Category Archives: General writings

Will We Have a Future?

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This will appear in the June issue of the Fishkill UMC newsletter.

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What is your vision for the future?  Do you fear the future or look forward to what it may bring?

My great-great-grandfather John August Schuessler and his twin brother, Nicholas, came to America from Germany in 1840.  I do not have any information about why they came to America or why they moved from New Orleans, their point of entry, up the Mississippi River to St. Louis.  One can assume that they sought to escape the turmoil and war that dominated Europe at that time and seek freedom and a better life in America.

It is a story that most Americans understand.  Many, if not most, Americans have roots in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, or South America.  They all came to America because they wanted to escape the troubles of their homeland and seek the freedom and opportunities that America has always offered.

Some 13,000 years before John and Nicholas came to America, another of my ancestors (we have members of the Creek Nation in our heritage) stood with his family and friends on the west end of the land bridge connecting Asia to North America.  All they saw was a wall of ice with an opening that suggested a pathway beyond the ice.  They knew nothing about what lay beyond that imposing wall of ice and it was probably simple curiosity that drove them to see what might be at the end of the corridor.

And while we know that many individuals made the passage across the land bridge before the ice melted and the land bridge disappeared under the waters of the Bering Strait, just as many or perhaps even more turned away, preferring the life they were living over a life in an unknown country.

Today we stand on the edge of an unknown country called the future.  It is a land clouded in the mists of uncertainty and the unknown.  We cannot see what might lie on the other side.

There are some today who feel that the future will bring Armageddon and the destruction of the world.  They do not fear the future because they have “been saved” and will be lifted to Heaven before the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (conquest, war, famine, and death) reek havoc upon those who are left behind.

But conquest, war, famine, and death are part of the human condition, and we have the capability to prevent them.  (We may not be able to prevent death, but we can work to improve the health of people, and we can seek research to find the cures for many diseases.)

To say otherwise is to say that you have no desire for the future and are, perhaps, only interested in your self-preservation.

There are those today who fear the future because the future brings change.  They have no vision for the future, and as the writer of Proverbs wrote, “those without vision will perish.”  The Message offers “if the people cannot see what God is doing, they stumble over themselves.” (1)

Heraclitus wrote, “No man ever steps into the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he is not the same man.”  Those who fear the change the future brings feel they can stop the flow of the river.  But when you build a dam to stop the flow of the river, you must spend all your time and resources keeping the dam intact so that it will not break and flood the present, destroying all one tried to save. 

Our journey into the future requires that we have a set of skills that allow us to adapt to the changes that come with the future and faith that will carry us through.  My great-great-grandfather came to America with a set of skills that would allow him to create a new life in America and a strong faith in God (as evident by the number of Lutheran ministers among his descendants).

In 1962, Robert Kennedy said,

The future is not a gift: it is an achievement. Every generation helps make its own future. This is the essential challenge of the present. (2)

Albert Einstein once remarked,

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.  It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” (3)

We cannot create a vision for the future when people try to take away the tools that will allow us to feed the people, find cures for the diseases that threaten the health of the people of the world(all the people and not just a select few), and remove the causes that allow people to seek conquest and war as the solution to the problems of society.

We cannot create a vision for the future when we, our children, and future generations, do not have the ability to develop the skills that will allow us to solve the problems that will come tomorrow (we can solve today’s problems but even those skills are stripped away).

We cannot create a vision for the future when secular and sectarian fundamentalists demand a society based on a single thought and obedience to those who have that one “true thought”.  The vision for the future will come when there are many thoughts working together.

During his visit to South Africa in 1966, Senator Kennedy said,

The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment [- – -]

Our future may lie beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. It is [ . . .] neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our own hands, matched to reason and principle, that will determine our destiny. There is pride in that, even arrogance, but there is also experience and truth. In any event, it is the only way we can live. (4)

Today we stand on the edge of an unknown country called the future. 

To borrow a thought from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, the future will either be the best of times or the worst of times.

The future will either be an age of wisdom or an age of foolishness.

The future will either be the epoch of belief or the epoch of incredulity.

It can be the season of light, or it will be a season of darkness.

It will either be the spring of hope or the winter of despair.

Everything lies before us but only if we step into the mists of uncertainty and the unknown.  To take those steps, we must develop the skills and abilities that will provide us with the abilities to solve the problems we encounter.

To take those steps, we must strengthen our faith so that we have the strength to move forward.

To take these steps, we must be a community of all people and not just a select few.

Notes

The Commencement Address I Might Give

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Were I invited to give a commencement address this year, this is what I might say.

