"In Love With Death"

Reflections on 9/11 – Tens years later

Perhaps you were like me over the past week listening to all of the reflections, memories, thoughts, projections, political implications and feelings people expressed about the planes that hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and an open field in Pennsylvania. I was especially moved by an article written by Jim Dwyer entitled, “In Love with Death.” He mentioned in this article that as the years went by, it was like climbing a ladder each year and viewing Ground Zero in a different way. Step by step from the rubble, you would rise to see new revelations from the events of that day.

He had one example that touched me and struck a cord in my heart. It was about a woman, Anne Mulderry, from upstate New York.

He wrote this:

"That morning, Anne Mulderry sat in the backyard of her home near Albany to wait for news about two of her eight children who worked in Lower Manhattan. Before

long, she heard herself howling to the heavens.

Her son, Stephen – scrappy college basketball player, family peacemaker – was, when

last heard from, in a conference room on the 88th floor of the south tower with a dozen other people, all of them sharing a single phone to make their essential calls.

Much later, struggling to find consolation, Anne Mulderry saw that the choices she faced also confronted the larger world. “How to resist falling in love with death was the question,” she said. “Depression and despair is one way of falling in love with death. Violence and aggression is another way.”

As I read this, I was confused at first by her statement that you could fall in love with death. But on further consideration, that’s always the seduction. The world is always trying to entice us with activities that bring us to death. Things can be so destructive whether it’s drugs and alcohol, violence and other shows on television of bad behavior or just succumbing to a despairing attitude of defeat. In so many small and subtle ways, our faith and our hope is nickeled and dimed away.

Mulderry becomes aware that the ache in her heart over the loss of her son could push her to embracing a hopeless and despairing attitude about life. But the lesson she shares is the same lesson that St. Paul tries to tell all of us. Death and hate and evil are not to have the last word. He even says, “Death where’s thy sting and grave where’s thy victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

In the end, the Christian proposal for the whole world is that love is going to defeat hate and life will overcome death. This is the message for those of us who live on this side of the resurrection.

"The accessible God"

I was recently reading excerpts from Jane Fonda’s new book, “The Private Life of a Public Woman.”I also watched with interest, an interview she gave on Charlie Rose.She is an amazing person no matter what you think of her politics.Indecently, she claims over and over again, to be sorry and apologizes for ever bringing shame to herself and all of America as she sat on military equipment in Hanoi.Without a doubt, it was a major blunder.But that is not what interests me about her.It’s not her movies either, but it is her reflection upon her husbands and especially her father, Henry Fonda.I really liked Henry Fonda in so many movies.Of course my favorite is “The Grapes of Wrath.”But, actors are actors and some of us who have never been on the Silver Screen; continue to act like we care about other people.We also act as if we were Christians.Unfortunately, not much comes from the heart.

Interestingly enough, Jane Fonda claimed she married three men and all of them resembled in one way or another her father.Far from the characters that her father has played which were often sensitive heroes, Henry Fonda was a perfectionist and was very remote from his children, let alone his wives – one of which was Jane’s mother who committed suicide.

Jane Fonda spoke of always trying to win her father’s approval, affection and appreciation.She spoke in a recent interview, “my dad shadows me and I wonder if he approves of what I am doing now?”I have a feeling this is the case with many children as they seek approval from their parents.

Henry Fonda was not accessible as a father and probably not as a person.He looked accessible and played people on the screen that were accessible to others.In the end, he was remote and inaccessible.The more I thought about this, the more I think that people’s vision of God is really a vision of Greek mythology where the God Zeus lives in the clouds far away from human existence.All of this is just a misreading of the Christian faith and couldn’t be farther from the truth that radiates through the pages of the New Testament.

“What if God was One of Us?” as that popular song goes written by Eric Bazillian and sung by Alanis Morissette.

