“No Country for Old Men” - Reflections on Advent

Advent is a season of hope. It is a time when Christians with a candle mark off the weeks before Christmas, using that time for preparation and for waiting. It is symbolized by light in the middle of darkness. Christ is that light, which makes Advent a season of anticipation. Yet to some, it is looked at as a bit foolish and even pollyanna like. Isn’t it naive to talk of hope amidst all of the rather dark news that we hear about on a daily basis. The congress doesn’t get along, the deficit is enormous, spending is out of control, unemployment is at record heights and China holds our country’s debt. We could talk about Ireland and Greece needing a bailout, we could look at the absolute mess that is happening in Haiti with earthquakes, floods and a cholera epidemic in the wings. On top of all this, we have over 100,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq who are in harms way every day. Actually it’s an interesting picture of darkness.

One of the interesting American authors of recent years is Cormac McCarthy. His novels about the loss of the old west as it changes into what we now know is a chronicle of a lost frontier and way of life. He has written numerous novels but one that stands out is “No country for old men”. Perhaps you saw the movie which was very well done. It left me at the edge of my seat, however it is a dark tale. In fact you could call it a tragedy. One of the leading figures in history is Tom Bell, an aging Texas county sheriff investigating a deal that has gone wrong. However, on the very last page of the novel Bell, now retired from his job speaks of a memory. What he remembers is an old house he once saw with a water trough, hewn with solid rock which was 100 years old by his estimate. He thinks about the man who chiseled it from stone. It would have taken hours and hours to do, yet he feels that it is something solid that would be around for 1000 years, long after even the house. He wonders why someone would do that. He says “I have to say that the only thing that I can think was that there was some sort of promise in his heart...I would only like to be able to make that kind of promise.”

Advent is about a story with a promise. It is about a world of despair with a promise of hope. It is about a light that is lit in the midst of darkness. It is about a community of people who gather around the hope of Christmas, the hope of a child whose message is Emanuel/God with us.

This brings me to another piece of this movie which we could safely call an American tragedy. Bell remembers two dreams he has about his deceased father who was a sheriff like him with an old fashioned, unbending integrity that was a part of his being. His dream goes like this, he remembers that it goes back to older times when they were on horseback in the night going through the mountains. It was even cold and there was snow on the ground. There was this rider who was his father who rode past him in the darkness and the cold. He just kept on going, he never said anything. He just rode on past with a blanket round him, his head down as he carried fire in a horn the way people used to do in another time distant in our memories. You could see the fire glowing inside like the color of the moon. All he knew is that he was going ahead and he was fixing to make a fire somewhere in the dark and in the cold. Bell thought that however far he got he knew that he would be there and then he woke up.

Christians live with Advent hope. They live with the assurance that we are not alone in this Universe. We live with the knowledge that no matter where we end up there will be this light that will greet us. A light out ahead of us, a light that shines in the darkness that will bring warmth and comfort.

Recently I have been hit with the prospect of doing several funerals in a row. I remarked to someone that it doesn’t feel like Advent, it feels more like Lent. All of this death and sadness can gang up on you in this world. Yet at the same time, I had this feeling that these experiences were just mirroring what the world is about. There’s no running from death, it’s the great equalizer. Whether you’re rich or poor, famous or anonymous, honest or a scoundrel, the old man with the scythe is coming to get you.

Yet amidst all of the tears and darkness, there is this light the bible says that the darkness cannot overcome. It is the light of Christ, the light of the Christmas message, the light of a mother and child in a manger. *

May you take advantage of the Advent season and make it an opportunity to connect with the light of the world - Our Lord Jesus.

--MEH

*I’m indebted to the writing of Tom Long and William Willimon for this article.

Thanksgiving.

