Several weeks ago I was in a Dollar Tree store. I love Dollar Tree stores and Big Lots stores. Big Lots sells lots and lots of movies. Some of them are real stinkers. But, every so often I find some gems. I love the Dollar Tree stores because I am able to find some really good books for only a dollar a piece. Generally speaking, these are books that are publishers’ overruns. Thomas Jefferson said, “I cannot live without books”. Neither can I. So, every week I browse through Dollar Tree looking for interesting stuff to read. Several weeks ago in a Dollar Tree I found a great book.
“The Secret Supper” is a work of historical fiction by a Spanish author by the name of Javier Sierra. Senor Sierra spins a ripping good yarn centering on Leonardo da Vinci's “The Last Supper”. Like American author Dan Brown in “The Da Vinci Code”, Sierra tells as story of coded messages and supposed symbolism to be found in the painting. The book is part murder mystery and part art history.
I don’t know if any of what Sierra says about the painting or da Vinci is true, I just know that I immensely enjoyed this book and was really happy that I found such a gem for only a dollar. Sometimes, truly, life’s simple pleasures are the best.
After reading the “Secret Supper” I went off looking for other books by Sierra. When I find an author of fiction I like I read everything they have written. For a mere five dollars I found another book of Sierra’s in a local chain book store, “The Lady in Blue”.
This book is wonderful as well; as the British would say “a ripping good yarn”. Mr. Sierra tells a story based on supposed fact about a Spanish nun by the name of Maria de Jesus de Agreda. Sister Maria was believed to possess the gift of bilocation; that is the ability, or gift, of being in two places at the same time. Sister Maria de Jesus was believed, by some, to have brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Indians for New Mexico in the early 1600’s while still locked away in her cloister in Spain.
Indian people in New Mexico reported having seen a mysterious “Lady in Blue” (Sister Maria’s order wore blue habits) who spoke them of a new Sun God, actually the Son of God, who would replace their old gods. The stories go that when the first Spanish missionaries arrived in New Mexico in the early 1600’s they met Indians wearing crosses around their necks.
Let me here make a disclaimer before I go on: I am not saying that I believe that Sister Maria did indeed travel to the New World through bilocation.
Javier Sierra’s novel weaves Sister Maria’s story, bilocation, spies, and time travel altogether in a great story. This past Sunday afternoon after church I read over a hundred pages from the novel. I couldn’t put it down.
A day or two before picking up “The Lady in Blue” I finished reading a wonderful biography about Albert Einstein by Walter Isaacson. My daughter gave me this book for Christmas and it was wonderful. I learned all kinds of fascinating things about Einstein and modern physics. Space does not permit me to go into all that I learned from this book. Suffice it to say that the universe that Dr. Einstein described through his theories is a place of great wonder and surprises. Einstein believed that God had constructed a universe where time and space behaved in ways that we can hardly imagine. (A note here, Einstein did believe in God, however, he did not believe that God was too very interested in the day to day affairs of human beings.)
Reading Isaacson’s and Sierra’s fine books in the space of just a few days got me to thinking all kinds of interesting things. And please don’t think that I’ve gone off the deep end here! According to Einstein it might be possible to slow the march of time down to a crawl the closer one traveled to the speed of light. According to some other physicists, who Isaacson mentions along the way, it might just be possible, in theory, at least to travel back in time. According to the legends concerning “The Lady in Blue” a person, gifted by God might just be able to be in two places at once.
Again, please don’t think I’m cracking up. I’ve once again be seized with a wonder at God’s marvelous creation. Do you know that when you stand outside on a dark winter night and see the stars winking at you from the clear, cold night sky you are, in fact, looking back in time? The light of those stars you see above you took, in some cases, thousand of years to reach your eyes. When you and I look at the sky at night time we are looking back into time. That concept fills me with a certain awe.
Maybe it would be possible for a human being to be in two places at once, if that’s what God wanted to happen. Again, that doesn’t mean that I believe the story of “The Lady in Blue”, it simply means that given all I’ve learned about how wonderful and wonder filled God is, I believe that it certainly would be in the realm of possibility for God to have that nun in two places at once. If Jesus could change water into wine and alter nature itself when he stilled the storm, would there be anything that God could not do?
Of course not! God can do anything. Maybe he did send Sister Maria onto New Mexico. I mean it’s possible. I believe it’s possible. I not sure it happened. But, with God all things are possible, aren’t they?
That’s really my point in writing this. I believe that with God all things are possible. God, because He is God, is not limited by anything. God can and does amazing things. The amazing things are all around us. His creation overflows with wonder. With God nothing is impossible. Why, God can even raise people from the dead. And that is precisely what He will do with us. It’s strange to me, reading a biography and a work of historical fiction help me to believe and see that more firmly and fully.
I wonder what other books I’ll discover on my next visit to The Dollar Tree.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Way
About fifteen years ago I went backpacking in Yosemite National Park with some friends. I had traveled from Florida, where we were living at the time, to Los Angeles where one of my friends picked my up. Though it was 6 PM in the evening in LA my body was still on Florida time, so it felt to me as if it was 9 PM. My friend George and I drove something like seven hours to get to Yosemite.
We found our other friends waiting for us in a parking area atop Glacier Point. This overlook is stunning and provides you with an incredible view of Yosemite Valley. That night there was bright full moon and it bathed the entire valley with bluish light. Looking out from Glacier Point we could the incredible sheer rock walls that surround the valley and the numerous waterfalls thundering down into the valley below.
All of us climbed into the vans and went to sleep. We wanted to start our six day hike early the next morning. I didn’t sleep too well that night in the back of George’s van. I tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. I was still tired out from my airline flight and the seven hour drive to the national park.
It seemed that I had just closed my eyes. It was time to get up. We drove another three hours to the other side of the park to begin our hike. I was dead tired and as we climbed a switchback trail to an altitude of nearly 12,000 feet I noticed I was having trouble breathing (so was George, of course, he was a smoker) and I just felt kind of strange; not just tired, mind you, but strange. What I didn’t realize was that I was in the first stages of altitude sickness.
