the water tastes like the pipe

Have you ever been to a Quaker service? They don't have preachers. Instead, the congregation sits in silence and waits for someone to be moved by the Spirit and speak the words that the Spirit urges. They believe that anyone present who is open can become a conduit for the very presence of God... but they know that the words are never purely God's words... you see, the water tastes like the pipe. It is still water, but it always takes on a bit of the characteristics of the conduit.

Today, I preached at a Good Friday service. It was the first one in at least 10 years and likely a bit more than that. And things are different in Santa Barbara. Back east, we did a 3 hour service from noon to 3:00 with seven preachers usually doing the seven last words of Jesus. Today, we did the seven last words... with seven preachers... and the service was scheduled to last an hour. Each sermon was supposed to be between five and seven minutes long! (In my tradition, that is how long it takes to clear your throat... or maybe introduce yourself). We actually did pretty well and only went over by about 15 minutes. I did go over my time though but I was able to keep my remarks to about 10 minutes.

Anyway, I was struck by the way the water tasted like the pipes. There were some wonderful words spoken and a couple of the sermons really touched me. Each one reflected not only the theology but also the experiences of the preacher so each one was significantly different and I would have been very unlikely to take any of the passages in exactly the direction they went (although I do have some hints for another year) but the water was still there. Clearly too, if the water came through my pipes... it tasted of me.

FWIW, I preached on the last word - "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit," Luke 23:44-49... and here is the sermon I preached.

It is traditional to spend this time on Good Friday reflecting on the words and experience of Jesus... and there is certainly lots of preaching material there, but as I thought about this passage, I kept coming back not to the words of Jesus, but to the reaction of his followers to the events of that day...
But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

It struck me that Jesus had no other option but to commend his spirit, his life, to the Father as there was nobody else there for him. There was nobody standing next to him and touching him to comfort him. There was nobody breathing in unison with him so he would know he was not alone as he died. There was nobody there to rail at the injustice as even the centurion remarked that he was surely innocent. There was nobody there to affirm that in spite of the events of that horrific day, Jesus had made a difference in the lives of real people and had opened a new way of seeing and experiencing the presence of God. There was nobody there to comfort him and assure him that the work he had begun would be continued. No, those who had shared his life and his ministry stood at a distance and watched and he... was... alone...

We can understand their lack of action. Clearly they were traumatized. They entered Jerusalem expecting miracles. They entered the city of peace expecting that God was going to do something amazing and it had not happened as they expected. Jesus hanging on a cross was so far from what they had imagined that it never had even entered their nightmares.

They were in shock that the one who had turned their lives upside down, who exemplified the very power and presence of God was dying before their eyes and, no doubt, they were having difficulty even believing that it was really happening. Perhaps they thought that if they stayed far enough away, it might not be real.

And they were afraid... they were afraid that they might be next. They were afraid that someone might recognize that they had been with him and that the same crowds would turn against them just as they had Jesus. They were afraid of Roman whips and even more afraid of Roman hammers and nails. So they stood at a distance and watched.

And Jesus was alone. The one who was hurting, the one who's very life work was in question, the one who needed support, the one whom those with power had oppressed and trampled down, the one in need... was alone... and it should not have been that way.

All too often, you and I stand at a distance and watch as Jesus suffers in the guise of the poor, the powerless, the broken, the sick, the imprisoned. We who know the rest of the story must not stand at a distance and watch. Those in need must not be left with only the option of commending their pain to God.

Forgive me for getting ahead of myself and of the story here but I am reminded this year of a quote from my friend Pete Rollins who was asked whether he denied the resurrection, he said - “Without equivocation or hesitation I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think…

"I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system.

"However there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed."

I pray this year, that even on Good Friday, you and I will affirm the resurrection and not leave those in need with their only option being to commend their lives to God while we stand at a distance and watch.

Hardware

In '82 the Kaypro II computer was released to the public. (the photo is a Kaypro IV but they looked the same). It ran at 2.5 MHZ and had a whopping 64K of memory. For storage there were two 5.25 inch single sided double density drives. The operating system was CPM (pre-DOS) and it had no graphics or sound other than a beep. That was my first computer, probably in '83. About '86 I got my first IBM PC clone, a Leading Edge Model D with dual double sided drives and 256K of internal memory! Then I got my first "laptop," a TRS80 Model 100. It was an amazing machine that came stock with 8K of static memory and the programs on EPROMs. You could upgrade it to 32K of memory and add an external 3.5 inch floppy drive and a 300 baud modem.
About that same time I got my leading edge, a friend of mine got an Apple Macintosh. Jim was convinced that the Mac was the only computer for an artsy type and tried repeatedly to get me to leave behind that "gray suit corporate machine and get something creative." At the same time, I really liked the open architecture of the PC and the fact that it wasn't monopolistic like Apple. So, I stuck with PC's.
My first home "recording studio" was based around a 4 track cassette deck from Yamaha called an MT44 (which I actually still have). The photo shows the full rig which I didn't have. I only had the deck, not the patch bay or mixer. I had a hand-wired patch bay and a little battery powered stereo mixer. Then I got into recording on my computer - still a PC - first with a card from Echo and then after the echo died, with one from Lexicon. We got some reasonably good sounding recordings from those cards including Big Job, Beautiful Day, and Heartbeat that are available to hear in the player on the right.
I began to have difficulties with the Lexicon card about '99 or 2000 and then upgraded my operating system and there were no drivers available for it so it was abandoned and I haven't had a recording set-up since then.
As I said in The Siren Call, I've been feeling a serious itch to get back to work on my music and so I've been looking into setting up another studio, small and relatively inexpensive but hopefully still able to come up with decent recordings. Which has me back looking at APPLES!
I have to say that I have even lower opinions now regarding Apple's monopolistic practices, but I have to admit that the computers sure do look impressive. Plus, in laptops, I've not been able to find anything that has the features I'd need in a PC... so I may be going over to, or from, depending on your perspective, the dark side. Indeed, at this point, it looks pretty likely that I'll do a Mcbook Pro and a recording interface from Presonus.
So, Jim, I may finally be joining you in the Apple world!

the siren call

Since my late adolescence there has been this siren call that my music has had for me. During college, it was very strong and I was very close to making music my career. I majored in music and spent a lot of weekends traveling and performing in churches and coffeehouses. Still, it felt untenable as a way to actually live and I followed the other call and headed off to seminary. Then in seminary, the call re-asserted itself and I toyed with following a path as a "Christian" musician. After two years as an intern in a local church, I worked for one year with Come Alive Ministries, doing a syndicated radio show with Cheryl and traveling and performing in churches. I had some wonderful times and some that were anything but and it became clear that actually making a living doing music in churches was more difficult than I wanted to tackle. I decided to follow the call to the pastorate and, for the most part through the years, have felt that was the right decision.

I have continued to perform in a variety of settings through the years, playing in bar bands, as a solo singer/songwriter, in duos and trios and as a sideman. I also was on the board for the Eighth Step and now book a small concert series in Goleta. The tension has always been to find a way to make music that is meaningful and fits into the space allowed by the demands of family and job. At various times that has been easier and more rewarding than others.

I'm feeling a strong call again and trying to figure out how to make it all fit. I continue to play guitar for Jamie Green, although Jamie struggles with the same issues and is spending a significant part of her musical time with another project called Soul Aviv so we don't perform all that regularly. Alexis will be staying with us for a few months while her husband does a training program in New Jersey so we'll be performing once or twice, doing some of our material from the Alexis d days (one of the most satisfying musical times for me - you can hear it in the player on the right). Still, it feels like I need something more. I'm trying to take on a few more guitar students and to find a few more opportunities as a sideman on either guitar or bass but so far there hasn't been a lot of bites for either.

A couple of pieces have pushed me to think more about the solo singer/songwriter direction - a direction that is the most difficult, the most work, and perhaps has the most opportunity for reward. This past Sunday, my friend, Bob Terry played drums for us at church and we were talking afterward. Bob essentially said, "it's all about the music, making good music that feeds your soul." He was right. Then, I read a blog from an acquaintance, Fernando Gros, who seems at times to struggle with the same kinds of questions that I wrestle with... (although he answers them better). Fernando had two recent posts - here on the music biz, and here on putting together his new studio. Together with the discussion with Bob and my internal stuff, it has all been pushing me to get my butt in gear and start making more of my music and to do the work to get that happening.

