our language?

The following is a letter to the editor from the Hanover Evening Sun.

"I'm getting really sick of hearing about how the immigrant are being treated so badly... those individuals are here illegally and should be treated that way. I have no issues with those here legally, as long as they learn our language, get jobs, pay taxes and quit expecting government handouts. This country is in the crap hole condition it is in, because our government continues to give, give, give. It is time we stop letting this happen. If you are offended by this, well I'm offended with the fact that the illegal immigrants are getting away with it or they wouldn't continue coming here."

Perhaps the author of this letter should learn "our" language herself. It's amazing how most people I hear expressing such drivel can barely speak English. I believe that as a society we should worry about our own apathetic disposition towards grammatical excellence before we expect it from others.

study war no more

It's memorial day. The president asked for Americans to take a moment of silence to reflect on the sacrifices made by many in war. In my feeble attempt to honor this request, I couldn't help but think that the greatest way to honor the sacrifices of these men and women is to work tirelessly to bring an end to war. Yet as I look around, I see very little desire to do this in the American public. With the exception of the Catholics and Anabaptists, I see particularly little of this among Christians. I don't understand why every church is not packed today with parishioners on their knees begging God to bring an end to warfare. Certainly none of them expect war in God's fulfilled kingdom. I am not even arguing (here at least) that there is not a place for it now. Yet why are we so comfortable with it? I am posting a video of the old gospel song "Down By The Riverside." For slaves, spirituals were often covert messages of escape plans. Many slaves pursued freedom by travelling on a river. Subsequently, the "riverside" was often used as an image of the point of liberation from slavery. When the song says "I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield, down by the riverside" I find it to be a reminder of the coming day when we indeed will "study war no more."

Myanmar and Sichuan relief

Since I was complaining about apathy towards suffering in my last post, I thought I would be productive. The Mennonite Central Committee is putting together emergency assistance for these areas. Although a Christian organization, MCC is very much devoted to service through action rather than word. I am including links to the fundraising efforts of MCC for both Myanmar and for Sichuan, China. Please be assured that the money is for relief efforts only. Feel free to link to their home page from my link list below for more information on the organization. I have no connection to this organization. I am not even a Mennonite. I just appreciate their work.

a sad cultural text

I was just on the website of a Baltimore network affiliate tv station (WJZ in case your interested). Why do I look at this site? I guess it is the same lowly behavior that draws us to look at horrible traffic wrecks- you don't like it, but you can't help it. Anyhow, on their home page, which theoretically includes the main stories of interest to the Baltimore community, there is not a single mention of the cyclone in Myanmar, nor the earthquake in China. Together these events may have taken 180,000 lives. What is there? A countdown to that all-important day of days, fathers' day (27 days by the way, please get me nothing for this cliche occurance). Also not to be missed are a slide show of CBS' fall lineup, an interview with American idol contestant Kellie Pickler, up to the minute baseball scores, as well as a link to view opinions on whether or not the Baltimore Blast (the local indoor soccer franchise) gets the attentions it "deserves." What does it say about society when the same people (the station as well as its viewers) who don't think the aforementioned tragedies deserve attention, want to spend time analyzing the amount of attention deserved by the Blast? Something seems to have gone seriously wrong with our free press. What was intended as a way to keep the people informed so as to not be controlled by the government, has become a tool to consumerism that seems to increasingly reflect the superficiality of society. Freedom from the government has ironically left us being held captive by our own self-obsession.

Is the pendulum swinging?

This past Sunday, Messiah College (my alma mater) hosted the Compassion Forum (see videos here). The three major presidential candidates remaining were invited to discuss how issues of faith affect their lives and might impact their presidencies. Of the three, John McCain was the only one to decline. This fact was not lost on the press. I heard in several places the observation that the Democrats seemed to be reaching out to the Christian community, which formerly has been a treasure trove of Republican votes. I feel that they were at least in part correct. Both candidates seem to be more friendly in their disposition towards conservative Christianity than did their counterparts of the 1990s. I don't think though that this change is simply due to a Democratic willingness to reach out. I believe that there is a shift taking place within much of American Christianity. The warm, respectful reception that Obama and Clinton received at Messiah probably would not have happened when I was on campus 13 years ago. The reception, I feel, was demonstrative of more than just good manners. I believe many in the crowd were very interested in what these two had two say. I do not mean to announce the death of the "religious right." I just think that the days of most American protestants voting for whoever James Dobson tells them to are over. I am not exactly sure why this is. Perhaps it is because of the compassionate writings of Christian authors such as Tony Campolo, Fr. Brennan Manning, and Donald Miller. Perhaps that as we move further from the Cold War, it is becoming a bit less of a faux pas to demonstrate concern for the general welfare of scoiety. On this side of a pendulum swing, it is really too early to say. Nonetheless, the professions of Christian faith made by them on this night and others do not seem quite as unbelieveable as they might have a decade ago. Hopefully this change is more of a correction than a swing. It would be of little use for there to be an opposite knee-jerk bias of the one that used to exist. Perhaps this is a an indication that what we are seeing is growing concern for the relevance of the Christian message to life and others, rather than just the self.