When we got to the top of the switchback trail we were greeted by a boulder field. The park service had done its level best to mark a trail through this immense flied of rocks and boulders that had been deposited so many years before by the glaciers. Yet, the trail was hard to make out and before long the five of us were lost; only we didn’t know that we were lost because all five of us were suffering from altitude sickness.
Altitude sickness is a scary thing. Your ability to think and reason becomes imparted because the brain isn’t getting enough oxygen. The big mistake we had all made was beginning our hike without giving our bodies’ time to get used to the high altitude.
We stumbled around that boulder field not really knowing that we had lost our way. We thought we were on the right trail. We thought we knew where we were. It very slowly dawned on us that we had no clue as to where we were. About the same time we all came to the realization that we had altitude sickness. We made camp. Ate some cold trail mix and went to sleep. We slept for over twelve hours. When we awoke our bodies had adjusted to the altitude. We consulted our maps and compasses and found that we were seven miles away from where we thought we were.
We had lost our way.
The night before Jesus went to the cross Jesus said with his disciples and told them that he was going to be leaving them soon. He was going to go to prepare a place for them in His Father’s House. In that house Jesus said, there were many “dwelling places”; that is places where the disciples would live with Him through all of eternity. Not so much individual rooms, but a place of never ending life for them.
Jesus said to them, “and you know the way to the place where I am going”. It was Thomas who said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” It seems the Thomas was looking for some kind of a road map to find the place where Jesus was going. If he could get a map he would find his way to this marvelous place Jesus was speaking of. He did want to know the way to that place, just as my friends and I wanted to know the way through the boulder field in Yosemite.
If Thomas was looking for physical directions then he was undoubtedly disappointed because of what Jesus said to him next. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
I wonder how many of us have really thought at all about Jesus calling himself “the way”. There are reams of sermons on Jesus calling himself the good shepherd, the vine, the Son of Man, but, not too many, I’ll wager on Jesus calling himself “the way”. I don’t know this for a fact, but, I can’t remember hearing too much about this.
Actually, this notion of Jesus calling himself “the way” is rather Jewish. The rabbis of Jesus’ day said that when God in his goodness had given his people the law he had provided them with a safe way through life. The good rabbis likened the law to the dry way that God caused to open in the Red Sea when Moses led the children of Israel out of their slavery into the freedom of a new life. By walking on that dry way, neither moving too far to the right or too far to the left where the walls of water were, but by walking on the dry way the children of God found and had safety. To follow God’s way, the rabbis rightly taught was to have life in itself abundance.
If Jesus is calling himself the way it would seem to be the case that Jesus is saying to us, if we have ears to listen, walk in me and you will find your life. Now, that doesn’t mean that through the following of all kinds of rules and commandments we are going to find this life that Jesus wants to give to us. No, it means that falling into the arms of Christ, being embraced by He who is the Way, that we find the true life that we are seeking.
The problem is that all of us are sick with sin, just as I was sick because of the change of altitude. Because of that sickness we have, it’s easy to get distracted and in a sense lose the way, that is, our connection with Jesus. This happens to me when I’m not grounding myself in prayer, Bible reading and worship. When I am not doing those things I lose my way in life. I cease to be grounding myself in Jesus.
This time of Lent through which we are now moving is that time of the church year when we are to be connecting ourselves with He who is The Way. We do that through prayer, through acts of mercy, through Bible reading and through worship. When we are not doing those things we wander away from the safety of the Way through life who is Jesus Christ.
Let calls all of us to follow the way, not our ways, but God’s Way, Jesus Christ.
We found our other friends waiting for us in a parking area atop Glacier Point. This overlook is stunning and provides you with an incredible view of Yosemite Valley. That night there was bright full moon and it bathed the entire valley with bluish light. Looking out from Glacier Point we could the incredible sheer rock walls that surround the valley and the numerous waterfalls thundering down into the valley below.
All of us climbed into the vans and went to sleep. We wanted to start our six day hike early the next morning. I didn’t sleep too well that night in the back of George’s van. I tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. I was still tired out from my airline flight and the seven hour drive to the national park.
It seemed that I had just closed my eyes. It was time to get up. We drove another three hours to the other side of the park to begin our hike. I was dead tired and as we climbed a switchback trail to an altitude of nearly 12,000 feet I noticed I was having trouble breathing (so was George, of course, he was a smoker) and I just felt kind of strange; not just tired, mind you, but strange. What I didn’t realize was that I was in the first stages of altitude sickness.
When we got to the top of the switchback trail we were greeted by a boulder field. The park service had done its level best to mark a trail through this immense flied of rocks and boulders that had been deposited so many years before by the glaciers. Yet, the trail was hard to make out and before long the five of us were lost; only we didn’t know that we were lost because all five of us were suffering from altitude sickness.
Altitude sickness is a scary thing. Your ability to think and reason becomes imparted because the brain isn’t getting enough oxygen. The big mistake we had all made was beginning our hike without giving our bodies’ time to get used to the high altitude.
We stumbled around that boulder field not really knowing that we had lost our way. We thought we were on the right trail. We thought we knew where we were. It very slowly dawned on us that we had no clue as to where we were. About the same time we all came to the realization that we had altitude sickness. We made camp. Ate some cold trail mix and went to sleep. We slept for over twelve hours. When we awoke our bodies had adjusted to the altitude. We consulted our maps and compasses and found that we were seven miles away from where we thought we were.
We had lost our way.
The night before Jesus went to the cross Jesus said with his disciples and told them that he was going to be leaving them soon. He was going to go to prepare a place for them in His Father’s House. In that house Jesus said, there were many “dwelling places”; that is places where the disciples would live with Him through all of eternity. Not so much individual rooms, but a place of never ending life for them.
