Faith Venture

You become what you do repeatedly—Ancient Wisdom, modern psychology.

We, the referees, had begun relaxing enforcement of language in adult soccer games. Dropping F-bombs became common. Keeping adult (18-35) males from fighting during matches was always a problem. If I finished an adult male game as referee and could shake hands and just walk to my car (rather than running), I felt as if I’d accomplished 75% of the goal.

Authorities noticed that among other things, this language problem was not good for the families with young children watching the game on an otherwise pleasant Sunday afternoon. So they instructed us to clean up the language.

It helped clean up the game! Duh!

People seemed to automatically know that around me, don’t drop the N-bomb or any similar other ethnic slurs. If only for a short time that made people stop and think, it was an accomplishment.

If we all whether forced or a decision we made cleaned up our language about other peoples, eventually our thinking and attitude will show a change.

NASCAR just made a momentous decision to ban the Confederate flag. The flag partly shows rebelliousness. Especially certain groups of guy take pride in being a rebel. But the flag also stands for forming your own country broken apart from the US in order to keep slaves. Therefore, it lasted as a symbol of racism.

Maybe if all the followers wore US flags instead of Confederate flags some attitudes would begin to change? I don’t know. But I know that if we consciously change what we do, say, proclaim through symbols, then we can change our hearts. It takes time. Months, even years.

It’s a good time to look in the mirror and especially put all of our words up for reflection. Does what we say and write on social media reflect Jesus’ command to love one another? Or is it tinged with bias, hate, anger?

This is a good time to change the way we talk and write. People are people, God’s children, not objects. Let our language reflect that. Make that one of our spiritual disciplines for the summer.

[We interrupt this blog about being connected to acknowledge that 50 years ago Bev saved me from the life of a destitute poet/philosopher by marrying me–and then putting up with me for all those years. Happy Anniversary, Love, Gary]

I receive a little bite of philosophy delivered to my inbox daily–The Daily Stoic. Here is a recent and relevant message:

The Stoics believed that we were all one. Marcus Aurelius referred repeatedly to the hive. He spoke of being part of one large community. Dozens of times he talks of the common good, and how to wrong one is to wrong all, and to do good for one is to do good for all—that to do good for others is to do good for yourself. Seneca spoke of sympatheia, the interconnectedness of all people. He spoke of the need for kindness, for compassion, for understanding.

You might not think that a death in the streets of Georgia or a police killing in Minnesota or immigrant children in cages along America’s southern border has much impact on your safety. You might think that these situations are complicated. You might even question the other side’s political motivations and point to the media’s tendency to inflame things. And that all may be true, but it doesn’t change the facts: This is your problem. It’s everyone’s problem.

Martin Luther King, Jr. perfectly expressed those Stoic concepts of interconnectivity and interdependence when he said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

And I was reminded of the words of Micah in the Hebrew Scriptures, “The LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Which seems to fit with Jesus command (and which St. Augustine instructed us to interpret the New Testament by) to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself.

I’m seeing all manner of inane posts passing around on social media twisting meanings and inflaming emotions. The First Principle of life with-God is love–love one another and love God. Don’t think I saw strife anywhere in that simple command.

A white guy on a video clip I chanced upon angrily lashed out at [people] demanding respect. People should respect me for the position I hold seemed to be his plea.

I have run into this situation before. I remember hearing that from a leader in an organization. My response was that respect is earned. You will become respected in the measure that you earn it. Respect comes from who you are not from your title.

And that person grew and matured and retired respected by the entire community.

It is almost like a physics equation. To the extent that our actions and attitudes toward others are respectful so shall respect from others return to us.

I’m half-way through a book recently recommended—The Ever-Transcending Spirit by Toru Sato. (He is Lebanese, not Japanese, by the way, if it matters.) He teaches psychology at a small college in Pennsylvania. This is a small book, only some 105 pages. It is exquisitely logical and easy to follow, yet it delves deeply into us. He states this:

If we live harmoniously with everyone in the world, we are increasing the number of people who are respectful of each other and are able to live in harmony with each other.

