Terrapin Station

Moral Decline in Our Country? Sure, but...

There are those (some very close to me) who believe that the moral decline in our country is responsible for the massacres in our country. I gotta say, no. I don't like the moral decline, no I do not. But it is not responsible for mass shootings. Guns are.

I keep thinking about the first time I saw the TV show "Rosanne." I was in college. This new sitcom came on. We sat down to watch it and I was just horrified by the way those children spoke to their parents: were ALLOWED to speak to their parents. The way the parents spoke to the kids, and to each other. All my childhood programming (healthy and not) jumped up and I said, "I can't believe they talk to each other like that!" I was really upset by it. My roommate scoffed, "Oh, it's just TV!" 

No. It's not just TV. 

That night remains etched on my mind as the first time I was aware in that way of the rise of rudeness and disrespect. That was in 1986, so...32 years ago. And look where we are now. In my opinion, "reality" TV is a scourge. The internet in general and Youtube in particular have not done us any favors in the area of supporting civility. 

But that didn't create the gun violence epidemic. It didn't hurt it any...but guns and our worship of them are responsible. Guns, and politicians in the pockets of the NRA. 

I thought of this as I commented on my friend Martha's blog today. She is reading through Mark for Lent and blogging about it, and I'm following along. Today she wrote about Jesus' response to the Pharisees when they challenged him about eating on the Sabbath, connecting it with the speech given by Emma Gonzalez (and those given by other students) in the wake of the Parkland shooting. The importance of speaking truth to power. 

Emma used the phrase "We call BS" as a rhetorical device, and a very effective one. BS = "bullshit." Is that a lack of civility? Emily Post wouldn't like it, but no. It's stating the facts. It is absolute bullshit, what is going on in our country. I support gun control: not removing guns, but making background checks a requirement and stopping AR 15's and other military weapons from entering the public marketplace. 

Perhaps most important: I support campaign finance reform. The system is rotten, rotten to the core. I am infuriated that my legislators have been bought and sold by the NRA and other corporate interests. The entire system needs an overhaul. 

You can text "NRA" to 50409 and the Resistbot will look up the contributions your elected representatives have received. Read it and weep. 

Next week I'm taking my granddaughter with me to vote. I remember going as a young child with my mom to vote: it had a big impact. I won't be talking to Nash about ANY of the above, of course, or about specific candidates or positions. But I will be showing her the most important tool we have as citizens. 

Join me, won't you? Vote411 is an incredible resource from the League of Women Voters that will give you a ballot including only the races in which you are eligible to vote. You can have your results emailed to you, to carry to the poll for easy reference. The primary is March 6, and in my state, early voting is going on now. Vote 411 can help you find the information you need. 

Our lives depend on your vote. 

 

 

If I ran the zoo...

No, no, no...it's "if I were preaching"

Or maybe it's "what I need someone to preach to ME this Christmas"

Anyway.  That's what the RevGals are thinking about on this Friday, December 23: what message will they bring to their congregations this Christmastide? 

Here is what I have heard in the last week that grew into the idea really makes it Christmas for me this year. Darned if I can remember where I watched or heard or read it: 

God became a human person. Most religions' deities stay comfortably where they are, but not this God, our God, the God named I AM. 

God loved us so much that God became a human and lived and died like a human.  And you know, human life can really be awful. Especially when Jesus was born, in ways that I doubt we in the 21st century western world can really imagine.  Infant mortality, murders by dictators, rape, incest, child abuse (wait, this is from yesterday's newspaper...)

What really transfixes me on this incarnation idea is not the lovely (? ask Mary about the adjective) birth part...babies don't really remember much of that as they grow...but the not-so-lovely life and death part. 

Whether you believe that Jesus' death on the cross was God's plan, or that it was not necessarily God's plan but was still what happened (all in the name of redemption, of course) -

it was horrible. It was the worst and most painful and humiliating way to inflict suffering and death in the first century. 

