Author: rkcdlitt

In Luke, when Jesus visits with Simon, he asks if Simon sees the woman who is tending to the feet of Jesus. This is a very deep question that Simon does not understand. As humans, we want to be recognized for what we have done in our lives, how much money we have earned, how high we have climbed on the corporate ladder. We are looking to boast, to honor ourselves for our accomplishments. This is what Simon is.

This may be what most of us are. We are tempted to brag about ourselves. We are seeking to be served for the grandiose heights we have achieved. We are not looking to serve. God create us with unique gifts; we are all different in our skills. Linda and I were watching PBS last evening, a special on Peter, Paul, and Mary. During the program, I was dreaming about the memories that this trio brought back to me, memories of my own ambitions as an amateur (very) folk singer. I lacked the talent that these three had. I was jealous.

God didn’t bless me with the talent or the drive to become a famous folk singer, even though I loved and still love the music that this trio and others, such as Tom Paxton, we able to perform. My gifts from God fall elsewhere. But I am still serving God, doing what I can to bring his light to others. When I think back on the folk songs of the 1960s and 1970s, there is definitely a protest entwined in the owrds, but the words also bring us a spirituality that grows within us. Tell me that the words of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” do not bring a thoughtful feeling throughout your very core.

I think if the words of Britts’ Sonnet #1:  How often do we miss the fainter note/
Or fail to see the more exquisite hue/ Blind to the tiny streamlet at our feet/ Eyes fixed upon some other, further view. We are blinded by our own ambitions for ourselves. Like Simon, we cannot see other people for who they truly are, not who we think they are. We are here to help others, to serve others in need, not to boast about our accomplishments.

If I compare myself to others, I sometimes feel that my life had not truly affected the world. But I know this is wrong; I know that God called me to be a teacher, a rabbi, for others to learn from, to emulate. I have met and been the intellectual mentor for many high school and college students. Through Facebook, I have kept in touch with them. Many are married and have successful careers of their own. When I read their profiles, learning of their career choices, learning if their marriages and children, a warm grows within me knowing that perhaps, just perhaps, I affected them positively.

I may not be a Peter, Paul, or Mary, but I pray that I have had similar effects on my former students. I truly believe that tis was God’s will for my life. The more faithful and joyous I am with those I meet, those I pray with, I know that my gift to the world, at least my little part of the world, will make a difference. I also believe in the ripple effect.  This is one of the gifts God has given me.

Enjoy today. It is sunny in Virginia; I pray that those severely affected by the 10 inches of rain we received can pull their lives back together.

Blessings to you all.

Desmond Tutu writes that we are made for goodness and Love, friendliness and togetherness; we are made in a world created where there are no outsiders. We must build on this thought, especially these days, when it seems that everything around us loses value, even when there is longing in people’s hearts for a better world to come. If we accept what Tutu writes, it is vital that we reflect this goodness, this togetherness, allowing us to experience the beauty of our lives, our worlds.

This all starts within us, within our own homes, within our own neighborhoods. To get peace, we must open ourselves to love all the people in our homes and communities. We find it easier to give to a worthy cause found on TV when a child lives in poverty in Africa, or Southern Asia. Yet, when we turn around, we do not recognize the similarities in our own friends.

We are made for goodness; we are made for Love. We are made to be in a community, to raise the community to a higher level so that all members reap the harvest. It is only difficult if we do not try.

My wife and two friends looked at Sarah Miles feeding ministry in San Francisco and said that yea it is possible to replicate that in Fredericksburg. They tried; they struggled; they succeeded. Now St. George’s Episcopal Church is known as the produce church. Now, these same few people are inviting others in the community to expand their efforts to do the same. Love of neighbors, true Love, will defeat hardships all the time. But only if we try.

I am involved in the prayer ministry, and the healing prayer ministry at St. George’s. all my former friends, including former students, know me as one who can talk about any subject. I have the gift of gab. I have the gift of being able to talk about anything,  talk legitimately.

I have turned this gift into a comfort for those in physical and mental depression, to lift them up. You all know that I have had many physical traumas in my life. I always wondered why I was able to bounce back to a productive life. I firmly believe that God was directing me to this present sacred role in my life. My years of teaching high school and college students allow me to be comfortable in areas that others shy from. I know standing in front of a classroom full of wise, intelligent students can be scary. I also know that praying in public is also a thought provoking and limiting practice that few are really comfortable doing. Trust me; neither of these two activities was easy for me.

