Every Single Day...

To quote Henry David Thoreau:
"In the long run (we) hit only what (we) aim at.  Therefore, (we) had better aim at something high."

Back in 2013, Dick Christopher died.  Dick was one of the finest District Superintendents I served under (as an appointed United Methodist pastor).  He was a good man.  The world would be a better place with more like him around in every generation.

Rev. Andy Kinsey presided at Dick's memorial service, and remembered out loud that one of Dick's favorite Bible passages was "Make love your aim."  (1 Corinthians 14:1)

In the Message translation of the Bible (which I prefer), the verse comes out this way: "Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it - because it does."

Got me to thinking...if we want to aim high, we could do a lot worse than to aim for love.

Of course, that would be a daily task...

 Every Single Day we are allowed to choose to forgive and to seek forgiveness in our most near and common relationships.



 Every Single Day we are free to release grievances, let go of resentments, and get beyond self pities and jealousies.

Every Single Day we can choose to ditch our attempts to control situations and control other people.

Every Single Day we can actually choose grace over judgment, and mercy over self-justification.

Every Single Day we can choose to see beyond the end of our nose, and beyond our own wishes and desires.

Every Single Day we try hard to express the Really Good Stuff that is within us...instead of the junky stuff that too often spews out.

Every Single Day there is the chance to choose gratitude over complaint, peace over disharmony, and hope over despair.

And if...
If our daily routine produces fear...then love is not our aim.

If our daily routine is self-diminishing...then love is not our aim.

If our daily routine motivates hate...then love is not our aim.

If our daily routine produces shame...then love is not our aim.

If our daily routine robs us of grace...then love is not our aim.

"Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it - because it does."

2016

In 2016, when the General Conference of the United Methodist Church gathers in Portland, Oregon, I will be 71 years old.  I have been a card-carrying member of the the UMC since 1968 (and before that, a member of the Evangelical United Brethren Church...the EUB and the Methodist Churches merged in 1968, forming the UMC).  I have been a pastor in the UMC since 1974...and in 2016 will have been retired from the profession for a year.

The logo for the 2016 General Conference is "Therefore Go."  The Scriptural basis for the logo is found in Matthew 28:19-20...Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

So the 2016 General Conference is built around Jesus saying to his early followers (the Church fancies itself the successor to that group): "Go. Train others in all I have commanded you." 

And the only "commandments" I recall Jesus offering were these: Love God and Love Neighbor, and Love One Another as I Have Loved You.

Nice.  Simple.  Easy to remember.

Very hard to pull off.

And in relation to the God's sons and daughters who are homosexual the UMC has yet to pull it off.

However, every General Conference (the get-togethers take place every four years) has the opportunity to right previous wrongs and set a new course...has the opportunity to enact wonderful ways for its membership to Love God...Love Neighbor...Love One Another Like God Loves Us.

And so, in 2016 the General Conference of the United Methodist Church has an opportunity to show a 71 year old current member that it can pull off loving all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, the kind of love that God showed all of us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

To continue our current position regarding homosexuality as "incompatible with Christian teaching," is no longer tolerable...if it ever was.

I hope my denomination is smart about this issue next May in Portland.

The Power of Pictures

When I was a kid, learning to use the camera my parents had was no easy thing.

Nowadays everybody has a simple-to-use camera on their cell phone.  No big deal...

But back in the day...when I was a youngster, and in 2015...with a camera on my phone, the same thing applies: Pictures are powerful things!

Pictures can make us smile...laugh, even.  They can make us cry.  They can cause us to be sentimental...or they can make us angry.  Pictures can tap into human depths that words and actions can never reach.

So, just because its possible to do so, here are some pictures that I think pack-a-punch.

That's not good.

That's calming...and refreshing.

That reminds me of a bazillion meals I ate growing up...in fact all the way thru the 60s even.

That takes my back to High School.

That speaks of invitation...and renewal.

That's old-age...and the end of the journey...and even dignity.

That's foreboding...and yet compelling.

And that's life in the midst of death.

