I Wonder!

And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.   But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2: 18-19.

 I have long been interested in terms like these: to ponder, contemplate, reflect, wonder  and meditate.   These are often used inter-changeably. 

to ponder is to weigh in the mind or reflect with thoroughness and care; 

 to wonder as a verb is to have interest in knowing or learning something : to think about something with curiosity;  and as a noun - The emotion aroused by something awe-inspiring, astounding, or marvelous.

I have noticed in myself and in listening to others in conversation that we use the term "I wonder" a lot;  - "I wonder why they do it that way.... I wonder why I have this good fortune (or tragedy) and not someone else, or now on the anniversary of the shooting in Sandy Hook,  many are wondering why that tragedy happened (what motivated the shooter of over 20 children in Newtown; and another, and another, and another such shootings since) . ..  

In the face of calamity I have heard people say, "I can't believe in a God who would allow such a thing to happen"; while others have another reaction; perhaps one of pondering deeply -  "Oh God, I don't understand and I cry to you for understanding and comfort".  

I think one of the greatest human capacities we have is to be able to reflect on experience, learn from it and apply it to future behaviors.  We can think about questions like "why?" even when we know we can only get a glimpse of an answer.  We have the capacity to wonder at the things we have seen and heard. 

Yesterday I skied on the mountains outside Bozeman, Montana.  As I took in the spectacular beauty of nature I experienced the wonder of creation. I didn't need to think a lot about it - I just took it in and accepted it as grace-given.  The exhilaration of just being there was "wonder-full" and awe-inspiring!    

On the other hand, I have been reading a book about innocent civilians, mostly children, who have suffered terribly because of the war in Iraq, and another about human trafficking  and the selling of children in Nepal for prostitution in India.  Stories of sin, suffering and human  degradation.  I wonder - "how can humans treat other humans like this?"  

Mary had much to ponder and take in at the beginning of her son's life - I can only imagine it was akin to what we feel when we are completely fulfilled and happy, such as the mountain top experience I had yesterday.  Or, as parents experiencing the birth of a baby.   But she also experienced being with her son at the other end of life.  As she anguished that loss she certainly would have pondered the meaning of it.  

And so we do that again at this time of year.  

Even though we have heard this story so many times before, we  are like those who heard it the first time and wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 

I wonder, what are your thoughts and reflections this time of the year?

What Time is it? An Advent Reflection

One of the main themes we hear during Advent is about the coming of Jesus "in the fullness of time".

Last Sunday the Bishop preached at our church.  One of the things he talked about was the two types of time - chronos, and kairos.  Kairos is a Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment .  Chronos refers to  sequential time. 

Kairos intrigues me.  It is harder to grasp than the notion of chronological time -which is measurable and quantitative. After all I know how to tell time and I am often checking my watch and thinking ahead.  Many people are doing that now - busy preparing for Christmas - afraid of "running out of time". 

 Kairos is qualitative - it signifies a time between, a moment  when things seem to come together - the right or appropriate time to say or do the right or appropriate thing.   Looking back over many years of life there were a number of chronos times when Judy and I experienced kairos moments.  We literally were challenged by critical events that provided opportunities that required decisions that dramatically changed our direction.  

I think of the devastating earthquake that struck Managua just before Christmas in 1972 and the opportunity and call to go immediately to Nicaragua to respond to that humanitarian emergency - the right one to be in the right place at the right time.  It changed our lives from that moment on.  One example of many in our lives where decisive action was needed. 

But there were and continue to be many times when  a quieter and more deliberate contemplation of the here and now are called for.  I like this quote from Bonhoeffer:

God will often require quick action, but God also requires stillness and reflection.

 

This is what Advent provides - a time of expectant and patient waiting juxtaposed with the pull and pressure to be doing something with and for others.  It is meant to be a quieter time than it has become in our modern culture - that is a given.  So, at the least,  let us use our time well and watch for God's purposes during this season.

Henri Nouwen, the Catholic priest who wrote many books on the spiritual life, wrote:

The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our imagination, fantasy, or prediction.

A Quiet Time in Yellowstone Park

Memories of Vietnam

I am on a email list of many former colleagues who worked for the same program we were with over 40 years ago in Vietnam. - Vietnam Christian Service, plus several other programs that were there to try to bind up some of the wounds of war - albeit inadequately.   There are many I don't know personally because we were there at different times.  However, we all feel a sense of connectedness because of the experience of working with the Vietnamese who were caught up in that terrible war.  By some estimates almost 2 million Vietnamese died in the war... Many of us witnessed the anguish brought upon the Vietnamese by that unjust war perpetrated by the US> 

One of the most famous Vietnamese song writers and singers of that time, Trinh Cong Son, made lasting impact on many in Vietnam for the depth of his words and music that described what the Vietnamese population was going through. He was sort of the Vietnamese equivalent of the protest singers in America in the 60s. Rich Fuller, an American who still lives in Vietnam, keeps these songs and their meaning alive via concerts and publicizing them.  We recently go this from him:

"Here is a YouTube link to one of Trinh Cong Son's songs about the effects of the war on the people, "Lullaby of the Artillery" (Dai Bac Ru Dem) in English with captions.