I graduated from Nicholas Blackwell High School in 1968.  Historians tell us that 1968 was a year that changed America.  But, as we were in the midst of that year, we did not know that and while certain events had occurred, we had no idea of what was to come.

1968 began with what has become known as the Tet Offensive.  We had been at war in Viet Nam since 1961 (though our involvement probably began as early as 1953).  The Tet Offensive was a coordinated attack by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces against population centers in South Viet Nam.

Up until January 1968, the people of the United States had been told that we were winning the war and perhaps with a few more men we could bring it to a successful completion.

This attack caught our military forces completely off guard and, while it was tactical defeat for the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, it destroyed the image that we were winning this war.  After the Tet Offensive, public opinion began to shift from support for the war to a desire to end the war.

On March 31, 1968, President Johnson spoke to the American people and outlined a plan for a cease fire and the beginning of peace negotiations with the North Vietnamese.  He concluded his speech by announcing that he would not run for reelection as President.

President Johnson was elected in 1964 with one of the biggest election victories in the history of our country.  And with the mandate given to him by the people and with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, he set out to establish what he called “The Great Society”.

But as the cost of the war increased, both in terms of personnel and finances, his support evaporated, and he felt that he could not run for reelection.

Four days later, on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis.  While his death reverberated across the nation, it was perhaps the loudest in Memphis, my hometown (Where Were You On April 4, 1968?).

This is what we knew as we walked across the stage on graduation night.  Still, as we walked across the stage that night and saw a world in disarray, we also saw a world of promise and opportunity.

But it was a view that was tempered by what we knew and the uncertainty that is always a mark of the future.

We knew that there would be an election in November, but we could not vote and express our thoughts on the direction America should take (the law that lowered the voting age to 18 did go into effect until 1972).

For the young men who walked and were 18 or about to become 18, the walk also meant that we were now faced with the draft and probable deployment to Viet Nam.

As we walked across the stage that night in Memphis, we did not know that Senator Robert Kennedy would be assassinated a few weeks later. 

We did not know that the Democratic National Convention would be marred by riots in the streets of Chicago and the Democratic Party would be almost destroyed by the riots and differences over the war.

We did not know that Richard Nixon would become the Republican candidate for President or that he would win a narrow victory over Hubert Humphrey in November.  We did not know that he would go on to reelection in 1972 with the greatest electoral victory in the history of the country or that his desire for an “imperial Presidency” would lead to the Watergate affair and his resignation in 1974.

And with all the trouble and turmoil, both what we knew and what we didn’t know, 1968 ended on an optimistic note when Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders would crew the Apollo 8 spacecraft to the moon and return to earth.  It was the first mission to leave the boundaries of earth’s gravity and marked a four-year period where we explored the moon.

Sadly, just as the Viet Nam war took away many young men and demanded more and more of America’s resources, it would take away our exploration of space.  Our exploration of the moon ended in 1972, and we have not been back since. 

We, as graduates in 1968, were beneficiaries of the science and math explosion that began in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I.  The end of the Apollo program also marked the end of funding for science and math education.

I know that you didn’t expect a history lesson as part of the commencement address, but I wanted you all to have a framework for what lies before you as you shortly walk across this stage.

As you walk across the stage tonight, we are a nation technically at peace.  We have no combat operations taking place, but it is not a peaceful world.  It seems as if war has become the norm and we are the arms supplier to many nations.  I know that many will disagree with me, but we have allowed some of our allies to commit what would have been called war crimes in previous conflicts.  We have allowed innocent people whose only fault was to be in a war zone to be called terrorists to justify the actions of our allies.

We support dictators and tyrants because it serves our interests (or at least the interests of some politicians).  We, or some politicians, are quite willing to repeat the appeasement of Munich in 1938 that destroyed the nation of Czechoslovakia and laid the foundation for World War II simply because they and their minions place their own personal interests before the values of this country.

We say that we are the land of opportunity but call those who seek that opportunity criminals and terrorists.  While Richard Nixon may have secretly subverted the Constitution, we have watched politicians openly subvert the Constitution and other politicians turn a blind eye to the crimes being committed by officials of this country.

We no longer have a viable space program, relying on other countries to send our astronauts into space while turning our space program into a billionaire’s playground.  Just as the rich and powerful exploited the natural resources of this country, I do not doubt that today’s rich and powerful are seeking to find some way to exploit the resources of the moon, Mars, and the asteroids.

One outcome of the diminishing support for science and mathematics education in the 70s was that we now see a growth in disinformation and the apparent lack of discerning what is good and what is bad.  We are seeing the rise in AI technology which, while it seems to have some good, is also capable of generating more disinformation (1).

