Calm Waters...

I know next to nothing about sailing a boat.

My childhood friend, Harold Leffel, and I built a sail boat many, many years ago.  It sank on its maiden voyage.

I have some friends, Greg and Dave, who sail quite regularly.  One of my college professors is an accomplished sailor.

Greg took me out on Eagle Creek reservoir in his boat one day several years ago.  I was impressed with how calm it was out on the water.  I was also impressed with how much work Greg had to put into making sure that boat went were he wanted it to go.

(BTW.  Mentioning "reservoir" reminds me that one of my favorite movies is "Reservoir Dogs."  That has nothing to do with the topic of this blog entry.)

My guess is, based on my sailing experience with Greg, that while the picture above looks pleasant enough...serene, even...someone is working harder than you might suspect keeping that sailboat on course.

And, I would like to suggest that just out of range of this picture there are millions of other sailors working hard in their boats...doing the best they can to steer a course toward some near or distant goal...trying not to find themselves at the mercy of the wind, or lack thereof...working hard to not fall victim to a storm-out-on-the-sea.

My guess is, all of us are doing the best we can, and even though we pass as ships in the night, we would do well to recognize the hard work that each of us is doing just to keep our ships afloat.

I am...You are.

I probably invest more time in FaceBook that I should...often discovering there some very strange interpretations of what is supposed to be a Loving Creator and a Graceful God.  And I confess to reading some really frightening fundamentalist Christian material every now and then.  And I sneak a peek at some of the trashy stuff that passes as religious television, and sneak a listen to some of the trashy stuff that passes as religious radio, more often than is prudent.

I am sorry that folks are subjected to that stuff.  I am even more sorry that some folks believe that stuff.

Here is a t-shirt with a scary message:

In my faith tradition, God (in the person of Jesus) did say "I am" in a variety of ways...but never once said anything like the message on the t-shirt above.  Never once said anything close to "I am God and you are beneath me."

"I am Love."  Said that.
"I am Life."  Said that.
"I am With You Always."  Said that.
"I am One with Creator, and You are One with Me."  Said that.
"I am Here to Announce a Kingdom Which is Already in You."  Said that.
"I am Peace."  Said that.
"I am Hope."  Said that.
"I am Never Going to Leave You."  Said that.

Well, that's the end of this blog-rant.  I just wanted to reaffirm that trash is trash even when its religious trash.

Here's a closing thought:  I am sure you will like it...You are welcome.

Once Upon A Time...

"Once upon a time," said Jesus, to a religion scholar, who was looking for loopholes in Jesus’ message about being good neighbors. "There was a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite, a religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.


"A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. And the Samaritan took good care of the man.

"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?" Jesus asked him.

"Why, the one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded.

And Jesus said, in so many words: "As you travel the road of life, do the same."

And I can imagine the fellow, if he was anything like me, stammering around with something like: "But, but you mean down every road I travel, every time I travel; and when is this radical behavior supposed to begin?"

"Right now," Jesus might have said. "Right now. There’s no time like the present, there’s no time to waste, don’t wait til later, do it now!"

Maybe to someone like me, in the time and place where I live, Jesus might have made it sound more like this:

"Don’t wait! Don’t wait until you finish school, Until you go back to school
Until you lose ten pounds, Until you gain ten pounds
Until you have kids, Until the kids leave the house
Until you start work, Until you retire
Until you get married, Until you get divorced
Until Friday night, Until Sunday morning
Until you get a new car or home, Until your car or home is paid off
Until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter
Until you are off welfare
Until the first-of-the-month, or the fifteenth-of-the-month
Until your song comes on the radio, or your iPod
Until you’ve had a drink, Until you sober up
Until you die, Until you are born again
Don’t wait! Because there is no better time than right now. Because, dude, your once-upon-a-time could be right now."

~ Celine Dion sang these words:


"What do you say to takin' chances?
What do you say to jumpin' off the edge?
Never knowin' if there's solid ground below
Or a hand to hold or hell to pay
What do you say? What do you say?"

Here are some words about time from Mitch Albom’s newest book, The Time Keeper:


(We) alone measure time.
(We) alone chime the hour.
And because of this, (we) alone suffer a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures.
A fear of time running out.

Consider the word time.
We use so many phrases with it. Pass time. Waste time. Kill time. Lose time.
In good time. About time. Take your time. Save time.
A long time. Right on time. Out of time. Mind the time. Be on time. Spare time. Keep time. Stall for time.

And along comes Jesus to remind us that NOW time does count.
That because we are connected, HOW we treat each other as we travel the road of life, for whatever amount of time we are given to travel it, is important.

Its important to be ready for any once-upon-a-time that comes our way.

And the beauty of once-upon-a-time is that you cannot waste it in advance.

Just One Thing...

You know, yes you do, too much of religion is wrapped up in trying to tell each one of us how to behave.  How to be acceptable...to God, and to the particular religion offering the moral guidance.  What we ought to do and what we ought not to do.

Don't get me wrong here, I ain't against ethics and morality and doing the right thing.  But doing the right thing shouldn't oughta be that dang complicated.

In my faith-tradition (Christianity), it would seem that even Jesus got a bit taxed over all the rules and regulations and protocols that had somehow taken on "sacred" status in his day.  When asked which of the rules and regs were the most important...and how one might go about not breaking any of the "Thou shalt nots," he offered that what was needed was to simply love God and love neighbor. 

Now "simply" is a slippery and difficult word in the above sentence...and its my word, there is no record of Jesus having used it in his pronouncement.  But "loving God and loving neighbor" is pretty simple compared to all the other moral observances some of his critics were wanting him to agree to.

This line from Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater comes as part of a baptismal speech the protagonist says he's planning for his neighbors' twins: "Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind."

I am not trying to one-up anything Jesus said, but I am trying to suggest, without religious trappings, what One Thing might be necessary for we human folk to practice in order to make this time and place in which we live a better time and place than it otherwise might be.

 

This might be another "One Thing" that would serve as well as Vonnegut's "Be Kind."

 

Or maybe this would work: "Be Good."  That's just a slight variation on either "Be Kind" or "Take Care."

Of course, Jesus' two rules are really just one, when you get right down to it: "Love."

Now there's a mantra we would all do well to engage in every now and then:
"Be Kind.  Take Care.  Be Good.  Love."

Its not a simple One Thing, but we all know it when we see it, huh?