Be a Blessing, Not a Complainer

People who use social media like facebook, twitter, etc. know that it can be a mixed blessing. This is true for a number of reasons; one of them is that social media can be a tool for positive blessings, and it can be used as a tool for negative whining and complaints.

Not long ago, I noticed that the posts and status updates of some of my social media friends were really bringing me down. Every post seemed to be a complaint about life, about the government, about society. Eventually, I began to "hide" the updates from the most consistently negative of my friends, as they were starting to make me depressed.

Then there are those friends whose social media updates are a breath of fresh air. Postive. Uplifting. A blessing to the world wide web. Occasionally there would be a prayer request for a hospitalized family member or for getting through a particularly difficult situation (which is certainly fine), but generally speaking, they were free of complaints.

Politicians and government in general get a lot of the complaints. We sure do like to criticize and ridicule our elected officials! The elected officials, likewise, like to criticize and ridicule each other. I wonder, though: are the politicians following our lead, or is it the other way around? We complain about the partisanship and bickering in government; we complain about anyone who thinks differently than we do. If elected officials are there to represent the people, then perhaps their partisanship and bickering are an appropriate reflection of the people they represent.

What I'm saying is that if I want my representatives in government to act more civil toward those with whom they disagree, maybe such behavior needs to start with me.

Last week I spent a little time in downtown Long Beach, and in walking the streets I passed by the Occupy Long Beach camp. A part of me really wanted to engage these folks in conversation, and let them know that I think a lot of the stuff they are trying to bring to society's attention are the same things that God wants brought to our attention.

However, they seem more "anti" than "pro." There is a certain level of anger and even animosity that made me slightly uncomfortable as I passed by. So I smiled and said hello, and kept walking.

It's similar to the situation of the lobster protesters I've written about before.

I know, some things are worth getting angry about. I just think the ratio of positive thoughts and constructive action to complaints and snarkiness needs to be greater than it is. Starting with me.

Update: Here's a news article about a local Long Beach resident who, I think, exemplifies what I'm talking about here.

Jesus and the 99%

Am sick & in bed today, so please forgive the lack of eloquence here. However, I was reading a book by Corssan and came across this: "The Roman Empire was characterized by an abysmal gulf separating the upper from the lower classes. On one side of that great divide were the Ruler and the Governors, who together made up 1 percent of the population but owned at least half of the land. Also on that same side were three other classes: the Priests, who could own as much as 15 percent of the land; the Retainers, ranging from military generals to expert bureaucrats; and the Merchants, who probably evolved upward from the lower classes but who could end up with considerable wealth and even some political power as well." On the other side, Crossan goes on to say, were the Peasants, the ARtisans ("below the Peasants in social class"), and then the Degraded and the Expendable classes.

Jesus, as a carpenter, was in the Artisan class, in "the dangerous space between Peasants and Degradeds or Expendables." The gospels clearly set Jesus' ministry & message of the kingdom of God as an alternative to the kingdom of the Rulers, that 1 percent who oppressed the other 99 percent.

Just sayin'.

Now back to resting and drinking my fluids.

Source: John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography.  p. 21

You're Not Alone

Note:  I posted this last Thursday, but for some reason it disappeared from the blog, so I'm reposting it again today.

Last week, a strange thing happened here at FieldOfDandelions.com. 

First, I published a post on Monday.  Usually, new posts only appear here on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  However, the fact that I published on a Monday is not the strangest thing to have occured.

Second, I mentioned my post on facebook and twitter, letting people know that I had posted my reaction to the killing of Osama bin Laden.  This, also, is not particulary strange.  It wasn't the first time I had promoted my blog this way.

Third, more people viewed that particular post than anything else that has ever appeared here.  As blogs go, this one is a tiny drop in a vast sea of blogs, but still, it was exciting (and a little scary) to discover that so many people were motivated to read what I had written.

However, even that was not the strangest thing to occur here last week.

The strangest thing was the comments I received in response to that post.  I received some comments here on the blog, and quite a few more on the link to the blog that I posted via facebook.  Comments also came via telephone from relatives who read the blog, and they came through face-to-face conversations with people in my church and community who saw what I had written.  Every person who shared their thoughts with me said that they were grateful for what I'd written.  They were grateful, because they had those same thoughts themselves, but thought that they were the only ones.

Imagine that:  a whole crowd of people, all thinking alike, but each member of the crowd believing that he or she was the only one.

Last Friday I visited my neighborhood public library and checked out a book by Tina Rosenberg called Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World.  I'm currently about halfway through, but so far I've read about how much better black and Latino students do at Calculus when they study in a group and realize that they're not the only ones who want to excel in math.  I've read about how a sign at Petrified Forest National Park asking visitors to not take fossils only encouraged people to do so, because it showed an image of a group of people taking fossils - apparently no one wanted to be the "only one" who didn't go home with a souvenir - and when the sign was changed to only show one person taking a fossil, the thefts declined dramatically.  I've read about how social pressure causes teenagers to smoke and how it increases the spread of AIDS, and how social pressure can (and has been) used to reduce teen smoking and the spread of AIDS.