If we step outside the box that we have enclosed our lives in, and if we can try to bring the Love that is within us out of our closets and share that with our neighbors, the whole world will improve. Just this morning, I was leaving an office building and the senior citizen ahead of me held the door for me, allowing me to stumble through it with the cane that an NPHS student carved for me. I told her that tradition says that I should be holding the door for her. Her comment: “Poppycock.”

We can break with tradition and take that little step that allows us to make it easier for the person next to us, regardless of what others may think.

And maybe, just maybe, our world will be a world of Loving our neighbors as ourselves, not distrusting them because of their appearance.

Personally, I Love you; all of you; especially the students who handed barbs right back to me, making my life just a little more interesting.

Have a great day!!

Realism & Sharing

It seems that we are no longer realistic; we need to become more realistic for us to succeed as a community. We need to accept the concept of what ought to be, not what they seem to be. What counts is trust; we must trust each other to live for one another. We can no longer afford to live just for our own benefit. We cannot forget those living on the edges of our society. Who knows, we may even find a deeper knowledge of community there.

Throughout my career, I have been able to get to know many people who have not had the same advantages I have had in my life. I find a basic wisdom, faith, and happiness with these people that is many times lacking in people with more advantage. I often ask myself why this is so. I want to know what these friends have that I may have missed.

To do this, I find myself thinking outside the box; something I tell my writing students to practice all the time, when writing their essays. I often witness a very basic humility in these friends. Yes, they are proud, but not arrogant; they listen to learn, listen to improve. I would love to have the willingness to be pleased with how God has blessed me.

I always tend to over examine, rather than merely accepting these gifts. I used to be very envious of those with more than me; I no longer feel this way. I have learned better, both from my friends and from my life experiences.  

Okay, I’m overthinking things again. Maybe, but the more I meditate, the more I realize that what I have, what God has given me, is exactly what I need to live, need to be productive, need to be happy.

I struggled through college. My first try in 1961 was anything but successful. After a tour with the Marines, and marriage to a wonderful woman, I was more successful in my undergraduate years, not dean’s list, but successful. Twenty years later, when I entered graduate school, my experience in attaining a master’s degree in history was considerably more successful. My maturity, my life experiences taught me to take what is given and not to look for more.

I was looking to improve myself, but not at the expense of others. I worked with others so that we all succeeded. I learned to work and study in a group, sharing what we all learned to enable all of us to succeed.

Ten years later, when going back to get a doctorate in literature, my posture had grown to the extent that everything I learned, I shared; everything my classmates learned was shared with me. We all succeeded; not only that, we all broadened our understanding in ways I always thought were impossible.

I wrote my dissertation on PTSD in post war literature; my closest friend wrote hers in poetry on early medieval church literature. Two different objectives that were broadened by our discussions. I know that part of her sharing landing in my dissertation, and vice versa.

Sharing is something that we in the United States must relearn to do, all over again. I try to get my students to work together; I share my experiences with them, but they find it very difficult to do.

We have to change the way we teach our children. We need each other to have a successful community.

It’s not too late to learn.

Imagine there’s no hating. . .

Imagination brings greater thinking, which brings new inspiration, which then bring revelation to new ideas and new paths to follow. Here are a few of the things I imagine:

I imagine a world where we do not overlook those in need, those living on the edges of our society; we pass them in the streets every day, ignoring their pleas for help. I imagine that these people no long need our help; I imagine a world where everyone is treated as being important. The Bible calls these people the outcasts . . .

I imagine a world of Love, the Love given by God, not an abstract Love, but a Love that means that when we meet someone we do not know, we greet them as long-lost friends, returning home to the comfort of compassion. Some may call this a paradise, I call this what Jesus instructed . . .

I imagine a world where words heal, not harm. Words have the power to change the world. If we change the way we refer to one another, perhaps respect will return to our society. Transforming our society from the nasty rhetoric we use today to a gentler way of speaking, we may in fact realize something precious that we have lost. I believe that the way we speak directs our lives. We need to speak in words of Love, not hate . . .

We need to imagine a world of truth, the truth Jesus spoke of throughout his life. Perhaps if we accept the true words of truth, not those professed by our leaders who agree that there are alternate truths. We cannot create truth . . .