So I'm writing this post as a way of making myself more accountable... and I'm hoping that every now and then some of you out there will say, "Hey Roy, have you written any music lately?" or "How is the plan for your little studio moving along?" or "Any solo gigs coming up?" I'm still looking for a few more students and I'd love to have a few gigs as a sideman on bass or guitar but... maybe with a little push, I'll answer the siren call in a way that both fits my life and makes some good music that is truly mine.

dancing about architecture

Steve Martin reportedly once said that "talking about music is like dancing about architecture." I understand that. Music can be described and analyzed. There are rules and formulas that can be written down and passed on. There are techniques that can and must be learned in order to make music. Still, when it is all it should be, music becomes a spiritual experience that truly is beyond words... indeed, if what we say with music could be said with words, we'd do that. But we can't because there are things that must be communicated that are beyond words. So we make music. And music - vibration/harmony/melody/rhythm - is built into the very fabric of creation.

Zoe Keating is a cellist who makes sublime music using a cello and looping technology. This video is a short interview where she talks about her music and expands upon the ideas implicit in the Martin quote.

Will the real....

_______ please stand up?

Back in my childhood, I remember watching the television show, To Tell the Truth. An individual with an unusual occupation or experience would be joined by two impostors and a panel of celebrities would question them and try to decide who was the real person. For some time I've struggled with the question, Would the real Baptists please stand up? or, Would the real Christians please stand up? And recently, Would the real Muslims please stand up? How do we decide who is the real thing? Who gets to define the term?

Let me give some examples. Early Baptists had four commitments that distinguished them from other Christian groups. They believed in soul liberty (an individual is responsible for his or her own faith), church freedom (no outside body can tell a church what its ministry must look like), freedom of the Bible (the scriptures speak for themselves and nobody can assign an official interpretation), and the separation of church and state(much more complicated than many people think, but that is another post). Those four commitments led to a wide variety of theological stances from fundamentalist to Unitarian but all stood within the tradition. Few Baptists today are willing to live with the implications of that freedom - think especially of the Southern Baptist Convention. Are they still Baptists?

How about Christianity in general? All Christians would presumably say they are trying to follow Jesus but their understanding of who Jesus is would differ to the point that, at least in some cases, they clearly are not talking about the same person. Let me give an example that is close to my heart and about which I'm willing to live with significant differences... but it is a real difference. The early Christians were pacifists. They followed the teachings of Jesus and understood the things he said about enemies as absolutely prohibiting participation in the military or acting in violence under any circumstances. Rather than take up arms against enemies, they chose to watch as loved ones were tortured and killed and to endure the same. Most in the Anabaptist traditions in the Church continue to understand the teachings of Jesus that way. Beginning with Constantine, Christianity began to identify more and more with the empire of the day and military service was seen as a appropriate way to express one's faith. There are movements in the US military today that absolutely identify themselves as followers of Jesus even as they launch missiles against Libya or attack enemies in Afghanistan. It is difficult to imagine a more different understanding of how to follow Jesus. Are they both Christian? Who decides and how? What does the term mean?

More recently there has been a great deal of discussions about the nature of Islam. We often hear statements like, "For Muhammad, religion and politics were one and the same so any Muslim is automatically against separation of religion and government and is out to impose Sharia law on the entire world. Convert or kill is the mandate." Whether or not that was Muhammad's original understanding is another discussion but it clearly is the understanding of some visible Muslims today. It also clearly is not the understanding of the overwhelming majority. Indeed, all of the Muslims I know are absolutely committed to freedom of religion and to a more peaceful expression of their faith. So, who gets to define the term?

I don't have any good answers. I find myself wanting to define the terms as I prefer they be used. Of course, that may or may not coincide with how you prefer they be defined or how the general population understands them. A good friend of mine was involved in a Black Muslim organization back in the 60's where they had a saying - "he who talks loudest gets over." Often these terms are defined by the most visible or most vocal groups... Do we allow the crazies (or at least the folk who don't think like us as they might define me as a crazy) to own the terms or do we keep trying to re-frame the discussions and redefine the terms? I have to admit that I'm growing tired of those battles... but they still feel worthwhile to me.

Libya

I feel deeply for the people of Libya. I respect the hunger they feel for freedom and self-determination and I think I understand both the optimism and the despair that led to their uprising. My heart breaks for the violence perpetrated by their own leader against them. I feel disgust at mercenaries willing to enter another country and kill the people there because the leader s afraid that using his own forces will alienate the military and turn them against him. Something in my gut resonates with the old Bruce Cockburn song, "If I Had a Rocket Launcher..." and the myth of redemptive violence calls me like a siren call.

All of that said, we should not be involved. There are at least three good reasons for that. The first is that we cannot afford to be involved in yet another war. I understand that on the first day, the US launched 112 cruise missiles into Libya. Those missiles cost $1 million each. Just for comparison sake, NPR receives about $5 million a year in government funding. Imagine how many teachers, college scholarships, meals for the poor, health care for the needy we could fund with $112 million dollars, and that was one day... there is no end in sight. Today, an F16E crashed. Evidently the pilots are safe but there are reports that US service people were injured in the rescue. I tried to find prices for an F16E and the ones I could discover ranged from $31.1 to 43 million in 1998 dollars. Add in the other costs and I can't imagine it is costing us less than $500 million a day. This is at a time when many are saying we're broke and those on the right are calling to slash programs for the poor, for children, for the elderly... We cannot afford to engage in yet another military adventure.

Second, we have seen that whether our intentions are good or not, we can't seem to get things right in the Middle East. No, I do not believe the lines we were fed by the Bush administration as we went into Iraq and Afghanistan, but at least some folk did... so even if I give them the benefit of a doubt, IT DIDN'T WORK. Why in the world would we think this would turn out any better?

The third is what war does to the participants, the human costs. Taking a human life destroys a piece of your soul even if the act is justified. For some folk, it is a small bit, for others, it is a huge piece and some never are the same again. I can't help but think the number of vets living on the streets has something to do with the condition of their souls when they got back... and healing a soul is not an easy thing. And there are the horrific examples of destroyed souls that we saw in the photos from Abu Ghraib and now from the "kill squad" in Afghanistan. I would never begin to imply that all soldiers turn into monsters... but some do. Were these evil kids before they went off to war? Perhaps some were, but what about those who were so damaged by their experiences that they became less than human. Again, I am not implying this is the norm or even common, but I do not believe these young men and women would have acted that way had they not been sent off to war. Yes, I know Obama has said we will not send in ground troops and at least to some degree that may mitigate some of the human costs to our side, but as today showed, even an "air war" sometimes requires boots on the ground and there are men and women firing the missiles and flying the planes who know their actions end in death and destruction. Plus, there are the traumatic brain injuries, the missing limbs, the deaths, collateral damage to civilians and infrastructure in foreign lands, and the destroyed families there and here.

I am a pacifist and do not believe war is justified, period, but for those who believe that at times war is a necessary evil, these human costs must be weighed seriously. This is not the time or place to send our young men and women.

NFL lockout

You all know that I'm a football fan... well, not exactly a football fan, I'm a Steelers fan. Growing up in Pittsburgh, football is as present as the air you breathe and the Steelers are religion. Watching football on television, it is easy to forget just how violent the sport really is, how big, strong, and fast those players are. Imagine a 300 pound player with reflexes like a cat, wearing pads and a helmet, running at you at the speed of a high school sprinter with one thing in mind... and you're not at the happy end of that event.

My son, John, is built like an NFL defensive lineman and is stronger than a bull. His arms are significantly bigger than my thighs and as hard as rock. He is very athletic although not terribly aggressive. He started to play football in 9th grade and dislocated his knee in a scrimmage before the season even began. He decided not to play again.

There was some pressure on him through high school to join the team again and then even more when he attended City College where one of the coaches told him that with his size and strength and a bit of coaching, he'd have a good shot at getting a scholarship to a division one school when he was finished at City College. And they had a slot at nose tackle just waiting for him. He was very, very tempted but decided against it. I have to say that I was relieved. Even as I experienced a bit of a thrill, picturing him in my mind running out onto the field, pushing his way through the middle of the line and sacking the opposing quarterback, stopping a run up the middle to deny a touchdown, my imagination went back to the dislocated knee and imagined so much worse.