Apparently, it's human nature to want to be part of the group and to do what the group is doing or at least what the group approves of.  When we think we're the only one, we either hide, or change our behavior so that we more easily fit in.

So, to all those who believe that the words "killed" and "celebrate" do not belong together, I tell you:  you're not alone.  To those who believe that God's love extends even to our worst enemies, I say:  you're not alone.  To those who long for a more peaceful, compassionate Christianity, I say:  you're not alone.  To those who believe there is a greater deptgh to our faith than the soundbites that appear in the media, I say:  you're not alone.

Churches like mine are small, perhaps because we think that we are alone in wanting a deeper, more peaceful and compassionate spirituality than what we see in the world.... and because we feel that we are alone, we keep quiet.  However, there are many others who long for that same genuine faith.

Perhaps our message to the world should be:  "You're not alone."

Special Monday Post: On Bin Laden's Death

This is an excerpt from the article I'm submitting for this week's church newsletter....

My sons are 9 and 13. Next year, the youngest will start middle school and the oldest will start high school. It’s amazing how fast the years go by.

Even so, it remains that one of the most important rituals in our house comes when I read to my sons before bed. Over Spring Break, our schedule didn’t allow this to happen, so on Sunday evening, we resumed our normal routine with enthusiasm. Both boys were looking forward to reading the chapter of the Gringotts break-in in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; the youngest, because he’s never read it before, and the oldest, because he has.

We were about to begin. I was just waiting for the youngest one to come to the bedroom. He was saying goodnight to his mom, who was in the living room with the TV on. Finally he enters the bedroom, waving his arms and doing a funky dance that only a 9 year-old could do, and starts singing, “Bin Laden is dead, Bin Laden is dead…”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes, they just said so on TV.”

I said to him, “You know, I don’t think it makes God happy to have any of his children die. Not even Bin Laden.” He didn’t say anything, but he did stop dancing.

For the next half-hour, we read an exciting tale of dragons and gold and adventure. As we neared the end of the chapter, we were startled to hear some fireworks that one of our neighbors had shot off. Apparently, the whole world was now celebrating Bin Laden’s death.

As I said good night and turned out the light, I was reminded of another story, this one from long ago. The Hebrew people were suffering under a ruler who was at that time the world’s greatest terrorist. Pharaoh was ruthless. He took away the people’s freedom. In order to prevent them from becoming too powerful, he even ordered that their sons should be killed.

God saved the Hebrew people by leading them through the Red Sea. When Pharaoh’s army pursued, God allowed the sea to swallow them up.

Jewish legend says that the Hebrews then began to rejoice, but that God stopped them, saying, “Do not rejoice, for those Egyptians were my children, too.”

I am thankful that Bin Laden is no longer able to orchestrate terror and instill fear. I am thankful for those who work for justice in our world.

But I cannot bring myself to rejoicing over the death of one of God’s children.

Riding a Bike, Train, or Bus: Can it Be Cool?

The other day, while I was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes, I heard an interview on Marketplace with Stephen Dubner.  His conversation with Kai Ryssdal focused on "conspicuous convservation," in which people particiate in eco-friendly activities in order to show off how much they care about the environment. 

One thing Dubner said in particular caught my attention:

The Prius is the king of the hybrids. Now it's not necessarily because it's better than other hybrids; according to the Sextons, it's because the Prius has this unique shape which screams "hybrid," which screams "I love the earth more than you love the earth." Now, if you live in a community that cares a lot about the environment -- somewhere like Boulder, Colo. -- that's worth something.

Well, I started wondering about that.  In a place like Boulder, hybrids have a special "coolness" factor, and so a car that "screams" that it's a hybrid is going to do better than a car that is just as good - and just as eco-friendly - but looks more like any other car.

In other words, the Prius sells better because it has a coolness factor that other hybrids don't have.

The Marketplace conversation seemed to paint this negatively, emphasizing that some people make earth-friendly decisions only because it's cool; or, in the business language of Marketplace, because it's "worth something."

My wandering mind then started wondering about how that applies to my own mode of transportation.  When Stephen Dubner asked Kai Ryssdal what kind of car he drove, I thought of the kind of car I drove.  And actually, the "car" I drive most often is my bike. 

Here in Long Beach, bikes are starting to acquire some measure of "coolness" among the general population.  At a community meeting I attended recently, Long Beach City Manager Pat West talked about the city's master plan for bikes, a plan which is helping to make Long Beach "the most bike-friendly city in America."  West made frequent references to the fact that bicycling in Long Beach is for everyone, not just "guys in tight black shorts." 

Make of that what you will.  It does seem to me, however, that perhaps cycling is on its way to reaching a critical level of "coolness" in Long Beach, and when it does, everyone will ride a bike at least some of the time, not because they care about the environment or their health or the cost of gas, but simply because they want to be seen as "cool."

That, in my opinion, won't be such a bad thing.