When we talk of incarnation, we are speaking of a God who is very accessible in Jesus Christ.The Christian proposal for the whole world is that God is very near and is embodied in the human race in the name of Jesus, our Lord.In his life, Jesus always made himself accessible to hungry people on a hillside, to widows who cried for help, to the sick and informed and to his disciples in a storm on the sea.So accessible that he was captured, put on the cross and dies for us!

The question is, “How accessible are we to his ministry?” Or do we simply remain remote and inaccessible to his call to follow me.

"Forever Young"

Today we live in a very youth oriented culture with so much advertising from Botox treatments to shampoos that make you look and feel younger. For a fact we know that people are living longer and that becomes an issue for healthcare, Social Security and all kinds of expenses. But most of us don’t feel as old as we probably are. In fact, the new saying is 60 is the new 40.

All of this is very interesting except that as a sports fan, it’s hard to watch your sports heroes in decline. Swimmer - Michael Phelps who took home 16 medals at the last 2 Summer Olympics said to reporters in a recent article that I read, “I feel like an old man coming out of the pool sometimes.” Tiger Woods at the age of 35 suffering from numerous injuries and a disastrous personal life seems to be showing signs not only of wear and tear, but of aging. He’s not the only one to slow down or become a victim of the aging process. That’s been the case with lots of people, it seems like we don’t understand that after the age of 25, we are physically in decline.

In an article entitled “For Derek Jeter, On His 37th Birthday: Forever young, except on the playing field”, his athletic performance is being analyzed. He has recently broken the record of 3000 base hits, but has been injury prone and is beginning to miss a number of games. In tracking his performance from his rookie year of 1996 through his most recent full season, 2010 - looking at stolen bases, slugging percentage, defensive range, etc. - you can notice a decline. The swing of the bat is not as fast, getting to the ball takes a few seconds longer and striking out becomes more frequent. Derek is 37, still looks good but you can notice the receding hairline, the wrinkles around his eyes and the fact that he is not quite what he used to be.

Then again, neither are we because in this mystery called “life”, we are all given a number of days and as we progress, we all move into an aging process that will bring us in the end to death. It’s the same for Derek Jeter, except he just signed a 51 Million Dollar contract, which makes him a little different than most of us, but aging is the great equalizer and so is death.

I supposed what I am getting at here is mortality. Sometimes youth is wasted on the young and we throw away our days as if they were endless. However, for all of us at some point, we wake up with the realization that time is flying by. “Has it been that long since I graduated from high school/college or gotten married?” “Can my kids be that old?”

I call this a wake up call that rouses our thoughts and our lives into the realization that we have to make the most of the time God has given us. It’s the realization that moments are precious, people are important and we shouldn’t get caught up in the small stuff that prevents us from becoming the people we need to be and reaching out to the people that we care about.

Bob Dylan has that great song entitled “Forever Young”, but forever young is an attitude. It’s an attitude of maintaining enthusiasm, interest and a lifelong desire to continue learning. I’ve presided over a lot of funerals. Some people are able to put 95 years of learning into 50 years of life, while others don’t seem to accomplish much at all. Most of the time they are stuck or paralyzed in the past and never seem to want to face or embrace the future. It’s really sad when people who are seniors drop out of things with the thoughts that “I’ve given enough, it’s time for someone else to take over.” It’s a negative mentality that makes you old. You see, we are all getting old whether you like it or not, but you don’t have to have an old mentality. In fact, you can be forever young if you embrace the attitude that life is a gift with opportunities and journeys yet to take. I’m reminded of Psalm 90 (one of my favorites) that talks about the shortness of life and likens it like grass that grows up in the morning and withers in the evening. The Psalm tells us that we need to count our days and gain a heart of wisdom and that we need God to “Satisfy us in the morning with steadfast love.....and make us glad as many days.....and years” that we have been given.

For in the end:

God is our dwelling place in all generations.

And before the mountains were brought forth

or ever you have formed the earth and the world

from everlasting to everlasting, you are God

May God keep you forever young.

