Silence and Action III

... you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear...

 - From Romans 8

What is behind our moments of silence?

What is behind our desire to act?

Both impulses seem like desperation moves. We are silent out of concern for the victims, but other than that we don't know what to do. 

We act . . . we do something, anything . . . because we don't want to do nothing.

A truism states that if you let a raging beast see that you are afraid, you will only encourage the predator. The way to escape a grizzly bear is to lie still, motionless. The way to evade a shark is to begin hitting it squarely in the face.

Be silent? Or act?

The common factor is courage. Modern predators that shoot up unarmed, soft targets like schoolkids, do not see much courage . . . which would discourage them. Like predators of the wild . . . they feed off the fear of the prey.

A famous standoff in Star Trek, the Original Series, has Klingon Commander Kor with an advantage over Captain Kirk. Kirk defiantly resists Kor, who exclaims "Good honest hatred. Very refreshing." The latest training in schools, about how to respond to a shooter, is to engage. 

The one time in my life that I was ever physically bullied, I fought back . . . like a cornered badger. They two guys, twice my size, never messed with me again.

So it seems to me . . . "silence," and "action," as good as they both sound . . . are bogged down in emotions of fear and despair. 

Let's have courage. Let's start there. And whether we shut up, or whether we act . . . we will have more of an advantage.

Silence and Action II

Glory to you . . . !

 - From Canticle 13

If you read through Canticle 13 . . . or even recite it out loud, there is an important concept that emerges.

It is this: The total focus, and pre-occupation with the Creator.

And we do this, not because God is vain . . . but because He is the One Supreme Being that unites all of us. If He is our Creator and Heavenly Father, then He is the Host of our Universal Family Reunion. 

Everybody talks about getting "centered," and having "balance." We all want an "authentic" life experience. Let's be "real." And God is as Real as it gets. He is the only Thing Real. We're no more than an imagination to Him. It really does help . . . to compare Him to the "Force." He is the elemental Source of all life, love, and existence. 

And so, it's good for us to glory in Him . . . and to focus on Him. It plugs us back in to The One The All, and The Source. 

When we're focused on Him, there is a sound of shouting, of celebration and merriment. When all creatures are praising God, it resounds into the purest music possible. Praise to God is an action we can take, that is more effective than moments of silence. 

Before getting silent . . .before taking action on behalf of victims, be sure you are plugged in to the Source of all galactic power.

Focus!

Silence and Action

The Lord shall give strength to his people; the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.

 - From Psalm 29

Kelly Clarkston made waves this week, while hosting the Billboard Awards TV show. In the wake of the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting, she mocked those that "send thoughts and prayers." 

She said, instead of a "moment of silence," we should have a "moment of action."

Notwithstanding the reality that people of faith take action, all the time, constantly, she raises an interesting point. The people that don't understand moments of silence miss the point entirely. Silence is only effective when it brings together diverse elements into one thing they can do together. If you're silent, you're listening, and the problem today is that people are not listening.

If you don't understand silence, then makes all kinds of sense for you to think "action" is the way to go. People that don't get silence, are those that are easily bored. They are not comfortable with their own thoughts. They do not want to hear what others have to say.

 . . . Which, when you think about it, could be a major thing that's driving young men crazy enough to shoot up their classmates. 

But in the logic of mockers . . . "action" sounds like exactly the right thing to do. 

Okay then . . . let's not have silence. Consider the Voice of the Lord, as portrayed in Psalm 29. It is like thunder . . . and can break cedar trees in half. 

Maybe we don't need moments of silence, after all. Let's have the Voice of the Lord. God's words are the very essence of action. When He speaks, things happen. God's voice gives strength to His people, and we need strength. And it brings peace . . . and we need peace.

Pray that God speaks . . . and that it brings to a halt, these school shootings. 

Pray for victims, yes. Send them your thoughts and prayers, of course.

But pray for God to speak, and act . . . and to shut down this violent movement in our culture, that began at the same time this troubled, loud, self-absorbed generation came of age. 

All Together

   the disciples were all together in one place.

 - From the Second Chapter of Acts

Since the first of this year, I have enjoyed a wonderful connection with an on-line school, The Michigan Virtual Charter Academy.

My first assignment was to teach about 180 sixth graders social studies, in three different sections. And at this time I am team-teaching with two colleagues, about two hundred high schoolers, also Social Studies (American History).

Scores of students, and I, will gather in a virtual classroom. You can't see all of the students. There are ways to monitor their participation. It is a very efficient way for a child to learn. The parents are more engaged. If they need to take a break to step outside their own back yard for a few minutes, they can do that. 

Of course, you lose the advantage of being in person, where you can discern visual cues from the students. But on the plus side, you don't have to worry about the requisite five or six clowns and their constant distractions.