Jesus said to them, “and you know the way to the place where I am going”. It was Thomas who said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” It seems the Thomas was looking for some kind of a road map to find the place where Jesus was going. If he could get a map he would find his way to this marvelous place Jesus was speaking of. He did want to know the way to that place, just as my friends and I wanted to know the way through the boulder field in Yosemite.
If Thomas was looking for physical directions then he was undoubtedly disappointed because of what Jesus said to him next. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
I wonder how many of us have really thought at all about Jesus calling himself “the way”. There are reams of sermons on Jesus calling himself the good shepherd, the vine, the Son of Man, but, not too many, I’ll wager on Jesus calling himself “the way”. I don’t know this for a fact, but, I can’t remember hearing too much about this.
Actually, this notion of Jesus calling himself “the way” is rather Jewish. The rabbis of Jesus’ day said that when God in his goodness had given his people the law he had provided them with a safe way through life. The good rabbis likened the law to the dry way that God caused to open in the Red Sea when Moses led the children of Israel out of their slavery into the freedom of a new life. By walking on that dry way, neither moving too far to the right or too far to the left where the walls of water were, but by walking on the dry way the children of God found and had safety. To follow God’s way, the rabbis rightly taught was to have life in itself abundance.
If Jesus is calling himself the way it would seem to be the case that Jesus is saying to us, if we have ears to listen, walk in me and you will find your life. Now, that doesn’t mean that through the following of all kinds of rules and commandments we are going to find this life that Jesus wants to give to us. No, it means that falling into the arms of Christ, being embraced by He who is the Way, that we find the true life that we are seeking.
The problem is that all of us are sick with sin, just as I was sick because of the change of altitude. Because of that sickness we have, it’s easy to get distracted and in a sense lose the way, that is, our connection with Jesus. This happens to me when I’m not grounding myself in prayer, Bible reading and worship. When I am not doing those things I lose my way in life. I cease to be grounding myself in Jesus.
This time of Lent through which we are now moving is that time of the church year when we are to be connecting ourselves with He who is The Way. We do that through prayer, through acts of mercy, through Bible reading and through worship. When we are not doing those things we wander away from the safety of the Way through life who is Jesus Christ.
Let calls all of us to follow the way, not our ways, but God’s Way, Jesus Christ.
Easter-So What?
On Easter Sunday I will stand before you and loudly say, “Christ is Risen! Alleluia!” Hopefully, you will remember to respond with “He is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!”
I have celebrated twenty-six Easters as a pastor in the church. Every time that I’ve greeted people at the beginning of worship with those glorious words I’ve had to playfully say, after the peoples’ rather tepid response, “Oh, come on we can do much better than that! Let’s try that again! Christ is Risen! Alleluia!” The second response of the people is usually much loader and more joyful.
It may be the case, and I really do hope that this is the case, that I’ve merely caught people off guard. I hope it is the case that folk have forgotten this earliest of Christian greetings since the last Easter season. I hope that’s why when I first offer the greeting people are thinking, “Let’s see. What is it I’m supposed to say?”
The terrible alternative would be that the rather lukewarm response that I first receive is because some people really don’t think that the resurrection of Jesus is a big deal at all or they don’t quite believe that the resurrection of Jesus really matters much at all in their lives. I shudder, quite literally, to think of people, supposed Christian people holding such a view.
I recently finished reading a remarkable book, “A Renegade’s Guide to God”, by Pastor David Foster.
As a small aside I must tell you how this book came into my hands. I truly believe that God guided me to this book. Some of you reading what I’m about to relate will think me to be a nutcase, saying, “Yeah, right. You really think that God ‘guided’ you to read a particular book?” To which I will say “yes”, with no apologies.
My son and I were returning from a day of snow tubing with his Cub Scout Pack. We were on the interstate at Coldwater, Michigan. There is a Big Lots in Cold Water. I admitted in a previous article how I haunt Big Lots and Dollar Trees for closeout books and DVDs.
We walked into the store and I spied books on sale. I saw Pastor Foster’s book. I picked it up, looked it over and put it down. I thought, “I’ve got more books than I know what to do with.” I wandered over to the DVDs and didn’t find anything that really sparked my interest.
“Come on, David”, I said to my son. “We need to get back home.” I was moving towards the store’s exit when I just felt that I needed to buy that book. I returned to the book bin, picked up the book and bought it.
I began to read the book that next Sunday morning, very early, in my study before our first worship service. As I read I had this sense that God had wanted me to read this book. (Okay, some of you might think all of this is over the top and I am quite comfortable with whatever assessment you bring to my story.)
Pastor Foster makes a number of rather startling observations about modern day Christianity. You will have to read the book yourself to see what I mean. Yet, one observation that he makes that really hit me over the head like a two by four is that many, many Christians live out their lives as if Jesus had not been raised from the dead and even if those same Christians do believe Christ was raised from the dead their lives do not seem to reflect any real joy at so great a thing. Further, Pastor Foster observes that too many Christian people lead lives that don’t seem to have been transformed at all by the earth shaking event of the resurrection. I am reminded of Henry David Thoreau who said, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation...."
There are too many Christian people whose lives prove what Thoreau said. Many Christian people live as if Christ had not been raised from the dead. This is what Pastor Foster contends in his book. We say that Christ has been raised from the dead and yet to outsiders and insiders it appears that we really don’t believe the news that the angels told the women at the tomb that first Easter morning.
People who have no joy in their lives, and here I mean Christian people without joy in their lives are behaving as if the resurrection is a sham or did not happen. Knowing that Jesus has raised from the dead and that we too will be raised from the dead should set our hearts soaring. We should not be glum people. We should not be dour people. We should be people who smile and laugh and sing and joke and giggle and dance!
If Christ has been raised the whole world has been changed. Nothing will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because he was raised death has been utterly defeated and the world is now a glorious place. New possibilities for us abound. Our food should even taste better. Our sleep should be sounder. Our waking moments should be energized with joy.