MEH

"Improvisation"

Reflections on Life and Jesus

Life can be characterized in so many ways. For example: “it’s what happens to you when you are making other plans.” Or, “life is an onion we peel crying.” Another quote which is rather somber is: “life never gives like it takes away.” I’m sure there is a truth in each one of these sayings. However, I want to suggest that “while there are no dress rehearsals in life”; life is really improvisation. It’s how we react to what we are given or what we face.

I’m reminded of this again when I saw the commencement address to the graduates of North Western University by the comedian/satirical newscaster, Stephen Cobert. He (a Roman Catholic) made an interesting point when he said, “life is an improvisation.” I’ve had the pleasure of going to various theaters that deal with improvisation. For example, in San Francisco there used to be an improvisation group called “The Committee.” In Chicago, there was “Second City” where of course a lot of famous people got their start and then graduated to Saturday Night Live.

Improvisation is an interesting term. It basically means that you have to make up things as you go along. This is another way to characterize life. The following is a quote from Cobert’s speech:

After I graduated from here, I moved down to Chicago and did improv. Now there are very few rules to improvisation, but one of the things I was taught early on is that you are not the most important person in the scene. Everybody else is. And if they are the most important people in the scene, you will naturally pay attention to them and serve them . . . . You cannot "win" improv.

And life is an improvisation. You have no idea what's going to happen next, and you are mostly just making things up as you go along. And like improv, you cannot win your life.

The more I thought about what he said, the more I began to agree that there is much of life that comes at us and we have to react to it. Even when we aggressively pursue things, we enter into situations that require us to respond to people, places and circumstances. The secret is knowing how to respond. This is where our faith gives us a lot of guidance. Whatever you are trying to achieve, the whole picture of life is not about you - it’s about how you respond to others. Cobert’s point about making others look good has a lot of validity. Successful lives are lives where we park our ego at the door and begin to see a bigger picture - the lives of our family, our friends and our community/world.

While we don’t know what is always ahead of us - a marriage, a baby, a change in careers, moving to a new community or even issues that involve health, we are called upon to respond.

Faith puts us on the road and hope keeps us there. Cobert borrowed a page from Jesus’ gospel that talked about service. Jesus once said, “no one can serve two masters.” He also said to his disciples, “I’m among you as one who serves.” Cobert interprets it this way:

In my experience, you will truly serve only what you love, because, as the prophet says, service is love made visible.

If you love friends, you will serve your friends.If you love community, you will serve your community.If you love money, you will serve your money. And if you love only yourself, you will serve only yourself. And you will have only yourself. So no more winning. Instead, try to love others and serve others, and hopefully find those who love and serve you in return.

This is not bad advice. In fact it is good advice not just for graduates of North Western or any college. It’s good advice for us too - Cobert isn’t fooling anyone when he gives this advice. It’s straight out of the New Testament and it’s the life that Jesus modeled for all of us.

Not all of life is improvisation, but much of it involves making the right choices and trying to serve others along the way. However in the end, we can agree with Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa who says, “I’ve read the book and I know how it ends.” By this he means, for the Christian in the end there is resurrection. There is good news from the graveyard and death doesn’t have the final word. This part of life is not improvised, it is there for us in faith to trust!

MEH

“So Beautiful, So What”

Reflections on Paul Simon and Easter

If you follow sports, you soon notice that a player’s career is on a down hill spiral after about 30. When you get into your late 30’s, you are looking at the end. We could call this the Jorge Posada syndrome. Posada is a professional catcher for the New York Yankees who was always a feared clutch hitter and would always come through when you needed a run. Recently this year, while he is still receiving a 13 million dollar contract, he is batting under 200 and was placed #9 in the batting order. He responded by asking to be taken out of the lineup. This created a small fire storm in the Yankee dugout and with the press to the point that he later apologized. It’s hard to not be able to do what you did when you were young. You get pushed aside by the hungry players coming up eager to take your place. Of course this is the story of all of us because none of us are irreplaceable.