Those thoughts take me to the possible lockout of NFL players. Yes, many of them (not all) get paid huge salaries and it might be easy to see them as overpaid, spoiled brats. While some, no doubt, are, there is a lot more to the story. The average NFL career is only 3.6 years long and a very large percentage of those players leave the game with permanent injuries. Some will have permanent brain damage. Some will have leg injuries that will make walking painful or difficult for the rest of their lives. Many will struggle with weight issues and its attendant heart problems and diabetes. Depending on their length of play, they may or may not have significant health care benefits as they struggle with what are often lifelong problems.

During the lockout, the players will not be paid and they will lose whatever portion of that 3.6 year average career the lockout takes. In the meantime, the owners will continue to receive revenue from television contracts which pay whether or not the games take place. So, because of reduced costs and continued income, the owners will make a profit even if there is no season. The players, all of those who work in the stadiums, and the franchise cities will suffer.

So what do the owners want? They want an increased percentage of the total revenue. They now get approximately 50%. They say they are losing money but refuse to allow the players union to see the proof. They also want to increase the season 2 more games to 18. This would increase the likelihood of injuries to players and shorten their careers at the same time that their salaries would be cut. There are other details as well that would seriously impact the players.

What do the players want? A fair cut of the revenue, health care, basic rights, and to play the game they love. They are not asking for more of anything and indeed, had a collective bargaining agreement that the owners are choosing to back out of.

From what I can see, the players have tried to negotiate in good faith and the owners have done anything but. You can go to NFL Lockout to learn more and to sign a petition urging the owners to negotiate in good faith and allow the season to go ahead.

ahh springtime

Yes... I know it isn't spring time many places. And yes, I know that what passes for weather in Santa Barbra is pretty much perpetual spring. It took me a couple of years before I could figure out that there actually are seasons here, even though the differences are very, very subtle.


When spring comes, many flowering trees go into bloom and many of them are fragrant. The airs smells of flowers everywhere. We have a few pittosporum trees on the church campus that go into bloom in spring and are flat out amazing. They are bout 150 yards or so from my office but all I have to do is stick my head out the door to be intoxicated by them. Even cooler than that, as you would expect, they attract bees by the thousands. They are alive with them. Last year I discovered that if you stand under the trees in the morning and remain quiet, the trees actually buzz from the bees flitting from flower to flower, gathering pollen.

It is an amazing experience...

Un-American

I'm a Baptist. One of the core commitments of all true Baptists is separation of church and state. Religion must be freely chosen and the government has no role in either curtailing or supporting religious practice. Essentially, religion must be invisible to government.

Today, Rep. King, a Republican from NY state is holding hearings to look into the "The Extent of Radicalization of Muslim Americans." While there is no doubt that there are radical Muslims in America and it might even be possible that the number is growing, to paint with such a broad brush is clearly a swipe against freedom of religion, a core principle upon which this nation was founded. When one faith group is singled out for attack, all are threatened.

Representative King, this is as un-american as it gets. You should be ashamed.

Time for Jubilee?

A few pieces fell together for me the other day and I have to admit, the constellation both horrified and frightened me.

Piece #1. There has been a concerted effort to mobilize the religious community in greater Santa Barbara to reach out to and care for our neighbors without homes.

Piece #2. I've read stats and seen charts about the economic division in the US... that the gap between the rich and the poor is growing wider, that the rich are getting richer at an alarming rate and everyone else is stagnant at best, that the wealthiest 400 Americans have about the same wealth as the poorest 155 MILLION people, that the percentage of children living in poverty is approaching 25% (here are a few graphs that point to some of this data)

Piece #3. Just when it is clear that more children are slipping into poverty, many of our political leaders call for cutting programs to help children. Just when it is clear that we are falling further behind much of the rest of the world in education (we're 9th in the percentage of YA's with college degrees), those same politicians are calling for cuts to education spending. Just as we're starting to crawl out of a terrible recession, they call for cuts in government jobs and spending which will put more people out of work. At a time of record deficits when a larger percentage of government receipts comes from regressive payroll taxes, they call for cuts in progressive taxes and for cutting the very programs that the regressive payroll taxes were put in place to fund.

Piece #4. The people seem to be rising up in response to the actions of the Wisconsin governor.

All of this got me thinking about the Year of Jubilee in the Bible. During the Year of Jubilee all debts were canceled, slaves were freed, and land returned to the families who had originally owned it. No family would permanently benefit from the hard work or luck of an ancestor nor would any family permanently suffer from the misfortune or laziness of an ancestor. There would be no trust fund babies and no permanent underclass. Every 50 years, wealth would be redistributed and everything would be equalized.

Now, as a person of European descent living in the US, I'd be more than a little leery of calling for a literal Year of Jubilee... that would put all of the property back in the hands of the Native Americans... Clearly though, it is God's plan that everything regularly be redistributed so everyone truly has a fair shake. I don't know what that might look like, but I think it begins with progressive taxes, includes programs for the poor, and values education and infrastructure above military might.

Love Wins

I've posted before about universalism... and I clearly believe it is the only reasonable option. I've been interested to see the topic being raised in evangelical circles lately. I think they struggle too hard against it, but more and more, especially younger evangelicals, seem to be embracing the idea.

Here's a video promo for a new book by Rob Bell

LOVE WINS. from Rob Bell on Vimeo.

If you want to think a bit more theologcally about the subject, check out this excellent short post from Richard Beck on his blog. In a comment on that post, Tyler Priest remarks that at a conference he had attended, Jurgen Moltmann was asked if he was a universalist, Moltmann replied, "No no, there are some people I've met that I do not wish to meet again. But God, now God might be a universalist."

bass player

Next Saturday we have a fundraiser coming up for a wonderful songwriter named Robert Postel with a terrible disease called Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy. Robert is undergoing an experimental treatment that shows great promise and even though his insurance will cover part, the side costs for pre and post-care are staggering. You can contribute here.

So, a bunch of local musicians are all kicking in and we're having a marathon concert Saturday evening at Center of the Heart in Santa Barbara, beginning at 5:00. Jamie, Bob, and I are playing a short set at 5:25.

I'm playing bass with about 4 different performers through the evening and I'm really excited. Yesterday, we did a rehearsal with me on bass and Grace Feldman on drums and percussion. It was a looonnngggg day but I actually sounded like a bass player and had a lot of fun.

So, if you're in the Santa Barbara area on Sat. evening stop by for a wonderful concert, help out with a great guy, and as an added bonus, get to hear me play bass!

Why We Should Support Unions

OK... first the disclaimer. I know there have been and are corrupt union bosses. I know that unions take money from paychecks and sometimes use it in ways the individual worker might not choose. I now that there have been some contracts that were negotiated that seem a bit... much. But I am still pro-union. Here's why.

Historically, just about every positive movement forward for workers has come because of the work of unions. If you are an hourly worker and get overtime when you pass 40 hours a week... thank a union. If you had health insurance benefits at work... thank a union. If you work in a factory and look around and see that there are no children present... thank a union. If your employer gives you time for breaks, adequate safety gear,sick pay, etc... thank a union. You would be hard pressed to find anything positive that has happened for working people that did not come as a result of union blood, sweat, and tears. And they did it for all of us whether we were unionized or not. (See my earlier post where I share my experience in a blue collar family in a union city) I would not hesitate to say that it was the unions who built the middle class of America and it isn't a surprise that they're demise coincides with the decline of the middle class.

So, the argument then goes that the unions did wonderful things in the past but they have served their purpose. They are vestiges of a by-gone era and now we have evolved past the need for them. My answer to that is horse pucky.

Do you truly believe that any corporation out there truly has the interests of its employees at heart? Do you truly believe that without unions employers would honor the contracts they have with workers? All we need do is look at the state of Wisconsin and a number of other states who are trying to renege on contracts they made with workers and trying to remove the right of unions to collectively bargaining.