I can’t make anyone into a joyful Christian. I can’t force great happiness on anyone. If I could I would. But, I can suggest to you that you pray to God with great fervor if your life is not marked with joy. Pray to Christ Jesus to fill you with joy at the good thing that he has done for you. Ask Jesus to come into your heart today and help you to live as a wonderfully goofy kind of person who has been seized with joy and wonder at all Christ has done for you.
Don’t spend another day in despair or sorrow or pain or anger or desperation. Christ rose from the dead! The resurrection of Jesus changes everything! Let it change you. Let it fill your heart up. Hold on to the resurrection in all things and you will find an unbelievable life.
I have celebrated twenty-six Easters as a pastor in the church. Every time that I’ve greeted people at the beginning of worship with those glorious words I’ve had to playfully say, after the peoples’ rather tepid response, “Oh, come on we can do much better than that! Let’s try that again! Christ is Risen! Alleluia!” The second response of the people is usually much loader and more joyful.
It may be the case, and I really do hope that this is the case, that I’ve merely caught people off guard. I hope it is the case that folk have forgotten this earliest of Christian greetings since the last Easter season. I hope that’s why when I first offer the greeting people are thinking, “Let’s see. What is it I’m supposed to say?”
The terrible alternative would be that the rather lukewarm response that I first receive is because some people really don’t think that the resurrection of Jesus is a big deal at all or they don’t quite believe that the resurrection of Jesus really matters much at all in their lives. I shudder, quite literally, to think of people, supposed Christian people holding such a view.
I recently finished reading a remarkable book, “A Renegade’s Guide to God”, by Pastor David Foster.
As a small aside I must tell you how this book came into my hands. I truly believe that God guided me to this book. Some of you reading what I’m about to relate will think me to be a nutcase, saying, “Yeah, right. You really think that God ‘guided’ you to read a particular book?” To which I will say “yes”, with no apologies.
My son and I were returning from a day of snow tubing with his Cub Scout Pack. We were on the interstate at Coldwater, Michigan. There is a Big Lots in Cold Water. I admitted in a previous article how I haunt Big Lots and Dollar Trees for closeout books and DVDs.
We walked into the store and I spied books on sale. I saw Pastor Foster’s book. I picked it up, looked it over and put it down. I thought, “I’ve got more books than I know what to do with.” I wandered over to the DVDs and didn’t find anything that really sparked my interest.
“Come on, David”, I said to my son. “We need to get back home.” I was moving towards the store’s exit when I just felt that I needed to buy that book. I returned to the book bin, picked up the book and bought it.
I began to read the book that next Sunday morning, very early, in my study before our first worship service. As I read I had this sense that God had wanted me to read this book. (Okay, some of you might think all of this is over the top and I am quite comfortable with whatever assessment you bring to my story.)
Pastor Foster makes a number of rather startling observations about modern day Christianity. You will have to read the book yourself to see what I mean. Yet, one observation that he makes that really hit me over the head like a two by four is that many, many Christians live out their lives as if Jesus had not been raised from the dead and even if those same Christians do believe Christ was raised from the dead their lives do not seem to reflect any real joy at so great a thing. Further, Pastor Foster observes that too many Christian people lead lives that don’t seem to have been transformed at all by the earth shaking event of the resurrection. I am reminded of Henry David Thoreau who said, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation...."
There are too many Christian people whose lives prove what Thoreau said. Many Christian people live as if Christ had not been raised from the dead. This is what Pastor Foster contends in his book. We say that Christ has been raised from the dead and yet to outsiders and insiders it appears that we really don’t believe the news that the angels told the women at the tomb that first Easter morning.
People who have no joy in their lives, and here I mean Christian people without joy in their lives are behaving as if the resurrection is a sham or did not happen. Knowing that Jesus has raised from the dead and that we too will be raised from the dead should set our hearts soaring. We should not be glum people. We should not be dour people. We should be people who smile and laugh and sing and joke and giggle and dance!
If Christ has been raised the whole world has been changed. Nothing will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because he was raised death has been utterly defeated and the world is now a glorious place. New possibilities for us abound. Our food should even taste better. Our sleep should be sounder. Our waking moments should be energized with joy.
I can’t make anyone into a joyful Christian. I can’t force great happiness on anyone. If I could I would. But, I can suggest to you that you pray to God with great fervor if your life is not marked with joy. Pray to Christ Jesus to fill you with joy at the good thing that he has done for you. Ask Jesus to come into your heart today and help you to live as a wonderfully goofy kind of person who has been seized with joy and wonder at all Christ has done for you.
Don’t spend another day in despair or sorrow or pain or anger or desperation. Christ rose from the dead! The resurrection of Jesus changes everything! Let it change you. Let it fill your heart up. Hold on to the resurrection in all things and you will find an unbelievable life.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Explaining the Unexplainable
This past weekend my son's Cub Scout Pack took a trip to the National Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. My son, who was celebrating his eighth birthday that day, had been looking forward to this trip. I had told him that we would see all kinds of airplanes and even some space capsules.
The Air Force Museum is, as far as I am concerned, the best air museum in the United States. I have visited the museum several times over the last several years. The aircraft displayed span the entire history of manned flight. The museum is laid out chronologically. You start your visit by seeing an airplane that the Wright Brothers prepared for the US Army. You then move into galleries that display aircraft from the First World War, the 1930's, the Second World War period, the Korean War, etc. The museum does an excellent job of presenting the history of military aviation.
My son was fascinated by all that he saw. It was a thrill for me to tell him about the various airplanes. Aviation has always been a passion of mine. My son was particularly interested in the B-29, the imposing Superfortress. My father-in-law, his grandfather, served as a navigator on a B-29 and flew combat missions over Japan in the Second World War.
The particular B-29 that is on display in the museum is named "Bockscar". This aircraft dropped the so-called "Fat Man" atom bomb on Nagasaki, Japan in August of 1945. Displayed next to the B-29 is mock-up of the "Fat Man" bomb. I tried to explain to my son the awesome and terrible power of that bomb.