Earlier this year a local NPR station - on its facebook page - invited folks to offer suggestions that would make public transportation in LA County better.  I left my own comment, suggesting that Metro work to make riding its buses and trains more fun.  Perhaps what I meant to say was "more cool."  At Disneyland, people ride the monorail not just to get from one place to another, but simply because it's fun and cool.  Why is a round trip on the Disneyland monorail cool, while a trip to downtown L.A. on the Blue Line isn't?  Seems to me that a ride on the Blue Line could be made to be fun, with not a whole lot of effort, and the costs of making the trains cool and fun to ride would be offset by the increase in riders.

Maybe someday riding public transportation will be cool enough that it will be "worth something" to people to be seen riding public transportation.  They'll ride buses and trains and ride their bikes simply because doing so screams "I love the earth more than you love the earth." And those who are stuck in freeway traffic will wish they were riding a bus or train, instead of the other way around.

Where many of my trips begin.

Tragedy in Tucson: My Confession

[Note: after I wrote this today, I didn't want to wait until Thursday (when I usually publish my blog), so it is appearing one day early...]

Following the tragic shooting in Tucson last week, it was so easy to jump on the bandwagon pointing to the causes of such violence in society.  Friends on Facebook immediately began pointing fingers at folks like Sarah Palin, whose website featured gun sights targeting a number of progressive/liberal politicians, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords.  I had not known about Sarah Palin's "targets," and was horrified enough to post my own status update condeming her and her website.

It's so easy for me to condemn and blame those who (like Palin) are so obviously wrong think differently than I do.  Even as I did so, however, I heard a small voice in the back of my head challenging me to think differently.  Over the next several days, that voice got louder and louder until I could ignore it no longer.

I was utterly annoyed.

I was annoyed, because I didn't want to think differently.  I was certain that my thinking around this issue was right.  Yet the voice told me I needed to look at the words and actions of Sarah Palin and others from a more compassionate, Christ-like point of view. 

The problem was, I didn't want to look at Palin from a Christ-like point of view.

As I read more and more of my fellow progressives indirectly blame Palin for the massacre, it seemed to me that they (we) were "targeting" her in a way that wasn't so different from the way she had "targeted" politicians who disagreed with her.  The voice said that, therefore, we really weren't that different from Palin. 

The problem was, I didn't want to think of myself as being not so different from her.

But as I listened to the voice, I realized that it was right.  Despite her offensive rhetoric and actions, Palin - like the rest of us - got caught up in the ongoing war of words.  Palin - like the rest of us - had been fired upon, and fired back in return. 

Who, you may ask, fired the first shot?

Just today, I happened to read that some of the earliest written language, coming from Mesopotamia thousands of years ago, included trash talk.  Back then, there were two kinds of people:  farmers and herders.  The farmers trash-talked the herders, and the herders trash-talked the farmers.  In the book of Genesis, we see the result of all this trash-talk:  Cain (the farmer) killed his brother Abel (the herder).  Apparently, things weren't so different, even then.

63 years ago today, Gandhi began a fast to convince Hindus and Muslims in New Delhi to work for peace.  Instead of getting caught up in the conflict and the trash-talk, he searched for - and found - a better way.

Instead of blaming the other side, perhaps we need to spend some time praying for peace.  Perhaps we can, each of us, confess our own participation in the ongoing wars of rhetoric.  Fasting might even be a good idea, as a way of focusing our thoughts.

It is true that when verbal bullets fly, real bullets are more likely to follow.  I, for one, am going to work harder to ensure that none of those verbal bullets come from me.

Cyclists and Motorists Sharing the Road

It's been interesting in Long Beach for cyclists lately.  Long Beach touts itself as the most bicycle-friendly large urban city in the U.S., but last week, dozens of cyclists were cited, and some of their bikes were impounded, because they allegedly broke minor traffic laws.  They were taking part in a "critical mass" ride, and when police showed up, the cyclists at first thought they were their to escort and/or help with traffic flow; but instead, they began pulling cyclists over and ticketing them.

The cyclists contend that they were following all laws.  I wasn't there, so I don't know.  I do know that it is common for cyclists to break laws by not stopping at stop signs or riding on the wrong (left) side of the road.  Many cyclists are either ignorant of such laws or choose to disobey them.  I have also observed many times cyclists riding on the sidewalk and darting out into streets.  Riding on sidewalks is permitted in many areas of Long Beach, but it is extremely dangerous to go from sidewalk to street without even slowing down.

By the way, I write this as a cyclist.  I ride my bike most places I need to go, including to work every day.  I ride to hospitals when visiting church members.  On days off from work, I ride for fun and exercise.

There are, of course, multiple sides to the issue.  Even cyclists who obey all traffic regulations are put at risk by motorists who ignore cyclists' rights or are unaware of those rights.  And clearly, for a city that touts itself as being bicycle-friendly, the incident with the critical mass riders last week could have been handled better.  It has now become a black eye for the supposedly bicycle-friendly city.

Hey, cyclists:  Let's respect those with whom we share the road.  Let's follow the law.  Let's be safe, not weaving in and out of traffic.  Let's ride single-file.  And, for our own sake, let's please remember to wear our helmets.