Teach your kids math, turn on TBN and count commandments being broken

I, for some reason, happen to be sitting here watching the Trinity Broadcasting Network on Direct TV channel 372. It happens to be their Spring 2008 Praise-A-Thon. The "praise-a-thon" apparently is a primary means of fund raising for TBN, which, according to the Orlando Sentinel, took in $194 million in 2005 alone. When you add this to their 19 seat private jet, you can't help but wonder what exactly it is that they are praising? A continually running banner proclaims "Give to shut the door on lack and open it to abundance." Huh?

Ministry co-founders Paul and Jan Crouch oversaw TBN's purchase in 2007 of the Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Florida. On the Praise-A-Thon this evening, Paul Crouch described this as doing the "Lord's work." He said that you don't "own" a non-profit organization, but it is run by a board of directors. He said that Jan and him are on the board, as well as Paul Crouch Jr., and he said, "I don't know who else is on the board," giving the impression that this is not about power and ownership. He clearly implied that he is not in this for control, but rather to do the Lord's work. The reality of the situation is that there is only one other person on the board, their other son Matthew. Is it possible he can't remember four people, especially when all of them are close relatives? Is it really a board of directors anymore if it is composed of a husband, wife, and their two kids? No. It is that he was being dishonest. The previously mentioned article from the Orlando Sentinel exposes more on the reality of the reality of their intentions, as it discusses the laying off of 100 workers and the outsourcing of much of the park's work

As I sit and watch Paul Crouch ask for money tonight, it makes me angry. Their fusion of their business with the work of God is nauseating. I certainly do not wish them anything bad. I certainly could be exposed as a hypocrite for much of what I do and say. I just cringe thinking of the people who are giving beyond their means to these thieves. May the grace of God reach these people so that they might know that His love is not attached to the strings of their giving to TBN.

suftastic

in my best behavior, I am really just like him.

This is what 4,000 looks like

As of this week, 4000 Americans have been killed in Iraq. Although certainly not a large number compared to other wars (more than twice this number died in 3 days at Gettysburg), this is a huge loss of life nonetheless. So as to feel the reality of this, I would like to memorialize these people by typing 4000 question marks. I chose the question marks because I didn't know any of them and I am not entirely sure why they died.


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brains don't think, people do

I was thinking about the rationale behind the expression "Guns don't kill people, people do." I guess without a person to pull the trigger, a gun is reduced from a threatening object to an arbitrarily-formed mass of steel. As I look at the faces of my students, I can't help but apply the same logic to the intellect. If a brain is not used, can it any longer be considered a brain?

A Quick Thought on Education in a Democracy

I was thinking for some reason about the role of public education in democracy. In a totalitarian state, whether fascist, communist, monarchy etc.., it is easy. The purpose is to indoctrinate the people for submission to the state. It seems a bit more complicate in democracy. Is the point to teach values that are representative of the people? Or is to educate students so as to facilitate them one day being thinking members of society who will help steer the public will for good? In the former, teachers are responsible to the desires of the taxpayer. In the latter, they are accountable to the truth (or their best percpetion of it). Although I tend towards the former, it seems that many Christians advocate the latter.