In this year when my loved one has been betrayed by his body and by modern medicine so miserably (all in the name of healing, of course) - 

I see that incarnation just a little bit differently. 

I have said for years that when I see God, the first thing I am going to do is kick God in the leg, because the ways most bodies break down as we age and die seems like such a betrayal. 

Sure, I know of people who have lived happily and vigorously to age 78, and then died suddenly in their sleep. "What a great way to go." But we all know that is not the prevailing way, not in this Great Age of Medical Innovation that keeps us alive longer and longer to receive more and more exquisite tortures intended to help us.

(You see why no one is actually going to let me preach this...right?  That's why I blog). 

Here's the money line:   Jesus didn't know what was going to happen to him...but he signed up for it anyway. He accepted the job and essentially said, "okay, whatever this ends up meaning for me, I'm going to work to overturn the rotten rule by people and introduce the kingdom of God on this planet." 

In the years following Jesus' death, we have tried to carry on what he taught and planned. We seem to have gotten off track a good bit, as we fuss and stew about church schisms, resolutions and covenants. We forget about the infant mortality, murders by dictators, rape, incest, child abuse...that would likely have been of more interest to Jesus than policies and procedures and what color the paraments are this week. 

The challenge of Christmas is to think how we will live. How we will use our wild and precious lives to bring the kingdom.  And to know that whatever pain, loneliness, illness or torture we may confront and experience, Jesus knows what that's like; he's been there. 

What do I have to do, then?  For years I've been unable to watch TV commercials that show abused animals - I have to leave the room.  Same for children in poverty.  I sponsor some women and children through various agencies, but it's all very safe and comfortable, and I wonder....

And recently I read something by Pema Chodron that advised to embrace the thing you fear.  Smile at your fear.  Lean into the sharp places.  There's a lot I am afraid of.  But I'm going to take a step and see what volunteering at the animal shelter might be like.  There's a training session in January. 

I've always said that when I see Jesus, the first thing we are going to do is hug, and he's going to say, "Mary Beth!  I've been looking all over for you!" and then we will sit down and play jacks together. I do realize that the Trinity means that Jesus and God are the same person. I need to work on connecting that in my head and in my heart. No kicking.  Just loving. 

Picture found at Theology Lived website, produced by the Office for Faith and Learning at Biola University.

Just Do It

You know how you always read advice that when someone is ill or having a hard time, don't say, "let me know if there is anything I can do..."  because they will never ask. 

Just Do It. 

I'm learning that, these days. 

Things are challenging at my house, with Ken ill.  On top of that, he owns his own contracting business, and unlike my position with the state (where, when I'm sick I say, "Bye, see you later" and take sick leave) he has to keep things going.  One of his workers quit with no notice last week.  The other has been remarkably unreliable this week.  There is a huge amount of work to be done. 

So Ken's friend Johnny drove over from Mississippi to help out for a week.   He just did it.   If you need your parking lot striped in the West Point, Mississippi area I recommend this striper. 

A friend send me a note the other day.  She just did.  A real live card that she put a stamp on  and everything!  I pulled it out of the mailbox just at a time when I needed a little virtual hug.  It made me cry. Another one sent a pretty little card. 

Yet another friend calls periodically and leaves messages telling me she loves me.  Aaaahhh, it's like having her there. And emails from church friends mean the world. 

And my sister, sister-in-law, and nephew (none of whom have a web presence to which I can point you) came over to my house today, while I was at work, and cleaned it.  Really.  They cleaned my dirty, dirty house.  I am so grateful.  They also brought meals and left them in the fridge, and made a grocery run for me. 

They JUST DID IT.  Because they knew I needed help, to feel not alone.  I'm not sure they can know how much better Ken and I will both feel, coming home to a clean house that we didn't have to clean.  Maybe someday I can help them know. 

I have a better idea now why "just doing it" is the way to go.  And I promise to do more of it myself.