So, in the words of Lennon, let’s imagine what could be possible. . .

Imagine

I clearly and fondly remember John Lennon’s musical masterpiece “Imagine.” It was written and performed in a very caustic period in our history.

“You may say I’m a dreamer; but I’m not the only one.”

Wow! These words are so important to us today, considering the absolute chaos in US society. It is time for us to allow the Spirit to invade our imaginations, to reveal the truths that lie beyond our rational minds, searching the hidden depths of our very souls to understand that regardless of what is going on in our society, our feet are firmly planted in God’s Love and all-embracing arms.

To paraphrase the German professor Hans Joachim Iwand, our faith must begin where our near-atheistic leaders live and rule. At times, it seems that we are reliving the night of the cross, being abandoned by all practical realities. We are in a period of nothingness and nihilism that if left to fester will only grow and infect all of our society.

Being a retired educator, I can see the results of decades of cuts to support our public education; and with a leader in DC who is pro private education,, the masses will undoubtedly suffer. I remember touring the South in the 1970s, where the lower class schools were using history textbooks printed in the 1950s, which, as we know, omitted any reference to the Kennedys, MLK, and Vietnam.

I fear that we may be returning to these times when the individual is deemed almost worthless by our politics.

As we approach Memorial Day, I can hear the WW1 tune “The Caissons Keep Rolling Along.” Not only bringing cannons to the front, they returned the dead to the rear for burial. If our present NSA has its way, we could be involved in greater wars in the Middle East and Korea. I lost two very good friends, almost like older brothers, to the guns in Korea in 1952. I lost many Marine brothers in the rice paddies of Vietnam. I don’t want to remember my students who enter the military after graduation, only to sacrifice their lives again in the frozen ground of Korea, or the arid sands of the Middle East.

I know this is not a pleasant image this beautiful May morning; but, listening to Lennon’s “Imagine” on the way home from an early doctor’s appointment, brought these memories to rethink:

“Imagine all the people living for today;

Imagine all the people living life in peace;

Imagine all the people sharing all the world;

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one. . .”

Amen, brother John!

God’s Love –

I am writing this morning from the terrace at the Hampton Inn in Virginia Beach, facing the ocean with a nice ocean breeze to cool us. God has blessed us with little rain, sprinkles, at worst. Although, the weatherman says that we will have rain later today. No way he is going to countermand the word of God.

We awoke this morning to the wedding of Harry and Meghan; what a beautiful ceremony it was, filled with God’s Love and the awe and respect of thousands in London attending a most wonderful event. The unity, the love, the pageantry, and the excitement of the people without pushing and shoving, protesting and derision, was a sight worth remembering.

I absolutely loved the sermon giving the PB Curry. I have listened to him preach and talk on line; it was a joy to hear him live. He is such a dynamic inspirator! I drifted off when he spoke of airplanes and Facebook, but I absorbed his message of the fire of Life that brings us Love. Being a member of the Episcopal church, I can appreciate the service of the Anglican wedding. As a former Christian Scientist, I may have been lost. But God brought me to where I am today, and I am blessed to be where I am, physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually.

Those of you who know me from years past may be confused about how I can so comfortably write about God’s Love. You may remember me as the outspoken person I was, and still am. I have always felt what I write about today; it’s just that living in NJ, I was uncomfortable expressing these thoughts. When I did, I received looks of great questioning, and sometimes ridicule. I pray that this was self-deception, and that it was anchored in my own timidity.

As a new-found Virginia, I am more comfortable expressing these views. Linda tells me that I’m becoming a southerner, because I many times wish people a blessed day. This was hard for me at first; but this changed when my students began wishing this for me, as they left my classes at Germanna Community College. I will admit that it was more my African-American students that blessed me, but Love is viral. When many people express this, it is impossible to resist returning the Love that God gives us.

No matter what I do; no matter what I have done, I know that I am blessed. The near-fatal injuries I received in the military, in a car accident, and then a herniated small intestine, proves to me that God has always been with me.

So, when I hear Bishop Curry speak of God’s Love, I can only close my eyes, reflect on the truth of his words, and bask in comfort that Bishop Michael passes from God.