It can be a little different in other careers because experience and knowledge can make a big difference. I’ve always felt that I’m better at what I do now than ever before. In fact I often joke that you probably would not have wanted to know me 30 years ago. I don’t feel that I was nearly the minister I am now. In fact, I cringe sometimes when I think about a young version of me - who once knew it all. Now I only shake my head and think about how little I do know and how much more there is to learn. I’m no where near being pushed aside, in fact, I don’t think that I have reached my prime yet.

All of this came home to me when I recently attended a Paul Simon concert. He is someone who is still extremely creative and hasn’t lost his voice. It was a joy to listen to him sing - of course I enjoy those old tunes whether it’s from Simon and Garfunkel or Graceland and his solo career that followed. Of course, Paul Simon is singing late in the game as he has just turned 70 years old along with Bob Dylan and others that were once these “wild and crazy guys.” This time though as I listened to Paul Simon’s new album entitled “So Beautiful or So What”, I was moved by the lyrics that indicated a different tone from what he had sang in the past. It had to do with mortality. You got the feeling that he is looking ahead and starting to see the spiritual and sacred dimensions of life. You can understand this just by the song titles: “The Afterlife”, “Love is Eternal Sacred Light”, “Questions for Angels” and so on. The music is a bit haunting because you see an artist searching and in some way discussing transcendence. Even in the middle of his concert, he yelled out “I’m getting old, isn’t it great.”

As we close out the season of Easter, we are all reminded of our mortality and of the victory of our Lord over death. We gather to affirm life and not death, to reassert that love is stronger than hate. There is a song of good news on our lips as the people of God gather each Sunday to know that sins are forgiven and that we are about life that is abundant and eternal.

Paul Simon’s album is entitled “So Beautiful or So What.” I suppose those are the choices we have when we look at life. Do we see what is beautiful or what is good or are we lost in a world of boredom, despair, apathy and cynicism. As Easter people, we have broken out of that tomb of negativity and death. We rise again with redemptive energy and love. That’s the heart of who we are.

--MEH

What Defines Us?.......

Reflections on the Resurrection

In my world I’m often being bombarded with forms to fill out. People want information about you every time you apply for something. We have all different ways of defining ourselves. For example, male or female, Norwegian or I’m sorry you’re not, Caucasian, Latino, Asian and of course there is always “other”, whatever that means. Other way to define ourselves, could be Lutheran, New Yorker, expatriate. Some of my less than religious friends may call themselves Agnostic or even Atheist.

Self definition is an interesting concept. I wonder how many of us would define themselves as people of the resurrection? I was interested to read Bishop Hansen’s Easter letter to the church at large. He was talking about the country of Haiti. Haiti to me seems like a godforsaken place, if there ever was one. It seems to be right in the site of every hurricane that blows through the Caribbean. It’s people always seem to be victimized by bad government and corrupt officials that make this country seem out of control and unmanageable.

I was recently watching an episode of “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel where Anthony Bourdain took his show to Haiti where he was as shocked as everyone to see how horrible the conditions are there. Interestingly enough, Sean Penn has spent a lot of his own money and the past year trying to help out this country. While he has done a lot of good, you often feel numb by the fact that there is so much poverty, sickness, corruption, death and destruction. The latest earthquake just added to the curse that Haiti seems to experience as almost part of it’s destiny.

What I found striking about Bishop Hansen’s letter was his quote from the president of the Lutheran church of Haiti, Pastor Josephus Livenson Lauvanus. As he and Bishop Hansen walk through the devastation of Haiti’s earthquake, Pastor Lauvanus proclaimed, “we will not be defined by rubble, but restoration, for we are the people of the resurrection.”

Isn’t that the Easter message? As believers, we do not have to define ourselves by our sins, our mistakes, our despair or our depression. According to the Christian proposal to the world, we are people of the resurrection. The resurrection of our Lord defines us as it has defined our church from the beginning.