Hey, motorists:  Please respect the rights of cyclists.  Do not pass us on the road unless you are able to leave at least three feet between us and your vehicle.  If we slow you down, keep in mind that by riding a bike, we are keeping cars off the road, and more cars on the road would, in the long run, slow you down even more.  So just take a deep breath (you won't get any toxic exhaust fumes by following us) and relax.

Hey, parents:  Please educate your children on the safe and legal way to ride a bike.  If you don't know what the rules are, find out.  Although I've seen cyclists of all ages breaking the law, most of the riskiest behavior, such as darting in and out of streets, is by children and teenagers.  And please make sure that your kids wear their helmets!

Hey, city:  Yes, it's important to make sure that ALL who use our roads respect the law.  However, you still need to work on your bicycle-friendly image.  Citing cyclists en masse and impounding bikes (some of which are their owners' only mode of transportation) is not the way to do this.

Be Nice

I watched the evening news the other night.  This is not something I normally do, but it's election season, and I wanted to see what everyone has been talking about.  that included the ads, which I had been mostly spared from.

Well.  The news had the usual election coverage.  One story in particular focused on negative ads, and highlighted California's governor and senate races.  The story played clips of some of the ads, but since I happen to live in California, I got to see the same ads in their entirety when the news broke for commercials.

My, what a bunch of name-calling!  Defaming your opponents character seems to be the primary qualification to run for office these days.

The news program returned, and described a scufle among supporters that took place outside a building where two candidates were debating.  One supporter -- a member of one of the candidate's campaign team, I believe -- actually stomped on the head of one of the other candidate's supporters.

Another commercial break.  More name-calling, put-downs, and downright nastiness.

Back to the news program, for the final story of the broadcast.  It described the findings of a new study which showed that a surprisingly high number of our nation's youth have bullied others or have been the victims of bullying.

Gee, I wonder where they learned how to behave like that....

---

Be nice.  It sounds so trite, so hackneyes, to say that.  English teachers tell their students to avoid using the word "nice."  They say that it's so overused and non-specific that it doesn't mean anything.

OK.  Here are some alternative ways to say it:  Be curteous.  Be friendly.  Be civil.  Be respectful.

Those of us in the church might even say:  Be loving.  Be a good neighbor.

Why?  Because our bullying and rudeness are killing people.  Teen suicides in the news have been described as the result of bullying.  (Many of these suicides were committed by youth who were gay or perceived to be gay.)  And weren't many of those who have carried out school shootings, like the one at Columbine High School, picked on and made to feel as outcasts?

I say it again:  be nice.

Exaggerated Claims

It seems that a lot of people lately have been lying or making misleading statements in order to justify their views on things.  (If that introductory sentence gives the impression that the tone of today's blog post is going to be a little different than normal, and you don't like it, then you might want to visit some other blog today.)  I appreciate hearing from people with differences of opinion; conversations that include various viewpoints are, I've found, quite helpful.  But when the participants in those conversations lie, distort the truth, or deliberately mislead their listeners, it goes beyond annoying.  It makes me fear for the future.

One example:  I have before talked on this blog about those who insist that all Muslims are terrorists.  Well, this week I've noticed a video making the rounds on facebook and other internet sites which proclaims that all Muslims are advocates of violence, and will do anything to force Islam upon all people everywhere.  Even Muslims who claim to be advocates of peace, the video claims, are simply lying in order to achieve their goals.

Yikes!  The video is so blatantly hateful and prejudiced that I don't know where to begin.  The makers of the video have obviously used their own fears to paint a picture of Islam that is completely false.  In their effort to get people to view all Muslims according to their own distorted vision, they have become advocates of the type of hatred and even terror that they purport to criticize.

I wasn't going to talk about Islam in this post, since I've talked about it previously on this blog, but the shock of seeing such a hateful video trumped what I had previously planned to talk about.  What was on my mind originally was the misleading claims of politicians in this election season.  Politicians of all parties and ideologies employ half-truths and misleading statements in an effort to distinguish them from their competitors, but one I noticed this week seems particularly misleading. 

Candidates here in California (and, I suspect, elsewhere in the country) are talking about the "largest tax increase in history" that will take place in 2011 unless they are able to beat out their political opponent in history.  The phrase "largest tax increase in history" is attention-grabbing, and startled me enough to investigate whether the claim is true.

According to factcheck.org, the "tax increase" that is scheduled to go into effect is the result of the expiration of tax cuts that are currently in effect.  A vast majority of those in office today are committed to preserving those tax cuts for everyone except for families making over $250,000 a year, which means that for families that make less than $250,000, there will be no tax increase.

For the richest Americans, there might be a tax increase, but some politicians (Republicans mostly, but also a number of Democrats) are working to keep the cuts for even the wealthiest Americans.  Let's say, though, that the tax cuts are allowed to expire for the wealthy.  How does that compare historically?

