Spirituality | dual personalities

June 22, 2017

“Don’t call me sweetheart. Call me Batman.”*

by chuckofish

The boy and daughter #1 c. 1990 (Check out that wreck of a blankie draped on her lap!)

One consequence of buying the vintage desk the other day was having to move our other vintage desk out of the room, emptying the drawers etc. Inside I found several old desk calendars. One from 1990 was particularly interesting as I had written down notes referring to the infant daughter #2’s progress and also cute comments her older siblings had made during the year.

The three-year-old boy–whom I had forgotten was such a spiritual child–was the star with these classic statements:

[The boy] says at lunch, pounding the table for emphasis, “God made us…with nails!”

“When I drink water God takes a bath.” (He knows God is “inside us all.”)

[Daughter #1] is washing doll clothes in the bathroom sink and [the boy] is bothering her, so she kicks him out, shouting, “I don’t want any company!” “Well,” he replies, “you have company. You have God!”

Comments pertaining to the new baby were also prevalent and reflect the siblings’ healthy self-esteem.

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On the day the baby is born I tell daughter #1 that the baby looks like her, and she says, “I knew she would.”

When the baby is six-months old I remark to the boy that she loves to look at him. He says, “Yes, she just loves my brown eyes.”

Anyway, here’s a reminder to write down those wonderful statements your children make. Chances are, you will never remember them otherwise. I sure didn’t.

*The boy, of course

4 Comments

June 15, 2017

Put on the robe of righteousness

by chuckofish

I am an early riser. I get a lot done in the morning before I even go to work. One thing I frequently do when I ride my stationary bike is listen to podcasts–yes, podcasts–(thank you, daughter #1). I usually listen to sermons and sometimes Joyce Meyer.

Joyce is no Episcopalian and she is very down-to-earth in her interpretation of scripture. I like her a lot. She says things like, “Wherever you go for the rest of your life, there you are. Learn to love yourself,” which is not unlike something Emerson said way back when.

Here is her advice on how to reduce stress:

Trust yourself and everything to God…. leave it and let it go and give it to God.
Pray…God will not necessarily get rid of our problems, but he strengthens us and enables us to endure them.
Know when to be quiet. You don’t have to convince people you are a good person. Think of Jesus before Pilate: “Jesus made no reply”.

Stress, she says, is what is going on inside us, not what is going on around us.

She is so right. There is nothing new here, but Joyce knows it is worth repeating over and over because that is the only way to get through to people. She knows too that usually there is no bolt-out-of-the-blue solution/cure for stressed out modern people. It takes work and time and practice. It takes a relationship with God.

I also like The Very Rev. Dr. Paul F. M. Zahl, who is a retired Episcopal priest. He formerly was rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase, MD, and dean and president of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, Ambridge, PA. He is a lot more intellectual than Joyce Meyer, but I can still relate to him. He says things like:

But there is one risky question. It is the question, “How can I be justified?” This question has been asked by persons as diverse as St. Augustine in the Fourth Century, Martin Luther in the Sixteenth Century, and Sam Pekinpah the film director, in our own time. Pekinpah, by the way, said that the single question he pondered day and night his entire life was, How can I go down to my house justified?

There is good stuff out there. You just have to keep looking.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

(Colossians 3:2-3)

Think of Him often, adore him continually, live and die with Him; that is the glorious business of a Christian; in a word, it is our calling; if we do not know that calling we must learn it.

–Brother Lawrence

(The painting is “Interior, Woman at a Bureau” by William Smith Anderson (Scottish, 1878-1929)

4 Comments

June 9, 2017

Jesus, give the weary Calm and sweet repose

by chuckofish

It’s Friday already! I had a busy week and it zoomed by (which is usually the way, right?)

Anyway, I am ready for the weekend. We have been experiencing beautiful weather all week which I have not really been able to enjoy. Sometimes I sit on the patio after work, just to get outside for awhile. Of course, it’s supposed to get hot this weekend.

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C’est la vie.

Hopefully I’ll get to see the wee babes.

The wee babes wearing “peanut butter and jelly” onesies that some well-meaning friend made for them…zut alors! oh, the indignity…

Meanwhile I’ll toast my BFF, who has always been my sister and Dual Personality, because I guess yesterday was National BFF Day! Where do they come up with these things?

Well, I never need an excuse to toast my DP…or to toast!

Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.

Now the darkness gathers,
Stars begin to peep,
Birds, and beasts and flowers
Soon will be asleep.

Jesus, give the weary
Calm and sweet repose;
With Thy tenderest blessing
May mine eyelids close.

