Our Uncle Walter died today. We cried with him when JFK was shot. We spent hours together, marveling over each step of the space program, and we cried again, in joy, when Armstrong walked the moon. When Uncle Walter said the Viet Nam War was mired in stalemate, we knew it was time to find a way out, and we cried when our leaders didn't listen. He was one of us, sounded like us, and was the best of us. wise, calm, honest, steady.
He told us the truth, even when it hurt, because he knew that to heal we had to know we were wounded. He told us the truth, when it helped, because he knew that we are more as a group than as individuals. He told us the truth, and we loved him and trusted him for it.
And that's the way it is, Friday, July 17, 2009. Rest in peace, Walter Cronkite.
John T. Bird, Chair Emeritus, Kansas Democratic Party
"I have been a practicing Christian all my life, and a Bible teacher for many years," says Jimmy Carter in a Guardian (UK) editorial, in which he refers to his leaving the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), primarily over the issue of womens' rights. (Carter actually left the denomination in 2000.)
It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be "subservient" to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service.
His latest announcement flows out of his participation in a group called the Elders, an organization formed by Nelson Mandela, and composed of various "elder statespersons" from around the world. The Elders recently issued a call for womens' rights:
However, as Elders, we believe that the justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a higher authority, is unacceptable.
Pres. Carter has indeed been a Bible teacher for many years, and I was honored to attend one of his Bible studies at Maranatha Baptist Church--not affiliated with the SBC--in Plains, Georgia. Maranatha Baptist is a small church, seating perhaps 150 people, though all seats were filled on the day I was there.
Carter interacted with the people for about 10 minutes and then spent about 40 minutes discussing the story of Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3. He had several pages of notes written out on what seemed to be a Big Chief tablet. It occurred to me that the man has many ways of spending his time, and he had chosen to spend it in preparing and delivering a Bible study.
Rosalyn and some of their grandchildren were also present that morning. Pres. Carter said that he and Rosalyn do not do autographs, but, if you wanted to have your picture taken with them, they'd be happy to do that--after church.
The Carter's were, at one time, members of Plains Baptist Church, a very large church up the road from Maranatha. During the 1976 campaign, a black man attempted to attend church there, but was turned away. The Carter's left the church not long after.
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake City Tribune
Texas Gov. Rick Perry was talking big a few months ago. Texas didn't want any stinking stimulus funds. Faced with the federal oppression of stimulus funds, why Texas just might secede from the union.
Of course, all pious protestations to the contrary, he wound up taking $17 billion in stimulus money, but turned down $555 million which would have gone to help the unemployed. Natch.
Now that Texas is in dire financial straits, however, Perry is asking the federal government for a loan to cover the additional costs of unemployment--in other words, the very expenses the rejected stimulus money would have paid for.
Bishop N.T. Wright (Durham, England) is a person I respect and whose books have informed much of my own thinking. Even the esteemed Bishop Wright, however, is not right about everything.
He published an editorial in the Times (UK) on Wednesday in which he is clearly worked up over the actions of the Episcopal Church (USA) to allow for the to allow the appointment, to all orders of ministry, of persons in active same-sex relationships. He writes:
Of course, matters didn’t begin with the consecration of Gene Robinson. The floodgates opened several years before, particularly in 1996 when a church court acquitted a bishop who had ordained active homosexuals. Many in TEC have long embraced a theology in which chastity, as universally understood by the wider Christian tradition, has been optional.
One wonders: Does that supposed "chastity" include Henry VIII, the first head of the Anglican church, who had multiple affairs, six wives, and who broke with Rome over his divorce to Ann Boleyn?
That wider tradition always was counter-cultural as well as counter-intuitive. Our supposedly selfish genes crave a variety of sexual possibilities. But Jewish, Christian and Muslim teachers have always insisted that lifelong man-plus-woman marriage is the proper context for sexual intercourse. This is not (as is frequently suggested) an arbitrary rule, dualistic in overtone and killjoy in intention. It is a deep structural reflection of the belief in a creator God who has entered into covenant both with his creation and with his people (who carry forward his purposes for that creation).
The "wider tradition" has always been "counter-cultural"? Pray tell, in what way has the church been "counter-cultural"? Even since Constantine made Christianity legit, the Christian heirarchy has bent over backwards to promote the culture of the various empires in which it was situated. Ever since the 5th century, the Christian heirarchy has been not "counter-cultural," but "enthusiastically cultural."
Wright says that the monotheistic religions have always promoted an Ozzie-and-Harriet model of marriage when that is clearly not so. Solomon reportedly had 1000 wives, Mohammed at least eleven. Much of the Bible, for example, assumes a world in which polygamy is the norm--Ozzie and Harriet and Harriet and Harriet, you might say.