The other argument is that government can take on the role of watching corporations to ensure that they do not abuse employees. And this argument is often made by the same folk who want to shrink government until it is small enough to drown in the bathtub... the same people who want to remove all constraints on business and let the free market run, regardless of what that would do to people without capital or power. All we need do is look at Wisconsin to learn that a governor who is sponsored by corporate money will pay them back in kind.

I stand with the unions.

Kora on guitar

At the Western Regional Folk Alliance conference a few months ago I heard some wonderful music. There were some songwriters who wrote stories that felt like they came straight from my heart only in ways that I could never express. There were voices that brought tears to my eyes. Still, I rarely hear something that just makes me shake my head and smile. Walter Strauss was one of those performers.

Every now and then there is a guitar player who does something completely unexpected. The greatest players of all time have done just that. Django did it in jazz. Jimi took electric rock guitar to new places. Michael did the same for fingerstyle acoustic. Now, I wouldn't put Walter Strauss in those same categories but he did something completely new to me that was just amazing. Walter is a wonderful player who does kora music on the guitar. A kora is a 21 string African harp. Now, there may be some other players out there who do kora on guitar, but if there are, I've never run into them. And I can't imagine anyone doing it better than Walter does.

This video is getting a bunch of play now as Acoustic Guitar magazine has an article on Walter's guitar and included this video. Wow!



If you get a chance to see him perform, I highly recommend it. Here's his current calendar.

These Cuts

I've been chomping at the bit here for weeks as I listen to politicians talk about cuts that need to be made in government programs and that all of us will need to share the pain. They're lying. And it is immoral.

Here's where are the cuts they're discussing - education, food safety, children's programs, programs to help the poor, international food aid, and the list continues in a similar vein. Most of the budget items are relatively small but they are symbolic. To the degree that a budget is a moral document that speaks to a nation's real priorities, these discussions clearly tell us that the most vulnerable in our society are on their own. These cuts won't fix any perceived problems but the mean spiritedness and short-sightedness of the proposed cuts really is amazing to me. Imagine the future if our educational system, already lagging behind much of the developed world in important ways, is defunded and pushed further down the list. Imagine the future in our cities if the poor safety nets we currently have are removed. As a further insult, I did see a report today that while discussion these small cuts, funding for one will continue - the Army will continue to purchase ad space on a NASCAR car to the tune of $7 million a year.

Which leads us to the big areas... First is the military, which depending on how you count it is somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the entire government budget as we care for vets, support bases in over 150 different countries, and prosecute two wars that are rapidly approaching the longest wars we have ever engaged in. There is almost no discussion about the efficacy of the current military or the necessity of maintaining it as it is. Do those bases in 150 countries really contribute to our security? Or are there other ways to accomplish this? After spending nearly $1 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan, are we closer to lessening the threat of terror? And even if we are, might there have been better ways that would have cost less and caused less suffering? As long as military power is an unquestioned value for our country, we will never even investigate the possibilities.

Second is Social Security, the retirement income program. Discussions of cutting the two latter programs are taking place. Unfortunately, they haven't been honest. We hear that Social Security will be broke in X years... as the society ages and there are fewer workers paying in and more taking out of the system. While that piece is clearly true, the original intent was that the funds paid into Social Security were envisioned as being in a "lock box" as a trust fund, held for the time when they ould be needed. Whether that was ever a realistic plan or not is debatable, but beginning with Reagan, the fund was used to pay for other government programs, essentially moving it from a retirement investment program to just another tax used to fund the government.

Any changes made to Social Security will have far reaching implications for our society as it has become the primary income for many elderly folk, the very folk who built this nation. And many who are nearing retirement have planned their lives with that program as an essential part of their future. There are ways to make the program more viable. The tax is capped at a certain income level. If the funds were only used to cover the costs of Social Security, this might make sense but as they are used to fund other government programs, they become an incredible regressive tax. So raise the cap or remove it entirely. There is talk of raising the retirement age as people live longer. While this discussion has merit, it must also be noted that different slices of the population have very different life expectancies and some kinds of work simply cannot be extended. While a 70 year old may do fine behind a desk at a computer screen, climbing onto a roof to do manual labor is a very different issue. And finally there are those who look at the statistics and see the program as being viable, as it currently is, for a very long time.

Third is Medicare, the medical program for the elderly and disabled. Frankly, I don't know enough about Medicare to be ignorant enough to make stupid comments. I do know that it, as with Social Security, is a critical part of the system many people rely upon and that the problems in our heath care delivery system are systemic.


Fourth comes the other side of the equation - taxes. Our highest marginal rates are the lowest they've been for over 50 years. Surely it tells us something that as the tax rates went down, the deficit went up. The discussion has been framed by the right wing that taxes are always evil and should never be raised. While my bank account certainly appreciates that argument, my heart finds it terribly lacking. It takes money to provide essential services. In my mind, the role of government is to provide those essential services, especially the ones that cannot or will not be provided by private enterprise. To the degree that an individual receives the benefits of living in this society, that individual is responsible to pay back. That means taxes. It is clear that since the Reagan presidency, income has been redistributed upward (see the chart to the right which goes through '07, the trend has increased since then). The wealthiest 1% have by far received the most benefits of living in this society. They, and the rest of us, should pay our fair share to support this society.

OK, now for the theological part... it is simple. The scriptures again and again show God's expectations that a society must care for the poorest and most vulnerable of its citizens. Sojourners Magazine is distributing What Would Jesus Cut bracelets... surely he would not cut the programs upon which the poor depend.

Another Rainy Day

We don't get lot of rain in Santa Barbara, CA. And the temperature doesn't change that much. Indeed, the first year I lived here I wondered why the news stations had weather people. I joked that they could come and tape one report and show it every day and still be as accurate as any other weathercasters in the nation - "Fog in the morning that will burn off by 10:30, then sunny with a high about 70." I did learn that the fog isn't usually year round, there is a slight variation in the temperature from season to season, and we do get rain occasionally.

This year has been particularly rainy... and today it is rainy and cold (at least cold for here). We've had a couple of rainy days in a row and the natives are complaining about being depressed (they don't have a clue as to what seasonal affective disorder really is). I have to admit, that the weather here turns you into a weather wimp very quickly and I feel these few cloudy days too.

I also see the results. Just a little water and everything comes to life. The mountains are green. Mustard flowers cover the hillsides in bright yellow. Other flowers will follow soon.

All of this had me thinking about a poem Cheryl read in a funeral service the other day that essentially said that without grief, one can never know the real beauty of life. Without rain, there are no flowers...

a good song?

What makes a good song? I've been thinking about that question as I listen to the video of Tinashe playing mbira and singing Zambezi that is posted below.

I love the song - especially in this simple, stripped down version (he also has a full production version on Youtube). It begins like a simple love song... two people under a mango tree, enjoying one another and full of life. The musical tone doesn't change at all but the lyrics then carry us into a very different place as the soldiers come and the singer urges the beloved just to live. This gentle little song holds all of the joy and fear of life in three minutes.

So what makes a good song? It opens the heart in unexpected ways. It distills the important things of life into a few minutes. As a listener, I experience life in new ways. I may cry. I may be filled with joy. I will be a little richer and more whole because I have had a good song find its way into my life.

beautiful

it's been a while since I posted a music video... this one moved me.

learning a language - bass

A bilingual person is a person who speaks two languages. A trilingual person speaks three... so what do you call a person who only speaks one language? American.

OK, I'm not literally talking about languages here although I am truly an American. I'm talking about music. Each musical genre has its own vocabulary, grammar, and syntax... its own language. Each musical instrument has its own dialect in that language as well.

Many guitar players think that because they understand a fretboard, they can play other fretted instruments - bass, mandolin, ukulele, banjo... So, they run out and buy whichever one of those instruments catches their imagination and fancy themselves banjo/mandolin/uke/bass players. It doesn't work. Believe me. I'm a pretty good guitar player and know a couple of different languages on guitar but even though I know where all of the notes are on each of those instruments... I'm not a banjo/mandolin/uke player... I am becoming a bass player.