As we continued our visit of the museum we saw other airplanes that were capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Mock-ups of these weapons were displayed in front of the airplanes. Some of these bombs were truly immense. Some were the size of small cars. I wondered how the airplanes could possibly get off the ground carrying such weapons.
My son asked me about these bigger bombs. He wanted to know how powerful they were. I told him that the nukes developed after the bombs dropped on Japan cold destroy a whole city the size of Chicago.
He then wanted to know if these bombs had ever been dropped. I told him that thankfully only the two smaller bombs had ever been used.
He then said, "Well, Daddy, if they were never used why were they ever built?"
I said, "Well, you see the Russians started building nuclear weapons also. We never wanted them to use their bombs against us or our friends so we build these bombs."
He looked at me.
I went on, "You see we thought that if we built these bombs the Russians would know that if they ever tried to destroy us, we'd destroy them right back."
His blue eyes got wider.
"We built bombs because they build bombs and the more bombs we built the more they built. But, we kept building them so they would never use theirs and they kept building theirs so we'd never use ours."
Have you ever attempted to explain the military doctrine of "Mutually Assured Destruction", the MAD doctrine to an eight year?
My son said, "That's pretty weird Daddy." And he gave me a look.
I said, "Yeah, pretty crazy isn't it?"
We wandered over to look at the Apollo 15 command ship.
Come to think of it, it was pretty weird wasn't it?
The Air Force Museum is, as far as I am concerned, the best air museum in the United States. I have visited the museum several times over the last several years. The aircraft displayed span the entire history of manned flight. The museum is laid out chronologically. You start your visit by seeing an airplane that the Wright Brothers prepared for the US Army. You then move into galleries that display aircraft from the First World War, the 1930's, the Second World War period, the Korean War, etc. The museum does an excellent job of presenting the history of military aviation.
My son was fascinated by all that he saw. It was a thrill for me to tell him about the various airplanes. Aviation has always been a passion of mine. My son was particularly interested in the B-29, the imposing Superfortress. My father-in-law, his grandfather, served as a navigator on a B-29 and flew combat missions over Japan in the Second World War.
The particular B-29 that is on display in the museum is named "Bockscar". This aircraft dropped the so-called "Fat Man" atom bomb on Nagasaki, Japan in August of 1945. Displayed next to the B-29 is mock-up of the "Fat Man" bomb. I tried to explain to my son the awesome and terrible power of that bomb.
As we continued our visit of the museum we saw other airplanes that were capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Mock-ups of these weapons were displayed in front of the airplanes. Some of these bombs were truly immense. Some were the size of small cars. I wondered how the airplanes could possibly get off the ground carrying such weapons.
My son asked me about these bigger bombs. He wanted to know how powerful they were. I told him that the nukes developed after the bombs dropped on Japan cold destroy a whole city the size of Chicago.
He then wanted to know if these bombs had ever been dropped. I told him that thankfully only the two smaller bombs had ever been used.
He then said, "Well, Daddy, if they were never used why were they ever built?"
I said, "Well, you see the Russians started building nuclear weapons also. We never wanted them to use their bombs against us or our friends so we build these bombs."
He looked at me.
I went on, "You see we thought that if we built these bombs the Russians would know that if they ever tried to destroy us, we'd destroy them right back."
His blue eyes got wider.
"We built bombs because they build bombs and the more bombs we built the more they built. But, we kept building them so they would never use theirs and they kept building theirs so we'd never use ours."
Have you ever attempted to explain the military doctrine of "Mutually Assured Destruction", the MAD doctrine to an eight year?
My son said, "That's pretty weird Daddy." And he gave me a look.
I said, "Yeah, pretty crazy isn't it?"
We wandered over to look at the Apollo 15 command ship.
Come to think of it, it was pretty weird wasn't it?
Thursday, September 3, 2009
To Tell The Truth
Some of you will, I hope, recognize that the title of this offering recalls the popular TV show of years past. This will not be a review of that TV show. Instead, I'd like to tell you of a fascinating scene that I saw while watching an episode of "Smallville" with my daughters.
For those of you don't know, "Smallville", now in its ninth season, tells the story of Clark Kent before he embraces his identity as Superman. The writing is remarkably cleaver and witty. Superman fans, such as myself, delight in phrases characters speak and situations which relate back to comics and previous Superman shows and movies. For example, Clark Kent on his first day of work at the Daily Planet changed clothes in a phone booth, recalling the old black and white TV show and early comic books.
In the fifth episode of season eight, Clark and Lois Lane investigate a series of murders of newly engaged couples. It seems that a psychotic jeweler, whose wife had left him for another man, has been kidnapping couples. He would then take them to a basement underneath his store. He would then place the man and the woman in a pair of homemade electric chairs facing one another. Not only that, but each person was connected to a lie detector.
Our psycho jeweler would then ask the man if he had ever cheated on his future wife. If the fellow lied, and the lie detector revealed the lie, the wife-to-be would receive a huge electric shock.
The ghoulish jeweler would inform the horrified husband-to-be that it was his lies that would cause the woman who loved and trusted him to suffer.
Clark and Lois get hooked up to the machine. Clark's superpowers are countered because the jeweler is wearing a bracelet studded with kypronite. The mad jeweler asks Lois if she loves Clark. Because Clark is hooked to the electric chair his powers have left him; if Lois doesn't tell the truth he could receive a shock that would kill him.
Clark pleads with Lois to simply tell the truth.
"Well", says the ghoul, "Do you love him?"
Lois whispers out, "Yes".
The machine does not show a lie. Clark receives no shock and is able to escape from the chair and safe Lois and himself from further harm.
Later Lois claims that she was able to slip a sensor off of her finger before she was asked the question, thereby denying that she really loves Clark. No matter, the storyline of "Smallville" has been advanced. What neither Lois and Clark realize, but what all fans of current day Superman comics know, is that they will indeed marry in the future.
I think that this episode of "Smallville" is one of the best of the show's eight year run. This episode could be shown in Bible Study classes, Sunday School Classes and confirmatioin classes because it speaks to a general truth. Our lies really hurt the ones we love more than they hurt us.