I can't recall who gave it to me, but I found it by accident and it is the best recording I have seen of it despite having performed it dozens of times in different countries, including Viet Nam."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERq9xwrXNPU

If you want to see more videos by and about Rich Fuller,including his singing here is a another site:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCygdVfu7zs84xLi2PSq-aNw


Many former colleagues sent responses to Rich, including this one:

Thank you for this, Rich!

I was with Chris Wain last June. He shot the movie of the “napalm girl” featured in your piece. On Monday I had lunch in Vancouver with the Kim Phuc - yes. the napalm girl.

Tonight I watched a new BBC special on the Tet Offensive by Peter Snow - so it is all back!
 

.  

Memories as All Saints Day approaches

In late October, approaching All Saints day, my thoughts and memories always turn to the saints who have passed on.  Both my parents died at this time of the year.

I actually have wonderful memories of the months during which we accompanied my dad as he moved toward his death and passed away just before All Saints day in 1992.  And one of the most memorable worship services I ever attended was in my home church on All Saints Sunday in1976– the week after my mother died. I understood then more clearly than ever what it means to be amongst the saints who have gone ahead and the saints with whom we still abide. As worship services finished that day we all marched out of our rural church into the surrounding cemetery singing When All the Saints go Marchin' in accompanied by a dixieland jazz band. My mother's funeral had been just a few days earlier when she had joined dozens of my ancestors buried in that graveyard - saints who have gone on ahead of those of us still living on this side of death.

It is for this reason that the time around All Saints (called Dia de los Muertos in Latin America), is one of the most meaningful times of the church year for me.  And now, as we proceed on to the last Sundays of the liturgical year the appointed texts are steeped in scripture themes about last times and resurrection.  It is a good time to ponder and reflect on such questions.  The reason I am thinking about this is that I have to prepare two sermons to preach in two different churches in the coming weeks.  This is a challenge for a lay person who is not used to sermon preparation.

My brother-in-law, Bill, a really good Lutheran preacher – died after a long struggle with cancer in 2004.  I remember the phone call from my sister when she told us that Bill had just gone in for another chemo treatment and the doctor told him: “Bill, you should go home and make your final preparations and arrangements’.  And I think Bill did just that though he had been doing his inner work of preparation during all those months leading up to his passing.  

Bill’s funeral in a large Lutheran church in Madison, with a procession of  some 60 robed pastors, led by the Bishop and hundreds of voices raised in songs of praise, then recessing to the sounds of a massive pipe organ playing  Bach’s Toccata and fugue in D minor -  was enough to lift the hairs on the back of my neck and make my spirits soar toward heaven.

A few weeks later – at a calmer moment – my sister asked me: “So, Jerry, where is Bill now?”   I remember her question much better than my answer – a question for which I didn’t have an adequate response.  For even though I have repeated the creed thousands of times in worship services – “I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting” – I still have difficulty in grasping and visualizing, and understanding its meaning. 

The  Gospel text from LUKE 20:27-38 where some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question, helps bring some clarity - That is one of the sermons I am working on.

Bill often used stories in his preaching.  So I want to tell a story that I think Bill would have liked to explore this text a bit further.        

    

There is An Italian legend about a master and servant. 

It seems the servant was not very smart and the master used to get very exasperated with him.  Finally, one day, in a fit of temper, the master said: "You really are the stupidest man I know.  Here, I want you to carry this staff wherever you go.

And if you ever meet a person stupider than yourself, give them this staff." 

So time went by, and often in the marketplace the servant would encounter some pretty stupid people, but he never found someone appropriate for the staff.  Years later, he returned to his master's home.  He was shown into his master's bedroom, for the man was quite sick and in bed.  In the course of their conversation the master said: "I'm going on a journey soon." 

     "When will you return?" asked the servant.

          

     "This is a journey from which I will not return." the master

     replied,

     The servant asked: "Have you made all the necessary arrangements?" 

     "No, I guess I have not." 

     "Well, could you have made all the arrangements?" 

    

     "Oh yes, I guess I've had time.  I've had all my life.  But I've

     been busy with many things." 

     The servant said: "Let me be sure about this.  You're going on

     a journey, from which you will never return, and you've had all

     your life to make the arrangements, but you haven't."

             

     The master said: "Yes, I guess that's right." 

     The servant replied: "Master, take this staff.  For at last I

     have truly found a man stupider than myself."

I won't be posting the whole sermon as that is too long for a blog post. But you get some of the point, I hope, and any input on the theme is always welcomed. Peace.