Month: February 2023

Choose Life! Or, Not. It’s Up To You!

Published by mhelbert on February 16, 2023

This past Sunday I had the privilege to share from the pulpit at St. B’s. (Click here to see Facebook video of the service.) The lections for this week were difficult ones. They had to do with choosing life and death; prosperity and adversity. We read the part about divorce and anger in the Sermon on the Mount. Negative topics for many people.
I chose the passage form Deut. 30:15-20 where Moses and the elders of Israel challenged the people to choose between two ways. Would the nation of Israel follow the path that leads to life, prosperity, and security? Or, would they choose death, want, and destruction? “Choose today!” Moses commanded them.
On the face of things, this seems like, “Well, Duh!” Of course they would choose Life, Right? Who in their right mind would choose otherwise? “Lead on, Moses! We’re all with you! YAY!!!”
What most folks fail to read, though, is the part where Moses pretty much states that they will fail. And, fail miserably. He went so far as to say that they did not have hearts to know, eyes to see, nor ears to hear. In other words, after they had witnessed all that God had done with them and for them, they still would not get it at all.
A lot of folks walk around today thinking, “Whew! I’m glad that’s not me! I’m a believer and one of God’s special people. I would never make the wrong choices and wind up on God’s Naughty List! Yay, me!”
Oh, really???
Such ignorance and arrogance! When we say that God could never accept LGBT+ people, we’re exposing our arrogance. When we say that natural disasters happen because someone, (not us), sins or accepts sinfulness. When we sayt “if only we hadn’t taken prayer out of school everything would be made right” our ignorance of God shines like the noonday Sun.
Every single day we make choices that take us away from the Way of Life.
Every. Single. Day.
“Well, God leads me to believe that those people, (you fill in the blank of the latest ‘Out Group), are sinners and destined for Hell.”
No, God does NOT lead you there.
“But, the devil made me do it!” You’re not Flip Wilson. And, no the devil did NOT make you do anything.
The passage from Deuteronomy was pretty clear. Moses said, “YOU choose!”
We are all Free Moral Agents. We choose our path. No one else chooses for us. Period. God certainly is not going to force our choices. God may attempt to influence our decisions. God will never coerce a decision. And, God will never punish anyone for making any decision. God did warn the Israelites about impending doom. Not because God was planning to use some punitive action against them. No! God sees the way and may warn about the consequences that are already present on any given course. God does not cause them. In fact, by warning the Israelites, God showed love for them. “Don’t go that way! Thar be Beasties!”
Even when we choose the way that leads toward death, (and, Beasties!), God has already prepared a way for us to change direction and skip over to the path of Life. (This is something that I know personally. Lord knows I’ve chosen some horrendous paths to explore. I destroyed lives and broke relationships. Not good. You’ll need to take my word on that. I won’t detail anything. Mostly because anything that I may or may not have been active in is part and parcel of the Way of Humanity.)
For me, and for many others like me, God’s grace allowed me to change the way I followed and take the path of Life. That’s how God works. That’s Good News!
Not like the so-called good news that fundamentalists and evangelicals preach. Their good news is not good. They say that the path toward death is only averted by their proprietary formula, or better, sacred spell, that supposedly puts someone on the right path automatically. Without those magic words, people are doomed to some Medieval eternal punishment that is NEVER mentioned by God. In fact, even with the recitation of magic words, people still rush headlong along that path of curses and destruction. It’s how people are. So be it. Amen.
Still, God in God’s mercy and grace embraces us where we are when we listen to God’s voice. Then we see God as the Lover of the World who stoops into our reality, not worrying about the mud and the muck, and walks with us. Always, God leads with tenderness. Always.
Again, Good News.

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Words Are More Powerful Than You Think!