One final note: witnessing the marriage of Harry and Meghan, I reflected on a blessed moment almost fifty-one years ago, when God brought Linda and I together, Loving us through hard times both physically and financially. There were times that I doubted God’s Love; I never doubted the Love he gave us, as we joined our spirits for eternity in that small chapel in Murray Hill New Jersey.

I am truly blessed.

More on Community

We are raised to live in community; yet we insist that we can go it alone. We cannot live a life of integrity without the support, knowledge, comfort, or camaraderie that we gain when part of a community. Our lives depend on it. We are made for each other; when we are together we all flourish.

My hunger for community involves a lot that you may not want to hear. This involves freedom, freedom from oppression, fear, hunger, and segregation. I am sitting in Virginia Beach on a much needed vacation with my wife. We have just heard of the mass shooting, another in a school, this time in Santa Fe. How can our community and its interests allow this to continue happening.

I just retired from teaching at a community college. The last few semesters I have feared for my and my students’ lives. At the back of my mind, I always worried about whether a student would react to a bad grade, or a failing grade in a way that would harm others.

It is not the reason I retired, but now that I am retired, I am more comfortable knowing I would no longer have that fear.

If we love our community, we have to act the part. We cannot allow a few people to override the safety and fears of others.

I pray that God will bless us with leaders that find the courage to stand up to the money and do what is right.

Accepting Others

We are not meant to be alone, work alone, live alone. By joining with others, we create greatness. Our society says that the individual is more important, but without others, we are powerless. We cannot build businesses; we cannot build community. My own father used to say that stupidity is the bane of mankind. He didn’t mean intelligence; he meant the ability to enjoy each other by being support mechanisms for each other. I add that in order to do this, we must examine our hearts, examine them to discover the beauty in everyone we meet. By joining our hearts, the greatness we desire can be achieved. By serving one another, by helping one another, we can avoid devastating sorrows.

Living in community means that we touch each other; we influence each other; we live in each other’s minds, allowing us to become brothers and sisters in love, brothers and sisters assisting each other in sorrow and hardship, rejoicing in happiness and good news. By learning to do this, any sorrows are shared, lessening the devastating impacts that these can bring us, if we are alone.

This means we must change the prescribed format of our society, you know, the idea that we are individuals who are the only ones responsible for what we do. This society is not built on community and cooperation. Many of us proclaim this on Sunday mornings, but by Monday morning we are back to accepted views. We return to individuality, and in many cases, our quests are controlled by greed. I got mine; you get yours, if you can.

This is not the way we are taught on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays, depending on which religion we practice. All of these religions teach the acceptance of the stranger, the sharing of our food and hospitality with the visitor, with the stranger. Not close him out of our lives, just like an unwanted disease. The Jewish people have a longstanding practice of setting the table for the stranger; we never know when it will be God sitting with us.

As we mature in our God-given ability to know one another as ourselves, we are drawn to those we do not know; we are pulled toward our opposites to learn from them, to expand our knowledge and understanding. When we do this our energy, and the energy of that person strengthens to point where nothing is impossible for this new community. Any goal we have is achievable, achievable when we join together, especially with those we disagree with, to find a solution to a situation that neither enjoys or profits from. This dynamic community between us and those we disagree with can build a community of great energy and strength; and then we are all closer to God.

What many people today fail to realize is that acceptance leads to peace and happiness.

Living as One 

There is great agitation in the world today; we in the United States are undergoing a change we did not expect nor wish. This international uproar is upsetting to all, questioning how we can survive in this topsy-turvy world. Eberhard Arnold writes: “Situated as we are in the midst of a world that is so terribly unpeaceful, we need constant nourishment for our inner life. In short, if we want to avoid suffering inward shipwreck in the storm of public opinion and chaos, then our hidden inner being needs daily the quiet haven of communion with God.”

We have to search for a harmonious outcome; we can only do this through sharing the love we give to ourselves and our families, offering this same love to those people we do not know. We share this world with everyone, rich or poor, black or white, young or old. Nobody owns this world. The only way that we can appreciate this is to open our hearts and minds to God’s reality. We are all his children; He loves us all equally. We should mirror this example and treat each other this way.

 The upside of this is simple: going through these tough and trying times, we gain strength and endurance. Endurance brings forth character; and character, if allowed, leads to hope, hope for a better life, hope for a peaceful co-existence. Rose Kennedy has said, “Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them?”