While I've owned a bass guitar for years, I always sounded like a guitar player playing a bass rather than a real bass player. I never went so far as to get a good bass for that reason. I would use my cheap bass for recording and sounded, well, not like a bass player, but it was OK for my needs. Then about 6 months ago, we lost our bass player in the church band. I decided to get serious and learn another language just in case. So, I bought a good bass - a Peavey USA Cirrus (there on the right) - and a decent little bass amp - a GenzBenz 3.0-8T - and began to study bass. I know where the notes are. I know how chords and harmonies work. I know about voicings and how rhythms work in acoustic music, rock, and funk. I am learning how a real bass player fits into all of that. And frankly, I'm doing pretty well. I don't usually play bass at church as we have a teenager who is filling that slot but I'm always ready to fill in when he isn't there.

I'm really enjoying the bass and decided it would be a lot of fun if I can get some gigs playing bass with some of the local singer/songwriters. I'm not looking for a steady band but occasional things would be really cool. My bass is top notch and my amp is a good sounding amp if a little bit under-powered by modern standards but my speaker cabinet was way too small for any real gigs. So, I started researching different cabinets and the sound philosophies behind them. For electric guitar, the voicing of an amplifier and the speakers are as important to your sound as the guitar. For acoustic guitar, you want the amp to be as transparent as possible. For bass guitar, there is a discussion there with some companies making highly voiced gear and others being more hifi so that what you put it is pretty much what comes out, only louder. I decided to go the hifi direction and began to look for a cabinet called a B2 built by Acme Bass Cabinets. Acme's have a reputation of being very accurate and having among the lowest and biggest bottom ends of any cabs out there. Sounded like a cool idea to me... I found a used B2 and went to try it out - and here's the reason for the whole blog post. After playing it a bit and purchasing it, I told the seller, an accomplished bass player, that I am primarily an acoustic guitar player and that I'm trying to learn to play bass like a real bass player. He smiled and said, "you sound like a bass player to me." Alright!

So, for my musician friends... if you need a bass player for a project, you know where to find me.

Is This All? Hard question #2

It's been a while since I wrote about my friends 1st hard question... and to be honest, I've been avoiding the 2nd one. She asked me whether there is life after death or if this is all there is.

From a pastoral viewpoint, I would guess she's feeling some deep frustrations regarding the current direction of her life (or at least was the day she wrote me) and as a pastor, I would want to address those issues first. That said, the question still is an important one.

Unfortunately, there really isn't a great deal about life after death in the Bible. Many of the passages that are typically cited are either metaphor or parable and may or may not tell us anything about life after death. As a result some Jewish traditions have affirmed life after death while others have denied it. In the Christian church we have seen very different understandings of life after death ranging from a literal physical resurrection of the body to a spiritual existence, absent a body to a more eastern idea of becoming part of some more universal presence to no afterlife at all. I think you can find support for any f these ideas both in the texts and in the tradition.

So, what do I think? I don't know. Philosophically, I have difficulty understanding my existence separate from a body - after all this physical body with its attributes and failings has made me into the person I am. At the same time, the idea of a physical resurrection does seem a bit... unusual and raises a ton of other questions. I like the idea of continue conscious existence but i just don't know.

So what do I believe? First off, I believe in an inexhaustible and unquenchable love that never abandons us and never lets us go. I believe that in life and in death, God's yearnings for us are full of mercy and grace. I believe that even the smallest actions can have results that change the universe and that because I have been here, things will never be the same as if I hadn't. I believe that life - here and now - is good even if it is never easy or pain free. I believe that if I open my eyes and my heart, that I can experience eternal life, heaven, the kindom of God, today, wherever I am.

Here's what I'm sure I do not believe. I do not believe in a heaven or hell that is comprised of rewards or punishments. While I would not dare to speak for God, I can speak f my own experiences. I cannot imagine a situation where I would turn away from my children forever. There is nothing they could ever do or say that would make me, in my very finite humanity, abandon them. I could never subject them to endless suffering. If my love is bigger than that, I cannot imagine God's being smaller than mine. And if salvation involves the necessity of a person turning to God, then in spite of it being a very small action, it is still an action done by the individual and salvation is no longer a matter solely of grace. Whatever comes later is a gift of God's love. There is nothing I can do to deserve it and nothing I can do to deter it.

And we come back to the underlying question - what about here and now when life seems to be or certainly is less than it should be? I cannot dismiss the pain of another. Sometimes the psychic pain is more than we can bear. Sometimes our most wonderful dreams and deepest hopes are snatched away, never to be seen again. Some of us are broken by poverty that is almost unimaginable. Some of us find ourselves in circumstances where hopelessness is a reasonable response. All I can say is that in my experience, God is always there with us. At those times when the pain is deepest, we are not alone. When we find ourselves dwelling in the land of the shadow of death, in the darkness and anguish of Good Friday, there is always an Easter coming.

cut capos - duh!

I've been playing with cut capos since they were really cut capos. Here's the concept... a capo is a little clamp that goes across the strings of a guitar - like an extra finger - normally used to change the key of a song to fit a voice or to make certain chords easier to play. A normal capo goes all the way across the fingerboard so the relationships between the open strings stay consistent with whatever tuning you're using. A cut capo is just what it sounds like - you take a hack saw and an art knife to a normal capo and suddenly it only pushes down on selected strings instead of all six, changing the intervals between open strings. The first ones that people made covered three of the interior strings creating an Esus4 chord when the strings were played open or one that just leaves one string uncovered for the equivalent of a drop D, two frets higher. Fingerings remain the same. So, you get an interesting hybrid between the normal tuning of a guitar and an open tuning which allows you to do some things impossible in either of the other situations.

If you look at the photo, the capo on the right is an actual cut capo. It began life as a normal Kyser capo and I cut it to cover three strings only... probably did that one in the early 90's. Since then, they've found more widespread use and a number of companies sell them already configured. The capo on the right is a Shubb partial that does the Esus4 thing and is available in many music stores. The Kyser version of the Esus4 is called the Short Cut. Both also market a version that covers 5 strings. Kyser even markets a series in 4 different configurations with a lever that makes it easier to play the strings that pass under the capo.

So, I've been using cut capos for a number of years. If you go to the player on the right, you can hear some - Call Down Thunder and Beautiful Day have one cut capo. Heartbeat has two cut capos. With Jamie Green, I use a whole capo and a cut capo with a lever on Like to Be with You which I play very differently than the player did on her CD. So... I've been using them a long time, but I stopped experimenting a long time ago too. I've been taking them for granted and haven't pushed them nearly as far as I could.

A few weeks ago I saw that my friend Greg Newlon was giving a seminar on using cut capos in the Bay area... got me thinking about them a bit... Then I was surfing around the other day and ended up at Harvey Reid's site. He is a big proponent of using partial capos and has been doing so since the 80's. Looking at his site, I realized how much more I could do with partial capos than I have been doing. So I dumped all of my capos on the bed (and there are a lot of them in various configurations) and started playing around. He has a book called Capo Voodoo that I ordered, hoping it might inspire me a bit (which it has). So I'm working at using them more and more of them. I'll likely buy a few more in different configurations or maybe cut a few more...

Here's a video of a guy named Trace Bundy playing a song called Hot Capo Stew with 5 capos on his guitar - 4 cut ones and a whole one. Notice how sometimes he plays between and behind the capos...



So if you're a guitar player, they do open up some new and interesting possibilities for chord voicings that aren't possible in any other way. I'll be working more with mine. Who knows, maybe I'll follow Greg's lead and offer a workshop in the Santa Barbara area. Let me know if you'd be interested.

Hard Question #1

A friend of mine seems to be having a crisis of faith. I haven't really had a chance to talk with her so I don't know exactly what is going on with her, but she asked me to raise some rather foundational questions here on my blog and I agreed...

The first pair of questions are "Why do we believe in God... why should we believe in God?" I've been thinking about these questions for a few days and I think I'll answer a slightly different one... why do I believe in God?

I think there are sociological reasons why populations believe in God or not and we could argue for decades regarding whether or not it is a good thing to do (why should we...) so instead, I'll just get personal.

I grew up as a nominal American Protestant. My family regularly attended church - it was the thing to do - but faith was in large degree taken for granted. You didn't talk about it. You didn't question it. And you certainly didn't let it become too emotional or demonstrative. In general, I think my family assumed that believing in God was the right thing to do and that it impacted your life even though they would have been unable to articulate what that meant beyond, "it helps you to be a good person."

