Sunday, May 30, 2004
MARY'S SERMONS
I always look forward to Mary's sermons, even though I am not around to hear most of them. That is because I am in a lot of different places on Sunday morning, and only occasionally do I catch Mary on one of my Sunday's off.
Mary is one of a team of bivocational ministers in her congregation. She is both an ordained minister and a professional educator. Her communication skills come through in her sermons. She relates well to all ages. Most important, Mary's sermons are REAL. She relates the gospel to human life in ways that are clear, understandable, and also challenging. She tells stories.
In one of my favorite stories, Mary talked about a day with her young granddaughter. Emma is learning the word "duck". She can point to ducks on a pond, on TV, and in photos, and Emma will say "duck".
It so happens that Mary has a duck shaped tape dispenser. One day Emma pointed to it and said "duck". She was right of course.
Then one day Emma pointed to an ordinary tape dispense and said "duck". At her young age, she hasn't quite got the concept of "duck" figured out yet. In time she will learn the difference between a duck, a duck-shaped tape dispenser, and just a plain old tape dispenser. And just to keep things complicated, she will learn that "duck" is also a verb and learn to lower her head.
How many times does God look at us and say, "You haven't quite got it figured out yet"? Communication with God is complicated, and we are all still learning, both as individuals and as the human race. No one should be so bold as to say "I've got it all figured out." Honest, sincere God-followers can disagree on important matters. May we all be humble and kind toward one another.
God bless you Mary. God bless us every one.
I always look forward to Mary's sermons, even though I am not around to hear most of them. That is because I am in a lot of different places on Sunday morning, and only occasionally do I catch Mary on one of my Sunday's off.
Mary is one of a team of bivocational ministers in her congregation. She is both an ordained minister and a professional educator. Her communication skills come through in her sermons. She relates well to all ages. Most important, Mary's sermons are REAL. She relates the gospel to human life in ways that are clear, understandable, and also challenging. She tells stories.
In one of my favorite stories, Mary talked about a day with her young granddaughter. Emma is learning the word "duck". She can point to ducks on a pond, on TV, and in photos, and Emma will say "duck".
It so happens that Mary has a duck shaped tape dispenser. One day Emma pointed to it and said "duck". She was right of course.
Then one day Emma pointed to an ordinary tape dispense and said "duck". At her young age, she hasn't quite got the concept of "duck" figured out yet. In time she will learn the difference between a duck, a duck-shaped tape dispenser, and just a plain old tape dispenser. And just to keep things complicated, she will learn that "duck" is also a verb and learn to lower her head.
How many times does God look at us and say, "You haven't quite got it figured out yet"? Communication with God is complicated, and we are all still learning, both as individuals and as the human race. No one should be so bold as to say "I've got it all figured out." Honest, sincere God-followers can disagree on important matters. May we all be humble and kind toward one another.
God bless you Mary. God bless us every one.
Saturday, May 29, 2004
I'M MATTHEW
The schedule of events was a little off this afternoon at the Asian Festival in Columbus, so the emcee had to improvise until the next performing group was ready was ready. She asked if any children would like to come up on stage and tell a joke or do a trick. They were, as small children often are when in front of a crowd, delightful.
One boy about 3 years of age wandered up and stood next to the emcee.
MC: "Are you Filipino."
Boy: "No!" he said emphatically, "I am from Ohio."
MC: "I am Filipino so I think everyone looks Filipino."
Then she asked where his parents were. He pointed to them and they waved back. The father was Caucasian. The mother identified herself as Indonesian.
MC to boy: "So you are Indonesian."
Boy: "No! I am Matthew."
MC: "I know your name is Matthew but your ethnicity is Indonesian."
Boy: "No! I am Matthew from Ohio."
Ah, the confidence of a three year old. He KNOWS who he is and where he is from.
Life gets a little more uncertain as we get older. We know our name and where we have lived of course, but who are we REALLY, and why are we here? We ask more and deeper questions as life brings its inevitable collection of challenges, sorrow, and even tragedies. Blessed are they who grow mature and learn who they truly are, and perhaps "whose" they are.
The schedule of events was a little off this afternoon at the Asian Festival in Columbus, so the emcee had to improvise until the next performing group was ready was ready. She asked if any children would like to come up on stage and tell a joke or do a trick. They were, as small children often are when in front of a crowd, delightful.
One boy about 3 years of age wandered up and stood next to the emcee.
MC: "Are you Filipino."
Boy: "No!" he said emphatically, "I am from Ohio."
MC: "I am Filipino so I think everyone looks Filipino."
Then she asked where his parents were. He pointed to them and they waved back. The father was Caucasian. The mother identified herself as Indonesian.