The dissent that marked 1968 and the years before did not just appear “out of the blue.”  It was, to the dismay of many, the product of an educational system that challenged students to find the answers for themselves. 

Today, many authorities seek to change that system, because they do not want to be challenged in what they do, and they do not want to explain why they feel that only certain individuals are worthy, and all others are not.  Theirs is a system, rigid and unbeing, with allegiance not to the ideas on which this country was founded but allegiance to an individual and his or her supporters.

This is not a pretty picture.  But there is one shining ray of light.  While we who graduated in 1968 could speak out (and many did), we had to rely on others to make the changes that needed to be made, for we did not have the vote.

You, the graduates of 2025, have the vote and that gives you a degree of power that we, the graduates of 1968, did not have.  We have seen in the past few years the results achieved when the youth of the world spoke out.

I challenge you today to speak out against the injustices that you see.  I challenge you today to speak out against the crimes being committed against people whose only crime is that they may have the wrong skin color or the wrong sexual orientation or the lack of money in their back account.

This may be the end of one part of your life, but it is also the beginning of a new chapter.

How you move out into the world that lies beyond this stage, how you respond to the needs of the neighbors, your friends, your family, and the people with whom you share this planet will determine how 2025 will be viewed by historians.

Through your works, your words, your thoughts, and your deeds, 2025 will be known as the year that changed the world.

Notes

A Call to Arms; or, to pen, or voice, or . . .

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The following is from my brother.  Consider what he writes and what he asks us to do.

To all:

America is being tested as it has never been tested since the civil war. We have elected a president, a convicted felon, serial liar, and fraudster, who has openly vowed to destroy our constitution and is in the process of destroying our government:

  • His trillionaire buddy is running wild through our government departments like a spoiled rich kid and now has access to our nation’s most sensitive financial systems.
  • He deliberately appoints unqualified – even dangerously so – people to critical posts who are beholden only to him, not to us.
  • He floats outrageous ideas – Gaza, Greenland, Gulf, and more – to distract us from the carnage he is inflicting on our government, daily, by shuttering entire departments, threatening recriminations, and trying to bully people into quitting.
  • He ordered the release of all the water from two reservoirs in northern California, saying it would be useful in fighting the fires further south when in reality all that water, stored for use in summer irrigation, has been wasted. Thus we see an example of how he intends to punish specific states.
  • He has removed the security details assigned to former officials who he deems disloyal, a chilling act in and of itself.
  • He is trying to purge the DoJ and the FBI and fill each with loyal minions.
  • His people are already talking openly about how to manipulate (or simply ignore) the Constitution, trying to lay the groundwork for his becoming a “president for life.”  If that happens, America would be no different than Oligarchic Russia.  Which seems to be the plan.

This is not insanity; it is a very cold, calculated attempt to destroy our system of government. It is up to us to stop him. All of us. This is not a political issue; it is an American issue. We have to come together as Americans and stop this Man Who Would Be King before the damage he does becomes irrevocable. So what can we do?

  • Listen to people like Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Adam Schiff (all have YouTube channels with excellent content); they speak the truth and have workable ideas.
  • Specifically, Bernie recommends contacting your Senator – especially if he or she is a republican – and making your voice heard, politely but firmly. He says they do react and respond to letters and phone calls.
  • I heard that the Senate switchboard ((202) 224-3121)) is flooded and their voice mail is full. Information for contacting US Senators by mail can be found at the Senate website. This is a good way to contact Senators in other states. (I’m not including links in this message because they often get stripped out by various levels of email security.)
  • Watch a YouTube video by Ezra Klein called “Don’t Believe Him.” Klein is a columnist with the New York Times and is one of the most intelligent people in journalism today. His take on all of this is as cogent – and urgent – as any I’ve found.
  • Join an organization. I belong to a union, also to Common Cause, and will be joining the ACLU, whose sworn purpose is to protect and defend the Constitution of this country. Consider People for The American Way, founded by Norman Lear. Find a group whose work you can get behind, give a little money if you can. In unity there is strength.

We are not alone. There is a rapidly growing resistance to trumpism. Just do an internet search.

I believe that republican Senators hold one of the keys here. It will only take a few to stand up and others will follow. Accordingly, I intend to write to every Republican Senator, starting with John Thune (Majority Leader), asking them to stand up to Trump and stand up for America. As in, now. No, they won’t listen to me, as a single person, but the more letters they get, the more they will begin to understand how Americans really feel. When it reaches a critical mass, when they believe that Trump is no longer winning public opinion, they will find their spines again.