Many may think that Christmas is the most important holiday of the Christian faith, but in reality it was not celebrated until centuries afterward. What started the Christian faith, defined it and started the church, was Easter. Without the resurrection, there would not be a church because Jesus’ disciples would have packed it in and gone home. It was a resurrection that sparked a hope, that opened a door and it inspired all who followed him to begin a community centered around the resurrection.

What defines our church and us is our faith that makes us hopeful people who against all odds will not be defined by death, despair or tragedy. Resurrection becomes a last word - a word of hope to the whole community that new life, and forgiveness defines who we are as the people of God. So in the end, the resurrection of our Lord says “Love is stronger than hate and life will overcome death into eternity.”

-MEH

Why Bother?

Thoughts on faith and cynicism...

The journey of Lent is a journey of forty days. It is after all modeled after Jesus and his time in the wilderness. In the famous temptations of turning rocks into bread, doing a swan dive from the pinnacle of the temple and excepting Satan’s offer to rule the world he doesn’t give in and for our sake, never gives up on who he is and what he must do. Isn’t that the issue that surrounds Lent? Are we going to give up on ourselves, let alone our confidence and faith in God? This is always the haunting temptation that Jesus faced and we face ourselves. Do I become apathetic and cynical? After all, being a person of faith in this world is an uphill battle all the way. You can always hear the voice saying, “let go of it – it’s not worth it – what’s in it for you really?” In a larger way, the question always come into your mind that asks, “do you really think you can make a difference in this world? Do you really think that your actions can change things?” The tempter’s voice always find it’s way into your ears with the words, “forget it, it’s too much, it won’t work, it will never happen, WHY BOTHER.”

For example, when you look at our world and what is taking place - as I write this we are bombing Libya and are watching traces of radiation being detected in Massachusetts. The nuclear reactors in Japan are still cause for great concern as radiation is being released into our oceans as very brave men try to work towards preventing a total nuclear meltdown in three plants. As I read the papers, I see the huge controversy taking place in Wisconsin and of course the issue of our own country let alone all of our states trying to balance their budgets with huge cutbacks. When you look forward you sometimes wonder where to begin or why bother?

The why bother part is I think a big part of the malazes that we face. I am just going to think about myself and try to survive. Many people are simply trying to build a wall around their own little world and live in a cocoon. This is a very cynical outlook and breeds apathy. On one level it looks like there are a lot of lost causes out there so why bother trying to change things? Of course I’m used to lost causes because I’m always trying to push them even though the odds are not always in my favor and the outlook sometimes looks dim. Cynicism is always biting at my heels.

Thankfully I am a person of faith and here again, many people would say to me “why bother” because it seems like Christianity is losing ground in our secular world! But faith while it needs doubt to make it really faith is the opposite of cynicism. Faith is about hope, about energy, about conviction and about believing that things can change for the better.

Sometimes when you are in the middle of a mess, it looks dark and hopeless but through vigilant efforts things change. For example, I never thought that I would ever see in my lifetime the Berlin Wall coming down. I wondered about the AIDS/HIV epidemic in Africa, but when I came to a village in Zambia and listened to one of it’s female leaders who shared what was happening in that village to fight against the AIDS/HIV epidemic, I was encouraged that maybe the African continent might someday be free of this surge.

The world is turning and spinning faster than I can imagine. The internet, Facebook and Twitter are remarkable ways to communicate. They have help spurn revolutions all through the Middle East. Egypt has fallen, Tunisia as well and without being too overly optimistic, Libya will too. I don’t want to look to the past for direction and I don’t want to live in the past. The only way to look is forward.

Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report said this: “cynicism is a self imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid that it will hurt or disappoint us.” Just another way of saying that I am not going to do anything because I am afraid of failure and rejection. That is not what faith is all about. That is not what the resurrection of our Lord is all about. In fact it is the opposite because it is the hope for a new day, a new and transformed life and for eternal life. We can’t get lost in Lent, but must realize it leads us to Holy Week, Good Friday and finally Easter and the resurrection.

--MEH