That...that is life growing up in the 50s in Indiana.

Maybe the pics will bring up some emotions/memories/insights for you.

Train Leaves Here This Morning

A lyric from the Eagles' song "Train Leaves Here This Morning," goes like this:
I looked right at the facts there, but I may as well have/
Been completely blind/
So, if you see me walking all alone/
Don't look back, I'm just on my way back home/
There's a train leaves here this morning, and/
I don't know, what I might be on...

Disclaimers:
1. I really like the Eagles.  A lot.  Their harmony, but especially their lyrics. I think I have been to 6 or 7 of their concerts, as well as three of Don Henley's and one of Glenn Frey's concerts.
2. I grew up in a home situated just about 50-70 yards from two sets of train tracks: one for the South Shore line that ran from South Bend to Chicago; the other for the New York Central Railroad.
3. As a young boy and a teenager, I  looked down and walked down and played on train tracks way more often than I should have.
4. I really did fantasize about jumping on a train and riding to some wild and exotic place hundreds of miles west of where I grew up in Norther Indiana.

There is something...I'm not sure just what, but there is something...about looking down a long straight stretch of train tracks.  Something that gets the imagination working...something that makes adventure seem like the thing to be about...something that seems a bit foreboding, but mostly seems compelling.

If I hop that train that leaves here this morning, where will I be when its time to bed down for the night?

How far away from the life I live now can that next train take me? 

If indeed those two rails meet somewhere down that long stretch of tracks, what will I meet when I get to that place?

The train that leaves here on the morning of July 1st, 2015 is called Retirement.
I will be on board.
The ride may be long...or it may be short.

The place that train will take me is somewhere I have never been before...but some place I have imagined, and rather poorly planned for all my adult life.

Just like the train ride of life I have been on since 1945, the next leg of the trip is one-way only.

The Eagles had it right:
I looked right at the facts there, but I may as well have/
Been completely blind/
So, if you see me walking all alone/
Don't look back, I'm just on my way back home/
There's a train leaves here this morning, and/
I don't know, what I might be on...

Retirement.  Damn! 
I knew that train was coming for me...coming straight down the tracks full-speed...and its only gonna slow down enough for me to hop on and then its full-speed ahead once more.

And the truth is: Once that Retirement Train has you on board, its no use running down the corridor in the opposite way the engine is running.

There is something...I'm not sure just what, but there is something...about looking down a long straight stretch of train tracks.

Grab the Initiative...

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee writes this great line:
I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.

That's a great line.

And over in Matthew's Gospel in The New Testament, there are these words, written to the Folks of This World:
Don't pick on people.
Don't be flip with the sacred.  
Don't reduce holy mysteries to slogans.
Don't bargain with God.
Be direct.
Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb  guide for behavior:
Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them.
(The Message translation.)

Got me to thinking...about some possible ways for Folks to Grab the Initiative.

Came up with four.

First One:
Take into account that there's just one kind of folks.  Folks.
-Because there are obvious differences among folks...Grab the Initiative of Diversity not Division.
-Because there are obvious inequalities in life...Grab the Initiative of Opportunity not Opposition.
-Because there are obvious anxieties among peoples...Grab the Initiative of Advantages not Adversaries.

Second One:
All of us can be on the way to becoming better than we are.
-When things are on the way to getting worse...Grab the Initiative and Plan Ways for things to get better.
-When dreams fall apart...Grab the Initiative and Dream Big Dreams all over again.
-When failure happens...Grab the Initiative and Try Smarter the next time.
-When it would be easy to give it all up...Grab the Initiative and Be Enthusiastic about can come next.

Third One:
Good Character is a good thing.
-When faced with the options of revenge, bigotry, manipulation, disdain, disgust, power, control, profit, and alienation...Grab the Initiative and opt for Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Community.

Fourth One:
Human Redemption will come when we recover our Connections with our selves, others, and God.
-When tempted to pick on people;
When tempted to be flip with the sacred;
When tempted to try bargaining with God...
Ask yourself what you want people to do for you,
Then Grab the Initiative and Do It For Them.

