The things that make for Peace

"If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes." Luke 19:42

In recent news articles we are seeing some audacious things being done by the Netanyahu Government that ignores U.S. wishes that they cease building settlements in East Jerusalem. Israel continues under Netanyahu to make a land grab of territories that belong to the Palestinians. Israel has had a history of just ignoring the tepid request of our government and other governments around the world that have asked it to cease building settlements especially in places like East Jerusalem.  

Most recently, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton objected to these settlements suggesting that it undermines U.S. creditably as a U.S. Peace Maker in the region. On the other hand, no one can sanction Palestinian violence, which also does not make for peace. The constant building of settlements on the West Bank is not something that makes for peace either. It can only make for frustration, anger and add more fuel to the argument that Israel is only interested in making peace on their terms.

Finally, I agree with columnist Tom Friedman who said that Joe Biden should have turned around and gone home instead of putting up with the humiliation he suffered by coming to Israel at the same time as they announced the building of new settlements.

I hope that the Obama Administration remains vigilant in their effort to find a true peace in that region. We can only pray that they will do, “ the things that make for peace.”

Who Was the Greatest Generation?

I am a baby boomer and I have always been proud of it. However, as time goes by I am feeling the next generation biting at my heels. I am sure that history is going to judge us as they have judged generations from the past. I am reminded of all this because of Tom Brokaw’s (one of my favorite newscasters) recent interest in my generation. Brokaw in the past has argued that the greatest generation was the one that fought World War II, lived through the great depression, rebuilt America and sacrificed by living without. They grew up in circumstances that required enormous sacrifice only to leave their children entitlements that we take for granted. 

I suppose that is true but the greatest generation also opposed working women-the notion that husbands belong at work and wives belong at home was the rule. They were part of the generation that supported discrimination and was against inter-racial marriage. They forced their kids to revolt against them as the Vietnam War took thousands of American lives and our cities burned upon the death of Martin Luther King Jr.

On the other hand, when I look at boomer’s I think of Woodstock and a generation that has not sacrificed very much. It is my generation in which our mothers had to tell us, “Finish your meal because kids are starving in China.” I doubt that ever happened in the generation before me.

The boomer generation was a generation in which all of us went to college. We are most education generation in history and probably the most addicted to drugs of all kinds. Our generation brought the world Bill Clinton, only the second President to be impeached in history and George W. Bush the only President who couldn’t put two sentences together. We may not have lived through a great depression but last year we nearly started one.

I suppose at the end when we boomer’s have climbed to the top of the mountain chasing the Michelob Light slogan, “Who says you can’t have it all?”, will discover upon reaching the summit a McDonald’s. Or, in the words of Peggy Lee, “Is that all there is?”

Do We Really Want Peace in the Middle East?

I’ve been to Israel several times and have always enjoyed being there. It is like no other place in the world. This year I once again went with my friends and with a question that my friend Tim wanted to know. His questions centered around whether Israelis and Palestinians saw hope for peace in that region of the world because of our new President Barak Obama. We asked Taxi drivers, waitresses and guides who we ran into along with shop keepers what they thought of the possibilities for peace under the new administration. The overwhelming response was one of cynicism and doubt. They have seen no change and anticipate that he too will be stuck like past Predisents in the muck and meyer of intransigence of extremists who have no interest in peace.  

I was saddened this morning to read that our Vice President Joe Biden who was visiting the region to promote peace was slapped in the face by the announcement that Israel’s is intending to build more settlements in disputed areas of East Jerusalem. To me, that was a clear message to everyone that the current government of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t really want peace but it is all about a land grab.

The fate of Jewish settlements is one of the most contentious issues in the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. With peace talks dead locked why is it that Israel under Netanyahu continues to ignore the things that could make for peace?
APRIL 2010

Do We Really Want Peace in the Middle East?

I’ve been to Israel several times and have always enjoyed being there. It is like no other place in the world. This year I once again went with my friends and with a question that my friend Tim wanted to know. His questions centered around whether Israelis and Palestinians saw hope for peace in that region of the world because of our new President Barak Obama. We asked Taxi drivers, waitresses and guides who we ran into along with shop keepers what they thought of the possibilities for peace under the new administration. The overwhelming response was one of cynicism and doubt. They have seen no change and anticipate that he too will be stuck like past Predisents in the muck and meyer of intransigence of extremists who have no interest in peace.

I was saddened this morning to read that our Vice President Joe Biden who was visiting the region to promote peace was slapped in the face by the announcement that Israel’s is intending to build more settlements in disputed areas of East Jerusalem. To me, that was a clear message to everyone that the current government of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t really want peace but it is all about a land grab.

The fate of Jewish settlements is one of the most contentious issues in the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. With peace talks dead locked why is it that Israel under Netanyahu continues to ignore the things that could make for peace?

It's About Redemption

There are various aspects of the Christian Faith that shed light on the human experience. One such category is the idea of redemption and forgiveness. Nothing could be more central to what the Christian message is all about.