Published by mhelbert on February 9, 2023

Today is Thursday, February 9, 2023.
I mention this because on Sunday, February 12, 2023 I will be in the pulpit at St. Barnabas Church in Bay Village. I will have about 10 minutes to present a bunch of words to a large group of people who are expecting to hear Words For The Ages. I’m sure that they all come in high anticipation of some oracular pronouncement that will change the world and align the Earth with the Cosmic Graces of God. They arrive hungry for the wisdom of Solomon, himself. We who pontificate on the great mysteries of the Creator are expected to be authorities. We are, after all, experts on all things Spiritual! (Spoiler alert: we aren’t. We’re lucky we put our pants on with the fly in the front. That IS where it belongs, right?)
In our tradition a homily is a brief observation, usually on whatever Scripture lections are read that morning. It is not the main focus of our gathering. The Eucharist is that. But, that’s not to say that a homily is a useless appendage that has hung on for millenia. It isn’t.
What else it isn’t is an opportunity for some preacher to ramble on for an hour. I spent most of my adult life in one of those churches. We weren’t offered a “sermon.” No, we had “teachings.” Yeah, I guess that makes it more important. How can a person possibly know which group of people God hates unless they are taught? These men, they’re always men, rattle on and on. They pull proof texts out of their behinds to PROVE what God thinks, who God likes, and more importantly, how we are always RIGHT! Usually, the audience is lost after the first 5 minutes. They are thinking about the roast in the oven or who’s gonna win the Super Bowl, or something. These guys could take a lesson from the 10 minute homily. But, then, they couldn’t impress their flock with their ignorance.
No, I have a finite amount of time to make a point. A point that may enlighten or inspire. It could offer freedom to someone shackled in unbelief. It could simply make space for someone to smile. The homily is not a place to dazzle with brilliance, or like those other preachers I mentioned, baffle with bullshit. It is a place to offer hope and understanding. The words are words of welcome and peace.
There are places where words have other purposes. Words must be used in order to “speak truth to power.” They shine a spotlight on injustice and hatred. Words are Power for the Powerless.
There was a movie made in the 1970s. The story was about St. Francis of Assisi. If you’re interested, the title is “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.” Warning: it is a truly bad movie. The only thing good was the music by Donovan Leach. Take that for what it’s worth. In the movie the Francis responds to a friend’s offer of help with,
“Words, Bernardo. There was a time when I believed in words.”
The gist of that response was that words without action are simply empty air. Profound, right? Like I said, the best part was Donovan.
I do have to confess, there was a time when I believed that. In fact, from the time I joined the fundagelical world of faith, I was indoctrinated with the idea that actions are stronger than words. If our work did not match the faith that we professed with our mouths we were missing the mark by a wide margin.
Can I hear an Amen!
As I have gotten older, and become more of a writer, preacher, and teacher, I have come to see that as only partially accurate. At Best. Words are powerful. Word are active. Even the Scripture uses words to introduce people to the God Who loves us. Words create worlds and spawn change in human lives.
Words can also destroy and kill. They can be a combustible substance that sets the world on fire. Not believe in words, Frankie? Take a look around and you’ll see what words are capable of.
I handle words with the same care that I would handle nitro glycerin. I take my calling very seriously because I know that what I say is able to affect others. That’s why it’s Thursday, February 9, 2023 and I’m preparing to fill a 10 minutes slot of time this Sunday. I’m not even sure that this will be enough time to prepare properly.
But, I hope so.

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Happy Milestones and A New Friend

Published by mhelbert on February 8, 2023

I have a new friend living with me. He gets to stay in my office on my desk. I’m sure that he will get on famously with Henrietta, Pickett, and Dobby. His brother, Gerald, used to live with us a lot of years ago. My wife picked Gerald up a couple days before we were married. That guy lived a lot of years and grew to about 8’! Eventually, though, he became compost. Cycle of life and all that. We haven’t named this one just yet. Maybe Gerald II, esq. That would be fun!
He, like Gerald before him, came to live with us at a momentous moment. Gerald was our first almost 47 years ago. (It doesn’t seem nearly that long. Besides, I can’t be that old!) This occasion is my wife’s birthday and her retirement. She is hanging up her stethoscope after 25 years in a neo-natal intensive care unit at one of our local hospitals. Twenty-five years of caring for the sickest and frailest of all humans. Many of these kids enter our world weighing in at a whopping 2 pounds! Some never get to go home.
Working in the NICU takes a special kind of person. The person must be focused and engaged all of the time. They have to be tender and hard at the same time. Not only to these nurses need to care for their young charges, they have to balance the fine line of dealing with doctors who don’t know half what they think they know. In these cases they truly have to be the patients’ advocate. Then there is the PR work that is necessary when talking to parents and other family. At some hospitals the parents are in no condition to care for their child. Nurses need to advocate for these children, also. Sometimes it’s hard to talk to a mother who will not get custody of her baby.
The hours on their feet, the all too infrequent trips to the lav, and many missed meals are only the physical stresses these folks need to manage. There are the hospital rules and policies that are really not employee friendly. Many times concern over this or that policy adds stress to stress. It’s truly no wonder many of these nursing professionals suffer physical injury and illness. Such is the role they choose to play. Oh, and for my wife, she has had to put up with me. No easy task.
I know that I painted this in rather stark terms. There are always the rewards of this work. When the child responds to treatment and begins to flourish. I have seen the pictures of children that my wife cared for, sometimes for months, who finally went home. The grateful mothers have sent pictures to my wife as these children turn 1, 2, or 5 years old. They are growing and learning and loving. This is the payoff for all of the difficulties that the doctors and nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers, and all of the staff receive.
And, it is enough.
So, after all of these years I say, “Happy Birthday!” and “Yay, You! It’s time to retire!”

