Wandering Elder

I haven't written in a while. That's due to a couple of reasons.  First, I wasn't sure what to say. Second, I wasn't sure anyone was listening. That is also reminiscent of my life as a pastor.  There are some weeks where I do not know what to say from the pulpit.  I find it a struggle to compose a sermon.  That, also, has numerous reasons.  For example, I want to be clear, cogent, and relevant.  I also want to honor the text and not project my own ideas and then find scripture to back them up.  I do not want to offend people, but I don't want to be halting or reserved in speaking.  Sometimes I do not wish to share that which is personal.  Other times, I find that the sermon itself is something I do not wish to share because I have, in some cases, had to work very hard to find the relevant words, the point to which I feel I have been led, sometimes with great emotion and soul searching. Then to offer such words is to hand over something ...

Let me start out by saying that Kathy Griffin went too far. I had thought that Stephen Colbert had done so with his opening monologue rant a few weeks ago. But Kathy Griffin left him in the dust. If you haven't seen the picture of her holding the (fake) decapitated head of President Trump, then you haven't been online in the last few days.  It isn't pretty. And it goes too far.  Why?  Well, imagine if someone had done the same thing with President Obama. How would people have reacted?  Charges of racism, hate speech, and so on.  It may not be racist with regard to Trump, but it is hate and it is staggeringly reminiscent of the horrors ISIS has posted as well - their atrocities being far more real than that of Griffin. Sure it was some kind of publicity stunt, but if it was considered a "good idea" or a "really funny" idea, then it goes to show that we as a nation have truly taken leave of our senses. I am all for free speech.  I am not trying t...

A few days ago I found a piece of paper on which I had written a long time ago.  I found myself asking, "Did I really write that?  Did I really feel that way?"  It was a particularly pessimistic piece that reflected a world view I don't quite subscribe to any longer and, some 22+ years later, find difficult to imagine that I did. Though I suppose in some ways, I can.  I can't quite remember the exact way I felt, but I do possibly remember the attitude that viewed society very negatively and pessimistically.  Reading it I find I sound pretty clear in my disdain and the view of the world is both bleak and very black and white.  I do remember thinking in those terms from time to time, but now, so far removed from the time in which I wrote, I have trouble comprehending where I was mentally as I wrote those words. Needless to say I don't quite share the same ideas any more.  Admittedly the pessimism still lurks, but the overall attitude has changed. ...

I find that more and more I am becoming jaded to the confusing mess that is the Trump presidency.  I am hammered each day from the right and left to tell me what is and is not true, what does and does not add up, and who said what and when.  And, for better or worse, with the kind of social media we have and the fact that nothing posted ever really disappears, we can all find out who said what and when and make up our own minds - should we so desire. Of course I still see the bumper stickers that say, "I don't believe the liberal media."  Ok.  So you don't believe them.  I'm not sure I do either, nor am I sure I believe the conservative media.  They both seem to have become so agenda driven that they have long, long, long ago stopped reporting  the news and have decided that all they have to do is comment a story to death.  Even "All Things Considered" has taken to interviewing Trump supporters to get their opinions on the state of the Union. ...

I have recently been re-evaluating the Ewoks. For those of you who may not be familiar with the Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi , the Ewoks are the small bear-like creatures who assist the rebels in their fight against the Empire.  They have become objects of derision over the years.  But I don't know that I agree with that dismissal. To begin with, I saw Return of the Jedi  when it came out in theaters the first time and I had no issue with the Ewoks at all.  Some people did.  The teddy-bear picnic idea didn't sit well with everyone and many saw it as a silly gimmick putting a highly primitive culture up against the Empire. George Lucas had said that originally the story was supposed to have Wookies in the story, but the Wookies (almost exclusively demonstrated by the character Chewbacca), while looking primitive, were pilots and skilled fighters - a premise that comes to the fore in Revenge of the Sith  where the Wookies battle the droid army ...

Moab has been in the news.  Not the Moab in the Bible.  No, this is the MOAB, the so-called "mother of all bombs" which was used on ISIS.  This is the largest bomb the United States has next to a nuclear weapon, and it has never been used before. It has showed up in movies from time to time.   Outbreak  with Dustin Hoffman had one, or an equivalent, that was dropped to try and stop a virus from spreading. This, however, was no movie. Please don't think that I am going to suggest that we loosen up our attack against ISIS.  That's not my point at all. My point is this: we have dropped a never-before-used bomb in our perpetual conflict with ISIS and extremism, but we don't seem to care.  It was mentioned in the news some, but not too much, nor was the power of this bomb talked about.  In some ways, it seems to have been written off as just a really big bomb. There is some question about the timing of the bomb being used as a warning to Nort...

Sometimes you have to wonder about why you are the way you are.  There are great arguments out there about nature vs. nurture.  But they only get you so far.  Because people are always evolving, always learning.  Sometimes we are finding out things about ourselves that we have had all along but we never really understood. For example, I have a tendency to think the worst whenever my body has an ache or pain for which I cannot pinpoint a cause.  Especially at 3 a.m. when all I can do is travel down unproductive fearful rabbit holes in my mind.  So why is that? I think I have an answer.  It may not be the answer a clinician would come up with, but it is one that I came up with and, therefore, think it makes the most sense.  Why do I jump to the negative possibilities? It goes back to second grade. When I was in second grade, there was a girl (who I will call Carol) in our class whose older sister died from a brain tumor.  The sister was...