At that point, I guess I "believed" in that way, but didn't have any personal ownership or real commitment. I lived on Chalfont St,. went to Turner School, and God was there. They were givens and didn't require anything more than assent. When I was in high school things changed. A number of mystical experiences... looking at the logic of the situation... watching the changes in friends' lives when they made commitments to follow Jesus... all lead to a decision for me. That started me purposefully on my path. Faith was no longer a passive given... it was the breath of life. (that story is another post perhaps)

But that was a long time ago. What about now when my life is very different? When I have known both the settledness of a middle class life, the pains that inevitably come all of our ways, and the joys of love and parenthood and deep, deep friendships? I don't have the same kind of intense mystical experiences I had in my younger years and the circles I travel in don't lend themselves to the radical transformations I saw then. What has replaced those experiences is a more moderate/even/reliable sense of the holy, of wonder, of the luminance of all of creation, of God's presence with me each day. I think that without that awareness, life would be much more difficult. Indeed, I don't now how some people face those days when we wander in the valley of the shadow of death without that awareness. I see God's fingerprints all around me. I rest in a sense of being loved and known exactly as I am. I see a general movement in the universe towards that which is good and beautiful and it feels utterly trustworthy to me. I have a sense that I am a part of something much bigger than I am... I hold the past in my memories and in the stories that give shape to my life and I see the future in my children and in the other children in my life. I don't have a feeling of certainty about much, maybe very little beyond that Love, but I don't feel a need for it. I trust in that Love that I feel surrounding me and that is enough for me.

And that will bring us to my friend's next question - "is there truly an afterlife or is this all we get?" In a few days...

Pro-choice... but

A horrific story hit the news this week about an abortion clinic in Philadelphia where it is alleged that the physician was delivering live births and then killing the babies by cutting their spinal cords with a pair of scissors. If the allegations are true, this guy deserves all he gets.

I am pro-choice... but it isn't a stand that I wear comfortably or easily. Let me first say why I'm uncomfortable and then I'll share why I still come out where I do.

When a fetus becomes a human being is a difficult question to answer for me and for most people. It is a matter of very fine lines. I know very few people who actually and practically believe that at the moment of conception, a person exists. (Yes, lots of people say they believe that but don't follow up on the practical implications... so I don't quite believe them). On the other end of the spectrum, everyone I know of who agree that the day before the birth of a full term baby, you've got a real person there. (Yes, again, there are those who would say that as long as the fetus is in utero, it is still a part of the mother's body but that also seems to be pushing things to ridiculousness to me). The question is where is the line in between? Is it as soon as the embryo attaches to the uterine wall? Is it when the fetus begins to look like a baby? Is it when what used to be called "quickening" - the first time the woman feels movement - happens? But now we know that movement happens long before the woman feels it, so what does that mean? Is it when the fetus could survive outside of the womb? that is a moving target given the changes in medical technology... I don't know how to answer that question of when. When we read stories like the one about the physician in Philadelphia it becomes clear to me both how difficult the question is and how important the answer.

There are significant theological questions here too... During my doctoral program we had an elective course on medical ethics in various Christian traditions and talked about abortion. The thumbnail Roman Catholic foundation says that we are created in the image of God. That image has nothing to do with capabilities, it is just there. So, a person with significant brain damage, to the point they are unable to do any of the things we associate with being human, still reflects the image of God as much as a world class athlete or Nobel Prize winner. You can easily see where this foundation would preclude abortion a any time under any circumstances. A Reformed view begins at different place. In the Reformed tradition, God's primary work is in re-creating the world and we are called to partnership with God in that endeavor. You can see where the Protestant work ethic grew from this theological ground. And you can see where it places value on the human being in a slightly different place which would, at least theoretically, leave room for abortion under some circumstances.

There are scriptural questions as well... which are not as clear as anyone would like them to be.

And there are sociological, cultural, and political questions which are as messy as they could be. Many of those who are anti-abortion under any circumstances also see no responsibility for the child once it is born. Social safety nets, medical care, support for the mother, even adequate school are all irrelevant. That seems to me to be the height of hypocrisy that a society forces a choice upon a woman and then offers absolutely no support.

So I don't sit comfortably in the Pro-choice camp. But I do still sit there. In part it is because of those difficult questions as I experience them. More so, it is because I cannot experience them the same way a woman who is pregnant would experience them. I cannot wrestle with the question of caring for a child whom we know will be profoundly disabled. Some families are capable and some are not. Given recent attacks on the social safety nets, it could be a terrible decision that would destroy the futures of other children in the family. I cannot imagine reliving a rape every time I looked at my swollen belly. I cannot imagine looking at a life that I had planned out and suddenly discovered that because of one irresponsible act or even just because of an accidental failure of birth control responsibly used, everything is destroyed. I cannot. And that is the key for me. I cannot make those incredibly difficult decisions for another person. And I do believe in my heart of hearts that part of what it means to be human, part of God's yearnings for us, is to be moral agents and to make those hard decisions.

In my most wonderful of dreams, I would envision a world where there are no more abortions. Birth control would be effective and readily available to all... and because of good education, used by all who didn't want to become pregnant. Rapes would be reported in a timely fashion and the morning after pill administered so the embryo would not attach to the uterine wall. I would envision a society where once a child is born it is not forgotten and that poor or differently abled children get the same opportunities as well off children. I would envision medical technology that could deal with problems in utero so that a child would not be born disabled or deformed.

For now, my dream is just a dream. In the meantime, I believe there are times when abortion should clearly be regulated. But where those lines are less clear, it is only the woman, in the middle of her community of support, that can make those hard decisions.

Kyrie Eleison

I really like the music written by Keith & Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townsend. Sometimes the theology is too reformed for me, but their melodies really get me and I find myself overlooking the theological issues. We sing three or four of their songs regularly in worship at Cambridge Drive.

This is a new piece they recently wrote which we will sing... and I'm thrilled with the theology! The performance is by the Christ Church Choir in Nashville, TN with Jill Frontz as the soloist. She and they do an amazing job with a beautiful piece of music. I keep playing the video over and over and over again.



and I'm also thrilled to write about something other than politics!!!!!

irresponsible governance

Today the House voted to repeal the health care reform act. That was no surprise. The Republicans had promised to do just that. They voted unanimously. That was no surprise. Depending on how you spin it, either the Republican Party has done a much better job than the Democrats at working together OR they have completely destroyed any options of diversity of thought within their party. What also isn't a surprise but deeply saddens me is that they still have not offered any real solutions to the massive problems we are facing. It is irresponsible to go into office without a plan other than to dismantle what is there. It is irresponsible to claim to govern when all you have are plans to say, "no." Indeed, it is irresponsible to run for office when you have no positive vision or plan for solving the problems we face. It is even more irresponsible to use emotionally laden terms and perhaps even dishonest data, especially while not having a positive plan.

Now, we know that the Senate will not pass the repeal and even if they did, the president would veto the bill. So... if the legislators are doing this as some cynical theater and feel no need to propose real solutions then they are even more irresponsible and should be ashamed of themselves.

The problems are real. Death panels that work for insurance companies regularly denied coverage to needy people when they became too ill and threatened profitability. Families struggling to get by lost insurance coverage at the whims of bean counters. Many people lived without insurance coverage and so only had access to the most expensive and least effective kind of care - emergency care. Increasing medical costs balloon the deficit and cripple the economy. If all the Republicans can offer is, "no," then they are being irresponsible and should be held accountable for their cynical and destructive actions.

Guns

Some of my in-laws hunt own guns and regularly hunt. Indeed, I have a scar on my forehead that I got while hunting with my grandfather-in-law a long time ago - I got too close to the scope. I understand hunting and appreciate a good venison steak when someone will give me one. I understand target shooting as a hobby. I even understand gun collecting within certain parameters. Especially given the events in Tucson, I believe it is time to change our laws regarding firearms.

