Meditating to Heal

Who are our neighbors?

I often get confused, and I will admit, I also often get upset, with people’s actions toward each other. I cannot overlook someone who has not had the same opportunities as I have. I do not want to use the term advantages, because coming from a lower middle-income family, born in Newark, New Jersey, I do not consider myself advantaged; but I do consider myself a product of my opportunities, when I learned to recognize and accept them.

One of the things that I have begun to realize and to share with others is the idea that even the simplest things in life are filled with multi-level meanings. Cornell West said, “To be a Christian is to live dangerously, honestly, freely — to step in the name of love as if you may land on nothing, yet to keep on stepping because the something that sustains you no empire can give you and no empire can take away.” I couple this with the Bible story of the Good Samaritan. Many times, we have difficulty in recognizing who in fact our true neighbor is. It could be the family living in the house next door; it could also be the family living in the single-wide house in a trailer park; it could also be a poor Venezuelan family on the border of the United States seeking asylum.  

My heart tells me that it is all three; two of them I have yet to meet, at least face to face. But, in all cases, these are my neighbors; these are family members that I have not had the pleasure of sharing a meal with.

My heart tells me that if I had not recognized the opportunities that came my way, I would not be where I am today. In 1990, while I was the president of the NPHS booster club, the Athletic Director came to the monthly meeting in September and announced that he had just lost his swim coach. To make a long story short and meaningful, I ended up being the temporary coach. After four years, this lead me to pursue my masters degree in history to become a history teacher at NPHS. This opportunity began my 24-year career teaching at both the high school and college levels.

One of  these same people that I have not met could recognize the same possibility and end up becoming a teacher who affects the lives if his or her students. This is not impossible to imagine, unless you have no imagination whatsoever. Only a loving outlook on life can produce and add to the life of our neighbors.

Many of us look at ourselves and cannot imagine how we can be this open in our outlook; many of us just don’t know how, or we are to busy to think we can learn to be this open hearted. I find that if you follow your heart, you cannot do wrong by our neighbors living on the edge of society. All of us can learn to love our neighbors; it is not impossible; it is not even unfeasible.

Thinking of the poor refugees on our southern border, I am reminded of Father Zossima. For those non-bibliophiles, he is a main character in my favorite novel by Dostoyevski, The Brothers Karamazov. Father Zossima prays for his forgotten souls with the following: “Remember too, every day and whenever you can, to repeat to yourself, ‘Lord, have mercy on all who appear before you today.'” 

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My grandmother, as doty-ish as she was, always said, “There but for the grace of God, go I.” a good lesson to remember when dealing with those we think are below our station. God’s Love leads my heart always; it leads me to risk the attachments of Love for all my neighbors.

So – all those people who upset me with their haughty attitudes, well, I also recognize them as my neighbors, and I love them just as much.

 None of us are perfect; especially me; I try, but alas, I have yet to succeed.

Maybe my new unknown neighbors can help!!

 

June 6 1944 D-Day Thoughts

On this 74^th anniversary of D-Day my thoughts are very multifarious, I think of the bravery, the fear, the loss of that day . . . on both sides. Families grieving over the loss of a son, a husband, or a father. Being a former Marine, who was blessed by not facing combat, I do understand what all of these men had in common. All of the men had one job to do; they had the most intense focus imaginable.

I wonder if we in our safe communities can share that intense focus. Richard Rohr refers to this as living in the now. But what does this genuinely mean? Think of the possibilities we can perform if we focus on that one thing in the moment. As I am thinking on paper, I have a Haydn symphony playing in the background; I have the window slightly open, listening to the birds at our feeders; I look out the window and see the Afgan war veteran washing his car for the third time this week; and, I am thinking about the next few days when my focus will be on the Finance Commission and Vestry at St. George’s. All of these are distractions that can keep me from focusing on what I am doing now.

The beauty of nature, the myriad displays of colors in neighbors’ gardens, and the sound of a soft breeze blowing through the trees outside my window all calm me to help me focus on what I am now doing. But, I have to ignore all of these dream-filled distractions to keep on my path.

I complain to Linda that she spends to much time on serving others at The Table at St. George’s. At times, it seems as if her whole life revolves around serving those members of our community living on the forgotten edges of society. God has blessed them with a woman who is devoting her life to their needs. I am blessed to have a wife with such a mission. And, truthfully, there I times I feel that she spends more time doing this than she spends with me. After all, these are our retirement years; we should be doing what other retirees do.

But no, God has chosen us, has chosen Linda to spearhead this idea of The Table and make it the success that it is today. She has had tremendous help from other doing this, and I am grateful that God has included these other people in this project to make it what it is today.

In order to make this successful, it took an inordinate amount of focusing on the tasks at hand. Diversion was not a possibility; it was an impediment.

But this is the kind of focus we all must have to accomplish our goals in life. The men storming the French beaches 74 years ago dedicated their lives, sacrificed to allow future generations peace. The volunteers at The Table are sacrificing hours of relaxed pleasures to bring a better life to our brothers and sisters who have not shared in the prosperity of our country. I am sure that if roles were reversed, each would do the others’ jobs. God gives us gifts, gives us dedication of purpose, gives us the love of others to sacrifice our lives, or something in our lives, to serve our fellow man.

I praise God and I thank the men who sacrificed seven decades ago; I also praise God and thank the many volunteers across this country who dedicate their lives to help those less fortunate people who are parts of our extended families.

I have rambled from idea to idea today; but, as I read over what I have written, I will not change a thought; all these have contributed to my overwhelming gratitude for being where I am today, experiencing not only the beauty of the world outside my window, but also appreciating the whole world outside my window. Where I am today is because of the sacrifices of people who have helped put me where I am.  

May God walk with all of my families today.

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.