Wandering Elder

As I get older, I find myself thinking about the idea of karma.  It isn't a doctrine I hold, or a particular philosophical or theological ideology that I maintain, but it is one that tends to make me nervous.  Having been brought up in the South, and in particular the Christian traditions of the South, karma was not something I was ever even aware of hearing about until the popularity of Culture Club's song "Karma Chameleon" in the early 1980s. What I found was that Christians have their own way of speaking about Karma.  "What goes around comes around."  That's a popular phrase among Christians - usually when referring to some perceived nere-do-well who finally got in trouble the way the righteous persons always thought they would or should.  "They got what was coming to them." So we all have our ideas of karma.  Jesus said, as found in the Gospel according to Mark, that "the measure you give will be the measure you get."  (Mark 4...

A few days ago I watched the movie Joe  starring Nicolas Cage and Tye Sheridan.  Mostly I watched it because I tend to like Nicolas Cage as an actor.  I find it interesting how he has fallen into the B-List or lower for most people.  I can't figure out why he isn't a draw any longer.  I have found him to be a solid actor.  The movie Joe  is no exception. I won't go into the plot too much here, but it is billed as a movie about the relationship between Joe (Cage) and a young boy named Gary (Sheridan).  The writing is good.  The pacing is pretty good, even though it tends to lag a few times, but only briefly.  And while the movie isn't an action  movie, from the beginning you feel the tension beginning to build. Everyone in the movie seems to be in some state of disrepair, and while they all seem to be trying to get out of their brokenness, situations are such that the interpersonal relationships between the characters is ironical...

With the fires going out in Baltimore, I find myself wondering about civilization.  The word itself, civilization, has multiple meanings.  One is "a being civilized."  Another is "the total culture of a people, period, etc."  The third one I found is this, "the peoples considered to have reached a high social development." The height of civilization is something that can usually only be measured in retrospect.  Being 'civilized' has also become something of a fluid definition.  For example, it was considered civilized for men to remove their hats upon entering a building - especially academic or religious settings.  I lament the passing of that mark of civility.  Of course smoking  was once the mark of high society.  I think that particular loss isn't so bad. So things change.  We have to recognize that.  Yet with the riots in Baltimore and the rise of groups such as the IS, the growing economic disparity in the US, and so ...

Gnosticism is a subject in which I am deeply interested.  Not just because of their fascinating scriptures and writings, but because of their take on the mystery of God and the tremendous power of knowledge. I say that because I have been reading a particular piece of apologetic writing (that is, a work designed to be an apologetic or defense of scripture) that purports that the way (perhaps even the only way) to read the New Testament is to hold a particular reading of the Old Testament which is defined as a figural reading. Figural reading is to read a passage from the Old Testament and, without denying that it has a particular historical context, claim that it also prefigures something from the New Testament, something that wouldn't be made clear except  through a reading of the Old Testament through  the Christian faith.  For example, in Isaiah 7:14 we read "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."  In the Old Tes...

I once complained to a friend about a group of loud children that were utilizing some space near my office for an after school program (supervised, of course).  These kids were LOUD.  And not only that, I found that I was continually expecting a fight to break out because not only were they LOUD, they were, at least to my ear, aggressive towards one another. No fight ever broke out, and they eventually relocated to a facility a little further from my office.   I mentioned this to a friend of mine who made an interesting observation.  They said that children who came from lower income or broken home situations tended to be louder.  For a long time I noted that this did  in fact seem to be true.  I would observe these loud children here and there and think, "They must be from a lower income family or a broken home." Then, last night, I ran into a nearby K-Mart (few and far between, I know).  It was about 30 minutes before they closed and ...

I just read that a proposal was made in the Tennessee state legislature for the Bible to be made the “official book” of Tennessee. Fortunately it ran in to immediate opposition.  Not because I dislike the Bible, but because I dislike the idea of making a book sacred to a larger faith the representative book for a particular state or place.  According to the author of the bill, “This does not establish any form of religion, and any move to denounce it, I think, is to silence those of us who would like to see reverence given to a book that has played a role in all of our lives.” Interesting idea.  Proposing that the Bible, the book for the Christian faith, does not establish any form of religion (presumably here he means a state sanctioned or sponsored religion) is a pretty lame argument because the book is a religious item.  Would he feel the same if someone proposed the Tanak, the Rig Veda or the Quran? Would he argue that picking one of those sacred texts...

I offer you Easter greetings. I do not know where you are in your faith journey, or even if you are on  a faith journey.  Perhaps you are, or perhaps you are not.  Perhaps you are Christian, perhaps you aren't.  Atheist, agnostic, Christian, believer, doubter, or some other category, I offer you Easter greetings. Easter isn't about proof.  I can no sooner prove  the resurrection than I can any real article of faith. Hence the name article of faith .  But what I find in Easter is a witness in the belief that God has validated Christ and the teachings of Christ and not the violence of the cross.  Nor has God validated the liturgical and legal correctness of religiosity, or the self-righteousness that has come to so quickly and very, very sadly sometimes deservedly exemplify the Christian faith. I find that in Easter, we encounter a metaphorical witness that speaks of God encouraging us to be the light to the world and to proclaim that hopelessn...