It Can’t Happen Here is a 1935 dystopian political novel by Sinclair Lewis. Set in a fictionalized version of the 1930s United States, it follows an American politician who quickly rises to power to become the country’s first outright dictator (in allusion to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Nazi Germany). It isn’t the best book Lewis wrote, but it is eerily prescient. Specifically, every move the trumpians make is right out of the Nazi playbook, up to and including The Big Lie. The reality is right in front of us, and if we don’t act America is going to be destroyed.

Reach out to your Republican neighbors and friends and open a dialog . No recrimination, no name calling, but honest questions and honest answers; did they really think this is what they were voting for? If they are hard-core magattes, move on. Contact your republican politicians at every level and let them know in no uncertain terms it is their responsibility to stand up to this encroaching fascism in this country, and that they will be held accountable if they don’t. This isn’t about Democrats or Republicans. This is about America. If we don’t come together and fix it we’re not going to have a country left.

Do you write? Then write an editorial for your local paper (if you still have one), or the paper in your state capital, an epub, find an outlet. Do you sing? May be time to channel a little inner Woodie Guthrie. Paint? Draw? Act? Compose? Preach? Choose a medium and send a message. When we raise our voices as one, we will be heard. Read “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”, or anything by MLK for more ideas and inspiration. Reach out to everyone you know and ask them to do the same.

I don’t know the final answer, but I do know this: we are Americans, and we figure out how to do stuff. So, let’s get with it. They aren’t wasting time; neither can we.

I’m interested in any thoughts you may have about this. Please forward as you see fit. Meanwhile, I’ve got a letter to John Thune to write.

Terry Mitchell

“Let Us Sing”

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The following will be in the May 2023 issue of the Fishkill UMC Newsletter

Why do we sing?  Do we sing because we are happy (“His Eye Is on The Sparrow”, The Faith We Sing 2146)?

Do we sing because we want to make a joyful noise unto the Lord?

Perhaps we sing to express our feelings, our thoughts, and/or our emotions?

Or do we sing because what we sing rings in our soul?

To borrow a phrase from Genesis, there are as many reasons to sing as there are stars in the sky.

Each of us can identify songs and hymns, both traditional and not so traditional, that touch our hearts and move our souls, much as the early Psalms did.  These are the songs and music from the heart that bring us closer to God.

We find our connection with God in many ways. Some will find it through the spoken word, others through the written word and sometimes it comes from music that speaks to our heart. (“Music from the Heart” – https://heartontheleft.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/music-from-the-heart/)

When I first heard the group Jefferson Airplane sing “Good Shepherd”, I marveled at the words of the song and how they seemed to echo words from the Gospel of John (John 21: 1 – 19).  In looking at the history of the piece, I discovered that the rock and roll piece that I heard evolved from a mid-20th century blues-based folk song.  And that folk song had evolved from a 19th century Gospel hymn with roots in an early 1800s hymn written by John Adam Grande, a Methodist preacher from Tennessee.

Jorma Kaukonen, the guitarist for Jefferson Airplane, who wrote the modern arrangement said that it was music like this that opened the doorway to the Scriptures for him.  As he noted, he found that he loved the Bible without knowing it (see “To Feed The Spirit As Well As The Body” – https://heartontheleft.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/to-feed-the-spirit-as-well-as-the-body/).

Mickey Hart, the drummer for the Grateful Dead said,

“To fall in love is to fall in rhythm.” It is love for each other by which we know we are followers of Jesus, the ever-attentive shepherd. In the face of societal rules and attitudes that strive to foster “everyone for themselves,” they will know we are Christians by our love. How can we listen to the music that draws us together, “falling in rhythm” with neighbor to build up the whole?

(see “The Music We Hear“ – https://heartontheleft.wordpress.com/2018/04/21/the-music-we-hear/)

Ann will tell you that it was Elvis’ Gospel music that provided her with an understanding of and a deep love for those who suffered. And it was hymns such as “Lift High the Cross” that helped affirm her belief in God and Jesus as her Savior. She will also tell you that another song, recorded by several groups and individuals, “He’s Not Heavy, He’s My Brother” had a profound impact on her and her relationship with others and God.

And just recently, as I listened to “I Still Haven’t Found What I Am Looking For” by U2 (https://youtu.be/e3-5YC_oHjE), I again heard ties to God reaching out to us.

But what do we sing?  I am not talking about hymns or carols or folk songs or spirituals but the words that we sing. Do the words we sing have meaning?