You end up wanting to get together with your students, in person, when you can. I was fortune to proctor some tests, which have to be done in person. And while there I could meet several of my students. 

A phone call to a loved one can be a wonderful thing. If the miles separate you, the time flies by and you have such a good time laughing and talking to him or her. But it always comes back to planning an in-person reunion. 

Family reunions are great. You don't have to plan specific activities. Just being with them is enough. And you deeply miss those that do not attend. 

The Lord made us so that we do better in-person. The Internet is scientific proof that we are not made to communicate, and operate as a group, digitally. Already, plenty of research shows that there is always a problem in on-line communication. The only group behavior that thrives is when people gang up to shame another. 

God waited until the disciples were all together in one place . . . and of one mind and spirit, to spread His Holy Spirit upon them. Those are the conditions that are a pre-requisite to God working miracles. 

As we send "thoughts and prayers" to the victims and survivors of the most recent school shooting . . . it occurred to me that I do not pray enough about it, if at all. I say I am praying, but that doesn't really mean I do pray. If anything, it is counter-productive to tell someone you will pray, and then don't.

Let's pray for the right things:

1. That we call get into one accord, one spirit, one voice, one mind
2. That we make it so, by getting ourselves into one place. 
• Go to church
• Visit
• Send messages
• Go to reunions
• "Show up"
• But when you do . . . get with others and pray for unity.
3. Pray for victims, yes, but pray that the school shooting cease
4. Pray that God make you, and me, vessels that will end the school shooting, by do what we can where we are.

Let's get together. 

Get together.

Shame and Grace X

... the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains ...

 - From Romans 8

Today will be the final entry in my "Shame and Grace" series. For several days, or weeks, now, I have asked if anyone would encourage me, in inviting others to a 40 Days of Grace, in Social Media.

40 days is sufficient to get beyond just a new habit. It is plenty of time to observe, and enjoy, the results of a habit change. 

If anything ever seemed wrong with your life; with the world, with reality - there is a very good reason for it. 

Wars, famines, poverty, dangerous weather, racism, sexism, immorality, greed, anger, hate, complaints, divisions . . . they are all nothing more than the labor pains of creation. The closer we get to the Consummation of the Ages, the worse things will get. Good things, seemingly, are always preceded bu a period of discomfort. 

The crazy reality of strife and anger on Social Media is part of all that. But we don't need to participate in it. Paul says that if we have hope in the Return of Christ; that we should wait patiently for His Return. We can be patient, because our hope is based on firm confidence. 

If He is coming back, and if He will restore paradise and eternal life . . . then why are we so discordant? Why so angry and frustrated?

We need not group ourselves in with those that apparently have not the patience to look for The Final Day (the First Day of Forever).

I have asked for support and encouragement in my idea to launch a 40 Days of Grace. I have asked my half dozen readers . . . just one of you . . . to let me know it's a good idea by responding with a comment on this thread: a word of encouragement. I don't know why I'm insistent on this. It just seems like the thing to do. 

I have almost two thousand Facebook friends. 

Facebook is full of too much shaming of others, and not enough extending of grace. Please let me know it's a good idea. 

It is the last time that I will ask for your encouragement, on this particular idea. Thanks for reading, and considering. 

Shame and Grace IX

 They are like trees ...

 - From Psalm 1

There's a solitary dignity to the Man or Woman of God. Scripture, and History, is not replete with tales of the great deeds done by crowds, or mobs, or packs. Usually, the mob commits evil. 

Humanity honors the Solitary Man. Neil Diamond could not have written a great song about how wonderful is the mass of people. 

There is little to respect, in the joining of a crowd. Bet when you set yourself apart, especially at some risk to yourself, now you are worthy of admiration. 

The Psalmist describes the person of faith as being like a tree. Now . . . trees in a forest are majestic, but they still stand apart, on their own. You can easily spot a single tree, anywhere you look . . . they do not blend in with their surroundings, not really. Each tree is different.

But the wicked are like chaff: uncountable specks of dust that are easily blown away by a small breeze. I don't know why we want to be like that. Why do we even care about movements, or marches? Be yourself!

So it is with my Forty Days of Grace idea. I can't even get one of my five or six regular readers to respond, with a written post to this thread, encouraging me to do it. Apparently, the suggestion that we be nice to each other, in our times, has become a risky thing to promote. 

If you are reading this, please encourage me to post the Forty Days of Grace to my almost two thousand Facebook friends. I will not do it unless some one of you . . . be like a strong and mighty tree . . . and encourage me. This is one thing I will not do without encouragement. 

Shame and Grace VIII

 ... appearing to them during forty days ...