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Dragons! I really like Dragons!

Published by mhelbert on February 7, 2023

I enjoy a good story as much as anyone. You know, “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away there lived a beautiful princess.” And, so the story moves on from that introduction to the problem. That can be a poison apple or a wicked stepmother. Or, it could be that the beautiful princess desperately wants to wear armor and carry a broad sword. She desires nothing less than to ride on on her white war horse and slay some great dragon that has been terrorizing the countryside. Of course, at this point the handsome young prince enters into the tale. His sole regard is to save the beautiful princess, get married, and live happily ever after. The End.
The best stories like this are when the beautiful princess knocks that arrogant prince right off of his horse and onto his pompous keester. She then rides off to slay that dragon alone. The New End.
I like these stories because they help to right many historic wrongs.
Wrong attitudes about princesses.
Wrong attitudes about princes.
Wrong attitudes about dragons! (Hey, even dragons need some lovin’!)
It seems that we humans have evolved in such a way that we need to be the best; the strongest; the most correct. We gotta get out there to prove to the princesses of the world that they really, really need a big, strong prince to save them from themselves. We must set them on the straight and narrow where everything is in its right place. Dragons, sadly, on the bottom. (Yeah! I really like dragons! Deal with it!)
This kind of stratified reality is something that most folks will go to great lengths to maintain. No one wants to be the one to step out of line and be the odd person out. We, as my Uncle Al used to say, “Gotta go with the flow.” I might agree with that as long as the flow is a class 5 rapid rushing to a waterfall. But, that’s me.
In our culture we tend to conform to what society says in the norm. Get a job. Find a mate. Raise a family. Oh, and make sure that your 401k is filling up nicely. We turn a blind eye to the players who seem to be the decision makers. In fact, if our political reality is any indication, we desperately want to get on the band wagon of those who seem to be the loudest and most cock-sure of themselves. These are the “winners.” No one wants to hang with the losers. Well, because they’re LOSERS! So, day after day, year after year, we follow. Always looking at who the popular trend-setter du jour is. When we get to our very own personal The End we look back and say, “Well, I got through that.”
I read, recently, where the Apostle Paul called what I just described living in the flesh. All that really means is that a person lives naturally. They follow their natural desires, inclinations, and appetites. They look to the powers that be for cues on what they should wear; eat; think. There is not much of a life in that. Eventually, The End. No credits. No postlude to inspire.
Paul also wrote about living a different way. He called this living in the Spirit. We can tell when someone is like this. They are like that princess kicking the prince to the curb so she can seek a greater purpose. They walk with confidence knowing that they are being their most genuine self. Perhaps, most importantly, they characterize something that is truly counter-cultural. They have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control. For those paying attention, these are what the fruit of the Spirit looks like. Just like a ripe apple has a certain scent, a nice crispness, taste that is sweet and juicy, so folks who live their lives according to the Spirit can easily be identified by their own character that doesn’t warm up to the socially acceptable power-brokers or trend setters. They don’t follow people who are confident and assertive like a dog sniffing up the dog in front of them.
It’s not always the easiest thing to leave the prince sitting in the mud and horse-hockey. It takes a special kind of commitment to buck the system and forge a new path. But, no one said it would be easy.
Now, where’s that dragon?