3 thoughts on time from musicians

"The clock is another demon that devours our time in Eden"
-10,000 Maniacs

"Why do I feel so mocked by the hands of the clock"
-Vigilantes of Love

"We know the drill and we do it well. We love it, we hate it, ain't that life. Ain't that the curse of the second hand. Ain't that the way of the hour and the day."
-Mark Heard

A Meager Tribute

So as to not be cliche, I have waited until the day after the holiday to pay tribute to Dr. King. I have had a variety of responses to this man in my 35 years. I clearly remember the first time I heard of him. We were shown a film strip on his life in 2nd grade (remember film strips?). Not only was this my first exposure to Dr. King, but it was my first exposure to segregation. I remember looking around at some of my African-American classmates (I was fortunate to have lived in an ethnically diverse neighborhood) and being shocked that not too long before this, we would have lived dramatically separate lives. Over time, my youthful romantic optimism faded. I came to feel that the fame of Dr. King was tokenism (I struggle even to type this now). I felt inundated with clips of him uttering about his dream, yet I failed to grasp the significance of it. I have now come to view him as one the great heroes of American history. I believe that the greatness of this man extends far beyond his role in the eradication of segregation. To begin with, Dr. King recognized that the greatness of the Untied States has really nothing to do with the United States in a vacuum. It rests in the fact that people who founded the nation, as well as those who have maintained it, recognized truths that were much greater than any one nation or state. The country only works as long as it seeks to perpetuate the role of these truths within the nation. Dr. King wasn't just acting to save the black man, he was acting to save the nation. If segregation had been allowed to continue, it could only have led to the death of the nation in one form or another. Something that helped me realize all of this was taking the time to read the entirety of his speech from the March on Washington. As I mentioned, I had heard the end very often, and I never found much meaning in it. I believe that the significance of Dr. King is found elsewhere in the speech. The following is a portion of that. It reflects optimism rather than cynicism, love of country rather than bitterness towards it,and a plan for improvement rather than just a complaint. Above all it shattered the assumptions that many white Americans had made concerning African-Americans, and it helped America be more American than it ever had been before. I only hope that I might be able to implement this attitude in my own role as a citizen, and perhaps pass it on to my students as well.

•In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children

• -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream”

Paradox

I am continually confounded by the concept of paradox. It seems to unravel countless philosophical mysteries, but could it just be a cop-out? One such mystery for me is the moral character of French Revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre. Celebrated by some, scorned by most, Robespierre is remembered as both a champion of civil liberty and as the first modern totalitarian dictator. But it would be too easy to write off the inconsistency of this man as having simply been a case of hypocrisy. No. With Robespierre it was far more complicated. He seems to have been both an oppressive tyrant and a champion of human rights at the same time. More than a hypocrite, this man was a living embodiment of paradox.

On one hand is the Robespierre who committed himself "to defend the oppressed against their oppressors, to plead the cause of the weak against the strong who exploit and crush them." On the other is the Robespierre who later is responsible for the executions (among thousands) of Francis Bertrand for making sour wine, as well as of former close friends like Camille Desmoulins and Georges Danton, who he deemed too moderate (which they were anything but).

The issue of Robespierre's religious belief makes for an interesting case-in-point. The Bible in the book of James says that "faith without works is dead." The book of Galatians lists joy, peace, temperance, and goodness among the fruits of the spirit. If either of these can be included as essential parts of the definition of a Christian, than it would be hard to consider Robespierre one. Yet in a climate of militant anti-Christianity, Robespierre continually defended the role of the Christian faith in French society. He made a particular enemy of Atheism towards the end of his life. He believed that the belief of the people in God was intrinsic to the Revolution. He said "The French people pins its faith...upon the conception of an incomprehensible power, which is at once a source of confidence to the virtuous and of terror to the criminal." Indeed much of his motivation to lead a revolution of the people to overturn oppression came from inspiration he received from the teachings of Christ.

Although his actions seem to contradict a Biblical definition of a Christian, his words and thoughts, both private and public, seem to affirm one. Similarly, he seems to have both opposed and championed basic human rights and equality with equal passion and authenticity. Only the idea of paradox allows for the existence of such contradictions.

So is paradox a legitimate entity? Certainly it can be used irresponsibly. It would be very easy to write off any inconsistency as being paradoxical rather than hypocritical. The life of Maximilien Robespierre seems to demonstrate however that dramatic inconsistencies that can exist authentically, or paradoxically, in an individual.

Over the Rhine

Thanks to my brother for this info- Over the Rhine will be playing Messiah College (my alma mater) on March 28th. Click here for ticket info.

i have flown free

I am going back to school.