Toru Sato

Thanks to women speaking up more forcefully and many men beginning to listen, many formerly respected men due to their positions lost that respect when who they were was made public. Just so these days with racial attitudes. CEOs and other leaders have been forced from their positions of authority when their racist attitudes have seen the light of day.

I pray often for these many people who are suddenly out in the cold. May they find what my acquaintance of years ago found—maturity and a change of attitude that led to a person worthy of respect.

May we all be respectful and deserve respect in return.

Energy and attitude comprise the basic foundation of our personality. Energy is the basic life force that we can either give or take (from others). Attitude implies orientation. A direction we are about to take.

We can have energy to give, but if we don’t know where to take it then it dissipates into nothing. Our attitude can be that of making things better, or we can hoard energy and do nothing with an attitude pointed inward.

Reading Seth Godin recently, he noted, “Making things better isn’t about what you look like or where you work. Making things better is an attitude. The attitude of possibility and the posture of generosity. And then making the decision to own your learning.”

It’s also not about where you are. Wherever you find yourself, you can be the person who makes things better.

Things may not always look good. But take Seth’s advice, “Don’t ever stop speaking up, don’t stop leading, don’t stop learning. Don’t stop seeking justice. We can’t give up.”

The marches and folk singers and stories of confrontations with white police affected me deeply when I was young. The civil rights movement.

Which was more than a little strange given that I had never even met a black person. My first black friend (and also first Jewish friend and first Jewish person I ever met) came into my life as a university freshman.

But I was optimistic back in those days. Laws were changed. By the way, a conservative Republican Congressman was key to passing civil rights legislation. People remember Lyndon Johnson, but Bill McCulloch (my Congressman at the time, dad was on his campaign committee) was key to getting enough votes to pass. Would that happen today?

Note to the Christians who today think that changing laws brings forth a Christian society—-it doesn’t work. Laws only did so much in Jesus’s day. They only changed so much in the 60s. They only do so much now.

We changed laws 55 years ago. But we changed only a few hearts. Obviously. Just look at the news at all the angry and hate-filled hearts.

On the other hand, it is heartening that hundreds of thousands came out to show support peacefully all over the world.

We start by acknowledging the other person. Person to person. Listening—something that is an exchange of energy.

And teaching—showing that people who are different are not necessarily threatening. They can be your friend, too. When we are not threatened, then we are not full of fear. We accept a diversity of people, cultures, opinions. Indeed, we rejoice in it.

Changed hearts can change systems. And then we’re on our way to a healthier, mature culture.

Freedom is an emotion-laden word. And concept.

Americans today with little sense of history think the concept originated here. That is not true.

As empires formed and swept through the ancient Middle East and Mediterranean world, conquered tribes yearned for freedom from being servants of the new rulers.

After Jesus’ resurrection and the formation of the church, new followers felt that freedom—still under Roman rule, but also now a citizen of God’s kingdom.

But what did freedom mean? Did it mean that the people could do as they pleased? Follow every desire and whim? Living without caring about others but only to satisfy the temporary pleasures of the flesh? Ability to rip off the face masks of oppression and infect others with a potentially deadly virus? Free to riot in a time of unrest so that blame could be placed on other, peaceful protesters? Oops, those last two aren’t from ancient times. But they fit.

The apostle Paul wrote a letter to one of his little groups of Jesus-followers trying to explain what is hard to explain. What is freedom.

Freedom is not a list. It is not “Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign”.

When you live in the spirit, you are free. Yet, you will also find yourself following the laws of moral living—loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; and loving your neighbor as yourself.

Sometimes I pause and contemplate the yearning for freedom of peoples throughout the world and think how petty some of the things are that we call freedom.

The founders of the American government knew that with freedom comes responsibility. If the two do not walk hand in hand, then true freedom is lost.

If you had told my 20-year-old self that I would write this, he would have denied its possibility. Being typically adolescent male in college in the late 60s, I saw the topic of morals from a certain point of view.

That is: “Morals” were preached at others by stiff, uptight, self-righteous, judgmental (and often hypocritical) old people.