To know if the words have meaning, we must listen carefully.  I remember the first time I heard “Are You Ready?” (https://youtu.be/gzOeAXrgYBI) by the Pacific Gas & Electric rock group.  It was one of the first pieces of music that could be called “Jesus Rock.”  It contained a very subtle Christian message, but I don’t think that many people understood the message contained within the verses of the song (I certainly didn’t back then).  I liked it because it was, for me, a good song with a good beat.  But over the course of my lay speaking, I saw connections between this song and passages in the New Testament, such as Mark 13: 1 – 8 (adapted from “Are You Ready?” – https://heartontheleft.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/are-you-ready-2/).

And sometimes we may be ready to hear the words, but the sounds of society drown them out. 

Some forty years ago there was a song that showed us how the message of society can easily drown out the message of peace first expressed on Christmas Day two thousand years ago. It was a version of “Silent Night” sung by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel and entitled “7 O’clock News/Silent Night” – https://youtu.be/E8d5C8kPlJA. 

As they sang the traditional Christmas hymn, an announcer read the evening news. There is an interesting contrast between the beauty and serenity of the song and the darkness and fear that were then and are now the components of a typical news broadcast. The problem was that you had to focus on either the news broadcast or the singing; you could not hear both and it was entirely possible that the news broadcast with its litany of violence, death, and destruction drowned out the message first sung some 190 years ago.  (The Message Is Clear | Thoughts From The Heart On The Left (wordpress.com) – https://heartontheleft.wordpress.com/2007/01/21/the-message-is-clear/)

Bob Herren, a blogging friend of mine, noted that we often only listen to the first verse of Christmas carols such as “What Child Is This?” and thus miss the story included in the other verses. 

It is often the second or third verses of Christmas carols which get to the meat of things. The second verse of Dix’s famous carol gives us nails and spears piercing him through and the cross being borne for me and you. “O Come, All Ye Faithful” gets down to some serious Christology in the second verse as well. The first one is a rather general appeal to go to Bethlehem for a little sightseeing. O Little Town of Bethlehem waits until verse three to get into the forgiveness of sins.

(Wednesday of Christmas – Psalm 2 – A Grace-Filled Life (wordpress.com) – https://bobherring2009.wordpress.com/2022/12/28/wednesday-of-christmas-psalm-2/)

As I was preparing to sing “Wade in the Water” last December, I discovered that many of the spirituals that we sing not only refer to the Bible but contain a second message, a message of freedom.

While the message of “Wade in the Water” centers on baptism, it has been suggested that those, such as Harriet Tubman, guiding escaped slaves to their freedom would sing this song to tell the people to get off the trail and into the water to prevent the dogs tracking them from finding them.

Similarly, the spiritual that I sang in January, “Down to the River” evolved from an earlier spiritual, “Down to the Valley”.  This song seems to have roots in both African American spirituals and Appalachian folk songs.  The valley represented a safe place to pray but was transformed into the river to represent a passage to freedom.  Those seeking their freedom should head “Down to the river”; the “Starry Crown” was a reference to the stars that would guide them; and “Good Lord, show me the way” was a prayer for guidance and deliverance.  As Glen Money wrote, when he sings it, he hears who did more than sing and hear but experienced the presence of God. (Down to the River to Pray | The Prompter (fbcstpete.org) – https://fbcstpete.org/moneytalks/2020/01/31/down-to-the-river-to-pray/ )

It is also interesting to note that the role the Bible plays in spirituals and folk songs.  Spirituals serve as a source of education, passed on by oral tradition.  Prohibited from learning to read and write, slaves passed on life lessons through the spirituals and songs they sang.  And in learning the stories of the Bible, individuals learned about freedom.

So, we sing songs that move our souls and open the door to finding God.  We sing to tell the stories of the Bible and stories that lead to freedom, both here on Earth and within the Kingdom of God.

So, let us sing.

The Places We Have Gone/The Places We’ll Go – Thoughts for Thanksgiving, 2020

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Over the course of my seventy years, I have lived in 12 states and one other country; I have celebrated Thanksgiving in 11 of those states and the other country, The Philippines.

I lived in the Philippines when I was two and really don’t know if my mother made a Thanksgiving Dinner or whether we celebrated Thanksgiving at the Officers’ Club at Clark Air Force Base.  Until I graduated from college in 1971, I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family wherever my father was stationed or working.  We might have celebrated Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house in St. Louis when we lived in Illinois since it was close by.

Many of those whom I grew up with or went to school at that time were like myself, the sons and daughters of Air Force officers, so the places where they celebrated Thanksgiving were as wide and varied as the places where my family celebrated.  Of course, some of the guys I went to high school probably spent at least one Thanksgiving in Vietnam or other far away places.  But because Thanksgiving is one of those special days, I would think that their Thanksgiving meal was a little bit different from the regular fare served.