Even if it were the case that marriage practices have been unchanged for the past 2000 years, and that Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders "have always insisted" on heterosexual marriage, doesn't that argument basically boil down to this: "We've always done it that way."
One notes, too, Wright's reference to "lifelong man-plus-woman marriage." Take a man, append a woman, and you have a marriage. This is not the language of equality, but rather the language of patriarchy. One suspects that Wright penned that description without thinking very much about it, unwittingly revealing that he operates from a default "male-headship" model.
Wright's says that it is "deep structural reflection"--whatever that is--on God's work in creation and God's entering into "covenant" with his people that informs the church's insistence on "man-plus-woman marriage."
He appears to be referring to Genesis 1-2 in which God said to the people, "Be fruitful and multiply" (1:28), and "therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh" (2:38). As God created the universe in the first place, human beings are to participate in God's creative work by generating offspring.
Well and good. "Be fruitful and multiply" is the one command from God we've done fairly well at observing. Note that the texts themselves do not use the word "marriage," and the plain sense of the texts would be to assert God's blessing on sexuality and procreation. For God to bless heterosexual procreation is not, ipso facto, a condemnation of homosexuality.
Moreover, isn't it rather cheeky for a Bishop of the Anglican Church to get the vapors over gay bishops. The Anglican Church has historically had tons of gay priests and several gay bishops. This was all right, however, as long as they agreed to be dishonest about their sexual identity and practice. To their credit, they no longer wish to be dishonest, although some in the Anglican communion prefer to go on being hypocritical.
The broken elbow turns out to be worse than people might have thought. The elbow is held together with duct tape and "bobbed wire," as we used to say on the farm, and the recovery process involves physical therapy every day, and a "grueling" therapy at that, says Mark Landler in the New York Times.
It sidelined her from making the recent Moscow trip, which, in turn, sparked rumors that her influence in the administration was waning.
I don't think it's that, but I do think that the foreign policy team has a lot of strong personalities in some very key roles, particularly with "special envoys" the caliber and temperment of George Mitchell and, especially, Richard Holbrooke.
The three recent alleged "points of friction" between the administration and Hillary involve some relatively low-key matters--the selection of a major contributor to Obama's campaign for ambassador to Japan over Hillary's preference for Joseph Nye, a foreign affairs expert; the slow vetting of the director of USAID, and the nixing of Sidney Blumenthal as an aide to Hillary in the State Department.
Hillary has publicly griped about the vetting process for USAID, though scuttling the Blumenthal appointment is the one of the three that makes the least sense to me. Blumenthal is a major Clinton supporter, and a strong advocate, but so what? Blumenthal is also an exceptionally skilled wordsmith--the Sam Seaborn character on West Wing was said to be modeled on him--and it seems that Hillary ought to be able to hire somebody like Blumenthal without the White House staff getting all quivery over it.
Blumenthal and I are one-time correspondents. I'd written a letter to the New Republic asking them why they always trash Blumenthal, whose writing, it seemed to me, was oft on-target and always well-written. They never responded, so I wrote to Blumenthal, recounting all this, and asked him why people didn't like him? Seriously, I wanted to know. He wrote a nice note back, hence my special interest in the furtherance of his illustrious career.
Photo: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images
All you have to do is watch about ten minutes of the hearings. The white guys come across as drawling and clueless, while she seems measured and rational. The GOP Senators don't seem to get that white men no longer set the objective standard. They come across as believing that minority views are some kind of deviation from that standard, and they seem to question how much of a "deviation" is allowable. Craig Crawford is more blunt:
Even if they vote for her, the fallout for Republicans could reach well beyond Hispanic voters. They are coming across as a bunch of snarky and bitter old white men who cannot bear the thought of their kind losing power.
I don't know how Sotomayor will do as a justice. She seems a centrist to me, which means we'll just have to wait and see. Politically, though, the pick was a masterstroke by Pres. Obama. I suspect he knew the opposition would react in this way, and, in so doing, they would bleed minority voters with each passing minute.
John F. Kennedy Jr. died ten years ago tomorrow. As it happened, I was in San Francisco at the time and went to the memorial mass held at the cathedral of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. I was there early so was able to watch all the crowd as it assembled. It was a Kennedy constituency--street people and union worker, the homeless and the elegant, all colors.
I greeted the priest before the service in order to request eucharistic hospitality, which he readily--and effusively--gave. "Ah, a Lutheran, my brother!" He later preached a fine sermon on the humanity of Jesus.
