Rice is Wrong!

To a friend who supports Condoleezza Rice's take on #CRT ...

It's all about the truth [name] ... kids can handle the truth; it's the adults who can't. 

Good teachers, graded lessons, everything taught with care ... but the Whites in charge are scared to death of the truth, and they don't want their children exposed to it. Claiming that children are too vulnerable. But they're not concerned about the kids; they're concerned about protecting their "innocence," their position in society. 

Meanwhile, Black kids suffer every day, and so do their parents and grandparents. 

And we [privileged whites] grew up with the lies: cowboys and Indians, minstrels, opium-smoking Chinese, and Gone with the Wind. 

Truth works, and, yes, kids can handle the truth, and if there's some guilt, what's wrong with guilt? A strong and sensitive conscience should be able to feel guilt; not the neurotic kind, but the honest kind, a corporate guilt, "the sins of the parents visited upon the children" - and the children should be given half a chance to see and hear what those sins are. 

In this case, as in most, Rice is wrong. I've followed her for years because she's a Presbyterian - but somewhere along the line, truth-telling never made it to home plate with her. Argh. She's badly mistaken, and it's not the first time.

Some Thoughts/Tweets about Change

 10.9.21

Every day, changes ... most incrementally small, small enough to never notice, but added up, over time, change is evident. How I think, feel, walk, talk, sleep and eat. My "religion," too. Some elements remain, but most have changed, some discarded. I'm 77.

Change is life - from Adam and Eve to you and me - nothing remains static, everything evolves. Frightening to some people, disturbing to most, resisted by nearly everyone. We love stability, but stability is hell. Heaven is a process of constant discovery, renewal, with light.

Thinking about my career, reviewing the years, I changed things in the life of the church, and most always it was painful. Religion strives for stability. "I'd rather take my church to my grave than see it change," said one. "Besides, I'm too old to change."

I've always been a reader - from The Hardy Boys, to the Weekly Reader; from comics to biographies; history, poetry, mystery and espionage. My imagination full of adventure, courage, danger, and hope. I'd like to think that my soul remains supple in the hands of time and God.

Religion has mostly been my friend. Though for me as a career-minster, it's been an enemy. For me, religion has provided the means of thought, contemplation, review and revision. For others, it's a bulwark that cannot be moved; it's a hidey place; a blankie; an idol.

For religion to remain stable, it has to have idols - wood and iron, stone and gold. Golden Calves rather than the Mountain God of Cloud and Fire. What better idol than skin color; "my skin, my race, my way of life, my people, superior - all by God's UNCHANGING decree."

 Most every morning, before my prayer journal work, I say aloud: The LORD's Prayer, The Apostles' Creed, a prayer from The Book of Common Prayer (slightly modified), and the Hail Mary.

The first two, of course, were always a part of my growing up years, said every Sunday in church.

The Anglican Prayer added to my repertoire, and the Hail Mary, some many years ago.

I was long uncomfortable with The Hail Mary until I gave it some thought with a Rosary gift from the chaplain at Gethsemani Abbey, Fr. Matthew Kelty.

These traditional elements comprise, for me, a foundation - when all else seems fragile and fluid, or slipping away, I find these elements to be a reminder, an encouragement, to be steady ... or not to worry when my personal reservoirs of faith run dry ...

The mercy, the love, the goodness of God, doesn't depend upon me, though I'm a part of what God is doing. Not my decision, not my effort or faith ... but that of God. And all of it by grace.

𝑂𝑢𝑟 𝐹𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛 ... 𝐼 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝐴𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑦, 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟 ... 𝐴𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑦 𝐺𝑜𝑑, 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛 ... 𝐻𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦, 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑂𝑅𝐷 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑒 ...

Sure, criticism abounds ... male language and such ... and I'm not blind or deaf to them ...

I say them, I would like to think, mindfully and carefully ... with awareness and sensitivity ...

And so it is, this day, Oct. 1, 2021 ... and God's Peace to all.