Grant to little children
Visions bright of Thee;
Guard the sailors tossing
On the deep, blue sea.

Comfort those who suffer,
Watching late in pain;
Those who plan some evil
From their sin restrain.

Through the long night watches
May Thine angels spread
Their white wings above me,
Watching round my bed.

When the morning wakens,
Then may I arise
Pure, and fresh, and sinless
In Thy holy eyes.

Glory to the Father,
Glory to the Son,
And to Thee, blest Spirit,
While all ages run.

–Sabine Baring-Gould

Have a good weekend!

6 Comments

June 8, 2017

Thursday inspiration

by chuckofish

He said not:

thou shalt not be troubled,

thou shalt not be tempted,

thou shalt not be distressed,

but He said:

thou shalt not be overcome.

–Julian of Norwich

(The painting is Big Sky, New Mexico by Eric Sloane)

2 Comments

June 7, 2017

“Top-heavy was the ship as a dinnerless student with all Aristotle in his head.”*

by chuckofish

So Bob Dylan finally made his Nobel Laureate acceptance speech, the only requirement to claim the money that comes with the prize, with several days to spare. (The deadline was June 10.)

And of course he spent a long portion of his speech talking about Moby-Dick! Bob never disappoints.

Huzzah for Bob! And here’s some Moby-Dick for your mid-week inspiration:

“Whether to admit Hercules among us or not, concerning this I long remained dubious: for though according to the Greek mythologies, that ancient Crockett and Kit Carson–that brawny doer of rejoicing good deeds, was swallowed down and thrown up by a whale; still, whether that strictly makes a whaleman of him, that might be mooted. It nowhere appears that he ever actually harpooned his fish, unless, indeed, from the inside. Nevertheless, he may be deemed a sort of involuntary whaleman; at any rate the whale caught him, if he did not the whale. I claim him for one of our clan.”

I will also note the passing a few days ago of rock legend Gregg Allman (1947–2017) who had been sober for twenty years and was a Christian. Funnily enough, he ended up an Episcopalian! Into paradise may the angels lead you. At your coming may the martyrs receive you, and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem.

*Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

3 Comments

June 5, 2017

And then we were all in one place

by chuckofish

Didn’t do much this weekend. Stopped by a couple of estate sales, went deeper into the Longmire oeuvre, read the first lesson in the Pentecost service on Sunday (“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come.”), and went to Washington, MO with the OM to eat some lunch by the mighty Missouri River.

I also watched the movie Hacksaw Ridge (2016), directed by Mel Gibson, which tells the true story of Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

(“Doss single-handedly entered enemy line of fire to retrieve approximately 75 casualties, carrying them one-by-one down a 400-foot escarpment. “*)

Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist, who refused to carry a gun on religious grounds, although he served in a fighting unit as a medic, was ostracized at first by fellow soldiers for his pacifist stance. However, he went on to earn their respect and adoration for his bravery, selflessness and compassion after he risked his life — without firing a shot — to save 75 wounded men in the Battle of Okinawa. It is a pretty inspiring story and well told, and a throwback to heroic war stories of the Golden Age of Hollywood. The cast is good with Andrew Garfield excellent as Doss, playing it very straight, and the likable Vince Vaughan channeling John Wayne in the Sgt. Stryker role.

But (and this is a big but) the computer-generated violence is over-the-top. Just because you can now show people having their legs blown off, doesn’t mean you should. The battle sequences are too much and obscene in their detail. It would have been possible to cut 20 minutes out of this movie and still gotten across the horror of the battle (and it was truly horrible, no doubt about it). Whatever happened to restraint and suggestion?

Mel Gibson, as we know, is a single-minded Roman Catholic, who, as we have seen in past movie outings, tends to wallow, literally and figuratively, in the blood of Christ. What was his childhood trauma anyway?

Well, it is a good movie nonetheless and well worth watching for the story of the modern Christian hero Desmond Doss. Nowhere in this movie is anyone invited to laugh at or even smirk at Pvt. Doss and I liked that.

And now it is Monday. I have several hard things to do this week, but none of them is climbing Hacksaw Ridge. Onward and upward.

*Read more here.

2 Comments

May 25, 2017

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”*

by chuckofish

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Yesterday was Bob Dylan’s 76th birthday. I hope you celebrated appropriately.

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’

© 1963, 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991, 1992 by Special Rider Music

Yesterday was also Aldersgate Day which is a commemorative day celebrated by Methodists. It recalls the day in 1738 when Anglican priest John Wesley attended a group meeting in Aldersgate, London, where he received an experience of assurance of his salvation.