 - From Acts 1

Forty days is a long time. It is about half a season. The beginning of your forty days may be sunny and warm, with a lot of outdoor activities at pools and lakes. But by the end of it, you will hear the sound of leaf blowers and see the Friday Night Lights. You may start off your forty days with a foot of snow on the ground, but by the end of it, your grass is turning green and small buds are forming on your trees.

Lent is forty days long. It begins in the stark of winter, and ends on Easter Sunday, usually as spring is bursting forth. It's the perfect time frame, to complete a project, or develop some discipline. A month isn't quite long enough to do this.

You can get a lot done during forty days. Forty days prior to today, was March 29th. I was in the middle of Spring Break . . . getting to none of the work that I wanted to complete, due to a long, lingering cold or flu, the one that began with three days of severe dizziness. But today, I am in the middle of our performance season for HEC . . . and have just completed a wonderful recital, accompanying Charlotte Darr. Forty days ago, I had not even begun to contemplate preparing for that event. 

Noah was in the Ark for 40 days. Moses went up the mountain, for 40 days. Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days. And then after His resurrection, up until his Ascension, Jesus spent 40 days . . . forty final personal days, with His disciples. The idea of taking things on, in chunks of 40 days, is instructive. 

Consider our individual roles in changing our culture, especially our on-line culture. There is too much shaming, marginalizing, dividing. 

Let's have Forty Days of Grace. Let's look, one more time, at how long are Forty Days:

Forty Days from today, May 8, is June 17
Forty Days from my birthday, August 18, is September 27
Thanksgiving this year (2018) begins a forty day period that ends on New Years Day
Forty Days from Christmas is February 3 (day after Groundhog Day)
Forty Days from New Years Day is February 10 . . . right in the middle of the Presidents/Valentines/Ash Wednesday season

For Forty Days: no snark, no belittling, no insults, no categorizing others. Don't even tease. 

Especially on-line.

What if the three or four people that read this blog regularly, took on the Forty Days of Grace? It would begin on Thursday, May 10, and end on June 19.

If I get even one word of encouragement, in the form of a post to this blog, then I will promote the idea to my 1,500-plus Facebook friends. 

How about it?

Shame and Grace VII

I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

 - From John 15

Commandments. Why do we need them, if we are already okay? And why would there be a set of commandments that were only challenging for some of us, but not others? We all die. Therefore, we are not okay, and therefore we all need commandments. They help us clarify where we are missing the mark. And death is proof that we keep missing the mark.

Commandment are linked with love. Christ's love is coupled with purity, unselfishness, holiness. Unfortunately (maybe fortunately) we are able to look at others and see clearly, where they miss the mark. That might be okay, as long as we let others point out our shortcomings, to us. 

So that is we are commanded to love one another . . . which is hard enough, the so too, may we be commanded to live temperately, soberly . . . which is hard, but not as hard as loving as Christ does. We can lay our lives down for our spouses, and be totally unselfish so that our marriages might last . . . and that would be hard, but not as hard as loving as Christ does. But if we loved as Christ does, our marriages would not fail at such a rate.

If Christ expected us to pure, as He is . . . then that may be hard. But it's not as hard as loving as He does. 

Our behavior on line; the way we choose sides and gang up . . . there's not a bit of Christ in that. You must be willing to stand alone. I'll go back to the Trump scenario. You can hate him all you want . . . but Christ does not hate Him. Let's say you're given a pass, which permits you to hate Trump. Then by extension you will be hating people that voted for him, as well. And you have failed the test, missed the mark, once again. Christ loves us all. All of us. And we are commanded to love as He does. 

And the same goes for people that hated Obama. 

We have to cool it. Loving as Christ does may be hard. But it's good for your blood pressure. 

Shame and Grace VI

... everyone who loves the parent loves the child.

 - From 1 John 5

If you love the parent, you love the child. 

This doesn't leave much wiggle room. In fact, from the beginning of Genesis, to the end of Revelation, God has pretty much provided ample different ways of looking at the definition of love, of commanding us to do it, and intending us to share it with everybody, unconditionally.

When I analyzed this assertion - If you love the parent, you love the child, and extrapolated it out to its full meaning, I ended up with the sense that we are all related, we're all family, and we are to love each other as we love our family members. Let me explain . . . 

Your family is your family. No matter what you do to a person's appearance, no matter what legal paperwork you draw up, no matter how you rename yourself, or redefine yourself, you still have just one biological father, and one biological mother, and you can't change that. Families are the ultimate means to practice unconditional love. In your home, when you're growing up, you are required at least to act like you love the others. (In fact, that's what real love is: expressing it when you don't want to).

The children of abusive parents still love them. They try to piece together a relationship that appears functional to the outside world. They overcompensate. This too, is real love. Doing it . . . not feeling it. 

Which human being do you want to proclaim is not a child of God? Is not the divine spark within the heart of every human that ever lived? Christ came to call home, God's lost sheep. That means all of them . . . and some very bad people got redeemed in Scripture, and still do, to this day.