The current tax rate for the wealthiest Americans is 35%.  If the tax cuts are allowed to expire, then that tax rate would rise to 39.6%.  Jim Wallis, in his book "Rediscovering Values," puts that in perspective.  He points out that "under Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower, the top tax bracket was at 91%.  Democratic president John F. Kennedy cut that to 70%."  Further reductions since have brought that down to 35%.

Now, if you think 39.6% is too much to tax the wealthiest Americans, fine.  But any claim that this amounts to the "biggest tax increase in history" must be put into historical context.  I don't know whether or not it is the biggest increase in history or not, but it is clear that it will not result in the highest taxes in history, which I think is what many people assume after hearing the claim.

Finally, I should point out that my own views on this are biased.  I admit it: I am biased by the faith I claim and the scripture that guides me in faith.   In scripture (as Jim Wallis points out), when the inequality of wealth grew too great -- when the rich grew too rich and the poor too poor -- God sent prophets to speak out against society's injustice.  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah ... all of the biblical prophets lived in times of great inequality of wealth.

On the other hand, when things were relatively equal -- when the rich weren't too rich, and the poor weren't too poor -- there were no prophets.

The first decade of the 21st century has been a period of extreme inequality of wealth.  The income gap between rich and poor is greater than it has been at any time in history since the 1920s.  The income gap of the 1920s is, according to many economists, one of the causes of the Great Depression that followed.

This, too, is part of the "history" that should be considered in this political season.  Perhaps, in this election season, what we need is fewer politicians, and more prophets.

Christians and Muslims

In an article I wrote for my church's newsletter this week, I talked about the importance of interfaith work.  Because of what's happening in this country right now, today's blog post will include much of what I shared in that article.

Before coming to Bixby Knolls Christian Church in the spring of 2008, I had very little experience in interfaith dialogue or programming. However, after arriving here, I discovered that BKCC has a long history with interfaith work. As a result, I soon found myself involved in the Long Beach Religious Leaders Association (LBRLA), the South Coast Interfaith Council (SCIC), and the annual Unity Bike-a-Thon.

Needless to say, I quickly discovered the value and importance of interfaith work. I am now a co-president of LBRLA, a board member of SCIC, and am on the committee that organizes the Bike-a-Thon. Thanks to the ministry that BKCC has shown me, I have found a new calling within my own ministry: a call to interfaith work.

In recent weeks, I’ve realized something: there has never been a more important time for interfaith dialogue and understanding. That may sound like an overstatement, but it’s not. Two-thirds of Americans believe that it is wrong to allow the building of an Islamic community center two blocks from “Ground Zero” in New York, even though America is the land of freedom (including freedom of religion). A church in Florida has declared September 11, 2010 “Burn the Quran” day, and thousands of Americans are in support of that. There is clearly a negative attitude toward Muslims in this country, an attitude that, if left unchecked, threatens the liberties we all cherish.

Let me be clear: Islam is a religion of peace. It is no more violent a religion than Christianity. In fact, it could be argued that Christianity has the more violent history, when one considers the Crusades, the Inquisition, witch hunts, racial lynchings, abortion clinic bombings, and so on. Yes, there are Islamic extremists who advocate terrorism; yes, there are Christian extremists who believe God calls them to kill. But that does not mean that either Islam or Christianity is a religion of violence.

It is, however, an act of violence to burn sacred books, whether they be Qurans or Bibles. Burning books is one of the tactics used by the Nazis in the last century (and soon after they burned books, they started burning people). Burning the Quran or any other sacred text is wrong.

As Americans who cherish liberty and freedom, we must speak against such acts. As followers of Jesus, we must live for peace and understanding. I am thankful for BKCC, through which I have become connected to SCIC and have gained a wider understanding of and appreciation for various faiths.

On Labor Day, I will once again ride in the Interfaith Unity Bike-a-Thon. The purpose of this event is two-fold: 1. to increase peace and understanding through interfaith fellowship; 2. to raise money, both for SCIC as well as for local congregations.

I am currently seeking sponsors to support me. Both SCIC and BKCC (like many other worthy organizations) rely on the voluntary support of members and friends to carry out their ministry. With rising levels of fear, prejudice, and even hate in our country, ministries that promote peace, freedom, and understanding need all the support they can get.

It is my hope that America will show to the world that it truly is the land of freedom, where no one is judged because of their religion, and where no religion is judged because of the actions of a few extremists.  It is time for healing.  It is time for understanding.  It is time for peace.

Hiroshima, 65 Years Later

Tomorrow marks the 65th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Well over 100,00 people lost their lives, with many more sickened by the radiation. A few days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, with similar results.

I remember the day in fifth grade when I first understood the destructive capabilities humans possess. Up until that point, I had thought that it was a joke. Literally. I had watched "Marvin the Martian" cartoons, in which Marvin threatens to destroy the earth, and found them hilarious. But on that day, I found out that the ability to destroy the earth was fact, not fiction. I was terrified.

Suddenly, Marving the Martian cartoons didn't seem so funny.