I recently saw the movie Crazy Heart. Jeff Bridges gives a stunning performance of an over the hill country western star who is now forced to play small venues like bars and bowling alleys. One of his hit songs aptly describes him, “I used to be somebody, but now I am somebody else,” and it is that somebody else who really leaves us on the edge through out the film. Just watching him kind of stagger around drinking and smoking is painful to even watch. You are wondering if he is going to die from lung cancer or liver disease. On the other hand you can see glimpses of what a great performer and song writer he used to be. When he is asked about where he gets his inspiration to write country songs he responds, “from life unfortunately.”

During the course of his playing one gig after another he runs into a woman reporter and her son that force him to take a deeper look at what life is all about. While not wanting to spoil the outcome for you let me simply say that he finally finds redemption.

Redemption is an interesting word. As my Sunday School teacher said, “to redeem something means to buy it back.” Maybe like country music songs you end up getting your wife, your truck and your dog back. That is redemption. Seriously, Jeff Bridges character “Bad Blake” gets another shot at life and decides to take it.

The word redemption and forgiveness was also used by television commentator Brit Hume. With a surprising comment he made on a new show, Hume suggests that Tiger Woods would do well to embrace his Christian faith in an effort to find redemption from all of the things that he has done. He felt it was a way Tiger could respond to how he has destroyed his family by his infidelity or as he puts it, “ his transgressions.” Transgressions is another good word for doing the wrong thing from the Christian vocabulary. Truth be told I found it refreshing that Hume made that suggestion in our politically correct world. You don’t expect someone on a news program to suggest that one of the greatest golfers ever to play the game should seek repentance and redemption as found in Christianity. On television, every one around the table was speechless by this suggestion. However, I had a smile on my face and completely agreed with Hume. It was not bad advice.

In the end, Tiger embraced his Buddhist background on his mothers side rather than his Christian background on his father’s side. I am not sure what Buddhism has to say about redemption. I do know that it is a wonderful discipline when it comes to prayer. In the end, I have my doubts about how much Tiger knows about either Buddhism or Christianity. Many of us have doubts whether a leopard can change its spots. Change and forgiveness require enormous work. I know it takes a lot of work to be a great golfer. It requires enormous time and energy. It requires also days of practice. We know Tiger can do that but can he find the energy to change and to take his call for forgiveness seriously. He did say that he was sorry in his short speech. Let’s hope he means it.

Allow me to share with you one of my favorite quote’s from Reinhold Niebuhr:

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint or our friend or foe as from our standpoint. Therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

The Day I Didn’t Cry...

As most of you know I walked Erin down the aisle on her wedding day on October 11. The ceremony and the celebration turned out to be monumental and even better than we could have ever planned. Our whole family couldn’t stop talking about it in the days and weeks that followed. One thing that did strike me as funny was my daughter saying, “Dad you didn’t cry at my wedding.” I heard later that everyone was taking bets that I would probably cry because I cry at everything. Well, I did cry. I cried during the whole process of getting ready for that day as I imagined myself walking her down the aisle, dancing with her, repeating vows to her and Jason. I cried when we went food tasting for the reception and when I heard all the news about the dresses, the shoes and all the other little things from flower arrangements to the preparation of the church bulletin. I get misty often.

I had cried enough and on the other side of tears at a wedding is joy. I couldn’t be happier with Erin’s choice and I couldn’t be happier with the way things had worked out for them as a couple. I will say this, that the walk down the aisle with her was a long walk as you see your live flash before your eyes standing next to what once was a little girl. A father once told me that the walk down the aisle was like giving a marvelous hand crafted and expensive Stradivarius violin to a gorilla. This was not the case for me. It is a joyous and clear beginning, free of all the messiness that marriage becomes after years of living together. From the vantage point of the altar it all looks easy on that day. It’s later when you discover the bumps in the road and that this thing called marriage is not so easy.

I wouldn’t say that I’m good at marriage however, I have lots of experience. As I look out into our congregation or even at any given wedding I am presiding over, I can tell that many have gone down this road before. They have found like we all do that marriage can be more than difficult and sometimes even a disaster. Divorce is common and the church’s family is not immune from it. I don’t stand in judgment of anyone who has found his or her life shattered or painfully broken by divorce. When marriage works out, over the long haul, it has its great and wonderful moments.

I used this illustration at Erin and Jason’s wedding. I was saving it for a long time in anticipation of the moment when I could share it. It is a story from columnist Nicholas Kristof who grew up on a farm as I did. On a farm one butchers animals and I could always remember when that happened. At that time pigs became pork chops and as a boy I would cry.

Nicholas talks about geese:

Once a month or so, we would slaughter geese. When I was 10 years old my job was to lock the geese in the barn and then rush and grab one. Then I would take it and hold it by its wings on the chopping block while my Dad or someone else swung the ax.

