Monthly Archives: August 2010

Our choice

In the name of more we destroy
for coal the mountain and its forest
and so choose the insatiable flame
over the green leaf that within our care
would return to us unendingly
until the end of time

Wendell Berry
Sabbaths 2008 II

Love Wins

Christianity and War

The Church Father Justin Martyr described the peaceful nature of the early Christians: “We who hated and slew one another, and because of differences in customs would not share a common hearth with those who were not of our tribe, now, after the appearance of Christ, have become sociable, and pray for our enemies, and try to persuade those who hate us unjustly, in order that they, living according to the good suggestions of Christ, may share our hope of obtaining the same reward from the God who is Master of all.”

Love Wins

A prayer

My friend Ann posted this prayer as a comment on this blog recently and in case y’all missed it, I wanted to share it. 

Lord God, forgive us for being mindless destroyers of Your creatures and creation, without considering the cost and consequences of attitudes that leave behind death and destruction.  We’re desperate to go back to Your plan…please show us the way.  Lead us, Lord!

AMEN

Love Wins

Ramblings

Early in my legal career, while enduring the hazing that comes with being a young lawyer, I got to know a distinguished English professor who served with me on a charitable board.  In those days I was spending a lot of time feeling sorry for myself.  I was miserable at work and certain that I would have been happy had I become a history professor instead of a lawyer.  So I admired this elderly English professor and envied his professional life.

One evening he and I were talking (he was a Dickens scholar and chairman of his department) and I told him that I thought he must have one of the best jobs on the planet.  He paused and said, “Well, if I had it to do over again, I’d go into hotel management.  That’s what I’ve really always wanted to do.”  I was shocked speechless.

I shouldn’t have been.  Probably the vast majority of us end up in jobs that leave us unsatisfied.

Maybe that’s because it’s human nature to be unsatisfied.  But often it’s because we follow societal pressures into professions that just don’t suit us.  The legal profession, for example, is full of frustrated would-be novelists, poets, teachers, farmers and the like.  In one of John Grisham’s novels he wrote that if all jobs paid the same, 90% of American law schools would have to shut down.  Nevertheless, millions of non-lawyers look enviously at attorneys, thinking they must have it made.

We had a friend in Tampa who loved working with his hands and was very good at it.  But because of the social status of his parents, a career as a mechanic was out of the question.  So he was sent off to college and later suffered through a series of failed business ventures and professional flops.  Happens all the time.

Merle Haggard sang:

Wish I enjoyed what makes my living
Did what I do with a willing hand

Even the Hag gets the blues about his job?

I read recently that our collective angst over our jobs and ”wasting our lives” is largely a function of an affluent society and upward mobility.   For billions of folks in the world (throughout history) every day is a struggle to survive.  There is no time to mope and whine about a personally unsatisfying  job.  Such folks would probably regard that concept as ridiculous.

But nevertheless, here most of us are.  Feeling alienated and sometimes lost.  As Thoreau put it, “most men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

Maybe  if I had a Ph.D and was teaching history somewhere, I’d spend too much time wondering if my life would’ve been better had I gone to law school.  Maybe.

But I think sometimes the right thing to do is swim against the stream.  Do something a little illogical.  Take a risk. 

Maybe it’s time to climb out of the boat.

Love Wins

Ready

 

I’m ready for the winds to change
I’m ready for a brighter day
I’m ready for the sun to shine down on me

I’m waiting for a song to sing
I’m looking for a brand new thing
I’m ready now to live a life that I believe

I want the world to turn because of love
And mercy to find each of us
Doing what we can to just believe, yeah

I want the world to know that You’re the One
Who fills me up and gives me hope
And brings about this change that’s in me

Oh yeah, I’m ready, yeah
You know I’m ready now

I’m ready for the truth to be
Something that can set us free
Does anybody still believe we’ll make it through?