Like years’ past, there are many spending Thanksgiving in a place far from home.  But this year’s Thanksgiving is, as we are aware, just a bit different.  Because of the pandemic, we are also separated from our family and friends.  And even with the technology that gives us Facetime, Skype, Zoom, and other communication tools, there still is a space between our loved ones and us.

But as we gather together virtually, we do so giving thanks that next year’s Thanksgiving will be as different from this year as this year was so much different from last year.

Still, there is a gap or a void that even the best of technology can bridge.  The  pandemic and the political environment have exposed and opened serious rifts in the fabric of society.  And even if the turkey tryptophan effect could lull us asleep after our Thanksgiving dinner, the world in which we awake will still bear the scars these past few months have inflicted upon us.  Perhaps, and even more so, because of this we have even more reasons to be thankful.  While problems that we cannot see are often difficult to solve, there is still a solution if we seek it.

And that means that the problems that lie before us are that much easier to solve because we can see them.  And we know that, because the solutions for these visible problems haven’t worked in the past, we have to seek new solutions; we have to see the world differently.  Like those who gathered in Philadelphia that hot summer in 1776, we understand the thoughts that Benjamin Franklin is said to have expressed, “We must all hang together, or we shall all separately. 

On this Thanksgiving, 2020, no matter where we are or where we have been, have the chance to change where this world is headed.  The prophet Isaiah wrote,

Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. – Isaiah 2: 3 – 4

I do not doubt that there are some who will refuse to walk with us in the way suggested by Isaiah.  They walk the path that is focused on where they have been and long for those days.  They see a divided world but in looking at the past, they miss the Glory of the Coming Lord

But as we look forward, we see the Glory of the Coming Lord and realize that we have the opportunity to, in as many ways as there are people, share in God’s Bounty.

We live in many different places; we have been to many different places but today, on a day where we may be separated by distance, disease, and anger, with God, we can bridge those gaps and move to the Promise of God’s Kingdom given to us some 2000 year ago.

Thoughts on a Saturday morning in New York state

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Can anyone tell me where Jim Cantore is?

More to the point – working on the “Back Page” for next Sunday (January 27th) – the one for tomorrow has been up for a few days (“Is Your Faith In A Box Or In Use?”).

Working on a devotional for next Christmas (publisher’s deadline, but, hey, if it is going to look like Christmas outside, why not?)

Whether or not the government is up or down, in or out, left, right, back or forward (pray for forward, by the way), the W-2 came in the mail so I must work on the taxes.


Finally, I have three summaries of the plans to be put forth for the Special General Conference on February 23. Three things jump out:

If you took American History, then you might see some similarities between the discussion that will take place in St. Louis and the discussions that took place in this country during the period of time we operated under the “Articles of Confederation”.

Much of the conversation that will take place will echo the General Conferences of 1836, 1840, and 1844.

Finally, and most importantly, it does not matter which plan is accepted; if there is not a change of heart among the delegates and the members of the United Methodist Church, it really won’t matter plan is chosen.

I will be posting a summary and links in the next few days.

Thanksgiving Memories

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Here are my memories and thanks for this Thanksgiving.  I hope that your memories are good and that you have much for which to be thankful.

My memories of Thanksgiving are many and diverse.  But all in some way or another involve food, travel, and/or my family.

Growing up, my family meant my parents, grandparents, brothers and sister.  Then it meant my wife and my children.  And since Ann has been so much of my life, her children, grand-children, and great-grand-children as there as well (and thank God for Skype).

If one thinks of Thanksgiving, one must think of food and travel.  I have the memory of my mother using an electric roaster every year for almost thirty years and remembering that every time we used this roaster the dials on the electric meter spun almost out of control.  There were my attempts to roast a turkey on the grill (it works but you need a spit).  And then there was the one dinner where our chihuahua, Pepe, decided he wanted one of the turkey legs, the one bigger than him, for his own personal Thanksgiving treat.  I also remember one post-Thanksgiving trip where I got stuck in Colorado during a massive snowstorm.

But one year, I was alone and unable to get to Memphis and my family as I would like to have done.  It was looking like it would be a bleak and dreary Thanksgiving.  In the loneliness of that moment, I found another family, the family of Christ.  A local church was hosting a Thanksgiving dinner and I was able have a very simple meal.  It may have been a simple meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, and green beans but, as Arlo Guthrie might sing, it was a Thanksgiving meal that couldn’t be beat.