MC to boy: "So you are Indonesian."
Boy: "No! I am Matthew."
MC: "I know your name is Matthew but your ethnicity is Indonesian."
Boy: "No! I am Matthew from Ohio."
Ah, the confidence of a three year old. He KNOWS who he is and where he is from.
Life gets a little more uncertain as we get older. We know our name and where we have lived of course, but who are we REALLY, and why are we here? We ask more and deeper questions as life brings its inevitable collection of challenges, sorrow, and even tragedies. Blessed are they who grow mature and learn who they truly are, and perhaps "whose" they are.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
ON THE WAY HOME
Photo copyright 2004 Tami Silicio
"Flag-draped coffins are secured inside a cargo plane on April 7 at Kuwait International Airport. Military and civilian crews take great care with the remains of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq. Soldiers form an honor guard and say a prayer as, almost nightly, coffins are loaded for the trip home." The Seattle Times
This is the kind of photo that makes you think, about compassion, tenderness, loyalty, caring, commitment, patriotism, sacrifice, and the cost of war.
"Silicio said she never sought to put herself in the public spotlight. Instead, she said, she hoped the publication of the photo would help families of fallen soldiers understand the care and devotion that civilians and military crews dedicate to the task of returning the soldiers home." The Seattle Times, Thursday, April 22, 2004 (web edition).
Taking this photo cost Tami her job.
You can read more here and here.
Photo copyright 2004 Tami Silicio
"Flag-draped coffins are secured inside a cargo plane on April 7 at Kuwait International Airport. Military and civilian crews take great care with the remains of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq. Soldiers form an honor guard and say a prayer as, almost nightly, coffins are loaded for the trip home." The Seattle Times
This is the kind of photo that makes you think, about compassion, tenderness, loyalty, caring, commitment, patriotism, sacrifice, and the cost of war.
"Silicio said she never sought to put herself in the public spotlight. Instead, she said, she hoped the publication of the photo would help families of fallen soldiers understand the care and devotion that civilians and military crews dedicate to the task of returning the soldiers home." The Seattle Times, Thursday, April 22, 2004 (web edition).
Taking this photo cost Tami her job.
You can read more here and here.
Friday, May 14, 2004
FOREIGNERS
I overheard a comment this afternoon that went something like this: "I've noticed that 3/4 of the crimes listed in the paper are committed people with names that sound like foreigners." The person went on with another comment that expressed his fear that life is worse in the U.S. due to the large influx of "foreigners".
I found the comments bothersome. First of all, a last name might be indicative of a person's ethnic background (Smith, Mercurio, Wong, Reznicek, Akpan, SantaLucia, just to name a few of my friends with widely different backgrounds) but a name tells me nothing about whether they are a foreigner of have been in this country for generations. I have no reason to suspect that foreigners commit 3/4 of the crimes where I live. There are areas of my metropolitan area with higher crime rates but those are not areas with high percentages of immigrants.
There are 10 different, major ethnic groups living within 2 miles of my home and my neighborhood is ethnically diverse. Does that make me nervous? No.
We are after all, mostly a nation of immigrants. My ancestors were foreigners when they came to this country which I am told was around the time of the Irish potato famine. Somewhere along the line, unless you are native American, your ancestors that cazme here were foreigners too.
The inscription on the base of the Statue of Liberty is inspiring to me, ""Give me your tired, your poor . . ."
Part of the strength of our country is the rich diversity of the people who come hear. Some of the foreigners that come here value this country's ideals more highly than some of those who have been here for generations.
I suspect that the comment I overheard may have been born out of prejudice which feeds on fear. Our country is facing real problems, some of which relate to immigration, but those problems will be solved by thoughtfulness, not prejudice.
Within 30 minutes of overhearing the comment about foreigners, I was in one of the self-checkout lanes at the store. One of my sacks slid off the counter and crashed to the floor. An 8 or 9 year old girl rushed over from a neighboring lane to help me pick up my groceries. I thanked her when she showed up to help and I said "Thank-you very much" again when we had everything picked up. She was obviously oriental. Was she a foreigner or has her family been here for generations? I don't know. What I know is she was thoughtful and helpful. Someone is raising her well. I'm glad she is here.
*** *** ***
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
"The New Colossus", by the nineteenth-century American poet Emma Lazarus.
I overheard a comment this afternoon that went something like this: "I've noticed that 3/4 of the crimes listed in the paper are committed people with names that sound like foreigners." The person went on with another comment that expressed his fear that life is worse in the U.S. due to the large influx of "foreigners".