Dear Friends,

I am writing you because we are approaching the national holiday of Thanksgiving. For many years I sort of ignored this holiday, only observing it when we sat down to eat my mother’s great Thanksgiving dinner. It was something that I didn’t pay much attention to because Christmas was coming. Now I have a different attitude about this day and I am pleased that our Nation observes it as a national holiday even though we live in a world that takes thankfulness for granted. Thanksgiving reminds me of the beautiful movie “Babette’s Feast” which takes place in a very small and obscure village in Scandinavia. Two major figures in the movie are elderly and pious Christian sisters, Martine (named after Martin Luther) and Philippa (named after Luther’s friend, Philip Melanchthon). They live with other white haired rural residents that are becoming a dwindling brood. They are daughters of a Pastor who has long since died.

Into this world comes a beautiful and charming opera singer named Babette Hersant. She has fallen on hard times and comes recommended as a housekeeper for these two old maids. One day she wins the lottery of 10.000 francs, which would allow her to return to France and her former lifestyle, but instead she chooses the occasion of the Pastor’s 100th birthday to prepare a feast. She sends for never before seen ingredients to prepare this meal. The menu has turtle soup, caviar, special French sauces with foie gras and truffle sauce, chesses of all types, figs, grapes, pineapples, expensive wine and champagne. In addition, Babette purchases the finest china, flatware, crystal and linen to ensure this luxurious meal is eaten in fine style. After the meal, the sisters assume that Babette will return to Paris but she tells them that all of her money is gone. They are aghast because they couldn’t believe that dinner for twelve at “Café Anglais” has a price of 10,000 francs. This is what Babette paid for the ingredients that she cooked for the old people of this village. They tell her “now you will be poor for the rest of your life”, Babette replies,” an artist is never poor”.

When I first saw this film in the 80’s, I was moved to tears. There is something wonderful about extravagant generosity where people enjoy giving and where giving comes from a thankful heart. There have been times in my life when I have not had a lot of money, but I’ve never felt poor, in fact most of the time, I felt privileged. Thanksgiving time is a time to slow down and reflect upon how much we do have and how gracious God has been. No matter if it has been a difficult and challenging year where tears have often appeared on your cheeks, there are still occasions to be grateful, generous and forgiving.

I hope to see you all on Thanksgiving Eve at our altar with thankful hearts.

“IMAGINE” - Reflections on All Saint’s Day and John Lennon’s 70th

A number of years ago, I was giving a tour of Manhattan to visitors and the evening was getting late. I was driving up Central Park West and saw the Dakota. I stopped the car and said “do you guys want to see Strawberry Fields?” It is as you know a memorial to John Lennon. So as we left the car and headed into the darkness of Central Park, I was hoping that I hadn’t forgotten where it was. I was soon reminded by the fact that I could hear someone singing on a guitar, a Beatle’s tune. So as we turned the corner and arrived at the “Imagine Memorial”, there was quite a little crowd gathered in the dark with lots of candles on the ground and a few people singing. We were reminded by this coincidence that it was John Lennon’s birthday. How incredible to end up there by chance on his birthday. I’m reminded again of his birthday because on October 9th he would have turned 70. Is that possible? I guess it is because a lot of time has passed since this group of long haired singers from Liverpool came over and sang on the Ed Sullivan show along with touring America.

Of course we all blamed Yoko Ono for the end of the Beatles. But perhaps you can’t just stay in one place your whole life, you have to move on and reinvent yourself by doing new things. John did that by not only starting another band, singing solo, but also for a number of years became a house husband. In addition to being a house husband, he was a peace activist and had a social conscious that included helping the poor of New York City.

He was always interesting whether it was with the Beatles, raising his second son or taking some rather far out pictures of himself with wife, Yoko. He did manage to offend a number of Christians when he said “the Beatles were more popular than Jesus.” He tried to explain what he meant, but it’s all been forgotten now. I do remember looking at this monument and thinking about what could have happened had he not been murdered. But, like George Gershwin, Jimmy Hendrix and JFK, we’ll never know what might have happened and what they might have done, had they lived.

Death is the great equalizer. It is the one event that everyone in the world moves towards, whether you like it or not. Philosopher Martin Heidegger once wrote that all philosophy is about “every human being’s journey to death.” It is a reality that I as a minister face often when I stand at gravesites and speak words about someone who is being put in the ground. My words as a pastor are always words of hope because that’s what I believe. Death is not the end, but a door into a more mysterious and deeper world.