Somewhere along the way I learned that morals were at their foundation a reflection of the Golden Rule. Every major religion has a version of the same “rule” of life. If you incorporate this into the fabric of your life, you have moved a long way toward a moral life.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Jesus left very few commandments for his followers, although they encompass everything about how to live your life:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

During my 20-30 minutes daily with news and 10-20 minutes with Facebook (Twitter for me is mostly business and I don’t do the others), I am overwhelmed by the sense of a total lack of morals on the part of so many. Even those who might call themselves moral—wake up, you are not practicing the foundation of all morals.

Many have re-written the Golden Rule on their hearts as “Do unto others before they do unto you.” That reflects an entirely different gospel.

God bless all those out there trying to show the love to others. Be safe.

Jesus knew that when you become a popular leader some will try to latch on to your name and cause for their own purposes. “Not everyone who calls me Lord,” he said, “will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who obey.”

Being a Jesus-follower is a discipline, a practice. It is something you do every day.

Do you follow someone by what they say. Do you watch and see if their actions match their words? Perhaps you follow a professional sports team. The owners talk constantly about building a winning team, yet once again the team is hopelessly mired in the second division.

How gullible are you?

True Believers are often the most gullible people on the planet.

Today’s culture spreading from 1920s Hollywood to the country and then to the world worships media stars. Often those who grab the headlines are not the best role models.

Those who do the hard work of being a disciple of Jesus seldom are recognized publicly. Maybe later, people will say, “There was a true follower.”

Don’t be gullible. Don’t be shallow. Do the work of peace, justice, service, reconciliation. Don’t just call out the name of the Lord, but do his will.

“You must absolutely stand in the other person’s shoes.” Former (and first woman) US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speaking on Tim Ferriss’s podcast responded thus to a question about being a woman diplomat in those days (1990s) and conducting high-level diplomacy.

There are many failures of political, religious, and moral leadership behind both this outbreak of the release of pent-up anger sweeping the country. This could also go to the heart of the poor (in some areas) response to the health crisis affecting the entire globe also today.

This reminds me of Jon Swanson’s current theme at 300 Words a Day—So I think that for me, the prayer of confession becomes this: “We your people have sinned, and my particular family / denomination / thread of theology has sinned and I have sinned.”

That is a little of what I tried to express yesterday. Yes, I understand that white policemen fear black men. I’ve never been in their shoes, but I can feel how threatened they must feel every time they put on the uniform. They have become targets. It doesn’t happen often, but way too much, that people pull out weapons and fire at them.

However, the US has had state-sanctioned violence against black men ever since the end of Reconstruction. It’s less overt today, but still raises its ugly head. A black man can’t even go jogging through the neighborhood without fear of confrontation and death—just for being black.

When you have two groups with a line drawn in the middle and no effort to reach out, there will be problems.

I admire the white people who try to become a human barrier between the sides at protests. And the police (see they are not all bad) who were marching with the protesters. And the police chief who told the president to shut up if he couldn’t be a solution instead of a problem.

I live far away from any of the demonstrations. But like Jon, I can pray for forgiveness and work where I am for peace and justice. For without justice, there will never be peace.

Justice will begin when we can stand in each other’s shoes and see the world from a new perspective.

Ancient wisdom teaches us to recognize our hurtful emotions—those that keep us from God—and then to overcome them.

Repressing emotions lead them to manifest in many ways not healthful to the body, the soul, the community.

Anger has many fathers. Often it is born of fear.

When there are two groups of people and each fear the other. And when each repress the fear and anger, the body and soul are injured.

And when something happens to unleash the anger, no one can predict the course of the river of violence. And the hurt and pain and suffering.

The time to deal with the problem is before the eruption. Before the spouse erupts and causes harm to the other; the parent to the child; the mobs to the community.

There has been no effective political leadership for 50 years. The Christian church has had zero effect.

Somewhere there must be an “intervention” to help people deal with and overcome fear leading to anger leading to violence only to settle back into uneasy repressed emotions waiting for yet another spark to set off another explosion.

I guess that means starting with me…and each of you individually.

“Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow,” sang Pete Seeger.