A few years later, I was part of a church which opened its hearts and doors to those who were lost, forgotten, or alone and provide another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat.  This would later lead to a wonderful feeding ministry.  (See Thanksgiving, 2006 for details about these two dinners.)

I have plenty of memories and much to be thankful for each Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is about being with one’s family, enjoying the food (especially Ann’s apple pie).

But more than anything else, I am thankful that I am part of Christ’s family and that we can share God’s Grace in so many different ways.

Performance Reviews

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I am reposting this because I think it is needed, though we may cry rather than laugh when we think of the situation we are in.

This is somewhere out there in the ether but I wanted to put it anyway (some at CarTalk)

The following comments are said to have been included in actual performance reviews (the source seems to vary according):

  • A gross ignoramus — 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus.
  • A photographic memory but the lens cap glued on.
  • A prime candidate for natural deselection.
  • Donated his brain to science before he was done using it.
  • Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn’t running.
  • Got a full six-pack but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all together.
  • Has two brains:  One is lost and the other is out looking for it.
  • He brings a lot of joy when he leaves the room.
  • He certainly takes a long time to make his pointless.
  • He doesn’t have ulcers, but he’s a carrier.
  • He has carried out each and every one of his duties to his entire satisfaction.
  • He has the wisdom of youth, and the energy of old age.
  • Sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.
  • He would argue with a signpost.
  • He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle.
  • His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of curiosity.
  • I would like to go hunting with him sometime.
  • I would not breed from this officer.
  • If he were any more stupid, he’d have to be watered twice a week.
  • If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you’d get change.
  • If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he’s the other one.
  • If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean.
  • In my opinion this pilot should not be authorized to fly below 250 feet.
  • One neuron short of a synapse
  • Since my last report he has reached rock bottom, and has started to dig.
  • Some drink at the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled.
  • Takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 minutes.
  • Technically sound, but socially impossible.
  • The wheel is turning but the hamster is dead.
  • This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
  • Is really not so much of a has been, but more of a definitely won’t be.
  • This employee should go far, and the sooner he starts, the better.
  • This medical officer has used my ship to carry his genitals from port to port, and my officers to carry him from bar to bar.
  • This officer reminds me very much of a gyroscope: always spinning around at a frantic pace, but not really going anywhere.
  • This young lady had delusions of adequacy.
  • When he joined my ship, this officer was something of a granny; since then he has aged considerably.
  • When his I. Q. reaches 50, he should sell.
  • When she opens her mouth, it seems that is only to change feet.
  • Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap.

My Grandfather’s Diary entry for this day, 11 November 1918

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I first published this on 11 November 2007.  I think it is important enough to be reposted.

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For those who are not aware, I am the son of a career Air Force officer and the grandson of a career Army officer. I do not know much about my grandfather, as he died when I was five years old. What I know about him comes from “tales” told to me by my parents and the diary that he wrote while in combat in France during World War I.

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His entry for the month of November reads

At the beginning of November, 1918, the 2nd Army was preparing for a major attack on the section of the Hindenburg Line in the Metz area. The attacks were scheduled for November 10th and 11th. At the beginning of the month, the 14th Brigade had been withdrawn from the front line and replaced with the 13th Brigade. While ostensibly a move to give the 14th Brigade time for additional training, it appears that this move also facilitated moving the 14th to its intended position of the planned series of attacks. The 34th Regiment found itself scattered throughout the section.

During the period 9 – 11 November, the Division executed local attacks and gained temporary occupation of a hill west of Preny (9 November), Hill 323 (1 km southeast of Rembercourt) on 10 November, and established a line from 310.2 to 287.1 in the Bois de Grand-Fontaine, captured the quarry near 278.7 west of Rembercourt, and the small woods .25 km south of Mon Plaisir Fme. on November 11th.

November 9, 1918

On way to front again. We are to attack tomorrow. Men have been hiking all day & night, then to go in an attack will sure be hell.

November 10, 1918

Attack held up by very strong machine gun fire and a cannon barrage by “Fritz”.

NOVEMBER 11, 1918. –ARMISTICE DAY–

November 11, 1918

A great day. The armistice was signed today. We were to resume our attack at 2 p.m. in case it was not signed. Slept in a German dugout last night.

From a second diary –

Was in German dugout at points 242.4 & 365 (on the Thiaucourt 1 to 50,000 maps) on the day Armistice was signed. 34th Infantry Regiment captured 1 German officer, 32 enlisted personnel, and 3 machine guns during tour; advance the outpost line .75 kilometers to include Hills 311.2, 310.2, and 312.