There are graves that I’ve made a point of visiting. I’ve been to Eva Perrone’s grave in Buenos Aires with a herd of cats at my feet, Jim Morrison’s in Paris at Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise with beer cans, cigarette butts and old hippies hanging out lighting candles. I guess no matter how large the monument or grave, the person is still dead.

So, as we all deal with loss and the reality of death, I’m reminded of the words that “we do not grieve as if we have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13) As we approach All Saint’s Sunday, we’re reminded once again of those people who have touched our lives in huge ways. I’m not just thinking about those famous saints of old, but I’m thinking of those who have led quiet and wonderful examples of faith and goodness that have lifted our lives to new levels and inspired us to be better people and believers.

John Lennon had a song entitled “Imagine”. And in that song, he imagined a new world and a new world order and if you think deeply enough, he could be imagining heaven. After all, I’ve always agreed with Karl Barth who said “Christianity is not a religion, it is a faith.” Yes, Christianity is a faith that is about hope and that does not give up on people. It imagines a world where people aren’t struggling for possessions, at war with each other, a place where there’s no hunger, and where love has the final word. Lennon’s song has a self depreciating tone to it when he says “I know you think I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” Well, as I see it, all those who became saints were dreamers of a better world, of a powerful message that we call the “Gospel” and of a different way of looking at how people need to treat each other.

As I think about sainthood, I’m always reminded of Luther’s famous phrase, “simul iustus et peccator” - same time sinner, same time saint. Most of the time I’m aware that I’m not a saint and don’t need to be reminded much that I’m a sinner. In the book, “Mother Teresa: Come be my Light”, Mother Teresa’s correspondence discusses her 50 year struggle with darkness and doubt and with the absence of God’s presence “If I ever become a saint, “ she wrote, “I will surely be one of darkness. I will continually be absent from heaven - to light the light of those in darkness on earth.”

You may call me a dreamer along with

John Lennon, but I find myself believing

in the dreamer who told us to be a light

in the darkness of this world.

MEH

Thoughts on Pete Seeger

It couldn’t have been a better day. The sun was shining and the temperature was just perfect as we walked into this old beat-up theatre called the “Beacon”. It’s a theatre that’s seen a lot of shows and looks it. It’s been closed for a long time, but there was a show taking place outside that would benefit the renovation of the inside. We were going for one reason, to see Pete Seeger. Yes, he’s still alive. I thought he was 90 but actually he’s 92. As I walked through this caverness theatre with the walls peeling and the ceiling coming down, my eyes spotted this thin man. He was talking to a few people and yes he was the man. The man who sang with the Weaver’s, the man who talks about Woody Guthrie like a brother, the man who has saved the Hudson River and built the Clearwater Sloop and has travelled the world. He’s not only a piece of Americana, but a piece of my life growing up. There he was with his banjo case in hand. We strolled through the doorway and I was within a few feet of him. I was acting like a little kid.

He was old now with his best years behind him and his voice rough like sandpaper. On another level, you wouldn’t know it. He was like a kid, interested in everything going on, listening intensely to the other acts that were singing and being interrupted by other people wanting to say hello. He was smiling all the time. Life was still sweet and young and good to this old geezer. I watched him intently the whole afternoon looking for clues on how I could be so engaging when I’m 92, if I make it through tomorrow.

Pete Seeger - © 2010 FocalChange & St. John's Lutheran Church

We listened to another great folk singer who was really the star of the show, Tom Chapin. He was on top of his game as he sang his own self-composed folk songs that brought a smile to your face. Seeger had not lost his politics. You could tell that he was passionate about the environment and was interested in making the Hudson River Valley a show place for the world. Now he sings in schools with children and shows up here and there for benefits but he really can’t sing anymore, at least not like he used to. I bought a CD of his called Pete Seeger 1965. His voice was different 45 years ago, as I listened to the CD. He gave wonderful background information to each song, many of which I hadn’t heard before. He was actually saving songs that were about to die or go extinct.