First, I don't think the 2nd amendment has anything to do with the arguments we have today and certainly do not refer to the weapons you or I can purchase at a local gun store. Folk who call themselves "originalists" can't possibly believe that the framers of the constitution meant "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" to say that any crazy could go in and purchase a semiautomatic pistol, high capacity magazines, and unlimited rounds of ammunition, conceal them, and carry them anywhere. And if so, why not depleted uranium shells? Or nuclear warheads? After all, if the purpose of the amendment is to allow a citizen militia the ability to stand up against the army, then they need access to the same kinds of firepower. If the government has the right to regulate any arms, why does it not have the right to regulate all arms? Of course, as soon as I write that, I realize there are those who would argue that indeed, the government has no right to regulate any arms and that they should be able to go to the store and purchase a howitzer or shoulder mounted rocket grenade launcher if they want. Crazy!

Second, clearly the current regulations do not work. Crazies get guns and ammunition and, at least in the case of Jared Loughner, they do so legally. The last time we visited Phoenix, we ate at a Waffle House with a sign on the door - "No Handguns Allowed." I couldn't help but wonder what had happened that they had that sign or why the McDonalds across the street didn't have one. It was very common to see guns in holsters at people's sides. I'm sure there were at least as many concealed weapons.

Third, the argument is made that if more people have firearms, then when a crazy does pull out a gun, there will be someone there with a gun to "take them out." This didn't work either. In Arizona, which has some of the most relaxed gun laws in the nation and where you can't go anywhere without seeing guns strapped to people's belts and evidence of guns everywhere, nobody had a gun to "take out" Jared Loughner or at least, nobody used one. Indeed, he was stopped when people tackled him while trying to reload... which of course was after 32 shots since he had a high capacity magazine. And think of that scenario a bit more... so a crazy in the middle of a crowd, pulls out a gun and starts shooting and people from all around pull out their guns and start shooting as well... how many would be injured or killed in the crossfire?

Fourth, there are those who want to relax the laws further including allowing guns on college and university campuses and in bars. Picture college age guys brimming over with testosterone, alcohol, and guns... mix them all together and picture the results of that. We already have states where a person who is obviously mentally ill can buy a semi-automatic handgun. Imagine what might happen.

Fifth, in spite of what the NRA would have you believe, recent studies have shown that the vast, vast majority of guns being used by the Mexican drug criminals were purchased at gun shops just over the border in the US. Gun ownership is highly restricted in Mexico and there is only one gun store in the entire country and it is controlled by the military. Between 7000 and 8000 firearms are legally sold in Mexico each year. Last year some 30,000 guns were seized by law enforcement officials, primarily from drug cartels. Our guns are clearly finding their way into Mexico and feeding the violence there.

Yes, it is true that guns don't kill people, people kill people... but Jared Loughner would have killed and injured a lot fewer people, maybe none, without his Glock 19.

So what do I learn from this? Restrict gun ownership. Restrict the resale of guns. Restrict the ownership of ammunition. Restrict the kinds of weapons that can be owned. Restrict where those firearms can go or be.

Martin Luther King jr.

Martin Luther King jr. is one of my heroes. I have no allusions that he was a perfect man. He wasn't. I am sure that if times had been different, instead of being the leader he became, he would have just been an excellent pastor of a local church. But, times were what they were and he was thrust into the spotlight. Once there, he did not compromise his beliefs and did not hesitate to stand against the powers and principalities if the day. Were he still alive, I believe he would be doing the same thing today.

What strikes me is the way that he has been co-opted. Rarely when spoken of in public circles is it even acknowledged that he said and did what he said and did because of what he believed as a man of faith (and a Baptist at that). Remove his faith and you don't have MLK anymore. And then, we forget how radical his commitments were and still are. We can't and don't allow him to be the man he was and still be a national hero because if we did, he would call into question too much of what we have become as Americans.

Yesterday I saw this video put together by an anti-war group that is working against the Afghanistan War. The part that is most surprising though is the clip they share where a spokesperson from the Pentagon claims that if Martin were alive today he would be a supporter of the war in Afghanistan. That is the most ludicrous statement I have ever heard come from the mouth of a government official. Get just a little bit past the "I Have a Dream" sermon and you see that he was very much against, not only the Viet Nam war, but all of the implications of the military industrial complex. When you look at the resources being expended on that war, the Iraq war, and all of our military empire vs. the needs of the poor and marginalized at home, it is crystal clear where MLK would have stood and what he would be preaching today. Consider this quote from a sermon preached at Riverside Church in 1967 - "A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just."...A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."



Then I read in this morning's paper that a school board member and radio talk show host at a little station in Colorado named Brett Reese said that Martin Luther King jr. is an "America hating communist" among other things. I have not heard or read the rest of his commentary so I can't speak to the other content or make a comment about Mr. Reese. Still, I have to wonder whether he is the one who is looking at the real Dr. King, at least with regards to where his political stances would be today. Indeed, he would likely seem to be even more leftist now than he was in the 60's and that was exactly the kind of comment that was made about him then. King was a radical and still would be. His words, taken as a whole, would put him clearly at the opposite end of the political and social spectrum than the Tea Party, the Pentagon, or even the current administration. He would be against both wars. He would be for shutting down military bases all over the world and bringing our military home. He would be for single payer healthcare. He would be for putting more money and energy into our inner city schools. He would be for tearing down prisons and building rehab centers. He would continue to call out our nation for its racism. He would be for mercy and justice for undocumented workers. He would be for gun control. He would be for gay marriage. He would be against DADT. The list goes on.

Today is Martin Luther King Day. I invite you to remember the real man as you celebrate it and take seriously what he truly believed.

OK... one more

The other day a friend of mine posted a quote from Penn Jillette on his Facebook wall - "F%*K Civility. The marketplace of ideas cannot be toned down for the insane."

I think it is an important statement and bears some scrutiny. First off, I don't think the discussions around recent political rhetoric are really about civility. Any single statement or image might be innocuous enough and reasonably interpreted as a metaphor... Palin's crosshairs may not be very different than the Democratic map with targets on it. Martial language is often used in political battles. You might even pass on "Don't retreat, reload" and argue that it is clearly metaphoric. Other statements are less easy to dismiss. Angle's "2nd amendment solutions" seems a pretty unambiguous statement that the use of guns at times of political disagreement is not only allowed but even encouraged. Joyce Kaufman's "if ballots don't work, bullets will" is even less ambiguous. Add those who continue to call the Obama administration illegitimate... When you place all of these kinds of statements together, it is very difficult to understand them as anything other than incitement to violence. If the Obama administration is illegitimate, then the ballots did not work so it is time for bullets. We have seen FBI and Secret Service reports that since the '08 election death threats against politicians, especially the president, have sky-rocketed. I do not believe this is a coincidence. So, I don't think it is about civility at all... let the pols and the talk show folk call somebody an idiot, make fun of them, disagree vehemently, whatever... they don't need to be civil, but calling for violence is something else altogether.

Now back to Jillette's comment because I think it is an important one for a variety of reasons. First off, it seems to acknowledge that the language did, does, or at least can incite people, albeit crazy ones, to violence. And then it argues that regardless of that, we must not allow political discourse to be defined by the crazies. I think he is correct on both counts. Here's the problem. We have people engaged in the discussion who are clueless. Many on the right just don't seem to get it. I have seen multiple arguments that calling for 2nd amendment solutions or proposing that bullets are the proper solution when the ballot box doesn't go your way are in any way related to violence. Having important discussions implies responsibility. Those who engage in public discourse have to weigh their words and understand what the possible results might be.

Again, the teaching from my CPE days is important... Chaplain Cholke never said "don't preach," he said, "be careful what you preach because someone may believe you." Those words ring true for political leaders as well... be careful what you say, someone will believe you and possibly will act upon those words.

doing the thing I don't want to do

I began this blog as a place to write about topics slightly outside the scope of my normal public presentations - i.e. sermons. Certainly a sermon is a place where I raise the concerns that the culture is impressing on me and my hopes and dreams for the congregation in response to the witness of scripture... but... and it is a big but... sermons walk the fine line of speaking what I see and feel while respecting the views and experiences of the congregation. There are times when I must push this over the line, but I have to be careful there. For example, as I understand the words of Jesus, a Christian must be a pacifist. Members of my congregation have come to different conclusions than I have. So, I can preach about peace without requiring people to become total pacifists and allow them to struggle with what that means when their theology allows for war/violence under some circumstances. So, I envisioned the blog as a place where I could let loose without those constraints. I envisioned most of my topics as being theological or related to my therapy - music and guitars.

