Here I Come to Save the Day...

"Here I come to save the day!"
That means that Mighty Mouse is on the way.

Yes sir, when there is a wrong to right
Mighty Mouse will join the fight.

So though we are in danger
We never despair...
We're not worryin' at all
We're just listenin' for his call...
"Here I come to save the day!"

Or, how about this one:

Could he stop a train with the touch of his hand?
Ummm, no.

Could he fly through the air with the greatest of ease?
Ummm, no.

Did he have X-ray vision?
Ummm, no.  As a matter of fact he was rather near-sighted.

The only thing Crusader Rabbit could do when faced with a crisis was...run...really fast.

And there was my favorite Saturday morning cowboy hero:

Gene Autrey...and Champion, of course.


And this guy:

Ok, Barney Fife doesn't really belong in this group, but he did bumble his way into saving the day every once in a while.

But the world did seem better and safer back then, when from out of nowhere a mythical, or cartoonish, or TV character would come along...just in the nick of time...to set things right.  To make it all better.  To punish the evil-doers and vindicate the good folk.

To save the day.

That kinda thing doesn't really happen, we find out...after so many years, and so many experiences, and so many disappointments.

Days are saved by each and all who work for the good...
work toward inclusion, not exclusion...
who strive for peace not conflict...
who value human life, not devalue it...
who take seriously the call to care for one another...
who know that positive change comes from decent people exercising good will.

Ah, but those good old days...remember this hero?

 

Q & A

I am the pastor of a church.  More exactly, in my current setting, I am one of two pastors serving a church in Bloomington, Indiana.
 

People ask great questions of the church.

I was reminded of this just the other day when I received a phone call from someone doing some “church shopping,” who wanted answers to some very specific questions about the United Methodist Church.

I think back over my forty plus years of ministry and I recall some of the more intriguing, the more troubling, and the more to-the-point questions I have been asked.  Here, as best I can recall, are some of them:

~If God really exists, why can’t you prove it to me?
~What’s the deal with evil, anyway?  Why does an all-powerful and all-loving God even allow evil to exist? 
~Why are so many Christians so mean-spirited?  And nasty? It seems like Christianity is mostly about being judgmental and closed-minded, don't you agree?
~What in the world does that whole “atonement” thing actually mean?
~Hey, I believe in God?  Why do I have to narrow that down to the Christian God?
~What’s the deal about God actually writing the Bible?  Seriously, is it written by God, or by people, or by people guided by the Holy Spirit, which is in some strange way supposed to be the same as God, or what?
~Do I really have to go to church every Sunday? Really?
~Could you tell me plainly how being a Christian can actually improve my life?
 

(I will allow you time to forward the correct answers to those questions to my email account.)

I hope people never shy away from asking those questions of their church.  More than any partial answers the church might be able to supply, the conversation would engage both the questioner and the church in some of the most important facts of life.  (Important facts that folks are too often afraid to ask about; and the church is way too often unable to articulate.)

As we have those conversations we may want to remember some answers Jesus gave his earliest followers when they asked questions (the same kind of questions you and I ask to this day):

~God's kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser…so let us be aware of the serendipity all around us.

 ~God's kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls…so let us keep our eyes and hearts open to the beauty of this life.

~God's kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish…so let us not go throwing any of those fish out of the net. 

 An old Yiddish Proverb states: To every answer you can find a new question.

All the Stuff I Never Said

I do public speaking.  Have for over 40 years.  In my current setting I preach to a goodly number of folks about 26 of the 52 Sundays each year.  I say a lotta things...about a lotta things.  Religious things, political things, current-event things, wishful-thinking things.  A lotta things about a lotta things.

Whenever I preach...actually just before I preach...I say, "Might what I say, and what we hear, be...at least in part...the word of God for us this day."

I say that not to emphasize the "Word of God" thing...although I do believe that when someone (even me) addresses folk in a worship setting there is the possibility that something of the Word of God might be spoken and/or heard.  No, I say it because I want to emphasize the "what I say, and what we hear" thing.  I want to alert those who will be listening to me that some of what I say, they may not hear...and some of what they hear, I may not say!