65 years after the bombing of Hiroshima, there are still debates regarding whether it was necessary. President Truman told the American people, who weren't quite comfortable with their nation's new nuclear strategy, that it saved the lives of thousands of U.S. servicemen. In subsequent speeches, the number of saved lives grew until it reached one million. That number seemed to satisfy the Americans that the attack was, indeed, worth it. However, at that point in the war, Japan was already weakened, and negotiations for surrender were already under way. At the time General Eisenhower estimated that dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima would save 40,000 U.S. lives, not one million.

Whether it was worth it or not, we have ever since lived in a nuclear age. As a kid I learned "duck and cover" drills, which were ridiculous attempts to convince us that we could survive a nuclear attack (although they ended up being good drills for what to do in an earthquake). And whenever I stop and think about it for too long, the terror I felt in fifth grade returns, for we still live in a world that is under the threat of destruction by nuclear attack.

This year, for the first time, a top U.S. official is attending the memorial service in Hiroshima. This is a good thing. But more still needs to be done. It still seems to me that it's only a matter of time before another nuclear weapon is used against innocent people, and I'm afraid that it's more likely than not that I will witness this in my lifetime.  I can only imagine what our Creator thinks of all this.

Below is a video I saw via a link at Brian McLaren's blog. Check it out.

NYC Muslim Community Center

I'm busy with VBS this week.  (It's going great; thanks for asking!)  But a news story caught my attention that I feel compelled to write about. 

Apparently, there are plans to build a Muslim community center two blocks from "Ground Zero" in New York City, site of one of the 9/11 attacks.  Much protest has been raised about this. 

[A search for "ground zero mosque" will bring up countless websites with news about this.  Here's one; here's another.]

Well, it seems to me that one could just as easily argue against the presence of a Christian church near the site of the Oklahoma City bombing.  After all, Timothy McVeigh was a Christian.  Since he was a Christian, it's insulting to allow a Christian church to be located near the site of his terror attack.

The argument is ridiculous.  Not all Christians want to blow up buildings; Not all Muslims are terrorists.  I currently work with folks from all different religions (including Islam) on the South Coast Interfaith Council. All of them are people of peace, and work to promote peace in their community and in their world.  None of them rejoiced at the 9/11 attacks (as some protestors of the mosque have claimed).

That there are people who remain full of fear and bigotry is not surprising, but the fact that so many people are listening to their lies and believing them is troubling.  Fear will not lead to a more peaceful world.  Only getting to know one another and understand one another will accomplish that.

Difficult Decisions

Will J. Reid Scout Camp is located right in the middle of Long Beach, and is a place that, at times, has seemed like a second home to me and many in scouting families.  I've been there for cub scout events, boy scout events, adult leader training, and we've even had our annual church picnic there.

Well, the Long Beach Area Council now wants to sell the camp. Like many non-profits, the scouts are hurting for money. Will J. Reid, covering some 11 acres, is worth quite a lot of money, but it also costs quite a bit to maintain, and the council believes that it could make better use of its money.

This is disappointing to many in the Long Beach scouting community. However, as one who has been the pastor of several smaller churches, I can't criticize. I know that the decision (has it already been made? I'm not sure) won't be easy. And I know from experience that it's too tempting to place too high a priority on things like buildings and property. At a former church of mine, when struggling with finances, I had one cantankerous church member say to me that if finances forced him to choose between a building and a pastor, he'd choose the building. I looked right at him and said, "Well, then, when you face a spiritual crisis in your life, or when you find yourself in intensive care, I'll be sure to rip up one of the floorboards and mail it to you."

OK, I didn't really say that. At least not out loud.

I think of the difficult decisions that the Long Beach School Board has had to make regarding layoffs and furloughs. Surely, making those decisions couldn't have been easy. I'm glad I'm not the one who had to make those decisions.

I heard on NPR this morning that the economy is turning around. Well, that sounds like good news, but I know that for many of us, we will still be faced with difficult decisions for some time to come. I don't know if selling Will J. Reid is the right thing to do. But I have compassion and understanding for those who have to make the decision.

Photo:  Tristan at last fall's "Cub-o-ree" event at Will J. Reid Scout Camp

Changing the Way We Live

This week, an NPR story reported that a growing number of people are "cutting the cord," choosing to have no landline telephone and no cable TV service.  Also, a small but growing number of mostly young people have never had a landline telephone; perfectly content with the cell phone service they had as teenagers, they see no reason to change.  Today, 25% of households have no landline telephone service.

The story caught my attention because not too long ago, I convinced my wife that we should get rid of our landline.  We hardly ever made calls from it, and when it rang, we hardly ever answered it, because more often than not the incoming calls were sales calls.

(Incidentally, I was not able to convince her that we didn't need cable; we now have the most basic level of cable, which doesn't include much more than we were getting with our rabbit ears and digital converter.)

Nevertheless, the NPR story made me think of other ways people are bucking conventional wisdom and redefining the way we live.