This was the pivotal event in Wesley’s life that ultimately led to the development of the Methodist movement in Britain and America. According to his journal, Wesley found that his enthusiastic gospel message had been rejected by his Anglican brothers. Heavy-hearted, he reluctantly attended a group meeting that evening in a Moravian chapel. It was there, while someone was reading from Martin Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, that he felt that his heart was “strangely warmed”.

I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

The following hymn was written by Shirley Murray to commemorate the event on the 250th anniversary in 1988.

How small a spark has lit a living fire!
       how small a flame has warmed a bitter world!
how great a heart was moved to hope, to dare
       and bring the faith out in the open air!

No boundary sign will stand against this faith,
       no wall restrain this preaching of the Word:
the Good News travels on, it rides the road
       and draws to unity the realm of God.

The single note becomes a song of praise,
       the single voice grows to a swelling choir
and born in song, new stories now are sung
       of freedom, chains unbound and loosened tongue.

Thank God for all who listened and believed,
       who still are by the Spirit set on fire --
our hearts be warmed again, for Christ will wait
       on beach, in upper room, or Aldersgate.

The Good News travels on…

*Matthew 20:16

5 Comments

May 12, 2017

Marked as Christ’s own for ever

by chuckofish

It’s been a busy, busy week what with lots of stress at work, our first foray into babysitting the wee babes (just the OM and moi), and daughter #1’s arrival on Wednesday night. Daughter #2 and Nate arrive tonight.

All are arriving for the baptism of the wee babes on Saturday where we will each renew our own baptismal covenant:

Question: Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God? Answer: I renounce them.

Question: Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God? Answer: I renounce them.

Question: Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God? Answer: I renounce them.

Question: Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior? Answer: I do.

Question: Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love? Answer: I do.

Question: Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord? Answer: I do.

(Incidentally, it is Mother’s Day on Sunday–bonus!)

2 Comments

April 27, 2017

Food for thought

by chuckofish

IT IS OUT OF the whirlwind that Job first hears God say “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 42:3). It is out of the absence of God that God makes himself present, and it is not just the whirlwind that stands for his absence, not just the storm and chaos of the world that knock into a cocked hat all man’s attempts to find God in the world, but God is absent also from all Job’s words about God, and from the words of his comforters, because they are words without knowledge that obscure the issue of God by trying to define him as present in ways and places where he is not present, to define him as moral order, as the best answer man can give to the problem of his life. God is not an answer man can give, God says. God himself does not give answers. He gives himself, and into the midst of the whirlwind of his absence gives himself.

–Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth

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P.S. Have you ever noticed that God looks like he is in a big brain in Michelangelo’s depiction of him on the Sistine Chapel (see above)? That green scarf is the vertebral artery. I did not think of this myself, but I have to admit, it really does look like a brain. Discuss among yourselves.

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April 21, 2017

Further on up the road*

by chuckofish

Now I been out in the desert, just doin’ my time
Searchin’ through the dust, lookin’ for a sign
If there’s a light up ahead well brother I don’t know
But I got this fever burnin’ in my soul
So let’s take the good times as they go
And I’ll meet you further on up the road

–Johnny Cash

The other day I went to yet another funeral for an old friend. It was held at the Episcopal church I used to go to–a “Requiem”–rather a high-falutin’ name for a memorial service with music and communion–but it was Rite I and done just right. This man loved his church and he would have approved of the service.

In contrast, a couple of weeks ago I attended the memorial gathering of another dear friend, whose children arranged for a get-together at the Ethical Society, but had no plan further than to say, “If anyone would like to say something about our mother, please feel free to do so.” I had come prepared to say something, so I broke the ice and said my piece, but it was all a pretty sad effort.

Which got me thinking about how important it is to have a real service to fall back on. I mean, even John Wayne on a cattle drive saying, “Get the book and I’ll read over him,” (and I have to admit, this appeals to me) counts as a service.

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In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life
through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty
God our brother N.; and we commit his body to the ground; *
earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless
him and keep him, the Lord make his face to shine upon him
and be gracious unto him, the Lord lift up his countenance
upon him and give him peace. Amen.

Maybe I am acutely aware of the truth of “in the midst of life we are in death” because I work with older adults, or maybe it’s because I’m getting older myself, but for whatever reason, I am reminded regularly that life is precious and one never knows when you will be talking to someone for the last time. So pay attention to the people you love and the people you like. Pay attention.

Have a good weekend!

*Note that it’s further on UP the road, not down. Discuss among yourselves.

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