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No Longer Working for the Other Guy

Published by mhelbert on February 6, 2023

It’s Monday. For us retired folks, that means it’s Saturday. Every day is Saturday. And, Saturday after Saturday can get old after a while. It would be so easy to get up late and have a cup of coffee with the morning news. Maybe do a couple chores. Then, of course, the obligatory afternoon nap. Then supper, the news, and bed time. There are variations on this depending on the season or where you live. You can throw in a round of golf before the nap. Or, maybe take up that yoga class that someone said would help with the aches and pains that seem to be getting far more frequent and severe. Yep, retirement. This is what I worked to achieve for those 50 years. This is the fruit of my labors.
Actually, it’s pretty underwhelming over all. When I was working for someone else there were always deadlines to be met. Everything ABSOLUTELY HAD TO GET DONE NOW! And, ERROR FREE! Every. Single. Time. This kept us active and on our toes. There was no time to sit back and chillax. Schedules don’t change. Even when they’re completely unrealistic.
Then, there was dealing with people who, well, let’s just say lacked. I remember after a meeting that I had been fairly expressive in my somewhat even-keeled demeanor. Actually, I had basically told someone that they were fucking crazy if they thought that what they wanted was going to get done. My boss took me aside afterwards to add a corrective to what I had said. I told him that I can’t help it. I just have a very low tolerance for ignorance. That didn’t fly too far. But, it kept me active and on my toes!
Even though I was working for the other guy for most of my waking hours, that didn’t change any of the responsibilities that I had after working hours. For a lot of years I spent every evening save on each week driving one child or the other to soccer practice. Or, we had teach conferences or band/choir concerts, drama club, or to this one’s or that’s friend’s house. I enjoyed all of that. It’s what makes parenting fun. I would not have traded any of that for the world. Then, there was band practice. I spent most of the 80’s and early 90’s either playing in bands or mixing sound. This took up what little time that I had after all of the aforementioned activities were done. Yep, this surely kept me active and on my toes.
All of those years on the move, keeping everyone happy, including me, are a happy memory now.
I’m retired. Every day is Saturday.
I think I’ll go take a nap.

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When Fish Rule the World

Published by mhelbert on February 2, 2023

It’s Thursday. Since this is my blog I have made a Magisterial Decree that I would write something lighter than many of the other missives that I have graced the World Wide Web with.
So let it be written; So let it be done.
This morning as I was journaling, my mind drifted to something that’s been on every one’s minds. Well, maybe not the GOP. But, that’s a story for another time. That thing is the possibility of a Mass Extinction Event occurring in the not too distant future. (See, I told you it would be lighter subject matter!) What this event might look like is anyone’s guess. We can choose from Climate Change to Nuclear Devastation. There is always the possibility that a chunk of rock and ice from the outer reaches of the solar system could smash New York City. Or, just maybe the Earth herself will simply open up like she’s had enough and finish us off.
What isn’t discussed too often, though, is what might happen after such an event.
There have been 5 Mass Extinction Events over the course of the Earth’s existence. They have been caused by diverse conditions. From catastrophic climate swings to the big one that finished off the dinosaurs. That one, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 65 million years ago, reset the evolutionary trajectory of the world. The giants who ruled were reduced to stone and dust. Whereas, the small mammals who effectively hid, evolved into us. Pretty slick!
I wonder, though, what the next event will change. Will mammals survive? If the sun is hidden behind a layer of thick atmospheric gases, that seems unlikely. Other terrestrial critters my also find survival difficult.
What if the next evolutionary step takes place under the sea? What would the world look like at the end of another 65 million years of aquatic evolution? Rather than land based animals growing into humans again, what if our gilled and scaled friends became true Merple? A very advanced submarine life that became sentient. These creatures might learn how to control the vast currents of the oceans in ways that could control the climate around the world. Of course, by that time the land masses that we know would likely be different. The tectonic plates of the world slowly returning to some future version of Pangaea. So, the oceans would also look much different.
I know that some of you are thinking, “Wouldn’t it be more likely that the mammalian sea life that we know today would take the next step toward sentience? Not if the air breathers like dolphins and whale couldn’t continue to breathe a possibly toxic atmosphere. We must consider that.
No, I think fish make that leap.*
Now, what if two lines of evolution take place. A sea based one and a land based one. Would one serve the other? If, like I speculated, and enlightened civilization of Merple learned to control the currents, and therefore the climate, would they be regarded as gods? Creatures who could decide where the rain fell and the crops grew might be seen as divine. It wouldn’t be the first time that climate gods were worshiped.
But, we also need to consider the fact that the Merple can’t walk on land. Would that give the land-dwellers the upper hand? As we have witnessed in our run on the planet, land-dwellers can learn to travel on and under the oceans. Might that allow them to retaliate and control those in their coral castles under the water?
Or, would they learn to cooperate? The Merple helping the land-locked species by providing a suitable climate. And, the land-dwellers providing from the bounty of the land food and assistance with whatever needs the Merple might have.
I’d like to think that this would be the outcome. Species living in caring relationships knowing that they could harm the other at a moment’s notice. But, choosing not to.

