Today, Not Tomorrow

It has happened again, and this time in my own backyard.  A mass shooting.  The details, as I write this, are sketchy, but the basics are clear:  two teenagers lie dead, and sixteen more folks (between the ages of twelve and twenty-seven) were injured, because bullets flew last night at a local club in Fort Myers.  The boys were fourteen and sixteen, and attending a birthday party.  A birthday party.  Three suspects have been apprehended, but as of now no motive has been identified.

I realize that the issues may be very, very complicated.  I've said as much on this very blog.  But one fact is clear:  guns were involved.  Guns.  I really want to be objective here.  I really want to avoid sounding like someone who thinks the 2nd Amendment should be repealed.  I really want to support the rights of hunters to engage in their sport.  I really want to find compromises that will work.  But the fact remains.  Once again, guns--not knives, not bows and arrows, not fists, not bombs, not poison, not slingshots--but guns were involved.  And frankly, there are just too many of them out there.  Too many guns which are too readily accessible. 

On average, 297 people are shot everyday in America.  Every single day.  On average, 89 people die because of gun violence.  In America.  In places like Baton Rouge and Dallas and Newtown and Orlando and Chicago and Fort Myers. (News-Press, 7-3-16, 5B)  And we have got to do something about it. We've got to have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and say "Enough!  Fourteen and sixteen year olds shouldn't be dying because of gunfire.  Twelve year olds should be able to go to a birthday party and not be injured by bullets."

It is not hopeless.  It is not inevitable.  It doesn't have to happen.  But it will unless we do something.  Of course we need to do address race relations.  Yes, we need to address the poor state of our mental health system.  Yes we need to address the problems of police relations with minority communities. But we also need to address the reality that there are just too many guns in America.  Too many guns and too many ways to get hold of them.


Today, not tomorrow, today, each and every one of us who are concerned need to write to our representatives in government and say stop dithering.  Have the courage to stand up for what's right.  Because tomorrow it will be too late for 89 more people.  And some of them may be only fourteen

God in the Knick Knacks

Propped up against my computer screen are four prayer cards--one that has a reproduction of Rembrandt's The Prodigal, another with a detail from Sassetta's, The Ecstasy of St., Francis, yet another with an icon of St. Francis and finally, a card that has a stylized version of the Beatitudes on it.  In front of the cards stand two little figurines.  One is an angel, playing an accordion.  It was given to me by the wife of a woman named Marge who died a number of years ago from cancer.  The other is a clown that my Dad gave to me long, long ago.

I have all these things in front of the monitor to remind me of why I spend my life the way that I do.  For each in its own way, reminds me of things that are truly important.  And on this particular day, as I reflect on the ongoing violence that has captured our nation's attention, in some strange way, they anchor me in my faith.

The Rembrandt reminds me of the simple reality that so many times in my life, I have been like the prodigal, needing to be embraced and accepted, forgiven and loved, by God--and by so many others.  I too have squandered some of the precious things of life.  But like the prodigal, I am given a second chance--time and again!  It also reminds me that I am called to also be like the father in the painting.  I am to be loving and accepting and forgiving, even of those who have harmed me.

And why?  Well, in part, as the Beatitudes card points out, such an approach to life leads to blessing.  Blessing for me, blessing for others.

St. Francis, as is the case with many people, is my favorite "official" saint.  I share so many of his values, and like Francis am devoted to working for the health and well-being of the church and the world.  I often fall short.  And I have nowhere near the courage that he had when it comes to confronting those in power.  But that's why we have saints--to hold out an ideal--to give us something to which we can inspire.

The little angel with the accordion?  I hate accordion music!  But I sure loved the woman it represents.  Marge was a spirit-filled soul, who faced death with great integrity.  And her wife, the one who gave me the figurine, stood by her to the very end, with great, great love.  The angel reminds me every day, that being faithful to my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my m

other and the rest of my family, is indeed, a lifelong commitment.


And the clown.  I really loved my Dad.  So very, very much.  And I think he gave me the clown because he and I both sometimes wore masks--in front of each other, and as we faced into the world.  But beneath those masks, he and I were much the same.  Two souls, trying to work for a better world, a more peaceful world, a more just world, a more faithful world. 


None of that is very profound, but it does serve to keep some pretty important things before me every time I sit down at my desk.  And after all, sometimes God is found in the details--even in the knick knacks.

