Category: Notes Anthology

Here’s the truth, I am a front porch snob. My admission will not surprise many and will generally be met with relief. …Maybe he’ll stop talking about it…Not likely.
When I become ruler of the world, or better yet, president , I will require all new home construction to include front porches. Maximum setback from the street will be 50′. No hedges, fences or other obstructions to personal interactions will not be permitted. All decks, patios and other distractions from the front porch will be permitted only with binding commitment to prioritize front porch usage.
All new developments will be required to be neighborhoods designed for pedestrians.
Yes, I know it sounds un-democratic, but if it will solve our societal woes, why not?
Future editions of “So much to Think About” will include a “Front Porch View” segment.

“A critic is someone who comes onto the battlefield after the battle is over and shoots the wounded”   unknown 
Bird by Bird -Anne Lamott

Disagreeing
When we disagree on theology or politics, we need a category of, “I am not where you are on this issue but I can see why you would believe that and that is a reasonable position to take.”
Matt Redmond

Little lords
…there is no lordless place. Everyone serves. The only question is whom you serve. We moderns, however, in light of our political freedoms, tend to see ourselves a free agents, obedient to no one but ourselves. We do not serve, only command, even if that command is only over ourselves. We are world full of little lords.
Richard Beck

Chris Christie
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has recovered from his bout with the coronavirus, and he’s written about the missteps that led to his  contracting it in the first place. “It is never comfortable to deliver real criticism that includes yourself,” he writes in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “But it was a serious failure for me, as a public figure, to go maskless at the White House. I paid for it, and I hope Americans can learn from my experience. I am lucky to be alive. It could easily have been otherwise.”

Answer to the poor
The culture’s answer to the poor is to raise them to the middle-class through income and education. It is assumed that, somehow, poverty is like a disease and needs to be eradicated. The English held this idea quite strongly during the 18th and 19th centuries and urged the poor to leave England and go to America and Australia. It did not end poverty in England.
Fr Stephen Freeman

What young people think about Christians
…people between the ages of 19 to 29, they are now in their late 20s and mid 30s.
1) Hypocritical 
2) The only thing Christians talk about is “getting saved” and could careless about anything else in the world. 
3) Christians are homophobic, indeed they “hate homosexuals”
4) Christians mistake their brand of politics for Christianity
5) Judgemental 
6) Christians are mean spirited people. 
unChristian: What A New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity. . .And Why It Matters

The first word
What is the first word? Is it not love! In every, in any, situation the first word, the first response, the first reaction, the first deed is LOVE. As the rock theologian Scott Stapp sang, 

“what would love do
If it were here in this room 
standing between me and you,
what would love do?“

Bobby Valentine

An independent mind
An independent mind does its imperfect best to seek truth wherever it is found, including intentionally seeking out the best opposing arguments.
David French

Simplism
simplism.” …defined it as “the unambiguous ascription of single causes and remedies for multifactored phenomena.”

For the simplist, “just saying the right thing, believing the right thing, is the substance of victory and remedy.”
First, the solution is always clear and debate is unnecessary.
Second, the opposition is stupid or evil. If they can’t accept your remedy, they must be too dim to understand or too malicious to comply.
Third, objecting means siding with the enemy. There can be no middle ground.
Fourth, political norms do not matter. Simplist proposals are so legislatively and practically unworkable, they require bypassing rules.
The Simpleton Manifesto

If you could choose, what would you want your obituary to say?
Scott McKnight

Effective political peacemaking
effective political peacemaker displaying characteristics like:
Truthfulness – Respecting common facts of reality, and transparency, not deceptiveness
Trust – Respecting others, dependability, earning other’s respect
Tolerance – Forbearing with diversity and differences
Tenderness – Empathetic, compassionate, gracious
Toughness – Perseveres wisely with courage, and stamina, not as a childish bully but after the manner of a true civil servant.
Jim Abrahamson

Recommended listen
“What could produce a Soul that Shallow…?
A great introduction to Stanley Hauerwas

Still on the Journey

Prophesy fulfilled?
2014
You may have missed it, but a new religion has started:”Yeezianity,”  the worship of Kanye West.  No, I am not kidding.  The Daily Mail  interviewed the founder, Brian Liebman, 23, of Westchester, N.Y.  Liebman believes West is a “divine being sent by God to usher in a new age of humanity…The idea of becoming like Jesus is intimidating, it is blinding. His perfection is so unbelievable, like looking at the sun. But Yeezus [West] is attainable. People can be like that, so Yeezus, I believe, is a stepping stone to Jesus. In other words, Yeezus is a realistic current day model of Jesus.”  Almost 1,000 people have claimed on Liebman’s website to be “