Pete Seeger & Tom Chapin - © 2010 FocalChange & St. John's Lutheran Church

Finally, it came his time to get on the stage and he got up there filled with lots of energy and asked us to sing along. It’s always been his style to have the audience join in as he fed us the words. The first song he wanted us to sing along with was If I had a Hammer. We all started to sing with gusto and a few tears rolled out of my eyes as the song brings up memories of my days in Oakland, CA. The audience filled with people my age watching their hair go grayer or losing it all together, were visibly moved. I could tell from the row of teenagers behind Seeger on the stage that they didn’t know the song. How could you grow up in America and not know the words to If I had a Hammer? Wow, it took me back a bit, but then again my generation was not always good at passing things down. I’ve seen it with the way we have raised our kids and even taught them the faith. Our parents seemed to have done a better job than the baby boomers that followed.

I noticed that Pete wants us to sing along and somehow that raises his voice and makes him sound better. There is something about him leading and teaching others with a song. There is a “we-ness” about the way he operates. This came out when he led us in the song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Towards the end of the song, he stops and looks up to heaven to apologize to it’s authors, Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg and says “please forgive me, but I have to change the words.”

Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

He says we have to change, “I” to “ We”. This song is really not about
Dorothy, but it’s about us. He says again, it’s not me that goes over
the rainbow, it’s all of us, or none of us. That’s sort of the way that
Seeger thinks. He lives locally, he works for politics locally, but his
humanity is universal and so is his theology.

Finally, I was struck by a new song that he had helped a fellow friend and songwriter who had recently had a stroke to find the words to finish the song. Interesting enough, he sang the song called “God’s Counting on Me.”

I began to smile as I sang along - Pete Seeger the old coot, there’s a preacher inside of you and a message you have to share. God’s been counting on you for 92 years and you made a difference.

We all have that chance.

You Can't Be Serious

When I look at People Magazine, I can hardly recognize celebrities of the younger generation. I do know a few names who are probably passe as well -- Brittany Spears, Justin Timberlake and Snoop Dog. Lately, I can’t seem to avoid hearing about the misfortune of Lindsay Lohan. I don’t want to wish her ill, but she seems to have an obnoxious sense of entitlement. Having gone to rehab many times and failed, violating her probation for a drunk driving charge, and her general distain for authority, she seems to be in need of something that could correct her behavior.

She is equating her plight with women who are victims of cruelty and unusual punishment, and even sights article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which prohibits torture and inhuman degrading treatment. She recently showed her now famous middle finger painted with a word that I can’t print here as a message to the judge and those in authority.

She is now bound to jail for ninety days which I doubt she will end up serving. What brought a smile to my face was the reaction of she and her attorney after hearing the sentence of ninety days in jail for violating her probation. She said “you can’t be serious."

The more I thought about it, the more I felt that this could be an interesting characteristic of our times. No one wants to suffer the consequences of their behavior and no one wants to sacrifice for anything. You can’t be serious.
Those may have been the words of Bernie Madoff. They could be the words of Michael Vick, they could be the words of Lehman Brothers, BP or even Goldman Sachs. Life has its consequences and its challenges, but with a little bit of luck everyone is trying to avoid them.

It was similar in Jesus’ time when the rich, young ruler didn’t want to give away all that he had.. I could hear him saying to Jesus, “you can’t be serious.” When Jesus tells his disciples they need to forgive, not just seven times but seventy times seven -- you can’t be serious. When he tells them to turn the other cheek after they have been struck already, I can hear the disciples saying “you can’t be serious.”

So, was Jesus serious when he said you’ll have to walk the extra mile and you may have to suffer for my sake and discipleship will require something of you? Yes, he was serious. And perhaps it’s time for us to look at our lives and think about taking the opportunities we have seriously. Perhaps, we need to be more hospitable to others in our lives, give more of ourselves when it comes to service here at St. John’s and be more generous in our giving, not only of our time but of our financial resources.
Perhaps the problem in our society is that we are not serious enough when it comes to being honest, sacrificing our time to help others or letting go of our financial resources and just being generous. There is a lot of talk about this but in the end a lot of people say “you can’t be serious.”