Remember that old game where the first person whispers something in someone's ear...and that person then whispers what they heard into the next someone's ear...and that third person then whispers what they heard from the second person into a fourth person's ear...and on and on and on?
Sure you do.  And just as surely, you remember that what the final person says out loud is never...ever...what the first person  said to the second person.

People do not hear exactly what you say.  They just don't.  You say it...it gets filtered thru their "stuff" and it turns into something you didn't intend when you spoke the words.

You say it with your mouth...it gets to their ears and undergoes a translation into their understanding of the words that you used...which are interpreted one way by you, and another way by them.

I have been praised or blasted by folks following a sermon who thought they heard one thing, but it wasn't the one thing that I said...or intended to say.  I have learned over the years to keep my manuscript for almost all public talks I give...just in case of follow-up that a listener and I need to do in clarifying something I said and/or something that they heard.

Communication ain't easy!  In fact, it is hard work...on the part of the speaker and on the part of the listener.

BTW: Yelling at each other, instead of speaking with each other guarantees the "what I say and what we hear" thing will go wrong.  Guarantees it.

So, I say a lotta things about a lotta things...but not always do I say some things you think I said.

Did that guy really say that?

The Worth of a Soul

My 2012 Honda CRV isn't worth what I paid for it back in September of 2012.  "Depreciation" they call it.  Depreciation is just a fancy word that means the-very-minute-I-drove-that-brand-new-car-off-the-dealer's-lot-it-was-worth-thousands-of-dollars-less-than-it-was-fifteen-minutes-before.

I received a nice new ND-logo golf bag from my family this past Christmas.  I don't know what they paid for it, but its worth a lot to me; because I needed a new golf bag, but most especially because somebody in my family (I suspect youngest son) picked it out just for me.

What is the grande latte I am drinking (which I just purchased from Starbucks on the drive to the office) worth?  For the Starbucks corporation it is worth just under four bucks.  For me, a guy who needs more than one large cup of coffee in the morning...just to begin feeling civil...it is worth the price I paid plus the enjoyment I am now experiencing by drinking it.

What is something worth?  How about good health.  Or, long life.
How about a roof over your head.  Or, clean water to drink.  Or, the freedom to come and go as you please.
How about a long-term loving/intimate relationship.  How about seeing your children grow up in relative safety.
What is your job worth to you?  Just the amount of money it affords you each month; or more?
What is a close circle of long-time friends worth?
What is a second chance worth?

What is the worth of a soul?  Your soul?

I really like the play/movie "Damn Yankees."  Its the story of Joe, a life-long Washington Senators fan (you may have to take a break right now to google "Washington Senators") and a hater of those damn Yankees who always beat his beloved home-town team.

Joe makes a pact with the devil: he will trade his soul for a chance, just one time, to wrest the League Championship away from those "Damn Yankees!"  Its great theatre.  And its greatness rests in the fact that the pact with the devil has an escape clause.  Will Joe both beat those Yankees and win back his soul?  Or will he win one and lose the other?  (Spoiler alert: Its the former.)

For Joe, his soul was worth a shot at beating the Yankees.
You suspect, by the anguish he suffers when Joe exercises the escape clause, that Joe's soul was worth a great deal to the devil.

If we accept a rather broad definition of "soul" as "the immortal essence of a person," then what is that worth?

Some faith traditions, certainly the one I am a part of (Christianity), go on to add to the philosophical definition above, the belief that the human soul is capable of union with the Divine (with God).  Now what is that worth?

Ever have one of those "dark night of the soul" experiences?  Ever wonder if you would make it through to find the light of day again?  Ever get the feeling (probably suggested to you by someone who doesn't know much about either theology or compassion) that your immortal self, your soul, was damaged...doomed...damned?



What is the worth of a soul?  More than you might think, would be my answer.  Philosophy broadly asserts that your soul is the immortal essence of who you are.  That would make the soul...your soul...worth a great deal.  Worth at least as much as the value of a human life.

The religions of most of the world's population more narrowly assert that your soul is capable of union with the person/presence/essence of God.  That would make the soul...your soul...worth more than can be calculated.  Worth at least as much as the value of the life of the Divine.

That's worth a little celebration, don't you think?