One of my favorite spiritual influences is Henri Nouwen; through him I have learned and am convinced that prayer can help us. Prayer helps me see new paths and new lights in my life. I get to hear the birds singing in the trees, calling to each other, letting each other know that the feeders in my yard are full, and that I have placed baffles on the poles to slow down the greediness of the squirrels. I love the sound of the birds; these new melodies in the air help give me a new breath to my life, a breath coming from God.

I try my best to look into each person I meet. I do not judge whether they are worthy; this is not my function in life. My job is to welcome each person as an equal, as a brother or sister who is suffering through this life as I am. Together, we can overcome our difficulties and both succeed.

I am troubled when I read statements, such as the one by Josephine Baker, “One day I realized I was living in a country where I was afraid to be black. It was only a country for white people. Not black. So I left. I had been suffocating in the United States…” This was years ago; things have not changed.

We are allowing our governments to separate us; arresting and deporting people of color, who do not talk or look like us. I always ask, “Are not these my brothers and sisters also?” “Do they have to seek normalcy and freedom outside of the United States?” I fear that the country I love and its future are in grave danger of becoming like other empires that have failed through intolerance. I fear that my grandchildren will not enjoy the freedoms we have come to love.

I end with something Leo Tolstoy wrote: “I knew before that God gave life to humankind and desires that they should live; now I understand more than that. I understand that God does not wish people to live apart, and therefore he does not reveal to them what each one needs for himself; but he wishes them to live united, and therefore reveals to each of them what is necessary for all. I now understand that though it seems to people that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He who has love is in God, and God is in him, for God is love.”

Being patient is many times extremely difficult. Patience takes courage; patience is not waiting for something to happen or waiting or someone else to do something. Patience is living for today, to be completely present in what we are doing in the present time; this means forgetting what was done or needs to be done. To enjoy live, we must taste life, not just let it fly by.

On April 1^st, I awoke to the realization that I would teach my last class on the 30^th. I could not wait; I was anxious for the month to pass a quickly as possible. I completely forgot that the next four weeks would be the last weeks of a 24-year teaching career, that on May 1^st, I would no longer be guiding immature voices in their writing. Don’t get me wrong; I am happy not to be facing the grading of 40 essays a week. I may not miss that aspect; but I will miss the students. So, I tried to savor every minute I had left with them. In my life outside of teaching, my anxiety to retire began to disrupt other enjoyable things.

Perhaps the reason we cannot exercise patience is because we live anxious lives. Sometimes we live fantasy lives. We get so uptight about what is occurring outside our immediate domain that our everyday lives get upset. For instance, I can do nothing about what is happening in our government. I attend meetings and I vote, but other than running for office myself, there is little I can do. This upsets me, but I refuse to let it govern my life. I am unhappy with what is going on, but, I must live my life. And right now, my life is centered on what I will do now that I retire. I have many options and I am taking my time to decide. I am in no hurry; hurrying will only make me tense, and I will lose patience with all other aspects and the people I meet.

Truly, there are times I feel that I am living in darkness, total darkness, and this does make me anxious, and I lose patience. It is at times such as these that I stop what I am doing, meditate, and try to let the anxiety pass. I know that the light will return to me. Maybe what I am trying to say is that I am doing my best to be a truly present human, living for the moment. I don’t ignore the past or future, but today is so important.

When I look to God, I pray that God looks at me. This belief, this trust, helps me settle my anxieties so that I can live for today, practicing patience, patience with all whom I meet. I cherish the special relationships I have created in my life. When I was an independent retailer, I made many close friends, those who worked with me and those who shared downtown Summit, NJ. When I taught at New Providence High School, I also made many friends, from my peers to my students who are now dear friends. And, finally, those professors and students I worked with at Germanna community College; these most recent friends are also people I cherish. I pray that my patience with those I meet add to these deep friendships.

I also like to spend time watching the birds and squirrels feeding at the feeders Linda has placed in our yards. Now that spring has arrived, I am loving the time I can observe God’s nature at work. This is important time for me, but not nearly as important as the friendships I have made in my life. I believe that these friendships have only come about through our mutual patience with each other. I cherish these.

Every day and every hour, let’s walk with patience in our hearts. We’ve tried the other way, and failed; maybe it’s time to try something different.