The 150 geese knew that something dreadful was happening and would cower in a far corner of the barn, and run away in terror as I approached. Than I would grab one and carry it away as it screeched and struggled in my arms.

Very often, one goose would bravely step away from the panicked flock and walk toward me. It would be the mate of the one I had caught, male or female, and it would step right up to me, protesting pitifully. It would be frightened out of its wits, but still determined to stand with and comfort its lover.

In the end after the soap opera is finished, after the romantic movie is over, after George Clooney has carried Gwenyth Paltrow over the threshold we never find out what really happens. We always assume as we are told that they lived, “ Happily Ever After.” Making movies about marriage is usually boring or in rare cases like when the famous Swedish director Ingmar Bergman produces ones like “Scenes from a Marriage” or “Cries and Whispers” marriage can be terrifying. At times a friend of mine would say marriage is like a Federico Fellini movie - who can understand it?

Nevertheless that picture of a protesting goose could be a symbol of what a life long commitment is all about. As you deepen your journey in a relationship without knowing it, most days you don’t realize that you have discovered someone who accepts you for who you are. You have found a person who loves you when many times you are not very lovable and in that moment of difficulty puts their arms around you and tries to comfort you in your distress. Put differently, when you have found the right person they treat you like a Saint even though they are well aware that you are a sinner.

Cultivating Your Soul

Years ago when I was in a seminar at Princeton, I remember one of my classmates always repeating this saying: “It’s not what it’s about.” Meaning that, for example, when someone comes home and gets mad at the dog they most likely are not actually angry at the dog, but instead are aggravated about something that happened to them at work. That saying gave me a new perspective, which made me look beyond an actual occurrence toward its deeper meaning.

I saw the same thing in an August 16th article in The New York Times entitled, Hope’s Two Acres. The article is about a farm run by recovering addicts from New York City. People whose lives have been shattered and destroyed but who now have a chance to cultivate kale, beets and lettuce. What they’re really cultivating, however, is sobriety. The farm is about what all farms are about – producing good things from the soil. But this farm is also about producing good things for the hearts and the souls of people.

It’s always refreshing to see people take positive steps to take charge of their lives and overcome the fear, the anxiety and the pain that drove them to seek solace in alcohol and drugs. So much of our lives are given over to the simple tasks of trying to get things done, to gain some sort of control over the pressures and responsibilities we all have to live with. For me, it’s refreshing to think that on the corner of Route 9 and Snake Hill Road there’s a roadside stand where you can see baskets of squash, herbs, lettuce, Swiss chard and tomatoes, among other things. The thing one probably would not notice is the people there who have seen a miracle happen in their lives.

Jesus always talked about how what a person is like on the inside is most important – the outer trappings can fool you. And for all of us, the job of working on the interior landscape of ourselves is difficult. No one can really see that growth until one day it actually takes place and you begin to blossom into the person you not only need to be, but want to be. And it’s always nice to be surprised when you discover there is more to a person than you first thought.

Frank McCourt Part 2: The Doggedness of Faith

Frank McCourt may roll over in his grave after he reads this. Often, there’s no way to measure your faith as you would your temperature and discover how much you really believe or don’t believe about the faith you have been taught since childhood. Luther once said, “Each person must do their own believing.” However, I know that Frank McCourt has been a huge critic of the Catholic Church and many of his childhood stories expose the raw humanity of the priest and the institution with which he grew up. On the other hand – and I may be reading between the lines – in his stories, redemption always finds an opening even though the vessels holding it may be very crude. At any rate, he has given me a lesson for faith that I will always remember.

In his book, Teacher Man, he chronicles with brutal honesty what most teachers have to go through when they actually face students in the classroom. Nevertheless, he gives keen insight into what it means to do something for 30 years and not loose your soul in the process. With characteristic humor, he even unlatches a door that gives insight to faith.

One thing that got my attention was his use of the word “doggedness.” He wrote, “Doggedness is not as glamorous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but it is still the one thing that got me through the days and nights.”

Actually, things about my life can be characterized in the same way. Where I haven’t had talent or intellect, I’ve still been able to win the day. Believe it or not, I take a bit of inspiration from that old story about Jesus (Matthew 15:21-28) and the woman who’s asking for help but receives a rather cold response until she says that she’s willing even to accept the crumbs that fall from the table, like a dog.

Jesus is impressed by her “doggedness” and then he says that he has never found a faith like hers anywhere. Faith can be characterized in many ways. I think doggedness could be an apt way of describing our faithfulness in so many aspects of our lives. Sometimes things aren’t easy and we lack the tools we need for success, but by not being derailed and staying the course we can finally win the day.

Some days your will is all you have and, like Frank McCourt or the woman that confronts Jesus for help, that may be all you need.

So when Saint Paul says “Pray without ceasing” and when you feel up against the wall, or even fallen by bad news that comes in so many forms – a troubled marriage, a bad diagnosis, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, worry over your children, the list goes on and on – let us be encouraged not to give up, but instead to have that dogged attitude that is part of faith.