The service began with a bagpipe playing "Amazing Grace." Spiritually, it was a good time to reflect on the Christian faith and the resurrection. Psychologically, however, all Americans felt a sense of loss at the death of JFK, Jr., one that was particularly acute among those who appreciate the Kennedy tradition and looked to him for its political restoration.
Photo: JFKJR.com
Organized crime takes in about $3 trillion worldwide each year, which is twice the amount spent on armaments by all nations combined.
So says the 2009 State of the Future report produced by, among others, the United Nations, Unesco, the World Bank, the US army and the Rockefeller Foundation. The report focused on the sizeable impact of the global recession and climate change.
Half the world could face violence and unrest due to severe unemployment combined with scarce water, food and energy supplies and the cumulative effects of climate change.
The report finds hope in technological development and the possibility that the global financial crisis will generate a more "globally responsible adulthood" that will prompt drastic changes. It praises the internet for its democratizing and educational effects.
Still, the report is mostly grim. Food and energy prices are likely to continue to increase. Water is becoming scarce, and climate change will likely set off migrations of people as they seek to find food or escape environmental catastrophe.
The effects of climate change are worsening – by 2025 there could be three billion people without adequate water as the population rises still further. And massive urbanisation, increased encroachment on animal territory, and concentrated livestock production could trigger new pandemics.
Secretary of State Clinton is chagrined about the length of time it is taking to "vet" candidates for director of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Clinton said the vetting process for senior officials gets worse in each successive administration with the requirements demanding in some cases that candidates hire lawyers and accountants, detail everywhere they have lived since they were 18 and name every foreign citizen they know. "I mean, it is ridiculous," she said.
"Some very good people just didn't want to be vetted," she said.
Indeed, and who could blame them? Right after the election, the administration made available the various categories and questions that people who wanted to serve in the administration would have to disclose. It basically amounted to going through your life with an ultra-fine comb, and asking you to make lists of various people, and places, disclose dollars spent and invested, and so on.
For one thing, who even remembers that stuff? I've met dozens of foreign citizens, but it would take me days to construct a list, and, even then, there would be many names I wouldn't be able to remember. Secondly, as Hillary said, some very good people are not going to want to subject themselves to such a process. I took one look at the administration guidelines, and said to myself, "Who would do this?" In my view, the kind of person that would put up with such intrusive and over-wrought questioning--and worse, could pass the test--is precisely the kind of person who probably should not be in public service.
NY Times: Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that the firm recorded more than $2 billion in trading profits in the second quarter, a stunning rebound just half a year after the financial crisis crippled Wall Street.
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, 55and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market-places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
Translation: And the apostles were gathered together to Jesus, and they told him all that they did and taught. And he said to them, "Come by yourselves into a deserted place and rest a little." For many were coming and going, and they were not having a good time to eat. And they went away into a deserted place in a boat by themselves. And many saw them going and knew them. And on foot from all the towns they ran there together and went before them. And coming out, he saw a large crowd, and he was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd, and he began to teach them much.
And crossing over, they came upon the ground into Gennesaret and they were drawn to shore. And when they got out of the boat, immediately they knew him. They ran about that whole region, and they began having to carry the sick upon the pallets where they were hearing that he is. And where he was coming in--into villages and into cities and into fields--they were laying the weak in the marketplaces and they were exhorting him so that they might touch the hem of his garment, and as many as touched him were being saved.
The gap in the middle of the reading is Mark's account of the feeding of the 5000. That story will appear in next week's lection, though the text will be from John and not Mark. Unfortunately, this means that people will miss Mark's rich theology expressed in his two feeding stories. The first one (Mark 6), in a Jewish region, reconciles Jews. The second one (Mark 8), on gentile territory, reconciles gentiles.
Mark here (6:30) refers to the disciples as "apostles," the only such use of the word "apostle" in Mark's gospel. The disciples had been sent out (6:7) to have "authority over unclean spirits." They were allowed only instruments for traveling (sandals, walking stick) but not daily sustenance (bread, money).
This missionary endeavor was an inauguration into apostleship, practice for the day when Jesus would not be physically present with them. After this use of "apostles," Mark will return to referring to the disciples as "disciples" for the remainder of his account. (Curiously, though Jesus sent the disciples out without money or food, somehow they wind up with both. See 6: 37-38.)
The disciples "gathered together to Jesus" and told him of their missionary experience. Jesus says they should go off by themselves--kat' idian--and "rest a little." The expression, kat' idian, "by themselves," is used seven times in Mark, always editorially, and always to signal a special teaching moment for the disciples.
The stated reason for leaving is because of the dense crowds. So many people were around--so many had flocked to Jesus--that they could not find a spare moment to eat. (Eating, of course, will be a major theme in the feeding of the 5000 in Mark 6:35-52, which, unfortunately, the lectionary does not make available to our congregants in year B, the year of Mark.)