David, who would become King of Israel, beseeched others not to dishonor King Saul, a decidedely disreputable man. 

We are all the children of God . . . we all descend from the first people God created, and named His children. He is Father to all of us. And if you love Him, you will love His children. Adam's son, Cain, was wrong. He is his brother's keeper; and we too, are the keepers of our brothers. 

So, you cannot participate in shaming, both on-line and in person. You would not hang out your family's dirty laundry in public. So don't do it, at all. 

This message goes out especially to anti-Trump evangelicals. You may not like him . . . but you place yourself in the position of judge, over your own Christian brethren, when you pronounce him unfit to be your President. Your position is a hateful one . . . and your hate spreads out over multitudes of people. You divide the Body of Christ, and hold it up as a byword and laughingstock, to its adversaries. 

There comes a point where we act on the truth that our response to evil, and sin, is not supposed to be more evil, more sin, and the casting of shame upon others. 

The response is grace. Just grace. 

And I'll bet a little more grace shown toward any President, and her followers, will be good for the country. And food for the Church. 

Shame and Grace V

In righteousness shall he judge the world and the peoples with equity.

 - From Psalm 98

"Equity" is an important world for the modern Left. The reason they get so exercised against Christian Conservatives, is that they do not believe the Right wants "equity."

The Left has been careful to commandeer the word "equity" for their own. They are constantly trying to come up with the latest movement, or cause, or philosophy, that keeps them on "The Right Side of History." This is because, when they realize that their latest idea either can't work, or is no longer needed, they need something new, to give themselves a sense of relevance. 

And so "equity" is the new word to replace "equality." Everybody else had convinced the Left that "What are you talking about? We believe in equality, too!" So a new word was adopted: "Equity."

It means that everybody gets, not equal education and healthcare, but equitable education and healthcare. This is where affirmative action comes from - - - poor and marginalized people need MORE things done for them, than the wealthy, in order to establish balance and equity.

And I believe in that. It's a good thing. The problem is, "equity" is not a new concept. 

God has promised that everybody will be judged fairly, and equitably. In eternity, there is no advantage in being rich. 

Therefore, you don't have to judge others, by shaming them. You do not have to pile on the likes on someone that disagrees with you. You can love them anyway, unconditionally, equitably. You might consider that, another person has dignity and their own intelligence. You don't have set yourself up as smarter than, or more virtuous than, those people on the other side. Maybe their perspective is something that you lack?

The shaming needs to stop. Instead, extend grace. 

Shame and Grace IV

...the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles...

From Acts 10

Is racism the ugliest human behavior? Is it at the root of evil done by man?

Or is the root something else? Are there evils worse than racism? Murder? Hate? Lasciviousness?

We all want to feel good, and being right feels good. Being good feels good. But it goes deeper than that . . . 

Feeling like we're right feels good. Feeling like we're good feels good. We cannot separate the feeling of goodness from the reality of goodness. We can't even see that we should even care about the difference between feeling good and being good . . . because the result might feel bad.

We can be members of a group, and this will make us feel good. Ganging up on some outsider or marginal person: someone different, someone strange, a whistle-blowing employee, someone less intelligent, someone less attractive . . . being in a group gives you security, because the group can protect you, and that feels good.

100 likes on Facebook feels good; so we post what will get us likes. Popularity might get us out of our loneliness or depression. 

We just don't care enough about whether we are motivated by selfishness rather than true altruism, and it's a distinction that can make or break society.

But God shared grace with everybody, "even" Gentiles. Just like that His "chosen" people were not so exclusive. God will let just anybody into His Kingdom now. It's like siblings. One of them gets  a hobby, or develops a talent, that makes her special. And then the other follows suit, which makes the first one want to drop the interest and move on to something else. She is not special anymore. 

Facebook shaming, and public ganging up (happens everywhere) are just horrible things that make the perpetrators"feel" good. Partisanship and denominationalism are forms of ganging up, of choosing sides, hoping my side wins, because that will get me benefits, and that feels good. It also may preserve my life and livelihood.

But ganging up and shaming is not where grace is found . . . . unless you have extended the hand of friendship to the victim. Now, I am going to have to put it in plain terms:

If you can't hate Trump without hating his followers (be honest), then you can't hate Trump. But the same goes for the Right: Whether right or wrong, for instance, you have been adjudged as against teachers, and that's not a good place to be. If you don't want higher taxes to pay them, then you should consider donating in ways that will help them, because if Obamacare proved one thing, it is that the Left will always have it's way eventually, if you make them mad enough. And historically, you always make them mad enough. 

We don't realize what a big deal it was, for the Gentiles to be included in grace. 

It's the same as you casting off your party identification and joining up with your opponent.