Oh Wow!

My wife is a chaplain/spiritual counselor for Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care of Santa Barbara in the hospice division.   VNHCSBdoes amazing work and has scores of wonderful people on staff who support and care during one of the most intimate and difficult times of their lives.  This past Sunday was the annual service of remembrance when family members and some of the staff gather to remember those who have passed in the previous year.  Each year it is a moving time as photos are projected and names read...

The speaker this year got me thinking.  He shared a quote which he attributed to Rumi.  Since then, I've googled it and found it also referenced as a Tibetan Buddhist saying.  It could be either or neither, but it still inspired this blog post.  "When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. When you die, you rejoice, and the world cries."  It made me think of what are reported as the final words of Steve Jobs, "Oh wow!  Oh wow!  Oh wow!"

Frankly, I don't think about an afterlife very often.  I don't think the issue is all that important.  I'm not entirely sure what I even believe about one (although I am pretty sure what I don't believe.).  What I do believe is that the grace and love of God is all powerful and undeniable.  Whatever it looks like after we die, it is shaped by the grace and love of God... a grace,  a love so far beyond our understanding that all one could possibly do when confronting it without a veil between us and it is rejoice and exclaim, "oh wow!"

Fat World

My daughter has taken a new job working for Fat Uncle Farms. They a small company in Santa Barbara selling amazing almonds and products made from those almonds and are looking to expand into other areas. They have a wonderful commitment to local production, building community, and providing for their employees. Alexis will be working to expand the business into the bay area and is excited about the possibility.

There is a great deal of talk these days about the growth (pun not intended) of obesity in the United States but also around the world. With good reason, fat has gotten a lot of bad press recently. That is not what I want to talk about here and it is not the way Fat Uncle uses the term.

Historically, "fat" was often seen as a good thing and in many cultures being overweight was a sign of status. In the days before fast food and processed foods with tons of empty calories, ordinary people didn't have access to enough food to gain excess weight. In that setting, fat equaled opulence and was symbolic of inequality in a world of scarcity. I don't want to go there either.

Instead, let me use the word the way Fat Uncle does, as a metaphor. They talk about a "fat world," one filled with abundance rather than scarcity, one with enough for all, one that is good and rich and full. A fat world is one where there is more than enough of everything important. They talk about "fat truth..." the idea that there is more than enough revealed to build bridges between people, to find our way to a better world, to begin to address the important problems we face. Fat Uncle's farm grows wonderful almonds, provides jobs, and builds community... all given from a creation rich, abundant, and available.

As a follower of Jesus, this strikes me as good theology. The grace and love of God is always more than adequate. Indeed, God's gifts are extravagant. I'm even tempted to change my blog title from Thin Places to Fat Faith...

sing it sister!

I knew a little about Michelle Shocked but never had really listened to her material or followed her career. Earlier today I was reading a bulletin board that I frequent and there was a link to a video of hers done at the West Angeles Cathedral, a Church of God in Christ congregation where she is evidently a member. So I followed some links and listened to some of her recent material. The sister is on the right track! I hope someday I get a chance to play with her.

In the meantime, take a listen to this great song. The Quality of Mercy... reminds me that God's grace is absolutely, positively, completely free and that we are saved by that grace. There is nothing we can or need do... period.

It's a Miracle!!!

Now, I am a Christian and I believe in the power of God. I believe in the possibility of miracles. And more than that, I am a Baptist so I believe in the possibility of conversion, of radical changes in direction for people... of redemption. I believe in hope that overcomes cynicism and grace that transcends evil.
I was soooo excited this morning when a quick glance at Travis Armstrong's editorial in the News Press included these words, "what should disturb everyone in our county, is the reliance on alarmist rhetoric and disinformation..." I was a fraction of a second away from singing "Halleluia!" when I read the rest of the commentary. It wasn't a confession. It was a condemnation of those with whom he disagrees regarding the Chumash.

Now I have no position on the controversy surrounding the Chumash. I'm not even sure what it is. I'm sure it is important for the Chumash and for some who live in the Santa Ynez valley but I've got other issues that I'm worried about... wouldn't it be wonderful if we discussed them all with an absence of alarmist rhetoric and disinformation? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could sit together across ideological lines and talk about what needs to be done to address housing needs, poverty, homelessness, gang violence, environmental stresses, even the controversy around Chumash expansion plans or the lack thereof, and a hundred other issues that shape the lives of the members of our community? Wouldn't it be wonderful if the News Press helped set the tone for those discussions by using facts, a civil tone, and allowing fair hearing for all sides of the issues?

That would be a miracle! And I believe in miracles!