*No, Q people. The reptilians don’t win. It’s the fish. Guaranteed.

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God’s Heart’s Desire is to Know Us…For Real

Published by mhelbert on February 1, 2023

Recently, I wrote a post about knowing God. In that post I mentioned a bit about the changeability of God. I stated my thought that God does indeed experience change in many ways. I made a brief case against those who say that God is above any human understanding. God does not have emotion. God is so transcendent that it would cause God to become somehow contaminated if God engaged with people on a human level. This thinking came to fruition during what is called the Scholastic period of Church history. Thomas Aquinas was the primary mover in this. The primary error of Aquinas and Anselm, (and, later in the Reformation, Calvin), is that they began with a Hellenistic (Aristotelian) philosophy to define God by reason rather than by revelation in Christ. By regarding human reason above Divine Revelation, these thinkers got off on the wrong foot. And, the Church has suffered for it ever since. This so-called Classic Theology of God simply creates God in the image of humanity. This has left us with the obvious corollary that reveals the gross error of reason before revelation, “God hates the same things that I hate.” Aquinas et al. may not have used those words, but the end result is the same. God is reduced to human reason. Therefore, it is insufficient in helping us understand God.
The most important change I said was how I believe God’s experience of the human condition in and through Jesus was new. God could not completely understand humanity. Just as we, not being God, cannot understand the Divine Reality of God. God, however, was able to come to a solution by “pitching God’s tent among humankind.” In this way, God was able to experience all that we humans experience. From being an infant with dirty diapers to a teenager with raging hormones, Jesus was truly human. He had friends that he played with as a youth. Jesus may have even had a crush on that cute girl who lived up the street. You know, the baker’s daughter. Every thing that we experience as people, Jesus experienced. This must include experiencing Sin as we experience it. In this way, and only in this way, was God able to finally and effectively destroy Sin and Death.
There are other instances in the Scripture about how God interacted with people and, in many cases, changed His mind. In these instances language like, “and, God repented of (you fill in the blank)” describe God changing direction and not allowing something to happen. There have been many arguments made that allow God to somehow remain impassible in the face of these texts. I don’t buy them. I think that God did indeed change God’s mind in response to humans changing their actions at the time.
There is one aspect of God, though, that I do think could be considered immutable. There is, in fact, something about God that God has chosen NOT to change. It’s the one constant that runs through the Biblical text like a red thread.

God’s Character.

I think that God’s character remains the same from age to age. It is the one guarantee that God is Who God says that God is.
That, of course begs the question, “What does God’s character look like?” Fortunately, we have a living example of God’s character. The One who came from God and returned to God. Jesus of Nazareth is that One. In that previous post I mentioned the words from the Gospel According to John where the writer said that God came and pitched God’s tent among humanity. Actually, the text says, “The Word pitched his tent.” The Word in John’s story is Jesus. He is the Word who lived with God and was, himself, God. So, God did come and join with us on this pale, blue dot. God did that through Jesus.
In this way we may see glimpses of God’s character. Like a person adrift in the ocean who sees something out of the corner of their eye. Realizing that it is land, hope blooms and the person finds themself casting a longing eye at the promise of salvation. So, too, we may glimpse God’s character in Jesus and place hope in the unchangeableness of that character. In Jesus we see that God’s character is made of Love. Love is the center of who God is. It is the force that inspired God to engage with the world and with humanity in the beginning. It is what sustained God’s people as they tried to follow God’s commands. God’s tender touch lifted Israel and guided them in the wilderness. And, it was God’s love that caused God to go to the cross so that we might finally be free from the power of Sin and Death.
God’s love is immutable. It can never change or weaken. It is what allows us to know God as God’s children. It is that glimpse of God’s character that causes our hope to bloom and blossom into the reflection of God’s own Glory.
So, while I still contend that God engages intimately with us and is capable of emotion and change, I stand firm in the belief that God’s loving character will always be the bedrock of hope for all people.

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