It feels as if I write most often about politics. I don't like that. I know that politics, as the way that groups of people make collective decisions, is by definition theological. How we live together says something about what we believe and what we believe says something about the ways we live together. So my understanding of God's yearnings for us is always reflected in my political acts and writings... and that is rarely material that makes it into my sermons because there is considerable diversity even in my little congregation with regards to any of these questions. So, I know where it is coming from... I write it here because I don't feel it is appropriate to say there... And it often comes across as more hard line than I really see myself.

So I'd like to write a bit about something less contentious... and this week I will. In two days I go to NAMM, the biggest trade show for the music industry. I go as a guest of Lowden Guitars, get to see George and some of the other folk from Lowden, connect with my friend Thomas Leeb, get to check out all of the newest doodads available for musicians to purchase, and see some of the bizarreness that is the LA commercial music scene. This year things will be a bit more serious for me as I'll be thinking about equipment etc. for use at the Cambridge Drive Concert Series but it will still be a fun couple of days. And I am soooo looking forward to not thinking about or writing about Sarah Palin, Sharon Angle, or any of the rest of that bunch. Instead, I'll get to think about things that are important to me - strings, pickups, guitar builders, microphones, etc. - but which make little difference in the grand scheme of things.

The Word and words

As Americans we denigrate the power of words. We believe actions more than statements and often with good reason. When was the last time you trusted a politician to keep their promises? And if you have, will you do that again? Psychologists tell us that we believe body language more than words. We have sayings like, "sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me," as if there is no power in the words. In our culture it is not a surprise that someone can use violent images in rhetoric and be surprised when someone takes those words seriously. That assessment of words is inadequate. Words have power. And there is Biblical basis for that understanding.
The Christian scriptures tells us that "in the beginning was the Word... and the Word was God..." The Hebrew scriptures tell us that all that is comes into being when God speaks a word... And in the other creation narrative, the creatures take on their nature once the man speaks a word and names them. Before that, they are incomplete. The power of the word is more than metaphoric, it gives shape and substance to all that is. It is our language, our words that form the paradigm through and in which we experience and shape the world. If those words are full of hatred and violence and images that separate us from one another, that will be the world we create. If the words are words of respect and community, building up the other, then that will be the kind of world we create. What kind of world do we want? Choose your words carefully...

Palin's graphic & more

here is the graphic that appeared on the website of Palin's PAC... targeting Representative Giffords with a gunsight...



I have to say that I am deeply offended by the statement released by Sarah Palin...

My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona.

On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.

- Sarah Palin

Given her rhetoric, how can she imagine that her condolences and prayers are enough.

And read these words from the sheriff of the county where the shooting took place as reported on the Huffington Post...

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, speaking about Arizona:

"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

"It's not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. And that's the sad thing of what's going on in America. Pretty soon, we're not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people who are willing to subject themselves to serve in public office."

He later added:

DUPNIK: Let me just say one thing, because people tend to poo-poo this business about all the vitriol that we hear inflaming the American public by people who make a living off of doing that. That may be free speech. But it's not without consequences.

REPORTER: How do you know that that's what caused it.

DUPNIK: You don't.

An Atmosphere of Hate and Violence

This morning, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot at a political event in Tuscon, AZ. As I write, details are still sketchy but early reports are saying that 12 were shot and 6 killed. Reports are conflicting as to whether the congresswoman is alive or dead. Likewise, at this time, there is no solid evidence made public that the shooting was politically motivated... Still, it is difficult to suspect anything else.

Giffords was on Sarah Palin's "hit list." This is the same Sarah Palin who has said - "don't retreat, reload." How are we to understand those statements?

In '09 a gun was dropped at a Giffords event and her office was vandalized following the healthcare votes during the last session of congress. She voted for the healthcare reform act.

An anti-Giffords event was held in June with the billing: "Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly." She won a difficult race against a Tea Party candidate.

Go into any African American neighborhood and talk politics for a length of time and inevitably someone will tell you they fully expect a serious attempt to assassinate Obama at some point during his presidency. They feel the hatred in the air

We have heard rhetoric from numerous Tea Party and Republican party folk equating the current administration with terrorists, calling for the people to rise up and "take our country back" (as if someone from the outside has stolen it), and some have gone so far as to hint at or even directly call for armed insurrection. Did they mean these statements to be taken literally? Some probably not... some likely so... In either case, it should not be a surprise that someone has taken the calls literally and has followed up with gunfire, especially in a state like Arizona which still exhibits more than a little of the "law of the gun" old west mentality and has some of the most liberal gun laws in the country.

When I worked at Haverford State Mental Hospital, my supervisor told us,"be careful what you preach... someone will believe it." He was specifically talking about the hospital patients and referred to passages like the one in Matthew that advises you to pluck out your eye if it offends you...(Matthew 5:29). He warned us that if we preached that, we might very well come to the hospital the next day, only to find a patient missing an eye. When leaders called for the assassination of political opponents, they should not be surprised when someone takes them seriously.

Speaker Boehner and Palin have both released statements of condolences and prayers... that is not enough. They, and the rest of the leadership of both the Republican Party and the Tea Party must take responsibility for their part in building this atmosphere of hatred. If they, like Palin, have used this kind of langage, they must personally apologize to the family and to the American people. Whether they personally have used this kind of language or not, they must condemn those who use such irresponsible rhetoric and incite such an atmosphere of hatred and violence that nurtures these kind of acts. As to those who continue to use this rhetoric, and some will, Republican and Tea Party leaders must condemn them and distance themselves from them.

My prayers are with the families of the victims of this horrendous act of violence and with this nation where democracy is so fragile and there are people with positions of power and influence so willing to act irresponsibly.

a Patridge in a Pear Tree

Today is the 12th day of Christmas although you'd never know that by looking at anything in the larger culture. In the larger culture, "the Christmas season" begins on Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving when the traditional shopping season takes off in earnest. Radio stations play cheesy Christmas music. Homes are decorated. Christmas Lights go up and on. Christmas abruptly ends on December 26th as the leftovers go on sale and unwanted or wrong sized gifts are returned to stores. The cheesy music stops. Decorations begin to come down. Life goes back to normal.

The Church calendar is very different. Beginning with the 4th Sunday prior to Christmas Day, we observe Advent. It is a contemplative and even penitential time when Christians are supposed to prepare their hearts to receive the very presence of God in our midst. The traditional color for church paraments is purple, the same as Lent, although in more recent years some churches have moved to blue, emphasizing that the penitence of Advent isn't exactly the same as that of Lent. Still, it is a time of penitence and not celebration. The music is hopeful but perhaps a bit somber in that it struggles with the realities that surround us even as it looks forward to the new kindom, yet to be established. Scriptures in the lectionary are full of promise not yet filled full. It is a time of pregnancy, not of birth. Christmas carols aren't to be sung until Christmas Eve and then continue through the 12 days of Christmas which end on January 5, the day before Epiphany.

Every year I struggle through these times. I want to use the season of Advent as a time of spiritual preparation rather than an orgy of commercialism. I don't want to sing "Joy to the World" and I certainly don't want to sing, "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" when I need to be wrestling with the needs and brokenness around me. Then when Christmas does arrive, I want to sing those songs of joy and wonder in response even while I continue to hope for that which is not yet. Needless to say, there are folk in my church who want to sing Christmas Carols during the time they have experienced as "the Christmas Season" all of their lives - Black Friday through December 25. And then when December 26th comes, they're tired of Christmas.

Most years, I choose a few carols to sing on the 4th Sunday of Advent and through the 12 days of Christmas but it just doesn't feel right. I want to observe Advent and then Christmas.

I know that the liturgical calendar is artificial. It doesn't appear in the Bible and indeed, Jesus wasn't born on December 25 anyway. Depending on how cynical you are, the date was either chosen to co-opt a pagan holiday or as a theological statement of the Light of the World coming into the world precisely when it was at its darkest (at least in the northern hemisphere). Still, the liturgical calendar is helpful for me. It imposes a rhythm into the year for me that is theologically formed and informed. It reminds me to frame my experiences in terms of God's activities through history.

Christmas ends today... so I don't have to struggle with the questions for another 10 months or so. I hope your 12 days of Christmas were filled with blessings and gifts of love.