Imagine the man who has an affair. In order to sucessfully cheat on his wife he must tell lie after horrible lie. Perhaps, he misses a child's school program to be with his mistress. Undoubtedly he tells his child a lie. He had to work. Traffic kept him from getting to the program. When his lies are found out think of the incredible suffering and pain that will come to his children.
During the Monica Lewinsky affair a good friend of mine said that he couldn't believe the pain that Bill Clinton's adultry and lying had caused to the President's daughter. "How could he do that to her?", my friend wondered.
Our lies most harm the ones we love. The ghoulish jeweler was teaching a frightening lesson in turth telling. I wonder how we would conduct ourselves if our children, spouses and friends were jolted with electricity every time we told a lie and misbehaved ourselves. If we saw suffering in front of us how would we live?
For those of you don't know, "Smallville", now in its ninth season, tells the story of Clark Kent before he embraces his identity as Superman. The writing is remarkably cleaver and witty. Superman fans, such as myself, delight in phrases characters speak and situations which relate back to comics and previous Superman shows and movies. For example, Clark Kent on his first day of work at the Daily Planet changed clothes in a phone booth, recalling the old black and white TV show and early comic books.
In the fifth episode of season eight, Clark and Lois Lane investigate a series of murders of newly engaged couples. It seems that a psychotic jeweler, whose wife had left him for another man, has been kidnapping couples. He would then take them to a basement underneath his store. He would then place the man and the woman in a pair of homemade electric chairs facing one another. Not only that, but each person was connected to a lie detector.
Our psycho jeweler would then ask the man if he had ever cheated on his future wife. If the fellow lied, and the lie detector revealed the lie, the wife-to-be would receive a huge electric shock.
The ghoulish jeweler would inform the horrified husband-to-be that it was his lies that would cause the woman who loved and trusted him to suffer.
Clark and Lois get hooked up to the machine. Clark's superpowers are countered because the jeweler is wearing a bracelet studded with kypronite. The mad jeweler asks Lois if she loves Clark. Because Clark is hooked to the electric chair his powers have left him; if Lois doesn't tell the truth he could receive a shock that would kill him.
Clark pleads with Lois to simply tell the truth.
"Well", says the ghoul, "Do you love him?"
Lois whispers out, "Yes".
The machine does not show a lie. Clark receives no shock and is able to escape from the chair and safe Lois and himself from further harm.
Later Lois claims that she was able to slip a sensor off of her finger before she was asked the question, thereby denying that she really loves Clark. No matter, the storyline of "Smallville" has been advanced. What neither Lois and Clark realize, but what all fans of current day Superman comics know, is that they will indeed marry in the future.
I think that this episode of "Smallville" is one of the best of the show's eight year run. This episode could be shown in Bible Study classes, Sunday School Classes and confirmatioin classes because it speaks to a general truth. Our lies really hurt the ones we love more than they hurt us.
Imagine the man who has an affair. In order to sucessfully cheat on his wife he must tell lie after horrible lie. Perhaps, he misses a child's school program to be with his mistress. Undoubtedly he tells his child a lie. He had to work. Traffic kept him from getting to the program. When his lies are found out think of the incredible suffering and pain that will come to his children.
During the Monica Lewinsky affair a good friend of mine said that he couldn't believe the pain that Bill Clinton's adultry and lying had caused to the President's daughter. "How could he do that to her?", my friend wondered.
Our lies most harm the ones we love. The ghoulish jeweler was teaching a frightening lesson in turth telling. I wonder how we would conduct ourselves if our children, spouses and friends were jolted with electricity every time we told a lie and misbehaved ourselves. If we saw suffering in front of us how would we live?
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Civil Discourse
The month of August, 2009, will be remembered by me for two things. First, during this month some members of Congress have returned to their home districts to conduct so-called “Town Hall Meetings”. The electorate has been attending these meetings in record numbers. “Town Hall Meetings” used to be reserved for “policy wonks”. However, because of the national debate on health care reform the meetings have been packed to overflowing.
Not only have the meetings been filled with lots and lots of people, but they have been marked with a lot yelling and shouting. By now all of you have seen on TV pictures of some people quite literally screaming at members of the House of Representatives and members of the Senate. Passions have, indeed, been running high.
The national debate on health care reform is an important one. I will not debate or offer my views on the merits or the demerits of the plan(s) that are being considered by members of the Congress. One thing I will say is that I am very thankful that I’m not a Representative or a Senator. Is someone got into my face, screaming at me, at just might be tempted to poke the offending party in the nose. (Just kidding!)
What is sad to me is the absolute lack of civility in the public discourse. I will defend to my dying breath the right of people to protest and state their deeply held views, beliefs and convictions. The great thing about the democracy in which we live, and for which people have given their lives, is that WE THE PEOPLE (quoting from the cannon of the Constitution) have every right in the world to tell our elected officials our views. Dissent is no sin, as long as it is presented in a civil manner, it seems to me.
The fact that some people, not all people, at the Town Hall meetings are yelling and screaming really should come as no surprise to any of us. Turn on the cable news programs on CNN, FOX and MSNBC and you will see, quite often, people yelling at each other. When my wife and I were newly married I used to watch CNN’s “Crossfire”. My wife referred to it as “the yelling man show”.
I was a very odd teenager. One of my favorite TV shows was William F. Buckley’s “Firing Line”. Mr. Buckley used to debate guests on a variety of issues. He never raised his voice. He never belittled their character. He carried on reasoned discussion. No wonder the show was lost in ether of noise with the advent of the cable news networks.
Our elected officials have not helped the tone of debate in this country. Both Democrats and Republicans harangue one another. It’s not quite as bad with members of the Senate where there is more of a tradition of civility, than in the rowdy House of Representatives. Yet, some senators should have their bottoms spank for the mean and spiteful things they say about the character of other people.