Nothing in what my grandfather wrote tells me anything about his feelings on war. Any mention of death or destruction in the diary is rather simple. I think that this was because he used his diary as a drafting board. As the Adjutant for the 34th Infantry Regiment, one of his duties was to prepare the daily reports. Those daily reports, recorded in the unit history, are almost the same things I read in the diary. Still, it was what he wrote on the front page of the diary that tells me he saw war for what it was and what it could be.

If I should fall, will the finder of this take it on him or herself to see that gets to my wife, Mrs. Walter L. Mitchell, 4150 A De Tonty Street, St. Louis, MO., USA? By doing so, they were conferring a favor upon Walter L. Mitchell, Captain, 34th US Infantry, American Expeditionary Forces, France.

A Collection of Sayings

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“The following are a collection of sayings and quotes that I have gathered over the years.  Some are attributed; others I have just picked up and haven’t figured out who said or when it was said.

This was updated on 23 February 2016 to add the quote from Robert Kennedy. 

This was updated on 23 April 2018 to correct the Robert E. Lee quote.

SAYINGS OF INTEREST

“The Vaccination Theory of Education – English is not History and History is not Science and Science is not Art and Art is not Music, and Art and Music are minor subjects and English, History, and Science major subjects, and a subject is something you “take” and, when you have taken it, you have “had” it, and if you have “had” it, you are immune and need not take it again.

““Time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening at once.”

““A child with a hammer thinks everything looks like a nail.”

““We find our individual freedom by choosing not a destination but a direction.” (Marilyn Ferguson)

““You see things; and say ‘why?’ But I dream of things that never were and say ‘why not?’” (George Bernard Shaw)

““If you found a path with no obstacle, it probably does not lead anywhere.”

““It is necessary to say that poetic spirits are of two kinds; first, those who invent fables, and second, those who are disposed toward believing them.” (Galileo [as translated by Sheldon Glashow])

““If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” (David Thoreau)

““In every age there comes a time when leadership suddenly comes forth to meet the needs of the hour. And so there is no man who does not find his time, and there is no hour that does not have its leader.” (The Talmud)

“Jawaharlal Nehru, who with Mahatma Gandhi successfully freed India from British colonial rule, once said, “A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the sound of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.”

““If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” (Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Col. Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816)

““If I am not for myself, who is for me?
But if I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now, when? (Rabbi Hillel, Sayings of the Fathers, 1: 14)

““It’s a revolution damn it! We’re going to have to offend somebody!” – John Adams, while discussing the massive changes being hacked into the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

““The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views, which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.” Dr. Who

“There is a fine line between being on the leading edge and being in the lunatic fringe.

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. (Albert Einstein)

““Sanity is the playground of the unimaginative mind”.

“Programming: The art of debugging a blank sheet of paper (Nick Donaldson, University of Manitoba)

““Foolish is the man who competes for competition’s sake . . . Wise is the man who knows what battles are worth fighting.” – Ancient Chinese proverb.

““It is fortunate that war is so ugly for we could become very fond of it” — attributed to Robert E. Lee following the Battle of Fredericksburg.

““War is not healthy for children and other living things.” — Lorraine Schneider, 1969 — www.warisnothealthy.org

“Nobody is stupid enough to prefer war to peace. Because in times of peace children bury their parents, whereas, on the contrary, in times of war parents bury their children — Herodotus.

““Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.” — Samuel Johnson

“Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.” — Robert Anthony, American business professor (my source – Sigma Xi Smartbrief for 21 January 2014)

““There are people in every time and every land who want to stop history in its tracks. They fear the future, mistrust the present, and invoke the security of a comfortable past which, in fact, never existed. It hardly seems necessary to point out in California – of all States — that change, although it involves risks, is the law of life.

Nevertheless, there are those, frustrated by a difficult future, who grab out for the security of the non-existent past. Frustrated by change they condemn the wisdom, the motives, and even the patriotism of those who seek to contend with the realities of the future. (Robert Kennedy, “The Opening To The Future”)

““There’s this desert prison…. with an old prisoner, resigned to his life, and a young one just arrived. The young one talks constantly of escape, and after a few months, he makes a break. He’s gone a week and then he’s brought back by the guards. He’s half dead, crazy with hunger and thirst. He describes how awful it was to the old prisoner. The endless stretches of sand, no oasis, no sign of life anywhere.

“The old prisoner listens for a while, then says, `Yep, I know. I tried to escape myself, twenty years ago.’

“The young prisoner says, `You did? Why didn’t you tell me, all these months I was planning my escape? Why didn’t you let me know it was impossible?’

“And the old prisoner shrugs, and says, `So who publishes negative results?'” (Jeffery Hudson, in “Scientist as Subject: The Psychological Imperative.”)