Taking attendance

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, evil has been lurking close to home for me and mine. So much so that some family members have questioned the existence of God or at the very least, have noted God’s absence.

Now, in instances like that, I suppose I could toss out some quasi-pastoral line about not seeing footprints in the sand because God is carrying you or some such noise, but I don’t find that comforting myself, nor do I believe it. So, what can I say when I’m hearing about an AWOL God? How ‘bout the truth? What I responded to one family member was, “Oh, yeah. That. God hasn’t really been present for me in years.” So, the follow-up question I received was, “Um, where are you driving home from tonight?” Yeah. The seminary. See, that’s a little secret you don’t often hear. Lots of us “God-types” aren’t exactly tight with God.

The most notable example of this living-in-God’s-absence-and-soldiering-on type of minister is Mother Teresa. A batch of letters came out after her death that chronicled a span of more than four decades in which she just wasn’t feeling it. Yet, every day she’d get up, put on her clothes and get out there doing her job. Isn’t that what we all do? Okay, most of us aren’t exactly drumming up dough to feed, clothe and educate gobs of hungry orphans. But we still do our own acts of heroism every day, attending to the needs of family and friends in their times of suffering, making cookies for a bake sale to benefit a neighbor or school, letting someone merge onto the highway from the on ramp. Acts of kindness. It’s what we do. It’s our way of bringing humanity into an often cruel and inhumane world.

The God thing? Well, that’s a leap of faith.

Faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.*

St. Augustine argued that love was the most important of the big three, ‘cause the Bible sez so. I disagree. Sure, love’s great. But, I think most of us have a handle on love. We get it. What’s harder for us everyday schmucks is having faith in an absent God when those we love are hurt. It’s also having faith that maybe God’s absence is a clue that we really do need to rely on each other to carry forth the work of God and feel God’s work being acted out on our behalf by others. So what is this work? It’s the work of stewarding and caring for our planet and the creation that resides within it – whales, dogs, cats, turtles, redwood trees, tulips, ferns, polar bears and humans. We do it out of love; we do it as an act of faith.

*That’s my top of mind recollection of 1 Corinthians 13 for those keeping track at home. Most folks recognize it from about a zillion weddings they’ve attended.

What makes me crankier than Twins losing? God bless America

Yes, you've heard it here first. I'm a commie pinko, un-American freak. Almost 48 hours later and what makes me crabbier than the Twins losing Sunday's game was the "requirement" we all stand in the 7th inning and listen to some way overdressed chick sing "God Bless America." WTF???

Needless to say, I practiced my First Amendment right to not stand and to not have some sense of phony reverence for a cheesy song made popular by yet another overdressed chick back when my mother was still in diapers (and it was an old, dusty tune then).

That's not to say I don't pray for my country. I do. Fervently. A lot. Do I need to somehow prove my American-ness in the company of 50,000 beer drinking, baseball-watching fans? Heck no. While I'm not opposed to a song that asks the almighty for guidance, I am opposed to and offended by the forced patriotism that resides behind the action being done in a public venue like a major league baseball game. In a post-9/11 world, I completely agree our nation needs guidance. I just question the motivation behind and appropriateness of the action, not to mention it's a pretty dumb tune.

That's not to say that I didn't spring to my feet when "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" was sung. Now that's a bit of group think I can live with. Right motivation. Right venue.

The question of evil

Unwittingly, I have looked evil in the face and survived, although the swath of destruction in the wake of what's unfolded will run deep and wide for years to come. It's cases of bad, indeed truly horrible, things happening to good and innocent people that solidify my thoughts on intercessory prayer. If God were truly hanging out just waiting to jump on the scene, if only enough people were to pray about it, that puts a lot of power on individuals and shows a lack of faith in God. (These folks seem to think God doesn't know God's business without a little micro-managing from humanity.) Not only that, but if God were to be following marching orders dictated by us humans, there would be a lot of folks who would suddenly go up in puffs of smoke because God would be pulling double shifts in the smiting business. But, I guess when humanity has lost faith in itself, it needs to turn somewhere. I'm just not convinced this placing of human desires on the human construct of God is healthy for anyone.