Bob Sheppard and the Voice of God

Anyone who hangs around Yankees Stadium or watches the Yankees over the past 50 years (he started in 1951) will know the voice of Bob Sheppard who recently died at the age of 99. Sheppard was the announcer who would introduce the players as tey came up to bat. His voice was so distinctive that it became a New York fixture .Even after he was unable to come to the ballpark, Derek Jeter insisted that he be introduced with a tape of his voice. When he spoke you always knew it was him and the voice made you settle in feeling right at home in Yankee Stadium.

Voices are interesting. The voice of God in the Bible is always a way in which God communicates to us. It could be a voice coming out of a burning bush as with Moses (Exodus 3). There are also the words of the priest Eli to Samuel telling Samuel when he hears the voice, he should say “speak Lord for thy servant hears.” (1 Samuel 3: 10). And yet another instance in which we are told that God is known in the “still small voice.” (1 Kings 19: 11 – 12). In all these ways something is being communicated to us.

William Sloane Coffin was once asked in an interview “if God is saying anything to us today, what is he saying?” Coffin replied “God is not just speaking to us, he is screaming to us through the voices of the poor and sick and helpless.”

As I think about the famous voice of Bob Sheppard, who incidentally was a speech teacher by profession and loved to be a lector in his own church also see a person who loved to use his talent in a unassuming way.. As a devout Catholic he was really disappointed when he couldn’t be a lector on Sunday morning. Too often I see people read the lessons without energy, enthusiasm or panache. Lifeless words said by tired people makes you wonder.

Bob Sheppard took speaking seriously. Pronunciation, annunciation, and just plain conversation are things we take for granted today. In fact, many are just plain sloppy about communicating thoughts, ideas or feelings. Maybe we need to take a second a look at ourselves and the ways we speak. Our voices were not made for profanity or for the brutalization of the English language. Have you ever thought of the fact that God may be speaking through you, and that we are the mouthpieces of God that comes often times as a “still small voice.,” heard just the same.

In the end, announcing peoples names who come up to bat in a baseball game seems trivial and unimportant, but Bob Sheppard made something that is ordinary special. Perhaps on a Sunday morning when one is reading the lessons, on most days a rather simple task, we have the opportunity to do something extraordinary. Bob Sheppard made little things matter. Maybe there’s a lesson there for us as well.

Lesson from Nelson Mandela Part 1

I am currently reading the book, Mandela’s Way, fifteen lessons on life, love and courage. I find the book to be a fascinating study on elements that can help one build character and find the strength to live life with integrity. Mandela lived 27 years in prison. And during that time had a lot to reflect on. It’s clear that most people would have ended up broken and perhaps would have surrendered their values to find ways to survive in that very life breaking place. On the contrary, Richard Stengel argues that Mandela was taught to play the “long game”. In Stengel’s words the impatient Mandela changed.

He writes:

“As a young man, Mandela was impatient: He wanted change yesterday. Prison taught him to slow down, and it reinforced his sense that haste often leads to error and misjudgment. Above all, he learned how to postpone gratification – his whole life embodies that.”

When I read those words, it struck a chord being an impatient person myself. We all want things instantly. Speed is part of our cultural makeup. It’s hard to wait even for your computer to boot up. However, when you are involved in trying to change things in your life, it may take time for change to marinate. After all, it took years of racism and repression to be created in South Africa. It would take a long time to overcome the damage of all of this. Mandel kept a total picture in mind and like a long distance runner; Stengel wrote he became “a long distance thinker and prison was his marathon.”

The more I think about it the more important it becomes to look at your life in longer terms and to prepare yourself for the long distance you will have to travel. Faith can be the important element that allows you not to grow cynical and not to become paralyzed by the various turns in the road. I have a famous saying that came to mind when I was reading this book: “The bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you cannot make the turn.”

I am into this thing called life for the long term. There will be obstacles along the way as well as some losses. But my faith will give me hope to continue despite all of that.