations, Generals with massive egos, and hounding news people. He also had to deal, regularly, with the very formidable George Marshall who was probably the most influential (and largely unknown) American of the 20th Century. Ike proved himself to be an amazing man whose influence on American society is largely ignored.
Oh yes, and by the way. There was an American General whose troops were the first to reach Paris, France, and he led them through Germany. His troops fought the Battle of Hurtgen Forest and had a major role in the Ardennes Offensive, other...wise known as the Battle of the Bulge. The First Army was the first unit to cross the Rhine River, by using the still standing Ludendorff bridge at Remagen, and to meet with the Soviet Red Army near Torgau, on the river Elbe. Most people, if asked, would presume this General to be George Patton who loved the limelight and is often the star of highlight reels. But, one would be wrong. It was General Courtney Hodges, who was probably the finest ground commander of the war and led the 1st Army. (Patton) led the 3rd Army in Europe, and the 7th Army in Sicily and Tunisia.
And unlike the others, Hodges did not graduate from West Point. He enlisted in the Army as a private and went through the ranks the hard way.
I think George Patton would have loved George C. Scott's portrait of him in the movie "Patton." The persona is very real except the 'real' Patton was very emotionally and easily came to tears. He was far most sensitive and fragile than often perceived----some of which Scott nailed perfectly. One thing Patton would have loved, however, was Scott's deep voice. Patton had a high pitched squeaky voice and he hated it.
World War II had some of America's finest generals. I often wonder if they were great generals in the right place at the right time, or if the events of history made them great. Or a combination of both. Who knows? In the end, it matters little. They were great men at a time the world needed great men.
I read that some of the 'birthers' are now becoming 'deathers.' I mean, what can you say. Cognitive dissonance is not easily cured.
I have been reading the most excellent book, "Brothers, Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley and the Partnership that Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe." It's a very unvarnished and honest portrait of these three incredible man. If you are a person interested in World War II, this book is a must read.
Of the three, the most interesting, to me, has been Eisenhower. The others were great generals, but Ike had the weight of the world on his shoulders and was often the ball in a soccer game. His easy smile and public charm often gave the portrait of a shallow man who seemed to know less than others. Actually, the opposite was true. He definitely had an easy smile and charm, but he was very, very smart and insightful. He had to deal with the politics of two nations, Generals with massive egos, and hounding news people. He also had to deal, regularly, with the very formidable George Marshall who was probably the most influential (and largely unknown) American of the 20th Century. Ike proved himself to be an amazing man whose influence on American society is largely ignored.
Oh yes, and by the way. There was an American General whose troops were the first to reach Paris, France, and he led them through Germany. His troops fought the Battle of Hurtgen Forest and had a major role in the Ardennes Offensive, other...wise known as the Battle of the Bulge. The First Army was the first unit to cross the Rhine River, by using the still standing Ludendorff bridge at Remagen, and to meet with the Soviet Red Army near Torgau, on the river Elbe. Most people, if asked, would presume this General to be George Patton who loved the limelight and is often the star of highlight reels. But, one would be wrong. It was General Courtney Hodges, who was probably the finest ground commander of the war and led the 1st Army. (Patton) led the 3rd Army in Europe, and the 7th Army in Sicily and Tunisia.
And unlike the others, Hodges did not graduate from West Point. He enlisted in the Army as a private and went through the ranks the hard way.
I think George Patton would have loved George C. Scott's portrait of him in the movie "Patton." The persona is very real except the 'real' Patton was very emotionally and easily came to tears. He was far most sensitive and fragile than often perceived----some of which Scott nailed perfectly. One thing Patton would have loved, however, was Scott's deep voice. Patton had a high pitched squeaky voice and he hated it.
World War II had some of America's finest generals. I often wonder if they were great generals in the right place at the right time, or if the events of history made them great. Or a combination of both. Who knows? In the end, it matters little. They were great men at a time the world needed great men.
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