Woke Up Thinking

Woke up this morning (thank you LORD),
Thinking.

Thinking of some who've played a pivotal roll in my life.
Whose words opened windows.

So the light, as I see it, came in.
To accent and accelerate.

I give thanks for Calvin College.
And two professors:

Sociologist Rodger Rice who had us read:
"The Other America."

And Don Wilson, anthropologist, who suggested that
The Church missionally could be boorish and cruel.

And another professor: theologian Dr. John Bratt, who
Gave me the term, "Theistic Evolution."

In high school (Grand Rapids Christian High School,
The Rev. Morris Faber who said, "I believe you will do it."

Along the way, other professors of English and History,
Who saw in me something worth redeeming.

And Seminary professors, Western Theological Seminary, who
Saw the world large and bright.

Folks skilled in things of mind and heart.
Who loved the LORD, and loved the world.

I've said this all before.
But it deserves saying again.

These teachers taught me well, and
Well they shaped my life.

They led me to a better place.
Where the light is bright and where compassion abides.

So, what can I say?
But Thank you!

World with End

I found myself thinking the other day.
Yes, I know, a real surprise. Ha.


Thinking about the edge of the "known" universe.
What?
7 ... 8 billion light years away?


And then what?


Beyond that?


More space?


Infinity?


Forever?


World without end?


In my mind's eye, I have a sense of something going there, and then, on and on and on ... and then more ...


Words with specificity suddenly crash in on me.


I need definition, mostly, I guess ... it's so far, and then no more.
It's this long, wide, high, deep.


For a moment, it's as if I grasp it.
And, then, it's gone.


My mind reaches beyond.
And then finds a wall, of sorts.
The end ...


Not of the universe, whatever that is.
But the end of my mind.
A mind of boundaries.
Distances.
Measurements.
Calculations.
Additions and subtractions.


Oh well ...
It intrigues me.
Can there be anything without end?
Then it can't be anything.
Any thing.


It's some thing ... more.
Than any thing.


I have an idea.
And then I don't.


World without end.
Amen!

True Blue

It was the Presidential Election of 1968, my second year in Western Theological Seminary, that D and I registered for the first time to vote.

We came from GOP families, I mean, GOP families, most of whom are still GOP.

We registered as Dems.

A few years later, after a stint in the coal fields of West Virginia, D and I were in Altoona, and I had prayer for the local Democratic group and said to them, before the prayer, that "I am a Democrat, because the Democratic Party has a clear and consistent record on behalf of people - and that all of this is consistent with my Christian Faith."

D and I have never looked back, but only forward. D's score is perfect; mine?

In 1980, in some fit of bi-partisan foolishness, I cast my vote for Reagan, something that has shamed me ever since.

With that exception, I'm Blue ... True Blue, all the way, because I believe in helping people, in doing everything, anything, to make life better.

And I believe in people ... people want a shot at life, a chance; people want to love and be loved; to have families and rear their children in peace; to eat pizza and have a vacation now and then; they want good schools and good jobs, and then come to retirement with confidence that there'll be enough to make it.

I believe in people, and I believe in God, and those two beliefs are pretty much the same ...

And I'm Blue to the core ...

A Morning Funeral

A funeral this morning for an unusually gifted man.
Who rode freight trains,
And invented new toys for his kids.
And reinvented and improved just about everything.


A video of stills and music ... from his parents to him as a babe in arms.


And then a kid ... and then the adolescent ... and then a young man.


And then a husband, and then a father, and then a grandfather and then a man getting up in years ... and then just shy of 90 turns around the sun, time to tuck things away and say goodbye.


Others now, to take up the tasks.
The fun, the work, the play and the love.


He managed to be more than a father, a husband and an uncle ... more than a friend and a co-worker ... what it was that he was, best summed up, I suppose in his:


Never-going-away kind of smile.


I saw his life unfold in all of those delightful pics.
Like a flower - from seed to bud to unfolding.
And then wilting in the heat of time.
Petals dropping away.
Life getting lived ... lived quite well ... and then ...


A Mighty Fortress Is Our God was a favorite.
So was Amazing Grace.
And lots of other music.


So, I wonder ... about this thing called life.
We're so unconscious of it when we're in the throes of it.
And, then, one day, it hits us.
We hear the clock ticking.
Incessantly.


It's okay.
Though I don't like it.
Times, I hate time.
And not a dern thing to do about it.


And so it goes.
Live while we can.
If we can.
As best we can.


Know nothing but love.
And love covers a multitude of sins.


What is love?
Oh, I don't know.
But I know it when I see it.


And I suppose you do, too.

A Morning Funeral

A funeral this morning for an unusually gifted man.
Who rode freight trains,
And invented new toys for his kids.
And reinvented and improved just about everything.

A video of stills and music ... from his parents to him as a babe in arms.
And then a kid ... and then the adolescent ... and then a young man.
And then a husband, and then a father, and then a grandfather and then a man getting up in years ... and then just shy of 90 turns around the sun, time to tuck things away and say goodbye.

Others now, to take up the tasks.
The fun, the work, the play and the love.

He managed to be more than a father, a husband and an uncle ... more than a friend and a co-worker ... what it was that he was, best summed up, I suppose in his:
Never-going-away kind of smile.

I saw his life unfold in all of those delightful pics.
Like a flower - from seed to bud to unfolding.
And then wilting in the heat of time.
Petals dropping away.

Life getting lived ... lived quite well ... and then ...

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God was a favorite.
So was Amazing Grace.
And lots of other music.

So, I wonder ... about this thing called life.
We're so unconscious of it when we're in the throes of it.
And, then, one day, it hits us.
We hear the clock ticking.

Incessantly.

It's okay.
Though I don't like it.
Times I hate time.

And not a dern thing to do about it.

And so it goes.
Live while we can.
If we can.
As best we can.

Know nothing but love.
And love covers a multitude of sins.

What is love?
Oh, I don't know.
But I know it when I see it.
And I suppose you do, too.

Cancer of the Soul

Cancer, a serious business requiring hard measures.
Surgery ...
Chemo ...
Radiation ...
And then some ...


Hard to treat.
Hard to defeat.
Hard to remove.


We all know this ...
From personal experience ...
Or that of loved ones.


Cancer's a serious business requiring hard measures.


But what of cancer of the soul?
Cancer of the spirit?
Cancer of our values and attitudes?


A serious business requiring hard measures.


As for the cancer of racism.
Most whites choose to pretend.
It's not there.


Or it's not their's ... but someone else's.


"It's not so bad."
"I'm okay."


At first instance, we all deny.
We all pretend.
When it comes to cancer.


But sooner or later, the reality
Is upon us.


And demands treatment.
Surgery ...
Chemo ...
Radiation ...
And then some ...


Racism is our social cancer.
And no sense pretending.
No sense hiding.
It hasn't gone away, has it?


Eating away at our vital organs.
Until little is left.
Soulless and weary.
We slog on in our denial.


Social cancer.
Cancer of the soul.
The mind and heart.
Attitudes and fears.


A serious business.
Requiring hard measures.

I Was Born ...

I was born and baptized a Presbyterian ...
I was reared in the Reformed Church of America.
I was ordained in the Presbyterian Church.
I'm doing an interim in a Congregational Church.

It's not the biggest kind of world.
But I've learned a lot.
Mostly, what I don't know.

It's been a good world for me.
I've learned about walls.
And how to take 'em down.

Noting wrong with a wall.
As long as it has plenty of openings.
Without doors.

Doors that never can be locked.
If there are no doors.
Just passage ways.

And there ya' have it.
It's been good for me.
Amazing world.