Nelson Mandela said this: It always seems impossible until its done.

Grab the initiative...
grab it by the throat, if you have to...
grab on for dear life...
grab on and don't let go...
and let's just see what will happen. 

And the Winner Is...

I have never won an Academy Award.  (Quite possibly its because I was never nominated for one.)

I have never won a Pulitzer Prize. (Again, never even considered for one.)

I have, like many, many people, won some awards/contests/competitions over the years:
-I won the Table Tennis Championship for my age category in the White River Games one year (this was a state-wide competition held from 1983-1994 for amateur athletes in Indiana)...I advanced to the finals in Terre Haute, but there was no challenger in my age category...so, I won by default.
-Three friends and I won what was called the "National Trivial Pursuit Competition" (that was a grandiose title for the event) held in Indianapolis sometime in the late 1980s.
-A slow-pitch softball team that my sons and I were a part of won first place in the league we were in one season.

Yeah, so...I am very much like a great many others who have been winners in some rather obscure events.  Nothing to brag about...but the memories get bigger and better with the passing of time.

But...but every one of us can celebrate being winners at some "personal bests."

This quote has been used by almost all of us who do public speaking: The only person you should strive to be better than is the person you were yesterday.

True.

And so, wouldn't it be great if we could set personal bests.

A personal best at Humility...

A personal best at Thankfulness...

A personal best at Doing the Right Thing...

A personal best at Standing Up for Equality...for All People...in All Things...

A personal best at Pursuing Your Passion...

A personal best at Committing to Great Causes...

A personal best at Overcoming Bad Habits...

A personal best at Seeing the Glass Half-Full (instead of Half-Empty)...

A personal best at Respecting Yourself...and Respecting Others...

A personal best at Learning From Your Mistakes...

A personal best at Living in the Moment...

A personal best at Working for Positive Change in Society...

And the Winner is....You!  If your goal is to be better tomorrow than you are today.

Someplace Else

I am, by luck of the draw, living out my life in the second half of the 20th century and the opening years of the 21st century.  I might have wished for a different time in which to live, but I wasn't consulted about this matter.

Fate, I guess, has me spending my adult life in a body that would benefit from a couple more inches of height and several less pounds of weight.  And, given that certain things are giving out and breaking down in my body, it would be nice if the repairs were easier, less painful, and less expensive.  Again, I was not consulted.

I am, because of choices I have made, living out the majority of my life in Central Indiana...my most recent years and my soon-to-be retirement years are being spent in Bloomington, which some would suggest is the northern boundary of South-Central Indiana...I am not going to quibble...to me Bloomington, Indianapolis, Greencastle, and Avon are all Central Indiana towns. 

Northern Indiana, where I was born and raised was OK...although I am still given to bad dreams whenever I hear the words, "Lake Effect Snow!" 

Los Angeles, where I spent the middle years of the 1960s decade, was nice.  Vincennes and Jeffersonville, very much Southern Indiana, were pleasant towns.

But I have to admit that there are times when I wish I was someplace else.

Someplace Else just might not be as stressful.
Or it might have a lower cost-of-living.
Or it might be warmer than it is where I live today...with snow on the ground.

Someplace Else might afford more justice than is possible where I reside now.
Someplace Else might not sanctify unjustifiable violence...militarism...and mass murders...in the names of freedom and religion.
Someplace Else might not promote some silly and deadly notion that people have a "right" to bear and brandish arms.
Someplace Else might not be populated by people who enjoy their homophobia and bigotry.
Someplace Else might make it way more difficult to offer up personal charity as a gloss-over for what is really needed: enacted social justice!
Someplace Else might not glorify war and make heroes of all those who fight in them.

Of course...sadly...Someplace Else has a total population on one.

I might want to go there...but I won't. 
I can't, really...because that kind of Someplace Else doesn't exist.

Too bad, that.  Too bad.

The kind of Someplace Else that will change the way things are will need to be created by those of us who know that change is needed...and that progress is the enemy of the status quo.