What can I do?
We sometimes ask, “What can I, a single person, do to make a difference in the world?” Our power and influence seems weak to the point of uselessness and insignificance. But really, if you look at history and your life, the situation is quite the opposite. The history of the world and the course of your life turns on every choice. Everything matters. Everything is a small stone.
Richard Beck

Other people
“For most of us it is other people who make the necessary difference to our lives, guiding us, inspiring us, lifting us up and giving us hope. It is the quality of our relationships that more than anything gives us a sense of meaning and fulfilment. Most important of all, it is the ability to love that lifts us beyond the self and its confines. Love is the supreme redemption of solitude.”
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

apatheia 
In Orthodox tradition, there is a goal, expressed in Greek as “apatheia” (“passionlessness”). Yes, that’s our word “apathy.” It does not mean “not caring,” but being free from the bondage of the ever-nagging sound of desires hounding our lives.
FR. Stephen Freeman

Liminal Space
I need too be reminded I am living in a liminal space. 
Liminal space is an inner state and sometimes an outer situation where we can begin to think and act in new ways. It is where we are betwixt and between, having left one room or stage of life but not yet entered the next. We usually enter liminal space when our former way of being is challenged or changed
.The very vulnerability and openness of liminal space allows room for something genuinely new to happen. We are empty and receptive—erased tablets waiting for new words. Liminal space is where we are most teachable, often because we are most humbled. Liminality keeps us in an ongoing state of shadowboxing instead of ego-confirmation, struggling with the hidden side of things, and calling so-called normalcy into creative question. R. Rohr

Followers of the Way
Early Christians were called followers of The Way. By our love, folk will know we are followers of The Way, and what’s more, every step of that Way Jesus is with us, redeeming our solitude and sending us into the world as witnesses to that redeeming and renewing love of God,
Jim Gordon 

Wonder
With the heart of a poet St. Gregory of Nyssa asserts, “Only wonder understands anything.” The role of wonder is (among other things) to slow us down, make us quiet, and help us pay attention. The “flat-landers” sail prosaically through life and miss most of what is true, drawing only the most obvious conclusions, even when what is obvious is incorrect. It is the things that are “out of place” that are easily ignored (they’re so bothersome!), while they are most often the clues that reveal the mystery.
Fr. Stephen Freeman 

Telos
…when we are talking about material goods their telos–their purpose or function–allows the question of enough be raised and debated.
Money clouds this question. Money doesn’t have a telos like a house, car, or laptop. Thus, it’s impossible to say how much money is enough. Money erases telos, and without purpose or function all we are left with is raw desire. More money is always better.
Richard Beck

California wildfires
Environmentalists are right that, over the long-term, we need to cut carbon emissions to something close to zero. And conservatives are also right that, without radical changes to both land use and forest management policy, catastrophic wildfires will continue to plague the state. To engage these issues in good faith, protagonists on both sides of the debate will need to follow their arguments through to their logical conclusions rather than refusing to accept any inference that contradicts their ideological priors. To succeed in addressing either climate change or California’s wildfires, we will need to stop debates about climate change from degenerating into a stale culture war rather than imagining that we might win them.

A father said to his daughter “You have graduated with honors, here is a car I bought many years ago. It is pretty old now. But before I give it to you, take it to the used car lot downtown and tell them I want to sell it and see how much they offer you for it.”

The daughter went to the used car lot, returned to her father and said, “They offered me $1,000 because the said it looks pretty worn out.” 

The father said, now “Take it to the pawn shop.” The daughter went to the pawn shop, returned to her father and said,”The pawn shop offered only $100 because it is an old car.” 

The father asked his daughter to go to a car club now and show them the car. The daughter then took the car to the club, returned and told her father,” Some people in the club offered $100,000 for it because it’s a Nissan Skyline R34, it’s an iconic car and sought by many collectors” 

Now the father said this to his daughter, “The right place values you the right way,” If you are not valued, do not be angry, it means you are in the wrong place. Those who know your value are those who appreciate you……Never stay in a place where no one sees your value. #knowyourworth #authorunknown

We need a why
…we need a why. Why am I getting out of bed in the morning? Why am I here on this earth? Why does this matter and make a difference? Why keep pushing and struggling and fighting?
Richard Beck

RECOMMENDED LISTEN/WATCH from the past week

Still on the Journey