Jesus and the disciples head for a "deserted place," but "many saw them going and knew them." NRSV has "recognized them." The word is ginosko, a term indicating "knowing" in an intimate and profound way. The people "knew" Jesus, and huge numbers "from all the towns" come to that "deserted place" where they anticipate he will be. A "large crowd" is assembled. The Jesus movement is swelling and hitting its stride.
Seeing the large crowd, Jesus is "moved with compassion"--splagchnizomai, "moved in the bowels," or "having one's 'guts' torn apart." He was moved because the people were "like sheep without a shepherd," a line of great portent, with political implications.
The reference is to Number 27: 16-17: "Let the Lord...appoint someone over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd." The one appointed in Numbers is Joshua--yeshua, in Hebrew, the same name as Jesus, a serendipity that, in my view, Mark fully intends.
Similarly, Ezekial 34 speaks of shepherds who do not feed the sheep, and Zechariah 11 says "their own shepherds have no pity on them." Thus, drawing from the prophetic tradition, "sheep without a shepherd" is a critique of a ruling religious class which does not care about the people. Moreover, the subsequent feeding prepares the people for that time when Jesus will be killed and "the sheep will be scattered" (14:27).
The feeding of the 5000, with its strong eucharistic overtones, is one way that Jesus will continue to be present with the community even after his death. The open table fellowship of the Jesus movement, with food for all, is yet another.
After the feeding, Jesus and the disciples went to Gennesaret, a town just west of Capernaum, also on the Sea of Galilee. Again, the people "recognized"--knew--Jesus. Their response is to comb the countryside for sick people in order to bring them "to any place where they heard he was." Word about Jesus seems to be spreading through an informal, "grass roots," communications network. (Also, Mark uses the present tense in verse 55. The people "were hearing" where "he is." Writing c. AD 70, Mark wants the people to know that Jesus is presently available.)
Three places are identified for Jesus' "coming in"--towns, cities, and fields. We are used to Jesus moving through the countryside and towns. The reference to cities here (6:56) is the only time Jesus is mentioned as being in a city in Mark's gospel. The Jesus movement, swelling with public support, is now able to take its mission into cities. The mention of towns, cities, and farms means that the Jesus movement now has the clout to occupy every social space in Galilee.
They were laying the "weak"--asthenountas--in the "marketplaces." Asthenountas may mean "sick," but, more broadly, means "enfeebled," "weak," or "lacking energy." These "weak ones"--on pallets, incidentally, which were used by the poor--were laid in the most public place in any town or city, the "marketplace." The "marketplace" is also a major local outpost of the established economic system. The "weak" are brought there, but they are healed by Jesus, not by the economic status quo.
The reference to "touch the hem of his garment" recalls the story of the woman with the hemorrhage in 5:27-28 who, likewise, sought to do so and was subsequently healed. Here again, "as many as touched him" were "being saved."
In the 1990's, Ralph Reed ran the old Christian Coalition. Then, he became a pal of Jack Abramoff, after which he promptly flopped as an electoral candidate. Now, he wants to get the old Christian Coalition cranked up again, but, this time, he wants it "hipper." Atlanta Journal Constitution:
"This is not going to be your daddy's Christian Coalition. It has to be younger, hipper, less strident, more inclusive and it has to harness the 21st century that will enable us to win in the future... It's the political analog to the iPod and the iPhone. It would be cool. It would be transformative. It would transform our politics and bring younger people to our ranks. All of those are critical imperatives."
The last time these guys tried to be "hip," we were treated to the spectacle of Pat Boone wearing leather. One hopes we'll be spared something equally ghastly this time, but don't hold your breath.
Reason number 153 as to why I don't watch "Meet the Press": John McCain is on so much that they really ought to change the name of the program to "Meet John McCain."
Reason number 154: Dumb things are quite often said. For instance, yesterday McCain said of Sarah Palin: "I don't think she quit. I don't know if there was a quote promise [to the people of Alaska to continue serving as Governor]. But I do know that she will be an effective player on the national stage."
According to the Alaska Constitution, the oath of office contains these words, which do, in fact, sound quite a bit like a promise: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that... I will faithfully discharge my duties as [governor] to the best of my ability."
McCain knows she quit, of course, but for McCain to admit it would be to admit that he picked a quitter to be his vice-presidential running mate. Ergo, she did not quit!
When William O. Douglas was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1939, there were no confirmation hearings. Douglas sat outside the Senate chambers and sent a note in asking if anyone would like to ask him any questions. Nobody did.