Let's Not Merely Mourn

Let's talk about Dallas.  And St. Paul.  And Baton Rouge as well.  I mean, let's really talk.  Let's move past the simplistic statements about race and policing and violence and guns.  Let's, for once, acknowledge that we are facing some very, very serious problems.  Problems that are complex.  Problems that can't be solved by everybody holding hands and singing kumbayah.  Problems that can't be solved by cracking down on one religious or racial group.  Problems that can't be solved by building walls, or eliminating all guns or any of the other so-called solutions that have been offered up.  Let's really talk about the fact that Dallas and St. Paul and Baton Rouge, not to mention Orlando and Newtown and so many other incidents, show us that we have failed on many fronts to really address some of the serious issues we are facing today.  Let us take time to sort out those issues and recognize that while they are closely interrelated, focusing on just one or another of them will not bring about the peaceful society for which many Americans long.

First racism and the things that grow out of it.  Things like white privilege.  Things like ongoing poverty in certain sectors of the population. "But I'm not a racist," many will say.  And that may indeed be true, but our very institutions perpetuate racial divides in many ways.  I'm not pretending to unravel all that here--I'm just pointing out the reality as I see it.  We need to go deeper, we need to really wrestle with the issue of race in America.

Second, violence.  We live in a culture permeated by violence. It is laced throughout our media.  Video games.  Books.  Movies.  The internet.  So what is violence really all about?  Why do we so often feel the need to resort to violence?  I know, these questions are as old as humankind--but we need to discuss them and at least be honest about the answers.

Third, guns.  There are a lot of guns in America.  A lot.  In fact, there is basically one gun for every man, woman and child in America.  (www.gunfaqs.org)  It only makes sense: the more guns you have available to people, the greater the chance they will be used. But simply making all guns illegal won't solve the problems associated with gun violence.  Our conversations about guns need to be nuanced, thoughtful--but also honest.  Can we for once get away from the all or nothing thinking that seems to dominate this particular debate?

Fourth policing.  Obviously, police policy and practices are impacted by all of the above.  But there are other issues as well.  The importance of recruitment and training.  The importance of providing real support for law enforcement officials (including adequate funding and salaries).  The need to move away from the "us versus them" approach. Law enforcement officials are public servants--and that means the whole public.

On this particular Monday there are families in Dallas and St. Paul and Baton Rouge that are mourning the deaths of their loved ones.  We join them in their grief.  It is right that we do so.  But let us do more than merely mourn.  Let us have the courage to confess that as a nation we have failed to live up to the ideals we profess.  And then, let us work together, across party lines, across ideological lines, across racial and religious lines, to find solutions that work.  Educate yourself about the issues at hand.  Write your representatives in government and share your frustrations, and your hopes.  Join a local group working on one or another of these problems.  Yes, pray about them.  Yes, hold the victims in your thoughts.  But let's not merely mourn. Let's act. 

BINGING--GOOD OR BAD?

Binge drinking.  Binge shopping.   Binge eating.  All things one should definitely avoid.  Binge drinking can lead to all sorts of problems ranging from drunk driving to sexual assault.  Binge shopping can lead to a closet full of stuff you just don't need--more pairs of shoes than you could wear in a lifetime, more suits than any single human being ever needs.  And binge eating can lead to stomach aches, obesity, heart burn, high blood pressure--the list of ailments is almost unlimited!  No, those kinds of binging are clearly troublesome.  Indeed they can be the result of specific diseases like alcoholism or compulsive eating disorder--and they can be lethal.

But what about binge reading?  And binge watching?

I have always been a binge reader.  When I find an author I like, I tend to proceed to read everything he or she has written. It started in high school, when I read The grapes of Wrath, and was enamored with John Steinbeck.  I still have many of the paperbacks I bought and read over the next few months, devouring the well-know Steinbeck books, like East of Eden and Of Mice and Men, and also the lesser know works, like The Wayward Bus. 

Today, some forty-five years alter, f I find a topic that particularly concerns or interests me, I focus much of my reading on unearthing every volume I can find on the subject.  I've shared in this blog before about my current presidential project, reading a biography of every one of our presidents (I'm up to Coolidge, by the way!)  What binge reading does for me is it allows me to really immerse myself in a style, or a genre, or a topic, and learn, learn learn!

Binge watching is for me something rather new--all made possible by things like streaming services and my trusty DVR.  Last week my wife Linda and I binge watched the remake of Roots that I had recorded when it was broadcast earlier this year.  Over three nights we watched the eight hours of Alex Haley's family story.  It was, at times, very brutal and graphic, but it was, after all, about slavery.  And that is a story that cannot really be told without violence.  My mind was reeling after the last episode faded from the screen--but, even as the first version of it which I saw while I was in seminary many years ago did, it gave me a much deeper appreciation of the impact of slavery on the history of our country, and on the daily lives of Americans, especially black Americans, to this very day.  I could have watched it piece meal, but the binge watching allowed me to really get caught up in the story.  And it was an important way to mark the 4th of July.

So there you have it.  My take on binging.  Like most words, it has a number of potential uses.