I found the comments bothersome. First of all, a last name might be indicative of a person's ethnic background (Smith, Mercurio, Wong, Reznicek, Akpan, SantaLucia, just to name a few of my friends with widely different backgrounds) but a name tells me nothing about whether they are a foreigner of have been in this country for generations. I have no reason to suspect that foreigners commit 3/4 of the crimes where I live. There are areas of my metropolitan area with higher crime rates but those are not areas with high percentages of immigrants.
There are 10 different, major ethnic groups living within 2 miles of my home and my neighborhood is ethnically diverse. Does that make me nervous? No.
We are after all, mostly a nation of immigrants. My ancestors were foreigners when they came to this country which I am told was around the time of the Irish potato famine. Somewhere along the line, unless you are native American, your ancestors that cazme here were foreigners too.
The inscription on the base of the Statue of Liberty is inspiring to me, ""Give me your tired, your poor . . ."
Part of the strength of our country is the rich diversity of the people who come hear. Some of the foreigners that come here value this country's ideals more highly than some of those who have been here for generations.
I suspect that the comment I overheard may have been born out of prejudice which feeds on fear. Our country is facing real problems, some of which relate to immigration, but those problems will be solved by thoughtfulness, not prejudice.
Within 30 minutes of overhearing the comment about foreigners, I was in one of the self-checkout lanes at the store. One of my sacks slid off the counter and crashed to the floor. An 8 or 9 year old girl rushed over from a neighboring lane to help me pick up my groceries. I thanked her when she showed up to help and I said "Thank-you very much" again when we had everything picked up. She was obviously oriental. Was she a foreigner or has her family been here for generations? I don't know. What I know is she was thoughtful and helpful. Someone is raising her well. I'm glad she is here.
*** *** ***
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
"The New Colossus", by the nineteenth-century American poet Emma Lazarus.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
FRED ROGERS
I was driving home from the office on a gorgeous afternoon and found myself singing out loud "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day . . . ." Millions of children and their parents have listened to that song on the PBS show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
I'm not quite sure why that song popped into my head. It has been a long time since my children, all grown now, watched Fred Rogers on TV.
My brother-in-law will sometimes start singing this theme song for no apparent reason, and I confess, I do it too. It was a beautiful day, but the song is about more than that, it is about friends and caring and community, and I had just finished spending a weekend at a retreat with a number of friends both old and new. Perhaps my subconscious put 2 and 2 together and out came the song as I drove the interstate loop towards home.
I do miss Fred Rogers. It was a sad day in the neighborhood when he died a little over a year ago. Mr. Rogers stood for lots of good things and he made the world for children a better place.
Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister. His PBS TV show was not a religious show, but Fred Rogers clearly taught a lot of values upheld by Christianity and other major world religions. He did it gently in his soft spoken voice, and with grace. He was immensely popular. A PBS station in a major city once hosted a "meet Mister Rogers" event and expected a few hundred children to come. 50,000 children showed up to meet Rogers. Children loved him.
"Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" began in an early form in 1963 on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp and moved to Pittsburgh's WQED in 1967. A year later, PBS picked it up. The last original show aired in 2001, making it PBS's longest-running program ever.
He lives on in reruns and at the show's website, but he lives on in others ways too, especially in what he bropught into children's lives.
Fred Rogers life was well lived.
I was driving home from the office on a gorgeous afternoon and found myself singing out loud "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day . . . ." Millions of children and their parents have listened to that song on the PBS show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
I'm not quite sure why that song popped into my head. It has been a long time since my children, all grown now, watched Fred Rogers on TV.
My brother-in-law will sometimes start singing this theme song for no apparent reason, and I confess, I do it too. It was a beautiful day, but the song is about more than that, it is about friends and caring and community, and I had just finished spending a weekend at a retreat with a number of friends both old and new. Perhaps my subconscious put 2 and 2 together and out came the song as I drove the interstate loop towards home.
I do miss Fred Rogers. It was a sad day in the neighborhood when he died a little over a year ago. Mr. Rogers stood for lots of good things and he made the world for children a better place.
Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister. His PBS TV show was not a religious show, but Fred Rogers clearly taught a lot of values upheld by Christianity and other major world religions. He did it gently in his soft spoken voice, and with grace. He was immensely popular. A PBS station in a major city once hosted a "meet Mister Rogers" event and expected a few hundred children to come. 50,000 children showed up to meet Rogers. Children loved him.
"Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" began in an early form in 1963 on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp and moved to Pittsburgh's WQED in 1967. A year later, PBS picked it up. The last original show aired in 2001, making it PBS's longest-running program ever.
He lives on in reruns and at the show's website, but he lives on in others ways too, especially in what he bropught into children's lives.
Fred Rogers life was well lived.