The most noticeable, to me at least, is the growing number of people, even here in L.A. County, who are choosing to live without a car;  people who have decided that the cost and hassle of car ownership just isn't worth it.  These are people who believe life is enriched by not having to deal with issues of ownership, registration, maintenance, parking, fuel costs, and traffic.  They also find it more meaningful and satisfying to know they are helping reduce pollution and our addiction to fossil fuels.

This addiction to fossil fuels has always been costly, much more costly than the posted price at the local gas station.  Most of those costs have been hidden from public view, but in recent weeks, some of them have come into the spotlight.  Catastrophic oil spills and deadly mining tragedies have allowed many to see just how high the costs are.  Some are even beginning to make the connection between their own energy consumption and these terrible events.

Once that connection is made, then one realizes that those who use energy, and especially those who insist that they have an abundant supply of cheap energy, are just as responsible for those deadly tragedies as are the mining and petroleum companies.

Energy companies are, generally speaking, the biggest corporations on earth.  They spend ungodly sums of money convincing the world that cheap energy is our right and that our current lifestyle demands that we have cheap energy.  They work hard to hide the real costs of our energy addiction - global warming, pollution, and deadly accidents and spills - and when those costs come into public awareness, they insist that they are minor anamolies that are insignificant compared to the benefits.

That's the conventional wisdom that we've been taught to believe, and it has led to a way of living that is not good for us, and certainly not good for the earth.  But a new way of living is possible. 

The time is right for a re-imagining of the way we live.  The time is right for a re-imagining of our communities and our society.  We can change the way we live, so that we can be friendlier to our planet, our communities, and ourselves.  Going car-free may not be the answer for everyone, but we can find ways to reduce our addiction to fossil fuels.  As a small but growing number of people are discovering, it is far more meaningful and satisfying than we had imagined.

Seven Things I'm Thinking About Today

1. Not everything that happens in life (or even in my mind) happens in essay-able formats.  Sometimes they come in little bites.  And since I've seen other bloggers use formats similar to this one, I decided to go for it.
2. Of course, one could assume that I simply didn't have an essay in me this week.  And they'd be correct.
3. This morning at the coffee shop, I saw a young girl in a stroller.  Her mom called her Bella.  She brought a smile to everyone in the room.
4. A few minutes later, another toddler arrived.  When she saw Bella, she ran across the room, arms up in the air, gleefully exclaiming, "You're here! You're here!  You're here!"  That brought an even bigger smile to everyone in the room.  It's nice to experience joy in the morning.
5. It's especially nice to experience joy when other areas of life are marked with sadness.  Last week, the father of two scouts in Ethan's boy scout troop died unexpectedly.  This week, the mother of two children who attend our church had a stroke, and is in the hospital.
6. I'm trying hard to not get too caught up in the Glenn Beck/social justice kerfluffle.  (Is "kerflufle" a word?)  And I wouldn't, except I know that a lot of people actually take him seriously, and therefore have a grossly distorted understanding of the gospel.
7. I continue to try, day by day, to remove the distortions in my own understanding.

What the Media Didn't Report About Last Week's Protests

Last weekend, members of Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church picketed at several locations in Long Beach, displaying their signs of hate and bigotry. As reported in the local media, they stationed themselves outside Wilson High School, Temple Israel, among other places. However, their message was all but drowned out by counter-protestors, who proclaimed messages of peace, equality, and (in some cases) frivolity.

All this the media reported. But still, as one editorial mentioned, this didn't keep the Phelps' clan from giving local Christian churches "a black eye."

Well, I wish the media, both locally and nationally, would give more attention to the great many churches that demonstrate God's love and acceptance. I saw no mention in any of our local media of the interfaith unity service that took place Saturday morning at Temple Israel, despite the fact that many leaders from various religious traditions were present, some as participants, speaking to a crowd of people so large that many had to watch from a separate room via a live video feed.

Together, we celebrated God's love for all people. We sang songs and prayed prayers, sometimes in languages we didn't understand. We demonstrated support to those who are subjected to the hate-filled bigotry of a few. We affirmed the beautiful diversity we have been blessed with here in Long Beach, diversity of religions, cultures, races, and sexual orientations.

Instead of a black eye, there was healing and wholeness present that day.

Is It True?

Several people have expressed concern for me after reading last week's post. (Wow, people really do read this blog!) Let me clarify. "The Pastor's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" is a highly fictionalized account of what I was feeling on one particular day. As the story's conclusion points out: "some days are like that." It doesn't matter if you're a pastor or Alexander (the protagonist in Judith Viorst's story, upon which my story is based). It doesn't matter if you're the happiest, richest person in the world. Some days are like that.

How much of my story is actually true? Well, it depends on what one means by true. I'm told that someone once asked Fred Craddock (a prominent Disciples preacher) how many of his stories are true. Supposedly, he replied that all of them are true, because they happen to countless people every day.

In that sense, what I wrote is true. It's true enough that other pastors who read it immediately identified with it. One even told me to submit it for publication to various magazines. The details of the story may not be true for them (many of the details aren't even true for me), and yet the story as a whole is true.