I’m ready now to take a stand
To live life for more than myself
Tell me now, my friend, are you ready, too

I want the world to turn because of love
And mercy to find each of us
Doing what we can to just believe, yeah

I want the world to know that You’re the One
Who fills me up and gives me hope
And brings about this change that’s in me

Oh yeah, I’m ready, yeah
You know I’m ready now

I can’t sit around waiting for it all to change
It’s gonna take every single one of us doing what we can
There’s lots of fighting in this world but there’s so much loving too
So take my hand, I’m ready now for You

I want the world to turn because of love
And mercy to find each of us
Doing what we can to just believe, yeah

I want the world to know that You’re the One
Who fills me up and gives me hope
And brings about this change that’s in me

Oh yeah, I’m ready, yeah
You know that I’m ready, yeah, yeah

Lord knows I’m ready
You know I’m ready, oh yeah, yeah

I’m ready for the winds to change
I’m ready for a brighter day

Love Wins

L

50 years ago today I drew my first breath.

50 years. 5 decades. Half a century.

For a long time, I have assumed that today, if it occurred, would be dramatic. But it isn’t.

It’s anti-climatic. In many ways, it’s a non-event.

But as I settle in for an otherwise normal day, I do remember all the birthdays I spent pulling tobacco. And I do remember all the birthdays I spent in the office (like today). And I do remember all those years I assumed that I’d never experience this somewhat ordinary day.

And I remember the day I was sitting in church, listening to a sermon, and being convicted that never again would I deny my ability to live 50 years. Although today makes me remember those days of my pessimism, it also makes me remember how I turned my back on that.

So now what?

My father died of a heart attack a few months shy of his 50th birthday. He had a happy future mapped out, but it never happened for him.

My Daddy was a good man and I miss him deeply. I’m very sad that my children never knew him, just as I never knew his father. But with all due respect to him, I think my Daddy made a mistake in assuming that he too would die young. He frequently said that he would, and tragically he eventually did. I followed in his fatalistic footsteps until the day a few words in a sermon convinced to me to reevaluate that belief, and from that day I’ve been infinitely happier. Before, I assumed that anything and everything I wanted to accomplish or experience had to happen before I was 50 years old. Now I confidently believe that this is halftime of my life. And I confidently believe that the best is yet to come.

So back to the question. What now?

I think it’s cool that Cherie and I are both in school. I’m sure we’re the only family in Keeling paying tuition at 4 different schools at the same time. Our kids are trying to find their places in life. So are Cherie and I.

This semester I’m taking a class titled “Vocation of Ministry.” I didn’t want to take it but it’s a required class. I went to seminary to study theology, philosophy, history, and comparative religion. I don’t want to take “how-to-be-a-preacher” classes. Or so I thought. But, as so often happens, I’m being slapped down by reality.

The books I’ve been reading for this class have really been speaking to me. They’re not “how-to-be-a-preacher” books. They’re books about discovering who you are—who you’re meant to be. They’re peeling back a lot of junk and causing me to question a lot of my assumptions about life and vocation.

I’ll write more about that on another day. But I’ll close out with a notion that has been on my mind a lot lately. For a person struggling to find his way in life, Quakers say “Way will open.”

I’ve meditated on that, and I believe it to be true. So today, on my fiftieth birthday, I am looking into a hazy future, confident that way will open.

Love Wins

Institutions

“As well-intentioned as it might be, you know that religious machinery can chew up people!” Jesus said. “An awful lot of what is done in my name has nothing to do with me and is often, even if unintentional, very contrary to my purposes.”

“You’re not too fond of religion and institutions?”  Mack said, not sure if he was asking a question or making an observation.

“I don’t create institutions–never have, never will.”

“What about the institution of marriage?”

“Marriage is not an institution.  It’s a relationship.”  Jesus paused, his voice steady and patient.  “Like I said, I don’t create institutions; that’s an occupation for those who want to play God.  So no, I’m not too big on religion,”  Jesus said a little sarcastically, “and not very fond of politics or economics either.”  Jesus’ visage darkened noticeably.  “And why should I be?  They are the man-created trinity of terrors that ravages the earth and deceives those I care about.  What mental turmoil and anxiety does any human face that is not related to one of those three?”

“Put simply, these terrors are tools that many use to prop up illusions of security and control.  People are afraid of uncertainty, afraid of the future.  These institutions, these structures and ideologies, are all a vain effort to create some sense of certainty and security where there isn’t any.  It’s all false!  Systems cannot provide you security; only I can.”

The Shack

Love Wins