You might be interested to know that in Robert’s Rules of Order, that both houses use to guide and conduct their business, there is a provision that a member may not ever question the character of a fellow member. Following that provision would lead to civil discourse. Some of our elected officials might want to bone up on Robert’s Rules.
The second thing that August of 2009 will be remembered by me for is the ELCA’s Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis. Regardless of what you may have thought about the outcome of various votes, particularly those on human sexuality, if you watched any of the assembly at all on the Web you must have been impressed with the civility of debate. (I will not give my views on those votes in this particular venue, at this time.)
I did watch some of the debates concerning various resolutions. The resolutions concerning human sexuality, by their very nature, raised some intense feelings in people both in and out of the assembly hall. When speakers went to the microphones to express their views, they may have been passionate about their views, but the vast majority of people speaking, that I saw, at least, seemed to be working to remain civil to even those people with who they disagreed passionately.
I do believe that the delegates at the assembly modeled good, Christian discourse. They are to be commended for that, regardless of one’s views concerning the outcome of votes.
It is hard to state one’s views without anger and rancor at times. Blessed St. Peter in the third chapter of his first letter reminds us:
8Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing. 10For “Those who desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit; 11let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it. 12For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16yet do it with gentleness and reverence. (I Peter 3:8-16)
A Christian person can, indeed, have a strong view, even a passionate view. But, the Christian person must always in the heat of debate realize that Christ died and rose again for the sake of the person they are debating. To scream at another person isn’t just bad form, it is to deny Jesus’ profound love for those we debate and disagree with.
I have friends who don’t see eye to eye with me on all manner of issues. Yet, we never become nasty, we never become testy. We work hard at maintaining a bond of peace.
If only people could remember such things as they debate and disagree with each other.
Not only have the meetings been filled with lots and lots of people, but they have been marked with a lot yelling and shouting. By now all of you have seen on TV pictures of some people quite literally screaming at members of the House of Representatives and members of the Senate. Passions have, indeed, been running high.
The national debate on health care reform is an important one. I will not debate or offer my views on the merits or the demerits of the plan(s) that are being considered by members of the Congress. One thing I will say is that I am very thankful that I’m not a Representative or a Senator. Is someone got into my face, screaming at me, at just might be tempted to poke the offending party in the nose. (Just kidding!)
What is sad to me is the absolute lack of civility in the public discourse. I will defend to my dying breath the right of people to protest and state their deeply held views, beliefs and convictions. The great thing about the democracy in which we live, and for which people have given their lives, is that WE THE PEOPLE (quoting from the cannon of the Constitution) have every right in the world to tell our elected officials our views. Dissent is no sin, as long as it is presented in a civil manner, it seems to me.
The fact that some people, not all people, at the Town Hall meetings are yelling and screaming really should come as no surprise to any of us. Turn on the cable news programs on CNN, FOX and MSNBC and you will see, quite often, people yelling at each other. When my wife and I were newly married I used to watch CNN’s “Crossfire”. My wife referred to it as “the yelling man show”.
I was a very odd teenager. One of my favorite TV shows was William F. Buckley’s “Firing Line”. Mr. Buckley used to debate guests on a variety of issues. He never raised his voice. He never belittled their character. He carried on reasoned discussion. No wonder the show was lost in ether of noise with the advent of the cable news networks.
Our elected officials have not helped the tone of debate in this country. Both Democrats and Republicans harangue one another. It’s not quite as bad with members of the Senate where there is more of a tradition of civility, than in the rowdy House of Representatives. Yet, some senators should have their bottoms spank for the mean and spiteful things they say about the character of other people.
You might be interested to know that in Robert’s Rules of Order, that both houses use to guide and conduct their business, there is a provision that a member may not ever question the character of a fellow member. Following that provision would lead to civil discourse. Some of our elected officials might want to bone up on Robert’s Rules.
The second thing that August of 2009 will be remembered by me for is the ELCA’s Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis. Regardless of what you may have thought about the outcome of various votes, particularly those on human sexuality, if you watched any of the assembly at all on the Web you must have been impressed with the civility of debate. (I will not give my views on those votes in this particular venue, at this time.)
I did watch some of the debates concerning various resolutions. The resolutions concerning human sexuality, by their very nature, raised some intense feelings in people both in and out of the assembly hall. When speakers went to the microphones to express their views, they may have been passionate about their views, but the vast majority of people speaking, that I saw, at least, seemed to be working to remain civil to even those people with who they disagreed passionately.
I do believe that the delegates at the assembly modeled good, Christian discourse. They are to be commended for that, regardless of one’s views concerning the outcome of votes.
It is hard to state one’s views without anger and rancor at times. Blessed St. Peter in the third chapter of his first letter reminds us:
8Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing. 10For “Those who desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit; 11let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it. 12For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16yet do it with gentleness and reverence. (I Peter 3:8-16)
A Christian person can, indeed, have a strong view, even a passionate view. But, the Christian person must always in the heat of debate realize that Christ died and rose again for the sake of the person they are debating. To scream at another person isn’t just bad form, it is to deny Jesus’ profound love for those we debate and disagree with.
I have friends who don’t see eye to eye with me on all manner of issues. Yet, we never become nasty, we never become testy. We work hard at maintaining a bond of peace.
If only people could remember such things as they debate and disagree with each other.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Too Far From Home
I have always been interested in space flight. As a little boy, growing up during the glory days of the US space program I would watch every Gemini launch, sometimes even faking an illness to stay home and watch Walter Cronkite describe a launch. I send letters to NASA asking for pictures of the astronauts and other information. I built plastic models of space ships (rather badly). I turned several large boxes into Gemini space capsules, cutting open portholes and decorating the outside of “the capsule” with the letters USA drawn in crayon.
As an adult I have continued to be enthralled with space flight. I watched Ton Hank’s wonderful HBO series, “From the Earth to the Moon”. I own the movie “Apollo 13”, which stars Hanks. I have built, or better to say rebuilt, plastic models of spacecraft and done a fairly good job, I might add. I have been to the Kennedy Space Center several times to see launches of the Shuttle.