What else is true? It is true that ministry can be, at times, frustrating and depressing. So much of a minister's focus is on the world as it can be: an idealized world, the world as God intends it to be; the "kingdom of God," the beloved community; a world in which there is no more crying, a world where lions and lambs live in peace, a world in which valleys are exalted and hills brought low.

But we still live and do ministry in "the real world," the world as it is. Last week, for example, the news here in Long Beach focused on a high-school honors student who was shot and killed following a homecoming football game. She was an innocent bystander, caught in the crossfire of a gang dispute. Surely the church of Christ is called to respond to such violence in our midst--but how? And why does it seem that it's so hard for us to "make a difference" in the world? After all, we've been trying for 2,000 years.

There are many other reminders of the fact that, even though the kingdom of God is "among us," it is also not yet fully realized. If it were, would we be facing budget crises that are making things so hard for so many, and especially hard for those who had it hard to begin with? Would our members be struggling to find employment? Would our volunteers need to be fingerprinted before working with youth? Would ministry everywhere continue to be weakened by personality conflicts and misplace priorities?

(I say this, fully aware that many of the misplaced priorities are my own.)

However, there are some other things I know to be true.

It is true that the ministry of the church really does make a big difference in the lives of its members, and in the world. It is also true that sometimes the pastor, sitting at his desk on a Monday morning, might--for a moment or two--lose sight of this, and fail to see the wider picture.

It is true, for me at least, that it is the greatest joy in the world to know that, despite my imperfections, I am called by God and by a congregation of God's people to preach the gospel and invite the gathered community to the Lord's Table.

It is true that everyone has a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day" now and then. Even in Australia. It is also true that "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days" usually don't last, at least not for most of us. When people do experience seemingly endless days like that, to them God provides strength, and to the rest of us, God provides opportunities for ministry.

Finally, it is true that I am blessed to be where I am; blessed by my family and my church. There's no other place I'd rather be. Not even Australia.

Ministry of Presence

The other day on TV, I saw Governor Schwarzenegger consoling victims of the brush fires. I saw this twice; once, he was in northern California, offering comfort to those affected by the Auburn fire, and then, later, doing the same for victims of the fire in Los Angeles.

Both times, the sight caught me off guard. Each scene showed a woman, in tears or nearly so, with her head on the governor's shoulder, his arm around her shoulder. Who knew that the "Governator" had such a soft and caring side to him? Who could have pictured such a scene when he was an action movie star?

However, that's not the only reason the scenes caught my attention. Indeed, I have been similarly struck by scenes of other elected officials offering their comfort and consolation to disaster victims. It's such a personal thing, to be comforted in one's sorrow; and yet, the people receiving comfort likely have never met the official who is metaphorically, if not literally, wiping their tears. It's possible that they didn't even vote for him, that they disagree with some of his policies, etc.; but even so, they find his presence comforting.

The governor is there for only a few moments. To some, it may appear to be nothing more than a photo op. The comfort he provides does not replace the help and comfort of family and friends. Nevertheless, it is a type of comfort that only he can provide. It is a comfort that consoles not only the one in his arms, but also all of us--the entire state--we who have not been directly affected by the flames, but who have seen the smoke, felt the ashes falling, and who have found ourselves caught up in the emotional tragedy that we read and hear about in the news.

It is, in short, a ministry of presence, an aspect of ministry that I admit I have been slow to understand.

Especially baffling and intriguing to me is how this ministry is one which can only be carried out by the "man at the top"--in this case, the governor. It's the same role that church pastors often find themselves in. It doesn't matter how often we emphasize the "priesthood of all believers." It doesn't matter how many times we emphasize that the elders of the church are spiritual leaders of the congregation. It doesn't matter if every member of the congregation offers support, prayers, and encouragement. Such things do matter, of course, and yet it's not the same as a call or a visit by the pastor.

I'm not always comfortable with this aspect of the pastor's role. It's not that I don't want to be there for people; I do. It's just that I worry that anything I can say or do will be inadequate. All I can do, really, is show up, be present, and offer a prayer. It's nothing that anyone else couldn't do. But because I'm the pastor, it has added significance and meaning.

So this week, I've been watching you, Governor. It hasn't been to criticize you or to point out ways that the guy I did vote for could have done better. I've been watching so that I might learn from you, and learn more about the mystery of the ministry of presence.

Fire Photos

The brush fires continue to burn. The one closest to us, in Palos Verdes, seems to be under control. A number of houses were damaged, but none destroyed. However, other fires continue to burn--and threaten homes. The smoke can be easily seen from Long Beach:

And here's the view from the Harbor Freeway, heading north toward downtown L.A.:

More on Health Care Reform

Sojourners just published a guide to the health care reform, which dispels many of the myths and rumors surrounding the debate. As opposed to the many circulating emails with no author and no citations to back up their misleading statements, the guide presents the facts.

Some of the myths that are outright lies include claims that families would be forced to get approval from a government panel before receiving health care, or that the elderly would be left to die. These are false claims intended to create fear among Americans. The truth is that we have a moral obligation to care for our neighbors, and health care is an important way we can do that.

Get all the facts here.