As an avid space fan I’ve read dozens of wonderful books, some by the astronauts themselves, on space flight. I just finished reading a marvelous book by Chris Jones, Too Far From Home. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in modern day space flight.
Mr. Jones book recounts a little known and hardly remembered story in the history of the US space program. Too Far From Home tells the story of three men, two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut, who became stranded in space aboard the International Space Station after the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in early 2003. Immediately following the loss of Columbia the entire US shuttle fleet was grounded for two and a half years. The three men on the ISS were left orbiting 290 miles above the surface of the earth.
The three man crew was eventually returned to earth by a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
The men stayed aboard the ISS several months longer than had been planned. At first, all three men were content to be in space, even with no way of getting back to earth. They had enough food, water and other supplies to last them in orbit. They enjoyed living in the weightless environment of space.
They were especially enthralled with looking at the beauty of the Earth passing beneath them. Everyday they witnessed fourteen sunrises and sunsets. They could see the glorious colors of the Northern Lights. They witnessed lightening storms far below them. They even saw meteors burning up in our planets atmosphere from above.
Their view of earth was Godlike. Yet, they were totally and completely removed from Earth. They could gaze on the surreal beauty of Earth from space with no way to get to the planet and more importantly the people they loved.
It would not be too much of a stretch to say that a deep gulf or chasm had been fixed between those space travelers and the earth when the Columbia was lost.
Luke, the gospel writer, tells us a story of a gulf or chasm in his reporting of Jesus’ parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). In the parable the rich man finds himself in hell because of his lack of care for the poor man, Lazarus, who used to lay at his gate. In the story the rich man can see Lazarus in paradise with Father Abraham. He can see a place of life and refreshment that he cannot get to because, as Abraham tells him, “between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and one can cross from there to us.”
That was pretty much the situation of the men of Expedition Six, the official designation for those three standard space travelers. They could see Earth. They could speak to Earth. They could e-mail their friends and families. They gaze at the beauty and the goodness of Earth, but they couldn’t get to Earth anymore than the Rich Man could get into paradise.
It’s that sense of being so close, yet so far away that makes Too Far From Home a compelling read. It’s that sense of being so close, yet so far away that makes the reading of the parable frightening. We, some of us, are raised to think of hell as a separate reality cut off from the vision of heaven. But, that’s not what this parable suggests. The Rich Man can see the party that Lazarus is at. He can’t get there. As some wags might say, “and that’s the hell of it”.
The men of Expedition Six did get back to the good Earth. The chasm and gulf was bridged by their capsule when it streaked back to earth.
Jesus tells his parable to us, I think, as something of a warning. The chasm between Abraham, Lazarus and the Rich Man was a result of the chasm that the Rich Man had set between himself and Lazarus during their lifetimes.
What, I wonder, are the gulfs and chasms that even now I am setting between myself and other people?
As an adult I have continued to be enthralled with space flight. I watched Ton Hank’s wonderful HBO series, “From the Earth to the Moon”. I own the movie “Apollo 13”, which stars Hanks. I have built, or better to say rebuilt, plastic models of spacecraft and done a fairly good job, I might add. I have been to the Kennedy Space Center several times to see launches of the Shuttle.
As an avid space fan I’ve read dozens of wonderful books, some by the astronauts themselves, on space flight. I just finished reading a marvelous book by Chris Jones, Too Far From Home. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in modern day space flight.
Mr. Jones book recounts a little known and hardly remembered story in the history of the US space program. Too Far From Home tells the story of three men, two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut, who became stranded in space aboard the International Space Station after the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in early 2003. Immediately following the loss of Columbia the entire US shuttle fleet was grounded for two and a half years. The three men on the ISS were left orbiting 290 miles above the surface of the earth.
The three man crew was eventually returned to earth by a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
The men stayed aboard the ISS several months longer than had been planned. At first, all three men were content to be in space, even with no way of getting back to earth. They had enough food, water and other supplies to last them in orbit. They enjoyed living in the weightless environment of space.
They were especially enthralled with looking at the beauty of the Earth passing beneath them. Everyday they witnessed fourteen sunrises and sunsets. They could see the glorious colors of the Northern Lights. They witnessed lightening storms far below them. They even saw meteors burning up in our planets atmosphere from above.
Their view of earth was Godlike. Yet, they were totally and completely removed from Earth. They could gaze on the surreal beauty of Earth from space with no way to get to the planet and more importantly the people they loved.
It would not be too much of a stretch to say that a deep gulf or chasm had been fixed between those space travelers and the earth when the Columbia was lost.
Luke, the gospel writer, tells us a story of a gulf or chasm in his reporting of Jesus’ parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). In the parable the rich man finds himself in hell because of his lack of care for the poor man, Lazarus, who used to lay at his gate. In the story the rich man can see Lazarus in paradise with Father Abraham. He can see a place of life and refreshment that he cannot get to because, as Abraham tells him, “between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and one can cross from there to us.”
That was pretty much the situation of the men of Expedition Six, the official designation for those three standard space travelers. They could see Earth. They could speak to Earth. They could e-mail their friends and families. They gaze at the beauty and the goodness of Earth, but they couldn’t get to Earth anymore than the Rich Man could get into paradise.
It’s that sense of being so close, yet so far away that makes Too Far From Home a compelling read. It’s that sense of being so close, yet so far away that makes the reading of the parable frightening. We, some of us, are raised to think of hell as a separate reality cut off from the vision of heaven. But, that’s not what this parable suggests. The Rich Man can see the party that Lazarus is at. He can’t get there. As some wags might say, “and that’s the hell of it”.
The men of Expedition Six did get back to the good Earth. The chasm and gulf was bridged by their capsule when it streaked back to earth.
Jesus tells his parable to us, I think, as something of a warning. The chasm between Abraham, Lazarus and the Rich Man was a result of the chasm that the Rich Man had set between himself and Lazarus during their lifetimes.
What, I wonder, are the gulfs and chasms that even now I am setting between myself and other people?
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